5-1 Cleans Up - It was fun to watch 5-1 (plus some extras) greet, clean and help out at Pizza Ranch last night during "Tip Night." What a great turnout and my family enjoyed our dinner out! Jen commented that it was nice to see the kids working to earn money for something they want and I agree! Thank you Ms. Linn for organizing this and to everyone who came out or donated money to the cause.
Writing Probes & Gates - The writing prompts should be completed. Please share the fall and winter writings from students during parent-teacher conferences and keep those on files. In addition to sharing Gates with parents, make sure your updated file is located on the intranet. The shared team document should be updated too - I will analyze this information to share with staff & the school board. Email it to me if you're having issues doing it.
Literacy Work - I appreciated the feedback and discussion Wednesday. If you team already had an agenda/plans for Monday's PLC time, you should hold off on completing the writing matrix until time permits. Norma, Rebecca & I will meet soon to discuss the next step for teams with our writing curriculum work. I will get information to you after our meeting.
Professional Development - What we have done this year during "professional development" time is unlike anything this district has done during the previous five years of Reading First and likely any year prior to that too. The past five years we have had a single focus: reading. During the first five months of this year, we have been involved in multiple tasks and new learnings. At times, this may feel overwhelming to some and unfocused to others. Recent conversations with one staff member lead me to the simple realization: although I believe we have focus this year (improving learning & instruction across all subjects & areas), I have never articulated this or discussed it with you as a staff. What may appear as too many irons in the fire or scattered, does have purpose. What we have done so far this year is amazing. Individually and in teams, we have increased our technology skills, defined our essential outcomes, written formative assessments, began to meet the needs of all our students in math and found time to discuss curriculum with our primary and secondary colleagues. Next week, we will begin to respond to the question we have raised: Are we using formative assessments correctly? What was done during five years of Reading First was great, but the need to work on and improve in the areas left untouched was needed and now we have been given the time to do it. Many have made the connections and come to the understanding that in order to meet student needs, we need to focus on many areas - not just one. It won't get done this month or even this semester, but we cannot stop to focus on one single thing or initiative this year and continue to ignore the rest. I appreciate and value your work, your feedback and your focus on student learning. We have improved student learning and will continue the mission to do so.
Coming up…
Jan 26th – Monday Assembly & PLC
Jan 27th – Iowa Core Curriculum meeting (Shenandoah & Webster)
Jan 28th – Deadline for parents to return sheets; Early Out: PD @ HS (Formative Assessment)
Jan 28th – Student Advisory Group for January has lunch with Mr. Barry
Jan 29th – PT Scheduling; teachers meet at Washington Intermediate @ 3:45 pm;Jan 29th – Barry, Montgomery & Linn PWIMing in Des Moines. :)
Website of the Week
Our very own Links to Use on our Washington webpage!
If you have a link you want added or one that you always have your students use, please email it to Brenda. She will get it posted on this page for you, students and/or parents to have easy access too!
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