12/23/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Dr. Lee for her years of service to Boston Public Schools. Tomorrow is her last day before retirement and we want to thank her for her hard work at the Curley over the last 4 months. I know that our students enjoyed learning from her. We want her to know that she is always welcome at the Curley. Here's to a long and healthy retirement!

Shout out to CASP and Mr. Robinson for teaching students how to play soccer and taking them on the field trip to play against other schools. There are many important life skills our students learn through being a part of a team and learning a sport. Thanks!

 

Staff Breakfast

Please join the Admin Team in the Teachers Room on Wednesday, December 23rd at 7:30am for some breakfast treats before we all head off on vacation. We will provide the food and drinks and request only your presence.

Curley Shares

The following is the link for the next Curley Shares on January 7, 2016. Your submissions need to be in by Tuesday, January 5, 2016 by 4:00pm. Thanks! If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out in Google Forms.

Book Swap

Please note that the books swap has been postponed until January. Students K-5 will choose books during their lunch period on a date TBD in January. Please wait until that time to choose books to ensure all students K-5 receive a book. In the meantime, please place all book swap donations in the large blue boxes by each main office. Thank you.

Auditorium Sound System

Do you ever use the sound system?
Can you spare 15 minutes of your time?
If you do use the sound for any events, there will be trainings in January to know how to properly work with the system. It is important to have one member from each team, so that we can make best use of our equipment. Kim will send out a Doodle on Sunday to find out which times work best for the most staff. Please let Kim Taylor Knight know of any questions or concerns you might have, as well. Please fill out your preference here http://doodle.com/poll/ifevk5atzbvuqdue

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

School Showcase

We have one more showcase session Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/22/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Jesse Cardoso and our middle school mural class for designing and painting these amazing panels to brighten up our hallway and auditorium. The students are truly enjoying this experience and caring about their school as well! Thanks!

 

Staff Breakfast

Please join the Admin Team in the Teachers Room on Wednesday, December 23rd at 7:30am for some breakfast treats before we all head off on vacation. We will provide the food and drinks and request only your presence.

Curley Shares

The following is the link for the next Curley Shares on January 7, 2016. Your submissions need to be in by Tuesday, January 5, 2016 by 4:00pm. Thanks! If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out in Google Forms.

Auditorium Sound System

Do you ever use the sound system?
Can you spare 15 minutes of your time?
If you do use the sound for any events, there will be trainings in January to know how to properly work with the system. It is important to have one member from each team, so that we can make best use of our equipment. Kim will send out a Doodle on Sunday to find out which times work best for the most staff. Please let Kim Taylor Knight know of any questions or concerns you might have, as well.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

School Showcase

We have one more showcase sessions Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/21/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Tenacity for hosting a Mid-year Ceremony for our students and families. They transformed the Lower School Gym into "The Flying Lion King" theme. Students were recognized for their hard work and many families were in attendance. Thank you for being such wonderful partners to us. Also thanks to Jordan Smith who has been our Site Director since September. She will be moving this month and will not longer be with us. We wish you the best of luck! Also congrats to Payne Schanski who will take over in January!

 

 

Staff Breakfast

Please join the Admin Team in the Teachers Room on Wednesday, December 23rd at 7:30am for some breakfast treats before we all head off on vacation. We will provide the food and drinks and request only your presence.

Curley Shares

No, they are not happening this week but we are meeting on Thursday, January 7, 2016 with all classes. We are asking teachers to nominate students for awards before we leave for break. Kate Davis will send the links later today.

New Doors

The new doors for card key access are starting to be installed. Tomorrow the Lower School my entrance will get its new doors. Families and staff will be able to use the entrance from 8:15am-8:35am but should otherwise use Centre St to enter/exit the building. Please do not ask the workers to let you in or out. Thanks!

Auditorium Sound System

Do you ever use the sound system?
Can you spare 15 minutes of your time?
If you do use the sound for any events, there will be trainings in January to know how to properly work with the system. It is important to have one member from each team, so that we can make best use of our equipment. Kim will send out a Doodle on Sunday to find out which times work best for the most staff. Please let Kim Taylor Knight know of any questions or concerns you might have, as well.

Budget

BPS budgets came out Monday and were be presented at SSC on Tuesday. There are errors in the budget that have been caught early on and the budget office and working on fixing this in our favor. More details with the final budget will follow.

