Apologies for no minutes posted

I'm sorry that no minutes have been posted for the past few weeks. Last week we had part 2 of SIOP training and the week before that I was out due to illness.

Suggested Classroom Accomodations for Specific Behaviors

Many of you are teaching children with learning disabilities and at times struggle with how to help them be and feel successful. I will begin to post strateiges, tips and sites to go to to assist you in making your students with learning disabilites more successful. These strategies are useful with students with and without learning disabilities.

When you see this behavior:

Difficulty following a plan: sets out to get straight A's and ends up with F's (sets unrealistic goals)

Try this accommodation:

-Assist the student in setting long-range goals: break the goal into realistic parts
-Use a questioning strategy with the student: ask, what do you need to be able to do this?
-Keep asking this question until the student has reached an obtainable goal.
-Have the student set clear timelines of what she/he needs to do to accomplish each step (monitor the students progress frequently).

This is a sample post.

PLC Meeting Minutes 10-20-2009

Attending: Crim, Burkhead, Pate, Smith, Muzzy, McKenzie (arrived late)

We had a HYIS/SIOP (High yield Instructional Strategies / Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) overview presentation by Rosie Turner from Title I office

We received handouts of the PPT slides – see Ms. McKenzie if you would like copies.

Emphasis: strategies used to help ESL students help all students

Handouts will be posted in Learning Village and Ms. Morning will get an email copy of the PPT presentation.

There will be SIOP meetings on Nov. 24 for grades 3 – 5 and Nov. 30 for K-2.

We discussed the Marzano strategies, which are emphasized for SIOP as well, and in pairs talked about the ones that we felt were most important before sharing with the group.

One of the handouts gives a description of the LEP levels with suggestions of strategies to use with each level.

Emphasis was given to the non-linguistic representation strategy as well as similarities and differences. Those of us who were present need to register for the SIOP training – we will get credit for it.

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Our thoughts are with Ms. Farthing as she recovers from her surgery.

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If any information is incomplete or incorrect, please leave a comment on this entry and Ms. McKenzie will correct it ASAP.

PLC Meeting Minutes 10/13/09

PLC Minutes 10/13/09
Present: Pate, Farthing, Crim, Muzzy, McKenzie, Burkhead (arrived late), Morning-Cain (arrived late)

We discussed using Similarities & Differences from Marzano’s strategies in our lessons.

We feel we can start using the rules that we decided on last time. We will wait til quarter change to change the rules.

Ms. Crim talked about a lesson she has done with 5th grade about respect & how a student expressed a belief that the rules are the same in specials already.

Some discussion of PBS – still in the planning/organizing process. We will have input into the PBS priority behaviors, etc. as they are developed.

Ms. McKenzie spilled the beans on the new specials rotation schedule.

Question: are the PLC minutes (from other grade levels) we are getting in our emails from current plans or past plans? We think they are current plans, but even if they are past, we can still reinforce the skills discussed.

Ms. Muzzy reminded us to turn in the write-up for the Specialist Spotlight by 10/23.

Science, Math, and Technology Curriculum Night will be 11/5. Specialists are willing to assist with SMT night depending on what is planned at SIT.

We discussed grants for the library & the formation of the MTAC committee (Pate & McKenzie will be working on this). Discussion of AR too (Michelle, please comment with the plans for AR for 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter).

We volunteered to help Michelle with shelving & weeding the collection, or anything else she needs. We discussed recruiting more volunteers to help in the library.

Mrs. Morning presented the new six-day Encore rotation schedule that will be presented to SIT this afternoon & we discussed the benefits of this type of schedule in terms of increasing time for collaboration and for us to work with students on individual skills.

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If any information is incomplete or incorrect, please leave a comment on this entry and Ms. McKenzie will correct it ASAP.

PLC Meeting Minutes 10/6/09

Attending: Maglio, Crim, Farthing, Pate, McKenzie, Smith (arrived late), Muzzy, Henderson (arrived late, left early), Burkhead, McCabe (arrived late)

Discussed:
PBS
What behaviors do we want to see school-wide? (not discussed, really, just mentioned)
How can we make rules the same for every special?
We went over our individual rules & discussed wordings for consistent rules that would cover the expectations we had in our classes based on our current rules.

Ms. Crim guided us through establishing common rules.

Suggestions:
Listen and follow directions the first time they are given.
Use only respectful words and actions towards other people and our materials.
Work cooperatively.
Raise your hand to ask or answer a question.
Move quietly around the room, and line up quietly. (Burkhead will modify given that moving quietly around the room is not something the children do most of the time in PE.)
Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.

Discussed team roles in PBS – Ms. Crim gave us a handout with the roles listed; she can’t really explain it but she gave it to us to look over. We are part of the “Communication Coordinator” team.
Specific responsibilities suggested for Communication Coordinators from this handout (keep in mind these are for contemplation only right now - PBS is a multi-stage process and we are not at this stage yet):
Support Staff communication by newsletter & web page:
- Write PBS articles to include in the monthly school newsletter created by the newspaper committee. Coach must proofread before submitting.
- Maintain PBS section of school web page by updating monthly.
Staff meeting Information:
- PBS information for staff meeting agenda, team will create what content will be shared (5 – 10 mins)
Incentive/Communicaiton Boards:
- Create & update (monthly) a Parent PBS board
- Createa lounge bulletin board with a section for data, weekly super skills and expectation reminders (at beginning of year, both lounges)
- Create a PBS teacher incentive board (at beginning of year)
- Maintain PBS Bulletin Boards
Signs:
- Post weekly super skills and expectation reminders for the specific areas we are targeting in both lounges.
- Create and hang signs throughout the building that focus on targeted skills and are tied to the school-wide expectations. Signs should be big, bold and simple with consistent language throughout the building
Lesson Plan Coordinator
- Remind staff of the lesson plan schedule via emails and announcements
- Update lesson plans as needed
Incentive Directors:
- Keep up with student incentive program
- Keep student incentives supplied for staff
- Keep up with the staff incentive program

PBS Bulletin board: can we use one that’s already up, or do we need to put in a work order to hang one elsewhere? Ms. Farthing suggested maybe her board. Ms. Muzzy suggested using Ms. Lassiter’s board and that seemed to be the most agreeable.

Ms. Crim asked about how rewards work in class & how often rewards are given. We each shared our reward systems (please leave a comment to this blog entry with yours, specialists).

We need to just think about the common rules described above, our rules do not have to be changed this week; there will be more discussion next week. How are they worded – is that ok with you? Any suggestions? Is everything included that is important to you?

Mr. Maglio discussed using some kind of behavior documentation for regular ed teachers & for yourself & to make sure students who repeatedly misbehave – their parents are contacted, etc., before office referral. Possible consequences are period suspension (missing the special, etc.).
Consistent consequences that seemed agreeable to everyone:
After 1st class where behavior problem is experienced – documentation given to teacher & child flips card.
After 2nd class – call parent & flip card once
After 3rd class – office referral & flip card once

Ms. Muzzy will take over the Specialists’ Spotlight newsletter. She will share copies of previous newsletters with new folks so we know what to get together. Stuff for the first newsletter will be due Oct. 23 to Ms. Muzzy.

Here is a link to a past Specialist Spotlight newsletter for those of us who are new and have not seen one before:

http://wsfcs.k12.nc.us/education/components/docmgr/download.php?sectiondetailid=55063&fileitem=20945

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If any information is incomplete or incorrect, please leave a comment on this entry and Ms. McKenzie will correct it ASAP.

PLC Minutes from 9/30 meeting

Specialists are required to turn in lesson plans. They are due Mondays by 4:30 pm. They do not have to follow the template that we were given, but should include the elements of it.

Ms. Morning let us know that 4th graders need reinforcement in nutrition and 5th graders need reinforcement in ecosystems. Maree will post links to websites that include information on ecosystems and science education in general.

