Mr. Elkins' Weekly Wrap: May 2021

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Week of 5/17 - 5/21

Hey Panda Family,

We had such a fun week! Thank you to Ms. Fox and all the staff who helped make Field Day such a fun event 😊 As we roll into EOG testing please embrace our word of the week - "rallying". We need to rally behind our students who are testing and their amazing teachers! Have your class write encouraging notes, make a motivational banner, or make a video that provides them with inspiration to succeed on their tests. Let's support all our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes! Only 11 days of school left! Here are the Weekly Wrap updates:

Community Lockdown and Fire Drill: On Monday, May 24th right after 4th grade gets to specials (8:35), we will have a community lockdown. Below is the protocol for community lockdowns so you have the information. We will walk the students through it Monday. Right after the community lockdown we will have a fire drill.

Community Lockdown (Lockout/Modified Lockdown) - Something in the Surrounding Area Examples– Police searching for a suspect, domestic situation nearby, danger in the area, etc.  Call 911 and notify SRO (if available).

 Signal a lockdown.

Announce in plain English so that it is clearly understood by all staff, substitute teachers, and volunteers (parents, business partners, etc.), contracted/classified staff. Use statements like: “May I have your attention please. We are under a community lockdown until further notice. This precaution is due to something in the surrounding area. No one is to enter or leave the building or campus. You will be notified when the community lock down is lifted.”

Communicate with students and staff as needed via memo, intercom, or class visitation. School Safety/Emergency Procedures 2019
Lock all exterior doors and windows. Assign an administrator/ designee or SRO to monitor the main entrance.
All outside access to the building is denied, with the exception of law enforcement or school administration, until the lockdown is lifted.
All outdoor activities cancelled. Whenever possible, move inside.
Students are not allowed to leave the building.
Stop movement between any buildings that do not have an enclosed walkway. (If necessary, consider extending the class period and/ or turning off the bell system so students will not change classes.)
Business as usual inside the secured facility.
Buses: o Any bus on campus will immediately move to a safe location and report that location and the names of all students on board to the Transportation Communication Center (TCC). o All buses not on campus will be diverted to a safe location for staging as directed by TCC. o No bus will return to campus until directed by TCC.
 Once the danger has passed, make a school wide announcement to resume normal operation.

June 1st Specials: June 1st specials. The 5th grade Science EOG is on Tuesday, June 1st. We can have specials this day with a few adjustments. Please look over it carefully.

Note- Mrs. Secrest is covering for Ms. Adams

Canvas Lessons: This will be the last week that you need to have a detailed outline of your daily plans in Canvas. After this week, if you have any remote learners please just make sure they have what they need on your Canvas page to participate.

EOY Picnics: If your class is planning to have a picnic on your Celebration Day, and you won't have any students getting lunch from the cafeteria, please let Ms. Halsey (cafeteria manager) know. Her email is: 494childnutrition@wsfcs.k12.nc.us

PBIS News & Updates (from PBIS Committee):

Paw Store

May 28th: 3-5
June 7th: K-2
PAW Store (Virtual Students can place an order)

Morning Announcements: I got very sick over the weekend and was not able to record announcements. Ms. Gardner is going to take care of them this week. She will send them out as she records them. Here is the video for tomorrow.

Monday (5/24) - Monday, May 24

Staff Spotlight: From Ms. Grubbs - A HUGE SHOUT OUT to our entire staff! Everyone has been "ready to roll" with whatever testing task has been asked of them. I know many of us are stepping out of our comfort zone. Thank you so much to EVERYONE for what you have done to help this process be as smooth as possible.

From Ms. Fox - Huge shoutout to all the staff that helped with field day! Everyone worked so hard to make sure our pandas had a blast! You all are awesome! 🦊❤️🐼

From Ms. Laws - Shoutout to Beth who helped me figure out why the sound had disappeared on my laptop.

Reminders from Previous Weeks

iReady School Growth Data: I have created two Google documents that review our school EOY growth data for both iReady Reading & Math. All the data in these documents is growth data. None of the data represents proficiency (not all students will be proficient, but they can all grow!). I have removed the teacher names and have assigned random class numbers. You can see how your data compares to the rest of the school. If you are interested in reaching out to some of the teachers that have tremendous growth to see what they are doing in their class, please let me know and I will steer you in the right direction :)

iReady Reading Growth Data 2020-21

iReady Math Growth Data 2020-21

In-Person Meetings: The district has approved us to resume having meetings in-person! We must still practice social distancing and be masked, but this is definitely something to celebrate. We will continue to have our staff meetings via Zoom for the remainder of the year. Jayne will reach out to your grade level regarding PLTs.

