Weekly Words |March 12, 2023
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Student of the Month Awards, raffles, games, and prizes! We had such a wonderful time at our most recent P.O.W.E.R. Assembly.
Let's use this momentum to propel into testing season with AASA/AzSci!
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Secret Word
Team and Family,
Spring Break is less than a week away! While a vacation is much needed, these missing days absolutely puts a premium on the time we do have with our scholars. Do your very best to make each second count and find those hidden minutes and seconds in your day to push student achievement. Push yourself to find 1 more way you can use time to have students practicing, reviewing, thinking, or questioning!
P.S. We've been using a variety of attention claps all year. The attention clap is key to getting a class back on track, transitioning, or emphasizing a key point in a lesson. For those looking for a twist on the “attention clap”, take 78 seconds and watch this video on a “secret word” for calling the class back to attention. https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-attention-getting-technique
In Service to You,
Mr. Walker
Principal
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Teacher & Staff Spotlight |
Each week, we will celebrate teachers and staff members who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to provide all scholars a high-quality education.
This week, we recognize:
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It was the summer of 2020 when we met Mr. Tapel. We faced unprecedented trials with the COVID-19 pandemic and we knew the road ahead was not going to be easy. Mr. Tapel came to our Flower community and immediately made contributions to our Department of Exceptional Education Services and brought smiles to so many faces through his kindness and generosity.
One of my favorite memories of Mr. Tapel was having him celebrate HIS birthday by showering our Flower community with gifts and a catered lunch, introducing us to Philippine cuisine. Mr. Tapel works extremely hard to keep our school in compliance with state laws concerning Exceptional Student Services and works to support all teachers and students.
Mr. Tapel shows his support by always offering insightful advice, being among the first to volunteer with a community event, and jumping in wherever needed in our daily operations as a campus.
We love and appreciate you, Mr. Tapel!
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School Culture & Events:
School Enrollment
For the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, AMS Flower reigns supreme as the first school to reach 100% completion! Congratulations and huge shout-out to our front office office, teachers, and staff for making calls, Dojo posts, and impromptu in-person meetings to address re-enrollment with families! This was so important to complete as students who are not re-enrolled, go on a wait list. It is so important that we keep our students so that they truly benefit year after year from the positive changes we continue to make. The data shows that the longer the students stay with us, the more successful they are. We also need to continue to recruit new AMS Flower Turtles as well as we matriculate students through our systems and culture.
Please sign up for future marketing opportunities here!
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School Culture & Events:
Daily Attendance &
Family Communication Log
Our daily attendance average goal is 95%. We know that many variables for student attendance may be outside of our control, however, we must focus on what is within our control. Our families who provide unexcused absences must be contacted on a daily basis as a check in, to stress the impact of an absence, and to offer support - such as providing a clear plan for completing make up assignments. Our contact tracker is completed. We must continue to first call and then, rely on platforms such as ClassDojo, to reach our families. The graphic attached provides staggering statistics regarding the impact of chronic absenteeism.
Family Communication Log is below. Please update it on a daily basis.
- Go to your class tab
- Find the scholar
- Fill out all the required fields: date, time, reason, type of communication, outcome, and follow-up.
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School Culture & Events:
Wednesday Detention
Remember: Gum, hoodies, cell phones, blatant disrespect, etc. all equate to an automatic detention. Please remember it is mandatory to complete a SIR for each incident.
Parent communication must be made and confirmed by the teacher assigning the detention! The deadline to assign a detention is each Tuesday, by EOD.
Important Reminders:
The detention list will be sent to teachers and front office staff prior to detention. During detention, students will complete behavior reflection forms, restorative letters, or copy essays related to why they are in detention. Essays need to be taken home and signed by the parent. If not returned the next day, they have recess detention and are copying the essay again.
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School Culture & Events:
P.O.W.E.R. Assembly
Student of the Month Awards, raffles, games, and prizes! We had such a wonderful time at our most recent P.O.W.E.R. Assembly.
Let's use this momentum to propel into testing season with AASA/AzSci!
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School Culture & Events:
Bedtime Stories
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We loved having you all here for Bedtime Stories!
It was such a wonderful experience to have you all come back in your pajamas, enjoy refreshments and listen to your teachers and staff read classic bedtime stories to you all as a part of National Reading Week!
We cannot wait until next year, however, in the meantime, read, read, read as much as you can! Start anywhere! Comic books, magazines, children’s encyclopedias, novels, and so much more! Reading opens up life opportunities and helps our students become better writers, strategic thinkers, and overall, more effective communicators!
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School Academics & Instruction:
Interim Assessment 3 Data Dive
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Below, is a comparison and summary of data between IA 2 and IA 3. Recognize the celebrations, but let's allow our data dive action plans analyze the gaps and allow for us to re-teach those standards our students did not showcase mastery with. |
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School Academics & Instruction:
Mastery Machine
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Shout out to Ms. Deweerdt! She is our Mastery Machine Champ of the Week! Ms. DeWeerdt’s data proves that her students are growing, her lesson plans are intentional and are standards driven, her anchor charts and bulletin boards drive the purpose and outcomes of Mastery Machine! Congratulations!
Ms. DeWeerdt is going to take the championship belt to her class and they are going to relish in this experience all of next week, however, will they retain or will there be a new champion?
