Week 8: October 22, 2018

Mr. Browne's Precept

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. 

~Ian Maclaren

Honey- Do List 

• 10/23/19     Submit BIMAS plan email to Jen Mederios-Crabbe

10/31/19     Action Plan Template for Unit Completion

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

11/12/19     Superintendent's Visit to Lee Academy

11/22/19     Picture Day Make-Up

Shout Outs 

This week's shout out is for everyone! Just like when a teacher leaves the classroom they may feel anxious about how their classroom will run, a school leader feels that way when they are out of the building. Of course, it did not help my anxiety or yours that all of the first responders were at the conference with me.  This team, as always, was the ultimate in professionalism and the day ran smoothly.  I don't know what I was worried about, YOU are amazing.

The Conference

The conference that we went to was really well done. I think that we all got some good ideas about inclusive literacy from Dr. Kim Parker. Kim is a resident of our neighborhood and the mother of a 5-year-old son. I am hoping that we see her at some of our community events. 

Jessica Minahan the author of the "Behavior Code" gave a two-hour presentation that seemed like 5 minutes. She provided some strategies that I was able to put into place today. They worked!

I am looking forward to unpacking some of these as a staff and creating a common language around behavior. 

All-Star Line-Up

Behavior Action Team- Team Captain Jen

Meghan

Alyce

Jodi

SST- Team Captain Alyce

Lindsay

Shandolyn

Nee

Marc

Keri

Literacy- Team Captain Sarah

Noreen

Meredith 

Math- Team Captain Brian

Amelia

Rose

Priscilla

Sunshine Wellness Team- Captains Sam & Eleanor

Seth

Stephanie

Ben

Danielle

Traffic

We continue to make one step forward, two steps back with this issue. We have our cones thanks to facilities. We had a police presence twice last week.  On Wednesday there was a verbal altercation between the family and some of our families. Starting next week we are going to start "Ticketing" cars. Hopefully, this will be another way to help. 

Morning Announcements

I am planning on being here on Monday so this week's word of the week will be considerate.  I will be sticking with character traits for the next few weeks. I know that is what many of you are working on. 

The Quirky Holidays for next week are:

• 10/28 National Chocolate Day
• 10/29 National Cat Day
• 10/30 National Candy Corn Day
• 10/31 National Doorbell Day
• 11/1   National Author's Day

Please let me know if you think morning announcements are going better. They certainly are faster. 

TeachPoint and Professional Development

Our whole school PD is now on TeachPoint and available for you to sign up for. You will be able to manage your own PD and print your own PDPs. 

BIMAS

Thank you to all of you that have started putting your data in. Please send a quick email to Jen about when you plan to complete your data entry. Jen has also offered to provide some coverage for you if you need it complete the work. 

Governing Board Elections


This week you sent home Governing Board Nomination Forms with your students. They are due back to school on Monday. If you get some returned please send them to me in the office. I am expecting at least 5. Voting will take place during the week at before school and after school 

Week7 October 14, 2019

Mr. Browne's Precept

Normal is a setting on a washing machine. ~ Unknown

Honey- Do List 

10/18/19     Team selection due to Jodi

10/21/19      BIMAS Window opens

10/22/19     Let Jodi know if you want to be on our historic research team

10/23/19     Submit BIMAS plan to Jen Mederios-Crabbe

10/24/19     Submit student math product that demonstrates strong mathematical thinking to office. 

10/31/19     Action Plan Template for Unit Completion

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

11/22/19     Picture Day Make-Up

Shout Outs 

Keri could get a shout out every week but at the moment she is organizing the restoration and cleaning of the teachers' room. We are so lucky to have a staff that truly functions as a team. 

Rose during the professional development I realized that Rose would do a much more thorough job of pinch-hitting for Marc than I could have so I tossed the ball to her. She picked it up effortlessly and ran with it. (Sorry for the mixed sports analogies)

Pick a Team

It was brought to my attention that co-educators were unsure if they could volunteer for any of our teams. You are always welcome to volunteer and your perspective would be valued. Please see last week's Hive for a description of our teams. 

I accidentally left the Sunshine Team off of the list last week. Our Sunshine team captained by Eleanor is a very important team that attends to staff wellness. Partially in response to concerns that we have too many teams and we may be spreading ourselves too thin, I am proposing that we combine our Health and Wellness Team with the Sunshine Team with Co-Captains.  Unless someone objects we can rename the team the "Sunshine Total Wellness Team".  I dropped the health because it is part of total wellness. 

Traffic

Alyce is a champion for all children. She has worked tirelessly to create a safe drop off for our neighbor who is a medically fragile child. I want to thank all of you who have joined the fray and/or share her concern and are thinking of ways to make it better. 

Here is where we are currently with this project: 

I have put in a request for official-looking cones. This makes sense and was one of the recommendations by BPD. I am not sure if we will be able to scrounge any up from the district so if you have any large orange cones that you would like to let us borrow that would be wonderful. 

BPD and/or BPSPD are going to attempt to come at least 2 days a week at dismissal unless there is something more serious happening.  They were here this afternoon and surprisingly parents did not park there. 

We are open to any other creative solutions that someone might have. 

Behavior Support

Faculty Senate is such a good thing because it lets me know what I need to do a better job communicating about. 

We will be ordering each grade level team with two walkie-talkies (4 for K0/K1) so that you can have easy access to them at recess time, use them to contact the appropriate people when you need help with a student or facility issue. The trick will be to remember to keep them charged. I forget at least once a week. We will still check-in when we hear or see a student that is struggling as well.

