Shout Out
Shout out to Ms. Mundo for also opening up here room for the Instructional Focus Review Walkthrough. Ms. Mundo wasn't originally on the schedule but the Umana school wanted to see our students with limited and/or interrupted formal education. Thank you again Ms. Mundo for adding to the learning of not only Curley but other schools as well.Shout out to Liz Spring, Cassie Mountain, Kristin Clark, Tristan Maiden, Kandi Quarterson, Joanne Mylett, Lindsey Wright, Debbie Bryson, Kiki Iatrou, Lesley Peck-Oser, and Dawn Avery for all their hard work on the MCAS alts. This group has shown care for our school and students by doing the meticulous work that goes into preparing MCAS alts.
Shout out to Alison Lozano, Elaine Cronin, and Maryclare Moran for helping out in a difficult situation today. Thank you for not waiting for the admin team and jumping straight to action!
Shout out to Ms. Mountain and Ms. Clark for being flexible and going out of their way to support a student from another class on short notice. The effort was very much appreciated.
This will be my final blog post and I would like to give Katie Grassa a big shout out for all the great work that she has done at the Curley and for being an amazing mentor this year. I have truly benefited from watching her leadership this year.
MCAS Update
We wanted to send you some MCAS information in advance of next week. As an admin team we have tried to think about how to best simplify this process for all teachers and in turn reduce stress for both staff and students. Attached are two documents for your reference. Teams should review these this week and pay close attention to student groupings since there have been updates.Please contact David with any thoughts or questions.
MCAS 2.0 Quick Check
MCAS 2.0 Roles and Responsibilities
Nurse Passes
Please give students passes to the nurse. We have seen a lot of students coming to the nurse without a pass. The pass serves as a way to keep students accountable and let other staff in the building know students are where they are suppose to be. Thank you.
Front Door
Please do not let students in before 8:15 unless it is very cold, raining, or you are willing to stay in the front lobby with them. Students can not be left in the building unsupervised because this creates a safety issue. Thank you.
Artifacts
Artifacts are due May 15th. Please reread over your formative evaluation. If your evaluator has indicated that you are missing an artifact please add that artifact and update any data that is connected to your goals.
MCAS Coverage
Every effort will be made to make sure all staff get their P&D time but if you are called on to help cover during your P&D time keep a record of it and you will be compensated for that time. Forms will be out in June to fill in time to be compensated.
Tech Goes Home @ the Curley!
The families of students in grades 2-8 will have the opportunity to attend a Tech Goes Home course right here at the Curley. Technology Goes Home (TGH) strives to ensure that all residents of the City of Boston are equipped with the tools, training, and access to support 21st century skill development. After successful completion of the program, graduates will have purchased their very own Lenovo Chromebook computer for $50.
When:
Tuesday, April 25th from 3:30-6:30PM
Wednesday, April 26th from 3:30-6:30PM
Monday, May 1st from 3:30-6:30PM
Tuesday, May 2nd from 3:30-6:30PM
Thursday, May 4th from 3:30-6:30PM
Where: Ms. Smith's Room (204 of the Lower School)
Flyers are in the boxes of teachers of grades 2-8 and should be sent home with students ASAP. Applications can be picked up in the main office of each building. Any questions should be directed to Ms. Smith (tsmith8@bostonpublicschools.org).
When:
Tuesday, April 25th from 3:30-6:30PM
Wednesday, April 26th from 3:30-6:30PM
Monday, May 1st from 3:30-6:30PM
Tuesday, May 2nd from 3:30-6:30PM
Thursday, May 4th from 3:30-6:30PM
Where: Ms. Smith's Room (204 of the Lower School)
Flyers are in the boxes of teachers of grades 2-8 and should be sent home with students ASAP. Applications can be picked up in the main office of each building. Any questions should be directed to Ms. Smith (tsmith8@bostonpublicschools.org).
Instructional Focus Review Feedback
Click this link to see what trends and feedback came out of the IFR walkthroughs. Walkthrough Trends and Feedback Document
Street Cleaning
April 1st street cleaning will begin. Please check this link to find out when street cleaning will be taken place. http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/sweeping/
Substitute Teacher Folders
Please make sure that your sub folders are up to date and have explicit instructions about what duties they have to cover and what procedures they should be following. There have been miscommunications with substitutes where duties have not been covered and students have been unsupervised. This has created safety issues.City Year
The MCAS is drawing nearer every day. To help keep students motivated and in school during this time City Year is hosting a school wide Spirit Week. I am attaching the flyers we're distributing in English and Spanish, each classroom will have a copy of both by tomorrow, and many will have them today. We are encouraging teachers and staff to participate as well to help keep morale high!The themes for the week will be as follows:
Friday: Grade level color day (Each grade and their grade buddies will be assigned a color to share)
8th and 3rd grades: Purple
7th and 2nd grades: Blue
6th and 1st grades: Green
5th and K2 grades: Red
4th and K1 grades: Pink
If there are any questions about next week don't hesitate to reach out to me via email or in the City Year team space. Thank you for your time and lets get our students amped up!