Book Swap (THIS IS GOING TO BE POSTPONED TILL JANUARY)

Bring a Book, Take a Book, K-5 Book Swap
Bring in 2 or more lightly used books from home and choose 2 ‘new to you’ books from school. The deadline for bringing 2 or more books from home is Friday, December 18th. Please email all questions to Caitlyn Gable and Eileen Cronin.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

TNTP Survey

Boston Public Schools is continuing a partnership with TNTP, an education nonprofit, to once again participate in an ongoing survey, administered twice a year, called Insight. Through Insight, you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts on the leadership practices and conditions at your school that support strong instruction. Your voice is critical in helping leaders across BPS better understand what is working well and what can be improved at your school. Just last week, we asked principals to review last year's data to make a plan to empower teacher teams and distribute instructional leadership at your schools. Your voice influenced those plans. BPS genuinely values your feedback, which has allowed school and central office leaders new views into what is working, and what needs work, at your school and across the district. Some results from last year's administration are attached to this email and we appreciate your continued feedback. Your responses to the survey will be kept completely confidential, and will be aggregated along with your colleagues’ responses in a report that will help drive school-level improvement. If you have any questions about the survey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your principal or Principal Leader. Thank you in advance for your providing your school leaders with your honest and valuable feedback.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Friday, December 18th (math).

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/18/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Kristin Clark for doing WIAT training and for going above and beyond to support her students families. Her families appreciate how much she cares for her students! Thanks!

Shout out to Konstantinos Petmezis for giving up his entire lunch period to take care of a colleague's student in crisis, so she could deal with a 2nd crisis situation. Thanks for being a generous and caring team member.

Shout out to Alisa Fleming and Lindsey Wright for always having calm and supportive words as well as time to give to students who are having tough moments/days. Thank you!

Shout out to Ms. Mundo for she taking ten minutes from her own time to support the lunch monitors. Ms. Mundo helps maintain an organized lines, ushers students into lunch, and keeps the 4 classes of students as calm as possible. Thanks!

New Doors

The new doors for card key access are starting to be installed. Tomorrow the Lower School my entrance will get its new doors. Families and staff will be able to use the entrance from 8:15am-8:35am but should otherwise use Centre St to enter/exit the building. Please do not ask the workers to let you in or out. Thanks!

Auditorium Sound System

Do you ever use the sound system?
Can you spare 15 minutes of your time?
If you do use the sound for any events, there will be trainings in January to know how to properly work with the system. It is important to have one member from each team, so that we can make best use of our equipment. Kim will send out a Doodle on Sunday to find out which times work best for the most staff. Please let Kim Taylor Knight know of any questions or concerns you might have, as well.

Budget

BPS budgets came out Monday and were be presented at SSC on Tuesday. There are errors in the budget that have been caught early on and the budget office and working on fixing this in our favor. More details with the final budget will follow.

Book Swap

Bring a Book, Take a Book, K-5 Book Swap
Bring in 2 or more lightly used books from home and choose 2 ‘new to you’ books from school. The deadline for bringing 2 or more books from home is Friday, December 18th. Please email all questions to Caitlyn Gable and Eileen Cronin.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

TNTP Survey

Boston Public Schools is continuing a partnership with TNTP, an education nonprofit, to once again participate in an ongoing survey, administered twice a year, called Insight. Through Insight, you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts on the leadership practices and conditions at your school that support strong instruction. Your voice is critical in helping leaders across BPS better understand what is working well and what can be improved at your school. Just last week, we asked principals to review last year's data to make a plan to empower teacher teams and distribute instructional leadership at your schools. Your voice influenced those plans. BPS genuinely values your feedback, which has allowed school and central office leaders new views into what is working, and what needs work, at your school and across the district. Some results from last year's administration are attached to this email and we appreciate your continued feedback. Your responses to the survey will be kept completely confidential, and will be aggregated along with your colleagues’ responses in a report that will help drive school-level improvement. If you have any questions about the survey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your principal or Principal Leader. Thank you in advance for your providing your school leaders with your honest and valuable feedback.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Friday, December 18th (math).

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/17/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to City Year for hosting a great staff appreciation breakfast this morning! We all appreciated your thoughtful gesture! Thanks for caring about teachers!

