Week 9: October 28, 2016

Happy Friday!!! 

Tier I Instruction is most important! We need to ensure that our students are receiving great initial instruction and we are maintaining a level of Individual Accreditation within our classrooms! How can Ann or I be of support? 

Housekeeping: 

- Let's welcome our new Speech Language Pathologist, Melissa Abernathy to our Bel Air Family. She will begin on Tuesday, November 1st. 

Highlights of the Week: 

- A huge "THANKS" to the grade level chairpersons who assisted our new hires in completing their ordering for the 2016-17 school year. I know that orders were submitted in the spring of last year but your attention to help our new comrades...it is most appreciated! 

- 1st Grade's Planning Meeting today provided so much clarity and direction! Everyone came to the lounge focused and ready to conquer the task at hand! Such amazing teamwork and dedication to the embracing of the CLT process! Mrs. Hulse, we thank you for your time and redirection! You ensured that the team was on track, you guided and coached! Thanks. Frustration for us all may arise, however, we will conquer and we will be successful! Way to go 1st Grade! 

- The Fun Friday in Ms. Fanto's room was a tremendous hit! Great foresight and initiative, Mrs. Rivers! This is definitely an example of creating a collaborative culture and climate within our school building! This idea is the foundation for strengthening Bel Air's familial foundation!  Thank you!!!

- Crisis Response Reminders: There is a confidence that is needed in embracing the newness!  As we begin changing our mindsets about defend options know that this takes time and we must develop situational awareness. We are going through this learning curve together!

1.       There is not one option, there are multiple options.

2.       One option may work under a real crisis, or all options may be exercised.

3.       DO NOT move to an area if you are likely moving towards the threat: if you are inside and the threat is  

          outside. Stop, look, listen (if available) before you move.

4.       Our response actions will help mitigate casualties. When Police are on scene they want to see your hands.

5.       Lead your students by example and have confidence in your abilities. Don’t be a hero, do the right thing.

Students as Learners: 

- Being out this week limited my time to see students involved in their learning. I'm looking forward to going into classrooms next week! We will be in during the Language Arts block to observe the implementation of Reader's & Writer's Workshop! 

- In 3rd Grade, students were working on repeated addition and a brief introduction to multiplication. 

- In 2nd  Grade, I was able to view students completing a Socratic Assessment on Matter.

Important Dates: 

- November 1st:  CogAT Practice Tests

- November 2nd: CogAT Practice Tests
- November 3rd:  CogAT Practice Tests
                           Fall Picture Day - be sure to get your picture taken or you will have to answer                               to Mr. Rinker! 
- November 4th: NO SCHOOL for students! Teacher Workday

Be sure to reward yourself by gifting time to your weekend schedule...time for just you!

~ Antoinette 

Week 8: October 21, 2016

Happy Friday!!! 

Tier I Instruction is most important! We need to ensure that our students are receiving great initial instruction and we are maintaining a level of Individual Accreditation within our classrooms! How can I or Ann be of support? 

Housekeeping: 

- Let's welcome, Janai Beauchamp, into our Bel Air Family. She is our 0.2 Counselor who will work with us on Tuesdays. Her first day will be Tuesday, October 25th. 

- Let's welcome, Amy Bednarz, as well! She is our 0.5 ESOL Teacher who will work with us in the afternoon, daily. She will begin on Monday, October 24th. 

- Continued focus on Standard 7: Student Academic Progress as it relates to instruction, assessment, remediation and enrichment. 

-  Red Ribbon Week October 24th-28th

* All staff are encouraged to wear jeans this week! *

Monday, October 24th – Don't get mixed up with drugs! Wear your crazy, mis-matched socks.

Tuesday, October 25th – Living drug free is no sweat! Wear sweatshirts and sweatpants to school.

Wednesday, October 26th – Red Ribbon Day - say NO to drugs! Wear lots of red.

Thursday, October 27th – Reach for your dreams, not drugs! Wear appropriate pajamas to school. 

Friday, October 28th – Team up against drugs! Wear your favorite jersey or team shirt.

- Operation Turkey - October 24th - November 1st:
Bel Air’s Student Council is collecting food to help ACTS give families in Prince William County a Thanksgiving meal. Please review the flyer sent out by Ms. Marshall and post in your class. Let's encourage our school to help families in need! 

Highlights of the Week: 
- 2016-17 budget has arrived! I will be presenting our current reality at our Leadership Meeting on Tuesday, October 25th. 

