Happy New Year - December 30, 2019

Ready to start 2020!  That seems unbelievable but it is here.  I hope you have had a wonderful break off with your families and enjoyed the holidays.  Only a couple of more days to relax and recharge.

As we start the new year, we are going to reboot our PBIS system for behavior.  Above you will see our new expectation matrix.  Please spend a sufficient amount of time during the next few days teaching and practicing these behaviors.  Remember, PBIS is rooted in POSITIVE teaching and practice.  It is about reinforcing good behavior and reteaching when our expectations are not met.  This is for all areas and times of the school day.  Think about a typical day for your classes.  What are you not happy with?   Think about how you want that to be and teach those procedures to your students.  When they fail to meet those expectations, reteach and practice.  I know that this may stress many of you out because it is taking time away from regular instruction.  However, the time you gain later on will be worth it!

Here are some links to great resources as you are planning teaching those expecatations during the next few days:

https://reddick.tiftschools.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=283458&type=d&pREC_ID=650100

https://www.pbisworld.com/tier-1/review-pbis-expectations-and-rules/  (This one is really good)

https://pbiscompendium.ssd.k12.mo.us/elementary-lesson-plans

We are going to meet on Thursday afternoon to discuss more and go over next steps!

We will also be passing out Panther Bucks and posters for your classrooms.  We also have a letter that will go home to all students on Thursday so parents will be aware of the changes we are making.

It is important that we do the MONTHLY BEHAVIOR CALENDARS each day.  Have students mark their behavior as green, yellow or red and have a system in place to make sure this is being done correctly.  

CHANGES TO SCHEDULE

We will no longer be doing Panther Time.  This will change Special Class teachers schedule.  Their planning will be each afternoon from 1:45 until 2:30.

Special class teachers will be with their Literacy Block teacher from 7:35 until 8:10.  They can help with homeroom duties so that Literacy Block can begin sooner.

At 8:10, the special class teachers will rotate to help in other classrooms one day each week.  Here is the schedule:

Monday - 1st grade

Tuesday - 2nd grade

Wednesday - 3rd grade

Thursday - 4th grade

Friday - 5th grade

Please have a plan of what you would like this person to do each time they come to your classroom.  They can pull students, man a center or station, provide accommodations for 504/special ed, etc.  They will let you know ahead of time of that can't be there for some reason.  Hopefully having an extra person in your classroom for this period of time will be helpful for you and your students.  

***Don't forget - report cards go home on Thursday as well!

Enjoy your last couple of days and see you on Thursday!

Saturday Night Live - December 14, 2019

Congrats!  We received this honor seal this week from Franklin Covey-Leader in Me.  CCES has been named to the Lighthouse Academic Honor Roll for our percentile ranking growth this past year.  We went from a 68th percentile rank to a 75th rank.  This is a huge honor to receive this status as a Lighthouse School.  

This is one of my favorite times of year.  I know that each of you have so many special things planned for our students for the next few days.  I also know that all of those things are a lot of work and take a lot of planning on your part.  However, the Christmas memories that are made at school are some of the most special ones for many of our students.  Thank you for making it great for each of them.

MAP, STAR, Core and SNAP testing is almost wrapped up.  I will be looking at the data over the next few days and sharing it with you. If you have students who were absent last week and missed a portion of the testing, please try to get that done this week.  

*Don't forget to sign up for the Staff Christmas Party on Friday night at 5:30 at the Veteran's building.  The sign-up sheet is in Sonya's office - we need numbers by Monday afternoon so we can order the meat.  Remember that each adult needs to bring a $10-$15 dollar gift for the game.  

*No 21st Century classes this week

*We will do ugly Christmas shirt/sweater day next Wednesday.

*Jeans all next week!

*We are also going to do Christmas Goodie Table next week.  Bring finger foods, snacks, desserts, etc on your assigned day if you would like to!

          Monday - Kindergarten, 3rd grade, special                      education

          Tuesday - 1st grade, 4th grade, Intervention                    and  special class

          Wednesday - 2nd grade, 5th grade and office                   staff

This Week at a Glance...
Monday - 4th/5th grade science fair project presentations in the gym during special class
Kindergarten practice in the gym at 12
Tuesday - House meeting Tuesday morning first thing.  The slideshow is attached to the Living Calendar
PBIS team meeting in Lisa's office at 3 pm.
Wednesday - 2nd nine weeks grading period ends.  Please have all grades in before you leave.
9:00 am - 3rd grade Grinch performance in the gym for the entire school
Friday - Staff Christmas Party at 5:30 at Veteran's Center

