Push Through, Set the Milestone

Team,

With five days until spring break, we need to have a strong finish to the week.  Consider this week the precursor to the next chapter for students and your leadership.  I like to tell students that when they return from spring break, they are nearly sixth graders or which ever the next grade is for them.  It's an opportunity to solicit greater responsibility and remind students that we are closing out the year and this is the final push for learning so they are prepared. 

This week we have a district visit to view our systems, classroom instruction, common area procedures, and growth since the last visit in September.  Be sure our growth is visible and palpable; we have made tremendous strides this year -- take a moment to reflect with students and teammates - our work is paying off.  Reviewing progress data for acceleration plans, growth is happening and it is a direct result of purposeful instruction and monitoring student progress.  Thank you for your diligence.

We will have faculty meeting this week, Kim Linkhart will be at King to move us forward with teacher clarity.  Be prepared by jotting down a standard and learning target you are teaching this week along with the success criteria for students to compare with meeting outcomes.

Be sure to check the living calendar and daily updates.  Remember the third grading cycle ends today and grades are due in Infinite Campus by March 29th.  

Have a great week!

Two Week Push

Team,

We have two weeks until spring break and approximately 50 days left in this school year.  As we move forward with continuous improvement, please reflect on the following:

• How are we utilizing professional learning communities and the PLC process to increase student learning?

• The work of PLCs is centered around the four key questions we must ask ourselves:
• What do we expect our students to know and be able to do?
• How will we know if they have learned it?
• What will we do if they have not learned it?
• What will we do if they already know it?

• For each student, are they on track to be transition ready?  
• For fifth grade teachers, are students nearly ready to defend their learning?  Are they making progress towards fifth grade MAP end of the year benchmarks?
• For students in grades K-4, are students making progress towards MAP end of the year benchmarks?  How many students in your class will be transition ready (prepared for the next grade level)?  How will we plan for targeted support with students moving forward who are not transition ready by the end of the school year?

We must continue to maximize time and be purposeful with our planning and use of daily formative assessment to drive instruction.  Please do not hesitate to reach out for assistance.

Revised Timelines:

Over the past two weeks, we have had many changes to our schedule and now we need to get back on track.  Please take time to check the living calendar and be mindful of upcoming dates.

• PLC for 5th -- Planning for defenses
• PLC for 2nd-4th -- Develop learning checks, update cycle maps, and writing across content
• PLC for K/1 -- Guided reading lesson study

Next Tuesday we will have embedded PD with Jesse Matill (district reading specialist) -- move from Monday.

We will have faculty meeting this week.

Welcome to Mrs. Georgana Windley (4th grade teacher) and Mercedes Herrera (2nd grade instructional assistant).  Thanks to Ms. Blair for moving to kindergarten to cover until Mrs. Schmidt returns.

Thank you to all who participated with planning and facilitating Literacy Night!  Shout outs to Ms. Gamble, Mrs. Stith, Ms. Camp, Ms. Flener, Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Martin, Ms. Williams, Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Green, Mr. Mays, Ms. Stivers, Ms. Mundell, Ms. Miller, Ms. Vedula, Ms. Mozier, Ms. Jones, Ms. Buckley, Ms. Perkins, and Ms. Fields.  I hope I have not left anyone off this list -- I greatly appreciate all your work and dedication to our students.

Progress Monitoring

Team,

We have approximately 40 days until KPREP testing.  This week, we measure progress and celebrate student growth according to acceleration plans and learning checks.  Please continue to set learning objectives and utilize daily formative assessment to push and make adjustments to instruction.  This is the work of growing students and our professional practice.

Friday (3/8) will be our second progress monitoring check for acceleration plans.  For this check please print reports from online learning programs (iRead, Reflex, etc.) and provide progress monitoring sheet updates that show student progress with targeted support.  If you have questions or concerns, please let me know prior to Friday.

This week, we will not have faculty meeting, please come participate with Literacy Night and support our students and families.

FYI:  The third grading cycle ends March 13th and Opinion Writing Pieces are due March 15th.

Have a great week!