The Cornelius Chronicle

September 18, 2015

Monday - Wear your uniform!

PBIS Assembly

Thank you to the PBiS Team for a fantastic first assembly!!!!!  It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up as a book character!  The students’ behavior was awesome!  

Start Dates for Important Events

Sept. 21st - ELD for grades 1-4 and Kinder Literacy

Sept. 28th - ELD for Kinder

Oct. 6th - Intervention groups / push-in support for literacy

New “Runner” System for Student Messages

Instead of Irene calling each classroom every time she gets a message for one of your students, she is going to put the message in a folder for your class.  Please assign a classroom job as the runner to come to the office every day at 3:00 pm to see if your class has any messages.  Then at the end of the day, return the folder to Irene.  Hopefully, this new system will reduce the number of phone calls and interruptions in your classroom.

Fire Drill

You did a great job evacuating out of the building, quickly, calmly, and orderly.  All of you had your green cards and “go kits” with you to let me know that you had everyone accounted for.  The only issue is that most classroom doors were left open.  You need to shut all doors on your way out (not lock, just shut) to keep the fire from spreading.

Lockdown Drill

We will do our first lockdown drill on Thursday at 1:30 pm.  I will announce on the loud speaker:  "Lockdown, locks, lights, out of sight...this is a drill," so as not to scare the students.

Remember wherever you are in the building, you go to the hallway, grab any kids or adults you see in the hallway and pull them into your room.  Lock the door, turn out your lights and gather students into an area away from the door.  They must remain silent.  Make sure your hall door window is covered.  Take roll silently.  

You will be released by the drill by me or Cheryl/Irene keying into your room.  Do not open the door for anyone.  Do not release from the drill by an announcement or a fire drill.  The lockdown supersedes the fire alarm unless you actually see smoke/fire.

If you are outside, you would stay outside and find cover with whichever children you are supervising.  Best bet would be to go to the police/fire station or library, if possible.

We will NOT do an evacuation after this drill.

I don't want you to tell students about this drill in advance - unless you have a high-anxiety student who needs to know in advance because I want to see how students react without warning.  We practice these drills in order to figure out what any issues are before we are in an emergency situation.

SPED Expectations

IEP meetings are required to be attended by the classroom teacher.  You will get as much notice as possible.  Our SPED teachers look at your calendar on Google to see if you are available when they set the date/time, trying to accommodate the family’s schedule.  Please have your calendars updated with any dates that you are unavailable.  If it’s a matter of having bus duty, please switch bus duty with another staff member for that day.  

Also, at Parent Conferences, if parents bring up the idea of testing their students for SPED services, please explain the SPED referral process to them.  First, we have to have a meeting to determine if there is an issue in learning.  Next, we have to do at least 6 weeks of interventions to determine if an intervention will improve performance, and only then would we go to referral team to determine if we need to start a SPED evaluation. We then have 60 school days to complete the SPED evaluation before we meet to determine as a team if the child qualifies for SPED services.  Sometimes, doctors or family/friends tell parents, “Try to get your kid on an IEP” and parents don’t understand that there is a process.

Family Math & Literacy Nights

We will have our first of two family math & literacy nights on Oct. 6th and our second night on Feb. 11th from 5:30 - 7:00 pm Teachers-Please let me know which one you will attend.  Teachers should pair up and determine what activity they want to offer families - specialists team can help you brainstorm if you need ideas.  We should have a mix of math and reading activities.  Teachers - Please let me know what you choose by filling in the Google sign up that I send out.  I need 3 classified staff members who are available to help with childcare on each night - please let me know if you are available.

