Rocket Weekly for Staff

Character Trait for January: Cooperation

January Mindset Focus: Feedback is a Gift

To cooperate means...

working or acting together

to achieve a common goal.

In our RES School Family, we value cooperation

as we each support one another to achieve success.

Always remembering that constructive feedback

is what everyone needs to grow and learn!

Click here for the Monthly Character Education Traits and Mindset Words of the Month.

Please click here for one list of all after school club teams and students.

(Last edited 11/04/19 - Change to SPARK Mentoring Club)

All Schools and Offices are Closed.

All Schools and Offices are Closed.

Hope everyone has a great start to 2020!!!!

All Schools and Offices are Closed.

“A gifted teacher is not only prepared to meet the needs of today’s child,

but is also prepared to foresee the hopes and dreams

in every child’s future.”

Robert John Meehan

THANK YOU for building the foundation our students need

to reach their hopes and dreams...

especially those they do not even know about!

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

11:50am - 12:20pm Maker-Space Club (2nd/3rd Grades)

12:40pm - 1:10pm Maker-Space Club (1st Grade)

1:20pm - 1:50pm Maker-Space Club (4th/5th Grades)

Rocket Store Open!

Wear our school colors to show our Ridge Pride!

9:45am - 10:15am 4th Grade: Principal Code of Conduct Presentations

10:45am - 11:15am 2nd Grade: Principal Code of Conduct Presentations

12:15pm - 12:45pm 5th Grade: Principal Code of Conduct Presentations

3:00pm - 3:30pm MTSS/PBIS RES Family Assembly

• Opportunity for all classes to come together as a RES family
• Students will be establishing personal goals
• Postcards will be mailed to them in June

4:00pm - 5:00pm Competitive DI Team (Mrs. Haney's Team)

Click here for the Collaborative Planning Agendas (linked at 6:40pm on 01/03)

Click here for the Special Education PLC Agenda (linked at 6:45pm on 01/03)

MTSS Tier 2 Team Meeting Agendas will be linked here by 8pm Monday (01/06)

Please remember that it is staff members' professional responsibilities to meet all deadlines.

Below is a chart, developed by Mrs. Batelka, based upon the available information regarding county-based assessments. End of Unit optional assessments, highly recommended by supervisors, are also being included.

Please Note: The Quarter 2 Chart, developed at the Central Office Level, is linked under SMCPS Sites and Quick Links.

• FOR will be sponsoring a math night on January 8th.
• Each grade level is being asked to provide 2 math games (preferably from Units 1 and 2).
• All games need to be submitted to Mrs. Sohn by Tuesday, January 7th.
• Please make sure all games are labeled with the classroom teacher's name.
• If assistance is needed with materials please let Mrs. Sohn know.

As of December 30th, staff may be able to log into a Windows 7 machine.

• All staff laptops provided to Mr. Watson have been updated.
• The transition to Windows 10 is still pending; date will be provided as soon as we are made aware of the final transition date.

Mr. Watson has been working on completing the transition of all classroom computers to Windows 10.

• At this time, there are approximately 6 classroom computers that require additional diagnostic repair.
• Older HP computers will be removed, as they can not be updated to Windows 10, within the next two weeks.
  
• The possibility that they will be replaced is currently being reviewed, but it should be noted that the elementary school standard is three desktops per classroom.

There seem to be a few SMART boards which have had “Limited Mode” pop up on their slides across the county. Any ticket submitted over the break will be taken care on Friday (01/03/2020).

During the Winter break, ITS performed maintenance on the students' home drives. Once students return, please reach out to Mrs. Deeney and/or Mr. Watson if students have any issues accessing data or if they are missing any data from their home drive.

Once December's Progress Monitoring has been completed please return the "pink" DIBELS box to Mrs. Gay; she will place the Benchmark booklets for January in you boxes.

Substitutes are available for the January administration of IGDIS (Pre-K) and DIBELS (K-5).

• Each grade level needs to work together to identify a day to administer the assessment.
• At this time, one day per grade level may be requested. However, 2 days may be identified and Mrs. Batelka will work with Central Office to accommodate as many days as requested, if possible.
• Due to coverage needs, Ridge Elementary School is unable to secure more than two guest teachers/day for the DIBELS administration.
• Please click here to request specific days.
• As the requested day is based upon substitute availability, please identify up to 3 dates (listing as "1," "2," or "3.")
• Any requests for coverage (chart completed) completed by the end of the day Friday, December 20th, has been submitted to Central Office and Mrs. Batelka is working on securing coverage.
• The following grade levels have not submitted coverage supports: 1st, 2nd, and 5th. If any of these grade levels would like to request coverage supports, please complete the chart by the end of the day on Friday, January 3rd.

