May 7 , 2010

PTO Carnival Tonight!!

5- 8 pm @ IPS

PTO Carnival - Thank you to everyone who has helped prepare for tonight and to those helping after school and this evening. It is quite an event at quite a time of year! Rain or shine, I know we will have a big crowd this evening. Please talk to you students about the event tonight and how it helps us provide books, materials and technology to the classroom!

FORGOT TWO ITEMS... (added 10:00 am)
Summative & ITSC Conferences – I will be scheduling summative and ITSC (3-yr reviews) next week for all teachers under my supervision. The appointment will come from the office and it will include 10 minutes for summatives and 20 minutes for summatives/ITSC conferences. All summative conferences for classified staff who are under my supervision (including all paras at WIS) will take place the week of May 17. In addition to the summative review with classified staff, it would include a conversation about position and/or role changes for the 2010-11 school year.

FORGOT TWO ITEMS... (added 10:00 am)
ITBS Results – Individual student results will be shared with students the over the next couple weeks. We will identify a day the reports will be sent home with students after it is discussed with IPS & MS.
May 5th PLC minutes were emailed out by Jeannie.  I appreciate your discussion, suggestions and follow up with the items.  Everyone at Washington should take a look at the notes regarding the Tiger Behavior Plan as we are all involved in this program.  Individually or within your Monday/Thursday PLC time, please continue planning/discussing and then provide me additional feedback if needed.  I will have a "menu" of lessons that could be taught in the fall by classroom teachers for your team to review Monday/Thursday.  Please give your feedback as to what will be vital for everyone to teach each fall or semester.

May 12th PLC time will be focused on literacy data.  After seeing our ITBS scores, this is an extremely important afternoon for our staff and students.  Gates and fluency will be completed by then and the ITBS item analysis data will be available in my office.  Please complete the appropriate forms for your current students and the students coming to you next year.  I will email these to teams early next week.  This will also be the day to review your 2009-10 reading SMART Goal and structure your 2010-11 reading SMART Goal.  As the data indicates, a solid, team-driven plan for literacy next year will be vital to improving our students' achievement scores in reading.  Having both teams in the same room may be important as you review and set your SMART goals for next year.  This needs to be a building effort. 

Summer Curriculum Work - Our ICC leadership team will be meeting on Tuesday to discuss a two-day summer curriculum workshop to finalize curriculum (fix gaps and lay out essential skills by grade level), learn more about how to implement 21st century skills within the content areas and discuss a district-wide behavior plan (response to intervention).  From our building, Mark Haufle is involved in Tuesday's meeting.  More information about this summer's workshop will be out soon! 

The End Is Near? ...but we still have 14 instructional days left in the school year.  There is much left to be accomplished so please help make every moment count by providing engaging and meaningful lessons and activities! Providing some great hands-on learning experiences that are directly linked to your curriculum is a great way to keep student motivation and engagement high. I would also encourage you to continue being proactive, positive, yet consistent as we finish the school year. It is very important we do not let up on our high expectations for students...both academically and behaviorally!

Thank you to Jan and Melanie West for creating a commercial to promote our Third Annual Reading on the Square day on May 21st.  It is posted on our WIS website and will be on KCSI over the next couple weeks.

Dates to Notes can be found in our May newsletter on our webite.
May 10 – 4th Grade Iowa Day (History Center)
May 10 – 3rd Grade Parent Orientation planning mtg (Haufle's rm)
May 11 – ICC Leadership meeting @ IPS MC (3:45 pm)
May 12 – PLC Reading Focus
May 14 – WIS Track and Field Day (all day @ HS Track)
May 17 – Board Meeting, 6 pm (5th grade proposal presentation)
May 19 – PLC Math Focus
May 20 – 3rd Grade Parent Orientation Night (6:30 pm)
May 21 – 3rd Annual Reading on the Square
May 26 – End of Year Picnic @ Fairgrounds
May 27 – Transition Day
May 28 – Assemblies; Last day 1:10 PM dismissal