**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.
Thank you for inputing your schedules into the Master Schedule document. Reviewing the individual and grade level timetables it is clear that you reflected carefully about the placement and timing of learning to allow increased opportunities for cross-class and cross-grade level clustering. Our students will benefit immensely from your thoughtful planning.
Checklists
Please make sure you have completed 10 - 25 August Teacher Checklist (pp 19-21) found in the Mindset sidebar under "Handbooks" in the 'Important Elementary Information' Booklet.
Core and Encore Sites
The Weebly Sites will go live this Thursday, August 31st so you can share them with parents at BTSN. Please confirm with Tracey and Nate that your grade level/ encore site is ready to go so they can review them before Thursday.
Grade Level and Encore Newsletters
Our first Newsletters (core and encore) will be sent home this Friday, September 1st via team leads on behalf of the grade level. Please use the templates provided. If you need support embedding your newsletter, organizing your core or encore site pages, setting up composer to send the newsletter, please check in with Nate and his team. Please let Krista and Leigh know when your newsletter is published (Thursday morning latest), so we can review it before team leads send it home Friday.
BTSN Preparation
Back to School Presentations updated via Google. All common presentation slides need to be placed in the ES Team Drive in the BTSN Presentation folder by end of day, today, August 28, 2017 for review. Please label them with with your grade, name, and the year (ex. Kim Porter would be- 1KP2017) Once reviewed, the common slides can be uploaded to the Grade level Weebly page.
Individual class presentation slides must also be shared with Leigh and Krista by the end of today, so we can preview them. Please send the link in an email to both of us. Please provide editing or commenting rights so we can provide feedback in the event that changes are needed.
Please remember, it is the responsibility of your team to organize work orders, book additional rooms and confirm tech needs for your BTSN presentations. Please do this today, Monday, to give facilities and technology ample time to prepare for and provide the support you request.
This Thursday, August 31, we host Back to School Night for grades 1-5. All faculty will be involved in this event. Grades 1-5 Teachers and Assistants will be presenting. Blazer Voices, Early Childhood and Encore Teachers and Assistants will be supervising and assisting parents. Further information about the Supervision and Assistance schedule can be found below.
BTSN Schedule
4:15pm- Parents and students begin to arrive. *We need to anticipate students who do not head home at 3:30 pm. Please review the information about supervision and assistance to know how this will be handled.
4:30--6:30 pm -Supervision available (pre-sign up and payment required)
4:30-5:00 pm - Arrival, student supervision drop-off, technical support, and visit with Encore teachers (Art, Music, PE, Hungarian Culture, World Language, Drama, EAL, LRC) in the main Reception area of Building A.
5:00-6:30 pm - Grade level presentations. There is only one presentation period. Grade levels have 90 minutes to meet with parents. This time will include your presentations (including common grade level slides), time for questions and answers, and parent discovery time should your grade be planning to pilot the interactive parent education piece this year.
6:30 - 6:45 pm - Evening ends. Parents are requested to collect their children and head home.
The ES Blazer Voices, with the support of the faculty and staff, are offering supervision services for school-aged children currently enrolled in Multiage - Grade Five at AISB. Proceeds from this service will cover the cost of the evening’s events, as well as contribute to the Blazer Voices’ service efforts throughout the year. A supervision schedule along with assistance schedule will be shared today (Monday). Please see Tracey if you have questions.
~from the Associate Principal
Thank you for your support both in the classroom and on the playground as we introduced our students to safe and respectful play on our new equipment. They have done an amazing job demonstrating responsibility. As a result, we will officially open the equipment to all grade 3,4, and 5 students today. Please remember, when on duty on Playground B, we have reconfigured the duty zones to ensure someone is supervising students on the new equipment at all times. Below is the updated Map with the updated duty zones. If you have a duty on Playground B, please review. The updates are also reflected in the ‘Important Elementary Information’ booklet (p 29). Below is a sample of the sign that will be placed around the structure to help educate the community about use. On Saturday, the equipment was Board-tested and Board-approved. Check out the photos below.