- Interdependency was truly evident this week during our RtI Meetings. We are ensuring good first instruction, Tier II and Tier III intervention for all of our students. We have a laser-like focus on each students, struggling or excelling! This is AMAZING and I am so proud to work alongside you! Bel Air Interventionists ROCK!!! Farrell, Findley, Fiorio, Hanrrington, Hulse, Jones, Kempf, Kozlak, Krisko, Palmer, Peters 

- Since 4th grade is implementing the CLT model for both Language Arts and Math they were given a full planning day to plan out their Social Studies and Science units for the year. They were extremely focused and completed six unit planning documents for both subjects. Ms. Palmer also assisted in the planning for Math and Mrs. Hulse assisted with planning for LA during this valued time! FOCUSED 4th Grade will be their name for this school year! 

- A huge "SHOUT OUT" to our ESOL Specialists! The division is continuing to monitor PWCS' English Learner Programs and after completing my Principal Data Draw, we remain in 100% compliance!!! The division will do a data draw on October 25th!

Students as Learners: 

- 5th graders are working through SOL 5.5 Cells. Please take a walk through their Cellular Museum in the 5th grade hallway to see students' cell displays. If there are 5th graders in the hallway, ask them to identify the parts of the cell (animal or plant), the classification of using physical characteristics, body structures, and behavior of the organism. They'll let you know...I've asked! Phenomenal Job students and teachers! 

- Ms. Fanto's students demonstrated high engagement during a QAR lesson! With the usage of dry erase boards. student-led conversations, consistent teacher monitoring and high interest activities, the students were able to decipher what types of questions being asked and how to answer them! 

Important Dates: 

- Week of October 24th - RIF Distribution 
- October 24th: Crisis Management Meeting @ 4:00 p.m. with Mr. Jacob Edwards (all staff)

- October 25th: Leadership Meeting @ 4:00 p.m. 
- October 25th: Title I School Plan Meeting @ 5:00 p.m. 
- October 26th: PWCS Recruiting @ Clarion University of PA - McDonald out (Otterblad will be present)
- October 27th: PWCS Recruiting @ Clarion University of PA - McDonald out (Otterblad will be present)

- October 28th: Staff Breakfast provided by 4th & 5th Grades

- October 28th: A2 Meeting @ 10:00 a.m. 

My Current Reading:

Be sure to reward yourself for such an amazing week!
~ Antoinette 

Week 7: October 14, 2016

Good afternoon Fabulous Staff, 

This week I have felt a transformation! It is important to me that each of you are heard, when you speak! My hope is that the communication and transparency of our administrative team, is appreciated and well received. We all most be informed and we all hold value in the success of our school! I appreciate you all! 

CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs. Rivers, our Special Educator Extraordinaire! She is our PTA Teacher of the Month! She gets to enjoy the luxuries of such an honor: VIP Parking, Extended Catered Lunch, Marquee Presentation, Recess Coverage and countless other surprises!! Well done Mrs. Rivers...your work and dedication is not in vain! 

Housekeeping: 

- If there is a PD scheduled on a Wednesday and we are unable to meet for our Data Reflection Meetings, please be sure to update your Data Reflection Form so that the monitoring of student progress continues. Special Education students are to be identified on the DRF if they have not met the benchmark, please refer to our discussions on Wednesday.

- Standard 7: Student Academic Progress: When you monitor the instruction of academic progress, ask yourself whether you are meeting or exceeding the standard.

Are you MEETING the standard?

Instruction results in documented continual academic progress or achievement of students, as shown by multiple measures throughout the school year. Sets measurable and appropriate achievement goals based on analysis of multiple measures of student performance data. Routinely monitors progress to set and adjust learning targets.  Adjusts instruction to promote increased student achievement.

Are you EXCEEDING the standard? 

Instruction results in consistently high levels of student growth and documented achievement, as shown by multiple measures throughout the school year. Engages students in the development and monitoring of their individualized learning goals. Monitors student progress on a consistent basis and establishes individualized targets based on student performance data. Shares successful strategies with colleagues in or beyond the school.

  

- Please share the following link with parents via your School Messenger page, class newsletter, Class DOJO or a parent email: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GN98Z5R    

Highlights of the Week: 

- PGP Conferences are off to a great start! It is very important to equip staff with the tools to review and aggregate data, discuss and reflect, and plan and impact student learning. This is an opportunity for you to "stretch" your learning about our students, acquire new knowledge and develop learning experiences for our students to achieve at high levels! We are being intentional in our planning...in our instruction...in educating our students! 

- Ms. Hanshaw, Thursday's ROP, exclaimed about our students and staff! Classroom procedures and routines were evident! Student engagement was at a high! 

Character Counts Week October 17th – 21st 
* All staff are encouraged to wear jeans this week! *

Monday, October 17th – Wear Green We are all RESPONSIBLE for how we treat others – treat them kindly! 