 What does happen when we take a struggling student out of the room? The nuances depend on who the student is but generally, the same pattern is followed. We wait until the child has a calm and safe body. We ask the child to complete an age-appropriate number of compliance tasks. We complete some form of sensory activity while processing the incident with the child and then return the child to the classroom. 

Our goal is always to return the child to the classroom and reengage in the task as safely, quickly and efficiently as possible. We do not want to reinforce of task avoidance or 1:1 attention-seeking maladaptive behaviors. 

BIMAS

Last week there was information about the BIMAS included in the Hive. The window for the assessment opens next week.  Jen Mederios-Crabbe needs to submit the plan completing the assessment to the District as part of the CBHM grant. What this boils down to is knowing when you plan on entering the data. Jen has offered to provide coverage for your class so you can complete the process of putting the data in. Please let Jen know by 10/23 when you will be completing the data entry for the assessment. 

My Way Cafe Update

BPS Food Services sent me the following message this week:

We are excited about the new kitchen at the Lee Academy and the rollout of My Way Cafe! Our goal is to make sure you have the proper staffing and training to prepare for a successful rollout. Our experience in past implementations leads us to know that the first day of the program will be an indicator for success. 

In the past few weeks, we have been working diligently to prepare your location with trained staff in the new MWC method. Unfortunately, as we are not yet fully trained at your school site, and we will need to postpone your rollout date slightly from the original date. Your new rollout date is now November 18, 2019. I apologize for the delay, but believe it will give us better time to prepare to ensure the launch at your school is a success.

Keri has been to visit Ellison Parks to see their K0/K1 students go through the lunch line and to troubleshoot some issues. Today she sent the following message via email:

Hi teachers,

I've managed to talk to some of you in person over the last few days about the My Way Cafe launch, but I know I haven't gotten around to everyone so I figured an email could help clarify things. Please don't hesitate to follow up with me if you have questions or concerns. 

We thought we were on track for an October 21st launch but we got word Tuesday night from Food & Nutrition Services that they're going to postpone the launch until November 18th because the cafeteria staff is not yet fully trained. 

The new lunch schedule will look as follows: 

K2: 11am (breakfast cafeteria)

K0/K1: 11:30am (breakfast cafeteria)

2nd grade: 12:00pm (art cafeteria)

1st grade: 12:15pm (breakfast cafeteria)

3rd grade: 12:45pm (breakfast cafeteria)

The biggest change is having our youngest friends eat down in the cafeteria. But I know even some of the other small changes easily affect your schedules and routines. Change is hard. I'll be the first to admit I don't like change! Keep me posted if you want help thinking through anything that comes up due to the changes in lunchtimes/locations. 

We're also planning to restructure arrival procedures as we anticipate the breakfast line will take a bit longer to work through and because we'll be adding our youngest students down there to eat. No students will be entering through the front door. We'll be sending everyone around to check out breakfast. We will stop using the side door and instead have staff positioned around the back of the building for students to enter through the back door. Upon coming through the door, students will either head right to enter the breakfast line or head up the stairs to their classrooms. Here's a link to the updated arrival posts: Arrival Posts

We plan to start this new schedule about a week before the real launch - sort of a chance at a dry run. So please be prepared to start the new arrival routines and the new lunch schedule on Tuesday, November 12. We'll be communicating all these changes with families through the November school newsletter and an all-call in early November. 

Self-Reflection (Aka This week's fumbles)

I believe that self-reflection is an important part of becoming better at what we do. I choose to do it publically because I believe that opening our practice to scrutiny helps us become better at what we do. 

Preparing our awesome presenters for the consultancy

I so appreciate Stephanie and Rose for presenting a problem of practice for the consultancy. Rose was pinch-hitting at the last minute. I intended to do it but realized she had more actual knowledge of the lesson than I did. When I asked her Stephanie immediately agreed to participate. What I did not do was check-in with Rose (and Marc before her) and Stephanie about how it was going developing their problem of practice presentation or the question for the consultancy. Next time I will be more aware and check-in to offer assistance as needed. 

Communicating about the incident on Bus 539

I sent an all call to all of the students that ride bus 539 to let parents know that there was an incident on the bus. While all calls to all families go to the staff too, calls to specific groups do not. Some teachers were caught unaware when parents contacted them about this. Moving forward in situations like this I will include the staff in these calls. If something like this happens again please refer all parent inquiries to me. Some parents called/emailed to request more specifics. The response was that there was a fight between individuals on the bus and that we believe it was an isolated incident. 

Morning Announcements

Thank you to all of you that provided support about my problem of practice. It was incredibly helpful. So I believe that I am ready for the third take of morning announcements. 

9:35:00  Play 30 seconds of cultural music to alert the community that announcements are going to start.  

9:35:30 Announce what country the music was from and a fun fact about that country

9:35:40  Greet the community and offer a fun fact about the day

9:35:45 Monday: give the vocabulary word of the week. This week's word is Considerate: Thinking about the thoughts and feelings of others. 

The remainder of the week we will play more of the musical genre and have a dance break. 

9:36:06 Announce the Birthdays

9:36:16 Complete the Pledge with guest pledgers from Grade 3 (to start). 

9:37:16 Allow people the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance and close

This entire routine should be under 3 minutes. It may take a bit to make it precise. The routine keeps the things that I heard were most important from those of you that provided feedback. 

Vocabulary Word of the Week

This idea came from some of the feedback and I really liked it. I will choose 1 vocabulary word of the week, provide teachers with a large printed version of the word and a picture. We will introduce the word during Monday announcements. Teachers can refer to it during the week and we will encourage students to use the word and be attentive when they do. 

