NMS Weekly Update

October 15, 2021

Good Afternoon

I hope you all had a great week. Below I am including the dates for upcoming events at NMS for your convenience. It will be Thanksgiving break before you know it! Have a great weekend!

John

Important Dates

October 18-- Picture day

Voluntary Staff Meeting (ELA, Soc. Studies, & RA)

October 19- PLC meetings after school

October 20--Voluntary Staff Meeting (Math & Science)

October 23--Family Movie Night (6:30PM) outside weather permitting

October 25-29--Grade 7 & 8 Social Studies Module 1 Assessment window

November 2--Term Ends

November 3--Early Release Day for Professional Development

November 5--Report Cards Issued

November 11--No School--Veterans' Day

November 15-19--Grade 6-8 Science Module 1 Assessment window

November 22-24--Grade 6 Social Studies Module 1 Assessment window

November 24--Early Release Day--Thanksgiving Break

November 25-26--No School--Thanksgiving Break

Picture day is Monday, Oct. 18. We will begin calling students during first period, starting with House 1. Since the students will be in RAs at this time, the RA teachers will be called with the students. Once we finish with House 1 we will move to house 2. We should have both houses completed by the end of the first period. We will begin calling House 3 down during second period.

Halloween House Competition

Our Adjustment Counselors are sponsoring our first annual Halloween Battle among the houses! Teachers who would like to participate cn decorate their doorway area. We will invite guest judges in to determine the winners. I am including the link with directions below. Contact your friendly neighborhood Adjustment Counselor for more info!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Va1llpOEnf-in7TEP-8MPjRk1tySdF2uMUQlTbvz2oE/edit?usp=sharing

Voluntary Staff Meeting

Next week we will have 2 voluntary staff meetings regarding the grading policy

Monday, October 18 will be ELA, Social Studies and RAs

Wednesday October 20 will be Science and Math

Our meetings will be in the library and begin at 2:15

Family Movie Night

Next Saturday at 6:30 pm will be our Halloween movie night. All staff and families our welcome!
Mr. Stien and his student advisory club hung posters after school today to promote the big night.

Mr. Goguen and Mr. Mello will be hosting a Winter Concert on December 14. There will be a day performance for the students and a night time show for families.

Early Release Professional Development Schedule

November 3rd Early Release Day will be designated to NTA owed time. NTA members may use the time as they wish. Staff are not permitted to leave the building until the end of the regular school day. Online training will be assigned to IAs and BTs.

Co-Teaching PD Plan for NMS

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What is your why?

On Tuesday, October 5th, NMS Co-Teaching "Champions" participated in a training with Laurie Casna (consultant) to help strengthen co-teaching methods, managing accommodations, lesson planning, and other issues co-teachers deal with on a daily basis. The objective for the day was to reflect on current co-teaching practices & set the initial co-teaching vision and action plan for NMS. The visioning process provided an opportunity for the "Champions" to strengthen the quality and effectiveness of tiered instruction.

Initial vision for NMS: "Co-teaching will be consistently implemented. Co-Teaching will include varied use of the co-teaching models driven by co-assessment data and reflection. Co-teaching partnerships will be prioritized for consistency in order to increase professional capacity. Co-Teaching will result in all students being successful in accessing Tier 1 Instruction in the general education environment. "

The Co-Teaching PD plan that was developed for 2021-2022 is as follows:

1) 1-day "Jump Start" PD Wednesday Aug 25th 8:00-2:00 to go deeper with the co-teaching models

2) Oct. 5 & Jan. 18 consultant to work with the "champions" and building administrators to build capacity.

3) NMS staff members will participate in PD on January 14 and March 21 (supporting the work with the "champions")

Thank you Amanda Eichholz, Elise Denomme, Laura Snelgrove, Lauren Barackman, and Lisa Lukasek for your passion and vision to support your colleagues with this work! Staff are encouraged to connect and/or work with them as we work toward our vision!