At the tail end of our Staff Meeting, we reviewed a short summary of Ken O'Connor's 15 Fixes for Broken Grades. O'Connor's book is a solid, quick read. If you are interested in reading the whole book, let me know and I'll lend you a copy.
The article this week provides some practical strategies to use that are effective in using assessments as opportunities to increase our students' level of learning. Once again, our grading system is set up to adhere to the fixes, but it always good to check in and revisit this topic to maintain our consistency from classroom to classroom. Our Puma Pride system is a critical part of doing it right.
"Do No Harm: Flexible and Smart Grading Practices" by Andrew Miller
Early Math Olympiad Results
Our Math Olympiad students recently participated in their first contest of the year. This year, we have adjusted our IE structure so that students have more direct practice with the high level problems that they will encounter on these exams. In all of our contests last year, we didn't have a student score over 2 (high score is 5), and most were 0 or 1's. In looking at the 7th and 8th grade results for the first contest, we had 1 student score a perfect score (5) - Carter Fait. We also had 9 students score a 4, and 8 students score a 3. Impressive results!
The 6th grade team has yet to have their efforts scored. If you see the following 7th and 8th students, tell them great job!
Jocelynn Nehls, Dylan Trudell, Mykolas Lyons, Alex Busch, Matthew Lannoye, Valerie Heth, Hunter Wells, London Chapman, Darias Alires, Tanis Crawford, Tyler Snyder, Meredith Burdon, Jackson Geitner, Luke Lindquist, Melanie Koopmans, Bryanna Tesch, Avery O'Dea, Chase Hansen, Grace Hutchinson, Lizzi Endres, Mika Bush, Felicia Ritzke, Mark Bartz, Gunnar Hamre, Ilse Benzing, Anneliese Graeme, Hazel Ruckle, Conrad Kurtz, Dominic Graeme, Nicholas Milewski, Caden Markgraf, Carter Fait, Maddie McEvilly, Carsten Small, Bryn Romeis
Lockdown Drill on Tuesday (11/20)
We will be having a lock-down drill on Tuesday (11/20) afternoon at 1:30pm. This is a good time review procedures with students. It is important that the classroom door is locked, everyone in the room is out of sight from the window, and the room is quiet. In a lock-down scenario, it is also critical that any student phones are powered off or at least silenced. We will discuss lock-down situations in more depth during our PD Day on 11/26. This drill experience will help inform our discussion. Please let me know if you have any questions. New door handles which make it easier to lock the door from the inside are scheduled to be installed on Monday (11/26) as well.
PD Day on 11/26
The schedule for our PD Day on 11/26 is below:
8:00 - 9:00 - District Meeting in the High School Commons
9:00 - 12:00 - Department Work - goals will be communicated department by department
12:00 - 2:00 - Lunch/Classroom Time
2:00 - 2:30 - PMS Staff Meeting - Review of School Safety Scenarios
2:30 - 3:30 - District Insurance Meeting
MS Staff Meeting this past Wednesday
Thanks to all of our teachers for sharing impressive student growth and sharing effective strategies with the team. We have a very strong team here. After analysis of our School Report Cards, there are certainly areas for us to focus in our improvement efforts. We will use the School Report Card data as much as we can to drive these efforts. Closing our gaps is all of our responsibility...utilizing each minute of instructional time and IE, and instituting inclusive co-taught sections of ELA and Math, among other strategies are critical parts of closing this gap for all of our students.
Early Release on Wednesday (11/21)
The Thanksgiving Holiday is almost upon us. With that being said, next Wednesday (11/21) is an Early Release Day. Students will be dismissed at 1:15. We will be following our Early Release Schedule. Please review it and let me know if you see any areas that are overlapping for your coverage.
Mark Your Calendars for Talent to be on Display!
MS Holiday Concert - Tuesday, December 18th at 7:00pm in the 1-8 Gym
Images of the Week
Daily Free Throw Challenge during Lunch Recess
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