Only students in grade 3,4, and 5 are allowed on the equipment. The equipment is closed daily from 3:30 pm to 8:15 am, all day Saturday and Sunday, and on holidays. The equipment is off limits to students in the early childhood, lower elementary, middle school, and high school at all times. If you see children using the equipment from these groups, please ask them to get off immediately, identify the division or class they are in, ask for their name, and let Tracey know so she can follow up as needed. Thank you!
~A Message from the Associate Principal
Feedback has been shared that the increase in student numbers combined with the new play structure and zoning requires additional supervision on Playground B. We are currently looking a ways to accommodate the additional duties taking into account current teaching loads. An updated schedule will be provided in the coming days. Until is is available Krista and Tracey will provide additional support where possible and will request the support of faculty members when this is not possible. Thank you for your support, patience, and flexibility as we look for ways to ensure the ongoing safety of our students.
~A Message from the DTL
Assessment month is September. We will assess our students using internal and external common assessments. Please review the important information, below, from your curriculum leads, for further details. If you have follow up questions, please contact them directly. Thank you.
~A message from the Mathematics Lead
Ashlee will be sharing the mathematics benchmark assessment with your grade level Instructional Lead this week. These assessments consist of a few questions representing the key critical areas from the previous grade. Please print out a copy for each student, along with one copy of the class summary rubric for recording. Rather than giving students the entire assessment to complete in one session, please spread out the assessment over a few days, giving students only one problem at a time. Please have your benchmark assessment and class summary completed by Friday, 8 September and return to Ashlee for inputting into our new data dashboard.
~from the ELA Curriculum Lead
Our school year is officially underway with lots of new and familiar faces! The F&P and writing assessments help us to get to know our students better as learners, and below you will find all important dates and links along with additional important information.
Please note the following:
- All links can be found on the Literacy tab on the ES Curriculum site.
- If you would like a refresher on how to administer F&P or writing prompts, please see Kathleen.
- Kindergarten will assess with F&P and writing prompts twice a year (January and May)
- Grades 1 & 2 will assess reading with F&P 3 times a year (September, January, May.)
- Grades 3-5 will assess with F&P twice a year (September and May) with the option of assessing in January where necessary.
- Grades 1-5 will give the Narrative writing prompt twice a year (September and May)
Fountas and Pinnell Reading Inventory Grades 1-5
- All classroom teachers (not EAL/LRC) should complete and record all F&P reading assessments by Friday, Sep. 29.
- Grade 3-5 EAL/LRC students who may be reading below an Instructional Level J, should be tested before Sep. 8 to inform our MAP testing roster and parents. Let your EAL teachers know when you will be testing so the EAL students are not overwhelmed with WIDA and classroom assessments.
- 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.
- Record the F&P instructional level on the child's white folder (inside cumulative folder) and include assessment inside. If you do not have a white folder please see Kathleen. We will be recording this data electronically in our new data dashboard and this link will be shared in the coming days.
- If your grade level is missing books in your F&P kits (or extra assessment forms), please print additional copies from this shared folder, which can be found under the Literacy resources tab on the ES Curriculum site.
- Please administer on-demand Narrative writing assessment by Sep. 8.
- Score the Narrative writing assessments using your grade level rubric, which can be found under the Assessments tab on the ES Curriculum site.
- Check writing exemplars on ES Curriculum site to align scoring.
- We will be recording this data electronically in our new data dashboard and this link will be shared in the coming days.
- Please be aware that students have the choice of writing a true or imaginative story for their assessment.
Please Bring your Observation Journal to Tuesday's Meeting
Observe/examine/ reflect/ solicit feedback about how routines impact relationship-building, teaching and learning
How have you leveraged routines to support inquiry-based teaching and learning?
How have you leveraged routines to support language growth for all students?
What questions might you have for your colleagues?
~A Message from the DTL
Please remember to submit your PIC survey with your question by this Friday, Sep. 1st. Thank you.
~Mystery Science
This week Mystery Science shares their final week of back-to-school webinars!
In just 20 minutes, they walk you through a Mystery and help you find the right lesson for your studentsto support your teaching and learning in science. If you are able to join the webinar, there is also a live Q&A!
The webinars are available Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday at 3pm EST or 6pm EST.
If you can't make one of these times, recordings will be available at:
https://mysteryscience.com/gettingstarted