Weekly Update #14

Inspirational Quote:

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” —Gilbert K. Chesterton

                                                                 This Week                                                                           

Monday, December 2, 2019                         Glenda - Mentor Meeting @1

Tuesday, December 3, 2019                            IEP (Papageorio @8:30)
                                                                        Data Meeting @ 10:30
                                                                        IEP (McIntyre) @11
                                                                        CIT Meeting @11:30
                                                                        IEP (Billias) @12:30
                                                                        Clinic Meeting @1:00
                                                                        School Support Team (Mentor)

Wednesday, December 4, 2019                      Glenda - ATRS

Thursday, December 5, 2019                         Glenda - Powers Meeting @9
                                                                       CPR Class

Friday, December 6, 2019                             Dr. Parker or Data Meeting (TBD)
                                                                       Grade 3
                                                                       Grade 4
                                                                       Grade 5
                                                                      ****Library Book Sales****

                                       Things to Be Aware of and Keep in Mind                                                

• Polar Express - Friday, December 13, 2019 with Mrs. Chruniak
• Inclement Weather Staff Support - Dr. Tutwiler is predicting that Lynn may have more delayed starts, and would like each school to invite two teachers to come at the regular scheduled time for a stipend.  If you are interested in this role, please email Glenda.
• First Book Giveaway - Dr. Tutwilier will come to read a book to a grade or class and will announce that each student will receive 2 free books to take home on 12/18/19.
• Pajama Day - Pajama Day will be on Wednesday, December 18, 2019. 
• Guided Reading - Continue to invite Liz and Glenda to Guided Reading lessons.
• Remember students should be reading during most of your GR lesson aim for 10 minutes!
• ELE Meeting - The ELE office will be rescheduling the December 4th ESL Elementary meeting in order to accommodate ELLevation software training on December 16th OR 17th.
• Science Assessment Reminder - Please remind your Grades 1-5 teachers that students’ EOU Assessment results for their current science units are scheduled to be scanned into TestWiz during the week of December 2nd.
• Grade 3 - Moving forward you should use Edcite to do your assessments online.  Most teachers are using their unit 2 assessment to allow students to practice entering grades prior to the Unit 3.  Please connect with Jay for this information.
• Classroom Walkthrough - Liz and Glenda will be reviewing the paper that is up on walls, please check your walls and make sure that you don't have too many things up.
• Coaching - January will be the goal for starting 1 to 1 coaching.  
• School Site Council - We still need at least 3 members of our school community (teachers or paras) to serve on our School Site Council. This is a state mandated team for our school, so anyone that is willing to serve for the 5 days listed in the previous email, please let Glenda and Liz know.
• School Improvement Plan - 3 people have shared an interest in joining the team.  There is still more room.  Please let us know if you are interested in joining.
• We have been charged by Dr. Tutwiler to determine an equity challenge in our school and create a goal to improving this.  I am super excited about this work!
• See schedule of planning and meeting dates.  I took into consideration the availability of members that shared an interest:
• 12/2 - 7:30-8:00
• 12/6 -7:30-8:00
• 12/10 - 7:30-8:00
• 12/13 -2:30-3:30
• 12/16 - 7:30-8:00
• 1/3 - 7:30-8:00
• 1/6 -2:30-3:30
• Please confirm your interest to Liz and Glenda in an email if you plan to be a part of this team.
• Guided Reading - Continue to invite Liz and Glenda to Guided Reading lessons.
• Things we've noticed - Everyone is launching with important vocab and an intro.  In addition, all students are reading independently and teachers are listening in.
• Feedback - One thing to note, the intro should be short and sweet.  It should be 2-3 minutes, and the bulk of the time should be on student reading.  Let's increase students reading.
• Next Round - For observations, we are doing rounds on Criteria for Success of a task, and giving feedback on Lesson Plans.
• Coaching - January will be the goal for starting 1 to 1 coaching.  
• School Improvement Plan - 4 people have shared an interest in joining the team.  There is still more room.  Please let us know if you are interested in joining.
• TB Testing - Thank you Danielle, Lee-Anne, and Carolina for helping us during this process.
• Thanksgiving Break - Wednesday, 11/27/19 school is out at 11:15 am for Thanksgiving break.
• Technology Update
• All laptop carts needs to be in rooms that can accommodate them and be plugged in during the day.
• Let us know if this is a problem so that we can find a new room or a power strip to ensure that they are charged.
• Transition - Nicole and Brianna will be back on Wednesday.  Please help me in thanking Margarita and Meghan for all that they have done to support our school during our transition.

