Rocket Weekly for Staff

Character Trait for February: Honesty

February Mindset Focus: A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish

To be honest is defined as...

the quality or act of being honest;

uprightness and fairness.

Being honest means being truthful to both oneself and others...

and doing what is right regardless of who is around.

In our RES School Family we all work together to help our students be honest

through daily instruction and mindset/counseling lessons.

We are also teaching our students that goals are important

and how to identify the steps needed to reach those goals.

Great goals take work to achieve;

work is hard;

together we can work to turn their goals into reality

through honest conversations!

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 02/02/20 - Wellness Mindset Club students added)

Due to possible changes in Mrs. Cox's availability, she will be emailing lessons to all staff.

• As always, given things that may come up, classroom teachers should be prepared to continue with instruction if Mrs. Cox is unable to work with students during her originally scheduled lesson.
• One attempt will be made to reschedule a missed lesson. If that attempt is unsuccessful, classroom teachers will have her lesson to implement on the rescheduled date rather than attempting to reschedule again.
• In advance, we thank everyone for their collaboration and support with the mindset/counseling lessons.

9:00am - 9:30am Principal's Breakfast

Please click here to access the list of students eligible for the Principals' Breakfast.

9:45am – 10:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: 1st Grade Classes

10:45am – 11:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: Mrs. Cendana's AM Class

12:30pm – 1:00pm Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: 2nd Grade Classes

3:00pm – 3:30pm MTSS/PBIS Rocking Rockets Celebration

• Click here for the Rocking Rockets Celebration Overview
• Click here to sign students up for stations
• Emails will be sent by 9:00am (01/06) regarding any students not eligible to participate.

4:00pm – 5:30pm MTSS Tier 2 Student Data Team Meeting

Please click here to access the agenda.

8:30am – 9:10am Special Education PLC Meeting

Please click here to access the agenda.

9:15am - 9:30am Recycling Bin Collection

9:45am – 10:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: Mrs. Milller's Class

10:20am - 11:50am SMCM Green School Partnership

• SMCM Students will be interviewing our RES Kiddos regarding our outdoor education garden.
• For each grade level below, please click here to identify 6 total students in each grade to participate in the interview.
• 10:20am - 10:35am - 1st Grade
• 10:40am - 10:55am - 3rd Grade
• 11:00am - 11:15am - 5th Grade

3:50pm – 4:15pm Media PD: Destiny Tutorial.webm

Please click here to access the presentation.

4:00pm - 5:30pm Competitive DI Team (Mr. Cross' Team)

4:00pm - 5:15pm Spark (FLOW Club)

Work-Out Wednesday: Students and staff are encouraged to wear school appropriate athletic gear as we focus on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle while also taking a mid-week motor break to focus!

8:15am - 9:00am Creative Writing Club

2:00pm – 2:30pm Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: Mrs. Cendana's PM Class

3:45pm - 5:15pm 4th Grade Math Team

IEP/PST/504 Meetings

9:15am - 9:30am Recycling Bin Collection

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)

3:45pm - 5:15pm Wellness Mindset Club

3:50pm – 4:15pm Primary Team Meeting

5:30pm – 6:30pm Family Fitness Night

Wear our school colors to show our Ridge Pride!

Rocket Store Open!

9:30am – 10:15am Primary Author Assembly: Kat Kromenberg

10:30am – 11:15am Intermediate Author Assembly: Kat Kromenberg

10:45am – 11:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: Ms. Erdman's Class

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

4:00pm - 5:15pm Robotics Club

4:10pm Staff Member of the Week Lottery Wheel!!!!

Click here for Kindergarten PLC Agenda

Click here for 1st/2nd Grade PLC Agenda

Click here for 3rd/4th Grade PLC Agenda

Click here for 5th Grade PLC Agenda

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

Let's celebrate the 101st Day of School in style!

If we do not have any school closings for inclement weather, it will be 02/11/2020. Please note, if we have any school closings for inclement weather between now and February 11th, the 101st day of school will be pushed back.

