Shout Out
Shout out to Emily Litchfield on earning The Fund for Teachers Grant this summer! Emily will travel to the Dominican Republic and provide art workshops and literacy interventions for women and girls. She is looking to improve her Spanish speaking skills as a way to further engage Spanish speaking students and their families. Emily will also explore options for integrating art into her current language and literacy lessons. Congrats on this honor and we look forward to hearing about the experience.Shout out to Marietje Halbertsma and Amika Kemmler-Ernst on helping all the JP school secure a three year partnership with Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). This is an amazing opportunity for our community and we look forward to collaborating with other schools to benefit all of our students!
Shout out to Sugeily Santos, Candida Mundo and Heide Signes for helping interview for our new Student Development Counselor position. We appreciate your help in hiring the most qualified candidate.
MCAS Update
Overall things went very smoothly and there were minimal issues. There are a few things we would like to clarify:
MCAS testing begins this week for students in Grades 6 through 8. It is important that ALL TEACHERS check the schedule every day for changes that may affect them. Even though elementary grades are not testing this week, there have been several changes to the Lower School Schedule. Please check to see if these changes affect you! - Proctors should only be using their cell phones to contact administrators with issues.
- Students must sign out of the test once they are done. To do so click on the person in the top right corner, click sign out of TestNav, then click save and return later. Once that is done students should restart the Chromebook.
- At the end of the session lock the test DO NOT click stop. The session will show students in progress until the final session when it will turn blue once the whole test is completed.
- Students should only complete one session per day. It is the proctors responsibility to monitor each session and make sure that students do not go ahead.
- Proctors that have been issued a proctor ticket (only for students who receive a nonstandard accommodation and are assessed one to one) should remember that students MUST sign in as themselves as well as the proctor signing in on separate devices to read aloud.
- Teachers must resume each test individually on the Pearson Access Next website.
- Also if students miss a session they will be a session behind the rest of the class on the day they return (i.e. student misses session 1 returns the next day the class takes session 2 and that student will take session 1).
CPT will take place for all grades and specialists unless noted on the schedule. K1-3, & 6-8 will meet regularly and 4-5 will not meet on the days they are testing. Any questions or concerns please let us know ASAP. Please contact David with any thoughts or questions.
MCAS 2.0 Quick Check
MCAS 2.0 Roles and Responsibilities
MCAS Schedule - Overall schedule & daily schedules please be sure to click on each sheet and check daily
Curley Shares Assemblies are This Thursday!
Please make note of the share times/classes listed below so you know when your students are scheduled to attend. Assemblies will take place in the upper school auditorium so make sure to check in with your buddy class and review your plan for sitting together. - 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
Parent Cafe
The guidance office in conjunction with Children's Services of Roxbury (CSR) is coordinating a parent cafe information session to share about summer opportunities for your students. The session will take place in the auditorium on Tuesday, April 25th 2017 from 8:30am- 10:30am. All parents, guardians and caregivers are invited to attend the event. We are mailing home a flyer to families, and would also like to send a copy home with students. If you have a strong line of communication with families with which you can share the information about this event so we can better reach out, please help! Thank you!BTU Vote
We will hold a BTU vote on Thursday, April 13th in both main offices from 7:15am-8:15am. We are voting regarding PD for next year. We are proposing 2 days of PD this summer (August 30th and 31st). We are hoping to have a day to discuss race & equity as well as a day for our Instructional Focus. The hope is that with full days we will be able to have time to present content as well as time for teams collaborate and plan using that content. If the summer days do not pass we will have 12 - 2 hr sessions after school spread throughout the year. Please see the attached ballot for further clarification.
Make caring signs with your students. They can choose anything that they care about!
1) A video to share with students either today or Monday to get them excited about the March
2) A flier with further details about the event.
3) A map of where we will be marching on 4/12
Thank you in advance for your support of this event and showing the community how much we truly care.
Curley Cares March Ad.mp4
March Map
Curley March Logistics
We Care About Our Community!
The Climate Team has prepared some materials to help you all with the logistics and excitement about our Curley Cares March. We doing this march as part of the One Boston Day activities (www.onebostonday.org). Please feel free to invite families and get students excited to march for things they care about. We ultimately are hoping to show ourselves and community that we all have things we care about and that we respect each other for that. Here are some details to think about:Make caring signs with your students. They can choose anything that they care about!
- Know the logistics of the march and look at the map.
- If you have P&D, check in with the specialist. They will march with your class.
