Week of October 14, 2018

Quote of the Week: 


Happy Sunday Folk!

We are off to a short but long week. I hope that you had an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend and get some rest. It has been said many times but I want to say thank you again for the amazing work that you are doing with our students. I know that our circumstances are challenging but as a staff you are making it happen for our students. I encourage you to continue to focus on doing what is best for our students. If you keep your focus on our students then the results will be rewarding! Just keep pushing! It will happen.

This week we will host Parent Teacher Conferences. It is imperative that you make contact with the parents of the students whose conferences you are hosting tomorrow! Contact will need to be made via phone and in writing. If you need help contacting parents, please seek the help of our school social worker. I have received several emails from parents asking for confirmation of times and dates. Ms. Barnett will ensure that you all have access to the necessary documents needed for the conferences. You will need to turn in your conference schedule to the front office Tuesday by 4:00.

Do not forget to go into the TruNorth Logic Platform and complete the orientation, familiarization, Goal plan and comments for your pre-evaluation conference. I held conferences with each grade level as a team. I am aware that there are a few of you that I need to meet with this week. If you have met with me with your team, complete the pre-evaluation portion by noon tomorrow. This is the final deadline.

In an effort to keep you informed, recommendations to hire have been submitted for 2 ELA and 1 SpEd position. It is my desire to schedule interviews for Chorus this week. Mr. Ramirez has agreed to continue to serve as a substitute for Spanish for the remainder of this week. I can not stress the importance of your presence at work. When we are absent our students are missing out. All of you are working overtime to cover classes to help out. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find coverage for everyone. Respectfully, I ask that you make every effort to be present at work.

Lastly, we have had several of our staff members encounter unexpected events in their families the past week. Please continue to keep Coach Turner, Mrs. Bright, and the Brinkleys in your thoughts. We are family first at HMS! Let's be sure to cover each other!

Principal Tolbert

Announcements:

You are expected to remain at school during Early Release until 4:00 unless you have made previous arrangements with Tolbert. Wednesday is our late day! If you do not have conferences scheduled during the day on Wednesday, you will be permitted to leave but  is expected to arrive back at school no later than 4:30. All teachers are expected to remain at school Wednesday until 7:30. There will be no jeans this week! 

Counseling Corner

Teachers, Red Ribbon Week will take place October 23rd-31st. The Red Ribbon website actually has lessons available for middle school, if you are interested in adding this to your curriculum (http://redribbon.org/curriculum/6-8/). I will send out more information within the next few weeks about Red Ribbon Week activities. October is National Bullying Prevention Month. This year we will participate in Mix It Up at Lunch Day on October 23rd. This is another way we are working on creating a welcoming school environment. On this date, we will be encouraging students to participate by sitting with different students and engaging in relationship building conversations. In addition, we will participate in Unity Day on October 24th by wearing orange to show we are united for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. I will send out more information soon.

Please review the lesson emailed to you from Ms. Moore to prepare for student-led conferences. We will have advisement on Monday during lunch remediation and you can roll it over to Tuesday, if you need additional time.

Message from Marty

If you were given any School Version Rating Forms in your box, please complete them ASAP! We need them to complete testing

Message from the District

If you have interested teachers looking to further their education and/or obtain additional licensure, please share this information with them.  Representatives from Thomas University will be at two CCSD schools during the month of October. Click the link  for dates, location, and time.

ELA Information

MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOM LIBRARIES ARE COMING!

These libraries represent a rich variety of high-interest fiction and non-fiction titles for our middle school readers. The purpose of these libraries is to increase student independent reading volumes. We are very excited to have this as part of our ELA K-8 implementation.

Along with the 1000+ books per grade level team, your school will be receiving 2 shelves per core ELA classroom, a possible device for checking out books, instructions for use of a web-based checkout system, and professional learning opportunities for teachers. We will be working team by team to ensure teachers understand the purpose of these libraries and how to use them in conjunction with their curriculum.

