Elementary Essentials

We are currently in phase two of the resource adoption process. This phase is the study and selection of a new resource to support comprehension instruction. During our next meeting on December 6th, Grades 3-5 teachers will review the resources Wit & Wisdom and EL Education. During these review sessions teachers study the resources and rate them using a rubric developed by leaders in the school district. By semester break we will have two finalists for all teachers to review at the January 4th professional learning.

During my last Literacy Brief, I highlighted the research on narrative text structure. Now let’s see how the terms we have learned about in narrative connect to plot. Literacy Brief 5 – Narrative –Plot Connections

At the beginning of next semester, teachers return to school on January 3rd and then on January 4th all elementary teachers will gather to continue our study of comprehension and writing. Why is the district so focused on these two areas?

The last several years have focused heavily on Scarborough’s Reading Rope word recognition strands: phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, and multisyllabic words. District leadership wanted to reestablish the knowledge base about best practices in teaching language comprehension and bring additional research in this area to teachers. We have used multiple professional learning days to learn about the importance of knowledge building, text structure, and next up will be comprehension strategies.

We know during our time together that you will be reminded of practices or activities that you have done in the past, you will be affirmed in what you know, as well as expand with new ideas for teaching comprehension.

We decided to change things up a bit for our third professional learning. Kindergarten through 3rd grade will gather at Mission Trail Middle School, 4th grade will be at Manchester Park, and 5th grade will be at Millbrooke. Jenna Kuder will be sending out a sign up soon, so be on the “look out” for it.

How are things going with teaching using the Units of Study materials? After completing teaching two units prior to the semester break, you should have a good feel for the materials and the workshop structure. We will continue to focus our support in this area on the workshop model and the minilesson. As you are in the middle of implementation, now might be a good time to think about the “evidence” of your instruction. Here are a few areas that will give you clues as to student progress:

· Student growth in writing – do you have a writing sample for every student from the beginning of the year and a second sample from the first semester? Can you see the growth in the development of each writer? Where did they start? Where are they now?

· Student confidence in writing – Are students starting to develop some independence with ideas for writing, spelling, etc.? Do they have ownership of their writing?

· Quality of student discussion – The study of writing using mentor text allows students to learn the craft of writing and they should be able to discuss how writers work and the moves they make to support the reader.

· Student confidence in their ability to provide feedback about writing – The more students know about the craft of writing, the more they can provide useful feedback to their peers.

· Transfer of writing skill to other areas of the curriculum – Students should be developing the ability to respond in other areas of the curriculum with writing (exit tickets, text retellings/summaries, etc.)

As you think about these areas, where have you seen the most progress? What areas could you focus on during the second semester to provide students with more support in their growth?

See this month’s strategy spotlight and learn about anchor charts! Anchor charts create a visual representation of a concept and help to scaffold and build language for students. See corresponding info sheet for ideas on how to use anchor charts. Anchor Chart Strategy.pdf

I wanted to inform you of an important update regarding our 3rd through 8th grade Quarterly Benchmark Assessments (QBAs). Starting this quarter, we will be administering our QBAs through the state assessment platform, KITE.

It's crucial to note that despite this change, all the items included in the assessment are our own as we are authoring them in KITE. This shift allows our students to gain familiarity and practice within the KITE platform, offering them an opportunity to adapt to its interface and functionalities and will impact future usable reporting for you as a teacher, as we work to correlate performance with state assessment results.

Data from these assessments will not be available until the end of the testing window, which mirrors that of the interim assessment period (December 4 - December 15). To take the test, students will access the KITE platform in the same manner as they would for an interim assessment. However, they will select the QBA option instead of the math interim when choosing which test to undertake.

Please note that you may have already printed a ticket with a different titled test. The title on the ticket does not matter. To take the QBA, be sure that your students click on 'QBA Math - USD 233 Grade ​__'.

We are excited for this opportunity and believe this adjustment will benefit our students by providing them with valuable exposure to the KITE platform while ensuring that the content and structure of our assessments remain consistent. Should you have any queries or require further information, please feel free to reach out to me (Spencer Brown) or you math support specialist.

Check it out! KSDE Science Newsletter

Please check out the social studies newsletter for important social studies related items.

Our social studies contest #2 winners are: Kira Dalley Humphrey (CW-Quest) AND Beth Russell (CS-2)! Congrats Kira and Beth!!! Your prizes are on the way to you! Social studies contest #3 will be after the first of the year, so be watching the newsletter in January.

I hope each of you has had an amazing week. Please reach out if I can assist or support you.

Thanks for all you do! ~Julie