September 27, 2019

Shaan is moving into his dorm room at the University of Oregon this weekend. I remember the day he was born. I was there when he took his first breath and then I literally passed out! No joke! Let's just say he is the only child I have witnessed being born. The nurse had to take care of me instead of my sister -  haha! We are driving to Oregon with our kids EARLY Saturday morning and heading back Sunday. We started this tradition with Yasmeen where we all went together to move her in. I think it is such a great opportunity for them(our kids) to see different colleges and be part of a milestone in their cousins life. They are very lucky!  I  just wonder how long we can keep this up for all of our nieces and nephews???? 

No Excuses University – Collaboration

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

“This is the first and most important system that needs to be developed. Once a clearly understood and agreed-to system for collaboration is in place, a staff is equipped to develop the remaining essential systems and address any other learning challenges they encounter.”

When a school embraces a system of collaboration, there are four attributes that need to be included. As identified at the Turn Around Schools Institute, the attributes are:

#1: Based on action oriented commitments

#2: Scheduled well in advance

#3: Driven by professional attitudes

#4: Focused on results

Now…before you move on, re-read the four statements and think about if they represent the collaboration that takes place on our campus.

Based on action oriented commitments: When our teams come together to collaborate, do you leave with “we talked about…” statements or are there actions that are going to be immediately implemented to impact student learning?

Scheduled well in advance: Do we plan for collaboration or does it just happen? True collaboration includes bringing in data (not perceptions or hearsay) and making decisions based on the collected information. Such a process has to be planned so that the proper data can be collected and is the foundation for good decisions.

Driven by professional attitudes: When our team discusses issues, is it done in a professional way? Do you praise one another during times of success and be honest with one another as you respectfully confront concerns. Does our site benefit from strong professional relationships?

Focused on results: Is our collaborative time focused on student results? Do we come to the table and offer solutions? Are decisions based on student needs?

If you don’t collaborate around your students’ academic achievement data, then how do you know if you have alignment?

It's time for the District Writing Assessment! The window opens during the month of October. Please be sure to follow the testing window for your grade level.

• Grades K-1 - May 4 - May 22
• Grade 2-5 - October 7- 25
• Grades 6-9 & 11 - October 1 - 18

Grades 3-9 & 11 will be administered electronically in Illuminate Education.You can access the assessments by logging into Illuminate and clicking on the Tile, "District Writing Assessments". You'll find your grade level assessment there. Here are the step-by-step instructions on the two ways to administer the assessment. 

Administering the District Writing Assessment “Test in Portal” for Grades *3-9 and 11*

Administering the District Writing Assessment “Test with Quick Code” for Grades *3-9 and 11*

Grade 2 will be administering the assessment using paper and pencil. The materials will be sent to your site by Friday, September 27th. Teachers will need to enter the scores into the Illuminate Summary Assessment. The instructions for that process are in the link below.

How to Add *K-2* District Writing Assessment Scores

Upcoming PD on "How to Administer the District Writing Assessment" are posted on Go Sign Me Up. The training dates are on 9/30 and 10/2. Please be sure to sign up so that you can learn the tips and tricks for a successful test administration and how to view the results.

PLEASE become a member of Parent Club by paying membership dues. Our parents do a lot on our campus and by joining it lets them know that we appreciate everything they do for us. The membership donation amount has been set at $10.00, but any amount you are able to provide over the basic membership would be greatly appreciated. Please make checks payable to Suisun Valley Parent Club (SVPC) and return to your classroom teacher or submit your donation via Venmo to: @suisunvalleypc (SVPC Parent Club). Of course, all donations to the Parent Club are tax deductible referencing the SVPC tax I.D. number 680405243.

You may complete your membership by submitting your information via this link: https://forms.gle/f8j7Aji57waFTrou5

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: PLEASE become a member of Parent Club by paying membership dues. Our parents do a lot on our campus and by joining it lets them know that we appreciate everything they do for us.

Play: Love the different small group lessons I have observed so far. 