Arrival of these bookshelves and books will arrive between Oct. 22-30. We will ensure that schools know what day these materials will arrive to your school. Please let us know if you have any questions about these libraries and contact us at boeelaimplementation@clarke.k12.ga.us

AVID Information

AVID Virtual College Fair - Wednesday, October 17, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This is a FREE AVID Virtual College Live Event. Principals, Counselors, and/or classroom teachers can register for this event via your myAVID account by clicking here. There are a host of college sessions/presentations that you can attend LIVE with your students.

Week at a Glance

Monday-504/IEP Meetings

3rd Period-RESPECT Lesson

Here is a link to Respect II for 3rd block on Monday. 

Tuesday-RTI

Wednesday-Collaborative Planning

Early Release

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

Early Release

Friday-IEP/504 Meetings

Early Release

Week of 10/7/18

Quote of the Week: 



Happy Sunday Panther Nation!

I hope that you had a great week! Athens was buzzing all weekend long with the homecoming events for UGA! It was a great Saturday for the Dawg Nation!

As we prepare to return tomorrow, please take a moment to refuel, refocus, and reset. You have done an amazing job of persevering and doing what is in the best interest of the students. Please keep it going. Keep focused  I am looking forward to having a full staff by the end of next week.

Instruction should remain our main focus! Be sure to implement effective instructional strategies to increase student engagement. It is equally important to provide students with opportunities to practice what they are being taught in class. Remain in contact with parents regarding their child's progress in your classes and make sure your grade book is updated every 10 days. We must continue to do our part so that we can hold the parents and students accountable for their part!

TKES walk-thrus will continue this week.

Tolbert

Announcements:

Good for fit (Zumba time at Hilsman) Friday October 19 at 6 pm Babysitting for children 4 and under Ticket: school supplies or suggested donation $2 student/$3 adult

21st Century and PSP will not meet after school during the week of Parent Conferences - October 15-19. Only the morning program will be available during that week.

Congratulations 2017-2018 Green Teachers! 3 Hilsman teachers taught a combined total of 56 lessons that were classified by Athens-Clarke County Government as "Green Lessons." Hilsman's Green Teachers are: Audrey Hughes Renee Smith Martin Erin Seymour The 3 teachers will receive a prize and a certificate, plus our school will receive a Green School sign for the exterior of our building.

News from the Counselors

Teachers, Red Ribbon Week will take place October 23rd-31st. The Red Ribbon website actually has lessons available for middle school, if you are interested in adding this to your curriculum (http://redribbon.org/curriculum/6-8/). I will send out more information within the next few weeks about Red Ribbon Week activities. October is National Bullying Prevention Month. This year we will participate in Mix It Up at Lunch Day on October 23rd. This is another way we are working on creating a welcoming school environment. On this date, we will be encouraging students to participate by sitting with different students and engaging in relationship building conversations. In addition, we will participate in Unity Day on October 24th by wearing orange to show we are united for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. I will send out more information soon.

FLU SHOTS FOR EMPLOYEES

For the second year in a row, the school nurses are working with Rite-Aid / Walgreens to offer in in-school flu shots for teachers and employees. The flu shot clinics will come around to each school during the months of October and November. Contact your school nurse for more details regarding when flu shots are coming to your school! If you are in a location without a school nurse and would like to host a flu shot clinic in your building, please contact Amy Roark (20752) for assistance.

OPEN ENROLLMENT INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS

Historically, we have scheduled open enrollment meetings at every facility and the meetings have been poorly attended. This year there are no changes to our benefit package and we are considering having a meeting on each side of the county instead of at every site. We will schedule cluster meetings at appropriate times for elementary and secondary staff. We will also have a video available to all staff.

UNIT POST ASSESSMENTS (UPA’s) UPDATE--PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL STAFF EOG/EOC

First, let me say that the Office of Assessment and Accountability is working diligently to consolidate information about Illuminate (assessments and reports) on the Office of Assessment & Accountability website. The main website can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/clarke.k12.ga.us/assessment/

The landing page for Illuminate from that website can be found here, which includes an introductory video of Illuminate made by James Barlament:

https://sites.google.com/clarke.k12.ga.us/assessment/home/illuminate-education?authuser=

The landing page for the Unit Pre/Post Assessments can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/clarke.k12.ga.us/assessment/home/illuminate-education/unit-assessments-prepost?authuser=0

Teachers, first thank you for your patience and understanding as we implement standards-based assessments.  We appreciate the feedback from many of you regarding the administration of the first UPA. We know that there are some questions and/or concerns that are on your minds and we are working with the Office of Assessment and Accountability and our consultants from Illuminate Education to answer and address your questions and concerns.

