3/1/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Adrian Ward-Jackson for securing tickets for many middle school students to view the film, "Hidden Figures," for free! This is a powerful film for all of us to learn from and our students love it! Thanks!

Shout out to Teresa Javaloyes and Rose Rodriguez for quickly getting their rooms back together on Monday after having it acoustically treated over the vacation. Thanks to Rose for being a good sport since her room as done "by accident." A special shout out to Kim Daly for being a good sport when her room was not treated over break as planned! Thanks!

Save the Date

Please reserve Friday, June 2 for our End-of-the-Year and Retirement Party.

Place: Florian Hall

Time: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Appetizers, Buffet, Music, Dance, Celebrations!

AN INVITATION TO STUDENTS IN GRADES 3-8!

Help needed! Please consider having your students write some “Random Acts of Kindness” to insert in the envelopes on the bulletin board across from the Teachers Room! These can be kind words or suggestions for kind acts. And a reminder… they are for adults as well as students!

CASP Changes

We wanted to notify all staff of a change in CASP. All families with children in CASP received a notice (in Spanish & English) regarding this transition (please read below). Ms. Canada will continue to work at the Curley during the day in her regular position.

Dear CASP Families,
I am writing to notify you regarding a change with the Curley After School Program. Torri Canada has decided to move on and Friday, March 10th will be her last day as Director. We will use this time before she leaves to train someone to take over while we search for a new CASP Director. Erika Mercado will step in as Acting Director for the remainder of the school year and Princess Ortega will now be the Acting Assistant Director.

I want to take this time to personally thank Torri Canada for her hard work and commitment to CASP. For those of you who don’t know, Torri started this program with a group of families 6.5 years ago. In that time the program has grown from 50 students to over 350 students receiving high quality before and after school programming. We are thankful for her leadership over this time period as well as how much support she has given to students and families. We also appreciate the support she is willing to give during this transition.

Please make sure to stop by the CASP office and join me in thanking Ms. Canada for her time, efforts and contributions to our program.

Field Trips

Are you going on a field trip soon? Have you shared this information with the nurses and the cafeteria? This is a friendly reminder that the nurse's and cafe should be notified 2 weeks in advance of scheduled field trips. Teachers should also be carefully checking the returned permission slips. They should notify the nurse's office when a parent checks the "yes" box stating that their child requires medication while on the field trip.

School Climate Team

Please join us for the climate meeting on Wednesday, March 1st from 3pm-4:15pm.

Staff Social

Please join us for the March staff social at Costello's from 3pm-6pm.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Let’s share with one another and show students that teachers are readers, too!
Amika is putting up a new Bulletin Board outside the Teachers Room and needs your help! Please send her a photo of the cover of a book you are currently reading, or have recently read and enjoyed. Commentary welcome, but not necessary. Email full-size photos to: amika45@gmail.com. THANK YOU!

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Last day of our #happycurelyteacher challenge! Thank you all those who have sent in pictures! We'll raffle off a $25 gift card to Costello's tomorrow afternoon so send in any last minute pictures (from any day) before 2:45PM!
Challenge #10: Send us a happy teacher selfie!

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion

2/28/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Kim Daly, Megan Nason, Sugeily Santos, and Paige Stokes for planning, coordinating, and implementing a series of sessions for all 5th grade girls to support social emotional skill building. Thank you all for making this happen!


Shout out to Kate Davis for lending out a wobble chair. A student really appreciated it and was able to better focus and participate in Open Circle this morning. Thank You!

Field Trips

Are you going on a field trip soon? Have you shared this information with the nurses and the cafeteria? This is a friendly reminder that the nurse's and cafe should be notified 2 weeks in advance of scheduled field trips. Teachers should also be carefully checking the returned permission slips. They should notify the nurse's office when a parent checks the "yes" box stating that their child requires medication while on the field trip.

Fun Photos

Ms. Beck's class wanted to share some photos from their visit to the John Adams Courthouse. Most of the photos with a judge are Justice Barbara Lenk of the Supreme Judicial Court. But, we also had a short visit - and tried on the robe of - Justice Geraldine Hines. The man is Richard DeSorgher, who coordinates education programs at the court and gave us our tour. Thanks for sharing!!! We look forward to having a future judge from your class representing the people!

 

 

School Climate Team

Please join us for the climate meeting on Wednesday, March 1st from 3pm-4:15pm.

Staff Social

Please join us for the March staff social at Costello's from 3pm-6pm.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Let’s share with one another and show students that teachers are readers, too!
Amika is putting up a new Bulletin Board outside the Teachers Room and needs your help! Please send her a photo of the cover of a book you are currently reading, or have recently read and enjoyed. Commentary welcome, but not necessary. Email full-size photos to: amika45@gmail.com. THANK YOU!

