February 15 - 19

DIBELS

Thanks for all of your hard work getting every yellow and red student assessed. If you still need help or have make-ups please try to get these done by the end of today. Remember now we can focus on remediation and we will progress monitor our red students only again by Friday, February 26. With all the snow days we haven't had as much time to focus on remediation, but now that we are back to normal hopefully, we can use the DIBELS data to group and target certain skills during small group instruction. I hope the model lessons helped you get some new ideas and I have some of the packets of activities ready in my office for check out. Please use these during your guided reading or remediation time. These activities can be used by your assistants, volunteers, or yourself. Let me know if you have questions.

Kindergarten Registration

Please be aware we will be holding Kindergarten registration in the lobby area on Thursday, February 25 and on Monday, March 1. If you have questions or parents with questions please direct them to the office. We will be offering tours of our school on both days so be prepared for visitors.

Accelerated Reading

Thanks to everyone for your support during our AR Doughnut Sale. It was a huge success and we raised $400.00. This money will be used to support our AR end of quarter celebrations, the AR store at the end of the year for students meeting their goal EVERY quarter, and most of all for our AR Festival of Fun. If our student body reaches 30,000 points we will have a day of fun for ALL students including a bounce house, various games, and yummy snacks.

Please remember to set your third quarter goals in the computer so students can monitor their own progress. Also, encourage students to record books and earn their Chick-Fil-A prizes from the W-S DASH reading program. Remind fourth and fifth graders to keep reading in order to compete in the Battle of the Books competition! We have tons of reasons and incentives to keep our students reading! Thanks for your help and support with all of these programs!

February 8 - 12

Folders and Data Sheets

If you have not done so already, please bring me your literacy folders, math cards and data sheets. I will work as hard as I can to get them back to you as quickly as possible. I realize with possible retention letters going home you may need a folder for a conference so just let me know.

DIBELS

Even though we missed several instructional days last week, we are still going to stick with the same progress monitoring schedule that I gave you in your data planning meeting. You should be prepared to progress monitor both your red and yellow students by the end of the week. Remember you must look at the student's individual score for each assessment to determine if they need to be progress monitored. If you have questions let me know.

The FCRR activity packets I discussed with you are almost ready for check out. They will be housed in a crate in my office and you can check out one at a time for now until we build up the collection a little more.

I am enjoying visiting your classrooms. Thanks for sharing your students with me and I look forward to watching them grow and progress the remainder of the year.

AR Update

This is just a reminder that we will have another AR doughnut sale on Thursday, February 11 during morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. Please share this information with your students and encourage them to bring 50 cents for one or $5.00 for a whole box.

Winston-Salem DASH Reading Program

Remember to send home the parent letters if you have not already so we can communicate the expectations to everyone. This program is open to second through fifth graders. Please give each student a blue reading log to record their reading and make sure they write their name and the teacher's name on the paper. When they have achieved their first goal you can turn those sheets into me and I will give you their prizes. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks for your help and support with this incentive program.

Read To Me

By Jane Yolen
Read to me riddles and read to me rhymes,

Read to me stories of magical times.

Read to me tales about castles and kings.

Read to me stories of fabulous things.

Read to me pirates and read to me knights,

Read to me dragons and dragon-book fights.

Read to me spaceships and cowboys and then,

When you are finished -- please read them again.

Jan. 18 - 22

DIBELS

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! I'm sure after all the DIBELing last week we all needed that extra day. Thanks to everyone for your hard work and flexibility last week during our Middle of Year DIBLES benchmark assessments. This is our learning year and we had too much time during the sweep at the beginning of the year. This time we didn't have enough time. Hopefully by our third try at the end of the year we will get it right. I will be visiting your classes again on Tuesday to try and finish DIBELS make-ups. We will examine our DIBELS data at your planning meetings next week. We will also be creating some activities you can use for remediation and progress monitoring.

Progress Monitoring Schedule

Jan. 29 - Red
Feb. 12 - Red & Yellow
Feb. 26 - Red
March 12 - Red & Yellow
March 26 - Red
April 9 - Red & Yellow
April 23 - Red

Kindergarten Registration

Spread the word! We are looking for upcoming Kindergarten students for next year! A flyer will go home soon with all the information. We will hold Kindergarten registration at Gibson on February 25 and March 1. Remember students must be five years old on or before August 31, 2010.