There should be no students in the carpeted area of the Front Office unless assigned there by Mrs. Batelka or Mrs. Cox.

If a staff member is in the office, and meeting with a student, the student will need to stay on the tile side of the Main Office.

There is a lot of confidential material in the front office area and we need to ensure the privacy of all students.

When in the Front Office, please mindful of any students present when discussing school-related items. Often times, there are students present waiting for parents, the Nurse, or other staff. Please be cautious of having student specific conversations or discussions regarding incidents that have occurred.

Rocking Rockets' Celebration: Monthly Celebration for students achieving a specific positive percentage on ClassDoJo.

• Students have had to earn an overall 75% positive or higher on ClassDoJo to participate in the monthly celebration.
• Beginning with the January Celebration (for the month of December), students will need to earn an overall 80% positive or higher to participate in the monthly celebration.
• January Celebration (01/06/2020) will be a dance party in the Cafeteria/Multi-Purpose Room. Primary Students will participate from 2:15pm - 2:45pm and Intermediate Students will participate from 3:00pm to 3:30pm.

Rocket Store:

• Please submit names of students to Mrs. Batelka who purchased lunch or a game with Mrs. Batelka. As of 12/20/2019, only two homerooms have submitted information.

Tier 2 Check-In/Out:

• Additional students have been identified and will begin the week of January 6th.
• Classroom teachers and mentors have been notified.
• Mrs. Cox will meet with new students on 1/02/2020 and 1/03/2020.

Temperature cut-off is "feels like" 33 degrees or higher.

As the weather continues to get colder, please note that students will not be permitted to participate in outdoor recess if they are not dressed warmly.

• All students need to wear a winter/thicker coat that zips/buttons.

• Any students wearing only a light jacket or sweatshirt will remain inside for indoor recess.

Recess Teams need to work together to identify a plan of who/where to take students who are not allowed to go out because they do not have the appropriate coats.

Please Note: Students may not be sent to ISIC or the Main Office as there is no guarantee that a staff member is available to supervise students. If needed, the Gift of Time may be reallocated to cover indoor recess when there is outdoor recess should alternative coverage be unable to be made.

As the cold weather continues, it is likely students will be participating in indoor recess activities. Although students will not be able to get in as much movement indoors, students should still have the opportunity to engage in exercise, free/organized play, and movement.

Each lunch and/or grade level needs to ensure that there is opportunity for movement and if a movie is being played, there needs to be a space or another location, students requiring movement may go to for recess.

Friends of Ridge (FOR) the Kids has volunteered to fund indoor recess games to support movement and interactive activities for students during indoor recess.

Activities to consider:

• Bulzibucket - Next Generation Corn-hole
• Jenga
• Cup Stacking Games
• Bean Bag Games
• Hopscotch Rug
• Legos
• Go Noodle
• Board Games

All indoor classrooms need to have at least 15 minutes of physical activity planned. This may be as simple as Go Noodle Videos or Simon Says.

There will be approximately 30 minutes set aside during Collaborative Planning Meetings (held the week of January 6th) to discuss indoor recess activities and identify "wish-list" items.

Ridge Elementary School will have a Relay for Life Team this school year to support and honor our School Family Members effected by cancer.

Our Relay for Life Team will be selected this week by our students!

More information will be forthcoming this month! Stay tuned!!!!!

Financial Updates

• The IRS has released a redesigned Form W-4 and related FAQs for 2020.
• The IRS is not requiring all employees to complete the updated form. However, employees hired in 2020 and beyond, or employees who wish to make withholding changes must use the new IRS Form W-4.

Equity Initiatives

• The SMCPS is currently seeking recommendations for representatives from schools to serve to serve as the main point of contact at individual school locations for Equity Initiatives.
• This is currently not a funded position
• Acquired hours will be provided for the RES Staff Member participating as the point of contact.
• Please email Mrs. Goddard if you're interested in being the point of contact. No one has volunteered yet... so if you're interested please reach out by 01/03/2020.
• Mrs. Batelka will follow-up with interested staff members.

