Thank you so very much to Erin and Shelly for their leadership and to all of you for promoting, donating and volunteering in support of our Fall Carnival.This is a fun event which builds community for our students and families and provides money for field trips.

Report Cards are done!

Unicef Parade:

Thank you to RoseAnn, Monica and Leslie for their leadership and to all of you for promoting this event and helping to raise our students’ awareness and money for needy children around the world.

UNICEF/Costume Parade starts @ 8:15 a.m. Please bring your students and their chairs to the blacktop. Please remind your students to change into regular clothes immediately following the parade. Students who wish not to participate should visit the library.

Leslie placed the orange pumpkins in your mailboxes. Please put it on a stick and bring it out with your class on Monday. Please return pumpkin to either Leslie’s or Roseanne’s box or send it over to room 9 after the parade. Students will be dropping their boxes/ donations into the cauldron during the parade as usual.

Staff PD:

We DO NOT meet this week. We will be learning so much throughout the day from the Learning and Innovation team, we thought that it might benefit us all to have the afternoon to process our new learnings. Please join us in Room 23 if you would like to talk about what you are seeing and learning. Our next staff meeting is November 30th.

Workshop Lab Site:

I am very excited that we will have the Learning and Innovation team here demonstrating mini-lessons, small groups and conferring while providing tips to help us simplify the planning process. They will be here Tuesday, Nov 1-Monday, Nov 7th. 

Click here to view the schedule. Sessions 1 and 2 will meet in room 6 and session 3 will meet in room 23.

November Board Highlight and Visit:

I have the opportunity to highlight the amazing things you are doing at the November 11th South Bay Union School District Board Meeting. I hope that you will be able to join me there (6:00p.m.- 6:30). Our Board members will visit Emory on November 17th to view the Global Cardboard Challnege and some of your classrooms.

Innovation Caravan:

5th and 6th grade teachers, Innovation Caravan is an opportunity for our students to highlight their thinking about big ideas, a special project they have been working on or anything that they find interesting. Please be sure to share the innovation caravan applications with your students and encourage students to apply.

 Here is the application for the South Bay Innovation Caravan. (due Nov 18th)

Everyone a Reader:

Big thanks to Leslie, Rebecca and Dene for coordinating our Everyone A Reader program. Tutoring will begin within the next few weeks. Please look for updated information.

Coach’s Corner:

I had the opportunity to visit the Everyone A Reader training by Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Ochoa, and Mrs. Sanchez. Thirty 5^th and 6^th grade students attended this training to learn more about being a reading tutor to 1^st grade students. I would like to highlight this program because I see how beneficial it is for all students involved. Our younger students get more practice and help with reading, while our older students build self-esteem and pride. It’s a win-win for all!

Bell Schedule/ELD Survey Update:

70% of respondents voted to keep it the same as it currently is. Other suggestions included moving it to the end of the day, moving it to the beginning of the day and reconsidering a change for next school year.

PLNU Arts Partnership:

Thank you to Rebecca, Dene, Monica, Melinda, Jeanne, Georgina, Maria, Leslie and RoseAnn for supporting our partnership with Point Loma Nazarene.

First Lesson                      Nov 8                  1:30-2:25

Second Lesson                 Nov 15               1:30-2:25

Box Tops Teacher Contest:

Our goal is to raise $1500 in Box Tops collections this school year. If we earn $750 in our first collection (until December), we will provide $100 to be spent on classroom materials (furniture, books, etc) to the teacher who’s classroom collects the most money. Please encourage your students and families to return them to the school.

Thrively:

Upper grade teachers, please check out Thrively. This is a great way for our students to discover more about their own passions and interests and to connect their learning in your classrooms to the real world. See link below.

http://www.thrively.com/dashboard/teacher/dashboard

Quote of the Week:

 

 

Oh my goodness, I missed my Emory family, but I learned so much! Thank you to all of you for pulling together and supporting our students and each other to make it easy for me to be away learning. I deeply appreciate your support.

