**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
Monday, May 1st is Labour Day. The school is closed.
*Observe your students, observe yourself, observe a colleague.
*Take a learning walk with a colleague or two.
*Record (for sharing) your observations about the languages of thinking, community, identity, initiative, knowing, feedback & praise, and listening, as well as questioning and the cultural forces and the ways they support your learning and your students’ learning.
Prompts to consider (I.Q. Routine): I noticed, It supports student learning by..., It sends a message to the learner that..., I am wondering... Link to Eight Cultural Forces Questions? Clarifications? See Krista
Learning walks continue with Krista, Karen, and Leigh. Thank you for opening your classrooms to your colleagues as we begin this part of the learning journey. Thank you as well for the feedback on the pilot form we are using to share feedback about the visit.
KZ's PIC Goal: March - June 2017- Krista, Karen, and Leigh will go on at least one learning walk with every assistant and teacher.
KZ's Hope: March - June 2017- Every teacher and assistant will go on at least one learning walk with at least one other colleague. Please share when you do.
Parent Feedback forms for class placement (MA to Grade 4) and World Language forms (Grade 3) will be sent home this week. Please collect the parent feedback forms and send them as a bundle each day. Erika will attach them to the placement cards to help with the placement process. Please remind your parents (through your grade level sites and newsletters) to return these forms no later than May 5th. More information about the placement process will be sent to Instructional Leads this week.
Grade 3 World Language Request forms need to be brought directly to the office by the parent or student so Erika can time stamp them. Grade 3 teachers, please check at 8:30 am each morning. Please do not collect these forms and keep them in your classroom. If a World Language reaches its CAP, we determine requests based on the time stamp showing when the form was received in the ES Office.
Every year at this time we ask ourselves how can there be only eight weeks left? Where has the time gone? Our stress rises as we begin to think about the things we have left to accomplish by the end of the year. The at-a-glance dates below are listed to support you as you plan for the final weeks.
April 24th - May 5th- Update Class Placement Cards 25th ES PSA Meeting 25th Grade Four Arts Informance 26th Open Day 28th Earth Day Assembly* If you notice an important event is missing from the list, please email Krista and she will update as needed. Thank you! | May Assessment Month 1st Labor Day- School Closed 2nd *Earth Day Assembly Rain Date 2nd All Faculty Meeting: Language Support 5th Class Placement Cards Due 9th Middle Leadership Meeting 10th Open Day 11th Grade Three Fine Arts Informance 12th ES TGIF at the Zavits Home 16th All Faculty Meeting: Reflecting on Goal Progress 15th-19th MAP Assessments (3,4, & 5) 19th Intramural Showcase (American Football) 21st PS International Festival 22nd-24th- MAP Make Ups 23rd All Faculty Meeting: Moving to NGSS 24th Open Day 26th EC and ES Assemblies 27th PSA Yard Sale 30th Final ES PSA Meeting 30th Report Writing (see guidelines in sidebar) | June 1st MA-Gr. 2 Fine Arts Event 2nd 5K Rock Concert 2nd Last Day for ASA T3 5th Pünkösd- School Closed 6th All Teachers Meeting: PIC Reflections (ATs Welcome but not required) 7th Open Day 7th ALL Report comments and indicators due on Veracross by 5:30 pm (see guidelines in sidebar) 8th ES Celebration of Learning 9th EC Final Assembly 9th ES Variety Show 13th Gr. 1-5 Sports Fun Day 13th All Faculty Meeting: Class Placement Meetings 14th ES End of Year Assembly 15th EC Fun Day 16th Half Day for Students/ Faculty Check Out (PM) June 17th HELLO SUMMER! |
~ A Message from Erma Anderson
The live binders have been updated and if you downloaded the live binders, you must refresh to get the updated version. You can access the Live Binder via the Mindset sidebar under 'Teaching and Learning'.
The updates include the new placemats for Grades 3-4-5-6 and the Achievement Level Descriptors for all grades. The descriptors have been very successful in providing a focus on the evidence of student learning of mathematics.. The result... a shift from the focus on the content standards (the arithmetic) to the math practices (Mathematics).
The descriptors have also proven to be a valuable resource for looking at evidence of student learning and for a common understanding of problem solving, modelling, communication and reasoning (criteria for assessing mathematics) at each grade level.
K-1-2-7-8 will be posted next week.
~From the ELA Curriculum Lead
Please take a moment to refresh your memory on the logistics for F&P and Narrative Writing On-Demand assessments. If you have questions or need support, please speak to Kathleen or Leigh
Fountas and Pinnell Reading Inventory K-5
- All classroom teachers (not EAL/LRC) should complete and record all F&P assessments by Friday, May 19.
- Assistants will receive substitute pay for 6 periods in grades K-2, but there will not be an additional substitute.
- Assistants and/or substitutes will be provided for 6 periods in grades 3-5.
- Grades 3-5, please fill in one team, blank schedule for testing times and give to Erika in the office a week before testing.
- ALL teachers need to fill in a leave form with the 6 hours (on one slip) to ensure that the assistant gets paid for the hours.
- Let your EAL teachers know when you will be testing, so the EAL students are not overwhelmed with WIDA and classroom assessments.
- Record the F&P instructional level on the child's white folder and include assessment inside. This folder will be placed inside the child’s cumulative folder. Please also record this information in the ES Data 2016-2017 found in the sidebar of the Mindset under Teaching and Learning. If you do not have a white folder please see Kathleen.
Narrative Writing On Demand Assessments K-5
- Please administer on-demand Narrative writing assessment (on Weebly) by May 19. (Literacy- Assessment- On-Demand Writing Assessment Prompt)
- Score the Narrative writing assessments using your grade level rubric.
- Check writing exemplars on Weebly to align scoring. (Literacy- Assessment- Writing Exemplars)
- Record the writing scores in the ES Data 2016-2017 found in the sidebar of the Mindset under Teaching and Learning.
The following individuals have expressed interest in remaining in their current leadership position for the 2017-2018 school year.
Instructional Leads (Job Description):
EC Lead: Ange Guinness
Grade 1 Lead: Kim Porter
Grade 3 Lead: Kevin Fayarchuck
Grade 4 Lead: Hilary Lockhart
Curriculum Leads (Job Description):
Unit of Study Lead: Karen MacMeekin
Integration Lead: Doug Gillis
Encore Lead: Ana Maria Cruz
English Language Arts Lead: Kathleen Ehrling
Mathematics Lead: Ashley Christians
The following individuals have expressed interest in taking on the leadership position in their team that will be vacated due to leaving colleagues.
Grade 2 Lead: Theresa Rekawek
Next year, we will have two Unit of Study leads as our focus moves from Mathematics to Science and the NGSS. Heather MacMichael has expressed interest in taking on this new role.
The Grade 5 Lead position remains vacant. Any member of the grade 5 team can apply for the Instructional Lead position (classroom teacher, assistant, EAL, LRC)
Individuals wishing to express interested in any of the positions above are welcome to email Krista by Friday, April 28th, 12 noon. If we have more than one interested candidate, we will set up interviews for the following week.