Meet with a Prudential representative in a virtual one-on-one retirement consultation

• There are times available for December 23rd, 24th, 26th, 27th, 30th, January 2nd and 3rd but they’ll go quickly.
• You can also schedule beyond this month, so feel free to plan ahead!
• For more details on this free benefit or to register, please click HERE.

Most recent Kindergarten Memo

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Most recent Math Memo

• December 16, 2019. This edition contains important information modeling with packages for 2nd grade, teacher to teacher notes for 1st, 3rd, and 4th Grades, reminders about fidelity, and Math Learning Center Intervention Course Registration information.

Bridges Updates and Supports:

• Please click here to access the Bridges Issue
• Please click here to access help videos

Most recent English Language Arts Newsletter

• Please click here to access The Reading Corner (December 2, 2019 Edition). Please take the time to review the information as there is important information staff need to be aware of regarding upcoming standards and instructional notes for each grade level.
  

Most recent Health and Physical Education Update

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Most recent Special Education Newsletter: The PIER

• Please click here for the December 2, 2019 Issue. This month's newsletter contains information about Phonological Awareness, New Teacher Bridges Intervention Workshop, Inspirational Poem, Closing Student Achievement Gaps, the Traverse Talk Strategy, Removing Content Areas from IEP PLAAFPs and a Hot Topic Reminder.

Most recent Elementary Science Newsletter

• December 2019 Edition. This edition contains information on Grade 5 practice tets for units 1 and 2 and reminders about the Assessment Guides (along with links for each grade level). Unit 2 Assessments for grades 1-5 have been updated.

Most recent Gifted and Talented Newsletter

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Most recent Library Media Newsletter

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Most recent Fine Arts Newsletter

• Please click here for the October Edition
  

Most recent ESOL Newsletter

• Please click here for the December Edition

Most recent Educational Equity Newsletter

• Please click here for the December 2019/January 2020 Newsletter

During this time of year our lives are busy and hectic. We may celebrate traditions and spend time with family. It is also a time when we recognize that every student needs to feel a sense of belonging and care - and we recognize that for some students, school may be the place where they feel most connected to others. The short narrative, Three Letters from Teddy, tells the story of how making a small connection with one student can make a difference. We wish you all the very best for a warm and happy holiday season.

Resources for Belonging:

• Building a Belonging Classroom - Edutopia video
• Engaging Students before Break - Edutopia blog
• Making Classrooms Holiday Inclusive - Help Teaching blog
• Build Relationships All Year - EdWeek article

This will be updated quarterly and as changes are made by content supervisors.

Chart format for easy access and assessments/dates for ONLY Elementary School Required Assessments (Local) - Quarter 2

Elementary Site Link: Please click here

Performance Matters Thresholds for SY2019-2020:

• A reference chart for SMCPS Color-Coded Thresholds in Performance Matters - by course and grade - has been updated (based on assorted SY2018-9 test performances).
• It should be noted that if staff are basing their SY2019-2020 SLO goals on Performance Bands, they will need to revise their SLOs based upon new bands if they are using county assessments as their metric.
• Staff will need to follow-up with Mrs. Batelka if revisions are needed to their SLOs based upon the new bands.

Data Display Issues:

• Unfortunately, we are still experiencing some issues with data displaying in Performance Matters.
• Scores seem to be delayed by a day, and we are still unable to save corrections to scansheets (misbubbled IDs, bubbles not reading correctly, etc.).
• Please be advised that data may still be inaccurate or incomplete. We encourage you to use the Student Item Analysis (SIA) reports not Baseball Card to look at results.
• In SIA you can view student responses to see whether all questions were answered. If you find that you have sheets that did not read correctly, please darken bubbles and rescan.
• As a reminder, please be sure to scan as a TIFF file; other file types could cause an additional delay.
  
• Any students completely missing an expected score may be missing the ID number on the scansheet; please be sure IDs are bubbled and rescan.
• Follow this link for information on Student Item Analysis reports.
  

Test Center Clean Up

• Teachers need to ensure the title of their assessment contains their school initials and/or limits the availability of the assessments they create to their building. The effect of this is that teachers at other buildings are confused about which assessments their students should be taking.
  
• Click here for guidance on how to ensure assessments are named in a way that reduces confusion.
• Click here for guidance on how to ensure assessments you create are only available at your building.

Have a question about assessment data, building a test, or entering RTI data? Visit the SMCPS PM Google Site for all this and more! https://sites.google.com/smcps.org/unify/home The site can also be found on the SMCPS Staff page under Instructional Resources. Within PM you can also visit the News & Assignments tab or Help module ⍰ for videos and instructions. Contact Jeff Gibson jsgibson@smcps.org or Kristen Maher kmmaher@smcps.org with further questions.

