January 10, 2016

1/11/16 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Melanie Bourgeault and Teresa Javaloyes and her students for being in the Boston Herald this past week.  We were featured as part of a full page add with Ernie Boch Jr. Our names were not mentioned but we can spot our caring sign! Thanks for caring about music!

ELT Planning Meeting

We will host two voluntary staff meetings regarding ELT this week. This is an opportunity for staff to hear about the process thus far as well as time to ask questions and give feedback. We hope that you are able to join us at one of these meetings: Tuesday, January 12th 3:00pm-3:45pm or Wednesday, January 13th 7:15am-8:00am, location is TBD. We are hosting similar meetings with families as well.

Parent Conferences

Several families have reached out to ask when parent conferences will be held since they heard that other families were already having conferences with certain grade levels. Please remember that we should work hard to assure that all families can attend a conference with their child’s teachers. Also the remaining 2 hour open house has been converted into flex hours (used only outside of the school day) to accommodate families. Please communicate with your families about your conference plan ASAP. THIS MUST BE COMPLETED BY JANUARY 31,  2016.

School Climate Team 

The School Climate Team will meet on Wednesday, January 13th from 3pm-4:15pm in room 212. There should be a representative sent from each grade level.

Preference Sheets

Yes, it is that time of year! We are planning for next year and want to know your preference. This information is helpful as I finalize the budget and attend probable org. Attached is the sheet but there are printed ones in the main office and these are due back to the secretaries by Friday, January 15, 2016.

Door Painting

Please join the School Climate Team for door painting on Tuesday, January 12th from 3pm-5pm. For more information please reach out to Jesse Cardoso, Genet Mehari, Meg Nason or Cara Hins.

ACCESS Testing

ACCESS materials will be arriving tomorrow we are tentatively starting testing on Tuesday, January 19th. All K0/K1 students should begin WAPT testing this week and will continue through 1/14/16. A schedule of testing will follow later this week for all other grades.. Please contact Waverly Kidd with any questions. Do not forget to submit your certificates from the WIDA test to Madeline and Kathy.

BAS Testing K-2


The winter benchmark window is now open through February 10th.  Teachers in K2-2 should administer the BAS for students who are reading below the current grade level instructional expectations.  Instructional level expectations for the middle of the year are as follows: Kindergarten - C, Grade 1 - G, Grade 2 - L.  

WIAT

WIAT testing will be used staring 1/2016 for all IEP determination meetings. Email Jessica or Joyce with further questions and stay tuned for scoring directions that will be emailed to teachers tomorrow.

Book Swap

The Winter Book Swap has been rescheduled to Friday, January 29thStudents in Grades K2-5 will be able to choose a “new to you” book from the donated collection  during their lunch period. WE NEED MORE BOOKS! Look for the blue donation boxes in the Upper and Lower school lobbies.  The deadline for donating books for the book swap is Thursday, January 28thPlease contact Caitlyn Gable (Lower School) or Eileen Cronin (Upper School) with any questions.

PD Opportunity

Would you like to earn 10 pdp's and $300, while collaborating and sharing ideas with your colleagues? Are you interested in gaining new skills to incorporate both the common core and universal design for learning strategies, using drama and dance activities? Do you like finding new ways of collaborating with your peers? Would you benefit from having a paid sub to visit another classroom to learn new ways of using drama and dance for inclusion? If you answered yes to one of these questions, Very Special Arts Massachusetts  has a learning community with you in mind. Embodying Literacy will meet at the Curley with a flexible schedule. Please let Kim Knight know of your interest by Tuesday so that you can be added to our list of participants.

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

School Showcase

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

Missed P&D

Please see Madeline and Kathy if you have missed P&D time since September. They will be collecting this information so individuals can be appropriately compensated.

January 7, 2016

1/8/16 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Christina Burke, Joanne Mylett, Kristin Clark, Deb Aviles, Maria Amy-Moreno, Heide Signes, Maureen Cullen, Danielle Moran, Elaine Cronin, Annette Beaudrault and Eva Banks for leading the shares for their perspective assemblies today. They were fabulous performances that included American Sign Language (at two separate assemblies), collaboration with buddy rooms and many students standing up in front of an audience to speak! Kudos to you all!

ACCESS Testing

ACCESS materials will be arriving tomorrow we are tentatively starting testing on Tuesday, January 19th. All K0/K1 students should begin WAPT testing this week and will continue through 1/14/16. A schedule of testing will follow later this week for all other grades.. Please contact Waverly Kidd with any questions. Do not forget to submit your certificates from the WIDA test to Madeline and Kathy.

WIAT

WIAT testing will be used staring 1/2016 for all IEP determination meetings. Email Jessica or Joyce with further questions and stay tuned for scoring directions that will be emailed to teachers tomorrow.

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

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. 

January 6, 2016

1/7/16 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Linda Griffith, Genet Mehari and Connie Redden  for being chosen to pilot the Museum of Science's Engineering is Elementary (EiE) curriculum this spring. The EiE curriculum can be used in conjunction with the BPS Science curriculum. They will attend a day long training on January 22nd at the Museum of Science. This opportunity has been made possible by a gracious donation from AIR Worldwide and support from the National Center for Technological Literacy and BPS Science Department. Congrats!

Curley Shares

We will hold our January Curley Shares on Thursday, January 7th. Below is a reminder of the schedule for the day:
  • 2nd/7th 9:00-9:30 - Redden, Silverstein, Higginbottom, Burke, Mountain, DaSilva, Clark, Mylett, 7A, 7B, 7F, 8F THE TIME WAS WRONG YESTERDAY!
  • K0&K1/4th 10:10-10:40 - Cullen, Goldstein, Merdkhanian, Maiden, Mitchell, Chisholm, Guzman, Pradas, Tefera, Wright, Javaloyes
  • 1st/6th 11:15-12:00 - Ciardi, Banks, Craman, Kidd, 6A, 6B, 6C, Quarterson
  • K2/5th 12:00-12:40 - Solimini, Cronin, Smith, Shea, Rand, Daly, Moran, Quatrale, Davis, Iatrou, Mundo
  • 3rd/8th 1:25-2:10 - Ferguson, Petmezis, Signes, Rivera, 8A, 8B, 6G, 7G, 8G


ACCESS Testing

ACCESS materials will be arriving tomorrow we are tentatively starting testing on Tuesday, January 19th. All K0/K1 students should begin WAPT testing this week and will continue through 1/14/16. A schedule of testing will follow later this week for all other grades.. Please contact Waverly Kidd with any questions. Do not forget to submit your certificates from the WIDA test to Madeline and Kathy.

WIAT

WIAT testing will be used staring 1/2016 for all IEP determination meetings. Email Jessica or Joyce with further questions and stay tuned for scoring directions that will be emailed to teachers tomorrow.

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

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.