Friday Focus - December 6, 2019

As I have already mentioned to most of you, we are going to do a reboot of our PBIS system.  After Christmas, we plan to begin a new reward system based on Panther Bucks.  We are also going to revise our anchor statement and our behavior expectations.  As we work on these things this week during PLC's and action team meetings, here are some things to think about ahead of time and be ready to discuss:

-What behaviors do we expect in the hallways, cafeteria, morning assembly, playground and classroom?  
-How do we teach and reteach these behaviors?
-What are our classroom managed behaviors?
-What are our office managed behaviors?
-How do we document each set of behaviors?
-What behavioral interventions do we need to use at each level - Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3? 
-How will our new Panther Buck system work in relation to our behavior calendars?

Don't forget to pick up the rewards for MAP test performance from my office.  These are for students who are proficient, distinguished or who met their RIT goal from fall to winter.  The rewards are as follows:
Reading - bookmark
Math - fruit snacks
Science - invisible ink pen

Hopefully we can wrap up MAP testing next week.  So far - scores are looking good!  Keep encouraging students to do their best and meet their goals.

VOLUNTEERS

Just a reminder - if you need a volunteer for anything going on in your classroom or grade level - please let me know.  We have a small group of parents who have sent back papers saying they are willing to help.

Remember back earlier in the semester we discussed that we wanted each grade level to have at least one event/activity in which we would invite parents in to help or view.  Some grade levels have already planned that event.  Just didn't want it to slip from your mind.  

This Week at a Glance...

Monday	Open Library 3-4  SBDM Meeting at 4 pm
Tuesday
Wednesday	AR Goal Ends today Sharon's Retirement at 315 Action Team Meeting 3:45
Thursday	Jr. Beta Dance 5-7 pm
Friday	LWM Movie AR Reward

Hang in there...Christmas is almost here!

Friday Focus - November 29, 2019

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to eat and shop all you wanted.  I know you are ready to start the Christmas season.  It will be a busy but exciting time here at school for the next two and a half weeks.  

MAP testing begins next week.  Please make sure that students know what their goal is for each area that they test in.  Encourage them to do their very best.  I will have small treats in my office for you to get to those students who meet their goal and/or score proficient/distinguished in their tested areas. 

Lower grades will also be doing SNAP and Core testing during the next couple of weeks.

We would also like for all STAR testing to be done the week of December 9th.

We are going to wait and recognize our November Leaders of the Month on Tuesday morning.  Please add your student to the November slide by Monday afternoon.  

Mark your calendars for December 20th at 5:30!  We will have our CCES Christmas Party for all staff and their families.  It will be held at the Veteran's building.   The school will be providing the meats and drinks.  We ask that each family bring a couple of side dishes or desserts.  We will have a sign-up sheet in the office soon.  We will also be doing a gift game so everyone is encouraged to bring a $10-$15 gift. We are also going to have prizes!  Come for a night of fun!

VOLUNTEERS

We have had a few parents/family members offer to be volunteers for school.  If you need any help in your classroom or grade level - let me know and I will hook you up!

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday	*Meet with Ms. Lisa on your planning to go over Task Analysis.  We are also going to discuss positive behavior rewards for the spring semester
Tuesday	Kona Ice Day
Wednesday	No meeting today
Thursday
Friday

Have a great week!

Friday Focus - November 22, 2019

Hang in there - only two days next week!  Monday and Tuesday several students and staff members will be gone on the Wilderness trip.  

For those staying behind, use these two days wisely.  It is a great time to review material already covered or take a couple of days to explore something new.  Just make sure it is beneficial to your students.

Reminders:
*Don't forget to do you peer observation if you haven't already done so - cc Valerie and I in the feedback email you send to the teacher you observed.
*We will be ready to MAP test when we return from Thanksgiving Break.  Every student should know their individual goals before they take the test!  Encourage students to give it their all and reach their goals!
*Monday, December 2nd I will meet with teachers individually on your planning to share the feedback from the task analysis.  
*Remind students that are Ronald McDonald drive ends on Tuesday!
*4th and 5th grade teachers - please remember to do the safety survey with students.  

Sunday Shout-Out November 17, 2019

School is just a busy place and this is a busy time of year.  Sometimes we all get lost in all that is going on - myself included.  Despite all the busyness, we have to remind ourselves to take time to really see and listen to our students.  There is so much going on all the time and so much that we are responsible for, it is easy to forget that the RELATIONSHIPS we have with our students is the most important thing!