Shout out to Katelyn Coveney for doing whatever it takes to support room 117. Whether it is working as a 1-on-1, inviting other students to work with her, dealing with difficult behaviors, calling parents, and putting out both small and large fires. Thank you!

Auditorium Sound System

Do you ever use the sound system?
Can you spare 15 minutes of your time?
If you do use the sound for any events, there will be trainings in January to know how to properly work with the system. It is important to have one member from each team, so that we can make best use of our equipment. Kim will send out a Doodle on Sunday to find out which times work best for the most staff. Please let Kim Taylor Knight know of any questions or concerns you might have, as well.

Budget

BPS budgets came out Monday and were be presented at SSC on Tuesday. There are errors in the budget that have been caught early on and the budget office and working on fixing this in our favor. More details with the final budget will follow.

Safe Mode Drill

An email will go to all staff around 7:30pm regarding the drill for tomorrow. This email will address several questions that have been coming up around Safe Mode. Stay Tuned.

Book Swap

Bring a Book, Take a Book, K-5 Book Swap
Bring in 2 or more lightly used books from home and choose 2 ‘new to you’ books from school. The deadline for bringing 2 or more books from home is Friday, December 18th. Please email all questions to Caitlyn Gable and Eileen Cronin.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

TNTP Survey

Boston Public Schools is continuing a partnership with TNTP, an education nonprofit, to once again participate in an ongoing survey, administered twice a year, called Insight. Through Insight, you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts on the leadership practices and conditions at your school that support strong instruction. Your voice is critical in helping leaders across BPS better understand what is working well and what can be improved at your school. Just last week, we asked principals to review last year's data to make a plan to empower teacher teams and distribute instructional leadership at your schools. Your voice influenced those plans. BPS genuinely values your feedback, which has allowed school and central office leaders new views into what is working, and what needs work, at your school and across the district. Some results from last year's administration are attached to this email and we appreciate your continued feedback. Your responses to the survey will be kept completely confidential, and will be aggregated along with your colleagues’ responses in a report that will help drive school-level improvement. If you have any questions about the survey, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your principal or Principal Leader. Thank you in advance for your providing your school leaders with your honest and valuable feedback.

PD

There will be literacy collaborative PD on Thursday for LC Cohort 1 & 2 as well as PACE from 3pm-5pm.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Friday, December 18th (math).

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/16/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Ms. Trotz, Ms. Guzman and Ms. Cullen for completing the necessary certification process to administer the ACCESS test when we return in 2016. They are the first three staff to submit their certification to the main office. Thanks!

Budget

BPS budgets came out last night and will be presented at SSC this evening. There are errors in the budget that have been caught early on and the budget office and working on fixing this in our favor. More details with the final budget will follow.

Safe Mode Drill

An email will go to all staff around 7:30pm regarding the drill for tomorrow. This email will address several questions that have been coming up around Safe Mode. Stay Tuned.

Staff Appreciation Breakfast

City Year would like to honor the amazing work that you do by welcoming you to a staff appreciation breakfast this Wednesday in the upper school teacher's lounge from 7:30 - 8:30 AM. We will have breakfast items, coffee, and a few surprises. We will also be raffling off a couple baskets of school supplies. We thank you for all that you do for our school community, and hope to see you there!

Book Swap

Bring a Book, Take a Book, K-5 Book Swap
Bring in 2 or more lightly used books from home and choose 2 ‘new to you’ books from school. The deadline for bringing 2 or more books from home is Friday, December 18th. Please email all questions to Caitlyn Gable and Eileen Cronin.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

School Climate

School Climate Team meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 16th from 3:00pm-4:15pm in room 212. All staff are welcome!

PD

There will be literacy collaborative PD on Thursday for LC Cohort 1 & 2 as well as PACE from 3pm-5pm.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Monday, December 14th (ELA) and Friday, December 18th (math).