Only one way to find out, let’s plan for a wonderful week two of Mastery Machine!
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School Academics & Instruction:
Q3 Coaching Cycles
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This week is an O3 Meeting Week! Please check emails and calendars for invitations! Please make sure you bring student work samples (high, medium, low performances) and exit ticket data! |
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School Academics & Instruction:
Student Retention
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It is critical to inform parents if their child is on track to be considered for retention for the 2023-24 SY. These identified students must be or be on the brink of entering a MTSS cycle.
We will not accept any last minute considerations for retention or anecdotal pieces of data by themselves. For any student you are considering for retention, we need the attached forms filled out, approved by a campus leader, and then, we sit down with families at conferences with the completed and approved form to discuss the implications with families.
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School Academics & Instruction:
i-Ready Incentives
We hope to incentivize and reward students who continue to put their best foot forward and work towards proficiency on their i-Ready MyPath and teacher assigned lessons. For every student who completes and passes 15 lessons (or more) within this time frame, they will qualify for the following rewards:
- K-2—bubble party!!
- 3-5—popcorn and movie party!!
- 6-8—free dress down…for a week!! (But no hoodies, don’t worry 😊)
We will be reaching out to you all this week about when incentive rewards are going to be shared with students!
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School Academics & Instruction:
TLaC Focus:
Pre-Planned Questions
For the next few weeks, we will work on pre-planning questions to ask during our instruction. For each lesson, write out 2 to 3 questions ahead of time that you will ask. You can write them directly onto your lesson plan or write them on sticky notes and attach them to your plan. Push yourself to make each question come from a different level of Bloom’s. As we check lessons and conduct observations, we will be looking for great questions!
I have attached Marzano’s verbs which will be useful when crafting your questions, as well as the two sites below.
Here is a link to an interesting article about asking better questions, which also includes another Bloom’s chart:
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School Operations:
Maintenance Tickets
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There is a new maintenance ticket system should you need maintenance support with items in your classroom. It is pretty straightforward, please be sure to provide as much detail as possible and include photos whenever possible to support the ticket. Please reach out if you have any difficulty accessing the ticket system.
Ticket Link Below:
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School Operations:
Field Trips
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Field Trips take a lot of behind the scenes planning and coordination. From budgeting and planning details to ironing out logistics, field trips are challenging to plan…and execute. If you are interested in planning a field trip for our students, the authorization form is attached. Please notify Ms. Medina once you are beginning to complete the form and we will work together to ensure we have all bases covered.
We need at least 3 weeks prior notice to the date of the trip.
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School Operations:
Extracurriculars
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Clubs, sports, tutoring needs to be approved prior to starting. This is vital as several behind the scenes operations must take place with setting up a club, sport, or tutoring activity after school. From logistics to planning purposefully, extracurriculars take time to develop! Please review the attachment to gain a better idea of the approval process. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. |
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School Reminders & Resources:
Lesson Plan Objectives
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Lesson objectives must be posted in a visible place daily in 100% of classrooms. Objectives are a requirement and an AMS Essential. They guide your planning, set purpose for the lesson’s activities and should be aligned to your end of lesson exit ticket or assessment. Please make this adjustment, beginning Monday. |
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School Reminders & Resources:
Lesson Plans
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Lesson Plans must be submitted weekly via SharePoint. Each teacher has a folder labeled by their name. Within each folder, there are cascaded folders by quarter. If you have questions on how to upload to SharePoint or do not have access, please contact me immediately.
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School Reminders & Resources:
Unity Circle Plan
2 - 2:30 p.m. - Staff Meeting
2:30 - 3:30 p.m. - AASA/AzSci Plan - All Staff Must Attend
3:30: Teacher Work Time
We are in gymnasium, please bring laptops & TLaC Books.
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Shout-Outs!
Shout-out to Mr. Flanders for receiving the Turtle-ly Awesome Pin! Thank you for your leadership with the K-1 PLC group, being amazing resource to others, and a leader who unites the school and community!
Shout-out to Mrs. Riffenburg for receiving the P.O.W.E.R. Unity Chain! Thank you for always going above and beyond for our students, staff, and families!
Shout out to Ms. Deweerdt! She is our Mastery Machine Champ of the Week! Ms. DeWeerdt’s data proves that her students are growing, her lesson plans are intentional and are standards driven, her anchor charts and bulletin boards drive the purpose and outcomes of Mastery Machine! Congratulations!
Love the urgency from Ms. Koch this week! Already had her Do-Now on the board as she instructed her students to enter the room and take out the materials necessary to complete it.
With timer in hand, there was not a minute to lose! Her language stressed the importance of time and completion of tasks, all the while, positively reinforcing the effective practices of students.
So much to put in a message about the terrific work being done in Ms. Ciesla's class! No opt out, bell to bell instruction, not to mention, urgency with Mastery Machine. Students are definitely doing the heavy lifting today! Love the anchor charts and unpacking of the standard!
Love the active engagement in Mrs. Dear’s classroom! Mrs. Dear read her room and recognized she needed to keep the class on their toes through some active engagement discussion techniques!
Shout-out to Ms. Nixon, whose students are showing growth and progress with MM on a re-taught standard!
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2022-23 AMS Flower Calendar: |
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