Staff PD:

We DO NOT meet this week. This is a personal planning week. Finish report cards?

Workshop Lab Site:

I am very excited that we will have the learning and innovation team here demonstrating mini-lessons, small groups and conferring while providing tips to help us simplify the planning process. They will be here Tuesday, Nov 1-Monday, Nov 7th. To assist you in planning, we will provide a schedule on Monday or Tuesday this week.

 

Coach’s Corner:

At the district ILT meeting this week, we learned about ST Math and several elements of Guided Reading. Your ILT member will be sharing the components of ST Math with your team, during PLC meetings this week. The team found the elements of Guided Reading valuable and agreed that it would fit best as whole staff professional development. We will continue to learn about guided reading throughout the year to help us refine our current small group instructional practices.

ILT:

Thank you to those of you who represented us at ILT and thanks in advance for your willingness to share what you learned with our colleagues. Click here to view the presentation.

Bell Schedule/ELD Survey:

Thank you for discussing the bell schedule/eld time with your colleagues. Please complete this short survey by the end of the day on Wednesday. Click here to view the survey.

Red Ribbon Week October 24-28:

The National Red Ribbon Campaign Theme this year is YOLO: Be Drug Free (I didn’t come up with that).  Here is the link to the educators page , they have a lot of resources, pick and choose what you would like to include in your classroom http://www.redribbon.org/activities/Educators/index.html.

There will also be a door decorating contest that will be judged by our principal.  Winning class will win a Reading and Popcorn Party with Mrs. Grondek.  Please have your finished door ready on friday 10/28.

Monday 10/24: During Flag Salute, Mrs. Grondek will announce the beginning of Red Ribbon Week.  Students and teachers will be invited to sign pledge banner anytime during this week.  (Banner will be in cafeteria)

Tuesday 10/25: Wear Red Day- all staff and students are invited to wear red today to show support

Wednesday 10/26: “Our future is bright without drugs”- Wear sunglasses and neon colors today

Thursday 10/27: “Sock it to Drugs”- wear your craziest socks today

Friday 10/28 : “Emory Eagles are Drug Free”- wear your school shirt or school colors today.  Door Prize winner announced today.

PLNU Arts Partnership:

Thank you to Rebecca, Dene, Monica, Melinda, Jeanne, Georgina, Maria, Leslie and RoseAnn for supporting our partnership with Point Loma Nazarene.

Teacher Conference        October 25         2:30-2:55

First Lesson                      Nov 8                  1:30-2:25

Second Lesson                 Nov 15               1:30-2:25

Report Cards:

Thank you for your hard work preparing report cards for our students and families. As a reminder they should be sent home this Friday, October 28th.

Fall Carnival:

Thank you to all who have already signed up to cover a booth for the carnival this Friday, October 28th. Unfortunately, we still have lots of booths available.  Please do your best to encourage your students to purchase presale wristbands and ticket sales. We have combined both the candy and food drive because we were often left with a lot of candy (and last year we ended up with a vermin problem).  A letter went home with that information.  Please take a look and remind students that they get a ticket for each donation.  Grade 6 has set up a grade level competition to generate more participation.  Some extra recess or a homework pass to the winning class at your grade level can really work as an incentive for some kids.  Please send all donations to the stage in the cafeteria (except for baked goods). TK/K/1 teachers, please ask your families to bring baked goods either Thursday or Friday.  The raffle is held at the end of the day Friday.  Finally, if you have anything you would like to donate to the student raffle baskets, please send it over to Shelly’s room (new or gently used games, books, unused gift cards, school supplies not found in our supply room etc.) We will also add stuff from our supply room to fill it up.  All of your help is greatly appreciated!!!!