Safety Plan

We will be having our first Safe Mode Drill on Wednesday, December 16th. We wanted to communicate this so that staff had time to practice this with their students. While the drill is going on no staff or families will be able to enter or exit the building. We hope that when we practice this we will be able to work out any kinks in our plan. Some families have asked for the language that teachers will use when practicing with their students. Here is a sample specifically directed at early childhood aged students, “ We are practicing for an emergency outside the school.  Just like a fire drill is practice for an emergency, like a fire, inside, the school, this is practice for an emergency outside.  An example of an outside emergency I've given is if a truck spills something dangerous, like a chemical, into the street.  It is not real and we have to show Ms. Grassa that we can be safe inside and stay quiet if we need to be.” We hope this language helps to support the conversation you have at home with your students. This language will be shared with families in the Paw Prints this weekend and we will also announce the date of the drill to them as well.

It is crucial that staff practice this with students before next Wednesday and that everyone listens carefully to the announcement once it is made. Students may be transitioning, in bathroom, outside, at lunch and we will look forward to feedback from staff on how to tighten protocols. It is most important that staff remain calm during this time. Also we are aware that facilities are not fully in place to follow all procedures. We are asking that staff do what they can do and we look forward to any creative ideas that may come from this practice. Here is a direct link to our safety plan for your review.

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

12/15/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Ms. Ferguson and Ms. Signes for their early morning collaboration today! It is great to see colleagues collaborating and supporting one another! Our students will benefit most from this high level of teamwork! Thanks!

Staff Appreciation Breakfast

This Wednesday from 7:30 - 8:30 with a setup similar to last year(breakfast items, coffee, appreciations from students, etc). We will be raffling off a couple baskets of school supplies.

School Climate

School Climate Team meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 16th from 3:00pm-4:15pm in room 212. All staff are welcome!

PD

There will be literacy collaborative PD on Thursday for LC Cohort 1 & 2 as well as PACE from 3pm-5pm.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Monday, December 14th (ELA) and Friday, December 18th (math).

Safety Plan

We will be having our first Safe Mode Drill on Wednesday, December 16th. We wanted to communicate this so that staff had time to practice this with their students. While the drill is going on no staff or families will be able to enter or exit the building. We hope that when we practice this we will be able to work out any kinks in our plan. Some families have asked for the language that teachers will use when practicing with their students. Here is a sample specifically directed at early childhood aged students, “ We are practicing for an emergency outside the school.  Just like a fire drill is practice for an emergency, like a fire, inside, the school, this is practice for an emergency outside.  An example of an outside emergency I've given is if a truck spills something dangerous, like a chemical, into the street.  It is not real and we have to show Ms. Grassa that we can be safe inside and stay quiet if we need to be.” We hope this language helps to support the conversation you have at home with your students. This language will be shared with families in the Paw Prints this weekend and we will also announce the date of the drill to them as well.

It is crucial that staff practice this with students before next Wednesday and that everyone listens carefully to the announcement once it is made. Students may be transitioning, in bathroom, outside, at lunch and we will look forward to feedback from staff on how to tighten protocols. It is most important that staff remain calm during this time. Also we are aware that facilities are not fully in place to follow all procedures. We are asking that staff do what they can do and we look forward to any creative ideas that may come from this practice. Here is a direct link to our safety plan for your review.

Water Fountains

Our new water fountains are not turned on at this time. There was an issue at another site and they shut down all the fountains in order to find out if this is a district wide or isolated issue.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

Artifacts

Just a friendly reminder to all staff that artifacts must be uploaded to EDFS by December 15th. Administrators need time to review artifacts prior to writing Formatives. Please remember that 2-3 items should be uploaded for each goal (Student Learning & Professional Practice) AND each standard (I, II, III, IV). This means around 12-18 artifacts, we know you are doing many amazing things but uploading more than that makes it challenging to review each item thoroughly. Be sure that there is evidence tagged to each goal and standard. Also note that it is just as important to include a thorough description of what you uploaded. Do no assume that the evaluator will know why you choose to upload a particular document. Please let your evaluator know if you have any questions.

SSC

Budgets are due out this week to schools and therefore the SPC meeting has be postponed until Tuesday, December 15th from 5:30pm-7pm in room 101.

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

12/14/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Christina Burke, Ms. Bowen (Student Teacher), Sara Silverstein, April Pumphret, Laurie Ciardi and Sue Trotz for efforts in caring for one of our families. As the student left for the day she said, "I think that you need to give out a lot of caring awards to my teachers. They all care about me!" Thank you for modeling for our students how to care about each other!

School Climate

School Climate Team meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 16th from 3:00pm-4:15pm in room 212. All staff are welcome!