Recognizing Math Thinking

I still want to recognize outstanding mathematical thinking. Once a week please identify a student product that demonstrates strong thinking. On Thursday please send the student and their work to the office on Thursday at 2:15 to be personally recognized. Their work will then be displayed on the "Bee"utiful math Bulletin Board.  We will try this and see how it works. 

Little Things

Attendance

In order to create consistency for how tardies are entered into the system please post your classroom attendance at 9:45 every day. We also continue to experience issues with accuracy regarding attendance. It is very important that this record is accurate. For old-timers like me, there was a time when this was the most important and only data point that the state collected in the form of hand-completed registers. Currently, it is one of the few indicators that the state judges Pk-3 schools on. 

Week 6 October 7

Mr. Browne's Precept

What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while.       ~ Unknown

Honey- Do List 

10/18/19     Project plan for completing two units

10/18/19     Team selection due to Jodi

10/22/19     Let Jodi know if you want to be on our historic research team

10/31/19     Action Plan Template for Unit Completion

11/1/19       Register for whole-school PD in TeachPoint

Shout Outs 

A shout out to K2 for their work on their Blueprint for Learning.  This is an example of how the work should plan out and fit together. I am linking it here with their permission. The following are points that make this a good example:

• The professional time for the entire month is planned and aligned to school goals. 
• The tasks are aligned with the goals and outcomes of the sessions
• The plan makes good use of the coach when he is available and carries on the work when he is not

A shout out to Mr. Hampton who shifted to Mr. Ableson's room on Wednesday that those third-grade students would not have two subs. Thank you also to Ms. Frank for helping to make this possible.

A shout out to Guerlandy, Paula, and Stephanie yesterday. As a team, they worked with nurse Sam when Antenor hurt his mouth at recess. Stephanie gently rocked him as sobs shook his body. Paula accompanied Antenor and mom to Bowdoin street and worked with a friend that worked there to get them seen a little more quickly than what may have happened.  These are everyday examples of how we go the extra mile for our students and families. 

Project Plan for Units

You may recall that we set aside the 10 hours of less structured time to work on the schoolwide goal of completing our two units. Rather than set predetermined deadlines that may not naturally fit into the scope of your work we are taking a different approach. We are asking you to create a project plan for the work. 

Our goal was to design this to be both helpful for you as you refocus on the work and for the leadership team to gather info from each grade level about what support, resources and feedback we can provide and how to best provide them throughout the process.   We are asking that you complete this plan by 10/31/19. 

 GRASP

I wanted to reshare this Wiggins and McTighe resource with you as you begin to pick up your work on unit design. The acronym GRASP will be very helpful when you are designing high-quality, worthy performance assessment tasks for your unit.  You do not have to rigidly stick to the sentence stems but they could serve as a guide as we begin to do this work. 

Pick a Team

Staff members each participate on a team that helps to move the mission and vision of Lee Academy Pilot School forward. Each team will meet for 10 hours. There are plenty of teams to choose from and lots of work to be done.  This year we are establishing the following teams:

Health and Wellness- Team Captain Samantha Betti

"You can't educate a child who isn't healthy and you can't keep a child healthy who isn't educated."  - Jocelyn Elders, MD.  

Health and education are inextricably linked.  The Health & Wellness Team will focus on creating a safe and healthy learning environment for our students by developing and implementing a Wellness Action Plan that is meaningful for our students and school.  Our first meeting will be held on Tuesday 10/22 at 8am. 

Literacy Leadership- Team Captain Sarah Little

The goal of the Literacy Leadership Team is twofold.  The first is to maintain an effective and coherent literacy program that supports our students' literate lives.  The second is to ensure teacher voice in the development and constant improvement of our literacy program.  For the 19-20 school year, the LLT will (finally!) be finalizing the LAPS Handbook and working to synthesize and codify the work at different grade levels on writing about reading so that we have a way to house and access all of the exemplar tasks, student work, and criteria for success.  Finally, we will be also talking a bit about how we can improve the home-school connection when it comes to building our students' literate lives. 

We will meet approximately once a month with our first meeting on Friday, October 25th from 8:15 - 9:05.  From there we will either keep that meeting time or decide on a better day/time that works for everyone. 

SST- Team Captain Alyce Collins

The Lee Academy Student Support Team consists of a variety of school-based specialists and teachers and is facilitated by the Special Education Coordinator. It is a problem solving process that helps identify roadblocks to student success, whether they be emotional, academic, or behavioral in nature. We provide systematic assistance by connecting them to appropriate interventions and supports and will refer students for special education evaluations when necessary.  

Behavior Action Team- Team Captain Jen Mederios-Crabbe

The goal of the Behavioral Support Team (formerly the PBIS team) is to utilize school-wide data and best practices to help students develop emotional awareness and positive coping skills. We will focus on Tier 1 and 2 supports and intervention strategies. The Behavioral Support Team meets the last Monday of each month from 8-9am.

Leadership Team- Team Captain Jodi Fortuna (Commitment greater than 10 hours)

This team develops the structures and procedures to assist teacher teams in being their most efficient. They act as the advisory board to the school leader. The complete readings that apply to the work outside of school time. The Leadership Team meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month from 8-10.

Math Leadership Team- Team Captain Brian LoBue

What are the Standards for Mathematical Practice? Why are they important? How can we engage our students in mathematical habits of mind?

Through professional text, videos of teachers and students in action, analyzing tasks, and LASW, the math team will work to answer these questions and deepen our understanding of the Standards for Mathematical Practice. This work supports our students in developing a mathematical mindset, seeing math in the world around them and becoming more effective problem solvers.