A few nuggets of wisdom from my time at Teacher’s College at Columbia:

Okay, first of all, I learned so much that at this point (and I still have workshops today -Saturday and 6 hours tomorrow- Sunday) my brain is full. It has been absolutely amazing. The coaches have so much expertise, vitality and passion for doing good work for kids.

In a list, the things I heard that might be meaningful for you. This is not a list of rules, but rather thoughts to guide our work as we learn more about teaching our kids to be better readers and writers.

Don’t spend longer than 5 weeks per unit

Register your units (there is a code and there are great online resources). Register a grade below and a grade above, too.

When intervening for English Learners and students in upper grades who are struggling, think about using minilessons from the primary grades (in small groups) to fill gaps.

Don’t wait for mastery, topics are purposely introduced a year before a child will be expected to master it. The units spiral around and you will revisit the various strategies and skills.

In Kinder and First grade Shared Reading is especially important.

Small groups should last 10 minutes

Conferences should last 3-5 minutes

Minilessons should last 10 minutes

It is very important for teachers to see other classrooms where this work is happening.

I visited classrooms and met with principals from schools that have been doing  workshop for 15 or more years and saw and heard great things, but felt great pride when I saw reflections of the hard work and new learning that many of us have tackled this year in our classrooms.

Box Tops Teacher Contest:

Our goal is to raise $1500 in Box Tops collections this school year. If we earn $750 in our first collection (until December), we will provide $100 to be spent on classroom materials (furniture, books, etc) to the teacher who’s classroom collects the most money. Please encourage your students and families to return them to the school.

Upcoming Dates:

Fall Carnival-October 28th

Unicef Drive/Costume Parade:

Emory’s Trick or Treat for UNICEF Drive will end November 1st. The costume parade is 10/31.

Staff Professional Development- Nov 2nd CANCELED

Emory Highlight at Board Meeting Nov 10 (please join us if you can)

Board Visits Emory  Nov 17

PLC date change–Dec 14th will be PLC and Dec 7th will be open

Baby Shower for Leslie!!-Dec 7th

Quote of the Week:

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Muhammed Ali

Let’s get ready for a great week!

Staff PD:

We DO NOT meet this week. This is a personal planning week. Maybe get started on your report cards or get some planning done.

Fall Carnival:

Our Fall Carnival funds our field trips, student rewards and other Emory activities. Please sign up for and/or have parents cover at least one booth. To maximize the number of games, please try not double up on one booth as this will reduce the number of activities for families. Thanks for continuing this tradition which our community loves!

Bell Schedule/ELD:

As a follow up from our Staff PD this week, please spend time continuing the discussion regarding our bell schedule/eld. I will send a survey in the near future to elicit feedback.   

Jenn @Teacher’s College in NYC Oct 18-23:

I am excited to have the opportunity to visit Teacher’s College at Columbia University (Tuesday, Oct. 18^th –Sunday, Oct 23rd) to learn more about how to support our work with the Reading and Writing Units of Study.While I am going to miss you, I know that you will be in good hands with Araceli serving as Admin Designee and Lindsay and Tracy supporting with student behavior. Jen Oliveira will be here Wednesday and Thursday morning as well. Jen will visit classrooms Wednesday.You all know that Eunice really runs the school anyway, so I shouldn’t be missed too much.

Shakeout Drill:

Thursday, 10/20  we will participate in the Great Shakeout at 10:30 a.m (for approximately 4 minutes). Please see link below for procedures during an earthquake or the drill.

Earthquake Drill/Response Procedures

Coach’s Corner:

This week our students learned about fairness and in our Monday morning assembly we heard, “fair is not everybody getting the same thing, fair is everybody getting what they need”. Please consider this quote as you differentiate for your students in small group instruction. All of your students need support in small groups and conferring, but do they all need the same amount of support? Students reading far below grade level need more guidance; therefore, it is recommended that you meet with them more often than those reading at grade level. How are you balancing small group instruction frequency for your students? If you’re finding this “balancing act” challenging and would like some additional insight, please reach out to me. I am happy to help!

