Calendar

March 16 Third nine-week report cards go home

March 23-27 Space Week

March 30-April 3 Spring Break

Wild About our WIGs!!! Part 2

We just finished our first round of WIGs with our February STAR Reading test. Most students did really well on their test, and we are gearing up to celebrate our successes in reaching our goals! I think the students are beginning to realize that choices can have really big impacts on the outcomes!

Third grade piloted the program from January-February, and now the whole school is joining in! This was an important time for us to learn and adjust, so we've made some minor changes in the way we are going to do this.

Our school wide and grade level WIG is that 100% of our students will show reading growth by the end of the year. This trickles down to the class, making our class goal 100% of students growing in reading as well. It trickles down to every student having the goal to improve on his STAR Reading test.

This week we reviewed the things that help us achieve goals: knowing where we are, where we're going, and how long we have to get there, working on two things that will help us reach our goal, tracking our progress, and having an accountability partner.

All of these pieces have been put into place. I've met with students individually and set a goal for their May STAR Reading test. We discussed things that will help them reach this goal and chose 2 things that will have the biggest impact on reaching their goal. We call these lead measures, or daily goals. These lead measures are reading 20 minutes five or more days a week and completing 3 SuccessMaker Reading sessions a week. We added to our folder so they can track when they read and do SuccessMaker Reading. We will begin tracking our lead measures on Monday, February 24th and will begin meeting with our accountability partners on Monday, March 2. The folders will remain in the students' backpacks so they can track as soon as they complete one of their daily goals (lead measures).

Please discuss this with your child and encourage them to work on their weekly goals of reading 20 minutes every day and completing the 3 SuccessMaker Reading sessions each week. The 20 minutes of reading for homework counts towards their weekly goal of reading 20 minutes each day. We have time built into our schedule for TWO SuccessMaker Reading sessions each week during homeroom. We are asking that one session be done for homework sometime during the week. Also, please encourage your child to get to class on time and begin SMR as soon as possible upon arrival so they can get their two school sessions in.

To login to SuccessMaker Reading at home, please have your child navigate to madisoncity4700.smhost.net . Click "Enter Here" and then have your child login using their regular school username and the password abc123. SuccessMaker can also be accessed through the CES website at ces.madisoncity.k12.al.us. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the SuccessMaker link.

Thank you for your support! I know we all share the goal of reading growth, and I am grateful to partner with you and our students to make this happen!

Field Trips - January, February, and March

We have two field trips coming up within the next month.

First, we will be going to Roller Time skating rink for a STEM lesson and roller skating on January 30th. The cost of this field trip is $16 and includes the lesson, admission and skates, and lunch (2 slices of pizza and a drink). Field trip forms will go home tomorrow and must be returned by January 24th. Please let me know if you are interested in chaperoning this field trip. There is no fee for chaperones, but you will have to rent skates and purchase (or bring) your own lunch.

Second, we will be going to see our school play, Lion King, Jr. on February 7th. Field trip forms went home for this went home today. We are asking that $1.00 (exact change) be sent with the signed field trip form to cover the cost of transportation. We will not be taking chaperones on this field trip.

We will also be going to visit with an author in March. We will share details when we receive them, but we look forward to this experience as well!

Wild About our WIGs!!!

As part of Leader in Me, we are learning how to set and accomplish WIGs, or Wildly Important Goals. We have a schoolwide WIG that is then broken down to grade level, class, and individual WIGs - we each have to do our part to reach the big goal!

Our school wide and grade level WIG is that 100% of our students will show reading growth by the end of the year. This trickles down to the class, making our class goal 100% of students growing in reading as well.

We talked about the things that help us achieve goals: knowing where we are, where we're going, and how long we have to get there, working on two things that will help us reach our goal, tracking our progress, and having an accountability partner.

All of these pieces have been put into place. I've met with students individually and set a goal for their February STAR Reading test. We discussed things that will help them reach this goal and chose 2 things that will have the biggest impact on reaching their goal. These things are reading 20 minutes EVERY day and completing 3 SuccessMaker Reading sessions a week. We set up a folder where they can track when they read and do SuccessMaker Reading. We will begin next week meeting with our accountability partners.

Please discuss this with your child and encourage them to work on their weekly goals of reading 20 minutes every day and completing the 3 SuccessMaker Reading sessions each week. The 20 minutes of reading for homework counts towards their weekly goal of reading 20 minutes each day. We have time built into our schedule for TWO SuccessMaker Reading sessions each week during homeroom. We are asking that one session be done for homework sometime during the week. Also, please encourage your child to get to class on time and begin SMR as soon as possible upon arrival so they can get their two school sessions in.

To login to SuccessMaker Reading at home, please have your child navigate to madisoncity4700.smhost.net . Click "Enter Here" and then have your child login using their regular school username and the password abc123. SuccessMaker can also be accessed through the CES website at ces.madisoncity.k12.al.us. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the SuccessMaker link.

Thank you for your support! I know we all share the goal of reading growth, and I am grateful to partner with you and our students to make this happen!