Cruella Deville (aka Mrs. Batelka) and the dalmatians (aka RES Staff) are visiting!!!!

Why let the kiddos have all of the fun?!?!?!

Let's dress up and surprise our students/families!

It's a staff challenge: Be creative and get those creative juices flowing!

See below for some ideas :)

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.

• 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.

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.

Edits for additional Math Required assessments, changes in windows, and changes in the data pull date are in RED text. These edits were made 01/12/2020.

Please Note: The Quarter 3 Chart will be published once it's available from Central Office.

All staff sponsoring a club, regardless of the time, need to submit the names of students to Mrs. Batelka and Mrs. Morrison prior to the start of the club. This will ensure that students are included in the club roster and that any health-related needs are addressed.

Two Smart TVs have been purchased and will be placed in Mrs. Fisher's and Mrs. Reynolds'' classrooms.

Three additional Smart TVs are being purchased at the Central Office Level and will be placed in the following classrooms: Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Pierce, and Ms. Rye.

The date of installation is unknown at this time. Outside contractors will be installing them and we will be informed of the date/times of installation. There is a chance that the installation will occur during instructional time. Notice will be provided and in advance, thank you everyone for being flexible as the dates and times are not negotiable due to a system-level schedule.

An EXCITING new set of webinars are about to launch with SMART Technologies for EDUCATORS by EDUCATORS.

• Click here link to register and learn more

Ready Set Go Live Webinars this month are scheduled for:

• February, 6th - Stop Collaborate and Learn with SLS Online: Student engagement increases when students interact with content both at their own pace and with their peers. Take your existing content and enhance it with SMART interactive activities.
• February 11th - Be a SMARTy Pants in Google with SMART Learning Suite Online: SMART Learning Suite Online now integrates with Google. Learn how to create engaging and collaborative activities with content already in your Google Drive.
• February 19th - Keep Calm Measure On: Formative Assessment with SMART Learning Suite: Formative assessment is made easy with SMART activities and assessments. Discover how to utilize these tools to better understand where your students are in the learning process and to make adjustments to learning as needed.
• February 20th - Notes Worth Keeping: Engage Students in Note-Taking: From graphic organizers to the note-taking process. Keep the process active, collaborative and fun! In this webinar, learn how to spice up the note-taking process so it becomes a powerful learning tool for students.
• February 27th - No Tricks Just Treats Ready Made Lessons in the SMART Exchange: Explore the new SMART Exchange to learn how to utilize FREE powerful content created by teachers around the world. Discover how to easily share content with students, through both the SMART board and SMART Learning Suite Online.
  

Staff mat also watch previous webinars

Classroom Teachers may earn acquired hours (45 minutes) for watching the 30 minute webinars and writing a brief reflection on how to apply the webinar in their instructional plan. To earn the acquired hours staff must submit a brief paragraph about what they learned and how they plan on using (or will use) the information in a future lesson.

Mid-Year SLO and Eval Meetings began week.

Please check your calendar to ensure a meeting has been scheduled. Non-tenured staff members should have two meetings - one for their SLO Meeting and one for their Mid-Year Eval. All other staff should have one meeting. Calendar invites were sent earlier this school year.

Please email Mrs. Batelka if you do not see a calendar invite for your meeting(s).

Electronic copies of your BOY documents were emailed by Mrs. Goddard as meetings occurred. Please reference the emailed copy to make revisions to your Mid-Year SLO document.

All revisions noted by hand in the BOY Meeting should be typed and entered into a clean document, along with your mid-year reflection.

All data used in the reflection should also be available to discuss during the upcoming meeting.

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.

• February Celebration (02/03/2020) will be stations. Click here to sign up.

• March Celebration will be Dr. Seuss Themed! Stay tuned for more informaiton in next week's Rocket Weekly for Staff!