4th Quarter Specials: Here is the link for the first week of 4th quarter specials. 4th quarter- Specials Schedule- Week 1 Below is the link for the remainder of 4th quarter (after spring break). We will have an alternate schedule during EOG week. 4th quarter specials

Positive/Exposed Covid-19 Students: Some parents are only contacting the teacher when their child has tested positive and/or been exposed to Covid-19. If you have a parent reach out to you in regards to their child testing positive and/or being exposed, please make sure they also let myself or Ms. Gardner know too. They can call, email, or message us on Dojo and we will follow-up. For every exposure and positive case we have to fill out specific information for the district. Thanks so much for your help with this!

Student Attendance: Managing student attendance this year has been such a rollercoaster. The guidance from the district is constantly changing. Luckily, we only have a few more weeks of remote learning and managing concurrent attendance. See below for the latest guidance from district. To be clear, I do not expect you to prepare materials for in-person students that are out on a moment's notice and participate virtually. See below:

Please share this clarification regarding taking attendance of the students, especially now that more students have returned to school. Our goal is to indicate “Present or 1R” for all students who engage in daily instruction.

PowerSchool indicators:

Leave blank, if “Present”- All students who engage in face-to-face learning.

Indicate 1R- For all Remote learners who participate in instruction, both those who are full-time remote students and those you may be home for quarantine or learning from home on specific dates.

Mark Absent- Any student who is not present for either in-person or online learning.

We want all students learning and not excluded. Please do not exclude students from joining their classes, if they are supposed to be in school, but are logging in from home on a given day. We want all students learning and not excluded. In-person learners should email or call their teacher if they will be learning from home on a particular day and indicate the reason why. If they join remotely, they are present (1R).

Lesson Plans: In an effort to not add something else to your plate, we are going to be very flexible with lesson plans for the remainder of this school year. Even as you transition to concurrent teaching (in-person & remote) your Canvas page can serve as your "plans". Ms. Gardner and I will use your Canvas page to locate your standards and "I Can" statements for each week & subject. Remember the key components of Modeled, Guided, Independent, and Assessment as you plan your week. While we may not be checking for formal lesson plans at this time, it is still important that you have your own plans in place to guide your instruction.

Working Remotely: We can only approve individuals working remotely if it is COVID related. If you are not able to come in to work you must take sick, personal, or annual leave.

IF Updates

iReady data chat: Please sign up here for a data chat with Mr. Elkins, Mrs. Gardner, and Mrs. Grubbs.

Testing reminders: No specials or outside recess until the announcement that testing has ended. We WILL have specials on June 1 for K-4! Homeroom teachers, you ARE in charge of charging your computers each day. We only have a 4 extra computers so you will need to charge all computers each day for the following day.

NC Test: Please check that your username and password for NC Test works.

Bathrooms during testing: All k-2 students should hold off from using the large bathrooms between 8:30 and 9. Starting at 8:30,

5th grade students should use the restrooms near the cafeteria.
3rd should use the restrooms near the Steam Lab and 2 water fountains.
4th grade should use the bathrooms near Mrs. Gant and Mrs. Sherrill’s rooms.

Please communicate within your grade levels when you are finished so that other classes can go when you are finished.

Covering items: Please take note of any yellow sticky notes that I left in your room Friday during the day. I know you all understand that we must follow the testing rules that have been set and hope that it will be easy to cover/remove/erase everything I noted. I will be coming around Monday around 1 to recheck your rooms. Remember, Mr. Jose is not here so he is not available to help.

CONTEST! There will be a contest to see who can return the NEATEST and MOST ORGANIZED testing folders. How do you enter? Follow these steps:

Paperclip all used paper together
Paperclip all unused blank scratch paper together
Paperclip all unused graph paper together (for math)
Keep your pencils so you can sharpen them (or the kids can use their own)
Sign your anomaly sheet (don’t forget your proctor if you have one!) and staple them if you have more than one
Paperclip any unused anomaly sheets
Sign and complete any ROAs
Neatly place all times in your folder
Pick up your cell phone bag after you finish testing

Building Classes for 21-22: We will make classes on Wednesday, June 9 in Room 126. Here is the schedule: 8:00 Kinder, 11:00 1st, 12:00 2nd, 1:00 3rd, 2:00 4th. Please bring your completed cards with you.