PD

There will be literacy collaborative PD on Thursday for LC Cohort 1 & 2 as well as PACE from 3pm-5pm.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

All action plans are due to teams administrators by Monday, December 14th (ELA) and Friday, December 18th (math).

Safety Plan

We will be having our first Safe Mode Drill on Wednesday, December 16th. We wanted to communicate this so that staff had time to practice this with their students. While the drill is going on no staff or families will be able to enter or exit the building. We hope that when we practice this we will be able to work out any kinks in our plan. Some families have asked for the language that teachers will use when practicing with their students. Here is a sample specifically directed at early childhood aged students, “ We are practicing for an emergency outside the school.  Just like a fire drill is practice for an emergency, like a fire, inside, the school, this is practice for an emergency outside.  An example of an outside emergency I've given is if a truck spills something dangerous, like a chemical, into the street.  It is not real and we have to show Ms. Grassa that we can be safe inside and stay quiet if we need to be.” We hope this language helps to support the conversation you have at home with your students. This language will be shared with families in the Paw Prints this weekend and we will also announce the date of the drill to them as well.

It is crucial that staff practice this with students before next Wednesday and that everyone listens carefully to the announcement once it is made. Students may be transitioning, in bathroom, outside, at lunch and we will look forward to feedback from staff on how to tighten protocols. It is most important that staff remain calm during this time. Also we are aware that facilities are not fully in place to follow all procedures. We are asking that staff do what they can do and we look forward to any creative ideas that may come from this practice. Here is a direct link to our safety plan for your review.

Water Fountains

Our new water fountains are not turned on at this time. There was an issue at another site and they shut down all the fountains in order to find out if this is a district wide or isolated issue.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

Artifacts

Just a friendly reminder to all staff that artifacts must be uploaded to EDFS by December 15th. Administrators need time to review artifacts prior to writing Formatives. Please remember that 2-3 items should be uploaded for each goal (Student Learning & Professional Practice) AND each standard (I, II, III, IV). This means around 12-18 artifacts, we know you are doing many amazing things but uploading more than that makes it challenging to review each item thoroughly. Be sure that there is evidence tagged to each goal and standard. Also note that it is just as important to include a thorough description of what you uploaded. Do no assume that the evaluator will know why you choose to upload a particular document. Please let your evaluator know if you have any questions.

SSC

Budgets are due out this week to schools and therefore the SPC meeting has be postponed until Tuesday, December 15th from 5:30pm-7pm in room 101.

Grades 6 – 8 Term 2 Progress Reports

The term 2 progress grading window for students in grades 6-12 will open from December 3rd to December 14th.
Reminder: After entering or editing progress grades in the scores tab, teachers must click Post Grades to write the grades to the progress reports. Grades will be saved as you enter them but they will not appear on the progress reports until you click Post Grades.

School Showcase

We have two more showcase sessions Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

12/11/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Sandra Eduwensuyi (Ms. E) on her last day of work as a teacher in BPS. We have appreciated your help and support of our students since September. You were only with us for a short time but you showed us how much you cared about the success of our students. We are grateful to have had this time to learn with you and we hope you know you are always welcome at the Curley K-8 School. Best of luck and we wish you a long and healthy retirement! Thanks!

Shout out to Kristen Clark, Monica Cawley, Mary Ryan, Ena Daniels and Lindsey Weygand for their collaborate work and effort on behalf of our PACE students. It is amazing to watch this team work and support one another. Thank you for modeling what it means to be a team!

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

The assessment dates for the A2 are fast approaching. ELA assessments will take place the week of December 1st. Math assessments will take place the week of December 7th. All action plans are due to teams administrators by Monday, December 14th (ELA) and Friday, December 18th (math).

Safety Plan

We will be having our first Safe Mode Drill on Wednesday, December 16th. We wanted to communicate this so that staff had time to practice this with their students. While the drill is going on no staff or families will be able to enter or exit the building. We hope that when we practice this we will be able to work out any kinks in our plan. Some families have asked for the language that teachers will use when practicing with their students. Here is a sample specifically directed at early childhood aged students, “ We are practicing for an emergency outside the school.  Just like a fire drill is practice for an emergency, like a fire, inside, the school, this is practice for an emergency outside.  An example of an outside emergency I've given is if a truck spills something dangerous, like a chemical, into the street.  It is not real and we have to show Ms. Grassa that we can be safe inside and stay quiet if we need to be.” We hope this language helps to support the conversation you have at home with your students. This language will be shared with families in the Paw Prints this weekend and we will also announce the date of the drill to them as well.