Rocket Store:

• Lunches/Activities purchased with Mrs. Batelka: Invites will go out by the end of the day Monday (01/27) for any purchased in the January Rocket Store.
• Next Rocket Store: Friday, February 7th

Tier 2 Check-In/Out:

• Additional students, based upon the criteria set by the MTSS Tier 2 Team will be considered during the 02/03/2020 Meeting.
• Any teacher referrals to Check In Check Out, for consideration in the March Meeting, are due by 2/30/2020.

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, where 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.

A written plan indoor recess plan is due to Mrs. Batelka by 1/31/2020. Please email all plans to Mrs. Goddard.

We are very excited to announce that the Ridge Rocking Rockets Relay for Life Team is up and running!

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

Please click here if you are interested in joining our team.

We had our first Relay for Life meeting on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

• Click here for the meeting notes.

Supporting Services

• Information Technology has been working with the Division of Instruction to provide new and replacement technology for all school sites this school year. Technology items include SMART Interactive panels, laptops and mini desktops. Technology is being prepared to ensure all schools have a minimum of a 2:1 student to device ratio.

Instructional Updates

• Trainer of Trainers Stipend Opportunity: The Department of Assessment and Accountability (DOAA) would like to offer staff the opportunity to become trainers in skills that they have already demonstrated through their work in SMCPS. Becoming a trainer would involve ~2 hrs of initial stipend compensation for hands-on work reviewing the skill prior to being deployed to school sites for training, based on availability, through June 2020 of this year. Any training conducted will compensate both trainers and learners with stipend funds. If you are interested, please complete this form to indicate the skill for which you would like to become a trainer. Applicants should be dually experienced and advanced in their knowledge of the platform.
• Discovery Education - The usage report for Discovery Education shows minimal traffic, therefore as it will not be renewed next school year. If you use Discovery Ed, you will need to download the content that you have been using in lessons. Here is a screencast showing you how to download DE content and save it to Google Drive.
  
• Instruction in Reading- Course Instructor Needed: This course is designed to give elementary classroom teachers familiarity with a representative array of research-based instructional techniques and strategies in the area of reading. Participants will learn instructional routines and strategies in the five major components of reading instruction suitable for various age and ability groups. Please contact Jessie Cotugno, jwcotugno@smcps.org, if you are interested in serving as a course instructor.

February Prudential Seminar - Strategies for College Funding

• The sticker price on a college education can no doubt lead to shock.
• If you've seen that number and wonder how to pay for college for yourself or your child, this seminar is for you.
• Plan to attend on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the Board of Education meeting room, located at 23160 Moakley Street in Leonardtown.
• Click HERE for more information or to register.

Conscious Discipline Training:

• Kirwan Funded Conscious Discipline Training is continuing. Mrs. Batelka will be emailing individual teachers this week regarding the training dates/times/locations and sign-up.
• Stipends are available for staff wanting to work together on the implementation of Conscious Discipline strategies outside of the duty day. Please email Mrs. Batelka if you're interested in working with one or more co-workers.

Rotary John Beaton Marco Polo Travel Award:

• The Rotary Club of Lexington Park, Maryland, in its continuing effort to help teachers and students, is pleased to make available to a teacher a stipend of $2500 to be used for travel to a destination of his/her choice for the purpose of enhancing instruction in the classroom. Applications are due March 27.

Student Services: Home and Hospital Teaching

• Student Services is looking for certificated teachers interested in assuming Home and Hospital responsibilities after hours.
• The rate of pay is $30/hour.
• Contact Melissa Seigman, Home/Hospital Teaching Coordinator at 301-475-5511, x32150 or email mrseigman@smcps.org.

Educational Systems Federal Credit Union (ESFCU)

• The ESFCU is available to all school employees, students and parents. For more information regarding membership and services offered, please visit the Credit Union’s website.
• Educational Systems Federal Credit Union is now accepting 2020 applications for Student Scholarships through BECA.
• For Educators, ESFCU is accepting applications for the Maurice Erly Professional Development Award through April 1.

