October 29, 2021

 

Below are the guidelines for parent-teacher conferences:

• Parents DO NOT need to show proof of vaccination to attend their child's parent-teacher conference;
• All conferences are in-person UNLESS a parent requests a virtual conference. Parent requests for a virtual conference should be honored.

Teachers should not be scheduling virtual conferences UNLESS it is by parent request. All other conferences should be scheduled as an in-person conference. All attendees shall be masked during the conference.

The Suisun Valley K-8 School’s New Library and Administration Building was recently awarded Outstanding Project by Learning by Design - Awards of Excellence Fall Edition.

This project is exemplary in being a custom building respecting the small nurturing feel of a rural K-8 school located in a prime agricultural area of Suisun Valley. The design makes emphasis on natural lighting, natural colors, and views that allow the building occupants to connect with the surrounding landscape. The new building houses 7,728 square feet of administration offices, a waiting area, teachers’ lounge, workroom, conference rooms, library, and two instruction areas.

More information at 19six.com

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for working well with your grade level partners. It takes a team to get through this year!

Play: I hope you can make it to our Trunk o Treat tonight.

Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!! I now some days are hard.

Make Their Day:   Thank you Gloria, Carlos, Donna, Jon, and Debi for doing a great job watching over our students during recesses.

October 21, 2021

 Remote schooling has painfully demonstrated the critical role that in-person schooling plays in simultaneously meeting many developmental needs. Besides academic learning, in-person schooling provides children with socialization and support from caring adults, peers with whom they can test out various identities as they discover themselves, and access to skilled physical and mental health practitioners. And for too many children, school is where they experience sanctuary from unsafe homes and communities, get reliable meals, and have access to other social services.

The loss of these supports last year, possibly on top of traumatic events at home, means many students will begin this academic year displaying symptoms that could meet the criteria for a range of mental health disorders. It will be tempting to manage the challenges their behaviors create by isolating these kids through extended time outs, separating their desks from the rest of the class, or even removing them from the general education classroom. However, we must resist the pressure to use exclusion and the special education system to manage behavior and learning challenges associated with adversity and poverty. 

The Basics of Relational Discipline

Relational discipline is grounded in research showing that leveraging positive educator-student relationships is more effective than punishment in motivating students to adhere to classroom expectations (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003). The strongest educator-student relationships are built on a foundation of understanding each student as an individual and genuinely caring for each one's well-being, although the relationship-building process won't look the same for every educator.

Halloween costumes: follow school dress code, no weapons, no blood, no masks, no blow up costumes.  

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for supporting us to try to find out who is vandalizing our girls and boys bathrooms.

Play: Thank you Heather M. and Kristin for planning a fun Friday.

Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!! I now some days are hard.

Make Their Day:   Thank you Fern, Melody, Monica and Garrett for holding efficient IEP meetings.

October 15, 2021

 

Love this Boss's day card! Thanks for the thoughtful cards and gifts :)

No matter how many times a student tells you they don’t care about school or whether they succeed, remember that no child wants to be a failure. Some will try and convince you otherwise, but it is in those moments that they need you most. Believe in all kids and believe in your own ability to influence them. 

• Students still struggle asking for help when they are failing

• Knowing which students are struggling reach out to them and make an appointment with them during class time instead of waiting for them to make an appointment- this was a suggestion from a student

• Students feel overwhelmed with too much busy work

• Send feedback surveys to students and see what they have to say

NO EXCUSES UNIVERSITY – INTERVENTIONS

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

“Once children are taught what they need to learn and then assessed for their levels of proficiency, there needs to be appropriate, data-driven academic interventions to help students who are not on track to be proficient by the end of the year.  There also needs to be similar social interventions, because children who are emotionally well adjusted are much more likely to be academically successful.”

During our Academic Conferences at our staff meeting we discussed interventions for our students.  In reviewing the data, we have moved past the excuses and how we can help them at school :)

When we review data, we focus on what the students don’t know and how we are going to provide interventions to support the students learning.

