ISY Elementary School Faculty Blog

Check In

Mike Simpson

September 10, 2021

It has been another unsettling week. Thank you for providing a sense of safety and stability for our children and their families. Keep checking in on yourselves and those around you.

We all know we are doing our best…. even when we are not at our best!

Check in. How am I? What do I need? How are they? What do they need from me?

Ask for help and be helpful.

Be present and patient. Take time to fully understand others and allow time for others to understand you. Pausing, Paraphrasing and Posing Questions promotes our common understanding.

Share your ideas and be open to the ideas of others. Once shared, they become our ideas and anything could happen!

ES COLLABORATIVE AGENDA

Please add any questions, items that come to mind to this ES Collaborative Agenda. The idea is that once we have a few things to discuss that can’t be addressed by email, we will meet.

Maintaining our Community

We are looking for interested people to be a part of a committee which will brainstorm ways for us to keep connected as a faculty now that we are spread across the world. Please email me if you are interested.

Student Review Meetings

Goal: To reflect on student progress as a team and seek strategies to support and challenge students.  Focus is on Tier 1 and Tier 2 students.

Meetings will take place approximately every 6 weeks according to this SRM Schedule.  Homeroom teachers will asked to complete a checklist prior to the meeting to identify students they wish to prioritize.  Specialists are encouraged to complete the checklist for concerns they see within their classrooms.  All team members should review the notes before and after the meetings to identify areas in which they may have been assigned a task.

Recording Student Reading Levels

Please use this Elementary Reading Levels 2021-2022 to record the reading levels of your students. It is easiest to use the Reading A-Z assessment tool so use that and record that level – no need to convert it into any different scales. We will reorganize our ISY benchmark reading levels to fit this tool to help you with reporting.

If you are using the DRAs that we have used in the past that is ok too – just put (DRA) next to the number so this is clear. We will record a level for every student in September, January and May. If you do assessments between these times, there are also columns for you to record the levels.

From our TIFs

Here are a curated list of helpful links for students and families as we begin the year. These videos can be helpful as you share information with them. 

Friday Emails + Offline Learning

We will send out our Grade Level Friday Emails next week.

You will find the email templates in the folders below. Please update these emails in blue by 12pm Thursday MMT.

In these folders you will also find the Offline Learning Activity templates that will be converted to a PDF to be emailed out every Friday. If you need to update these offline learningactivities, please do so by 12pm Thursday MMT.

ES Assemblies

There will be an assembly this Wednesday.

These assemblies will be an informal and fun way to keep everyone connected this quarter. 

Assemblies will follow a Story + Student Share + Game format every week. Thank you for signing you and your students up for these activities on this Assembly Sign Up Schedule. There are still a couple of game slots free if you have any ideas.

Quarter 1 Interdisciplinary Units

Previous Elementary School Posts

Elementary School Blog – October 21st, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogEVENTS, EVENTS, EVENTSSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal21st October, 2022Dear all, Many events are coming up, so please take a careful look at event dates in the blog. It is important that you give students reminders in regard to any...

Elementary School Blog – October 7th, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogHAPPY HOLIDAYSSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal7th October, 2022I wish you all a very happy Thadingyut break. Have a well-earned rest, and stay safe. See here for the latest EARCOS journal. Thank you to KG for their song in assembly and...

Elementary School Blog – September 30th, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogFlash Mob FunSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal30th September 2022Dear all, The flash mobs were so much fun this week; thanks, Bekka, for working with our students to get these done.  Don't forget to sign up to be a reader at the Halloween...

Elementary School Blog – September 23rd, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogA Call for Scary ReadersSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal23rd September 2022Dear all, What a wonderful assembly today. Thank you Bekka and Patty for making it happen and congratulations to our Student Council for all their hard work. ...

Elementary School Blog – September 16th, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogON TRACK WITH PROFESSIONAL GROWTHSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal15th September 2022Dear all, MAP testing seemed to go very smoothly, thanks for taking care of this. More information is in this blog about catch-up testing. I hope you...

Elementary School Blog – September 9th, 2022

ISY Elementary BlogBACK TO SCHOOLSandy Sheppard , Elementary School Principal9th September 2022Thank you for being here and supporting the success of our Back to School event. The parents were so happy to be on campus and in the classrooms. We will be sending a survey...