1. To ensure that we are supporting you in your classroom work, we are planning to inspect future UPA’s immediately  with our Coordinators of Curriculum and School Performance and members of the design team to review Unit Post Assessments 2 and 3, which will include:

1. Reviewing and ensuring that the “questions and answers” are aligned
2. Reviewing and adjusting  “scoring weights” for each item

This will allow us to troubleshoot before you administer these assessments to your students.  We will send a communication to building principals to share with staff when this work has been completed and when you can administer these unit assessments in the Illuminate Education platform.  We have also learned that if the original “access code” for the UPA’s is not working, teachers can create “Quick Codes” to create their own testing sessions. Look for a google doc with screenshot instructions to be posted on the Office of Assessment and Accountability website, linked above.  

REGARDING DAILY TEST WINDOW TIMES

The daily test window times are set when setting up test sessions. Daily windows are necessary to restrict student access to taking assessments outside normal school hours. Currently, daily windows in sessions set up by the Office of Assessment and Accountability are set for HS-7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.;  MS-7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; ES 7:30 a.m.-3:45 p.m. If a test needs to be administered outside of these hours by a teacher/staff member, Quick Codes can be generated very easily for those instances.

In closing, it is the expectation that professional staff protect the integrity of our process and assessments.  Therefore, the CCSD professional ethics expectations are to be adhered to at all times when administering and sharing assessment codes with the students in order to protect the safety and security of our standards-based assessments. However, to be clear, these assessments are meant to be used as teaching tools, not as accountability measures for teacher performance.

Questions, please feel free to reach out to Michael Harris, Executive Director of Secondary Teaching and Learning and/or your Coordinator of Curriculum and School Performance.

Week at a Glance

Monday-IEP/504 Meeting
PSP
21st Century
FFE Dinner

Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds

Wednesday-Collaborative Planning
Jeans and Staff Shirt Day

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

C-Team Football Cedar Shoals vs. Clarke Central Date: Thursday, October-11-2018 Time: 5:00 p.m. Location: Cedar Shoals High School

Friday-IEP/504 Meeting

Week of October 1st

Quote of the Week: To teach to our potential, we must build bridges that can take our students from where they are to where we know they can be.
                                                                                                                  Manny Scott

Happy Sunday Panther Family! 

Thank you for your hard work these past few weeks. Many of you have gone over and beyond to help cover classes, assist with time outs, help with our most challenging students all while keeping a smile on your face. Please know that it is greatly appreciated! I realize that everyone is going over and beyond the call of duty and is growing weary in your hard work. Remember there is POWER in your teaching. All of our students are unable to SHOW you their appreciation but believe me, they care! Remember where you teach, who you teach, and what you teach! 

This week we will implement our systems with consistency and fidelity! No hall passes the first and last 15 minutes of class, use the House System to acknowledge the positive behaviors of our students, teach like a champion, and smile! Teaching like a champion means that you are implementing effective instructional strategies to engage ALL of our students. 

We can do this! Let's not allow our yesterday to get in the way or our today or our tomorrow! 

Principal Tolbert

Announcements
 
AVID Reminders: 

I can not stress the importance of consistency with the binder checks. This is NOT an option yet an EXPECTATION that we will ALL be held ACCOUNTABLE for implementing at HILSMAN.

October will begin a new round of binder checks. 

Teachers: please check your binder on your assigned day. 
This is a school-wide expectation. Please note in your lesson plan the days you will perform these checks. During walk-thrus and observations we will check students' binders for  signatures.  

We are teaching our students a college and career ready skill. Please review the importance of responsibility of coming to school prepared and keeping up with their binder checks. 