• Recess - recess resource
• Connery School Year Calendar
• Food Pantry Flyer
• LPS CORE VALUES - Inclusiveness, Shared Responsibility, High Expectations, and Inspiring Life Long Learning.

                                                        Reminders from the Office                                                           

• Please do your attendance on time each morning.
• There are still some that are not getting completed by 9:00.
• Folders - Please check your mailboxes each day.  Some yellow folders were not picked up this week.
• All notices (including parent's notes) need to be sent to the office.

                                                     Updates from our Nurse                                                                 

• Don't forget to use your nurse passes when sending students to the office.
• If you are interested in being CPR certified, please let Danielle know!
• 5.2 Healthy Classroom Parties and Celebrations
• If you are concerned about how to share the message to families, let admin know.  There is support available to you. 

                                                           Looking Ahead                                                                         

November 26 - Student Study Team
November 28 and 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)
December 3 - School Support Team (Mentor)
December 4 - ILT
December 5 - CPR
December 9-17 Parent Conferences
December 10 - Staff Meeting
December 17 - Student Study Team (SST)
December 19 - Christmas Party at RF Sullivan @4:00 (Save the Date)
December 23-January 1 - School Closed for Winter Break

Weekly Update #13

Inspirational Quote:

“ Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child's eye - it is very beautiful.”        

- Kailash Satyarthi

                                                                 This Week                                                                           

Monday, November 25, 2019                         First Response Team Meeting @ 9
                                                                        Glenda - Mentor Meeting @1

Tuesday, November 26, 2019                         Data Meeting @ 10:30
                                                                        IEP (Buckley) @11
                                                                        CIT Meeting @11:30
                                                                        IEP (Palange) @12:00
                                                                        Clinic Meeting)@1:00
                                                                        Student Study Team

Wednesday, November 27, 2019                     Half Day Schedule - Dismiss at 11:15

Thursday, November 28, 2019                        No School - Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Friday, November 29, 2019                             No School

***No ELT.  There should be no after school programs on the half day.  Please send reminders out to families.***

                                       Things to Be Aware of and Keep in Mind                                                

• Follow Up from the Fire Drill - There are a few things that the fire department shared with us, and asked us to relay with you.
• Rugs in classrooms need to be fire retardant.  They are labeled as such on their tags. All school rugs are.  Please check rugs that were not purchased by the school, and make sure that they follow these guidelines.
• Paper - In schools that do not have sprinklers in the classroom, there is only paper allowed on 20% of the wall space.
• Since this is a safety concern, I ask that you review your walls.
• Class rules and jobs should be posted.
• Current lessons and skills should be posted.  However, if you have old posters or materials from previous years, this is a good opportunity to purge them.
• Some of the walls in our classroom have lots of paper on them, and this can be over stimulating to our students, as well as unsafe.  Please clean up by Wednesday.
• Hall doors - We would love to designate an adult to close the interior brown doors in the hallways.  If your classroom or office is near an interior door, please reach out to Liz and we will update our Fire Drill plan.
• School Site Council - We need at least 3 members of our school community (teachers or paras) to serve on our School Site Council.  This team votes on important decisions for our whole school.  It is also an opportunity to engage with families and learn their perspective and needs.
• The dates, times, and topics are as follows:  

#	Meeting Date	Proposed Meeting Topics
1	December 9, 2019	Overview of SSC, By-Laws, School-wide Goals
2	January 13, 2019	Review Family Engagement Plan and Discuss Ways to Re-establish a PTO.
3	February 10, 2019	Budget Update
4	March 9, 2019	Family Communication / Policies
5	April 13, 2019	Hiring subcommittee - Roles

• Dr. Parker - will be a remote session in Glenda's office on Tuesday.  Look out for an email from Liz with more information
• Guided Reading - Continue to invite Liz and Glenda to Guided Reading lessons.
• Things we've noticed - Everyone is launching with important vocab and an intro.  In addition, all students are reading independently and teachers are listening in.
• Feedback - One thing to note, the intro should be short and sweet.  It should be 2-3 minutes, and the bulk of the time should be on student reading.  Let's increase students reading.
• Next Round - For observations, we are doing rounds on Criteria for Success of a task, and giving feedback on Lesson Plans.
• Coaching - January will be the goal for starting 1 to 1 coaching.  
• School Improvement Plan - 4 people have shared an interest in joining the team.  There is still more room.  Please let us know if you are interested in joining.
• TB Testing - Thank you Danielle, Lee-Anne, and Carolina for helping us during this process.
• Thanksgiving Break - Wednesday, 11/27/19 school is out at 11:15 am for Thanksgiving break.