Choose your attitude: Thank you for keeping a positive attitude 

Make Their Day:   THANK you for making Dragon Awards FUN!! 

September 20, 2019

No excuses start with us!!

Message from Dan Lopez about Culture of Universal Achievement click to see video

No Excuses University – Culture of Universal Achievement

I want to take some time over the next few weeks to provide additional information about each core area, as they are the foundation of successful schools.

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

“Every member of the staff believes that each child is capable of meeting academic standards in reading, writing, and math, AND that the school has the power to make that opportunity a reality.”

When a school embraces a Culture of Universal Achievement, there are six belief statements that go hand-and-hand with the culture. As identified at the TurnAround Schools Institute, the belief statements are:

Belief #1: Every student will be proficient or advanced in reading, writing, and mathematics.

Belief #2: The academic accomplishment of every student is an obsession.

Belief #3: The school can neutralize many challenges students bring to the classroom.

Belief #4: Student achievement is the number one topic of conversation.

Belief #5: A maverick spirit is leading the way.

Belief #6: There are no excuses for poor effort.

Every student will be proficient or advanced in reading, writing, and mathematics: Do you believe you have the ability to provide the necessary support and interventions so that every student at your site will be proficient or advanced? And if you do…are you putting those plans in motion so that you support every student in meeting this goal?

The academic accomplishment of every student is an obsession: Is the academic accomplishment of every student the domination of your thoughts/feelings? Do the decisions you make reflect an unwavering focus on academic achievement?

The school can neutralize many challenges students bring to the classroom: Do our actions and our staff reflect a belief that we have the ability to neutralize the challenges students bring to the classroom? Are conversations about solutions and strategies to support the students to ensure academic success?

Student achievement is the number one topic of conversation: When we discuss the school and the students, is the focus on student achievement?

A maverick spirit is leading the way: WE must be willing to fight status quo. There must be high expectations for everyone who has an impact on student achievement.

There are no excuses for poor effort: No Excuses does not mean no compassion AND No Excuses begins with adults. Are we doing everything to ensure academic success for every student!

Now…before you read any further, re-read the six belief statements and think about if they represent you as an educator. 

Ribbon cutting ceremony for our new building will be October 18th at 5:00 before our Harvest Festival which starts at 5:30.

Thanks to our grant writer, Stacy Burke, FSUSD is the recipient of a $50,000 grant to improve playgrounds at Anna Kyle, Cleo Gordon, HGR, Fairview, and Suisun Valley! We anticipate these will be summer 2020 projects.

For FSUTA Negotiations Update click HERE

Willful Defiance Suspensions Ban Expanded to Include Grades 4-8 in Favor of Restorative Justice Alternatives Read this article  https://www.aalrr.com/newsroom-alerts-3567

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: PLEASE become a member of Parent Club by paying membership dues. Our parents do a lot on our campus and by joining it lets them know that we appreciate everything they do for us. The membership donation amount has been set at $10.00, but any amount you are able to provide over the basic membership would be greatly appreciated. Please make checks payable to Suisun Valley Parent Club (SVPC) and return to your classroom teacher or submit your donation via Venmo to: @suisunvalleypc (SVPC Parent Club). Of course, all donations to the Parent Club are tax deductible referencing the SVPC tax I.D. number 680405243.

You may complete your membership by submitting your information via this link: https://forms.gle/f8j7Aji57waFTrou5

Play: Love buddy classes getting together and building relationships. Just saw a little buddy see their big buddy and they ran over and gave them a hug :) 

Choose your attitude: Thank you for keeping a positive attitude. Great way to start the new school year 

Make Their Day:   THANK you front office staff for treats and coffee today. Great way to start a Friday :)

September 13, 2019

Dylan has started playing on a comp soccer team. We thought our weekends were busy before- WOW are we even busier!! Maya is on a cross country team at Jepson and between their two sports they are keeping us on our toes. Football season has started. Friday nights are filled with attending our local high school football games. Sundays are filled with watching NFL all day long. Dylan is now on a fantasy football team too. Between him and Chris they know way too many facts about players. Definitely more than Maya and I do ;)

7 Things to Remember About Feedback

1.       Feedback is not advice, praise, or evaluation. Feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to a goal.