Testing Dates:

May 24 to June 8: K-2 Math EOY assessment window

Upcoming Dates:

Week of May 24 - Last week of Extended Learning Tutoring

May 25 - ELA EOG

May 26 - ELA EOG (Virtual Students only)

May 27 - Math EOG

May 28 - PAW Store (Grades 3-5)

May 28 - Elkins will be out for daughter's birth

May 31 - Memorial Day (No School)

June 1 - Science EOG (5th Grade Only)

June 1 - EOY Staff Celebration @ Earl's - 6:00

June 2 - Math EOG (Virtual Students only)

Use your information to play the game below! 🤣

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Week of 5/10 - 5/14

Hey Panda Family,

What a fun week we have coming up - Pop to the Top, Staff Contest, and Field Day! Should be a fun, relaxing week before we gear up for EOGs. Have fun with your kids this week! The more you engage and enjoy these events, the more fun they will have 😊 Thanks for all your hard work! Only 16 days of school left! Here are the Weekly Wrap updates:

Pop to the Top: Bring your students out to the black top, at your chosen time, with their punch cards that you have punched on Monday. Here is the schedule: Pop to the Top We will not have the data available to punch cards for them, so please make sure this is done ahead of time. Some classes are having each individual throw the balloons that they earned, and other classes are having a class total of balloons earned and divvying them out (promoting the accomplishment as a team). However you decide is fine by me as long as your total is accurate. We want the kids to understand that when they grow and work hard towards something (whether as an individual or as a team) that there are positive rewards. We can’t wait to have a ton of fun on Monday!

iReady Reading Growth Data 2020-21

iReady Math Growth Data 2020-21

Staff Meeting: We will have our final staff meeting of the year this Tuesday, May 18 @ 3:30. We will meet via Zoom using the Staff Meeting link on the PGE Canvas page. We will have a few agenda items and we will conclude our Contest from this past week!

Collecting Chromebooks: Please remind your students and families to return any school-issued Chromebooks and Hotspots they may have at home by this Tuesday, May 18 (below is an image you can use for Dojo). We need these devices back in the building to clean and prepare for EOG testing. Collect these materials, including chargers, in a central location in your class. Mrs. Secrest and Mr. Younts will be coming to collect and clean these before they have to be redistributed on May 21 for testing. For the remainder of the year, please provide tangible work on Flex Wednesdays that can be sent home with the students. When students return this work to you the following day you can complete/adjust your attendance accordingly for the Flex Wednesday.

iReady Weekly Times: iReady will be available to you for the remainder of the year. You may continue to have your students work in the program if you choose, but we are not requiring it in your instruction for the last few weeks of school. Thank you for all your hard work learning this program this year and implementing it in your instruction. Our growth has been amazing considering all the obstacles this year! (Side note: We will have iReady Reading and Math next school year. The district has already confirmed the purchase.)

Imagine It Materials: The district is going to begin collecting all Imagine It materials from all schools. Ms. Epperley is overseeing this project and will be working to collect these materials over the upcoming weeks.

PBIS News & Updates (from PBIS Committee):

Paw Store

May 28th: 3-5
June 7th: K-2
PAW Store (Virtual Students can place an order)

Ms. Murray's Birthday: Ms. Murray's Birthday is Monday, May 17. We really encourage you and your class to do something special for her on this day. Ms. Murray does so much for our school, all as a volunteer. Please join us in celebrating her on her birthday. Thanks!

PDP & Summative Conferences: All certified staff should have received an email from myself or Ms. Gardner regarding PDP & Summative Conferences. Please make sure you read this email and sign up for a time slot. Sign-up sheets are outside our office doors. Before our meeting, you should have your PDP updated with evidence and marked "complete". Please do this at least 2 days before our meeting. Also, have your green notebook updated. We will collect these so we can refer to them when adding comments to both the PDP and Summary Evaluation.

