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| BCSD Staff Newsletter |
October 2016 |
Superintendent Letter to Staff
What Do Your Students Say When Asked WHY?
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GwenCarol Holmes |
October 2016
Dear Colleagues,
As educators, we go home tired every single day. We do this willingly because the work we do is critical to the future of every child we teach, the community we love, and the greatest country on earth. If we invest deeply in their education, we want our students to invest deeply as well. That happens when students are engaged. Our challenge is to set the stage in our schools and classrooms to engage students. We can start by ensuring our students understand the relevant WHY for what they are learning.
Are the students you work with engaged in their learning every single day? If so, they will be easier to teach and learn at a deeper level. The learning will be relevant to them and capture their energy. The Quaglia Institute for School Voice and Aspirations frames it this way:
Engagement takes root when schools ensure staff and students are deeply involved in the learning process, showing enthusiasm and desire to learn new things, and willingness to take positive, healthy steps toward the future.
What do your students say when you ask them WHY they are learning whatever knowledge and skills are the focus of the current work in your classrooms and school? Ask them and find out.
Thank you for all you do for our students every day!
With gratitude,
GwenCarol
P.S. If you would like to read Dr. Quaglia's book on student engagement,
Student Voices
, email Susie at
[email protected]
and she will send you a copy. All staff reading the book are invited to dinner with Dr. Quaglia on Thursday, February 16.
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Teaching & Learning
Curriculum Updates
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The 2nd and 3rd grade teachers have written common interdisciplinary PBL curriculum maps! These teachers spent two days working alongside one another to collectively create three PBL unit maps that include a conceptual lens, enduring understanding statement, driving question, and a list of agreed upon Know-Understand-Do statements taken from the standards in each grade. Kudos to these teachers for their work and for the synergy they created in the process!
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Literacy Plans are being developed for all students who scored a 1 or 2 on the fall IRI - special thanks to all K-3 teachers,reading specialists and principals for meeting these legislative requirements. The plans acknowledge the efforts of teachers to meet the needs of students not yet proficient. The district's literacy plan has been submitted to the state Board of Education which specifies our improvement focus on decoding and reading fluency skills for first and second grade students.
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The first of two math material pilots is underway, with the second to be started later this fall. Our pilot teachers have been diligent in their efforts to test these materials against our curriculum and common assessments. The pilot will help determine whether these core math materials would meet the expected outcomes of students. Cheers to our pilot teachers who are taking this on.
Data and Assessment
BCSD Spring 2015-16 assessment data (ISAT, IRI, ACCESS and STAR) will be presented at the October board meeting. The memo, including instructional strategies in response to the data, are available at the
State and District Assessments
webpage on the district website.
Educational Programs
Silver Creek is the recipient of a Idaho Mastery Education Grant to provide support for the continuation of its implementation of Big Picture Learning and building Mastery Learning Structure.
Student Supports
Dr. Jenn Gallup, Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the Idaho State University presented her first of three trainings for special education teachers. The focus of the hands-on trainings is to develop skills in the use of technology that supports students with special needs. One of the 'aha' moments came as we practiced using My Simple Show as a tool for students to share their knowledge and animate the information in an easy to use format. Dr. Gallup will be providing two more trainings and please know that even if you missed the first class, you are more than welcome to attend one or both of the remaining classes: October 27 and December 8.
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Buildings and Grounds
The Buildings and Grounds Department has filled two of the open Maintenance positions left vacant when Chuck, Les and Jon retired at the end of September. Kenneth Ward comes to us from the Stevensville School District in Stevensville, Montana. He has a strong background in both custodial and maintenance. Kenneth will share custodial sub responsibilities with Brian. He is a native Idahoan and has returned to southern Idaho be closer to family.
We also want to welcome Jose Hernandez who will team up with Tom Alexander to become familiar with the mechanical aspects and control systems of the massive heating and ventilation systems throughout the District. He brings a journeyman HVAC credential and wealth of experience with commercial systems very similar to ours.
We are very fortunate to have these high caliber individuals coming to work for the BCSD Buildings and Grounds Department, joining our stellar crew.
The Department of Building Safety inspector will be here starting on October 17. He will walk each building noting violations and items of concern. If you have any questions, please consult your head custodian or call the Maintenance Department.
We are busy getting ready for winter by servicing the snow blowers and bringing in snow melt and sand. Please make sure you have proper footwear and clothing ready for the snow and ice to come.
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Communications
Here are a few questions we have received recently:
I need a ride to Boise and I have a yard sale to advertise. How do I use the
Staff Classifieds?
To submit a staff classified ad, please click the "Add" button on the bottom of the page. A Blog Posting popup window will then be displayed. Under the General tab add your title and post date. Under the Posting tab add your content. Content can include text, images, documents and links. When you are finished click save. All post need to be approved before they display. Please allow a day or two for the post to be approved.
What about the "Do Not Photo" list for students?
Schools are still gathering this information and once we have a list you will find photos and student names on the Staff Portal. Schools are generally emailing parents who indicated that they do not want their child photographed in order confirm this is the same plan for the current school year. Schools are also reaching out to new parents and making announcements in their newsletters.
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Human Resources
Reminder to complete your SafeSchools online training courses by October 31, 2016. Follow these easy steps to complete your Blaine County School District safety training requirements:
Using your web browser, Go to the SafeSchools website for Blaine County School District.
Enter your Username:
this is your email address
@blaineschools.org
Check out BCSD's Job Openings here.
Welcome New Staff
Welcome to newly hired staff in the Blaine County School District. In future newsletters, we look forward to acknowledging existing staff and returning staff who have new positions or have moved to different buildings. This list is current as of October 1. If we missed you, please let Human Resources know!
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Safety and Security
All schools will participate in the Great American Shakeout on October 20, at 10:20 a.m. Why? This gives staff and students the opportunity to practice the Standard Response Protocol with the Shelter! instructions in the Standard Response Protocol. This will be the same Earthquake drill that we participated in last year. At 10:20 a.m. we will be playing a pre-recorded message announcing the beginning of the earthquake drill in all BCSD buildings. It will be played one time in English only, so as not to confuse people as to when the drill concludes. We will also cut the part about tsunami's so that students are not confused about the possibility of a tsunami in Idaho.
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Transportation
We would like to offer a reminder for anyone scheduling field trips or checking on possible dates for trips needs to contact our office
by phone call
at 5420 or 578-5420 if calling from a non-district phone. We don't accept email requests as they have a tendency to get lost somewhere along the way. The last thing that we want to happen when you are planning a trip is to not get you scheduled because of a lost email. Generally, field trips cannot leave before 8:30 and must return by 1:45 but contacting us would be the first step if special circumstances exist. Calling our office with trip details will help solidify those times and give you a better picture of what may be possible. As an overall reminder, please contact our office first when looking for possible dates and then confirm your appointment with your destination
and our office
after your plans are finalized. Safe Travels!
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Need An Extra Set of Hands Before the Thanksgiving Holiday?
Need extra help on November 21 and 22? We are here to serve you. Here is a list of district staff who are happy to come to your classroom and school to help you and your students. Email or call them to make arrangements.
Marcia would love to be part of math or science lessons, and is also available for lunchroom duty, etc.
Debi can do some Lindamood Mood Bell reading practices with 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd grade classrooms (whole group, small group, individual).
Co-teach a first grade reading lesson, read to a class, lunchroom/hall duty, etc. Ask WHY:) to every student I can find.
Angie will help wherever requested.
Teresa could help with a "Girls Who Code Club", Information Technology and MS Office apps
Heather is happy to help wherever needed from the playground to the classroom, K-12.
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