Volunteer Sign in:

For everyone’s safety, please have any parent/community member who is volunteering in your classroom sign in with us in the office.

ILT Thursday October 20th:

Thanks in advance to our ILT team for their leadership and their willingness to learn and share. ILT members, please bring your Fountas and Pinnell Literacy Continuum from your Fountas and Pinnell kits to ILT on Thursday. Thanks to everyone else for keeping our campus a safe place for learning in our absence.

Recess Duty Schedule Follow up:

As a follow up to our staff meeting, you need not perform recess duty on days when you have PLC. I met with the impact team Friday to clarify their recess schedule.

Report Card Information from Jen Oliveira:

The Report Card Window is NOW OPEN!

Assessment Data-Reading assessment (Fountas and Pinnell) should not be included on the report card, at this point, as it is a new system for us, and we are still calibrating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does it look if I’m using the Units of Study from Teachers College Reading and Writing Project?

A: All of the Teachers College Units of Study for Reading and Writing Workshop are aligned to Common Core State Standards. For the Reading Units, you can find the standards addressed in each session in this document, K-5 CCSS Correlation, which breaks down each unit and each session. For the Writing Units, on the first page of each session the standards are listed at the bottom of the page. They can also be found in the inside back cover of each unit. You can use a variety of resources to determine if your students are meeting grade level expectation in the standards. For example:

• Reading and/or writing notebooks
• Reading and/or writing folders
• Learning progressions, checklists, and rubrics
• Published writing
• Running records
• Post-it notes
• Conferring and notes
• Small group observations
• Informal assessments
• Formative assessments
• Post-assessments

Q: I taught the 3rd grade units first, but I teach 4th, 5th, or 6th grade. How does that look on my report cards?

A: Your responsibility is to communicate how your students are doing with grade level standards. In the reading units, the first few sessions in Grade 3 Unit 1 are geared toward the Range of Reading and Text Complexity (RL and RI 3.10). You can look at that as you would normally and ask yourself “Has this student mastered that standard at our grade level (RL and RI 4.10, 5.10, 6.10)? How do I know?” This continuum will help you see each standard set for K-8. Look at the cluster and notice how your students are performing against the standards. The Reading Foundational standards apply K-5.

Q: Why do we need to grade ELD?

A: Besides communicating progress to parents, a score in English Language Development is an important part of our accountability to the state, used most recently in Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) this year.

 

 

WIXIE Account Information (only for students in grades TK-2):

Melinda is our resident Wixie expert. She and her students have been having loads of fun and she has offered to help us all get started. Student usernames are their 7-digit Student ID, and their password is the same 7-digit number.

Teacher accounts usernames are first initial last name, and your password is southbay.

There should be an icon soon on the student page soon for Wixie access, but in the meantime it’s https://sb.wixie.com/ Teresa added it to our Emory School Page.

Chromebook Cart:

Teachers in K, 1 and 2, please discuss a plan for the 32 chromebooks that we have on a cart in Melinda’s room. Options include but are not limited to the following: rotating the chromebook cart (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly etc, dismantling the cart and dividing the chromebooks, moving tech tubs, other?)My priority is that our students have regular access to technology as a tool to help them learn and grow (I don’t want them gathering dust).

Box Tops Teacher Contest:

Our goal is to raise $1500 in Box Tops collections this school year. If we earn $750 in our first collection (until December), we will provide $100 to be spent on classroom materials (furniture, books, etc) to the teacher who’s classroom collects the most money. Please encourage your students and families to return them to the school.

Upcoming Dates:

Red Ribbon Week-Oct 24-28

Fall Carnival-October 28th

Unicef Drive.Costume Parade:

Emory’s Trick or Treat for UNICEF Drive will begin on Monday, October 17th through November 1st.