We have now completed MAP assessments or formal/informal data you are collecting.  What are you doing with the data?  What interventions have you put in place?  Here is an example:

If your student scores have low RIT score.   You are able to drill down into the results to determine on which standards the students need support in.  As an example in Math, when one drills down further into the data,  you may notice that the majority of the students struggled with expressions and equations.  A smaller number also struggled with use functions to model relationships. Then the teacher is able to develop very targeted lessons that can be delivered in a small group setting.  The teacher does not have to re-teach the entire class.  Targeted, immediate intervention will have a positive impact on student achievement.

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for taking the time and building relationships with your students.

Play: Thank you Heather M. for offering another fun virtual cooking class.

Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!!

Make Their Day:   Thank you for the cards and gifts for Boss's day!

October 8, 2021

 NO EXCUSES UNIVERSITY – DATA ANALYSIS

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

“It is one thing to have a sophisticated system of regular, formative assessments, but if that assessment data is not collected, disaggregated and reported in a timely and user-friendly manner, it becomes almost unusable.  We believe data must be easily accessible, openly shared, and deliberately arranged.”

There are three main components to data management:

#11. Easily accessible

#  2. Openly shared

#  3. Deliberately arranged

Easily accessible:  We are so fortunate to have two data systems that provide us with on-the-spot data about our students, our schools, and our district.  If you have not become proficient on MAP, you are missing out on valuable tools that will help guide your conversations and actions.  The best part of MAP and Illuminate is that both systems are accessible to our staff.

Openly shared:  During our collaborative time with grade levels, we have shared multiple data sets that include district and site-level academic achievement.  We should currently be working with our school’s formative (or MAP) data and providing intervention now.  

Deliberately arranged:  Over the last few weeks, we have been hearing lots of thoughts about student achievement – reasons for increases or decreases.  One of our commitments is to be specific when we talk about student achievement.  Student achievement data is readily available and we need to use it to describe academic progress.  Furthermore, as you look to each data set, make certain you drill down to the student level.  Don’t just look at the data from the 30,000 foot view.  Remember…data doesn’t always answer questions.  More often than not, it raises questions. AND DATA BELONGS TO THE STUDENT!

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for those staff members who have been able to attend our after school games!

Play: Thank you Heather M., Daniel and Kristin for helping out with Fun Friday!

Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!!

Make Their Day:   Check in with a staff member you have not talked to in awhile.

October 1, 2021

 

NO EXCUSES UNIVERSITY

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

“We spend time at our Institute distinguishing between formative and summative assessments and how grade level teams can take responsibility for gathering or creating formative assessments that make sense for them.  We emphasize the importance of this work as a support to teachers, because this allows teachers to track those students who are not making adequate academic progress towards proficiency, and then identify specific content areas that require intervention.”

There are some key topics to consider when implementing an assessment plan:

#1:  Assessment is NOT about the teacher, it’s about the student

#2:  Balance between of and for learning assessments

#3:  Scheduling, benchmarks for growth, and continuous improvement are crucial

Assessment is NOT about the teacher, it’s about the student:  One of my favorite quotes from the summer institute was that data does not belong to the teachers.  It was on loan from the students.  In order to help students achieve proficiency, we must support the teacher in analyzing the data and making the necessary adjustments.

Balance between of and for learning assessments:  There needs to be a balance between formative and summative assessments.  Think about the teachers on your campus.  What percentage of the instructional time is dedicated to formative assessment?  What percentage of the instructional time is dedicated to summative assessment?  In a NEU school, both assessments are equally important.

Scheduling, benchmarks, and continuous improvement are crucial:  When you get your data…what do you do about it?  Is it used as a learning opportunity to better understand what your students know and don’t know? Everything we do should be about providing opportunities for continuous improvement.  Do we have systems in place that allow for such a process?

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you Daniel for taking on extra coaching duties so that our students can participate in middle school sports.

Play:  Thank you Heather M. for coming up with Fun Friday for 7th-8th graders.

 Choose your attitude: BE POSITIVE!!!

Make Their Day:  Go out of your way and make a connection with a student that you don't know very well in your class.