MES In The Loop
Week of March 15, 2021
Principal's Perspective
Hello Tigers,
It is the Friday before Spring Break!!! I hope you all find some time to relax and re-energize. I will be out of town in Nebraska starting on Wednesday. The office will still be open all week during regular hours. You have all worked so hard this year. I appreciate all of the work you have all done to have our school and classrooms prepared to reopen for our students on the 15th. When we come back on the 15th, please wear a Tigers Pride Shirt and your favorite JEANS! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
Have a fantastic Spring Break Tigers!
~Nick
AVID Adventures
Contributed by Bryan Borden
Socially Distance Get to Know You Bingo
As we are coming back to in-person instruction, we will need to build a positive rapport and help our students build positive relationships with their peers. Traditionally, many of us have used and participated in a "Get to Know You Bingo" where you mingle around the classroom and get signatures of people who meet that description. Why not try a socially distance version?
- Print off (or make it a Google doc) your favorite Get to Know You Bingo
- Then, instead of having students mingle around the room, read off a square (For example, "My favorite food is pizza")
- Next, every student who agrees with this statement then stands up and students can choose to write a name of one of the students who is standing up
- Remind students that they can only use one name for one box only
- Keep going with every box until someone has bingo
Coach's Corner
Contributed by Amy Tixier
Small Group Instruction- EL Students and Beyond
What We Know
Research shows that instruction in the key components such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension—has clear benefits for ELs as well as for other students (August & Shanahan, 2006). Students, especially ELs, tend to falter when they are expected to make the transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" (Francis et al., 2006). When working with ELs (and other struggling readers) to improve their literacy, it is important that teachers choose interventions that target the specific difficulties each student is experiencing.
One targeted approach to helping struggling ELs is daily small-group instruction for students with similar needs. This type of intervention can produce sustained improvement in student achievement—especially if the groups focus on explicit, interactive instruction in the core areas of literacy. In one research study, ninety-one ELs who had scored below the 25th percentile in reading were randomly placed in a comparison group or in an intervention group where they received daily small-group reading instruction focused on phonological awareness, word attack, word reading, and spelling. The study found that the students in the intervention group outperformed students in the comparison group in overall reading achievement. Differences were statistically significant on measures of phonological awareness, word attack, word reading, and spelling.
Identifying students' needs through assessment (including screening, benchmark tests, and other forms of ongoing formative assessment) is a crucial component in this process (see Gersten et al., 2007). Teachers should assess students frequently to ensure that the instruction they receive is effective and that they move in and out of interventions in an appropriate and timely manner. It's important to keep intervention groups flexible so that students neither struggle with content that is far beyond their instructional level nor get "stuck" in an intervention that teaches skills they have already mastered.
full downloadable pdf at bottom
DG's Delights
"If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around."
- Jim Rohn
Maybe detention isn’t always the solution. For kids who can’t tell right from left or wrong from right, pointing them in the right direction may be more effective. For teachers, that means teaching life lessons that aren’t necessarily common knowledge.
Things to think about for returning...
- Mrs. DG is our point of contact to report any COVID like concerns from staff or students/families.
- If a family reports to you they are getting tested for COVID like illnesses report to Mrs. DG.
- If you are in need of any PPE supplies for your classroom contact Mrs. Quintero.
- Are my desks facing forward?
- Are my desks spaced 6ft apart where possible?
- Have I tested out my classroom technology prior to March 15th?
- Do I have a classroom seating chart to ensure efficient contact tracing and identification of close contacts if needed?
MES Mitigation Plan (Plan is still receiving some minor changes)
downloadable pdf version available at bottom
W.a.a.G.
Women's History Month
Monday 3.15
- 1st Day of Back-to-In Person Learning
- Kinder Math w/ Kim 10:15-11:00
- Ides of March
Tuesday 3.16
- Specials' Grades DUE
Wednesday 3.17
- Grades DUE
- MES Site PD 2:15-4:00 (AzSci Training)
- St. Patrick's Day
Thursday 3.18
- PBIS Tier 1 Mtg. 7:30
- Principals' Mtg. (Nick Out 9:00-10:00)
Friday 3.19
- Scholar of the Month Virtual Celebration 7:30
- Q3 Report Cards GO HOME
Monday 3.8 - Friday 3.12 * SPRING BREAK *
Terrific Tiger(s)
MES / WESTSIDE IMPACT * TEACHER OF THE YEAR *
CONGRATULATIONS - Kindergarten Teacher - LYNN WATERS
A giant ROAR goes out to Lynn for the amazing job she's done with an incredibly challenging Kinder class. Lynn has gracefully worked with some tricky friends (both big and little). Here are some words from other staff members:
"Mrs. Waters is kind, thoughtful, and attentive to the students and parents. She is always willing to help her students reach their full potential."
"Ms. Waters always has a positive attitude and a smile. She is always ready to help whenever she sees a need."
"Lynn is such an amazing person! She is the kindest, most humble person and has a heart of gold that is always in the right place. She always goes above and beyond for her students and colleagues. She is one that I can always rely on to help in any way."
Welcome back! We are looking forward to seeing everyone on campus. As a Sunshine Club, we would like to add brightness via a bulletin board to the hallway in the front office. We are asking all staff to submit a baby or elementary school picture (try to use a different picture than last year’s activity). We will create the bulletin board with the pictures and index cards. Email your picture and two clues of yourself to Ms. Cross by March 19, 2021 if you would like to participate.
Radiantly yours,
Sunshine Club 🌞
Health & Wellness
10 Mental Health Tips for Teachers Balancing Life
and Remote Teaching
6. Communication is Vital for Maintaining Mental Health for Teachers
Let people know what is going on– especially colleagues and supervisors. By being transparent about what you are experiencing, and with what things may be helpful, you can bring them in and potentially expand your own network of resources and support. You may also be modeling healthy communication for other colleagues to follow suit.