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Tuesday is day 9, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #9: Take a goofy class picture and post it up in your room.
Potential Pictures Ideas: the goofy class picture, the goofy picture posted up in your room.

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion

2/27/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Maria Amy-Moreno for organizing the middle school Valentine's Day Dance! The students loved earning the opportunity to hang out with one another. You are an amazing DJ and so very patient with all the student song requests! Thanks!

Shout out to Cara Hins on the birth of her beautiful baby girl! Abigail Sue Hins was born on February 16th, weighing 8lbs 1oz and 20 inches long! She can't wait to meet her Curley family!! We look forward to meeting her as well!

Shout out to Konstantinos Petmezis on the birth of his daughter, Eliana Marisol Petmezis She arrived at 7:04 AM on Sunday, February 26th and weighed 7 lbs 5 oz. Everyone is doing great! 

School Climate Team

Please join us for the climate meeting on Wednesday, March 1st from 3pm-4:15pm.

Staff Social

Please join us for the March staff social at Costello's from 3pm-6pm.

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Monday is day 8, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #8: Think of a student who doesn't always get recognition, display that student's work in your classroom somewhere (with their permission).
Potential Pictures Ideas: a picture of the student's work, a picture of your student work are.

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Let’s share with one another and show students that teachers are readers, too!
Amika is putting up a new Bulletin Board outside the Teachers Room and needs your help! Please send her a photo of the cover of a book you are currently reading, or have recently read and enjoyed. Commentary welcome, but not necessary. Email full-size photos to: amika45@gmail.com. THANK YOU!

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion

2/17/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Caitlyn Gable, Sara Silverstein, Jessica Burque and Cassie Mountain for leading a PD session this afternoon. It is hard to be motivated and motivate our colleagues the day before vacation but you all worked hard to assure the sessions were engaging. Thank you!

Middle School Dance

Valentine's Dance on Friday, February 17, 2017 from 1:05 to 2:10 pm in the gym. Price: $3.00 and the proceeds will be used for the end of year field trip to Canobie Lake. Bottled water will be sold for $1.00 in the gym and again the proceeds will be used for the trip to Canobie Lake. Wrist bands will be available on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 from your homeroom teachers. Active chaperones are welcomed. Each team will send at least one adult chaperone who will actively supervise and help at the event. A cleaning crew will be ready after the dance. For more information please ask Maria Amy-Moreno in room 210, Upper School.

Stars Math

Our next math STARS assessment will be conducted Feb. 13-17th. Please make sure that students that are absent when you give the test make it up when they show up. This round we will be asking why students have not taken math STARS assessment.

If you have not already done so make sure you are analyzing the STARS data from the last assessment to help inform your teaching in order to increase SGPs. We will be looking closely at SGPs to ensure we are conducting the best instructional practices to ensure an increase in student achievement this year. If you need any help getting STARS data or analyzing it to think of next steps please email Sean Guthrie at sguthrie@bostonpublicschools.org to set up a time to meet.

Curley Computer Network Upgrade Completed

Thanks for your patience during the last two weeks. The upgrade of the Curley computer network is now completed and Internet access should be much more reliable throughout the entire Curley Campus.
Please contact Kate or Eileen if you filled out the Google form, identifying your non-BPS devices, and they are not connected as yet.
Kdavis3@bosotnpublicschools.org
ecronin@bostonpublicschools.org

Books to Go!

Want some additional titles for your classroom library? Want to send home books with students to read over February vacation? Beginning on Thursday, February 16th, a variety of used books will be available on tables outside the upper and lower school offices. Please help yourself to any titles that you’d like to add to your classroom collection, or bring your class by, at your convenience, to select books to take home over vacation. All books that remain at the end of the day on Friday will be donated. Questions? Contact Caitlyn Gable or Eileen Cronin

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Friday is day 7, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #7: Pack yourself your favorite lunch!
Potential Pictures Ideas: a picture of your lunch, a picture of you eating your lunch.

Educator of the Year Nominations - Due 2/24

The City of Boston, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) invite all of our stakeholders: teachers, administrators, students, families and community members, to nominate exceptional educators and to honor their work and dedication through the 2017 Boston Educator of the Year Awards. Visit bit.ly/eoyboston for nomination information.