• Technology Update
• All laptop carts needs to be in rooms that can accommodate them and be plugged in during the day.
• Let us know if this is a problem so that we can find a new room or a power strip to ensure that they are charged.
• Transition - Nicole and Brianna will be back on Wednesday.  Please help me in thanking Margarita and Meghan for all that they have done to support our school during our transition.
• Elementary All-City Instrumental Concert Dates - Reserved and confirmed with Lynn English.
• Dates: Tuesday 6/9/2020 - Callahan, Connery, Drewicz, Lincoln Thomson, Sewell Anderson, Tracy
• Recess - recess resource
• Connery School Year Calendar
• Food Pantry Flyer
• LPS CORE VALUES - Inclusiveness, Shared Responsibility, High Expectations, and Inspiring Life Long Learning.

                                                        Reminders from the Office                                                           

• Please do your attendance on time each morning.
• There are still some that are not getting completed by 9:00.
• Folders - Please check your mailboxes each day.  Some yellow folders were not picked up this week.
• All notices (including parent's notes) need to be sent to the office.

                                                     Updates from our Nurse                                                                 

• Don't forget to use your nurse passes when sending students to the office.
• If you are interested in being CPR certified, please let Danielle know!
• If a student returns after multiple days out, feel free to send them to the nurse's office for a quick check-in.
• Our nurse has a 12:30 lunch time.  Please do not send students down during this time, unless there is a medical emergency.

                                                           Looking Ahead                                                                         

November 26 - Student Study Team
November 28 and 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)
December 3 - School Support Team (Mentor)
December 4 - ILT
December 9-17 Parent Conferences
December 10 - Staff Meeting
December 17 - Student Study Team (SST)
December 19 - Christmas Party at RF Sullivan @4:00 (Save the Date)
December 23-January 1 - School Closed for Winter Break

Weekly Update #12

Inspirational Quote:
"Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other's fund of collective intelligence."    

-Mike Schmoker

                                                                 This Week                                                                           

Monday, November 18, 2019                         Glenda - Mentor Meeting @1

Tuesday, November 19, 2019                         Data Meeting @ 10:30
                                                                        IEP (Buckley) @11
                                                                        CIT Meeting @11:30
                                                                        IEP (Fucillo/Miller) @12:00
                                                                        Clinic Meeting (joined by Gagnan)@1:00
                                                                        School Support Team (Mentor)
                                                                        Dr. Parker - Walkthrough
                                                                        Food Pantry & Cradles to Crayons

Wednesday, November 20, 2019                 

Thursday, November 21, 2019                        Glenda - Superintendent Session @8-12

Friday, November 22, 2019                             Speech (Seitz) @ 8:30
                                                                         Grade K
                                                                         Grade 1
                                                                         Grade 2
                                                         (Long Block - Guided Reading 2.0)

**ELT - Some ELT sessions are now going to be in the morning for some, and not just on Wed and Thurs.**

                                       Things to Be Aware of and Keep in Mind                                                

• Math Teacher - Moving forward Ms. Landino will join grade level team meetings for grades 3-5 on Thursdays, every other week, or when Grade 1-3 has PLTs.
• Lunch Concerns - Use SEL lessons/time to continue to talk with students about behavior at lunchtime, recess, and specials!
• Guided Reading - Continue to invite Liz and Glenda to Guided Reading lessons.
• If you have had a Guided Reading observation, feel free to set up a debrief session.  It shouldn't be more than 15 minutes.
• During our walk-throughs and observations in the last few weeks, we have seen great things. A kindness board in a classroom, a fun word work activity, realia being used during Guided Reading,  and targeted Guided reading instruction lessons.
• Thank you for taking risks and trying new things.  We are humbled by our community's will to sit in a bit of discomfort in order to grow, and engage in new things with our students.
• Coaching - January will be the goal for starting 1 to 1 coaching.  
• School Improvement Plan - 3 people have shared an interest in joining the team.  There is still more room.  Please let us know if you are interested in joining.
• Health Department Information - TB testing begins on Tuesday morning.  You may go directly to Danielle's office first thing in the morning if you have returned a consent to get tested.
• Thanksgiving Break - Wednesday, 11/27/19 school is out at 11:15am for Thanksgiving break.
• Infrastructure Run Information:

