Teachers - having that signed page from the Parent/Student Handbook is invaluable. Please be sure you've collected this page for each student and keep it filed and ready for reference. If you've made 3 attempts at getting a page from a family, forward the student's name to Susan, and she'll follow up for you. Three attempts could include phone calls, notes home, email, a second copy of the handbook sent home, etc. Please have this task completed by Oct. 6.
Back To School Attendees
Except for Grade 1, all our B2S Nights are done! What GREAT events, and the turn-out was pretty good. Feedback from parents is top-notch! You communicated in your messages how much you care about each child, and what you will do to support their learning. Super job! On a classroster, please highlight the names of the students who's parents attended your B2S night. Return your highlighted forms to Rebecca by Friday, Oct. 3.
Ya Gotta Back Up!
Have you saved your computer files recently? Computer melt-downs (and other technological glitches) are unpredictable. I make it a habit to back-up my files at least monthly. The story is too long to tell in a BLOG, but ask me what happened to my computer and ALL my files just a few years ago - it was a hard lesson learned, but I learned it well. Several options are available for backing your files - use Hunt's server, save to a CD, or use a flash drive. See your techie colleagues or Rebecca if you need help.
New Absence Reporting System
SmartFind will be PSD's new substitute management system. SmartFind is the call-in and web-based substitute system upgrade from the current SEMS substitute call-in system. Three groups will be trained:
- Office Administrators - those in the office who work with the current substitute system, create absences for staff, and request particular subs (3 hour training)
- Employees - PARA, PAEOP, Interpreter-Tutors, Security, and PEA members (1 hour training)
- Substitutes - both para and certificated subs (2 hour training)
A video tutorial (similar to the TAC training tutorial) will be available soon for all three groups.
Hunt's office staff will be trained first, and then we'll offer training to our teachers and paras. Training for all staff must be done during the week of October. We will likely capture some of the before and after school WAC time because our staff meeting and LIC Wednesday's are full of other activities. The system goes live on Sunday, November 2, 2008.
Reading PLUS Begins Oct 1
Interns from PLU will be working with 15 Grade 2 & 3 students in the area of reading. They will be helping to build confidence and motivation to read. PLU interns and Reading PLUS students will meet weekly on Wednesdays from 12:30 - 3:15 in portables 4, 5, and room 2. A HUGE thank you to Sandy and Rachel for offering your teaching spaces to this important team. Thank you grade 2 & 3 teachers for helping to expedite this opportunity by fowarding student names to Susan. Please join me in welcoming our three PLU interns.
Bond & Levy
It is important that our community is as informed as possible about the upcoming Bond and Levy. In addition, it is important that we comply with all of the 'rules' when discussing them with the public while on 'company time.' See the following link for a detail of the 2009 Bond and Levy.
DIBELs/ORF
The DIBELs/ORF team worked hard last week to see every student - it was no small task - and a make-up session will be scheduled soon. Thank you for your flexibility and patience. You should have received a hand-written copy of the data for your class. Rebecca and Susan also have copies, if you didn't get one. We will be examining this data at CSIP, in committee groups, at grade level teams, and in Advisory coming up soon! Do you have feedback regarding this process? What seemed to work well? Do you see a problem that you have a solution for? How will you use your data to help you make instructional decisions?
WASL Reports
Grade 4-6 Teachers - a copy of your current group of students' WASL scores were placed in your box. If a student is new to Hunt this year, their WASL scores are likely at their previous school. Please send an email to Carol noting the students who are missing WASL reports - we'll try to contact their previous school for a copy.
Oct. 1 LIC - Building Writing Scoring
Writing Scoring is a team effort - please plan to score your writing papers as a team to capture the collective knowledge and calibrate the scoring process. We'll meet briefly in the library to review the process and then break into grade level teams. Before Wednesday collect the following items - writing notebook, student writing assessments, scoring rubric, and recording sheet for your students.
A copy of your classes writing scores will be due to Susan on Oct. 8.
Oct 8 C/T LIC Wednesday
Our PEA staff needs to review the changes made to PEA's Evaluation section of the contract. We will spend part of this time looking at the new language and applying it to the work you do. More details to follow.
Oct. 9 LID Professional Development Plans
Morning Work
K-3 ELO ides and plans for primary
Rebecca & Nancy
(place tbd)
4-6 Writing Student Learning Plans
Susan & Michelle
Computer Lab
Reading Interventions Training
Vince Pecchia, Literacy Director
place to be announced
Did You Know?
You can print out each week's Blog? Consider making it a part of your substitute notes.
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