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

Equity Circular Acknowledgement

A reminder that all employees must sign off by 2/24/17 that they have read and understood the Equity circulars. Please ensure that everyone in your school or department has done so by using this link: https://docs.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn_XBQo_a1EoyHaWpJ7Xtx6m760tcEj67OI3X6KUsRAS1pAA/viewform Contact: Grace Jung, bpsequity@bostonpublicschools.org

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion

2/16/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Marietje Halbertsma and Amika Kemmler-Ernst for their support an efforts on behalf of expanding our music program. Both of them spent their snow days writing a grant so we could have multiple years of Boston Symphony Orchestra performances at our school. Fingers crossed we get it! Thank you for caring about our school!

Shout out to Eva Banks for being prepared with her boots on to assist students with loading on the bus! All those staff who were less prepared with their footwear appreciate your efforts!

Shout out to Teresa Javaloyes for using her personal time to support the Admin team in communicating with a student and her family. We really appreciate how much you care about others! Thanks!

Literacy Collaborative & PACE PD

Just a reminder that PD will take place on Friday from 3pm-5pm.

Curley Shares: New Entrance/Exit Procedure

We are trying a new entrance/exit procedure to help ease traffic during transitions between assemblies.

• When ARRIVING with your class please ENTER the auditorium using the doors near the stage. 
• When LEAVING with your class, please EXIT to the rear of the auditorium (doors near gym).

Curley Shares Assembly times:

• 9:40-10:20 - K2/5th/PACE 3: Solimini, Lopez, Smith, Shea, Rand, Daly, Moran, Quatrale, Bryson, Mundo
• 10:20-11:00 - 3rd/8th/PACE 6 : Garcia, Petmezis, Signes, Rivera, Quarterson, Mylett, 8A, 8B, 8F, 6F, 7G
• 11:20-12:00 - 2nd/7th/PACE 5 : Burke, DaSilva, Redden, Beck, Maiden, 7A, 7B, 7F, 6G
• 12:40-1:20 - 1st/6th/PACE 4 : Ciardi, Banks, Craman, Kidd, Clark, 6A, 6B, 6C, 8G
• 1:25-2:10 - K0-K1/4th/PACE 0-2 : Cullen, Goldstein, Merdkhanian, Park, Guzman, Mitchell, Hyde, Perera, Pradas, Tefera, Wright, Javaloyes, Strait
• Please check in with your grade-level Climate team representative if you have any questions regarding Curley Shares assemblies. Thanks!

Middle School Dance

Valentine's Dance on Friday, February 17, 2017 from 1:05 to 2:10 pm in the gym. Price: $3.00 and the proceeds will be used for the end of year field trip to Canobie Lake. Bottled water will be sold for $1.00 in the gym and again the proceeds will be used for the trip to Canobie Lake. Wrist bands will be available on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 from your homeroom teachers. Active chaperones are welcomed. Each team will send at least one adult chaperone who will actively supervise and help at the event. A cleaning crew will be ready after the dance. For more information please ask Maria Amy-Moreno in room 210, Upper School.

Stars Math

Our next math STARS assessment will be conducted Feb. 13-17th. Please make sure that students that are absent when you give the test make it up when they show up. This round we will be asking why students have not taken math STARS assessment.

If you have not already done so make sure you are analyzing the STARS data from the last assessment to help inform your teaching in order to increase SGPs. We will be looking closely at SGPs to ensure we are conducting the best instructional practices to ensure an increase in student achievement this year. If you need any help getting STARS data or analyzing it to think of next steps please email Sean Guthrie at sguthrie@bostonpublicschools.org to set up a time to meet.

Curley Computer Network Upgrade Completed

Thanks for your patience during the last two weeks. The upgrade of the Curley computer network is now completed and Internet access should be much more reliable throughout the entire Curley Campus.
Please contact Kate or Eileen if you filled out the Google form, identifying your non-BPS devices, and they are not connected as yet.
Kdavis3@bosotnpublicschools.org
ecronin@bostonpublicschools.org

Books to Go!

Want some additional titles for your classroom library? Want to send home books with students to read over February vacation? Beginning on Thursday, February 16th, a variety of used books will be available on tables outside the upper and lower school offices. Please help yourself to any titles that you’d like to add to your classroom collection, or bring your class by, at your convenience, to select books to take home over vacation. All books that remain at the end of the day on Friday will be donated. Questions? Contact Caitlyn Gable or Eileen Cronin

School Climate Team

Please join us for our climate team meeting on Wednesday, February 15th from 3pm-4:15pm in room 003.

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Thursday is day 6, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #6: At the start of class pass out index cards and ask students to respond to this prompt: "I wish my teacher knew this about me."
Potential Pictures Ideas: a picture of the funniest response, a picture of one of your students, a picture of the stack of responses.

Educator of the Year Nominations - Due 2/24

The City of Boston, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) invite all of our stakeholders: teachers, administrators, students, families and community members, to nominate exceptional educators and to honor their work and dedication through the 2017 Boston Educator of the Year Awards. Visit bit.ly/eoyboston for nomination information.