• Wednesday -Nov. 20 all grade 4 classrooms and room 207 will be having a district wide MCAS infrastructure trial. The purpose of this is to stress the system and make sure all schools are in a good place with technology before the actual testing window opens. The CITS will bring laptop carts to your classrooms the day before, except for grade 3 room 208 will test in the library. Please bring gr. 3 students to library right after you take attendance. The information is below on how this will take place:

• Where: Grade 4 in their classrooms and Gr. 3 (room 208 only) in the library.
• Time: 8:30-9:00
• Test used: Everybody is using Gr. 3 (practice test ELA or Math)
• Site used: Teachers google Pearson Practice MCAS (Not brown site, using guest option) Teachers should model for students on smart board for logging on purposes. You may choose ELA or Math. Teachers, do not worry if students do not finish the test. Support staff in rooms at this time please assist the students with logging onto the site. Please make sure students are using LPS Wi-Fi network only. (Not Legacy)
• If a student, laptop receives an error message throughout this trial please keep that screen open and text Steph or Rita.
• Stephanie Miller will monitor rooms: 205 & 206
• Mrs. Dunnigan will monitor Library
• Rita Gallo will monitor rooms: 102&103

• Technology Update
• Laptops are getting hot and warped due to hot batteries.  Please unplug carts on Fridays and plug them back in on Monday mornings.
• All laptop carts needs to be in rooms that can accommodate them and be plugged in during the day.
• Let us know if this is a problem so that we can find a new room or a power strip to ensure that they are charged.
• Transition - Beginning next week, Stephanie will begin to transition part of her days back into the classroom.  We will do half days to begin and slowly increase to a full day.
• Elementary All-City Instrumental Concert Dates - Reserved and confirmed with Lynn English.
• Dates: Tuesday 6/9/2020 - Callahan, Connery, Drewicz, Lincoln Thomson, Sewell Anderson, Tracy
• Recess - recess resource
• Connery School Year Calendar
• Food Pantry Flyer
• LPS CORE VALUES - Inclusiveness, Shared Responsibility, High Expectations, and Inspiring Life Long Learning.

                                                        Reminders from the Office                                                           

• Please do your attendance on time each morning.
• There are still some that are not getting completed by 9:00.
• Folders - Please check your mailboxes each day.  Some yellow folders were not picked up this week.
• All notices (including parent's notes) need to be sent to the office.

                                                     Updates from our Nurse                                                                 

• Don't forget to use your nurse passes when sending students to the office.
• If you are interested in being CPR certified, please let Danielle know!
• 5.2 Healthy Classroom Parties and Celebrations
• If you are concerned about how to share the message to families, let admin know.  There is support available to you. 

• CPR has been rescheduled. Please see details below. Please note NEW DATE and NEW location. Class will be combined with staff members from Breed.
  
  

  What: CPR CertificationWhen: Thursday, December 5  (2:45-4:45)
  Where: 100 Bennett Street (Admin Bldg/School Committee Room)
  Cost: FREE
  How: Please register online through TeachPoint

                                                           Looking Ahead                                                                         

November 19 - School Support Team (Mentor), Dr. Parker Walkthroughs
November 26 - Student Study Team
November 28 and 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)
December 3 - School Support Team (Mentor)
December 4 - ILT
December 9-17 Parent Conferences
December 10 - Staff Meeting
December 17 - Student Study Team (SST)
December 23-January 1 - School Closed for Winter Break

Weekly Update #11

Inspirational Quote:

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."

Albert Schweitzer

                                                                 This Week                                                                           

Monday, November 11, 2019                         No School

Tuesday, November 12, 2019                         Data Meeting @ 10:30
                                                                        IEP (Conlon) @11
                                                                        CIT Meeting @11:30
                                                                        Clinic Meeting @1:00
                                                                        Staff Meeting @ 2:30
                                                                        Information Session @ 3:30

Wednesday, November 13, 2019                    Cindy - PD 7:30-9
                                                                        Mayor Visits Connery @10:00-11:00
                                                                        IEP (Buckley) @1
                                                                        ILT @ 2:30-3:30

Thursday, November 14, 2019                        IEP (Seitz) @ 10:00
                                                                         IEP (Beddia) @11:00
                                                                         Dr. Parker - Walkthrough

Friday, November 15, 2019                              All Grade Levels - Data Meeting
                                                                       (All Data must be in by Wednesday)

