12/8/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Kim Taylor Knight, Anna Youman, Jesse Cardoso, several Curley parents and 6th grade Aidan Ormsby for helping with the clean up of the auditorium. It was a team efforts and the space looks great! Thanks for caring about decluttering!

Shout out to Craig Melzer and his students for an eye catching and culturally responsive bulletin board! Students are studying civil rights and wrote essays about former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. So much of this connects to the work of our school climate, ILT and focus on bias! Be sure to ask your former students their thoughts on this matter and/or swing by the 2nd floor of the Upper School to check it out! (Across from the girls bathroom by Room 214).

Student Music Performance

On Friday, December 8th at 9AM Ms. Bourgeault's music classes will be putting on their winter music showcase. This includes all students in grades 3, 4, and 5, all PACE classrooms, as well as our Tuesday advanced band. Please join us in the upper school auditorium to see what we have been working on! This performance will also feature Mr. Paulling's middle school theater students.

The CURLEY GIFT DRIVE is here!

Thanks to a caring Curley staff, several families have been chosen as recipients of the Curley Gift Drive! Here’s how it works: Tags will be hung outside both main offices, labeled with items (clothing, toys, etc.) that families have identified as areas of need for the holiday season. Staff and families can take the tags, purchase items, and bring them back to the Curley before December 19th. (The tags are labeled with identifying marks, so please return them with your unwrapped gift!) Gifts will be collected in Ms. Redden’s room (015 upper school) and Ms. Baulier’s room (111 lower school). Please feel free to send gift tags home with families that ask. Monetary donations will also be collected in Ms. Mylett’s room (115 upper school). Thank you for caring about our students!

 

SY18-19 the Curley K-8 School will run from 8:30 AM to 3:10 PM.

We want all Curley Staff to stay working with us however, we know this new information may cause a variety of emotions. There will be adults who are happy and adults who are dissatisfied with the outcome. On a bright note we know this information now and are able to better plan for next year.
Due to this outcome I do not believe we need to have a meeting after school today however, I will be available to meet with individuals who may need to speak with me about this (either in person or on the phone). There is some important information we want you to know moving forward.

• Preference Sheets - We will extend this deadline for another week (Due, Friday 12/15/17) to allow process time with this information. 
 
• Communication to Families - All parents and staff will be notified of next year’s times at approximately 6:00 PM today (Thursday) through an email and a robocall directing them to www.bostonpublicschools.org/starttimes. Additionally, on Friday, we are asking you to send a backpack letter home to all families. You can find that letter in all languages here. (We have the letter in 9 languages and we are waiting on the English letter and we will copy them to be distributed) 
• Before and After School Programming - It will remain the same for next year. Before Schools starting at 7am and After School going till 6pm. 
• Master Schedule - When we return from break in 2018 we will begin to think about the Master Schedule for SY 2018-2019. We will reflect on what is working with the schedule and where adjustments are necessary moving forward. 
• Concerns - If you have concerns and feel like this does not work for your family please make time to meet with me ASAP. We want Curley Staff to stay working here and want to try to support in any way we can to ensure this!

A note from Maryclare Moran a paraprofessional in SAR 5th grade and a building rep

Curley family, you were so generous last year when I did the Toy Drive. I am doing it again.
My family and I are going to be collecting new unwrapped toys for Ambrose’s 2nd Annual Donation to Boston Children’s Hospital.
Last year over 500 toys where donated in honor of our sweet love, Ambrose Valentino and this year we are looking to go beyond.
All families at Children’s don’t go there by choice, but more often by necessity. Most stays are lengthy with children & families needing something to make it feel like home (as much as possible) especially during the holidays - not able to go home we will bring the comforts of home, love and kindness to them.
We are collecting new unwrapped toys for all ages. Thank you so much
Please drop off to: Upper school Room 110 until Dec. 14th #ambrosesangels #25 #bekind

SY18-19 the Curley K-8 School will run from 8:30 AM to 3:10 PM.

We want all Curley Staff to stay working with us however, we know this new information may cause a variety of emotions. There will be adults who are happy and adults who are dissatisfied with the outcome. On a bright note we know this information now and are able to better plan for next year.
Due to this outcome I do not believe we need to have a meeting after school today however, I will be available to meet with individuals who may need to speak with me about this (either in person or on the phone). There is some important information we want you to know moving forward.

• Preference Sheets - We will extend this deadline for another week (Due, Friday 12/15/17) to allow process time with this information. 
• Communication to Families - All parents and staff will be notified of next year’s times at approximately 6:00 PM today (Thursday) through an email and a robocall directing them to www.bostonpublicschools.org/starttimes. Additionally, on Friday, we are asking you to send a backpack letter home to all families. You can find that letter in all languages here. (We have the letter in 9 languages and we are waiting on the English letter and we will copy them to be distributed) 
• Before and After School Programming - It will remain the same for next year. Before Schools starting at 7am and After School going till 6pm. 
• Master Schedule - When we return from break in 2018 we will begin to think about the Master Schedule for SY 2018-2019. We will reflect on what is working with the schedule and where adjustments are necessary moving forward. 
• Concerns - If you have concerns and feel like this does not work for your family please make time to meet with me ASAP. We want Curley Staff to stay working here and want to try to support in any way we can to ensure this!

