Elementary Essentials

ELEMENTARY ELA RESOURCE ADOPTION UPDATE:

Thank you for your patience as we continue to move through the process of adopting a new ELA Resource. It takes time to work through all the details. We hope to be announcing the resource that was selected soon.

DISPOSAL OF JOURNEYS MATERIALS:

The current elementary ELA resource is Journeys. Teachers have been using these materials for more than a decade. We have been planning for collecting and recycling these materials and will have more information coming out soon. As you start thinking ahead, some tasks that will need to be completed are:

1. Locating all Journeys materials in your classroom that are checked out to you. Open up all the drawers and cabinets to find everything. You are looking for teacher’s manuals, student anthologies, leveled text, big books, and anything else Journeys.
2. Reviewing the list of what materials will be taken away to be recycled. This will be posted on the ELA website soon. We are still finalizing the list.
3. Preparing for checking in the materials. That means gather things together in one place to make it easy to locate them when we check-in the materials.
4. Placing materials to be recycled in the proper place. More information to come.

I am collecting questions that have come up and will provide a set of Questions and Answers to support you in this process. If you have a question you want answered, send it to me and I will include it.

HANDWRITING

Information regarding the handwriting survey was provided in the last Elementary Essentials. Check out the March 6th edition if you missed the information.

APRIL 19th PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Our final professional learning date is April 19th, from 8:00 – 11:30 A.M. We will gather by grade level teams at a variety of elementary schools in the district to finish the year with learning around Neurodiversity and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction. How many of you like to play games? The planning committee has developed another stellar theme that will make you go BANANAS! More information to come.

Caregivers often ask how they can support their student’s language development at home. Check out this spotlight for ideas for parents and other caregivers in the home.

Enrichment Guidance

Check out the new and improved Enrichment section of the math repository! Activities for 1st through 5th grade are organized by standard or in bundles by Eureka module, including directions and answer keys. It’s never been easier to find just the right activity to extend student learning in math.

IXL in Spanish

IXL makes it easy for you to deliver standards-based purposeful practice. Our math and ELA skill plans give you access to skills custom-built for your state standards. Learn more about how to leverage these skill plans in this 3-step guide! Click here!

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The Partial Eclipse begins at 12:37 pm through 3:11 pm, experiencing the maximum eclipse at 1:54 pm when 90.7% of the Sun’s surface will be covered by the Moon.

Solar eclipse viewing glasses for every student and staff member should now be at your school. Teachers have access to educational classroom activities to enhance students’ experience of this unique event via the Science website.

Please check out the social studies newsletter for important social studies related items. The deadline to enter our Social Studies contest #4 is March 27th. The contest can be found in the newsletter, so please check it out. Enter for a chance to win! I hope each of you had an amazing spring break. Please reach out if I can assist or support you. Thanks for all you do! ~Julie

The following document is a job aide meant to help those struggling with the resignation or termination process when an employee leaves the district.