February 26, 2017

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)


    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


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