Elementary Essentials

During the January 4th Professional Learning, 4th and 5th grade teachers received information about exchanging the topics of American Revolution and Westward Expansion in the Writing Units of Study. If you did not receive the booklet supporting this exchange, email me and I will send one to you.

By this time, the ELA resource adoption materials have arrived at schools. Materials available for review are as follows:

• Wit and Wisdom - The Great Minds company has agreed to provide all elementary schools with materials to rotate from one school to another. A school will have time to preview the entire grade level of materials; then, we will exchange the complete set of materials with sample bags for each grade so that teachers can look at one unit in depth. We will shift materials from one building to another on January 26.

• EL Education resources include one primary unit and one intermediate unit for review. These books can be kept at your site for the entire review period. There is also a plastic stand with additional information.

I will send out a survey link for voting to all teachers in the Elementary Essentials on February 8, and have grade-level messages sent out. Voting should be complete by February 12.

Here is a short video that may answer some of the questions that you have about where we are at in the adoption process: ELA Adoption Update Video

Handwriting is an essential skill for students to develop automaticity, which can improve writing. When students write letters in manuscript or cursive fluidly, it frees up cognitive space to focus on the message and meaning of writing. Each grade level is responsible for explicitly teaching manuscript and/or cursive handwriting. Please review the responsibility for your grade by accessing the K-5 Handwriting Guidelines.

To support you in preparing for this instruction, the ELA department did several things:

1. 1st grade teachers received a packet of practice papers for all manuscript letters. The packet provided a practice page for each letter, for each student, to be used throughout the school year. The formation of the manuscript alphabet was taught in kindergarten and practiced in the 95 Percent workbook during core instruction; however, the first-grade workbooks only have limited practice opportunities. So, these pages may be used for teaching and practice.
2. We asked the 2nd grade teachers to give the Zaner-Bloser handwriting box, which includes the Teacher’s Manual, to the 3rd grade teachers. We shifted the grade that cursive is being introduced, so it is now a 3rd grade teacher’s resource.
3. 3rd grade teachers received a packet of practice papers for all cursive letters. The packet provided a practice page for each letter for each student to be used throughout the school year.
4. 4th and 5th grade teachers received master copies of cursive handwriting pages. It is critical that you ask students to write assignments in cursive periodically. However, just assigning writing in cursive does not mean they remember the strokes. So, ensure you reteach proper stroke formations and give them practice time. All information regarding cursive stroke instruction is on the ELA website.

Please complete this quick survey about the handwriting resources so that we can ensure you are receiving what you need to teach handwriting explicitly. Handwriting Survey

Vocabulary Surge is a teacher resource the district purchased several years ago from the 95 Percent group. After using this resource for a while, district representatives looked at the scope and sequence and tried simplifying the lessons. The current version of Vocabulary Surge contains daily lessons to teach morphology in 4th and 5th grades. A teacher’s manual and student workbooks are available through Digital StoreFront. Please complete this quick survey about Vocabulary Surge so that we can ensure these materials meet your needs. Vocabulary Surge Survey

Finally, is this your tumbler? It was left at the district professional learning at Mission Trail Middle School on January 4th. If so, drop me an email (llwinter@olatheschools.org), and I will send it back to you at your school.

Thank you all for your continued diligence with the QBA windows! Please continue to provide any feedback that would be helpful in ensuring that the assessments are meaningful to your instruction! The conversations around the data with you all have been so powerful! Quarter 3's window will run for the final 2 weeks of the quarter right before Spring Break, falling from February 26 to March 8. If you have any questions or concerns around QBAs, please do note hesitate to reach out to your support specialist and/or Spencer!

The Science Dept. could not be more thrilled to have school in session on April 8, 2024, and be able to provide students with amazing learning opportunities. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. In Olathe, a Deep Partial Eclipse of magnitude 90.7% will be visible.

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. The next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will be on August 23, 2044.

Solar eclipse viewing glasses will be provided for every student and staff member in the Olathe Public Schools. 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.

Our social studies contest #3 winners are: Angie Ross (CC-5) AND Tiffany Chandler (WG-2)! Congrats Angie and Tiffany!!! Your prizes are on the way to you! Be watching the newsletter for Social Studies contest #4 for another chance to enter!

I hope each of you has had an amazing week. Please reach out if I can assist or support you. Thanks for all you do! ~Julie