Our first meeting will be Wednesday, October 30’th at 3:45. If you’re interested in joining the team and there are other valuable topics you’d like to explore, such as identifying meaningful data points used to inform instruction, we can collaboratively create a scope and sequence that is helpful for all team members.

Please email me with your first and second choice of a team by 12:00pm on October 18th

Safety Drills

At our October 29th Huddle, we will be doing a tabletop exercise to share plans for shelter in place and active shooter drills. As always please plan on arriving on time this will be important time. 

Professional Development

We have another whole-school professional development this week on Wednesday. We heard your feedback and are approaching the work from a different angle. We will be working from a consultancy/problem of practice approach.

 Grades 1,2,3 please bring an ELA lesson that you have either taught or will be teaching in the next 1-2 weeks. Preferably this will be a writing about reading lesson so that it fits seamlessly with our other work. Think about your students and the barriers that they will face in the completion of the task. The inclusion specialists will help you think about ways to break the barriers for your students. Keri, Sarah, Jen, and Kathryn will be working with your group as a way to bring all the pieces together.

K0/K1 and K2 Teachers please bring a math unit/lesson that you are working with some time in the next couple of weeks. Think about your students and the barriers that they may face in the lesson. The inclusion specialists with then consult with you and your teams about ways to break these barriers in relation to the lesson. Brian, Paula, Sam, and Alyce will be working with your group to help bring it all together.

From 4:00-5:00 1 teacher will present their dilemma regarding the lesson and meeting the needs of all learners. The group will follow the consultancy protocol to provide suggestions and resources to support the work. Then from 5:00-5:50 teachers will use the insight gained from the consultancy and the resource of your peers to work on the lessons that you have brought to the session. From 5:50 to 6:00 teachers will create the all-in for inclusion survey from the BTU.

For the K0, K1, K2 group Stephanie will be presenting for the consultancy.
For the 1,2, 3 group Marc will be presenting for the consultancy.

The theory of action is that if we apply the UDL skills and resources in a real-time practical setting with facilitation and coaching, some meaningful professional learning will occur. Though we are narrowing the scope to our current work, many of the ideas, strategies, and tools could be generalized to other areas. If you could let me know your thoughts about what you are presenting and some of the barriers by Tuesday, October 15th that would be great. The reason behind the ask is to give the inclusion facilitators a heads up on how to best support you in the work.

Co-Educators will not need to attend this PD. We will ask you to attend the WSPD on 11/20 to learn about the WIDA Can-Do Descriptors.

View from the District

The district is all in with the new TeachPoint platform. All school and district PD will now be managed through TeachPoint. Using your TeachPoint login in and going to the mortarboard you can register for all district and school PD offerings. You must register for these so that your PDPs for recertification are managed and received by you. 

I will have our whole school PD set up by 10/18. 

BIMAS

The Lee Academy is a part of BPS' Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model, It is a comprehensive model that integrates tiered supports and services within a school according to student needs. The Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System (BIMAS-2) is a key component of this tiered system. It is a 34 question rating scale that measures the social, emotional, and behavioral functioning of our students. The data collected will provide valuable information regarding the implementation of tier 1 and 2 interventions. The BIMAS is completed in the fall and again in the spring. Our fall BIMAS will take place during the weeks of October 21 and October 28. Data collected will be reviewed at our Behavior Action Team. For students that are of concern, teachers will work directly with Jen to develop progress monitoring strategies so that we can see anticipated growth in the Spring.

The Refrigerator

The fabulous Jasen Lambright, of Family Council fame, secured a donation of a 13 cu ft. fridge for our teachers' room. The donation comes courtesy of his landlord who will purchase the refrigerator and donate it to us. Hooray!

Little Things

Attendance

In order to create consistency for how tardies are entered into the system please post your classroom attendance between 9:45 every day. Students are marked tardy if they arrive at 9:35 or after.
Between 9:35 and 9:45 they will be sent to your classroom where you will mark them as tardy after 9:45 Tardy students should report to the office where they will be marked tardy. 

Literacy Honeycomb- Sarah Little

RESOURCES!

This week I wanted to share some resources that will support us in our teaching and planning as we are getting into the groove with our guided reading groups. 

The first is a re-share from last year.  It is a document for having and recording post running record comprehension conversations.  The running records that we do to help us progress monitor help us see how the students are thinking within the text.  This document (linked here) helps us see how students are thinking beyond and about the text.  It's a quick guide to a 1-2 minute conversation you can have with students after you read a text/take a running record so that you are able to get a whole picture of the reader beyond accuracy and fluency.  Take a look and let me know if you have any questions!

The second resource is a crosswalk document that links the Common Core Standards to the Fountas and Pinnell Literacy Continuum goals.  It's a helpful place to go when you're thinking about planning and if you want to see how the standards and the goals connect.  It also uses the most recent (2017) version of the Continuum, so the language of the goals is much more similar to the language of the standards. Take a look and let me know if you want to know more!

Finally - a note about the book room.  I am doing an inventory of all guided reading books and also working to type up book bin labels so that we know which books go in which bins.  It would be super helpful if we continue to use the clothespin checkout system for now so that as I'm taking inventory, I can tell which books are checked out and which books are missing.  The clothespins are right inside the door to your right as you walk into the literacy office.  I'm working to think of a better checkout system, but for now it would really help us to get a sense of our whole guided reading library if I can know which books we have, which are checked out, and which are missing.  That way we can figure out what is most essential to order.  If you need more clothespins -  let me know and please make an effort to take all of the books if you are checking that book out so that I don't accidentally pull out that title from our collection thinking we only have 1-2 of that title.  Thank you so, so much for your help with this! 