Performance Matters Online Scoring:

• To utilize Online Scoring for recommended math assessments you must first assign the test to students in order to enable the Online Scoring.
• Locate the test in Test Center, then from the ‘Select’ menu choose Release: Online/Paper Based to open the dialog box for selecting students.
• Then you must choose the class(es) or student(s) and select Preslugged Sheets.
• You can then either save or cancel the download of sheets. Save the file if you’d like to print scansheets, otherwise, you are now ready to navigate to Online Scoring.

Performance Matters Tips for Scanning Scansheets:

• Please do not scan unused sheets for students who have already moved from your class, as the resulting zero may overwrite the score from the correct teacher. Non-bubbled sheets should only be scanned if the student deserves a score of zero.
• Please remember to include both the Student Name and ID Number if not using a pre-printed scan sheet. If sheets are double-sided, be sure student information is on both sides. Please be sure last names are included!
• To minimize mistakes by the scanner, please remember to change the scan file type to TIFF and scan as Gray Scale or Color. This will help ensure that bubbles and erasures are read correctly.
• Please remind students to bubble dark, complete bubbles, to stay within the bubbles, to erase mistakes completely, and not to mark in or near the barcode.

SMCPS UNIFY Google Support Site:

• Reminder that the SMCPS Unify Google Site can be found on the staff page under Instructional Resources at https://www.smcps.org/staff
  

The SMCPS Unify Google Site includes, among other resources:

• Troubleshooting directions for student testing.
  
• Directions to assist teachers with online scoring.
  
• Steps for the creation of Answer Key Only assessments.
  
• Steps for using pre-made interactive test items to create online assessments.

Any questions, training or additional Unify support needs can be referred to the appropriate contact found on the Training Page.

Stay tuned for the next TAC TIP of the Week!

Check out the new Skills for Coaching and Mentoring Course: #10735 Skills For Coaching and Mentoring - Winter 2020; Participants develop effective coaching and communication skills necessary for developing mentoring skills including conversational processes to develop plans for growth and objective feedback. This is the course required of all SMCPS mentors. January 9, 2020 - February 13, 2020: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm at LMS Media Center.

The Daily 5 and CAFÉ: This course is designed for educators striving to create a learning environment that teaches students to be engaged in independent, meaningful reading practice. The focus of this course is to improve literacy instruction using evidence and research-based practices. Teachers will improve literacy instruction by implementing the Daily 5 and CAFÉ to foster literacy, motivation, and achievement for students who are reading in the elementary classroom. Scheduled classes will be held and Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary, 5:00-7:00 PM on Jan. 7, 21; Feb. 4, 18; and March 3. There will be an additional one hour of follow up work after each session. Visit the PMPD website for more information.

Processes and Acquisition of Reading Course: This course fulfills a Maryland certification requirement in the teaching of reading (3 credits). Additional time will be spent outside of class for work related to the course. Scheduled classes are held at Hollywood ES, 4:30-7:30 p.m., on Jan. 7, 14, 21, 28; Feb. 4, 11, 18, 25; and March 3, 10, 17. Visit the PMPD website for more information.

Registration is open for additional courses:

• Please log into the system for available courses

Register online: https://smcps.truenorthlogic.com
UserName: beginning of SMCPS login (without @smcps.org)
Password: normal SMCPS password

Stay tuned for upcoming birthdays!

Dues: $20 may be turned into Ms. Steiger or Mrs. Goddard.

Sunshine Breakfast/Lunch/Snacks Potluck! Each team will determine what type of snacks to provide.

• 1/29: Special Education and Specialists
  
• 3/23: Intermediate
• 4/29: Primary
• 6/15: Office Staff

Staff Member of the Week

• We're celebrating one another and selecting a staff member of the week every Friday at 4:10pm for the following week!
• If you have not completed the survey, and wish to participate in the selection process please click here.
• Only staff who have completed the survey will be included in the Lottery Wheel.

Each week a staff member will be randomly chosen to be recognized as the special staff member for that week.

We will announce the staff member on morning announcements and post information about that person in the hallway for all to see.

We also will be playing 2 truths and a myth. These will be posted on the display to give staff and students a chance to try and figure out what a staff member's myth may be. It will be revealed at the end of the week.

Week of August 26th

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