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! 🤣