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.

PLC Meeting Agendas: Enjoy the Gift of Time - All PLC Meetings are cancelled for the week of January 13th!

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

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

8:45am - 9:25am CANCELLED: PLC Meeting: Kindergarten and 1st Grade

8:30am - 9:10am CANCELLED: Special Education PLC Meeting

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

9:45am - 10:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: 3rd Grade

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

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

4:15pm - 5:15pm Friends of Ridge (FOR) the Kids Volunteer Meeitng

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

8:45am - 9:25am CANCELLED: PLC Meeting: 2nd and 3rd Grade

9:45am - 10:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: 4th Grade

3:50pm - 4:15pm RES Management Team

MP 2 TAC Report Card Window Opens

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)

Two Hour Early Dismissal - No School for Pre-K

End of 2nd Marking Period

Wear our school colors to show our Ridge Pride!

8:00am - 9:00am Competitive DI Team (Mrs. Haney's Team) - Please note change in time

8:45am - 9:25am CANCELLED: PLC Meeting: 4th and 5th Grades

10:45am - 11:15am Character Ed/Mindset Lesson: 5th Grade

New Year, New Book Swap! Please report to the Art Room during the following times:

• 9:30am - 9:45am - Fisher
• 9:45am - 10:00am - Anderson
• 10:00am - 10:15am- Reynolds
• 10:15am - 10:30am - Erdman
• 10:30am - 10:45am - Robbins
• 10:45am - 11:00am - Sayers
• 11:00am - 11:15am - Miller
• 11:15am - 11:30am - Rye
• 11:30am - 11:45am - Meyer
• 11:45am - 12:00pm - Steiger
• 12:00pm - 12:15pm - Shively
• 12:15pm - 12:30pm - Pierce

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

Staff Agenda will be linked here by 8pm on Friday, January 17th

MTSS Tier 1 and 2 Meeting Agenda's will be linked in the next Rocket Weekly for Staff by 8pm on Tuesday, January 21st.

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.

There are edits to the chart below since the last Rocket Weekly for Staff. Edits for additional Math Required assessments, changes in windows, and changes in the data pull date are in RED text.

The MP2 Window opens the morning of Thursday, January 16th and closes at 5pm on Friday, January 24th.

As Report Cards need to be reviewed, please have them completed by 6pm on Thursday, January 23rd. In order to continue with "Going Green," all reports will be reviewed electronically and homeroom teachers will be sent a PDF of the Report Cards should any edits be needed. This will give everyone the opportunity to complete any needed edits on Friday, January 24th before the window closes. This is a soft-deadline. Please let Honora know if you are unable to make this soft-deadline.

When report cards are ready for review - please email Mrs. Goddard and Mrs. Batelka so we are aware that they are ready to be run. Mrs. Batelka will review all report cards. Please email once done rather than waiting for the "soft" or "hard" deadline.

As a friendly reminder - below are guidelines for Pre-K through 4th...

• Shaded Teacher Grade Level Report Cards are located on the Elementary Site with some areas fully or partially shaded. Please check to make sure there have been no edits prior to completing your report cards.
• Areas fully shaded should not be marked as theses were not covered during the 2nd Marking Period.
• Areas partially shaded should not be marked as Strong Command as these areas have not been fully taught during the 2nd Marking Period.
• All areas not shaded should have a competency indicated - even if it is NY for "Not Yet."
• As you identify students' competency levels, please remember that you are marking them for the entire standard indicated. Therefore, as students progress through the Marking Periods, it is uncommon for a student to decrease in a skill/standard. If the data is borderline between two competency levels, it may be "safer" to go with the lesser competency level.
• When Mrs. Batelka reviews the Report Cards, she will be comparing students' Report Cards against the Shaded Teacher Report Card, located on the Elementary Website, to verify that all non-shaded areas have a competency marked, that all fully shaded areas are marked as NA for "Not Assessed," and that all partially shaded areas are not marked SC for "Strong Command." It is understood that there are always some exceptions.... but no area that is not shaded may have NA marked.

As a friendly reminder - below are general guidelines for 5th Grade....

• Grade level (below, on, above) for reading and math needs to be recorded

• Comments for Grades of “C,” “D,” or “F” must be explained in the comment section.

• The comment is intended to explain to both the student and the parent(s)/guardian(s) the reason for the grade of “C,” “D,” or “F."
  

Comment Sheets (Grades Pre-K through 4th):

• The standardized agreed upon Comment Sheet is to be used.
• Please remember to include areas of strength and areas to work upon so that parents may understand what their child needs to work upon.
• Comment Sheets are due by 9am on Monday, January 27th. This is a "hard" deadline.
  