My Problem of Practice: Morning Announcements

I am feeling that morning announcements are too long and not accomplishing the goals that I would like to accomplish. After reflection, I realized that I never involved the team in the decisions or my reasons for them.

Sitting in the K0/K1 hallway I know that classes are still getting settled at 9:35 and probable can't hear the announcements

With the Buzzword, I wanted to enrich the vocabulary of our students with words that they may not hear every day. I was hoping to catch a  "buzz" about the words in the school.

With Dr. Jodi's math, I wanted to get students excited about math and to apply their skills to new and unusual situations. I wanted to honor students who demonstrated strong mathematical thinking with the math star and posting their work.

With both of these activities, I wanted students to see themselves as scholars capable of using "fancy" words and solving difficult problems.
I have a few students that are really enthusiastic about the math stars but overall participation has been pretty low. The buzzwords I think are just falling flat.

For birthday crowns not everyone sends their students to the office so I am not sure how meaningful they are to us as a community.

With the music, I want to take children to the different parts of the world and expose them to music that may be very different from what they are used to.

All in all, I want to broaden our experiences as a school community both behaviorally through the LAPS Pledge but also as scholars and world citizens.

I am asking for your help:

• How long should morning announcements be?
• How can we use morning announcements to build a sense of community as scholars, citizens of our community and the world?
• What should we include?

Could you please email me your thoughts so that I can incorporate them into the morning routine.

Far-Fetched Idea 

I am not so sure that it is far- fetched to consider renaming our school. I think it is time that we distinguish ourselves as the amazing community that we are. Of course, there is policy and procedure but I think we can rally ourselves and our community around a new name. I had yet another person go to the wrong Lee school just today.

My preference would be to choose a woman of color. Far too few of our schools are named after a woman and I want our students to attend a school where they can learn about a person who looked like them and had an impact on the world. Are there any amateur historians out there that can help find a suitable candidate?   If you are interested in taking on this challenge let me know by October 22nd. I think it could be fun!

Week 4 September 23

Mr. Browne's Precept

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. ~Martin Luther King Junior

Shout Outs 

 I would like to give a shoutout to Sarah, Sam, and Alyce for helping to move binders to make room for Miss Mellissa's music materials. Their help was essential in getting book bins moved and space cleared out in 207.

I also would like to give a second shout out to Nurse Sam for volunteering to help out at Family Movie Night. Her help will be very much appreciated.

Honey- Do List 

• September 30th: 1st Draft of Action Steps for professional growth and student learning goals
• October 4th: Copies of guided reading, intervention groups and, intervention schedule due in the office.   
• October 10th: Grade Level Blueprint for Learning objectives completed so Jodi can review
• October 15th: Goals and action plans finalized in TeachPoint

Leadership Team Update

Our leadership team met this week. We had the following meeting objectives:

• Revise peer to peer observation tool based on the leadership teams' experiences using the tool
• Develop feedback on district-led PD to inform next steps
• The team will review  Unit Development Rubrics and identify elements that we should include in our feedback form for teachers as units are completed.
• The team will understand and support the ILP process for students learning English that did not meet their State assigned benchmark
• Begin to generate ideas for students who are reading one year below grade level to be used for progress monitoring and intervention design. 

The most immediate impact of our work at this session is that we will be identifying 3 Focus Students in each classroom in grades 1-3. We will ask teachers to choose 1 student from each of their three lowest groups. We will be diving into the nuances of the literacy continuum to gather data on these students and will use this data to plan an intervention to accelerate growth. We will also gather data on how impactful the intervention was.

We will be slightly adjusting the Blueprint for Learning to provide more specificity about what we would like to see occur in certain CLTs. 

CLTs next week are designated as the beginning of the year data review. Leadership team members will be attending the second half of the grade 2 and grade 3 CLT at 11:15 to explain further.

Paula will be meeting with you to discuss the new ILP process for students learning English that did not meet their goals. This is a district mandate.

We are excited to have peer observations become a more formal part of our process this year. I am looking forward to seeing your analysis of the teaching and learning that is occurring here at our special school.

Fire Drill 

We will be having a fire drill on Monday at 10:45 am. If it is raining we will have a fire drill on Tuesday at the same time.

View from the District

It was brought to my attention this week through LeadBPS that BPS has a policy around the Pledge of Allegiance that is aligned with State Law. The important part of the policy for us is the following:

School Committee Policy and Massachusetts State Law require that “public school teachers at the

commencement of the 1st class of the day lead the class in group recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance”

(M.G.L. c.71, §69). The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, however, has ruled that although

students and teachers have the right to a daily opportunity to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance,

teachers and students have a constitutional right not to participate in the pledge. Teachers and students who choose not to participate (i.e. recite and/or stand) may not be penalized for declining to do so. All schools must comply with our responsibility to display the flag and to provide daily opportunity for recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Moving forward we will be including the Pledge of Allegiance in our morning messages in order to be in compliance with this mandate. 

News from DESE 

Please remember that DESE will be visiting on Wednesday as part of their review of BPS schools. 

One School One Book

These are the books that I am considering for my monthly reading to classrooms. There are also a few "bonus" books that look fun. 

October: Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin

Tameika is a girl who belongs on the stage. She loves to act, sing, and dance—and she’s pretty good at it, too. So when her school announces their Snow White musical, Tameika auditions for the lead princess role.

But the other kids think she’s “not quite” right to play the role.

They whisper, they snicker, and they glare.

