10.28.22 Staff Blog
I am looking forward to engaging in more learning around conferences, and what that looks like at Cascade K-8. I know you have all been preparing for your time with families, and am hopeful that you will reach out if there are additional supports I can offer. You will find the link to our schedule below. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about lunch last week. It really helped me process that experience for our students. As you will see
Quick Look:
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE (IN THE NOV. CONFERENCES TAB): HELPFUL
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yiU8d6ecxyVo_XIL-f9gb1NAcvHNwuLP3PUEzOZPFlc/edit?usp=sharing
CONFERENCE WEEK PTSA SPONSORED LUNCH: ACTION
PTSA will be providing lunch for staff during conference week. Here is the menu:
Monday - Soup, Salad and Bread.
Tuesday - Taco Bar:
Wednesday - Baked Potato and Chili Bar
Thursday - Order in Catering from Panera **Use THIS LINK to order your Thursday lunch no later than 10.29.22.
(here is the menu) https://catering.panerabread.com/menu/category/111
Friday - Leftovers Day
CONFERENCE SIGN UPS: ACTION
Please share your conference sign ups/schedule with Jennifer and Rebbecah, so that we may be able to help families navigate to your room or Zoom link. If you are using a zoom link, please also share that with us. If there are conferences you would like Rebbecah to attend, please make a note of that on this spreadsheet.
EVALUATION: ACTION
For all, your student growth goal will be linked as an artifact under the observation in eVal labeled “student growth goal”. This is often an area of confusion as there is a link on the left side of the teacher dashboard labeled “student growth goal”. Instead, please link your student growth goal form under the artifacts section of the observation labeled “student growth goal”.
Growth Goal Forms:
FROM THE CK-8 UPDATE FOR FAMILIES: HELPFUL
This message came out from CK-8 as well as the district last week, but wanted to make sure you saw the information families received. I also want to clarify that although we are not wearing costumes or doing celebrations of holidays at school (as outlined below), you should feel free to wear seasonal clothing that does not serve to other our students in any way. For example, a t-shirt with pumpkins and fall leaves is your choice to wear. If you have questions about that, please do let me know. Below is the messaging sent to families:
Families may want to be involved in the planning for special events and celebrations at school. In keeping with our mission and vision, we want to include everyone in all of our school activities we plan so that all children and families can participate without conflicting with their families’ values or beliefs. We refrain from any kind of religious observation, such as prayer, songs, posters or symbols and instead focus on shared experiences that include everyone. Although we listen and learn from children and families as they share stories about their family religious and cultural celebrations, we do not observe or highlight any specific commercialized or religious holiday as a focus of our daily curriculum, including birthday celebrations.
Here are some of the ways we celebrate together:
Program - Wide Events There will be program wide events regularly over the year. Examples include the Back to School Potluck, Family Dance Party, S.T.E.A.M events!
PTSA planned Events - PTSA events are planned and scheduled outside the school day. They are optional and may include a wide variety of celebrations. The Cascade K-8 Community has celebration and community at the heart of the school, and this shines through in our PTSA events.
TECH TIP: HELPFUL
In case you missed the tech tip for this week, here is the updated tip for this week.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12dDuwuMWaTzM6O_OFvcwFyRUHKso2wxeWZyYYOMZyIQ/edit?usp=sharing
CONFERENCE INFORMATION FOR K-5 TEACHERS FROM OUR INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT: HELPFUL
Each fall the Teaching and Learning Department shares a guide for conferences. This year’s guide can be found by clicking this link: Family Conferences Information Fall 2022
We have also received questions about whether conferences may be held on Zoom. We recognize that there are health and safety reasons why a person may choose to meet remotely and also that the continued opportunity to hold meetings remotely can increase access for members of our school community. If a parent requests a Zoom meeting, teachers may choose to offer this as an option, but a Zoom meeting should not be required of parents.
Family conferences are also a great opportunity to communicate proactively with families whose students qualify for Highly Capable services in the Primary Enrichment Program (PEP), literacy and/or math. There is a quick checkbox form that can be completed by you or collaboratively with the family and/or student. This form also defines for families common strategies for serving Highly Capable students. PEP Service Description, Grades 2-5 Literacy Service Description, and Grades 2-5 Math Service Description.
K-5 TEACHERS- OSPI Structured Literacy Professional Learning Opportunity: HELPFUL
OSPI has partnered with Glean Education to provide a free course bundle of five on-demand courses on Dyslexia, Structured Literacy, Intensifying Instruction, Reading Fluency, and Serving Students with Dyslexia for educators, including school psychologists and teachers. Educators in Washington can earn clock hours for completing these courses. Learn more and enroll for free here.
Also, OSPI will be hosting a free expert webinar series throughout the year on topics such as Dyslexia, Structured Literacy, and MTSS. Find more information and register here.
K-5 TEACHERS- CURRICULUM RESOURCES: HELPFUL
For easy access, teachers can BOOKMARK the links below to find curriculum guides for their respective grade levels. Within each grade level, there are folders for Art, ELA, Health, Math, Science, and Social Studies. It is not recommended to make a copy of the folders as some content is updated regularly.
Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade
K-5 TEACHERS- HI-CAP SERVICE AND ASSESSMENT UPDATES(FROM OUR INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT: HELPFUL
Updates re: students identified for services to start ASAP from Fall new student evaluation cycle and services for grades 1-5..
You can find students who are now eligible to receive services via this link. These students have also been added to the HiCap Master Spreadsheet. There are a few students who have yet to turn in consent forms and/or filed an appeal; we will let you know via email re any changes for those students.
The video from Carrie Strawn re: using iReady data to fill out the family communication/description of service forms is linked here if you would like to share it in a staff meeting. It will also be added to the Conference Resource Guide. Carrie and I are also able to come out and do a 10 minute spiel at a staff meeting if you would prefer.
For paraeducators working with grade 1 & 2 students who missed the training: video version of the training and link to the scope and sequence of enrichment activities has been emailed directly to them. Since some paras do not check their district email regularly, please share with them that the info has been sent.
5th grade Bus to Math students are now OK to bring Chromebooks home. Accelerated math teachers have communicated this to families via Parent Square. 5th grade classroom teachers received a heads up via Parent Square as well.
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