                                       Things to Be Aware of and Keep in Mind                                                

• Sign In Sheet - Thank you for filling these out.
• Math Teacher - Moving forward Ms. Landino will join grade level team meetings for grades 3-5 on Thursdays, every other week, or when Grade 1-3 has PLTs.
• Grade Level Planning Time - On Thursday, you are expected to meet with your team during your common planning time.
• ELT -   teachers please make sure to pull assessment data for students who attend ELT in order to update your grade books.  If a students scores lower on the retest, we keep the original score.  If students score higher, you take an average of the first score and the retest, and average those together.
• WiDA emails - Many have asked about the invitation received by all teachers for the WiDA site.  Admin shared two reasons for this email blast to all teachers.
• 1. Admin would like all teachers on deck for ACCESS testing.
• I will meet with the ESL team and we will determine the proctors for testing and consider the best schedule for all students.  If you need to proctor for testing, you will be notified.
• 2. Admin would like all teachers to have access to the site for access to their resources.  On this site, you can find the WiDA Can Do descriptors as well as other tools that can support our ELs.
• School Improvement Plan - I would love to have a sub-committee from ILT who would like to join in creating our School Improvement Plan. We will determine a meeting time for this team as a group.  This is a stipend position.
• New Schedule for Instruments on Friday - Please see attachment.
• Health Department Information - Our information Session with Dr. Tutwiler will be on November 12 from 3:30-5:30.
• Field Trips - Field trips are still on hold according to admin and our Health Department.  We will communicate as soon as we are given the approval from downtown.
• Please see me if you have concerns.
• Schedules - If a schedule has been changed with my and Liz's permission, make sure the changes (including recess) are corrected on SharePoint, and a new copy is placed in my and Liz's mailbox.  
• Technology Update
• Laptops are getting hot and warped due to hot batteries.  Please unplug carts on Fridays and plug them back in on Monday mornings.
• Infrastructure Run-through will be on Wednesday, November 20th.  
• More details to come, but as many students as we can must be on TestNav for a practice run of MCAS by 8:30.  This is meant to test our district wide bandwidth. 
• Office Referrals - If there is an office referral that is worked on outside of your classroom, please make sure that the loop is closed and parents are called before the end of the day.  Especially if the scenario calls for it.
• Candice and the office can support with this, but teachers should also engage with families in order to team together for supporting children at home and school.
• Sometimes parents could use ideas from us as much as we may need from them about how to approach scenarios with students.
• Elementary All-City Instrumental Concert Dates - Reserved and confirmed with Lynn English.
• Dates: Tuesday 6/9/2020 - Callahan, Connery, Drewicz, Lincoln Thomson, Sewell Anderson, Tracy
• Recess - recess resource
• Connery School Year Calendar
• Food Pantry Flyer
• LPS CORE VALUES - Inclusiveness, Shared Responsibility, High Expectations, and Inspiring Life Long Learning.

                                                        Reminders from the Office                                                           

• Please do your attendance on time each morning.
• There are still some that are not getting completed by 9:00.
• Folders - Please check your mailboxes each day.  Some yellow folders were not picked up this week.
• All notices (including parent's notes) need to be sent to the office.

                                                     Updates from our Nurse                                                                 

• Don't forget to use your nurse passes when sending students to the office.
• If you are interested in being CPR certified, please let Danielle know!
• Food Policy for Birthdays and Events - 

                             WELLNESS POLICY FOR LYNN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
                                          (Approved by School Committee 6-8-06)

• 5.2 Healthy Classroom Parties and Celebrations
• School staff and parents are encouraged to include healthy food offerings at school parties and events to support a healthy environment throughout the district. Suggestions include fruits and vegetables, low fat foods, whole grains and foods on the John Stalker Institute “A-List”.
• John Stalker Institute A-List:
• https://www.johnstalkerinstitute.org/alist/index.htm
• John Stalker Institute A-list PDF:
• https://www.johnstalkerinstitute.org/alist/alist.pdf

                                                           Looking Ahead                                                                         

November 5 - Full Day Professional Development

November 6 - ILT Meeting
November 8 - Veteran's Day Concert (Color Guard and Drill opening ceremony)
November 11 - Veteran's Day (No School)
November 12 - Staff Meeting, Keys to Literacy Visit (Model for K and 1)

November 14 - CPR Training, Dr. Parker Walkthroughs
November 19 - School Support Team (Mentor), Dr. Parker Walkthroughs
November 26 - Student Study Team
November 28 and 28 - No School (Thanksgiving Break)