Fall Assessment Schedule

2015-2016 Fall Assessment & Work Sample Calendar Cornelius Elementary
Assessments	Who is responsible for administering the assessments?
9/10-9/16 Woodcock Munoz for Kinder and new students	Sweep Team - Melissa, Maroha, Lawson, Manuel, Janelly, and Cesar
9/18, 9/21, 9/22  Kinder Readiness Assessment (KRA)	Sweep Team - Elizabeth and Janelly (they will get subs to fill in their duties)
9/22-9/30 Kinder Spanish Reading - IDEL	Sweep Team - Ana, Elizabeth, Alejandra
9/28-10/1 Kinder English Reading - Easy CBM	Sweep Team - Melissa, Maroha, Lawson, Manuel, and maybe some retired teachers
9/21-9/30  Grades 1- 4 English Reading - Easy CBM	Sweep Team - Melissa, Maroha, Lawson, Manuel, and maybe some retired teachers
9/14-9/30 Grades 1 - 3 Spanish Reading - IDEL	Sweep Team - Ana, Elizabeth, Alejandra
Sept 17 & 18 4th grade Spanish Reading - EDL	Sweep Team - Manuel, Maroha, Lawson, Melissa
9/22-9/30 K District Math Assessment	Kinder teachers with Janelly & Elizabeth
9/14-9/30 1-2 District Math Assessment	Classroom teachers
9/14-9/30 3-4 SMC IAP Math Assessment	Classroom teachers
September & October--due by 10/30 K-3rd   Narrative Writing Work Sample K Narrative: Tell a story about something fun that you have done with your family. 1st Narrative: Tell a story about something fun that you have done with a friend.   2nd Narrative: Tell a story about something fun that you did during the summer. 3rd Narrative: Tell a story about a time that you felt proud about something that you did. 4th  Persuasive Writing Work Sample In some countries, students are responsible for basic cleaning of their school buildings.  Fifteen minutes is set aside each day for all students to sweep, dust, and clean classrooms.  Do you believe your school should make students responsible for daily cleaning?  Why or why not?  Support your position with reasons and examples.	Classroom teachers will give this writing task and score it by the end of October.  Prompts are suggestions.  Your grade level team must agree on the prompt that you give...stick with the assigned mode--K-3 is Narrative and 4th grade is persuasive.

Parent Conferences Schedule

Tues 10/20 Teach all day; conferences 4-8 pm

Thurs 10/22 Conferences 8 am - 8 pm

Fri 10/23 Off (comp time)

Picture Day 9/24

Cheryl will be sending out a schedule for picture day, but we will run all classes through the library for picture day.  All Staff - be sure to get your picture taken before school or during lunch time!  Questions?  Ask Cheryl.

Fundraising Assembly 9/29

We are doing our first fundraiser this year with a kick-off assembly on 9/29 - which will be 30 minutes or less.  It will be a catalog sale.  Let Cheryl know if you have any questions!

English/Spanish Signs

You will notice we have 5 English/español signs around the building that my dad put up for us for our G&G common-area language.  Just a reminder for all of us: M-W our common-area language is Spanish and Th-F our common-area language is English.

Hand Sanitizer

Another reminder to not use hand sanitizer for lunch hand-washing….not only is it not sanitary, the hand sanitizer leaves a film on students’ fingers that does not allow them to scan their fingerprint to get into the system.

Packing Slips

If you receive any items with packing slips, please give them to Irene!  That is important for when our books get audited.  Thanks!

Reminders:

• Don’t forget to take your online trainings by 9/30
• Submit your curriculum maps for the year to me and specialists by 9/21

Bus Duty: 1st & 3rd grade teachers, and the “regulars”!

Calendar:

9/21 1st day of ELD for grades 1-4 and Kinder literacy

9/21 3:30 pm Student Leader Meeting (for 3rd & 4th grade teachers--library)

9/23 8:00 am CIT - Interventions Training for all certified staff (in the TRC/library)

9/23 12-4 pm Elementary Principals Meeting (Angella)

9/24 Picture Day!  Wear your smile!

9/24 8 am -12 pm Admin Meeting (Angella)

9/24 1:30 pm Lockdown drill

9/24 7:30-3:30 ELD Training (Kathy, Chelsea, Daisy, Merry, Maroha)

Looking ahead:

9/28 1st day of Kinder ELD

9/28 3:30 pm PBIS Meeting

10/1 10 am - 2pm G&G Walkthroughs

10/2 8 am - 4 pm G&G Training (Grove Room)