Friday Forecast

Mission

At WKE we are committed to educating ALL children by building lasting relationships and nurturing each child for success.

Vision

Empower Each Child To Design Their Future

ALL MEANS ALL

System Commitments

1. All students, regardless of circumstances, advance on time, prepared to graduate and ready to enter college, the military or industry with certification.

2. Teaching and learning develop power skills in all students.

3. Our schools are service-oriented centers of learning, committed to family and community partnerships.

4. Every adult will be equipped with the skills and resources necessary to advocate for and ensure the success of all students.

**More dates have been added to the SLO Google Document**

December 10 - Google Training, grades 3rd - 5th

December 17 - Leadership Grades Due to Shelley

December 1-20 - STAR 360 Benchmark Assessment

December 20 - Half day for students, lunch will be served

December 20 - End of 2nd Nine Weeks

December 23 - January 3 Winter Break

January 6 - Teacher Work Day (FLEX Day for some)

January 7 - Students return

January 8 - ALL Grades Due to Shelley

January 10 - WKMS presents to 5th grade, 9:00

January 13 - Collaborative Conversation - Mid-Year Check Point

January 13 - Report Cards Issued

January 20 - MLK Holiday

**February 14 - Professional Day - All Certified staff - As a reminder, we will use that day as professional development. We expect all staff to be in attendance for any training that will take place here or another location in the district.

**February 17 - Weather Make-up Day

Math Model Classroom - It is official, Nancy Amick's 3rd grade class has been selected to be a Math Model Classroom for the district. Ms. Amick has been working closely with Kim Shealy and Hilary Morgan to push her growth mindset with implementing the curriculum. Ms. Amick has spent numerous hours of professional development honing her craft as well as adjusting the learning to meet the need of her students. The district will open the visit to begin during the 3rd Nine Weeks. We're proud of this accomplishment for Nancy and her students!

SLO Reflection - Please follow the directions to add your reflection.

When you're in the SLO tab, you should be able to click on mid-course conference and then click edit to add reflections.

Next Steps in Literacy Learning - 2nd - 5th grade: Based on our work with Kate Bishop last week, we would like to begin taking steps to solidify our learning. At the beginning of December, you will:

1) Meet with your team to identify one goal from the hierarchy for your team's focus. (Print work might be a good place to start, but feel free to choose any goal.)

2) Each team member will choose at least one student who is matched to that goal or text level. 3) You will work with this student in the Assessment/Goal Setting/Instruction Cycle.

4) Teams will meet regularly to support one another in their work with the chosen students.

Holiday Displays and Lessons - As you are planning events and other lessons for the next two weeks, be mindful of the guidelines regarding holiday terms and celebrations. Here are a few from Central Services...

1. Public schools must remain free from activities that could involve religious coercion. Because of their young age, students are particularly impressionable and susceptible to pressure to conform to the beliefs of the majority. Schools must take care to avoid endorsing the beliefs, practices or traditions of the majority religion.

2. Schools must be careful not to cross the line between teaching about religious holidays, which is permissible, and celebrating religious holidays, which is not. We are not allowed to have celebrations for one holiday over another.

3. Religious symbols are not appropriate seasonal decorations in public schools. The high court has ruled that the government may not erect an explicitly religious system (such as a crèche or menorah). Symbols of religious holidays may make some students uncomfortable and unwelcome because their holidays and traditions are not represented or because they do not celebrate religious holidays at all.

4. Students should not be put on the spot to explain their religious (or cultural) traditions. The student may not only feel uncomfortable but also may not have enough information to be accurate. Moreover, by asking a student to be a spokesperson for his/her religion, the teacher is sending the signal that the religion is too “exotic” for the teacher to understand. The teacher may also be opening the door for proselytizing which must be avoided.

If you have any questions regarding this information, please err on the side of caution and ask for assistance.

Holiday Gathering - Our holiday gathering will be at the Old Mill Monday December 16th 4pm - 6 pm.

Classroom Holiday Parties - As you are looking ahead to plan Holiday Classroom Celebrations, please plan to have them on or before December 18th. We need to give housekeepers a day to thoroughly clean, so we can all be prepared to leave early if Dr. Little gives us the okay to do so on the 1/2 day Friday.

Google Training: GRADES 3,4 & 5 - We have confirmed the dates for our initial Google training: Tuesday, December 10th and Thursday, January 16th during your planning period with follow-up discussions after school. This was the only time that could be worked out. Our focus will be Google Docs for Collaboration and Google Classroom for Workflow. Please save those dates on your calendar. All teachers in the above grades are expected to attend the training.

Classroom Mosaic- Template 2 Instructional Practices - We will be transitioning to using Template 2 from the 4.0 Rubric for our observation. Template 2 focuses on the Instructional Practices. Please click on the link below to review. We will begin when we return in January. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Live Every Moment.....Laugh Everyday.....Love Beyond Words!

From our heart to yours,

Nicole, Martha & Angelo