High Point News
Week of: January 30th, 2017
*****************NEWS****************
Request For Extended Day Approved!!!!
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Six Flags Tickets for Reading
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SGC Teacher Elections
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Falcon Friday!
We will celebrate our home team going to the Super Bowl by having a "Falcon Friday" this Friday!!!! Please show your spirit by wearing either red, black, or Falcon's gear on Friday. Encourage your students to participate as well!!!!
Also, you can "Read with a Falcon!" Here is a great archive of Falcons team members and cheerleaders from past seasons reading children's books--
http://www.atlantafalcons.com/community/community-programs/read-with-a-falcon.html
Go team!!!!
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ACCESS Testing
ACCESS testing will begin today and will go until March 1st. The computer lab will be utilized as well as the ESOL classrooms. During this time, please be as quiet as possible in the hallways so we can give students an optimal testing environment. Thank you!
We have exciting news to share about our School Governance Council’s
request to add 15 minutes to the end of the school day in order to allow more
active time (recess, brain-breaks, etc..) for our students.
We have been approved for this extended day from our Area
Superintendent and the Transportation Department.
As you already know, being in the candidacy phase of the International
Baccalaurette Primary Years Programme, our students are expected to engage in
more academically rigorous tasks. According to research, students need more
active play time as well as brain-breaks in order to meet this challenge. We
also have a sprawling campus which sometimes prevents our students from getting
a full 15 minutes of recess. We hope that this additional time will be a great
benefit to our students.
Beginning in August 2017, High Point's school day will be from 7:40 am - 2:35 pm. Our buses will run 15 minutes later in the afternoon to accommodate this new schedule. Each grade level's schedule will include the additional 15 minutes of active time in various ways. Members of the SGC will be reaching out to grade level teams towards the end of the year to get input on adding the additional active time in your schedules.
Beginning in August 2017, High Point's school day will be from 7:40 am - 2:35 pm. Our buses will run 15 minutes later in the afternoon to accommodate this new schedule. Each grade level's schedule will include the additional 15 minutes of active time in various ways. Members of the SGC will be reaching out to grade level teams towards the end of the year to get input on adding the additional active time in your schedules.
We are very excited about this opportunity for our students!
If you have any questions about this request, please see a staff
member of the SGC: Anita Collins, Tashika Truesdale, Susan Marinos, or Lib
Roberts.
Six Flags Tickets for Reading
As a reminder, students (K-6 only per Six Flags rules)
who read 6 hours between now and February 15th will
receive a free ticket to the park. As a teacher, if you enter 8
students, you too will receive a free ticket! Please note the rules have changed this year, and
you must enter 8 students to receive a free ticket. As always, you have
to enter those students yourself if you want the free ticket – I can’t do it
for you. If you don’t care about the free ticket, I’m happy to enter your
students for you.
What do you need to do:
Please print out the reading logs and distribute to your students: http://static.sixflags.com/readtosucceed/StudentReadingLog.pdf
Please print out the parent letter to describe the program to
parents: http://static.sixflags.com/readtosucceed/ParentLetter.pdf
Please encourage your students to read and turn in reading logs
to the PTA box by February 15th.
Create a login if you don’t have one, or use your login from
last year to login to the Six Flags Read to Succeed site at: https://feedback.sixflags.com/rts/.
Either enter the students into the Six Flags site (it takes about 30 seconds per student)
at the following link or turn in the reading logs to the PTA box by February 15th and
I will do it (please mark clearly if you need me to enter them for you):
If I enter your students, you will not be eligible for the free
ticket per Six Flags rules.
· Contact
Jody Novotny at jody_novotny@hotmail.com with
questions.
· Free
tickets will come in May. Thanks!
SGC Teacher Elections
Teachers, please consider applying to be a teacher representative for our School Governance
Council. Teachers are able to apply for candidacy now til February 17th!
Some important facts about serving: you are a voice for the faculty, you help bring
important changes/improvements to school, gives you the ability to express creative ideas,
and advocate for students.
Meetings are held monthly, typically at 7:30 am. If you are a homeroom teacher, you will be provided
class coverage to attend meetings.
Consider becoming an active voice in our SGC!!!! If you have specific questions or concerns reach out to current members, Mrs.
Collins, Mrs. Marinos, or Mrs. Truesdale.
To apply for the teacher position of High Point's SGC, please click on the following link:
http://www.fultonschools.org/en/about/charter/Pages/electionresources.aspx
Eligibility Requirements for All Council Members
· May only
serve on 1 School Governance Council at a time
· May NOT be
an elected official of a government entity
· Must be the
ONLY member of their family serving on the Council
· Must be 18
years of age or older (with the exception of high school student members)
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Parents
· Must have a
child enrolled at the school for the duration of the term they declare
candidacy for
· May NOT be
an employee of the school
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Teachers
· May NOT be
the parent of a child enrolled at the school
· Must be a
school-based employee with a “home school”
· Must be
paid from teacher salary schedule
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School Employees
· MAY be the
parent of a child enrolled at the school
· Must be a
school-based employee with a “home school”
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Community Members
· MAY be the
parent of a child enrolled at the school
· May NOT be
an employee of the school
|
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Falcon Friday!
We will celebrate our home team going to the Super Bowl by having a "Falcon Friday" this Friday!!!! Please show your spirit by wearing either red, black, or Falcon's gear on Friday. Encourage your students to participate as well!!!!
Also, you can "Read with a Falcon!" Here is a great archive of Falcons team members and cheerleaders from past seasons reading children's books--
http://www.atlantafalcons.com/community/community-programs/read-with-a-falcon.html
Go team!!!!