- Remind your students to wear Curley gear or Curley colors on Wednesday.
- Review the expectations of safe marching and respecting all the signs and causes.
- Take photos or your students preparing and marching.
- Share photos with your climate rep or post on social media #curleycaresmarch.
- Get students excited by chanting the Curley Cheer.
- Invite your families to join in!
1) A video to share with students either today or Monday to get them excited about the March
2) A flier with further details about the event.
3) A map of where we will be marching on 4/12
Thank you in advance for your support of this event and showing the community how much we truly care.
Curley Cares March Ad.mp4
March Map
Curley March Logistics
ILT
Please join us on Wednesday for ILT from 3pm-4:15pm in room 214.Curley Family Arts Night
Families, students and staff please join us for arts and community building as we prepare for Wake Up The Earth (WUTE) on April 26th & May 3rd from 5pm-7:30pm in room 014. Please bring drinks and snacks to share as well as an open mind as we prepare for the WUTE Parade. The parade will take place on Saturday, May 6th and the theme is “Water is Life.” We would like to have a large showing of Curley families to march and share artwork. Please reach out to Curley Art Teacher, Jesse Cardoso with any questions jcardoso@bostonpublicschools.org.Middle School Dance
We will have lovely Spring Dance 2017 in the gym on Friday, April 28, 2017, right after April vacation. The kids will enjoy it and we will raise $$ for Canobie Lake. Your team can take advantage of this great opportunity of manning a table where you may sell healthy and nutritious goodies including beverages. If you are interested, please e-mail me. The $ you raise from the sales of the goodies will be yours to keep for your team. The $ from the sales of the wristbands will be collected by Ms. Wessen and will be used to pay for the buses for Canobie Lake. As always, I will have wristbands available and they will be sold for $3.00 each. Your team will be responsible for sending those students that have met certain criteria. I will need chaperones that will actively supervise the students in the gym. If you have suggestions, please let me know. Thanks in advance.
Capstone Project - Thinking about assessments beyond standardized test
The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA) is a partnership of MA public school districts working to create a new state-wide school accountability model. A cross-grade team from the Curley is currently participating in the MCIEA sponsored, “Quality Performance Assessment” project, working to create a capstone project that will become a required part of the 4th Grade “Excellence for All” curriculum. It is our hope that this year’s capstone project development process will serve as a model for other grades to embrace in the future, so that all our students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in ways other than a computer-based test. If you have any question about the work reach out to one of the following team members: Patricia Garcia, Laura Strait, Danielle Moran, Sharon Ennis, Craig Melzer, Eileen Cronin
Curley Cares Fund
We care about our STAFF! Our funds are very low to care for future moments in our lives at the Curley. This is a humble opportunity to care for our colleagues in moments of happiness, worries, and grief. PLEASE MAKE A CHECK PAYABLE TO THE CURLEY CARES FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $20.00 or submit cash to Ms. Mundo, Ms. Kidd, Ms. Iatrou, Ms. Davis.
Autism Awareness Month
April is Autism Awareness Month! Please help promote awareness by "lighting it up blue" every Friday in April by wearing your blue Curley shirt or your Autism Awareness Curley shirt. Thank you!Interviews
We will be interviewing for the new administrator position on Tuesday, April 25th from 3-6pm. Please let Katie know if you are interested in being on this committee.
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.Professional Learning By Teachers, For Teachers
Click here to learn more and register now!The Collaborative is a set of free teacher-led professional learning courses that connect you with fellow teachers from district, charter, and Catholic schools throughout the City of Boston. Together, you will share best practices and refine your instructional practice over five weeks.
What course will you take?
Courses at Codman Academy in Dorchester
Literature Circles 101: Teaching Students to Read Like Adults (Grades 6-12)
Culturally Responsive Teaching: How Does Culture Play a Role in Learning? (Grades K -12)
Courses at the Mission Grammar School in Mission Hill
Every Behavior Tells a Story: Modeling Social Emotional Skills in Academic Contexts (Grades Pre-K - 6)
Anything but Standard: Creative Ways to Engage Students in CCSS Writing (Grades 3-6)
Courses at the Curley School in Jamaica Plain
How to Read like a Historian: Using Document Based Analysis in the Classroom (Grades 5-12)
How to Use Student Talk and Differentiated Checks for Understanding to Elevate Mathematical Thinking for All (Grades 1-5)
Questions? Contact Sasha Zuflacht at szuflacht@teachplus.org
Artifacts
Artifacts are due April 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.
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.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!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