December 20, 2017 Curley Cares Student Awards

Please recognize students who are doing their best to support the Curley Cares way by using theDECEMBER 2017 FORM to submit names for your students to receive an award at our Wednesday, December 20, 2017 Curley Cares assemblies.
These awards are intended to reinforce positive student behaviors in support of the Curley Cares rules and the expectation is that every Curley K8 student should receive at least one award each year. With this in mind, please refer to THIS LIST to see those students who have already received award(s) this school year .
If you'd like to give more than 3 awards, please coordinate with your grade-level colleagues such as specialists or other staff. If it is for a larger group of students (such as a sports team, etc.) please email Kate (kdavis3@bostonpublicschools.org) directly.

Please SUBMIT awards by 7: 00pm Friday, December 15, 2017. Thank you!

Fundraising Ask From SPC (Letters in your mailbox to send home with students)

As 2017 draws to a close, we all have many reasons to be thankful. The Curley K-8 School is one-third of the way through a great school year with a diverse group of nearly 1,000 students, We celebrated a record-breaking Fall Fling and are all excited about the upcoming library re-opening.

During this season of giving, we are asking you to consider supporting additional needs of the school, specifically technology. Why is technology important in school? Beyond writing stories, students at the Curley K-8 school have used computers to calculate the velocity of a dog on skate board, design persuasive presentations, to read books and articles that would otherwise be inaccessible to them, to learn coding and to record and critique their musical and dramatic performances.

The school has achieved a 2:1 student-to-laptop ratio for 3rd - 8th graders, but we are still working to raise $16,000 to buy another mobile laptop cart to ensure our students are prepared for the 21st century.

In addition, some of the technology we purchased several years ago will soon need to be replaced. We can expect technology to be an ongoing fundraising area from year-to-year.

Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Friends of the Curley K-8 in support of these important initiatives. A gift in any amount will help--please forward to family & friends, and any other potential supporters. Don't forget to ask if your company "matches" charitable donations - we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. You can give in two ways:

Donate using PayPal by clicking here: PayPal.me/CurleyK8.
Send in cash or check to your child's teacher or mail to: 40 Pershing Rd. JP, MA 02130 Attn: Curley SPC. Please make checks payable to: Friends of the Curley.

ACCESS Testing

Staff, it is that time of year again to prepare for ACCESS: This year all teachers need to retrain for administering the test. You will need to log into to www.wida.us, read the information and take a quiz for each section you need to take. You must score at least 80% on the section in order to be certified to administer the test.

• New Staff or those who did not takes the training last year. 
• You will need to create an account on www.wida.us using username Massachusetts, password patriot. Create an account and follow the steps below. 

All Staff

• Teachers in Kindergarten: sign into www.wida.us your account and take the Kindergarten training module and quiz.
• Teachers in Grades 1-2: sign into www.wida.us and take the speaking grades 1-6 and paper administration modules and quizzes. 
• All Teachers in grades 3-8: Sign into www.wida.us and take the online administration test. 
• All teachers that have or service students that are ACCESS ALT will need to sign into their account and take the testing listed above as well as the Alternate ACCESS quiz. 
• Any non-teaching staff and administrators need to take kindergarten, speaking 1-6, paper and online. Once you have taken and passed the quizzes please bring in the completed certification to Kathy or Madeline by Friday January 5th 2017. 

If you have any questions feel free to ask Waverly.

Student Performance

On Friday, December 15th at 9AM Ms. Taylor Knight and Ms. Alves will be presenting their winter performance. This includes dancing with K1 and PACE, a musical showcase for grades K1-2nd grade and the middle school choir elective and Theatre elective.

Preference Sheet

We are beginning the planning process for SY 2018-19 and would like to take into consideration teacher preferences for next year. We are sending these out earlier than the schedule required by the contract so that we can better prepare for the budget process and for meeting the needs of our students for next year. We anticipate that the Curley will have the same grade configuration as this year, with the exception of one additional homeroom in Grade 6. Please fill out the attached form to indicate your preferences for SY 2018-19. Please complete by Friday, December 15, 2017.

Artifacts

Please be sure to upload your artifacts on EDFS by Friday, December 15th. You should upload 1-2 artifacts for each goal (two goals) AND each standard (four standards) for a total of 6-12 artifacts. Be sure to upload the data to support your progress with your Student Learning Goal.

School Preview Dates

School Preview Time: It is time for school previews and will we will have prospective families in the building on the following school days:
Tuesday, December 19, 9am-10am
Tuesday, January 23rd, 9am-10am
On Saturday, December 9th from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m there will be a citywide Schools Showcase at TD Gardens.

Fall Term Report Card Grading Window for Grades 1 - 8

The fall grading window for students in grades 1-8 is will open from November 20th to December 10th. 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. (Note: Online it will say Grades 1-5 because we changes to that grading schedule)
Entering Grades Handout
Elementary Comment Codes Handout
How to verify that your grades are posted

Health and Wellness

The Health and Wellness committee will be performing an environmental audit on Dec 11 (7:30-10am) at the school library. The purpose of the audit is to look for areas in which is in need of environmental and health improvements at the school. The Health and Wellness Committee will email the results of the survey, the audit, and suggestions for improvements as soon as both are complete. If you would like to be apart of the Environmental Audit of our school please sign up via Al Vega at al.vega@masscosh.org or Nina Wessen at nly@bostonpublicschools.org.

Staff Text - Free Copies in Upper School Main Office

ALL STAFF (teachers, paras, lunch monitors etc...) can sign out their free copy of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zarretta Hammond. This will be an anchor text for our community throughout this year and possibly next year as well. Your ILT representatives will be checking in with you about reading the Introduction and Chapter 1. They will lead each team through a text protocol discussion as well. If you are not a part of a team we encourage you to join a team for this learning experience. The books belong to the school however staff may put their names in them and highlight/take notes in the text.