Mark Your Calendar

Jan. 25 - Names due for students in danger of retention (sheet in your box Tuesday, Jan. 19)

Jan. 26 - First grade planning - AM

Jan. 27 - Second grade planning - AM

Jan. 28 - Kindergarten Parent Conferences

Feb. 1 - PhotoStory Basics Technology workshop at 3:15

Feb. 3 - Report Cards go home
Feb. 3 - Feedback due from each grade level on ELA & SS essential standards

Feb. 5 - Literacy folders and math cards due

Jan. 11-15

DIBELS

Please refer to the MOY DIBELS Sweep Team schedule and have your students divided into two groups ahead of time. Also please prepare two areas for testing and plans for students not being tested. The sweep team members will bring a Nokia, sync cord and benchmark testing book for classroom teachers to use. Please remember to sync your Nokia device before testing and after to ensure your data is saved. If you have new students that are not on your class list or students absent on your testing day please email me their names so I can make sure they are tested.

ACCESS Testing for ESL Students

All ESL students must take the ACCESS test during the testing window - Feb. 1 - March 19.

Kindergarten Registration

Spread the word! We are looking for upcoming Kindergarten students for next year! A flyer will go home soon with all the information. We will hold Kindergarten registration at Gibson on February 25 and March 1. Remember students must be five years old on or before August 31, 2010.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful holiday break.

DIBELS

Remember before the break I reviewed with each grade level the middle of year benchmark assessments. If you need or want to practice you may come by and check out a device this week. We will begin testing on Tuesday, January 12th. I will email the schedule to everyone again as a reminder. Remember to plan something for students to work on independently or with your assistant while we are testing. I am also going to place a MOY DIBELS Reminders sheet in your box. Please review that before testing begins next week. If you have questions or concerns please let me know. Thanks and I can't wait to see the growth in your students' results!

Reminders

Jan. 5 - Kindergarten ESL tutoring begins

Jan. 12 - 14 - DIBELS MOY Benchmark Assessments

Jan. 22 - End of Quarter

Jan. 25 - Names due for students in danger of retention

Jan. 26 - First grade planning - AM

Jan. 27 - Second grade planning - AM

Jan. 28 - Kindergarten Parent Conferences

Feb. 3 - Report Cards go home

Feb. 5 - Literacy folders and math cards due

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December 14-18

DIBELS

Thanks for all your hard work so far with DIBELS. I'm glad that we are able to use the information gathered to identify students needing extra reading remediation. As you look over the schedule, please make sure ALL of your red students are progress monitored by the end of the day on Friday. With all the holiday events going on this week, you do not have to wait until Friday. You can come by my office and check out a device when you have time.
The middle of year DIBELS benchmark assessment schedule has been set and will take place on January 12, 13, & 14 in the afternoon from 12:30-2:30. Please check your email for the detailed schedule and plan accordingly.

Common Assessments

As you give and check your math common assessments please remember to let that data help to drive your instruction and your math remediation. If you need help with this please let me know. Thanks for your hard work in developing these assessments and analyzing them.

Happy Holidays

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas." ~ Peg Bracken.

December 7-11

Science Carnival

Thanks for all of your hard work, preparation and planning. The students were very excited and enjoyed the various science experiments and activities you exposed them to last week. If we plant the foundation and excitment now hopefully they will participate in our school science fair in the future.

DIBELS

Please check your class summary reports and make sure all of your red and yellow students have been progress monitored. This is the last time you have to check your yellow students until our middle of year benchmark. We will check red students once more the week of December 14-18. Thanks for all the juggling and time management it takes to get the remediation and assessments completed. Let me know if I can help in any way at all.

Planning Days

You can register now for your planning days this week in order to receive credit. I will be meeting with kindergarten and first grade teachers to train them on additional DIBELS assessments.

Need some inspiration? Check out the link below.

http://www.heartofateachermovie.com/

Happy Holidays!