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!

Friday Focus - October 11, 2019

Fall is finally here and we are ready to start the 2nd nine weeks of school.  I hope you have had a great break and ready to start back.  

Star testing begins this week.  Students who are on grade level (1.2, 2.2, etc) or who have made .3 years growth or more since August are the ones who will meet their goal and be rewarded.  I have ordered candy for those students and it will arrive next Tuesday.  You will be able to pick it up to give to your students then. I have order Airheads, Fun Dip and assorted candy bars.  
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STAFF AND FAMILY FALL FUN(DRAISER)

This Friday, October 18th, you and your family are invited to come to our Fall Fun(draiser) Event at 6 pm. We are asking each family to bring soups/chilis, fall foods and desserts.  The school will be providing drinks and paper products.  We will also have a bouncy house for the kids.  Bring food to share, lawn chairs and your whole family to enjoy a night relaxing and having a good time.  We will be taking donations to give to the Booher family, Claywell family and Cooksey family.  It is going to be a lot of fun - you don't want to miss it.  A sign-up sheet is in Sonya's office.  

Just a heads-up that we will be having our KPREP celebration on Monday, October 21st.  Here is a tentative schedule for the day but it will be finalized next week after our Leadership Team meeting:

7:35-8:00 -  Homeroom

8:00-8:45 -  KPREP Awards in the gym for 3rd - 5th grade - parents are invited to attend

8:45-10:45 -  4th and 5th grade celebration in gym and outside (k-3 will be in classrooms)

10:45-11:00 - Everyone meet in gym to get into pods

11:00-2:00 -  Lunch and activity rotations with pods

2:00-2:40 - Homeroom

This Week at a Glance....

Monday	-Report cards go home   -SBDM meeting at 4 pm
Tuesday	-Open Library from 3-4
Wednesday	-Leadership Team meeting at 3 pm
Thursday	-5th grade Conservation Day at Dale Hollow -Dippin Dots -Pinto Bean lunch for Cassie's class -Jr Beta Monster Bash Dance from 5-7 pm -Board meeting held at CCES at 6 pm
Friday	-3rd grade Field Trip to Jackson's Orchard -Fall Staff and Family Get Together 6 pm