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

Equity Circular Acknowledgement

A reminder that all employees must sign off by 2/24/17 that they have read and understood the Equity circulars. Please ensure that everyone in your school or department has done so by using this link: https://docs.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn_XBQo_a1EoyHaWpJ7Xtx6m760tcEj67OI3X6KUsRAS1pAA/viewform Contact: Grace Jung, bpsequity@bostonpublicschools.org

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• Feb 16th --- Tier 1 and Tier 2 Interventions/curriculum modification 
• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion

2/15/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Marilynn Regan and April Pumphret who go above and beyond the call of duty for our students. They are willing to do the ground work to connect with doctors, families and other family support organizations. Thank you for helping us teachers connect with all the important student support stakeholders.

Shout out to Eileen Cronin and Kate Davis for all their hard work in getting our internet upgrade! You regular communication, clear plans and quick response to questions was so helpful!!! Thank you for helping our school get one step closer to improving technology usage!

Literacy Collaborative & PACE PD

Just a reminder that PD will take place on Friday from 3pm-5pm.

Middle School Dance

Valentine's Dance on Friday, February 17, 2017 from 1:05 to 2:10 pm in the gym. Price: $3.00 and the proceeds will be used for the end of year field trip to Canobie Lake. Bottled water will be sold for $1.00 in the gym and again the proceeds will be used for the trip to Canobie Lake. Wrist bands will be available on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 from your homeroom teachers. Active chaperones are welcomed. Each team will send at least one adult chaperone who will actively supervise and help at the event. A cleaning crew will be ready after the dance. For more information please ask Maria Amy-Moreno in room 210, Upper School.

Stars Math

Our next math STARS assessment will be conducted Feb. 13-17th. Please make sure that students that are absent when you give the test make it up when they show up. This round we will be asking why students have not taken math STARS assessment.

If you have not already done so make sure you are analyzing the STARS data from the last assessment to help inform your teaching in order to increase SGPs. We will be looking closely at SGPs to ensure we are conducting the best instructional practices to ensure an increase in student achievement this year. If you need any help getting STARS data or analyzing it to think of next steps please email Sean Guthrie at sguthrie@bostonpublicschools.org to set up a time to meet.

 Computer Network Update

Upper School Only 
1. The new wireless network has been activated. To log into the network:
· From the Airport menu located in the upper-right-hand corner of your laptop select “BPS Staff”
· Enter your BPS Employee ID in the username field
· Enter your BPS password in the password field.
2. Remember to enter your attendance as usual on Tuesday morning by 9:30AM. 

3. Beginning tomorrow, all non-BPS wireless devices will be manually added to the new network by OIIT based on information staff entered on the provided Google form. Personal cell phones will only be able to access the BPS network with permission of Ms. Grassa.

Lower School Only 
Please contact Kate or Eileen if you still have non-BPS devices that need access to the new network at: Kdavis3@bostonpublicschoools.org & ecronin@bostonpublicschools.org
Thanks for your continued patience throughout this upgrade process. We look forward to improved Internet performance for the entire Curley Campus.

School Climate Team

Please join us for our climate team meeting on Wednesday, February 15th from 3pm-4:15pm in room 003.

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Wednesday is day 5, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #5: Do something nice for a colleague.
Potential Pictures Ideas: a picture symbolizing the nice thing you did, a picture of the colleague, a selfie of the both of you.

Educator of the Year Nominations - Due 2/24

The City of Boston, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) invite all of our stakeholders: teachers, administrators, students, families and community members, to nominate exceptional educators and to honor their work and dedication through the 2017 Boston Educator of the Year Awards. Visit bit.ly/eoyboston for nomination information.

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:

• Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 

It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.

Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)

• Call/Text Katie Grassa at 857-265-4954 immediately, no matter how late/early
• Enter the absence in SubCentral (teachers only). Link: https://bostonps.eschoolsolutions.com/logOnInitAction.do
• If it is after 6:30am, also send an email to Katie Grassa, David Diaz and the secretary.

Buddies Update

Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

Equity Circular Acknowledgement

A reminder that all employees must sign off by 2/24/17 that they have read and understood the Equity circulars. Please ensure that everyone in your school or department has done so by using this link: https://docs.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn_XBQo_a1EoyHaWpJ7Xtx6m760tcEj67OI3X6KUsRAS1pAA/viewform Contact: Grace Jung, bpsequity@bostonpublicschools.org

NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.

The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• Feb 16th --- Tier 1 and Tier 2 Interventions/curriculum modification 
• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion