November 12, 2019

CMS PLC 2019-2020

Every department at Crystal has a goal for student progress this year and we use these to determine what student progress looks like across all subjects and the whole school. 

Counseling SMART Goal 19-20	To reduce chronic absenteeism of at risk students (students who missed 10+ days the previous year) by 25% during the 2019-20 school year.
Elective SMART Goal 19-20	To incorporate daily reading/writing activities into our daily lessons in our elective classes, and connect them to our specific subject area of study.
English SMART Goal 19-20	By April, 80% of students will be able to complete an ACE Response that effectively answers the question, cites relevant text evidence and explains the evidence and how it supports their answer to the question.
History SMART Goal 19-20	We intend to strengthen students’ ability to use evidence in support of analysis in written responses
Math SMART Goal 19-20	By June 1st 2020, 80% of Crystal students will be able to explain their reasoning on at least ONE question of EACH Unit Assessment, starting with Unit 2, using the ACE strategy.
Science SMART Goal 19-20	We would like our students to receive a rigorous science curriculum that aligns to the NGSS and contains academic conversations and many reading opportunities.
SPED SMART Goal 19-20	Build literacy through increasing lexile scores by 100 points (*based on Read 180’s charted middle-school goal of 300 points/entire school year) in beginner readers, or students who are more than 2 grade levels below standard.  This goal ideally reaches all students, but through identifying those who continue struggling, further IEP intervention may be warranted.

Thank you to our Department Chairs and their Leadership! 👏👏👏👏💪💪💪💪🙌🙌🙌🙌

Professional Development in November:

CMS Department Meetings: November 19th

• Counseling: Will look at Attendance data
• Electives: Will look at writing
• English: Will be designing rubrics on the ACE strategy
• History: Will be analyzing common interim assessments to analyze effectiveness of primary/secondary sources and the ACE strategy
• Math: Will be looking at end of unit embedded assessments and the ACE strategy
• Science: Will be looking at formative assessments to guide academic conversations and vice versa
• SPED: looking at lexile data ways to collect it across the classrooms

New Teacher Walks: Wednesday, November 20th:

To support our new teachers, Department Chairs and new teachers in their respective departments will get time to meet, discuss and get support from department chairs. 

Proposed schedule for upcoming days:

Date Type Qty Substitutes S/db Approved

11/20 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes ELA - Frey & Solomon

11/20 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes 1/2 Viri, 1/2 Kagenski

12/4 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes Science - Cardiel & Spinelli

1/29 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes ELA - Frey & Solomon

1/29 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes 1/2 Viri, 1/2 Kagenski

1/29 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes Science - Cardiel & Spinelli

4/6 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes ELA - Frey & Solomon

5/7 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes 1/2 Viri, 1/2 Kagenski

5/7 New Teacher Learning Walks 2 Yes Science - Cardiel & Spinelli

Learning Walks: Thursday, November 21st:

For this cycle, our Department Chairs will welcome teachers to visit their classrooms to observe strategies to address departmental SMART goals and more. The following teachers will be available to visit:

Teacher	Period	Features
Fee/Solomon	4th	Co-taught model
Doherty	All	Do Now Procedures Transitions Notebook writing Individual interactive assessment Student Engagement
Lay	All	Open Up/IM Curriculum Classroom management Academic Conversations
Molina	All	Classroom management Student engagement Citing evidence (primary & secondary)
Solomon	All	Springboard Curriculum ACE Strategy Classroom management Co-Taught Model (4th period)
Spinelli	All	Rituals/Routines Lab group work Designing a lab
Warner	All	Open Up/IM Curriculum (1st & 3rd per) Classroom management SGI & Stu Engagment (all per's.)

The sign up for the learning walks can be found HERE and will also be emailed to you. Please note that requesting a spot does not guarantee that you will receive that spot. 

Upcoming PLC Work in December

PLC Time for 6th Grade English Teachers - Tuesday, December 3rd

PLC Time for 7th Grade English Teachers - Tuesday, December 17th

What are teachers expected to do with PLC time? Some guidelines:

• Take responsibility for productive agendas
• Review high quality, aligned common interim assessments and plan to give them at least 4 times this year
• Review clear criteria for proficient work, including rubrics, and exemplars
• Use interim assessments to regularly track student progress 
• Use PLC time to answer five questions to focus same-grade/same-subject teams on improving teaching and learning and achieving equitable outcomes for students to fulfill their potential

1. Where are we going?
2. Where are we now?
3. How do we move learning forward?
4. What did we learn today?
5. Who benefited and who did not?

What Supports Are There for Students?

Intervention	Students may qualify IF	Who intervention is well suited to
Check and Connect	Unduplicated Subgroup AND/OR suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Student with executive functioning deficits, mild/ moderate motivational issues, benefits from weekly accountability
Check in/ Check Out (CICO, digital)	Suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Student with high levels of attention seeking behaviors, benefits from increased daily feedback and praise
ABW - A Better Way Group Counseling	Suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Student with internalizing behavior concerns (e.g. anxiety, loneliness, etc.), social skills deficits
SCOE Anger Management Counseling	Suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Students with peer and adult conflict behaviors that are likely related to a lack of effective coping skills
Behavior Contract	Suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Students with executive functioning, mild/ moderate motivation, or acute behavioral challenges-- these should be able to be resolved within 2-3 weeks of effort and targeted reinforcement
Break Pass	Suspended, AND/OR 2 or more referrals, AND below 90% attendance rate, AND/OR 2 or more F’s	Students with behavior challenges related to avoidance (of work demands or social situations) for example elopement or disruption
Truancy Notification Letter	Students with 3 unexcused absences	Letter sent home
Truancy Letter (SART, Letter 2)	Students with 6 unexcused absences	Students/families receive second letter, attend SART meeting and agree to a site-based contract for attendance expectations.
Truancy Letter (SARB, Letter 3)	Students with Letters 1 and Letter 2 AND no improvement in attendance or has failed to uphold attendance expectations.	Students/families receive second letter, attend SARB meeting with Admin and agree to a district-based contract for attendance expectations.
Referral to Truancy Court	Students with continued attendance insssues following SARB	Students that have been through SART, SARB and failed to improve attendance.

A-G Presentations:

If you received a reminder that all 6th and 7th grade students will receive presentations on high school graduation and A-G requirements (6th grade presentations will be modified to discuss study skills and time management strategies).Please be sure to request a time for Trena to visit at your next opportunity.  Per Trena, this will take approximately 40min of class time to complete. 

The November Cougar Trait of the Month is Being Genuine.

At Crystal we are encouraging students to speak the truth of what is in their heart and stand up for what they believe. Being genuine means knowing and choosing to do the right thing. We encourage everyone to talk with students about what being genuine means to you. Thank you to our Science Teachers and Mrs. Warner for designing and implementing lessons on being Genuine this month!! The lessons can be found here.

Reminders:

*Student Leadership is hosting a Canned Food Drive 11/4-11/15. The 1st period classroom with the most donations will win a fun classroom reward! All collected canned food will be donated to the Solano Food Bank to help feed hungry families in our community.

*PTA is hosting an upcoming Fundraiser Night on November 13th. Check out all the details on their facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/crystalmiddleschoolPTSA/