Will Tameika let their harsh words be her final curtain call?

Not Quite Snow White is a delightful and inspiring picture book that highlights the importance of self-confidence while taking an earnest look at what happens when that confidence is shaken or lost. Tameika encourages us all to let our magic shine.

November: A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy

There's more to being a boy than sports, feats of daring, and keeping a stiff upper lip. A Boy Like You encourages every boy to embrace all the things that make him unique, to be brave and ask for help, to tell his own story and listen to the stories of those around him. In an age when boys are expected to fit into a particular mold, this book celebrates all the wonderful ways to be a boy.

December: Because by Mo Willems

Mo Willems, a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator, composes a powerful symphony of chance, discovery, persistence, and magic in this moving tale of a young girl's journey to center stage. Illustrator Amber Ren brings Willems' music to life, conducting a stunning picture-book debut.

January: Alma and How She Got Her Name- Juana Martinez-Neal
If you ask her, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela has way too many names: six! How did such a small person wind up with such a large name? Alma turns to Daddy for an answer and learns of Sofia, the grandmother who loved books and flowers; Esperanza, the great-grandmother who longed to travel; José, the grandfather who was an artist; and other namesakes, too. As she hears the story of her name, Alma starts to think it might be a perfect fit after all — and realizes that she will one day have her own story to tell. In her author-illustrator debut, Juana Martinez-Neal opens a treasure box of discovery for children who may be curious about their own origin stories or names.

February: Whoever You Are-Mem Fox
Every day all over the world, children are laughing and crying, playing and learning, eating and sleeping. They may not look the same. They may not speak the same language. Their lives may be quite different. But inside, they are all alike. Stirring words and bold paintings weave their way around our earth, across cultures and generations. At a time when, unfortunately, the lessons of tolerance still need to be learned, Whoever You Are urges us to accept our differences, to recognize our similarities, and-most importantly-to rejoice in both.

March: Just Ask! Be Different, Be You.- Sonia Sotomayer
In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges--and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we're not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

April: The Undefeated-Kwame Alexander (1-3)
Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith, and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present. The robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.
Get up, Stand up- Bob Marley (K0/K1, K2)
As a young girl goes on with her day in school, she comes across several instances of teasing and intimidation. But with loving action and some help from her friends, she's able to make things right for herself and others.

May: Auntie Luce's Talking Paintings- Francie Latour
Every winter, a young girl flies to Haiti to visit her Auntie Luce, a painter.
The moment she steps off the plane, she feels a wall of heat, and familiar sights soon follow ― the boys selling water ice by the pink cathedral, the tap tap buses in the busy streets, the fog and steep winding road to her aunt’s home in the mountains.
The girl has always loved Auntie Luce’s paintings ― the houses tucked into the hillside, colorful fishing boats by the water, heroes who fought for and won the country’s independence. Through Haiti’s colors, the girl comes to understand this place her family calls home. And when the moment finally comes to have her own portrait painted for the first time, she begins to see herself in a new way, tracing her own history and identity through her aunt’s brush.
Includes an author’s note and a glossary.

June: Ode to an Onion: Pablo Neruda and his Muse-Alexandria Giardino
A poetic, beautifully illustrated picture book inspired by Ode to the Onion by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904–1973).  Pablo has a lunch date with his friend Matilde, who shows the moody poet her garden. Where Pablo sees conflict and sadness, Matilde sees love and hope. The story is less a biography of Neruda and his muse, Matilde Urrutia (1912–1985), and more a simple ode to a vegetable that is humble and luminous, dark and light, gloomy and glad, full of grief and full of joy—just like life.

Bonus Books:
One World, One Love- Bob Marley
Swarm of Bees-Lemony Snicket
Ruby Finds a Worry-Tom Percival

Family Council and the Fridge 

Family Council is actively seeking donations for a new upstairs refrigerator. I wrote a memo for them to share with the appropriate suppliers and possible donors. In the meantime, we have taken the old refrigerator out of the building. 

Fundraising 

The family council really wants to support the school, the teachers and build a sense of community among parents and the school. In order to do this, they need an operating budget. They have several fundraisers planned throughout the year.

• Ongoing Fundraisers (Amazon, Stop & Shop, Box Tops)
• Oct-Nov Coffee Cake Sale
• Dec- Christmas Store
• Jan- 50/50 Raffle
• Feb- National Grid Fundraiser

My question for all of you is what were your thoughts about the Christmas store? It did not earn a lot of money and it sounds like it was a significant lift for the teachers, Michelle, and Mr. Ben. Is this something that we could continue. 

Michelle was a gem and did a lot of coordination work for the Family Council. I think the  Family Council Team is really feeling her loss. I think as we work on events and fundraisers it would be helpful to have an organizational liaison to work with the team and troubleshoot problems. Almost like what a wedding planner would do. The council is a great group of people to work with. If you are interested in serving the council in this way please let me know.  

Curriculum Night and Tacos 

On that note, we are having a taco pot luck the night of curriculum night. Members of the leadership team will be stationed at the entrances asking families to go to the classrooms first and then finish in the cafeteria with the community by building a taco and having dinner and conversation. We hope that you will join us for this community meal as well. 

The family council asks that staff members provide paper goods like plates, napkins, and silverware. 

I am going to supply sour cream and salsa. (My two favorite parts of the taco)

Family Council is going to supply meat and beans. 

As you have seen students from each grade level will be providing a different part of the taco. Students will be bringing those on Tuesday morning. Items can be stored in the refrigerator in my office and on my table. 

