Thursday, September 15, 2011

There was not enough parent interest to move student between buildings to allow for the addition of teaching staff.  We qualify to add .5 to our fifth grade, but are still short fourth grade students.  Believe it or not, we would need an additional 12 students in first grade to add an FTE.  I am still working with the District Office to determine the best solution for adding support to those overcrowded grade levels.  Help will most likely come in the form of additional educational assistants.  I will keep you informed.  First and fifth grades should start brainstorming how you can best utilize added support.

Nina and Yvonne have been working diligently to get all the Universal Screening data into spreadsheets for your use.  This data is also being sent via Aaron to put into the new program which will help us sort and track information over time.  The core RtI team met on Wednesday and members are ready to help you through the next steps.  Grade levels have started to sort through data to design interventions.

Reading Store dates have been set with many of them on Wednesdays.  We moved to Wednesdays to try to alleviate some of the craziness of Fridays.  A couple of things to note; stores are set at five to six week intervals to allow time for building of points, they are often geared around holidays to assist with shopping, and items are purchased in full point increments.  Full point increments means that you need to round down to the nearest point when notifying students of what they can spend. First reading store is scheduled for Wednesday, October19th.

Parents are beginning to use Family Access to track their child's progress and to communicate with the school.  We are a week away from midterm reports - which hopefully we can eventually discontinue since parents can access information daily.  You need to keep your grade books up to date and to check for messages from parents. Bruce, Lisa and Catherine appear to have the most grades entered to date.  Stephanie S, Suzette and Catherine have posted a few messages using Skyward.  Cathy Pfeifer has been adding classroom discipline issues in Skyward, but seems that parents can't see the details.  She is going to try to use the message center.  If you see the triangle with the exclamation mark in your grade book, click on it.  It indicates that you have a message waiting.

I had the PTA look at the Operation Adopt-A-Soldier flyer that many of you expressed interest in.  I was seeking PTA support for the class fees.  They have chosen not to support this since they believe it is a program or task that could be organized or done without the cost.  If you Google the campaign and still want to participate I will cover the cost (somehow).  I will also forward another email I just received with a campaign for sending Christmas cards to soldiers.

Students (people) respond to things that are tracked.  For instance, students will want to be on time when they learn that their attendance is important to the entire class earning popcorn.  If you let them know about the behavior tracking forms that you are completing and turning in, they take notice that their behavior matters throughout the building.  Sandy has had some wonderful conversations with her boys about these topics.

Friday we will receive our first shipment of food for students who may suffer from chronic hunger.  These food packs are actually purchased (not donated) to provide easy to prepare meals for the days students are not in school.  If you have students that you think would benefit please submit their names to me as soon as possible.  We will take the necessary steps to communicate with families and get permission.  If you are not sure what to look for refer to the attached checklist.  Signs of Chronic Hunger