Tuesday, October 18th – Wear Yellow Show RESPECT and treat others the way you want to be treated! 

Wednesday, October 19th – Wear Red Being kind and compassionate shows others that you are CARING. 

Thursday, October 20th – Wear Orange Play by the rules, share and take turns to treat others with FAIRNESS. 

Friday, October 21st – K, 2nd, and 4th grade – Wear Purple/1st , 3rd and 5th grade – Wear Blue Show good CITIZENSHIP and do your best to make our school a better place. Be an honest, loyal and TRUSTWORTHY friend to others.

Students as Learners: 

- In Ms. Mucica's class, a student informed me that he knows how to work smartly. "First I place out my pictures and sort them in a way that they are the same and then I glue them so I don't make a mistake!" I agree, he was working smartly! 

- In P.E. I observed students being accountable and honest, great character traits, while participating in a Rolling Bowling activity. 

- Students assisting their peers to remain on task...response-able behaviors exhibited. 

- Students participating in cooperative groupings provided answers to their peers and did not rely on the teacher, solely. The answer is in the classroom and doesn't have to necessarily be from the teacher. 

Important Dates: 

- October 17th: Character Counts Week begins

- October 17th: AI Academy - Quattrone out

- October 18th: Principal Collabo Meeting @ Neabsco - McDonald out in a.m. 

- October 18th: Building Leadership Capacity @ Hylton H.S. @ 3:30 p.m. (Be sure to let me know that you are attending; must register prior to attending)

- October 18th: RTI for Grades 1st ,2nd & 5th @ 12:30-3:30 p.m.

- October 19th: RTI for Grades K, 3rd & 4th @ 9:00 -12:00 p.m.

My Current Reading:

Rest up and enjoy your weekend!
~ Antoinette 

Week 6: October 7, 2016

Good afternoon Fabulous Staff, 

October has arrived...

Housekeeping: 

- Grade level ordering will begin as soon as we receive our budget...I can see the light! Grade levels chairs are encouraged to stop past and obtain the ordering forms from Mrs. Roseann for teachers to review. Please update or confirm the items by initialing the top of the order forms and returning them to Mrs. Roseann by October 19th. 

- PGP Conferences begin next week and an email has been sent with K-2 and 3-5 examples. Please come to the meeting with a draft and I will guide and "stretch" you to compose measurable SMART goals and action steps. 

- For our faculty meeting on Tuesday, October 11th, please complete the following survey by 2:00 p.m. on Monday, October 10th. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BW7CBWB

- Please share the following link with parents via your School Messenger page, class newsletter, Class DOJO or a parent email: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GN98Z5R    

Highlights of the Week: 

- When you disaggregate your Reading data, we are requesting that you continue to monitor the progress of our Special Education students, on your class roster. The achievement gap is very real when you view our school data below. There is a 25 point discrepancy in reading between our Special Education and White students. Be sure to include their data when completing your PGP paperwork.

READING
	2013	2014	2015	2016
All Students	70	71	80	79
Black	77	79	83	80
Hispanic	67	68	76	77
Asian	72	91	85	83
Econ. Dis.	67	69	78	77
LEP	62	67	75	71
SWD	55	64	65	64
White	84	66	90	89
MATH
	2013	2014	2015	2016
All Students	65	78	84	79
Black	69	77	83	78
Hispanic	59	76	81	79
Asian	79	100	93	78
Econ. Dis.	61	73	81	77
LEP	56	73	78	75
SWD	44	66	88	82
White	82	83	86	86

- We rank 7th, in the entire division, in 4th Grade SS - 95%!

- We rank 17th, in the entire division, in 4th Grade Math - 88%! 

- We rank 17th, in the entire division, in 4th Grade Reading - 85%!

- We rank 34th, in the entire division in READING! 

- We rank 40th, in the entire division in MATH! 

Important Dates: 
- October 10th: Teacher Workday - NO School for Students
- October 11th: Interims Go Home
- October 11th: Faculty Meeting (in person) @ 4:00 p.m. 
- October 11th: PTA Meeting @ 6:00 p.m. 
- October 12th: Biggest Loser Competition Begins
- October 13th: Principal Training - McDonald out in a.m. 
- October 13th: Sam's Club in Teacher's Lounge @ 11:00-1:00
- October 14th: Principal Induction - McDonald out & Otterblad to ROP

Video & Reflection:

- BE intentional! Innate intelligence! "I think I can...I think I can...!"

https://youtu.be/kW5zT2Yzxb0

My Current Reading:
  

You're amazing and I appreciate you! 

Rest up and enjoy your weekend!
~ Antoinette