Timothy's Technology Corner:

Canvas Tips Contest: Thanks to the four individuals that have already responded.

Take a minute and share your Canvas Quick Tip in this form. I will share this with everyone in an upcoming newsletter. (For all who submit at least one tip, names will be put into a drawing for a prize!)
Don’t have a quick tip? Check out these: Ditch That Textbook: 20+ tips for using Canvas LMS

Newsela 101: This is just a reminder that I am holding an introductory session to Newsela this coming Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 1:30 pm. Please note this time change as I needed to make an adjustment to my schedule due to few shifts in other PD sessions that I am involved with on that day. I realize that you may already be using Newsela in your classroom, but note that the paid subscription has a lot more to offer in terms of reports which equates to data collection. So, newbies and those who need a refresher course, plan to join for Newsela 101. To get a feel for who all plans to attend, please complete this form.

Last Call for DLC Credits: If you need DLC (Technology Credits) or just want to add them to your CEUs to have them on record, you can register for the workshop in the PD system: Location: Piney Grove Elementary, Title: DLC Integration 2020-21 (Piney Grove Elementary), Date: 02/24/2021. Remember, you must be on the school network to register for workshops in the PD system. Should you have any questions, please let me know. Just in case you need the document again, here is a link to the form you need to submit to me so that I can enter your credits into the PD system for you: DLC Credit Record Sheet. Please submit your DLC Credit Record Sheet to me via the following Google Form by May 17th, 2021, so that I have ample time to enter them in the PD system. Submit Your DLC Credit Record Sheet Here.

Technology Updates:

This following is all informational, no action needed at this time.

Today in our ITF meeting, Kevin Sherrill presented the attached "Device Refresh Timeline" plan for students to have devices beginning next year. This is a plan for blended learning. Devices should and will be used for support of instruction. It is not meant for students to be on a device all day. We will talk more about this as ITFs support is clearly instructional next year with very light tech duties. The technicians will be leaned on for repair and fixes.

Note that the plan for K-2 is that students will be in a 1-2 rather than a 1-1 plan. Grades 3-5 will be 1-1.
K-2 devices will stay at school and not be taken between school and home. 3-5 will go back and forth.

The plan now is:

K-2 and 5 will be getting devices that we currently have on hand. Therefore, device collection at end of year is critical so that these devices can be refreshed for next year.
4th Grade will be getting the current gold dot computers. Again, it is critical that device collection at the end of year is so important.
3rd Grade will be getting new blue dot computers beginning next year.
Carts need to remain at schools for now, a plan for surplus is being worked on.

Moving forward:

Starting next year, K-2 teachers will keep those devices housed in their classrooms. A plan for charging stations is underway.
Each year students in grade three will get a device checked out to them that will stay with them through the end of 5th grade. They will get a refreshed device when they go to middle school. If students move between schools the device will follow them, the devices will no longer belong to the school.
Cases for the devices are being requested as an additional budget item, so are charging stations for classrooms.
They are aware we need a "day cart" housed in media for when a student may forget a device, broken, etc.
With this plan, there is no need for schools to spend Title 1 monies on devices in the future.

For more information, refer to the PowerPoint that was shared with us at today’s meeting.

Zoom…

Will be funded one more year with expectation of teachers to transition to Teams afterwards. This is primarily for Virtual Academy or should we have to go into a remote situation for weather, etc. Please make an effort to use and model Teams next year for virtual meetings.

Timothy's Schedule for the Week of May 17th:

Monday, May 17th: Sedge Garden for Field Day (in the event of rain cancellation, I will be at Piney Grove instead)
Tuesday, May 18th: Sedge Garden for Field Day
Wednesday, May 19th: Remote from Home (Pear Deck PD for Carter High School at 10:00 am & 11:00 am; Newsela 101 at 1:30 pm)
Thursday, May 20th: Piney Grove (in the event of rain cancels Monday’s Field Day, I will be at Sedge Garden instead)
Friday, May 21st: Pine Grove for Field Day

Morning Announcements: Here are the links to the Morning Announcements for this week.