2.       If students know the classroom is a safe place to make mistakes, they are more likely to use feedback for learning.

3.       The feedback students give teachers can be more powerful than the feedback teachers give students.

4.       When we give a grade as a part of our feedback, students routinely read only as far as the grade.

5.       Effective feedback occurs during the learning, while there is still time to act on it.

6.       Most of the feedback that students receive about their classroom work is from other students – and much of that feedback is wrong.

7.       Students need to know their learning target—the specific skill they’re supposed to learn—or else “feedback” is just someone telling them what to do.

“Data doesn’t belong to the teacher.  The data belongs to the student and is on loan to you.”  --Damen Lopez

Developing a Commitment to 

Common Assessment Practices

(Damen Lopez)

             The most successful teams display a clear purpose on the way that they take a joint effort to utilize valuable assessment practices.  These teams exhibit the following characteristics:

            1.     Speak the same language, the language of data.  Successful teams continue to go back to the numbers.  While emotion is often an important quality that helps us to nurture and teach from the heart, getting results is the ultimate goal.  If a team is kind and nurturing, but their students are failing then they have not done their job.  Take the emotion out of the situation and look at the numbers.

           2.    Share data openly with one another.    One of the most difficult things for us to do as a teacher is to share our data.  We hide it out of embarrassment or fear of being judged.  Successful teams make commitments to looking openly at their data with the purpose to not cast blame, but to help one another.

           3.    Take responsibility for all students.  The easiest way for teams to get over their fear of sharing data is to decide that they are responsible as a whole for every student.  Being a team means working interdependently.  This starts with the way you collaborate about students.

            4.    Tie assessment to strategies and interventions that work.  It is often said we are “data rich and information poor.”  No one would argue the fact that assessments are crucial to ensuring academic success for students.  However, assessments that are given without plans to turn data into strategies that create success for students are useless.  Simply put:  Once you know where students stand, it is your responsibility to make use of that information and generate academic success as you teach them. The data you collect from MAP testing is your starting point.

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Eat lunch with a student that you may have a difficult time with. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM!

Play:  Thank you Mr. Kimble for organizing a fun staff game on Friday.

 Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!!

Make Their Day:  Thank you front office staff for breakfast treats this morning. Thank you to everyone for having an AMAZING BTSN!!

September 6, 2019

Thank you Diana Hines for sharing. This is a fun way for students to correct grammar mistakes. Students often find grammar boring because the content doesn’t relate to them. That’s why we generate questions from each student’s favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and friends. Imagine taking a quiz where your best friend’s name keeps popping up! It’s no surprise that students are engaged quickly. We believe that “playing with language” is an essential part of learning to write. That’s why we have students drag in commas, click words to capitalize them, throw out unwanted punctuation, and edit parts of sentences directly whenever possible. We also design exercises that have multiple correct answers, as there’s more than one way to write a sentence.

https://www.noredink.com/

Please remember we are a PBIS school. We HAVE to be handing out Caught You tickets. We have SO many students doing the right thing all the time! Let's make them feel good for making good decisions. Please make sure you have a system where you are collecting these in the classroom and have created in the classroom. Remember drawings have to be done weekly.

There is a lot of literature out there about the benefits of restorative practices in the classroom, but a great place for teachers to start is with proactive circles that build a sense of community and relationships in your classes. Remember also that Restorative Practices fit under the PBIS umbrella. This isn’t a stand alone thing or something that doesn’t fit within a PBIS system.  It's about building relationships, student accountability and repairing relationships.  These are cornerstones of any strong PBIS program.  Click on the link to see how this particular teacher wrapped in mindfulness and circles into her everyday morning routine.

Character Trait for September is Responsibility

CLICK HERE FOR RESOURCES

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for handing out caught you tickets during after school pick up. It makes a difference!!

Play: Make learning in your classroom engaging.

Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!!

Make Their Day:   Send a student from your class to have lunch with me on Monday.