It is crucial that staff practice this with students before next Wednesday and that everyone listens carefully to the announcement once it is made. Students may be transitioning, in bathroom, outside, at lunch and we will look forward to feedback from staff on how to tighten protocols. It is most important that staff remain calm during this time. Also we are aware that facilities are not fully in place to follow all procedures. We are asking that staff do what they can do and we look forward to any creative ideas that may come from this practice. Here is a direct link to our safety plan for your review.

Water Fountains

By Friday all our new water fountains should be installed.Each new unit comes with a fountain as well a water bottle fill station! Please make time to teach students how to properly use this new equipment.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

Field Trips

Thanks to all the staff for letting us know about upcoming Field Trips. Letting the Nursing Office know at least 2 weeks in advance gives us time to check for student medications and medical conditions staff and chaperones need to be aware of to keep everyone safe once they leave the building. Just a reminder, please let Kathy Powers or Madeline Vazquez know about your field trips so they can put it on Google Calendar. These are the field Trips that we are aware of for the remainder of December and the month of January.

12/10 Petmezis 

12/11 Tefera/Javaloyes 

12/14 Burke 

12/15 Redden/Silverstein 

12/18 Pradas/Wright 

12/18 DaSilva/Higginbottom 

1/22 Entire 5th Grade and Ms Iatrou 

IMPORTANT: A few days before the field trip could you remember to check the permission slips and notify the nurse's about any student whose parent checked off that they require medication during the trip. This gives us time to call the parent about any medication that we were unaware of or do not already have in the nurse's office. The morning of the field trip please send a student or staff member down to pick up student medications from the nurse's office. A staff member should be designated to carry and be responsible for student medications unless alternative arrangements have been made with the nurses and parent. Also, please remember to return medications to the nurse's office once you are back in the building. Feel free to email or stop by the nurse's office with any questions or if any of the information we have is incorrect.

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

Artifacts

Just a friendly reminder to all staff that artifacts must be uploaded to EDFS by December 15th. Administrators need time to review artifacts prior to writing Formatives. Please remember that 2-3 items should be uploaded for each goal (Student Learning & Professional Practice) AND each standard (I, II, III, IV). This means around 12-18 artifacts, we know you are doing many amazing things but uploading more than that makes it challenging to review each item thoroughly. Be sure that there is evidence tagged to each goal and standard. Also note that it is just as important to include a thorough description of what you uploaded. Do no assume that the evaluator will know why you choose to upload a particular document. Please let your evaluator know if you have any questions.

SSC

Budgets are due out this week to schools and therefore the SPC meeting has be postponed until Tuesday, December 15th from 5:30pm-7pm in room 101.

Grades 6 – 8 Term 2 Progress Reports

The term 2 progress grading window for students in grades 6-12 will open from December 3rd to December 14th.
Reminder: After entering or editing progress grades in the scores tab, teachers must click Post Grades to write the grades to the progress reports. Grades will be saved as you enter them but they will not appear on the progress reports until you click Post Grades.

School Showcase

We have three more showcase sessions Friday, December 11th from 9-10am, Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

Fall Term Report Card Grading Window for Grades 1-5

The fall grading window for students in grades 1-5 is will open from November 23rd to December 11th. Please refer to the materials below for instructions on entering grades.
Reminder: After entering or editing grades in the scores tab, teachers must click Post Grades to write the grades to the report cards. Grades will be saved as you enter them but they will not appear on the report cards until you click Post Grades.
Entering Grades Handout
Elementary Comment Codes Handout
How to verify that your grades are posted

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.

12/10/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Tenacity and Jeremiah Sanchez and Amari Brown-Sweeting (with Rain Twohads as the team alternate/assistant) represented Curley at Tenacity's 'Rising Stars' 6th grade tournament last Friday. Playing as a doubles team, Amari and Jeremiah went undefeated on the afternoon, giving Curley a first place finish (out of 8 teams) for the 2nd year in a row! This Friday, our top 7th/8th grade players will go to Harvard to play in Tenacity's annual 'Holiday Classic' doubles tournament.