Opportunity to Make Extra Money 

Bus Attendant- 539 Afternoon Run

Our big bus 539 needs an attendant to ride the route in the afternoon. This is a great opportunity to make some extra money and bond with some cute kids.  The route is as follows:

MORTON ST@VERRILL ST 03 : 45 PM 3

MORTON ST @ LUCERNE ST 03 : 47 PM 6

228/230 WESTVIEW ST 03 : 51 PM 3

WESTVIEW ST@AMES ST 03 : 52 PM 1

361 Harvard St 03 : 57 PM 1

HARVARD ST@FRANKLIN HILL AVE 03 : 58 PM 7

AMERICAN LEGION HWY@FRANKLIN HILL AVE 04 : 01 PM 1

HARVARD ST@WALES ST 04 : 05 PM 3

GLENWAY ST @PAGE ST 04 : 08 PM 5

ERIE ST@MICHIGAN AVE 04 : 10 PM 3

WASHINGTON ST@NORWELL ST 04 : 12 PM 1

WASHINGTON ST @BOWDOIN ST 04 : 15 PM 4

BOWDOIN ST@CORONA ST 04 : 16 PM 2

GENEVA AV @ WESTVILLE ST 04 : 20 PM 6

PARK ST@GENEVA AVE

Yellow Bathroom 

Ahhh the yellow bathroom a quiet restful place to do your business, NOT. Our K friends need a bit more time and support to most effectively meet their needs. I have had several events of tears and shouts this week of friends that just could not handle the independence needed.  We also have some older friends (I am assuming) who are crawling under the stall and locking it from the inside. It is not healthy or sanitary to be crawling on that floor.  If at all possible if we could have a classroom adult teach and supervise the proper toileting routine for the next week or two that would be very helpful. I just do not think our smallest friends are there, yet.

The Little Things

In addition to the Yellow Bathroom, there are two things we need to be mindful of.

• Most importantly is attendance. Almost every day I have had one parent call and let me know that their child is present after they hear our Robo attendance call. Please be careful when taking attendance so that we are not causing families undue anxiety.  I am also tracking attendance pretty closely because I believe if we are going to close the opportunity gap we need our students with us. 
• The other is the bus binder. The bus binder is essential for a smoothe dismissal. We are already handicapped by the busses, let's support our community in what we have control over. 

Behavior Plans

If you have a student with a Tier 3 behavior plan please share it with me. That way when called in to support the supports and language are consistent.  I also want to know who we are working intensely with so that we can monitor their progress throughout the school community. 

Literacy Honeycomb -Sarah Little 

Forming Reading Groups

Many of you have used or are about to use your BAS assessments to form your guided reading groups.  The newest edition of the Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading text that we all received last year has a couple of chapters on assessments (Chapter 9) and using assessments to form groups (Chapter 10).  There are some helpful reminders in there for what to keep in mind when assessing and grouping students, including:

• When thinking about a student as a reader, be sure to consider the entire wheel of strategic action - what the student is doing within the text (fluency, decoding, summarizing); how the student is thinking beyond the text (making inferences; synthesizing big ideas); and how the student is thinking about the text (analyzing the author's craft and critiquing a text).  Keeping these actions in mind will help set goals for groups and individuals.
• When analyzing student assessments - think individual, small group and whole class.  How can the whole class instructional contexts of shared reading, interactive read-aloud, writing about reading, writers workshop, word study, and interactive/shared writing support the needs you see bubbling up for a larger number of students? 

Best Practices Article: Teaching and Learning About Letters in Early Literacy

We have shared this article before, but since it is the beginning of the year and many students are building their letter knowledge, I thought I would share again.
This article (linked here) is from The Reading Teacher - a journal that is written for and about real-world classroom practitioners (and often by real classroom teachers).  This article focuses on building letter knowledge and is a quick read with some strong recommendations.  The five key principles pulled out below. Enjoy!  And if you would like to discuss any of the ideas in the article or would like more resources about the topic, please reach out to Sarah. 

Principles of effective early literacy/letter knowledge instruction

• Keep instruction brief and focused - using crisp, clear language and as few words as possible so that students can focus on the items they are learning
• Help students make meaningful connections between new letters they are learning and words or letters they already know.  If you are using words to anchor the letter to a sound (e.g., Cat for C or Fortnite for F), make sure all adults working with the student are aware of the sound/letter/word links so that initially students can be prompted consistently.  (See Alyce, Kathryn, or Sarah if you want to know more about making the individual ABC books mentioned in the article)
• When teaching a new letter, include movements, words, and a visual model of the letter.
• Ensure that students not only learn new letters but also become faster at identifying and differentiating already-known letters. 
• Teach for the application of letter knowledge to writing and writing connected texts - help students see WHY it is important to know letters and sounds.

Far-Fetched Idea 

If you could rename our school, would you and why? Who would you name it after? 

I would rename our school because I am becoming increasingly frustrated with being confused with the Lee K-8 from our district and families. I want our own identity that reflects who we are.  I would rename our school the Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Academy. I am truly curious about what your thoughts are about this. Please share them

Week 3: September 16th

Mr. Browne's Precept

You are a conductor of light ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Shout Outs 

Lindsay- Lindsay's level of leadership, institutional knowledge and support has been so helpful. I am so appreciative of the open and honest communication from the union's viewpoint as well as her ability to know and support our school community through our by-laws and ETWA.

Rose- When I first put out the plan for announcements Rose took a risk and offered some constructive feedback that will improve the outcomes and delivery of the messages resulting in the goal that I wanted. I can't imagine this was easy to do with a new leader. I am appreciative of how she helped me make my practice better. 