Human Resources

• The Online Transfer Request will be open Monday, January 6, 2020, through March 6, 2020. Certificated staff who wish to be considered for a transfer to another school location should complete the online transfer request. Staff may request up to a maximum of 5 sites to be considered for a transfer to. Requests to change grade levels or subjects within your current school only should be communicated in writing to your building principal.
  

Most recent Kindergarten Memo

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Most recent Math Memo

• January 27, 2020. This edition contains important information about Math Fact Fluency.

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 January 3, 2020 Issue. This month's newsletter contains information about Heggerty Webinar, SoMd Transition Expo, Explicit vs Direct Instruction, Written Language PLAAFPs, January Hot Topic Meeting, Department Chair/Representative Meeting, Sketchnoting, and Upcoming Middle School Special Educator Training.

Most recent Elementary Science Newsletter

• January 2020 Edition. This edition contains information on Grade 5 practice tests for units 1 and 2 and reminders about the Assessment Guides (along with links for each grade level), and grade level questions to consider at the mid-year mark.

Most recent Gifted and Talented Newsletter

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Most recent Library Media Newsletter

• 
  

Most recent Fine Arts Newsletter

• Please click here for the October Edition
  

Most recent ESOL Newsletter

• Please click here for the January Edition

Most recent Educational Equity Newsletter

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

The resources in this issue provide ideas for fostering high aspirations. As we work with others, consider how we promote goal setting and inspire optimism for growth. Once we know the goals, we can work toward them and teach strategies for overcoming obstacles along the way.

Resources for Aspiring:

• Helping Kids Find their Aspirations - MindShift Blog

• Building a Culture of High Aspirations - ASCD article

• Student Aspirations: Key to Powerful learning - 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

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.

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.

Reminders for Scanning Scansheets:

• To minimize mistakes by the scanner, please remember to change the scan file type to TIFF and scan as GrayScale 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.
• 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 the last names are included.

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.

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!

Google Classroom (starting February 5th): SMCPS Google Classroom Training is a survey of the basic features and functionality of Google Classroom as implemented in SMCPS. Participants learn about posting Materials, Questions, Assignments, Quiz Assignments and communicating with students in the Classroom environment. To support fluency, participants will receive support in order to complete the Google Fundamentals Training independently between face-to-face sessions. At the end of the course, participants will be prepared to get certified as a Google Certified Educator Level 1. We will meet at Leonardtown Middle School in the Media Center on the following dates and times: February 5th: 4:30-7:30, March 4th: 4:30-7:30, April 1: 4:30-7:30. Register for the course on the PMPD site.

Methods of Teaching Reading in the Content Areas, Part II: This course focuses on teaching secondary students to access and learn from text. Class participants are expected to apply theories, strategies, and practices in classroom lessons. The course introduces types of reading, reading skills, and instruction that integrates content with reading goals. You do not need to have completed Teaching Reading in the Content Areas Part I to register for this course. To account for all 45 hours (3 credits), participants will be required to complete work outside of class meeting times that will be applicable in their own classrooms. Scheduled classes will be held at Leonardtown Middle School from 4:00 - 8:00 PM on March 25; April 1, 15, 29; May 6, 13, 27; and June 3, 10. Visit the PMPD website for more information.

MSDE Professional Learning Online Course Catalog: The MSDE Spring 2020 online professional learning catalog has been posted and registration is open. The catalog and the registration link is in the far-right column on https://msde.blackboard.com/. Registration is open from December 3- January 30. One, two, and three-credit courses will begin on February 19. Four-credit courses will begin on February 26. The end dates vary depending upon credits. All registration information and specific dates can be found within the catalog.

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

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

Week of September 2nd

Week of September 9th

Week of September 16th

Week of September 23rd

Week of September 30th

Week of October 7th

Week of October 14th

Week of October 21st

Week of October 28th

Week of November 4th

Week of November 11th

Week of November 18th

Week of November 25th

Week of December 2nd

Week of December 9th

Week of December 16th

Week of December 30th

Week of January 6th

Week of January 13th

Week of January 20th

Week of January 27th