ISY Elementary School Faculty Blog

Pivot!

Mike Simpson

June 4, 2021

My daughter, Milly, has been introducing me to Friends which has been a lot of fun. I think Ross, Rachel, and Chandler trying to carry a couch up some stairs is a pretty good metaphor for this year…..

ABC WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE 

ABC Schedule: Wednesday, June 9

On Wednesday afternoons, Grade 1 to 5 students will get to choose two fun activities to do. They will be able to choose between fun Art, Body (PE), and Communication (Technology) activities.

Above in this Wednesday’s schedule. Students will click on the Zoom links in the activity description to join the activity. Homeroom teachers can share this schedule with their students however will be easiest for the students to join the activities.

LAST DAY!

Wednesday, June 16

8:30am  – Whole School Faculty Meeting

10:00am – Elementary School Farewell Assembly

*Zoom links will follow closer to the day.

There will be no classes after the assembly. Students (and teachers!) will be dismissed for the year from the assembly. 

The hour before the assembly can be spent in homerooms closing the year and saying goodbye.

We will get reports to parents on Tuesday, June 15 just so parents are able to contact us with any queries before we are off for the summer.

QUARTER 4 SCHEDULE

Here is the Quarter 4 Specialist Schedule from May 17 to June 16.

There will be no specialist classes on our last day, Wednesday, June 16. Next week, we will confirm the time of our end of year assembly.

INCLUSION SHARE OUTS

Active Reading

Active reading takes place when students are proactively involved in the reading of a text. Active reading is about more than reading words in black and white and answering questions afterward. Student engagement is important in order to optimize learning. The more engaged/involved the students are in what they are reading, they are more likely to better understand the meaning within the text. More information in the link below:

Active Reading

QUARTER 4 REPORTS 

Extra Notes on Report Writing…

We have confirmed the students on the ES Reports: Quarter 2 & 4 2020-2021 Spreadsheet who we do not need to report or (name is highlighted in green and crossed out) and who we need to report on but have not attended regularly in Q4 (highlighted in green with notes next to name). 

Please let Mike know if you are having problems reporting on any student. If you have any students that you are unable to assess (UA) please let Mike know and we will decide what to do.

As always, if you have students that you might be giving a ‘1’ or a lower grade that might surprise a student or parent, please reach out to the family this week if you have not already.

If you assessed something in Q2 that you have not assessed again (e.g. a writing genre or science domain), please carry forward the grade from Q2 to this Q4 report card. 

If you haven’t already, please fill out this quarter’s common subject comments ASAP using the documents below:

Common Grade Level Subject Comments:

————————

ES PK/KG Report Instructions: Q4 2020-2021

ES G1-5 Report Instructions: Q4 2020-2021

The instructions are kind of wordy but they are basically the same as for Quarter 2 so if you do what you did for Quarter 2 all will be good.

This has been a real up and down year and the students have gone up and down too. This report is intended to give a final indication on what a student has shown themselves to be capable of – they might have shown themselves capable earlier in the year and then stopped producing as they lost motivation online. If we use the data that we think is most reliable to be reflective of what they are capable of (whenever that was in the year…) then we will be giving the fairest and most accurate report that we can.

Summary of the report writing timeline:

  • Wednesday, June 16: Quarter 4 Ends
  • Monday, June 14 @ 8am: All comments copied into Powerschool and all grades entered.
  • June 15: Reports go out to families

Previous Elementary School Posts

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 19, 2021

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 19, 2021

We might not feel like experts but today’s assembly was a chance to remind ourselves that we are now good at many things that we did not know how to do at all just a matter of months or weeks or days ago.

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 12, 2021

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 12, 2021

The reality of the current situation can make finding the bright side difficult. But research shows that in difficult times, it is important for our mental health to allow ourselves to acknowledge that times are difficult and to feel rather than suppress negative emotions.

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 5, 2021

Elementary School Faculty Blog – March 5, 2021

We have long term, yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly plans but our planning and preparation has now taken more of a day by day focus. It will therefore need to be very fluid as we plan for our students’ safety and wellbeing, connectedness, and learning.