A Note from Title 1
Happy Friday AES Families!
What a pleasure it was to meet all of you last night during our Annual Title I Schoolwide Meeting. It was a great success, with a record number of families attending to learn more about our schoolwide Title I program. We are stronger partners together and we appreciated your time to participate in this discussion to support all the students at AES!
A quick shout-out and thanks to the community businesses that donated to the raffle basket- Rick and Diane’s Pizza and the Toadstool Bookstore! We appreciate your support for the students and families of Antrim Elementary!
Information presented at the meeting included the AES School-Family Compact, Parents’ Right-to-Know and our District Title I Guidelines and Policy. If you couldn’t make the meeting last night, we have included these documents for your reference as hyperlinks. We enjoyed listening and learning from our families and value your input to make our Title I programming even better than ever.
Please be on the lookout for an upcoming (short!) family survey in which we will provide even more information regarding our Title I program, schoolwide plan and see how we can support you with resources to help your child grow- both at home and at school!
Best,
Kathie Morrocco, Title I Project Manager
Using "Accountable Talk" at Home
One of the things that we are focusing on as a school is incorporating Accountable Talk into every classroom. All students like to talk with their classmates, and Accountable Talk strategies ensure that students are accountable for learning as they engage in academic conversations. One of the most common strategies is to have students turn and talk with a classmate and take turns answering a question by providing both an answer and evidence that supports the answer. By requiring students to provide evidence, we are giving them the opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills so that they can learn to think both logically and creatively. Accountable Talk is also a great way to help children improve their writing skills because it gives them a chance to communicate their ideas before they try to write them down on paper.
At the same time, students are also learning important social skills, such as how to build on what someone else has said and how to disagree with someone without becoming angry or upset. As a result, Accountable Talk is a way for teachers to help support the development of the “whole child”. Accountable Talk includes asking children questions such as “what do you wonder about?”, “what do you think will happen next?” and “do you agree or disagree with ________ and what is your reasoning?”.
Parents are the most important teachers that a child has. You can incorporate Accountable Talk into your conversations with your child or children at home by making a habit of asking your child what she thinks and why she thinks that. For example, you could ask a first grader “What season is coming, and why do you think that?”. Asking children to justify their ideas with evidence encourages them to think more deeply, and it lets them know that their ideas are important and matter to you.
~ Catlin McLaughlin, ConVal District Elementary Math Coach
Stephanie Syre-Hager, Principal
Email: ssyre-hager@conval.edu
Website: aes.convalsd.net
Location: 10 School Street, Antrim, NH, USA
Phone: 603-588-6371
Twitter: @aes_ssh