After November binder check sheets will be collected as artifacts to track fidelity.
More to come from your Admin team during Collaborative plannings next.  Stay tuned.......


Save the dates:
* Hispanic Heritage Night has changed: Wednesday, October 3rd 6 pm at Hilsman cafeteria Dance, food and student work * Good for fit (zumba time at Hilsman) Friday October 19 at 6 pm Babysitting for children 4 and under Ticket: school supplies or suggested donation $2 student/$3 adult

Band News

Our first band concert is Monday, October 1 at 6:30. The concert will take place at the Cedar Shoals Theater. Parents, the student uniform is khaki pants (not shorts or jeans), and the band shirt or black polo shirt.

The final meet for Cross Country will be Tuesday, October 2nd at Westminster Christian Academy. Girls run at 4:00 and boys run at 4:25.

Week at a Glance:

Monday-IEP/504 Meetings

SILT 7am

504/IEP/Team Meeting

Begin advisement during lunch remediation time. See email from Ms. Moore entitled 

"Advisement Next Week"
2018-2019 Hilsman Student Data Folders Sheet
2018-2019 Data Folders & Progress Reports

Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds
Cross Country Meet Continue advisement during lunch remediation time.

Wednesday- Collaborative Planning-Jeans for Teachers with HMS shirt
Faculty Meeting 4:00- Be sure to read Chapters 1-2 and be prepared for discussion
Hispanic Heritage Night

Complete advisement during lunch remediation time.

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

Friday - 504/IEP

HBIS PBIS - Creating Climate   &  Respect Lesson I  in extended homeroom.  We will proceed with regular schedule into second block at 9:22am.  Moving forward, we will rotate the class periods in which we conduct these lesson in order to maintain planning times and protect the schedule. 

Week of September 17, 2018

Quote of the Week:

Happy Friday!

Thank you for stepping up today! I have received several emails from you offering suggestions as to how to restore our rituals and routines at HMS. Please continue to brainstorm ways that we can work to get our students back on track behaviorally. While you are brainstorming, continue to be firm, fair, and consistent with our expectations. Today was definitely better however we must be CONSISTENT!

Information was sent related to goal setting for TKES. Please follow the directions and have the required portions completed before Wednesday. ELA teachers should select the Literacy goal while Math teachers select the Numeracy goal. The second goal will need to be in the area of SEL. It is permissible for your content to have the same goal as we are working toward our school's overall goal in the three identified areas.

Progress reports were sent home this week. Please follow up via phone, email, or letter with the parents of students failing your class. There should be a recovery plan in place to help students achieve a passing grade.

Lastly, enjoy your weekend! I will see you all Monday!

Kindly,
Tolbert

Announcements:

Please complete the gifted and talented module by Friday, September 21st.

Gifted Module

Monday September 17, 2018 is College and Career T-Shirt Day. Students and staff can wear a college or career t-shirt with uniform bottoms. Solid color shirts are not permitted. If students do not want to participate, please be in regular school uniform.


Please share the PAWS lesson of the week with your students. Take the first 5 minutes of every class to present and review the lesson with our students. Ask them questions and challenge them to rise up and cease the use of physical aggression to solve their problems! 

PAWS lesson for the week - Focus "Paws in the Cafe" - Document
                                                         Paws in the Cafe - Slides
District Information

• September 25, 2018 & October 9th: AVID School-wide Coaching Visits

Your District AVID Coordinator and the GA AVID Center Program Manager will perform walkthroughs of AVID classrooms. They will generally spend 15-20 minutes in the AVID Elective class(es) and 8-10 minutes in content area classes of trained AVID teachers.  After the classroom visit, we will engage in a 30-minute debrief. Additionally, they would like principals, administration, and the site coordinator, if those individuals are available, to join us in both the observation and the debrief. The specific schools will be contacted with more information; also, the Observation Tool will be provided prior to.

AVID IN ACTION: Newsletter

AVID IN ACTION

Week at Glance

Monday-504/IEP/Team Meeting

College T-Shirt Day! All staff should be dressed for the occasion!

Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds
                Forker with 6th and 7th grade AM Planning for MAP planning

Wednesday-Collaborative Planning-Staff Uniform Day

TKES 

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

MAP Reading Make-ups in ELA classes
MAP Math Make-ups in Math classes
TKES
Friday- 504/IEP
MAP Language Make-ups in classes

Cedar C-Team Football vs.Jefferson Time:5:30 p.m. Location: Jefferson High School

Cross Country HMS vs. Jefferson Time: 4:30 p.m. Location: Crows Lake, Jefferson Ga.

Week of September 10, 2018

Quote of the Week:

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”

—Kahlil Gibran

Staff,

Thank you for continuing to do the work to make a difference in the life of a student. I understand that it gets difficult. I encourage you to reflect on that one thing that you have pledged to do differently to transform the learning of our students. We do not have all of the answers and failure is inevitable. However it is failure that makes us better. Be encouraged and celebrate the small successes.  You can do it!

Tolbert

Announcements

Staff Changes- Please welcome Mrs. Zinetta Fox to our staff! She will be teaching 8th grade Science. We are excited to have her join our team. On Monday, Mrs. Bevis will welcomed back to the 7th grade team to teach ELA! Thank you Mrs. Bevis! It is never easy to say goodbye to staff members so we will just say see ya later to Ms. Natalie Meyers. Thank you for your work the past few weeks at Hilsman. We will keep you and your family in our thoughts.

MAP Testing-Please be advised that we will be testing this week. Please be sure to read over information provided to you by Mr. Forker. If there are questions or points of clarification about MAP, please see Mr. Forker ASAP.

Rituals, Relationships, Routines-Please continue to be firm, fair, and consistent. Structure is important to our students. Continue to practice your routines, build relationships with your students, and put in effective rituals. Remember to acknowledge the positive behaviors frequently as students are transitioning in the halls and working in class.

Hilsman Spirit Week September 10-14, 2018

Next week in an effort to build our partnership with Cedar Shoals, we are going to have a Spirit Week. This is the idea of Ms. Barnett to get our students, faculty, and stakeholders connected!

Monday      Hat Day

Tuesday      Decade Day- Wear your favorite 50, 60, 70, 80 shirt with your uniform bottoms etc. 

Wednesday  Crazy Sock Day

Thursday     Wear your Favorite Hilsman Spirit Tee

                    Come support C-Team game @ 5:30 at Cedar Shoals

Friday         Support the Jags wear Orange or Blue T-shirt or CSHS T-shirt with your uniform bottoms

                   Home Coming Game at 7:30 @ Cedar Shoals 

Please share the PAWS lesson of the week with your students. Take the first 5 minutes of every class to present and review the lesson with our students. Ask them questions and challenge them to rise up and cease the use of physical aggression to solve their problems! 

PAWS lesson for the week - Focus "Paws in the Halls"

Week at a Glance

Monday-504/IEP/Team Meeting

SILT-7:00 am

Please follow up to make sure all new students and staff have taken the Personality Survey

Map Training 6th & 7th Grade First planning with Forker

**8th Grade Open House 6 - 7:30 **


Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds

Picture Day!!

**7th Grade Open House 6 - 7:30 **

HMS vs. BHL Time : 4:30 P.M. Location: Cedar Shoals High School


Wednesday-Collaborative Planning-Staff Uniform Day

Reading MAP Testing -Testing Schedule
Vertical Meeting for all Content areas

**6th Grade Open House 6 - 7:30 **

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

Math Map Testing Testing Schedule

Cedar C-Team vs. Gainesville Time: 5:30 P.M. Location: Cedar Shoals High School

Friday- 504/IEP
Language MAP Testing - Testing Schedule

Saturday

HMS vs. Winder
Time: 10:15 a.m. Location: Apple Hawkins, Winder, Ga

Week of 9/4/18

Quote of the Week: 

Happy Friday!

I want to echo my message earlier this week that simply gave a huge thank you for all of the work that you are doing to help shape our young people at HMS! This week was a tough one but you all persevered and made it a good one. The next three weeks we will focus on helping our students refrain from engaging in physical altercations. Resources and classroom guidance will be provided by our counselors to assist us with helping our students.We can do this! It is our goal to go 14 days with absolutely NO fights! IF we are able to do this, students will receive a school wide celebration! I will work with our PTO to arrange the incentive. Encourage our students!

Below are a few Reminders and Announcements

21st Century Information

The 21st Century Program will begin on September 4, 2018 for both the morning and afternoon sessions. Parents must attend one of the three Parent Orientations in order for their children to participate. The Orientations will be offered on the following dates from 5:15-6:00 pm: Thursday, August 30, Thursday, September 6, & Tuesday, September 11.

Grade Level Family Night Information
Please plan to attend your grade level's parent night. Every content area need to create a 3 minute presentation providing parents with an overview of your year. This may be a good time for you to review your syllabus.
An agenda for the night will be provided no later than Tuesday!

8th Grade Parent Night will be Monday, September 10 from 6:00-7:30 pm
7th Grade Parent Night will be Tuesday, September 11 from 6:00-7:30 pm
6th Grade Parent Night will be Wednesday, September 12 from 6:00-7:30 pm

TKES

This week you will receive training on the Teacher Evaluation System. Following the training I will provide you with guidelines for developing your Professional Development goals. Pre-Evaluation Conferences will be conducted in groups during Collaborative Planning September 18th-20th.

MAP Testing

Due to circumstances beyond our control MAP testing was not successful. Please plan to re-administer the assessment the week of September 10-14, 2018. We will administer the assessment by grade levels. You will receive more information no later than Friday, September 7, 2018.

Logistics Reminders and Expectations

Passes

Please do not send students into the hallway without a pass.   

Also, please remember no passes should be given during the 1st and last 15 minutes of class unless it is an emergency.

Sunshine Breaks

We have seen an increase in sunshine breaks.  Please be judicious with your use of sunshine breaks.   It is important to prioritize and maximize instructional time.  A class should receive no more than one sunshine per week. In addition, the fields are reserved for our coaches for P.E. 

If you have written a sunshine break into your plans and your students have earned it, please pick a specific place for your students to be. In addition, please be sure to actively monitor your students to ensure safety.  

If you have questions, please let us know.

Transitions

Great work with transitions, please keep up the good work. 

During outside transitions, please be mindful of children walking on the Earth Shelter. 

Don't forget to recognize the students that are getting it right.

Week at a Glance

Monday-NO SCHOOL


Tuesday-RTI/Branching Mind


Wednesday-Collaborative Planning

Faculty Professional Learning formerly known as Faculty Meeting at 4:00
(TKES Training)

Cross Country Meet Date: Wednesday, 9/5/2018 Location:Wood Park, Morgan County Time:4:30 PM

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

HMS vs. CMS Volleyball
Location:Cedar Shoals High school Date: Thursday, 9/6/18 Time:4:30 P.M.

Friday-504/IEP Meetings

Week of 8/27/18

Quote of the Week:


It is Friday! It is the end of the week and the last day!!! Staff you have done a fantastic job of delivering rigorous instruction and engaging our students the last three weeks. Thank you for getting it done! I encourage you to keep the positive momentum going as we are quickly approaching the end to the first month of school! We have many glows to celebrate. We also have several areas that we need to strengthen as we continue to implement and adjust to our new systems. Please continue to provide meaningful and timely feedback to student and parents. If you are unsure of the answers to any questions relating to our school wide procedures, please ask us for clarification. We want to remain on the same page as we are communicating to our school community. Keep up the great work! Please see the reminders and week at a glance below.


Announcements and Reminders

Transitions
Please continue to closely monitor our students during EVERY transitions. If we are expecting students to transition in the halls quietly then we must reinforce the expectation. It is going to take constant reminders and your active help in the halls to help students master this expectation. Transitions are getting better every day!

