High Point News
Week of: September 21st, 2015
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Please keep Mari Park is your thoughts and prayers after the passing of her father this weekend. Mari will return to work Thursday and appreciates your support.
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Condolences
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AR Update
The PTA's Board has met and we
have decided to continue using Renaissance Learning's AR program this
year. We feel it is an important tool to encourage reading in our
students. We considered other programs, but concluded that AR best aligns
with students' reading levels from the STAR testing you administer and our
library is arranged so that students can easily find books on their level to
read.
We hope you will support and encourage students who wish to take
tests and allow them the opportunities to do that without conflicting with
your classroom expectations.
The program will start this
year on September 16th and run through early May for our 1st through 5th
graders. We will explore a reading incentive program for our Kindergarten
readers later this year. We have simplified the prize structure and will
award students certificates to use at our book fairs.
Please let Melissa Wilson,
Lisl Dickinson, or any member of the Board know if you have any questions. Thank you!
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CLC Instructional Rounds
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Parent/Teacher Conferences
Fall Festival
High Point's Fall Festival will be this Saturday, September 26th from 11:00-3:00!!! This is the one event each year where our PTA appreciates your support and attendance.
PTA will be handing out flyers to staff regarding admissions: Staff children are $10 and adults are free!!
If you are interested in volunteering, please use the link below. We truly appreciate your support to make this successful!!
High Point's Fall Festival will be this Saturday, September 26th from 11:00-3:00!!! This is the one event each year where our PTA appreciates your support and attendance.
PTA will be handing out flyers to staff regarding admissions: Staff children are $10 and adults are free!!
If you are interested in volunteering, please use the link below. We truly appreciate your support to make this successful!!
CLC Instructional Rounds
Because we have a large number of staff out this Wednesday for Yom Kippur, the CLC team has rescheduled their Instructional Round for November 5th. We will update everyone closer to the day. Thanks!
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Parent/Teacher Conferences
As the STAR window closes and we are well into the school year, you might be beginning to schedule your parent/teacher conferences. Please remember to include the collaborating teachers (if possible) in these conferences such as ESOL, EIP, SPED, and Special Areas.
You will have October 9th to schedule your conferences however, you are more than welcome to begin them now. Thanks!!
You will have October 9th to schedule your conferences however, you are more than welcome to begin them now. Thanks!!
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In the News
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Congratulations to our current 5th graders who were recently featured in the AJC for the garden they created last year as 4th graders. We were so excited to see this garden being created and giving our students an opportunity to see their work and planning become a reality. A huge thank you to the fourth grade teachers for supporting this project and making this project possible for our students!
What I've Been Thinking About…
I read an article in TIME magazine this past week titled " How to Make Schools Better for Kids." The administrative team, your SGC, as well as your leadership team are all thinking about ways we can help make High Point better! After reading this article, I know we are on he right track.
Pictures of the article are below but if you would like to read the article, come find me and I will give it to you or place it in your box. It's two pages.
High Point's SGC Request for Flexibility
High Point's SGC has put in our request for flexibility interest form to the county. The request is for an Extended School Day. After looking at research, informally talking to staff, and assessing what our school needs to do to meet our long term strategic plan goals, we have proposed to have a school day that goes from 7:10 am - 3:00 pm.
Please note that this is only our interest form; not the final RFF proposal. For the next 2 months, we will be collecting data and information from staff, students, parents, and Fulton County in order to get multiple perspectives of this proposal. We need to weigh the pros and cons and make sure it's what is best for our students.
Some of the SGC's thoughts on this proposal:
- By adding 40 minutes each day, we will be able to give our students 15 more days of instruction than other Fulton County Schools.
- We would be able to keep our 3 Professional Development days (in addition to the county days) and they would not negatively impact our students.
- We would keep Spanish as a special so that teachers have common planning 5 days a week.
- We would teach the Spanish language through Science or Social Studies content in order to teach the language as well as support the learning in the classroom.
- We would add another 45 minute period of Content Spanish to the week. This 45 minute block would be an additional planning period for teachers. It will not be a common planning time.
- The 40 minutes added to the school day would not be a specific content block. We would add the minutes to the remaining content areas as well as help us give more recess and transition time.
- We believe this additional time would support our project-based learning and differentiation in the classrooms.
- If we dismiss at 3:00 pm, we are looking into High Point's homework policy. We want students to read every night but do not want to increase the amount of work students are required to do at home since they will be dismissing 40 minutes later.
- We need to look into the required after-school meetings such as faculty, leadership, PLCs, and Learning Tuesdays since they will have a later start time. Staff will still only be required to work an 8-hour workday.
We want your opinions and feedback regarding our proposal. Please go to the following link to comment on our RFF proposal. All feedback needs to be submitted prior to October 2nd.
You may also speak to our school SGC representatives if you have any questions. They are: Rachel Salmons, Kerstin Long, Anita Collins, and Susan Marinos.
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PBIS Updates
We filled the "E"!
Thank you for remembering to hand out
tickets and encouraging positive behavior with our students!
To celebrate, we
will have a pajama day this Friday! All staff and students are encouraged to
participate!
Here are some reminders from our wonderful cafeteria assistants:
- Please make sure you are assigning the Table Managers each week.
- Please give a brief reminder to classes to pick up all their trash each day as we are trying very hard to support Custodial Staff.
****VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE****
In Ms. Charles’
5th grade EIP Reading class, she gave an overview of Inquiry. She
modeled what inquiry looks like and sounds like by using a familiar, every day object.
Next she gave her students the Inquiry Log Stems (page 33 in Why are
School Buses Always Yellow?) and modeled a few questions using these
stems. Students were then presented with a photograph of women from India in a
line, with their voting cards, and were asked to use the stems to pose
questions about the photo. The students wrote questions for 5-7 minutes.
The students then shared one of their questions that they had wondered about.
Ms. Charles help them extend their questions, clarify their questions, and help
them turn a statement into a question. She then connected it to their topic for
this week which was the right to vote and the 19th amendment and
woman’s suffrage. A great example of using inquiry, and global relevance
to spark curiosity and excitement into Constitutional Amendments!
In Ms. Ellis’ 2nd grade class, she is using inquiry
that is born right out of her own backyard! Her students are wondering “what is
it?” Ms. Ellis put a clear, tall habitat in her classroom with a green creature
in it, on Monday, without saying a word to the students to see if anyone would
notice. On Tuesday, students saw chart paper next to the clear, tall habitat
that said, “I wonder…” Students starting filling up sticky notes with noticings
and wonderings. Students continuing to write wonderings and observing.
Ms. Ellis is the only one that actually knows what it is.
Come check it out!
*****WRITERS' GALLERY**********
The pledge and writers' gallery is hosted by Ms. Lassiters' class this week.
The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Jannausch and Ms. Frappier's class next week.
******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******
Monday, September 21st
Alexander and Madej to Meeting
Tuesday, September 22nd
2:50 - New Kids on the Block
2:50 - Para PLC Meeting
Math PLC during Specials
2:50 - Para PLC Meeting
Wednesday, September 23rd
Yom Kippur Math PLC during Specials
Thursday, September 24th
ETT for 3rd Grade
2:50 - PLCs
2:50 - PLCs
Friday, September 25th
Student of the Week Certificate
Student of the Week Certificate
******BIRTHDAYS! ****************
Happy birthday to Mary Katherine Stahura today!!! We hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!
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