-The City Year Team
Library
We are excited to open our library in SY 2017-2018. Please refrain from taking books from this space or using it during the day or afternoon. We will need this time to prepare for our opening next year. Thank you!Computer Science Bus Route Efficiency Challenge
There is a computer science challenge event open to the public at District Hall in the Seaport District on Saturday, April 1st at 10:30am (registration and breakfast starting at 10am). We believe that some of our tech-minded students and staff may be interested in attending (please encourage them to RSVP here!). This event is the start of our first-ever Transportation Challenge -- which you can learn more about on our website -- that has two goals:Use computer science to improve our bus stop placement and bus routing (solving a variation of the traveling salesman problem).
Using our more automated routes and community preferences, help us equitably and efficiently balance our school start times.
This event has attracted a wide range of professional computer scientists (FedEx, Uber, Microsoft, and others), academic researchers from local universities (Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and others), and various college and graduate students. We believe that a particularly precocious BPS student may be able to solve the problem so encourage them to participate, and that this event may provide tangible examples of computer science in action.
Bulletin Board Reminder
Teachers please update your bulletin boards by Friday April 7th. Use this link to see bulletin board expectations. Use this link to print bulletin board template which should be posted on the bulletin board. Thank you.Lion King Performances
The Lion King performance dates have been announced:
Evening Shows
*****April 6 Shubert Theatre Doors open at 5 pm & Show starts at 5:30. (This is an amazing opportunity for all of our students!!!!!)
Evening Shows
Families are welcome to come to either performance and all students will attend one of the daytime performances.
Staff Curley Cares Awards
We Take Care of Each Other... Submit Staff Curley Cares Awards
During next week's whole-school PD (Thursday, March 30 from 3:00-4:15), staff members will once again have the opportunity to recognize their colleagues by giving Curley Cares awards. This is your chance to acknowledge deeds (both big and small) that have made a difference in your work life. So take some time to consider the contributions of the people you work with each day and how their actions support the Curley K-8 "We Care..." philosophy. Chose one person who you would like to recognize and share your appreciation by filling out the Curley Shares Staff Award form. If you have any problems accessing the form, please contact Kate Davis or Laura Shea.
Submissions are due Tuesday, March 28, 2017 by 4:00pm.
MCAS (Changed as of 4pm on 3/17/17)
Below you will find the NEW MCAS testing schedule. We had to make some changes to the Math and Science testing dates. DOE is requiring all schools to test in the following sequence: ELA, Math, and Science. As a result, testing dates have been adjusted. Please print and save this calendar. Let David Diaz know if you have any questions. Please look at the new schedule by clicking on the following link:MCAS 2.0 Testing Schedule
In preparation for the MCAS please take a look at the MCAS google slides. The administrative team will be visiting grade level meetings to go over MCAS logistics. Please take a look at the MCAS google slides so that you will be prepared to ask any questions you may have when the admin team comes to your grade level meetings. Below is the schedule of when the admin team will be at your grade level meetings.
MCAS Google Slides
We Care About Our Community!
The Curley Community is excited to announce that we are launching a Community Caring Project this spring. We will kick off the project by hosting a school-wide Caring March on April 12th at 1:30pm. All staff and students will participate and families will be invited to march with us.
Many of our students have participated in marches for various causes over the past few months and there have been discussions in many classrooms about the rights of different groups of people in our community. There is some inspiring work already happening at the Curley. Ms. Strait’s 4th grade class is doing a Hunger Project, Ms. Mylett and Ms. Moran’s class is spreading kindness by making kindness rocks, and Ms. Merdkhanian’s K1 class had their own march after several students attended the Women’s March in February.
We would like for all classes to gather with their buddy classrooms to collaborate on this project. Students should think about what they care about, and work with their buddies to create signs and posters for the Caring March. There are lots of things that we care about in our community. The possibilities are endless!
Here are some things that students may care about and want to put on signs:
- Animal rights
- Illnesses
- Hunger
- Access to school
- The environment
- Immigrant rights
- LGBQ rights
Timeline for the Curley Community Caring Project
- March: prepare for the Caring March by talking to your students about what they care about and creating signs and posters with your buddy class
- April: March with your buddy class on April 12th at 1:30.
- May and June: Create and complete a community service project. Ideas, lesson plans, resources and support will be provided.
Save the Date
Please reserve Friday, June 2nd 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!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.
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.
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.
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/
- April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available
- May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills
- June 1st --- Inclusion
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/
- April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available
- May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills
- June 1st --- Inclusion