Writing Rubric Tracking

Please see the email from Katie on 12/9/15 regarding the tracking of writing data. We realize how long it has taken us to get this to you all and we apologize. I lot of thought and debate went into how to organize this document. Please check your grade level CPT folder on the drive and you will find your spreadsheet. Teach teams need to complete this for each write task students are completing as part of the writing curriculum map. Staff can have an extension on adding this as an artifact due to the late timing. Everyone should be adding a completed spreadsheet to EDFS by 12/23/15. If you submit it before you head on vacation you won't have to think about it! :) Please direct all questions and feedback to Eileen Cronin.

A2 ANet Testing

The assessment dates for the A2 are fast approaching. ELA assessments will take place the week of December 1st. Math assessments will take place the week of December 7th. All action plans are due to teams administrators by Monday, December 14th (ELA) and Friday, December 18th (math).

Safety Plan

We will be having our first Safe Mode Drill on Wednesday, December 16th. We wanted to communicate this so that staff had time to practice this with their students. While the drill is going on no staff or families will be able to enter or exit the building. We hope that when we practice this we will be able to work out any kinks in our plan. Some families have asked for the language that teachers will use when practicing with their students. Here is a sample specifically directed at early childhood aged students, “ We are practicing for an emergency outside the school.  Just like a fire drill is practice for an emergency, like a fire, inside, the school, this is practice for an emergency outside.  An example of an outside emergency I've given is if a truck spills something dangerous, like a chemical, into the street.  It is not real and we have to show Ms. Grassa that we can be safe inside and stay quiet if we need to be.” We hope this language helps to support the conversation you have at home with your students. This language will be shared with families in the Paw Prints this weekend and we will also announce the date of the drill to them as well.

It is crucial that staff practice this with students before next Wednesday and that everyone listens carefully to the announcement once it is made. Students may be transitioning, in bathroom, outside, at lunch and we will look forward to feedback from staff on how to tighten protocols. It is most important that staff remain calm during this time. Also we are aware that facilities are not fully in place to follow all procedures. We are asking that staff do what they can do and we look forward to any creative ideas that may come from this practice. Here is a direct link to our safety plan for your review.

Water Fountains

By Friday all our new water fountains should be installed.Each new unit comes with a fountain as well a water bottle fill station! Please make time to teach students how to properly use this new equipment.

ELT Planning Meeting

Today 4 staff volunteered to attend the ELT Planning Meeting. We met at the BTU from 8:30am-3:30pm with 7 other schools that will be adding 40 extra minutes to their day in SY2016-2017. We want to be sure to communicate with staff after each meeting to assure that this process is transparent.
Here are some key messages we would like to share from today's learning:

• Our Extended Learning Time initiative is about building a better school day for our students, teachers and families. 
• With more time, our school will have more opportunities to provide targeted learning time for students, increase small group instruction, provide enrichment opportunities in order to increase student engagement and academic outcomes. At our first session we identified these urgent needs: 
• African American and Hispanic males do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their White and Asian peers. 
• ELL and SPED students do not perform on standardized tests at the same level as their general education peers. 
• Overall as a school we struggle with reading and writing skills according to standardized tests. 
• We are just at the beginning and we need you to play an active role in the process of developing a new school experience for our community. 
• Between January and June the ELT Team will implement a community engagement process moving forward, stay tuned for meeting dates and other pertinent updates. 
• In the coming weeks you can get involved by reaching out to a member of the ELT team with questions and ideas (Ciardi, Grassa, Kidd, Peters, Wright). Click Here and you can submit your ideas and questions anonymously. 

Field Trips

Thanks to all the staff for letting us know about upcoming Field Trips. Letting the Nursing Office know at least 2 weeks in advance gives us time to check for student medications and medical conditions staff and chaperones need to be aware of to keep everyone safe once they leave the building. Just a reminder, please let Kathy Powers or Madeline Vazquez know about your field trips so they can put it on Google Calendar. These are the field Trips that we are aware of for the remainder of December and the month of January.