Honey-Do List 

• September 20th-23rd- Send home reminder about the family council meeting on Monday evening from 5:45 to 6:45
• September 25th Coaches: Fill in objectives for coach facilitated CLT in October. Moving forward these will be completed on the second Monday of the month prior to implementation (i.e 10/15 for the November sessions)
• September 26th: Use your parent communication to remind families that the first meeting is 5:45-6:45 and there will be childcare and food.
• September 30th: 1st Draft of Action Steps for professional growth and student learning goals
• October 10th: Grade Level Blueprint for Learning objectives completed so Jodi can review

DESE News 

October 2nd DESE Visits 

As you know DESE is coming to visit. I am so excited to show our school off.  Our guests will be here on Wednesday, October 2nd. The observers will be using the CLASS tool when observing district classrooms. I am very familiar with this tool and am confident that we will be rated very highly. Here is a high-level overview of the tool.

MCAS Update

There have been some small changes to the 3rd grade ELA Test Design. This is the link to the document that describes those changes. I think it will be helpful for all to see what the test design looks like because it will help provide context for stamina and expectations for our students. 

Morning Announcement Revamp 

Morning announcements take three! I want to thank everyone for their feedback and incredibly helpful suggestions. Especially Rose who provided several ideas to make "Dr. Jodi's Math" workable.

• We will begin with music again this Monday.  We will be staying with African Drums. Thanks to your feedback I knew students could not really hear the music and I needed to get a Bluetooth speaker. I just have not made it to the store yet. 
• By the end of the day each Monday you will have a sheet with your grade's Dr. Jodi's Math problems for each student. Both the Tuesday and the Thursday problem will be on the sheet. I will still read the problem on each specified day. 
• I will have an envelope hanging outside my door. Students can put their completed work in the envelope. On Thursday afternoon I will choose a strong example of mathematical thinking for each grade level to be displayed on our "Bee"utiful Math Bulletin Board.
• On Friday afternoon I will announce our grade level math stars and have them come to the office to receive their math star badge (a large cardboard star with a piece of tape on it). I want this to be an opportunity to reinforce our students' identities as intellectuals capable of high levels of thinking. 
• The math problems are not intended to be aligned with the curriculum but rather to reflect grade-level standards.  It is an opportunity to see how students approach novel problems using the mathematical knowledge that they already have. It is also an opportunity to reinforce some of the mathematical practice standards. 
• By the end of the day on Monday, you will also have our 3 words of the week. 
• These words will also be added to the bulletin board outside of my office with a definition and picture when applicable. 
• I am going to try and commit to a 9:35 hard start time for announcements. Hopefully, our luck with morning busses will hold. 
• I will also slow down on the pledge. Thank you for that feedback. If Ms. Denise keeps standing by her door and repeating with the kids the timing should be much better. 

One School, One Book 

I am hoping to have a list of titles that I want to use ready for your review next week. I have found some books that look great. Some of which I have seen in your classrooms. I want to avoid titles that you are building an entire unit around but if students hear a book two times as a read-aloud it might not be a bad thing. I will look for your guidance on this. 

Family Council 

Family Movie Night

If your Friday night routine has become a bit stale and you're looking for a way to make it saltier, come have some popcorn with us at Family Movie Night next Friday from 6:30-9:00. Our wonderful family council is looking for volunteers to help with crowd control as we premiere Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. It is sure to be a fun event. I am really looking forward to it. 

The family council also asking those of you with a Class Dojo, Seesaw or some other type of classroom communication with parents to send out a reminder to your families on Thursday afternoon that movie night will be happening on Friday evening from 6:30-9:00. Thank you in advance. 

Reminder

The family council has asked that we use our classroom communication platforms with families to remind them of the parent council meeting on Monday Evening from 5:45 to 6:45 and that there will be food provided.  

Taco about an Idea

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that our Fabulous Family Council may be hosting a build a taco night in conjunction with our open house on  October 1st. This should be super fun. Look for more information at the beginning of the week. 

Fridge 

I am sure that you are very aware that we need a new fridge upstairs. Unfortunately, we do not have the budget to purchase one. If we are going to replace the fridge then we will have to either find a nice appliance shop to donate and deliver one and take the old one away or somehow raise funds. I checked the rules and we cannot raise the funds ourself because of the student activities conflict but Family Council could possibly as a donation to teachers as long as they are clear about what they are raising the funds for. Please talk with Lindsay or Denise about what you believe is the best way to proceed and we will try to make it happen.

Water Update 

The flavored water is a district-wide problem. The flavor is nothing that will harm anyone and is a byproduct of the process that WB Mason used to sanitize the water coolers. Bill is going to replace all of the coolers that have an off flavor and he is going to rinse and wash the replacements so hopefully, all of our water will taste good on Monday.  If it does not on Monday please stop by and let me know!

Moving of Music Supplies 

We are giving Ms. Melissa some space to store her materials! Ms. Melissa will be moving her materials into the pull-downs in 207. In order to accomplish this, we need to move the plethora of black book bins into the binder closet down in the cafeteria. I am looking for volunteers to gather on Tuesday morning at 8:30 to help accomplish this task quickly and efficiently much like we did the book room. We will move bins downstairs and help Melissa move her things in. 

Accessing Employee Self-Service (ESS) 

Zoraida will be redistributing the fliers with directions for accessing ESS in mailboxes. We will also be using our huddle on October 1st to work together to demonstrate how the system works. 

September 30th Fire Drill 

We will be having a fire drill on Monday at 10:45 am. If it is raining we will have a fire drill on Tuesday at the same time.