Week 28: March 20-24

Bullock Brief

B week for duty [link here].  

Habit 7 Schedule.  The full schedule is here [link here].

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
D	E	F	1/2 day-No Habit 7 Clubs 8:30-9:30	A

All events can be found on the shared Master Bullock calendar.

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Action Team meeting: 2:45pm in the Platform.  Action Team leads should have the agenda to their teams 48 hours in advance.  Please send meeting minutes to the staff immediately following the meeting.

Excellent job team:  The school-wide AR party was a huge success thanks to you!!  Our super readers had a great time celebrating.  I am hopeful that all 700 students will work hard in 4th quarter to meet their goals to celebrate reading and meeting their goals. 

Teacher and TA of the Year:  Please cast your vote for the 2016-17 teacher of the year [vote here].  The voting form for TAs is located here [vote here].  Please vote by Monday, March 27th. 

Summer School:  In order to start summer school planning, please complete an application so Wendy and I can start working on assignments and numbers based on the budget [link here]. This is addition to the form you placed your name on earlier.  Summer School will be held from June 15th - June 22nd for grade 3rd-5th.   

Interview Team:  I need to convene our 2017-18 interview team.  I would like to have representatives from K/1, 2/3, 4/5, and specialists.  In the past, we have also included students when we can.  Being a part of this team is a wonderful leadership opportunity at our school.  I depend heavily on our interview team.   Interviews will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after school.  I understand that not every member can make every meeting.  The more consistently we have the better.  Email me if you are interested.

Druthers:  It is that time of year for our Druthers (noun: a person's preference in a matter).  I will have a hard copy in your box on Monday.  The digital copy is located here [link here].  Please return to me by Friday, March 28th.  The druthers is confidential and is very helpful in planning. 

Look Fors:  One of the K-2 "look fors" is time on task.  Every minute our students are in school is  a moment for learning to occur.  Please remember that our snack times need to be "working snacks."  Please make sure computer activities are rigorous, carefully planned and monitored. Be cognizant to time-wasters (sharpening pencils, packing-up, transitions, bathroom breaks, etc.) and establish processes to save time.   Full-length videos cannot be shown without prior approval (Instructional clips to build background knowledge that aligned with instruction are certainly permissible).  Please make sure we are "bell to bell" teaching/learning.

Instruction:  During our K-2 vertical PLCs and in individual 3-5 PLCs,  the need for spiral review has emerged numerous times.  Ms. Grace has provided excellent spiral review materials with the calendar math and stretch math  for 3-5 math.  It is an expectation to use those provided materials (see math block suggestions for timing) and provide timely feedback. Spiral review is also needed for sight words, academic/content vocabulary (see resource below)  and math concepts in K-2 as well.  Please ensure that review is built into your lesson plans daily. 

Calculators:  Calculators need to be used every day in 3-5 classes.  Calculators are an excellent way for students to check their work. 

Academic vocabulary:  A grade level team had a discussion about academic vocabulary this week. This resource has been shared before, but I thought it might be helpful to share again to access grade level appropriate academic vocabulary lists [link here].  This resource also provides some methods for introducing vocabulary. 

Absences: Please remember that Dowdy, Perrell and/or Clarke need to be notified prior to an absence.  We will be sending letters to folks who are not following that process.  Arranging sub coverage can present a challenge.  We went through a really tough "sick season"  this year.   We seem to be on the other side.  Yay!  Please remember to post sick leave as early as you are able to do so on AESOP.  Late posts are really hard to find coverage.  Thanks for your help in help in ensuring our instructional program is uninterrupted.  I hope everyone stays happy and healthy as the Spring arrives. 

Shower for Sosha:  Come join us to celebrate Sosha's upcoming marriage at 1:00pm in the Platform on March 23rd.  Congrats Sosha!

DPI session #3:  K-2 teachers, Claudia Lanier from DPI is returning on March 28th for a session with our K-2 teacher on written responses driving instruction. The session will be held from 2:45-4:15 in the Platform. 