*Reminders for the week
-Task Analysis due to me by the end of the day on Monday
-Remember to be thinking about your Project Based Learning Experience for the year.  We will discuss at PLC's soon.
-This week we will be doing our six week intervention meetings during PLC so please bring student data.  Also - intervention teachers and special education teachers need to attend the days that their collaborating grade levels meet.
-Thanksgiving House Meeting on Friday during lunch time.  More information will be coming soon.
-Wednesday afternoon at Action Team meetings we will be putting up our House Christmas trees in preparation for Friday. 

This Week at a Glance...

Monday	-21st Century Monitoring Visit -PD Road Trip to Columbia - leave at 5 pm from CCES - finish the rest of the book
Tuesday	Progress Reports go home
Wednesday	-Action Team meeting at 3 pm
Thursday	-Dipping Dots -5 pm Family Literacy and Learning Night at CCHS for all Cumberland County students
Friday	-House Meeting from 11:00 until 12:30

Have a great week!

Saturday Night Live - November 9, 2019

Over $28,000 - what a success!  Thank you for all your hardwork toward our classroom fundraiser and Fall Festival.  Be thinking of whole school needs that we have - we will brainstorm this week during PLC. We will also discuss when we want to do the pizza parties and free afternoons.

TASK ANALYSIS

A couple of weeks ago I asked you to bring a task/lesson to PLC's that you wanted to improve upon and feedback from your peers.  There was great conversation that came from that and we want to expand on that.

Task analysis is something that we are going to start doing at the district level.  We are asking that every teacher turn in a task that students will complete sometime before Christmas break.  A team will look at that task and give you feedback on it.  Just like before, turn in something that you feel like could be improved upon.  Please have these tasks to me by Monday, November 18th.  When you turn it in - also include a document that describes how this task will be used with students.  You will also want to include the standard that you are wanting to teach and students to practice.  Please be thorough in your description - this will give the team a good idea of how the task will be used in your classes.  If you have questions - please let me know.   

CCES, the 21st Century Learning Center and the UK Extension Office will be having a Family Retreat this Friday night from 5:00 until 8:00.  We need a few staff members to volunteer to help us that night.  This is a great opportunity to get a few planning hours if you still need them! It will mostly involve mingling with families, a little set-up and clean-up and one 30 minute activity with the students!

*We will have Panther Time and PLC's this week.  

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday	3:00-4:00 Open Library 4:00 SBDM meeting
Tuesday	Kona Ice Day (schedule same as usual)
Wednesday	Fall Picture retakes and Holiday Pics 3:00 Leadership Team meeting
Thursday
Friday	Mid-term ends - grades need to be posted 5:00 - 8:00 Family House Retreat at CCES

Have a great week!

Sunday Shoutout - November 3, 2019

It's here!  The classroom competition has been a huge success so far - we are almost at $22,000.  Great job of reaching and surpassing our goal of $18,000.

We are going to move all activities for Friday night indoors due to the forecasted high for Friday being 43 degrees.  We will still have games, music, and plenty of food.  We are not going to have the bouncy houses or the giant slide 😥.  I have attached a picture below of the location of events. If you have questions - please let us know.  We will have a brief teacher's meeting on Wednesday afternoon to finalize plans.  Please invite, invite, invite through Remind.  We will be announcing the classroom winners for the zoo trip at 6:45 in the gym.

*Fall Leadership Retreat on Thursday beginning at 4 pm at the state park.  This is always so much fun and I don't expect any less this year!

*No Panther Time or PLC's this week

*No 21st Century classes this week

This Week at a Glance...

Wednesday	Announcing Leaders of the Month at morning assembly - several have not added yours to the slide - please do so before Wednesday morning *3 pm - brief teachers meeting to finalize plans for Fall Festival
Thursday	Leadership Retreat from 4-7 at DHLSP
Friday	9 am - 4th and 5th grade attend Veteran's Day program at CCHS FALL FESTIVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great short week!

Friday Focus - October 25th, 2019

Woohoo!  We are surpassing our goal of 80% of students being on grade level or making 1.2 years growth!  That is a direct result of the hard work you are doing in the classroom and your dedication to seeing students improve.  Way to go!  Keep in mind, that we typically see a decrease in scores when we take the test is December.  Let's change that this year and see the scores increase!