Staff Professional Development- Nov 2nd

PLC date change–Dec 14th will be PLC and Dec 7th will be open

Baby Shower for Leslie!!-Dec 7th

Quote of the Week:

Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for all your hard work this week. Your students were very happy to see you! They are lucky to be learning from you this year. Funniest part of Family Campout-the sprinklers turned on….

Staff PD:

We will meet together in room 23 this week from 1:45-3:15.

CELDT Testing/ELD Cancelled:

Thank you to Araceli for coordinating and the rest of team Emory for supporting/administering the CELDT test this week. Please see the email from Araceli with your grade level’s CELDT test schedule. Let us know if you have any questions or need any assistance. ELD for all grades has been canceled to accommodate the CELDT test schedule.

PBS Lesson/Walk to School Day Lesson:

 

Monday, Oct 10^th

During PBS time share Walk to School Day Presentation (with videos)

Have students begin to make posters promoting walk to school day (they may finish in class or at home) See posterboard in your mail box

 

Wednesday, Oct 12^th

Walk to School Day

Remind students to submit posters to the office for Poster Contest (there is an upper grade prize and a lower grade prize)

Volunteer will visit classroom close to start of day and collect raffle tickets from student walkers

 
Soaring to Success Assembly:

Friday, October 14^th

Character Trait Assembly “Respect” – Grade 2 8:10-8:40, Grade 4  8:45-9:15,

Grade 3 9:20-9:50, Grade 1  10:00:10:30, Grade 5 10:35-11:05, Grade 6  1:50-2:20

Names and write ups due to Eunice Monday (Oct 10th)

Shared Leadership Meeting:

Please join us at our next Shared Leadership Meeting Tuesday, October 11th at 2:45 in room 23. Click here to see the agenda.

Imagine Learning:

Imagine Learning starts Monday. Thank you to Erin, Connie and Angela for working with our students before and after schedule and to Araceli for coordinating the program. Students will meet on Monday-Friday from 7:25-7:55 and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 2:25-2:55.

Jenn @Teacher’s College in NYC Oct 18-23:

I am excited to have the opportunity to visit Teacher’s College at Columbia University (Tuesday, Oct. 18^th –Sunday, Oct 23rd) to learn more about how to support our work with the Reading and Writing Units of Study.While I am going to miss you, I know that you will be in good hands with Araceli serving as Admin Designee and Lindsay and Tracy supporting with student behavior. You all know that Eunice really runs the school anyway, so I shouldn’t be missed too much.

Report Card Information from Jen Oliveira:

The Report Card Window is NOW OPEN!

What’s New This Year

Assessment Data- The report card will no longer contain District Assessment results.  Additionally, reading assessment (Fountas and Pinnell) should not be included on the report card, at this point, as it is a new system for us, and we are still calibrating.

Frequently Asked Questions

A report card provides a means by which to communicate student progress. In order to build consistency about student progress we have provided some answers to frequently asked questions about scores and expectations. 

Q: How does it look if I’m using the Units of Study from Teachers College Reading and Writing Project?

A: All of the Teachers College Units of Study for Reading and Writing Workshop are aligned to Common Core State Standards. For the Reading Units, you can find the standards addressed in each session in this document, K-5 CCSS Correlation, which breaks down each unit and each session. For the Writing Units, on the first page of each session the standards are listed at the bottom of the page. They can also be found in the inside back cover of each unit. You can use a variety of resources to determine if your students are meeting grade level expectation in the standards. For example:

• Reading and/or writing notebooks
• Reading and/or writing folders
• Learning progressions, checklists, and rubrics
• Published writing
• Running records
• Post-it notes
• Conferring and notes
• Small group observations
• Informal assessments
• Formative assessments
• Post-assessments

Q: I taught the 3rd grade units first, but I teach 4th, 5th, or 6th grade. How does that look on my report cards?

