Week of 4/27 - 5/1

Hey Panda Family,

Week 33 & Week 6 Online. We can't wait to celebrate you this upcoming week! Happy Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week 🙌🐼

Staff Meeting: We will have a staff meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 via MS Teams with Mr. Hall & Mr. Walker. Please see my email from earlier today.    

Items in Room to Keep Accessible: We will follow the district's guidance, but I suspect we will still pack up our rooms before finishing out the school year. Because of this, it is imperative that some items are left accessible. Please add to the Google doc any items you can think of that will need to be turned in or you will need to access that you shouldn't fully pack away at this time (i.e. - receipt book, literacy folders, etc.). Please use this as a resource - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skvAc0Am5QrGH_5o50QEjnNYX2a02ClzcClPzeWnsr8/edit?usp=sharing 

Updates from District Office:

• Instruction

  • Microsoft Teams Final Grading Guidelines sessions will be offered for teachers, counselors and APs- Monday, May 4 (Sessions will be recorded.) - Please make sure you attend one of the sessions. 
  • 9:00 am- ES Session 1- Meeting link- Teams
  • 2:00 pm- ES Session 2- Meeting link- Teams
  
  

  Is it necessary for ES teachers to put grades in PS from this point forward? If they’re tracking the participation and progress?

  • Yes.  Continue to enter grades for Q4.  The Narrative Report card will provide comprehensive yearlong strengths and areas of growth.
  • Begin to transfer your grades on paper into PowerSchool. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Student Engagement

  • Mailing home a letter to families for kids who are not engaged in eLearning. Only for students who have done no work at all since March 13. - We will make a plan this week and relay it to everyone. 
  • Teacher must communicate with admin/data manager about kids not engaged.
  • Data manager would mail the letter.
  • The letter can be from Dr. Hairston or principals.
  • Aim to have letters out by next Friday or Monday at the latest.
  • Get the letter to principals out Monday at 3:00 call.

  
  

  EC

  Why are EC services going till June 11th?  This will not give EC teachers any time to work on progress reports, they will be busy still working with students. Classroom Teachers will have a week to due report cards while students are turning in missing assignments, why the difference for EC teachers?

  • EC services on the IEP are to continue as IDEA requires us to provide services from day 1 of school to the last day.  EC Teachers can end their progress monitoring earlier for 4th quarter as long as they have sufficient data points to report. They must continue to provide services and progress monitor students to the last day of school. These additional data points will help your school determine the extent of any “Covid-19 Slide” as we contemplate compensatory and ESY services.

  
  

  Next Steps

  • Remind EC Teachers that they must gather and report progress monitoring data on all IEP goals, even if they are focusing on a few priority goals.
  • Please verify with EC teachers that they have documented in ECATS multiple contacts with all parents of students who have not participated in remote learning or who stopped participating after the initial two-weeks.  The school must document continuing efforts to engage EC students in remote learning.

Priority Standards: The district wants all grade levels to focus solely on "Priority Standards" for 4th Quarter eLearning. These standards have been selected by the district as the most important standards for instruction as we prepare students for their next grade. Here is a list of the "Priority Standards" for each grade level in this document.

Morning Announcement Links:
Monday (5/4): https://youtu.be/2ER4TZfW69M
Tuesday (5/5): https://youtu.be/isiR7Ns-KZ8 
Wednesday (5/6): https://youtu.be/cVM61bfurN8
Thursday (5/7): https://youtu.be/IJkBzxWkXoA
Friday (5/8):  https://youtu.be/jQcwpGgYLyQ

Field Trips 2020-2021: As we look ahead to next school year, start talking to your team about field trips. Reach out to organizations to get dates and then let Ms. Gardner know so she can request buses.  Remember, October is a popular month and dates get blocked quickly. Reach out to Ms. Gardner if you have questions. 

Daily Assignments: As discussed, please make sure your PSL page Elearning assignments are broken down into daily requirements (Monday do..., Tuesday do..., etc.). 

FLEX Fridays: Reminder, there will be “FLEX” Friday each week. During the remainder of this school closure, students will only be assigned academic work Mondays-Thursdays, allowing Fridays to be used as a flexible day to engage in fun, leisure, building/strengthening social-emotional connections, and catching up on previously assigned work and/or connecting with teachers for additional support. See the eLearning Instructional Guidance document for FLEX Friday resource to attach to your PSL page.

Staff Spotlight: Friday was National School Lunch Hero day! Our cafeteria staff is awesome and have been rockstars while feeding our community through the school closure. I encourage you to send them some love when you have a second. Their email is 

494childnutrition@wsfcs.k12.nc.us.

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Phillips. Check it out! 

IF Updates

PLT: we will start PLTs the week of May 18. Stay tuned for further details! 

Daily Updates: I have sent lots of updates the week. Check my three emails this week to for details. 

Upcoming Dates:

May 4 - Staff Meeting @ 8:30 via MS Teams
May 5 - PTA Food Truck from 11-2

Check out these remade children's book titles 😊 Too funny!