Bell Middle School Staff Update

• April 4 - Digital Teacher Librarian Appreciation Day
• April 9 - Assistant Principal & Dean Appreciation Day
• April 9 - Staff Meeting (tentative)
• April 16 - Staff Meeting
• April 23 - Administrative Assistant Appreciation Day
• April 24 - 8th Grade Dinner & Dance - ALL staff supervises (5:30-7:00)
• April 25 - TEACHER WORK DAY - No students
• April 28-May 2 - Sea Camp Group #1
• May 5-9 - Teacher Appreciation Week
• May 12-16 - Sea Camp Group #2

Link to 2024-2025 AM/PM Duty

***Helpful Hint: Make a calendar event to help you remember!

Week of 4/7 - Science

Week of 4/14 - Social Studies

Week of 4/21 - Electives A Group - Electives - A: McCrea, Sautel, Spirek, Ingro, Julie Schlosser

Week of 4/28 - Electives B Group - Electives - B: Swift, Kaplan, Mizelle, Schatz, Jeremiah Schlosser

Breakfast Duty Guidelines

If you missed Wednesday's CMAS training, please connect with Heidi, Andi, or Julie for a make-up training. As you know, it is all hands on deck with CMAS, and you must be trained.Thank you!!

As we get closer to administering CMAS, please increase the frequency in which students are writing. Specifically, make sure students are thoroughly answering the question / problem presented. We know that students will have to express themselves on CMAS through their writing, so the more practice they have, the better.

• Idea: This could be (does not have to be) the focus of your exemplars for the coming weeks. It should not be a big assignment; in fact it is probably better if it is a short constructed response. The KEY look for would simply be if they answer the question thoroughly and correctly (and your exemplar could be as simple as bullet points of the key content that must be included in the answer). If you need ideas, see Michele or Heidi.

• Weekly Eligibility - We will not post weekly eligibility this week since it is the start of a new term. Post Weekly Eligibility grades next week- If you have any issues with posting reach out to Adam for support.

• Students with a D or F will receive a phone call. Counselors also use this data to support those students with one or more D’s or F’s.

• TOMORROW is DTL Appreciation Day. Show Julie how much we appreciate her!
• Next Wednesday is Assistant Principal & Dean Appreciation Day!

Thank you so much for your promotion and participation in our Autism Acceptance Spirit Week! It was a huge success, and our students & Center Program Staff felt everyone's love!

These are the CMAS practice sets for Science, ELA and Math. In your planning, set aside some time to work these in by the first week of April. Best practice: do a set together, talk about question types, talk about strategies for tackling the test.https://coassessments.com/practice-resources/

• Students with Extended Time accommodations will be pulled from classes on 4/8, 4/9, and 4/10 for CMAS math testing during the morning class periods
• Important date: April 11 - Andi will be coming around to check your classroom to see if it is an appropriate testing environment.
• Read through your TAM before testing

Check out Bell's One Stop Shop (BOSS) for a growing collection of instructional strategies and a professional learning calendar (click on the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet). We’d love to share with the rest of the team when you’re trying out a new strategy, using a tech tool to enhance learning, or doing something exciting that your colleagues can see in action. If you have any upcoming opportunities, please let Heidi know so she can add them to the calendar. Many would agree that the best professional learning come from observing your colleagues!

With our contract for book recycling and upcycling, teachers qualify for $50 a month in free books from the wareshouse. Here's how...

-Dream Books partners with Free Book Room so feel free to share with your teachers that they can come to this store and collect free books for their classroom.

-The Dream Books bookstore is located at 4455 Grape St. in Denver. All teachers in every school can select $50 worth of free books from this store every month. The bookstore is now open!

• Let us know if you need any support!

Have you been ignoring Julie's emails about Google MFA setup? Do you want to continue to use Google Drive, Docs, Gmail, etc....? Basically, staff will need to authenticate using thier phones even in the building. We need to set this up by 2/28 using these steps.

New update: Jeffco teachers have free premium access to Pear Deck (an add on to your slide shows that let you collect student responses as you go through slides). Completely compatible with Google Classroom, Pear Deck now has AI Generated slideshows for you to modify and use. Here's more details: https://www.peardeck.com/blog/building-engaging-lessons-with-instant-pear-decks

No meeting this week.

Next Meeting: March 26

• Field Trips - Communicate with the entire staff with a list of students who are attending at least a week in advance.

• Late students - Mark them tardy you are welcome to note the time of entry into your classroom. For further information reference the P&I tardy policy!

SERA met with students in small, grade-level groups to get deeper insight to students needs and ideas.

The Pathways Committee has been actively refining structures to strengthen STEM/Humanities connections in the classroom, utilizing e-portfolios for student reflection, and exploring ways to enhance career exploration in middle school. Stay tuned for more updates!

Next Meeting: April 2

No Update

I'm buried in CMAS prep, but let me know if you need anything! I'm here for you.

There has been an increase in TAs roaming the hallways without specific tasks, often causing disruptions for both students and teachers. If your TA does not have assigned duties, please ensure they remain in a designated area and refrain from wandering the hallways, as this can interfere with the learning environment.

All teachers, special service providers, principals and/or administrators are now required to complete a minimum of 10 contact hours of training in special education and behavioral health in order to renew a professional license that expires on or after June 30, 2025. View the flyer for recommended Jeffco and CDE training opportunities to fulfill this requirement.

Contact - Mishele Carroll. Learn More

Last year the OLT reviewed the Unfilled Subs policy we collaboratively developed several years ago, and we will review it again for next year. Here is a link to the policy. We do our best to cover classes without taking teachers' planning time, but when you get the call it's your turn on the rotation. We are working to get the spreadsheet of the rotations published for you. If you genuinely have a conflict (an IEP meeting you have to attend, etc.), then we will go to the next person and come back to you the next time. Thank you for supporting each other at times when we all need one another.