Monday (5/17) - https://youtu.be/RwUi-dXljbQ

Tuesday (5/18) - https://youtu.be/KqlNG2v0iOY

Wednesday (5/19) - https://youtu.be/pLm9YEOaUJ4

Thursday (5/20) - https://youtu.be/bbgX-j5fdak

Friday (5/21) - https://youtu.be/GwnJIVLmz_0

Staff Spotlight: From Ms. Finley - Shoutout to Ms. Moore who was a trooper and taught my class for 5 hours while I was in an IEP! I had no clue it was going to last that long and she just stepped right up. Also, one more shoutout to Mr. Jose, Ms. Gardner, and the SMO crew who brought in my rug from drying outside last week after a toilet leak left it all wet! Thank you SO much!

From Ms. Ceglowski - Shoutout to Ms. Owens and Ms. Medley for helping out with Car Riders this week!

Reminders from Previous Weeks

Remote Students Returning to In-Person: We have decided not to wait until 4th quarter to communicate to all remote parents that their child can return to in-person learning. Please send the following message to your fully-remote students via Dojo (you can let them know it is from Mr. Elkins):

Hey Pandas! Effective immediately, your child may return to full in-person learning if you so choose. Any remote students that want to immediately return to in-person learning will need to be a car rider, use a morning/afternoon daycare van, or go to Imprints. If your child needs bus transportation, please contact the front office to get it arranged before your child plans to return to in-person learning (bus transportation is only available for residential students). If your child will be a car rider, please ask your teacher for a pink car rider sign. Students returning to in-person learning are committing to all 4 days of in-person learning each week. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact the front office at 336-703-4122.

- Mr. Elkins

If parents decide to send their child back for in-person learning please let Ms. True know who the student is and when they will begin in-person learning.

PowerSchool indicators:

Leave blank, if “Present”- All students who engage in face-to-face learning.

Indicate 1R- For all Remote learners who participate in instruction, both those who are full-time remote students and those you may be home for quarantine or learning from home on specific dates.

Mark Absent- Any student who is not present for either in-person or online learning.

School-Wide Packet Pickup: We would like to coordinate a school-wide packet pickup day each week for all grade levels to best help our parents (this way our parents that have kids in multiple grade levels can get all materials in one trip). If you are preparing tangible packets for pickup please have them out and ready by the end of business day on Thursdays. This way parents have Friday and the weekend to pick up any materials needed for the next week. This is effective immediately. Thank you for your help with this!

Working Remotely: We can only approve individuals working remotely if it is COVID related. If you are not able to come in to work you must take sick, personal, or annual leave.

IF Updates

iReady data chat: Please sign up here for a data chat with Mr. Elkins, Mrs. Gardner, and Mrs. Grubbs.

**Computers for EOG**: I will be coming around on Friday during field day to collect all of your WSFCS labeled chromebooks (gold dots too!) so we can have them for the EOG. K-2 teachers, please put these computers, and their chargers, in a central location so I can find them. 3-5 teachers, please put all of your WSFCS chromebooks in one place so that when I leave your classroom, I am confident that you will have enough computers for testing.

Building Classes for 21-22: We will make classes on Wednesday, June 9 in Room 126. Please complete your cards before this time. I will put these cards in your box. If you need to get more cards, they are in the file room. Kindergarten is a 8:00, 1st grade is at 11:00, 2nd grade is at 12:00, 3rd grade is at 1:00, 4th grade is at 2:00. You will need to pick up your class’ placement cards from Jayne’s office so you can have them to work on in PLT. Just find your grade level’s stack, take your class cards, and if you need blank ones for new students, grab them at the same time.

K-2 math assessments: If you would like access to the digital resources provided from the Math Department for these assessments, use this link. I think the things you want the most are on slide 7. Don’t forget to come to my room to pick up your assessment materials!

Testing Dates:

April 26-May 14: iReady 4-5 Reading and K-5 Math testing window

May 3-14: iReady K-3 Reading testing window

May 12 - EOG Training (K-1 is 8:30, 2, Specialist, other certified staff is 12, 3-5, EC is 2:00)

May 17: iReady “Pop to the Top” incentive

May 21: all computers that are needed for testing will be borrowed from K-2 classrooms for testing and will not be returned until testing is close to completion (I’m hoping you will have them back on June 2)

May 24 to June 8: K-2 Math EOY assessment window

Upcoming Dates:

Week of May 17 - Last week of PLTs

May 17 - Pop to the Top iReady Growth Celebration

May 18 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30 (no tutoring this day)

May 21 - Field Day