There are some excellent articles this week! Some of the best I have read in a while. Please take the time to read one or two.
Thank you for your continued hard work and dedication to the students of Hayes Elementary. Your time and efforts show every day. Your students, whether they can truly express it or not, appreciate the skills taught to them. So many are grateful for people taking a vested interest in them. We often forget in the day to day operations of school how important those relationships are to our students. Continue to work, fight, scratch, claw, dig, push and pull for your students. It is not too late to make a difference in their lives this year.
I also think it's time we take a moment to realize the obstacles continue to contend with finishing out this school year. At the moment we have Ms. Ladd, Ms. Ingersoll, Ms. Roland, Ms. Williams, Dr. Henderson, two vacancies as well as being down a P.E. teacher. That's our reality this coming Monday. Eight, 8!, staff members short when the doors open at 8:00am. Of those eight positions we have ONE, yes I said 1, substitute teacher to assist. I have been told that a substitute for the library has not been found and is highly unlikely for the remainder of this year. We can not seem to get substitutes for any of the other available positions.
As a result of our substitute shortage Mr. Nielsen has been moved to cover one of the 6th grade positions for the remainder of the year, Ms. Hutchinson was to cover for Mr. Nielsen for part of the day but as of yet has been unable to do so due to Pre-k being down staff members. Our third grade classes are HUGE, as are the rest of our testing grades. All of these things and we continue to teach our students to the best of our ability as our enrollment continues to spike. By the way, we are now officially at 530 students.
It is easy to get frustrated and lay down on this year. After all we have have plenty of valid excuses as to why we have the potential to not do well on the OCCT exams. I am asking that each of us keep a positive frame of mind and a willing heart when it comes to our students. Let's finish the school year in style. Continue to teach like your life depends on it. Those exams will take care of themselves. We will get the letter grade we get, we will not get the letter grade we deserve.
A positive spin...
- We are a learner first pilot campus for next year
- Our title budget didn't get cut like SO many other schools in OKCPS
- Student attendance is up .4% over last year
- Our benchmark scores indicate we improved from last year.
- We have new marriages and additional family members to celebrate
- We have several teachers that have received state and national recognition this year
- Wings pilot campus
- PAL school
- Rally Ball Champions
- Really, really, ridiculously good looking. - Zoolander
Generic Morning Announcement: Done DAILY, no exceptions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dAG5eWCok&feature=youtu.be
2014 - 2015 Committees:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3lrYycQKGUiU29FazU0VEVJWjQ/edit?usp=sharing
Showcase Schedule for Monthly Rise and Shine:
In order for everyone to take a more active role in the Monthly Awards I am asking that each grade level participate in the showcase portion of the Rise and Shine. Everyone on campus will have a month to show the rest of the school what's great about your classes. You can have your students sing, dance, demonstrate, share... Have fun with it!
August: P.E./Music
September: Office Staff
October: Library/Media
November: First Grade
December: Pre-Kindergarten
January: Fourth Grade - February 5th
February: Kindergarten - March 6th - Canceled due to SNOW!!!!!
March: Kindergarten - April 3rd
April: Third Grade - May 1st
May: Second Grade - May 22nd
*** Oklahoma State Blueprints: ***
In order for everyone to take a more active role in the Monthly Awards I am asking that each grade level participate in the showcase portion of the Rise and Shine. Everyone on campus will have a month to show the rest of the school what's great about your classes. You can have your students sing, dance, demonstrate, share... Have fun with it!
April: Third Grade - May 1st
May: Second Grade - May 22nd
*** Oklahoma State Blueprints: ***
Available accommodations for the OCCT:
A quick guide to standards and assessments:
- English Language Arts: 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school year – PASS standards, PASS-aligned assessments.
- Mathematics: 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years – PASS standards, PASS-aligned assessments.