12/10 Petmezis 

12/11 Tefera/Javaloyes 

12/14 Burke 

12/15 Redden/Silverstein 

12/18 Pradas/Wright 

12/18 DaSilva/Higginbottom 

1/22 Entire 5th Grade and Ms Iatrou 

IMPORTANT: A few days before the field trip could you remember to check the permission slips and notify the nurse's about any student whose parent checked off that they require medication during the trip. This gives us time to call the parent about any medication that we were unaware of or do not already have in the nurse's office. The morning of the field trip please send a student or staff member down to pick up student medications from the nurse's office. A staff member should be designated to carry and be responsible for student medications unless alternative arrangements have been made with the nurses and parent. Also, please remember to return medications to the nurse's office once you are back in the building. Feel free to email or stop by the nurse's office with any questions or if any of the information we have is incorrect.

Tenacity

Attention Curley Staff! Tenacity’s Annual Mid Year Ceremony is next Thursday, December 17, 2015 in the lower school café! The invitation is open to ALL Curley staff who wish to come by and support Tenacity students’ hard work this semester! Please feel free to stop by (even if just for a quick hello J ) to check out our student work displays and mingle with Tenacity’s students, families, and staff! There will also be tennis activities and fun videos of students in action and playing tennis! A short presentation/awards ceremony will follow dinner and begin around 6:25pm. We hope to see you there!

Door Painting this Thursday

Come join the Climate Team, City Year and a few of our students this Thursday for door painting. Let's get a fresh coat of paint on our 1st floor doors! We'll have music and pizza and to assure the time passes quickly. Email Jesse Cardoso with your RSVP or any questions.

Curley Holiday Shopping Night

Buy your presents on Thursday, December 10th from 4pm-8pm and our wonderful local businesses will donate 10% of their sales during that time period. So far, businesses include Streetcar, On Centre, Kitchen Witch, Boing and Stella and Dot.

Artifacts

Just a friendly reminder to all staff that artifacts must be uploaded to EDFS by December 15th. Administrators need time to review artifacts prior to writing Formatives. Please remember that 2-3 items should be uploaded for each goal (Student Learning & Professional Practice) AND each standard (I, II, III, IV). This means around 12-18 artifacts, we know you are doing many amazing things but uploading more than that makes it challenging to review each item thoroughly. Be sure that there is evidence tagged to each goal and standard. Also note that it is just as important to include a thorough description of what you uploaded. Do no assume that the evaluator will know why you choose to upload a particular document. Please let your evaluator know if you have any questions.

SSC

Budgets are due out this week to schools and therefore the SPC meeting has be postponed until Tuesday, December 15th from 5:30pm-7pm in room 101.

Grades 6 – 8 Term 2 Progress Reports

The term 2 progress grading window for students in grades 6-12 will open from December 3rd to December 14th.
Reminder: After entering or editing progress grades in the scores tab, teachers must click Post Grades to write the grades to the progress reports. Grades will be saved as you enter them but they will not appear on the progress reports until you click Post Grades.

School Showcase

We have three more showcase sessions Friday, December 11th from 9-10am, Friday, December 18th from 9-10am and Thursday, January 14th from 3-4pm.

Fall Term Report Card Grading Window for Grades 1-5

The fall grading window for students in grades 1-5 is will open from November 23rd to December 11th. Please refer to the materials below for instructions on entering grades.
Reminder: After entering or editing grades in the scores tab, teachers must click Post Grades to write the grades to the report cards. Grades will be saved as you enter them but they will not appear on the report cards until you click Post Grades.
Entering Grades Handout
Elementary Comment Codes Handout
How to verify that your grades are posted

ACCESS Certification

Training for ACCESS needs to be re-completed by the entire staff by Monday, December 21, 2015. To complete the training go to the wida website: https://www.wida.us Log on (if you can't remember your password remember that your email may have been yourname@boston.k12.ma.us ) all accounts previously created are still active. To create a new account: Type in username: massachusetts, password:patriot and create a new account. Once you log on you need to go to the paper-based Grades 1-12 training. Make sure you are under the Test Administrator tab (not coordinator). You will find a checklist that needs to be completed as well as the link for the tests you have to take. Once the test is completed please turn your training certificate to Kathy or Madeline. Kindergarten teachers need to take the Kindergarten training and test. All SAR and PACE teachers need to take the Alternate Access Training and test. If you have questions please contact Waverly.