A: Your responsibility is to communicate how your students are doing with grade level standards. In the reading units, the first few sessions in Grade 3 Unit 1 are geared toward the Range of Reading and Text Complexity (RL and RI 3.10). You can look at that as you would normally and ask yourself “Has this student mastered that standard at our grade level (RL and RI 4.10, 5.10, 6.10)? How do I know?” This continuum will help you see each standard set for K-8. Look at the cluster and notice how your students are performing against the standards. The Reading Foundational standards apply K-5.

Q: Why do we need to grade ELD?

A: Besides communicating progress to parents, a score in English Language Development is an important part of our accountability to the state, used most recently in Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) this year.

 Q: Can I add something to Additional Learning Areas and Learning Behaviors?

A: An optional space is provided to add a score for an area you, your grade level or your site has agreed upon. The area must be established in the first trimester, and it cannot be changed. In order to be equitable, a team or school agreement can be made about what the field should say and how they are being assessed for each student.

 Q: Sometimes my comments disappear. What can I do about that?

A: Using a text editor, like Word or Google Docs, is a good way to get your ideas out about your students, then copy and paste your comments to the report cards. If you leave the window open in the Illuminate report card, there is the possibility the application/website might “time out” and log you out prematurely. Make sure you SAVE often.

Technology Early Adopters (That’s our entire K-2 Team- Go Emory!:

Yahoo! You should have received your Tech Tubs with your Chromebooks and you can now add the one you were given this summer to the tub to make a total of 8!

START with Digital Citizenship

It’s important to talk about using the device with care and for school related business. Revisit this on a daily basis for a few weeks. Think about how you and your kids will keep the devices safe and clean.

 

KEYS

Make sure you keep your keys in a safe place! The office did not receive a copy of your key.

WIXIE Account Information

Melinda is our resident Wixie expert. She and her students have been having loads of fun and she has offered to help us all get started. Student usernames are their 7-digit Student ID, and their password is the same 7-digit number.

Teacher accounts usernames are first initial last name, and your password is southbay.

There should be an icon soon on the student page soon for Wixie access, but in the meantime it’s https://sb.wixie.com/ Teresa added it to our Emory School Page.

GOOGLE Account Information

All SBUSD students in all grade levels are automatically provisioned with Google accounts (and parents all sign acknowledgement of district-wide Google Apps for Education use upon student enrollment).
Student accounts are generated automatically within 48 hours of student enrollment.

While this username and password might seem intimidating at first for our youngest students, remember that once a student has signed into any given Chromebook the first time (the “Add User” link at the bottom of the login page), it will not require the username portion from that student on re-login but just the password.

To determine your students’ usernames and passwords, teachers can always use your official roster info in Synergy to determine any student’s username and password using the logic shown below:

1. Student Username = firstname.lastname####@sbusd.net  (#’s are the last 4 digits of student ID)
   NOTE: If student name has a dash, apostrophe, or space, that character and everything following it is truncated, e.g.,  Betty-Sue O’Connor = betty.o1234
2. Student Password =  DOB in 8 digit format (Year-Mo-Da)— Example: Feb 1, 2003 = 20030201

Classroom Furniture Budget:

As a reminder, you have a classroom Furniture Budget of $75.00. All receipts must be submitted by Oct 12th. You may use this money to purchase bookshelves, rugs, flexible seating for students. If you are not sure if something would be appropriate, please see me to discuss in advance of your purchase.

Box Tops Teacher Contest:

Our goal is to raise $1500 in Box Tops collections this school year. If we earn $750 in our first collection (until December), we will provide $100 to be spent on classroom materials (furniture, books, etc) to the teacher who’s classroom collects the most money. Please encourage your students and families to return them to the school.

 Upcoming Dates:

ILT- October 20th

Benefit Fair- October 20th

Fall Carnival-October 28th

Unicef Drive.Costume Parade:

Emory’s Trick or Treat for UNICEF Drive will begin on Monday, October 17th through November 1st. 

Quote of the Week: