"B" week schedule this week!

PD - January 2

Link to our PD day on January 2!  See you at 8:00am at the district office (8113 Ridgepoint Dr. Ste. 202 Irving, TX 75063)

Upcoming Field Trips 🎉

Exciting news!  There are two field trips on the books already for the new semester!

• Wednesday, January 17, grades 6th-8th will be going to KidZania. 

• Friday, May 10, grades 4th-8th grade will be going to Six Flags Over Texas for their "Education Days".  There are activities that can be downloaded for Math & Science that can be done prior to going to the park.  

Teachers in grades PK through 3rd, if you have any field trip ideas that tie into your curriculum, let me know and I can get started on setting those up as well.  Some ideas could be:

• The Dallas World Aquarium – #DWAZOO 

• Yesterland Farm in Canton, TX

• Seaquest in Ft. Worth

• Fort Worth Zoo https://www.fortworthzoo.org/

There are a lot more ideas out there, above are links to just a few.

**Money collection for KidZania ($6.00) is on the online website (manaraacademy.org, scroll down and click on "School Fees", click on "Arlington STEM", and then click on "KidZania Field Study").  Cash will NOT be accepted as a form of payment for field trips.  The Six Flags payment is not available yet, but once it is on the website ready to go, information will be send out to families at that time.

Lesson Plans and Weekly Newsletters

Where to put them:  2023-2024 Teacher Resources drive within the STEM folder.  

Please make sure to upload your lesson plans & newsletters to the correct folder and on time.  If you need help, please let me know!

*Make sure to add Common Sense Media lessons to your lesson plans each week, Paper lessons/expectations, and NewsELA Social Studies lessons!

**Also, remember to include morning work for each day as scholars are arriving/finishing breakfast each morning.  Routines are key, and strong morning routines set powerful learning tones for the day!

End of the 3rd 6 weeks (1st Semester)

Our 3rd 6 week period ends on Friday, December 15.  Please make sure this week to collect any missing grades/assignments from scholars so that you can complete grading next week.  I will lock the term on January 2, so please have everything completed by then, as report cards will be going home on Wednesday, January 3.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

SLO data collection

Within your individual SLO folders I have added a data tracker where you will input data collected from your TFAR or mCLASS assessments.  The following dates are when the following data should be input:

Using the Initial Skill Profile Rubric:  

BOY assessments (Data acceptable:  1st TFAR given, mCLASS, Circle)

Using the Targeted Skill Profile Rubric:

December (week of Dec 11) End of 3rd six weeks - Evidence of student progress #1 Done!

January (week of Jan 3) Start of 4th six weeks -  Evidence of student progress #2

February (week of Feb 12) End of 4th six weeks -  Evidence of student progress #3

February (week of Feb 21) Start of 5th six weeks -  Evidence of student progress #4

March (week of Apr 1) End of 5th six weeks -  Evidence of student progress # 5

May (week of May 20) End of 6th six weeks - EOY Student Skill Level

Remember to utilize the same TFAR for the the start and end of each 6 weeks so that the data is an accurate comparison.

Reminder:  Naming conventions for TFAR assessments:  last name.grade.subject.date

Reminders...

A few friendly reminders for the start of the 2nd semester...

• Student in grades 4-8 should only be going to the restrooms one at a time throughout the day with filling out the bathroom logs in your classroom each time they leave AND the time they return.  

• Students in grades K-3 can have a buddy, but still log on a restroom log when they leave and when they return (students can do this as well!)

• Students in grades 3-8 should only be going on "approved" apps through Clever ONLY.  I've seen several student chromebook history lately students going onto google sites and playing non-academic games.  Students must be monitored while on their chromebooks, so do not allow them to have "free time" on their chromebooks without knowing what they are going on.

• On rainy / weather days for indoor recess, chromebooks should not be used as their recess activity.  Students are using the chromebooks in inappropriate ways with "chatting" with each other on google chat during class time, and providing them with times to "free-play" on their chromebook is not helping to manage their appropriate usage.  

• Please remind students that ALL information, from what they google to what they chat to what they delete to what they record can and WILL be seen at any time.  Even something deleted years ago can be recovered.

• Make sure to have designated morning work routines and procedures at all times!  A structured morning routine sets a great tone for the day!

Let me know if you have any questions or need help or suggestions with any of the items listed above.  Thank you for the help each day that you give to all our scholars!

Staff Hours

Staff hours are 7:15am (or if prepared for the day arrival by 7:30am) until 4:15pm (unless otherwise designated within your contracted hours).  Fill out the "Request to Leave" forms if needing to leave early/arrive late any day so I can make sure adequate coverage is available (available in the front office drawer).  Please refer to the master schedule as to morning and afternoon duties as well, as we all play a crutial role in making sure our scholars arrive and dismiss safely.  I know we all want to leave in a timely manner, but leaving earlier than 4:15pm each day without prior permission is not meeting district expectations.  Thank you to your attention to this process!

To-Do Items

Things to do this week:

• Place your lesson plans & newsletters in the correct google drive folder 

• SLO Data Student Growth Tracker input (Evidence of progress #2 due the first week after break)

• Complete grades for the 3rd 6 week period (grades will lock on Tuesday, Jan 2)

• Start planning ahead with focusing on reviewing classroom rules and procedures the week of Jan 2

• Continue with weekly digital citizenship lessons - IMPORTANT!!  We're having a lot of issues with students not being good digital citizens, and in order for them to understand what this means, we need to teach them what it means! 😀

Dec 18-Jan 1 Winter Break

Jan 1-5 SLO Student Growth Tracker Input Due - Evidence #2 (see calendar invite & info in the newsletter for further details)

Jan 2 PD - District Office - staff blackout day (no absences approved)

Jan 1-5 SLO Growth Tracker Evidence #2 due

Jan 3 School Resumes for scholars

Jan 3 Report cards to go home

Jan 3 Start of the 4th week grading period

Jan 8-Feb 9 MOY mCLASS Benchmark Window

Jan 12 Staff blackout day (no absences approved)

Jan 15 MLK Jr. Holiday - No school for staff & scholars

Jan 16 Staff blackout day (no absences approved)

Jan 17 KidZania Field Trip for grades 6th - 8th

Feb 12-16 SLO Student Growth Tracker Input Due - Evidence #3

May 10 Six Flags Over Texas Field Trip for grades 4th - 8th