- Science: 2014-2015 school year – begin transition to science standards adopted into rule in June 2014; PASS-aligned assessments for grades 5, 8, and Biology 1 for high school for 2014-2105 and 2015-2016 school years.
- Social Studies: 2014-2015 school year – Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies as adopted in 2012; All four social studies assessments are OAS-aligned in Grades 5, 7, and 8, as well as high school U.S. History. All four assessments will be fully operational in 2014-2015.
- Fine Arts: 2014-2015 school year – transition to new standards adopted by law in June of 2014, The annual district arts assessment report will be due at the Oklahoma State Department of Education the end of May 2015.
- World Languages: 2014-15 school year – PASS standards, no state assessment. New standards will be written beginning fall 2014.
- Personal Financial Literacy: 2014-2015 school year – Oklahoma Academic Standards for Personal Financial Literacy as adopted in 2008, no state assessment.
- Health/Safety Education: 2014-2015 school year – PASS Standards, no state assessment.
- Kindergarten: 2014-2015 school year – PASS standards, no state assessments.
- PreKindergarten: 2014-2015 PASS standards; no state assessments.
Hayes Elementary Academic goals for 2014-2015:
- All students WILL achieve academically.
- Increase OCCT Reading scores for all subgroups by 25%
- Increase OCCT Mathematics scores for all subgroups by 25%
- Increase OCCT Writing scores for all subgroups by 25%
- Increase the number of students who qualify for promotion in RSA by 25%
- Decrease Suspensions by 25%
- School wide overall attendance to 96%
- Faculty attendance to 98%
Videos Worth Watching:
Autism "Awareness" - Ten Things You Should Know
Articles Worth Reading:
5 Things We Should Stop Pretending....4 Student's Point of View...and my own - via @elynlll
8 Strategies To Help Students Ask Great Questions - via @TeachThought
5 Things We Need To Stop Pretending in Education - via @kearneyiowa
Done With It - via @stumpteacher
What are the Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make When Integrating Technology into the Classroom? - via @techlearning
What poor students wish their teachers knew about them - via @qz - WOW!
Friday Graphs: Bad Teachers? or Bad Policy & Crappy Measures in New York? - via @SchlFinance101
We can’t do what that other school is doing because… - via @mcleod - Great article
Latinos, Blacks Strongest Supporters for Increasing College Attainment, Poll Finds - via @educationweek
#twitterchat: ‘Teaching Like Your Hair’s On Fire’ - via @TeachThought
10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching - via @TeachThought
4 Productivity Extensions for Chrome - via @Jennifer_Hogan
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. - via @WeAreTeachers
The Poverty Trap: Slack, Not Grit, Creates Achievement - via @plthomasedd
We Have to Stop Pretending… - via @farrismj
My Five Things: #makeschooldifferent - via @barhamchristy
Stop pretending....Start imagining change! #makeschooldifferent - via @lowenesst
Monday April 20, 2015 - 3rd Grade Reading OCCT Exam Part One - Testing begins at 9:30am; NFAY 3rd grade testers in the afternoon; Wings running club after school
Tuesday April 21, 2015 - 3rd Grade Reading OCCT Exam Part Two - Testing begins at 9:30am; NFAY 3rd grade testers in the afternoon; No afterschool meeting
Wednesday April 22, 2015 - 5th Grade Science/4th Grade Reading OCCT Exams Part One - Testing begins at 9:30am; Wings running club after school; Be prepared for no movement in the hallways and being short handed in non testing grades. 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd specials in the afternoon.
Thursday April 23, 2015 - 5th Grade Science/4th Grade Reading OCCT Exam Part Two - Testing begins at 9:30am; 3rd and final LLI training in Ms. Flores room at 3:30pm; Again be prepared to be short handed and no movement in the hallways. 2nd, 1st, Kinder, Pre-K specials in the afternoon.
Friday April 24, 2015 - Spirit Day! Normal school day. BLT Meeting at 7:30am in the library to finalize needs for title one budget.
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