PLCs:  The K-2 book study of The Next Steps in Guided Reading will continue. K-2 PLCs should break from creation for writing rubrics (with writing samples) to discuss the results from the most recent Q3 testing.  Teachers should bring their data to PLCs with an item analysis completed to discuss trends and patterns within data.

Vertical PLC notes  [link here].  

1. Create grade level rubrics for writing standards (start with EOY and then move to MOY).
2. Determine ways for students to access and review new words/vocab (Interactive word walls, personal glossary, individualized review, etc.) every day.
3. Create a list of grade level standards that need to be mastered by EOY for each grade level. 
4. Build in spiral review into lesson plans (centers, targeted games, etc). 

3-5 PLCs, we will continue our book study with The Artisan Teacher and  the discussion of high-yield instructional strategies (annotation), text structure and helpful acronyms/pneumonic.  We will dive into writing instruction together. 

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RtI:  K-2 RtI this week in Ms. Stone's room March 20th starting at 2:45pm.

Quarterly and EOG Testing Dates: 

• Cumulative test for grades 3-5:  April 18th-20th
• Science EOG - May 25th
• 3rd-5th reading EOG - May 31st (please note change)
• 3rd-5th math EOG - June 1st (please note change)
• RTA -June 6th

Instruction tip: Exemplary schools on EOGs
When text structure is the focus for prepping for EOG or summative exams, comprehension goes up.  Knowing text structure is a transfer goal.  It must happen all year.  Students need to be trained to run a marathon with  incremental exposure to longer text.  Students cannot repeatedly train on short passages

1. Students read the title and  think about what the passage might be about.
2. Students circle or underline words in the question to indicate what you are looking for
3. Students read 1-2 paragraphs...then write.
4. Go to questions and look at what they wrote and answer.  They skip what they do not know.  
5. Only go to the text on the questions they do not know.  
6. Students look for signal words or text structure.  
7. Students know there is always a main idea, text structure and vocabulary question.
8. Students identify the test structure BEFORE they read.

Info from recent Bullock Briefs (worth revisiting): Overt responses [link here].  Discipline and relationships [link here]

Quick links:  PLC schedule [link here].  Lunch schedule [link here].  PLC template [link here].  Retention forms [link here].  Looks Fors [link here].  Max Thompson tips [link here].  Field trips [English version] and [Spanish version]. 

Visit http://www.meetme.so/StefanieClarke to schedule time to meet with me

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Monthly focus:  Think Win-Win

Our leadership showcase will be held on April 7th.  Ms. Waters and the Traditions team are doing a fantastic job of preparing for this special day.  Look for further updates from the Traditions Team.  Please make sure your bulletin boards display rigorous student work and are in good shape as we lead-up to the event (and to feature student learning every day :). 

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Should have recently completed (check that it's complete):

• Peer observations due - March 15th
• AVID survey - Due March 15th

Due this week:

• 4th grade field trip and 5th grade temple visit - March 20th
• Error correction in 1-2 based on quarterly - Starting this and due March 31st
• Item analysis 1st-2nd - Due in PLCs this week
• End of Q3 - March 22nd
• 1st grade San Lee Park - March 22nd
• Spring Portraits - March 22nd
• Early dismissal - March 23rd
• Clubs - March 23rd
• Sosha's shower - March 23rd
• 5th grade AIG meeting - March 23rd
• Grade cards due - March 24th

Upcoming dates:

• SIT meeting - March 27th
• Analyzing writing with DPI - March 28th
• Grade cards go home - March 30th
• In-class awards - Due March 31st
• K Three Piggy Opera - March 30th
• Student transfer -forms due -  March 31st
• Leadership day - April 7th
• Spring break - April 10th-14th

If you put in the time to read this "beefy" brief, you can certainly wear some jeans tomorrow to start the week off.  Have a happy week.