Next week at PLC's, I would like for you to bring a task or lesson that you plan to teach in the next couple of weeks.  Choose one that you feel like needs improvement.  Think about the areas we discussed on Wednesday afternoon at the meeting.
-Could you add more HOT (higher order thinking) questions to this lesson?
-Does the task call for students to think at a higher level of Blooms?
-Does the tasks at centers or station rotations need improvement?  Are they meaningful?  Are they on grade level?  Will students be given feedback on the task?  
-Could a group activity use improvement?  Does the activity truly call for collaboration among students or is it simply a task that students are going to complete while sitting with a group?
-Do you need help creating a good formative assessment that is rigorous and aligned to the summative assessment?
-How could your lesson encourage more student discussion and questioning?
-How could the task be changed to truly engage students  - especially to be cognitively engaged?

Remember - don't bring your best lesson.  Bring one that you want to make better.  

Please remember to nominate your class to spin the wheel IF they have had good hallway behavior this week.  Please add it to the Monday morning slide.

By Friday please add your Leader of the Month to this slide.  

Safety Reminder - Please check attendance each class period.  This is an area that we have not been very consistent with in the past. It is my fault - I have never emphasized it.   However - it is a real safety concern.  At the beginning of each class, please account for every student.  Check Infinite Campus to see if the student is absent.  If you can't see it on there - call the office.  If a student is missing or not in class - we need to know that as soon as possible.  

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday	Open Library from 3-4 pm
Tuesday
Wednesday	3 pm - Literacy Team meeting
Thursday	Book Character Dress Up Day No 21st Century HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Reminder - no parents at the Halloween parties!
Friday

 *Alice in Wonderland play this week at LWM - 3 showings - Friday and Saturday nights at 7 pm and Sunday afternoon at 2 pm.  Several CCES students are involved.  

Sunday Shout Out- October 20, 2019

I think every week I say that we have a busy week ahead and this week is no different.  Tomorrow we will have our KPREP celebration and Pod day.  All the details for that day were sent in the earlier email.

Tuesday we will host staff members from Cumberland, Clinton and Monroe counties for our annual instructional rounds.  This is a chance for us to offer a problem of practice and receive feedback from other educators.

After discussing in PLC's last week - we decided on the following focus for our instructional rounds:

Problem of Practice- Key Resources for Classroom Instruction

CCES teachers have diligently worked to align instruction and assessments to the Common Core standards.  We continue to see growth at all levels that we feel is a direct result of this work.  However, we realize that we must continue to work to keep our instruction rigorous and require students to think and perform at high levels.  Although staff is convinced of the need to increase rigor, students are easily frustrated and quickly give up. The staff is struggling with ways to provide the kind of scaffolding to students that will increase their sense of efficacy and result in their exhibiting perseverance in pursuing higher order tasks and answering questions involving higher order thinking.  Teachers express difficulty in finding ways to keep instruction rigorous while reaching those students who are not performing at grade level. 

New research from The Opportunity Myth  shows us that:

1. Most students do what they’re asked in school— but are still not ready to succeed after school.
2. Students spend most of their time in school without access to four key resources: grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and teachers who hold high expectations.
3. Students of color, those from low-income families, English language learners, and students with mild to moderate disabilities have even less access to these resources than their peers.
4. Greater access to the four resources can and does improve student achievement—particularly for students who start the school year behind.

How can this learning lead us to provide better, more rigorous instruction for our students? 

What are our strengths in regards to the four key resources? 

What are our weaknesses?

Focus Questions:

1.      Is the assignment grade appropriate?

2.      What evidence is present of strong instruction?  Are clear learning objectives provided?  Is learning scaffolded?  What level of discussing, questioning, thinking is being required? Is feedback being provided to students?

3.      What level of engagement is being demonstrated by the students? Are students compliant, passively engaged, actively engaged, cognitively engaged?

4.      What level of expectations does the teachers have for student learning in the class?

Teams will be visiting classrooms from 9:00 until 10:30 on Tuesday morning for 15 minute visits.  Please make students aware that the visitors may ask them questions about their learning or tasks.  

Feedback from the rounds will be shared on Wednesday afternoon at the action team meetings. 

Congrats to the House of Perseverance!

Wednesday we will celebrate our first nine weeks house winner - the House of Perseverance!  We are declaring a Red Out Day.  Please encourage your students to wear red in support of this great house.  

To celebrate - we will have a short parade on Wednesday morning immediately following morning assembly.  Members of the house of Perseverance will stay in the gym while everyone else goes and lines up in the front hall.  

Little things that you can do during the day to celebrate are encouraged!

Wednesday we will also be doing our 1st nine weeks awards in the gym.  Parents are welcome to attend and will enter at the side gate.  

Check the living calendar for all the events going on this week.  I have highlighted important things here but keep a check on the calendar!