Cell Phones
Students are permitted to have their cell phones. They are not allowed to USE their cell phones from 8:25-3:45. This is known as the No Flex Zone! Please do not confiscate phones from students because they are visible. Phones should only be confiscated after you have followed the following procedures:

1. Warning
2. Phone is taken by the teacher until the end of class.
3. Phone is taken by the teacher and given to an administrator or the SRO. The parent can retrieve the phone between the hours of 3pm-5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The severity of the consequence can change due to the nature of the situation.

Snacks
Please allow students to eat a light snack during your 4 or 5th period. Our lunches are scheduled  early for some and late for other students. Parent and student feedback suggests that they are allowed to have a light snack. This is permissible as long as instruction is not impacted and students are responsible for cleaning up their areas.

Classroom Doors
Your classroom doors are to be locked at all times. This is to help ensure the safety of our students and their belongings. If there is a problem with your locks or your key, please submit a work order request via the PL site.

Intervention/Enrichment Time
Please remember that Sunshine Breaks are limited. The time allocated before or after each lunch transition is dedicated to remediation and enrichment. Although the breaks are permissible once a week, they should not be occurring daily. Although this time is short, it is important as we help provide services to our students.

Rituals and Routines
Remember to be firm, fair, and consistent! You are strongly encouraged to assign seats in your class to help minimize distractions and discipline infractions. It is also a great way to get to learn all of your students names.

Instructional Framework
As we are visiting classrooms, we have noticed that there has been minimal use of the instructional framework. This is an expectation for all teachers. Instruction should be delivered using the following:

Bell Ringer: 3 to 4 minutes
Opening: 3-5 minutes
Mini lesson: 10-12 minutes
Work Session: 20 minutes
Closing: 3 to 5 minutes

SGP-Our School Growth Plan is due August 31, 2018. Please make sure that you are aware of our school goals and the school wide instructional strategies that will be implemented this year. A formal presentation will be presented to the staff during our September faculty meeting.

AVID 

AVID Strategy of the Month: Focused Note-Taking and Binder Checks Teachers, please make sure you are continuing to practice some form of focused note-taking with your students. Remember to check out the AVID folder on the PLC page for any AVID information and templates. Check out this video about the importance of note-taking: How to Take Great Notes You can also show to students, but just know it’s on youtube. Starting next week 8/27 WE will be performing school-wide binder checks. Each grade level has been given rubrics but you also have access to a digital copy on the PLC Page. Please remind students that these rubrics need to placed at the front of their binder and they are EXPECTED to keep up with these in order to get the Dress Down Day incentive. Remember to email me with any specific student names for binder supplies and make sure you give your kids a warning about binder checks. This could be a great way to put in dates in their agendas.

Message from Mrs. Holland

Dear Team,

As we prepare for FTE, there may be the need for slight schedule adjustments to ensure we are following the services as noted in IEP’s for 7th and 8th grade. For 6th grade, however, the schedule changes are likely to be much greater as the IEP’s were just made available for my review on Thursday - and the projections that are shared with me are usually incorrect. Please know that I will be cognizant of your current roster and do my best to keep the changes to a minimum.

Here is the link to the parent letter for 6th grade: 6th Grade EXC Parent Letter

Thank you and please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions and concerns.

Jackie

Important Dates: Monday 8/27- Begin School-Wide Binder Checks Friday 8/31- Student and Teacher Dress Down Incentive

Week at a Glance

Monday: Grade Level Meetings
Begin School Wide Binder Checks
MAP Training: 1st Planning for 6th and 7th grade
SRI Training: 1st Planning for 8th grade

Tuesday: RTI/Branching Minds
Building Wide Testing Schedule

Wednesday:Collaborative Planning ELA/SS
Building Wide Testing Schedule

Thursday: Collaborative Planning Math/Sci
Building Wide Testing Schedule
C-Team Football
Date: Thursday, 8/30/2018 Location: Cedar Shoals High School Time:5:30

Friday:

1st Planning: TKES Orientation with Tolbert

Student/Teacher Dress Down Incentive

Student Personality Survey (all 6th graders and new teachers to Hilsman)-During remediation time (time before or after lunch). Survey is located on the Student Start Page