Fulton County Strategic Plan
You should have received a survey inviting your
feedback for our new county Strategic Plan. If you did not receive the email with the
survey link from Dr. Jeff Rose in your Inbox, please check your Clutter
folder.
If you have any
technical challenges, questions, or require any support, please reach out to
Andrew Rayner from Bellwether Education Partners, at andrew.rayner@bellwethereducation.org.
Thank you in advance
for contributing your voice and candor to this important initiative.
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Personalized Learning Tuesday
We are excited for our Vanguard members to work with teachers on Cloudfolio! Also, Hess will be working with 3-5 teachers to discuss and learn new strategies for teaching content through guided reading. Please see the following details about PL Tuesday!
We will start promptly at 2:50 to get out at 4:00!!!!
Pre-K-2, Special Area, ESOL, EIP, FLP, TAG, SPED teachers, and Paraprofessionals = Cloudfolio
3-5, ESOL, EIP, SPED teachers = Teaching Content Through Guided Reading
We will start promptly at 2:50 to get out at 4:00!!!!
Pre-K-2, Special Area, ESOL, EIP, FLP, TAG, SPED teachers, and Paraprofessionals = Cloudfolio
- Bring ipad
- Located in Media Center
3-5, ESOL, EIP, SPED teachers = Teaching Content Through Guided Reading
- No computers needed; pen and paper only
- Located in Meeting Portable
ACCESS Testing
ACCESS testing will begin today and will go until March 1st. The computer lab will be utilized as well as the ESOL classrooms. During this time, please be as quiet as possible in the hallways so we can give students an optimal testing environment. Thank you!
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What I've been thinking about...
Recruit Career Day Speakers!!
High Point will host our fourth annual career day on Tuesday, February 14th. We are seeking parent and community volunteers to share information about their careers with High Point students on this afternoon. Volunteers will speak with 1-2 classrooms for 20 minutes each.
Please reach out to friends and family members as well as High Point parents to encourage them to sign up. Please include the sign up link in parents newsletter, etc. We need a wide variety of speakers, and there is no job too boring for this event! I can help speakers figure out a way to make their career interesting and child friendly. We are also able to skype in speakers for any out of towners.
Please have speakers visit the following link to sign up:
You all made last year’s event a huge success!! I can’t wait to see how many speakers we can get this year!!!!!
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What I've been thinking about...
The following article which gives us 12 ways we can support our ESOL students in the classroom.
1. Make it visual
2. Build in more group work
3. Communicate with the ESOL teachers
4. Honor the "silent period"
5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language
6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary
7. Use sentence frames
8. Pre-teach whenever possible
9. Learn about the cultural background of your students....
10. .....but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.
11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously.....
12. ......but always take them seriously.
https://fultonk12-my.sharepoint.com/personal/pitchford_fultonschools_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=086be308607a04b55b4efafb3af8048e7&authkey=AUS5t1L9ZwD4mWTfqp91oMc&expiration=2017-02-24T15:26:32.000Z
*******VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE*******
Ms. Hawkins uses her "Risk-Taker" sign outside her door to indicate what is happening in her classroom. This communication models for students' her willingness to try something new! While she has it on yellow, she willingly invites others into her room to observe her risk-taking!
1. Make it visual
2. Build in more group work
3. Communicate with the ESOL teachers
4. Honor the "silent period"
5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language
6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary
7. Use sentence frames
8. Pre-teach whenever possible
9. Learn about the cultural background of your students....
10. .....but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.
11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously.....
12. ......but always take them seriously.
https://fultonk12-my.sharepoint.com/personal/pitchford_fultonschools_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=086be308607a04b55b4efafb3af8048e7&authkey=AUS5t1L9ZwD4mWTfqp91oMc&expiration=2017-02-24T15:26:32.000Z
*******VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE*******
Ms. Hawkins uses her "Risk-Taker" sign outside her door to indicate what is happening in her classroom. This communication models for students' her willingness to try something new! While she has it on yellow, she willingly invites others into her room to observe her risk-taking!
Ms Strafford's students are exploring point of
view/perspective in 1st & 2nd person! They are using the comic strip app
Strip Designer with Ms Dennis's support to create mini stories to show
understanding! They are using images and real life pictures to show which point
of view/perspective they wanted to highlight and carried that throughout their
mini stories. True example of creative use of technology and student
engagement!
*******WRITERS' GALLERY**********
The writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Roger's class this week.
The writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Negrin's class next week.
The writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Negrin's class next week.
******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******
Monday, January 30th
9:30 - Prospective Parent Tour
2:30 pm - Tutoring Program
ACCESS Testing Begins
9:30 - Prospective Parent Tour
2:30 pm - Tutoring Program
ACCESS Testing Begins
Tuesday, January 31st
2:50 - Personalized Learning
2:30 pm - Tutoring Program
Wednesday, February 1st
IB PLCs during planning with Roberts2:30 pm - Tutoring Program
Thursday, February 2nd
3rd Grade In-House Field Trip
Groundhog's Day!
12:45 - ETT for Kindergarten
2:50 - PLCs
Grade Level Newsletters Go Home
Groundhog's Day!
12:45 - ETT for Kindergarten
2:50 - PLCs
Grade Level Newsletters Go Home
Friday, February 3rd
Falcon's Friday!!
1st Grade Field Trip
Sweetheart Dance @ 5:30 pm
Falcon's Friday!!
1st Grade Field Trip
Sweetheart Dance @ 5:30 pm
******BIRTHDAYS! ****************
Happy birthday to Kerstin Long on the 1st and Mari Park on the 3rd! We hope you both have an amazing birthday!!!