Collaboration with core teachers seems to be improving, but can still improve.

Ms. Eure is encouraged to collaborate with grade level teachers on report cards/grading based on the specific skills and activites that she is teaching.

The next SIT meeting is 10/13; the date was changed because the Title I team is coming on the regular SIT meeting date. SIT will be discussing plans for curriculum nights and specialists are encouraged to share ideas.

There will be a technology night on 11/5. Ms. Morning-Cain is going to be meeting with members of AKA at a nearby university to work out volunteers who might be able to teach some sessions on things like texting. She will meet with their graduate advisee on the evening of 10/1. We also want to have at least 1 Wii there and Ms. McKenzie will be contacting local video/game rental stores to see about renting. Ms. McKenzie also offered the use of her PS2 & DDR. Ms. Morning would also like to see something done with Tweeting. Suggestions were to have stations set up throughout the school and have parents/visitors rotate throughout.

Book fair week is Nov. 2 - 6 - Specialists should plan to help during their off time. Book fair night is 11/5 and volunteers are needed. PTA will provide some volunteers that night & throughout the week.

Behavior in specialists' classes is still mixed. We are meeting with individual teachers to discuss things like seating charts, and taking initiative to call parents when necessary.

Ms. Morning suggested specialists go around to classes in the morning and do random spot checks of percentage of homework completion; Classes with 100% homework completion can earn a paw. Kindergarten classes are still lower on paws than other classes.

We are moving to the PBS behavior model. There is a training 10/1 and 10/2; 1 rep from each team is going. Ms. Crim is going to represent specialists since the guidance counselor needed to go anyways and that would reduce the number of specialists out. Maree will find a link for PBS to put here soon.

Following up from last PLC meeting, the 5th grade poetry project did not work out due to a lack of time.

We are going to participate in a reading program in conjunction with WFU. Students can earn rewards involving attending a basketball game for free and/or getting to go down to the court for reading 15 or 20 books. Ms. Pate, can you comment with more info on this?

Wake Up the Library, a 5K run / 1 mi run/walk was discussed; staff are encouraged to register and participate.

Ms. Farthing inquired as to what support we can be giving core teachers at this time; no concrete suggestions were offered except to be emotionally supportive / allow teachers to bounce ideas off us, etc.

We need ideas for 2 curiculum nights coming up in the spring. Can we do a specialists night?

Ms. Jones emailed in saying that she enjoyed doing the Specialists Spotlight newsletter last year. The general consensus was that we would like to continue it this year; further discussion will be held at the next PLC meeting.

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Edited by Ms. McKenzie to add: Here are the science links from the 5th grade science content session held at the central office that Ms. Morning gave me. Most are good for teacher planning, but there are a couple that might be good for students to visit.

DPI K-5 Science units: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/units

Released Sample EOG Items: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/accountability/testing/eog/science/

Comprehensive view of ecosystems: http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/9j.html

Innovative resources across many areas including science: http://school.discovery.com/info/aboutus.html

Ecosystems and their interrelationships among various plants and animals: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/taiga/taiga.shtml

Information about ecosystems and other topics: http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/habitat/habitat.html

Supports NCSCOS in Science: http://www.nckidscience.com

Awareness of how animals and plants interact with their environment: http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks ** This one seems to be a good one for students

Subjects & activities related to science & other curriculum areas: http://www.uncw.edu/smec/gk_fellows/lessonplans.html

Know more about a particular animal and its adaptive characteristics: http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/animals

Maree,
You are doing such a good job.


Mrs. Monring

Meeting Minutes 9/15

PLC Mtg. 9/15/09
Attending: Morning-Cain, Henderson, Crim (left at 11:35), McCabe (arrived late), Burkhead, Pate, Shrum, Farthing, McKenzie (arrived late).

Ms. Morning discussed # of observations, formative vs. summative

For people getting summative evaluations:

There will be a pre-conference; you need to have the TE Self-Assessment completed before this pre-conference & no later than 9/20; print one out for your observing administrator & save it online for yourself. Pate/McKenzie/Crim will not do this because they are on a different type of observation format.

At pre-conference, 1st observation will be set – it will be a formal observation. If your administrator is Ms. Morning, she will discuss teaching practices with you, including things like how you group students, what your teaching strategies are.

After the first observation, then you will have a post-conference to discuss 1st observation & self-assessment. IGP goals will be set collaboratively during the post-conference. The IGP will be turned into administrators.

For people who are on formative assessments, Mr. Maglio will meet with you to set IGP goals. He may or may not observe you before you set IGP goals. If you are on Ms. Morning’s list, she *will* observe you before setting IGP goals with you. Formative people still have to do self-assessment before 9/30.

Be collecting evidence for the teacher eval & for your IGP throughout the year. Collect evidence of collaborating with each other.

Ms. Morning discussed specific examples of evidence that could be used for each point of the teacher evaluation form. Suggested: keep records of meetings that are held for specific areas or projects, emails and meeting minutes, work samples from students, and there are more examples at the bottom of page 21 of the self-evaluation form.

Ms. Morning suggests that we will need to provide extra support to core classroom teachers for standard 2 of the evaluation.

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Reviewed mission statement. We need to type the mission statement and send it to the leadership team and post it on our doors.

Meeting times were set as from 11:15 to 12:00.

Ms. Farthing brought up the 5th grade poetry project and some discussion was had about having 5th grade do this in conjunction with Ms. Farthing – but it’s due in 2 weeks. Ms. McCabe talked about her experiences with doing the poetry project at Konnoak. Ms. Farthing, do you have a link to info about this? The poems are due 9/25. Ms. Farthing gave the info to Ms. Morning to share with the 5th grade teachers.

Last, Ms. McKenzie showed this blog which was set up for us to share info and to collaborate. Please see her if you have questions or difficulties with it.

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If any information is incomplete or incorrect, please leave a comment on this entry and Ms. McKenzie will correct it ASAP.

Meeting Minutes 9/9

This is where the minutes for our 9/9/2009 meeting will go.

Specialists PLC Meeting Minutes Form

Specialists--Feel free to comment on any changes that might enhance our PLC Minutes Form.

North Hills Elementary PLC/Specialist meeting Sheet


Date_____________ PBS: (__ min.):

Chairperson_____________________ Are the students motivated?
Weekly Target: (Objective)
Announcements: (3 min) T1: ______________________
T2: ______________________
T3: ______________________


Collaboration (____ min.): If not, how will they become motivated?
Share Best Practices/ Activities:
What do the specialists need to know?
Weekly Target:
T1: __________________________
T2: __________________________
T3: __________________________
T4: __________________________ Where are the most discipline problems
occurring?
Sharing of ideas, strategies &
How will the specialists find out? Resources:
Share Best Practices/ Activities:






What will we do if they don’t find out? How will we know if it is working?
Weekly Assessment
T1: ______________________
T2: ______________________
T3: ______________________



How will we know if we accomplished our goal?
Weekly Assessment
T1: _________________________
T2: _________________________
T3: _________________________
T4: _________________________




Reading Integration: (__ min):

What reading skills need to be reinforced?
Weekly Target: (Objective)
T1: ________________________
T2: ________________________
T3: ________________________
T4: ________________________

How will they be reinforced?
Share Best Practices/ Activities:





How will we know if reinforcement is working?
Weekly Assessment:
T1: ________________________
T2: ________________________
T3: ________________________
T4: ________________________




Issues (Questions, concerns for the Leadership team) (3 min)
____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________


What great things are happening? What are some opportunities for improvement? (5 mins)

Plus Delta

North Hills Specialists Mission Statement

The mission of the specialists at North Hills Elementary School is to collaborate with each other and other staff members to extend, encourage, enhance, and enrich students' learning experiences.

Welcome to the North Hills Elementary School Specialists' Blog!