• Comment Sheets are to be emailed to Mrs. Goddard. Mrs. Batelka will be reviewing all Comment Sheets electronically and forwarding them back to classroom teachers in a PDF if edits are needed. Please do not turn in hard copies as we continue to "Go Green."

Strings/Band/Chorus and Special Education Progress Reports:

• These are due by 9am on Monday, January 27th. This is a "hard" deadline.
• Strings/Band/Chorus Progress Reports are to be emailed to Mrs. Goddard.
• Special Education Staff need to email Mrs. Batelka when their progress reports are ready for review.
• Mrs. Batelka will forward a PDF of the Progress Reports should any edits be needed.

As of December 30th, staff are still 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, unable to be updated due to age, will be removed 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.

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.

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

• Any staff in need of additional support for the administration of DIBELS may email Mrs. Batelka.
• Additional coverage will be provided, based upon staff.

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.

Rocket Store:

• All non-tangible purchases were to be submitted to Mrs. Knight, for the January Rocket Store, by Friday, January 10th. If a staff member has not done so, please do so this week.
• If a homeroom has no "non-tangible purchases," please email Mrs. Knight that there were none.

Tier 2 Check-In/Out:

• The first set of students are ready to graduate from Tier 2! Classroom teachers and mentors have been notified. Mrs. Cox also met with the students last week.
• Additional students, based upon the criteria set by the MTSS Tier 2 Team will be considered during the 1/27/2020 Meeting.
• Any teacher referrals to Check In Check Out, for consideration in the January Meeting, are due by 1/23/2020.

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.

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!!!!!

School Messenger

• As a reminder, School Messenger texting is available to send brief school announcements via text messaging. If parents or staff are new or they have a new number, they need to OPT IN to receive messages you may be sending.
• Employees can receive these texts when their cell number recorded in the EAC:
• Check the EAC to make certain your personal cell phone number is entered. If not, be sure to update that page.
• Opt in to receive messages by texting the word “YES” to 67587 from your wireless device. MORE INFO

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 Maryland Retired School Personnel Association (MRSPA) is offering three $2,000 scholarships to public school employees in Maryland who are enrolled in a program leading to certification or to meet the requirements to become a school counselor, speech and language pathologist, a physical or occupational therapist, a school social worker, a media specialist, or a school psychologist. Please visit the MSRPA scholarship page for information. Applications are open through January 31, 2020, and winners will be notified by March 1, 2020.
• 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.

Equity Initiatives

• Mrs. Cox will serve as the main point of contact for RES regarding Equity Initiatives.
• St. Mary's College is hosting the 16th Annual Southern Maryland Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast on Monday, January 20, 2020, with a keynote address by Dr. Jason Johnson. For more information, visit this link.
• The MLK Day of Service Essay contest is open to high school and college students. Please see this flyer for information. The winner of the contest from each level will receive a gift of $100 and will get the opportunity to meet Dr. Jason Johnson, the international journalist, who will be the special guest at the MLK Day of Service.

Instructional Updates

• The Southern Region of the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics(MCTM) is hosting a mini-conference on February 1, 2020, at Billingsly Elementary School from 9 - noon. Featured speakers will be Linda Schoenbradt from MSDE who will be talking about MCAP; and John SanGiovanni, author of our Math in Practice books. John SanGiovanni also sits on the Board of Directors for NCTM. Register here. Registration for members is $20. Registration for nonmembers is $40.
• 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.

Most recent Kindergarten Memo

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Most recent Math Memo

• January 6, 2020. This edition contains important information regarding assessment windows, online practice opportunities, teacher grade level tips for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and the upcoming MCTM Southern Regional Conference: Number Sense, One Day at a Time.

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

• 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

• 
  

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 new year brings new opportunities. Think about how you invite others to be a part of things. How do we ensure everyone has a voice at the table? Are all students given the opportunity to share their thoughts? Do they have an opportunity to belong? By valuing every voice, you build opportunities for others to belong.

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.

Report Cards - Two things to review before the TAC report card window opens this week are

1. Check your list of students by clicking Grade Reporting > Report Card. If any students are missing from the class list, inform your master scheduler. Accurate attendance lists do not always equal an accurate report card list so this is important to check.
2. Check your Report Card Average tab for each class to verify the report card average percentages are set up correctly. Once the report card window opens, you may Load from Gradebook multiple times if student scores change.

Report Card Window Reminders:

• Be aware the Override box should not be checked if you want to load a new letter grade and/or a new numerical average.
• The only way a new numerical average will be loaded into the database is if another Load from Gradebook is done AND the override box is unchecked.
• These averages are important when calculating final grades.
• To see a summary of what was entered, click the Report Card Summary icon on the upper right of the Report Card Entry screen.
• Please submit a Technology Helpdesk Ticket or contact Assessment & Accountability if you have any questions.

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

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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