Feb Running Record and Spelling Inventory

It's that time of year!

In preparation for 3-way conferences and regrouping students for reading and word study, a running record and updated WTW spelling inventory will be given for each child.  Note that changes from last year are 1) Use Fountas and Pinnell system 2) It is a non-fiction text and 3) every student is given the running record.

Due Date into the system is March 1st (however you will want to gather data for some before 3 way conferences)

Next Thursday Feb 8th after school, there will be an optional session for support in taking or scoring running records by Literacy Leaders (Karen, Kris, Kim). 3:40-4:15 in Karen Terry's room.

Reminders:

• instructional level is recorded (take multiple running records if needed to find instructional level- conversation chart taped to each box)
• refer to information files in assessment box for reminders on scoring, coding, and finding instructional levels
• see Learning Leaders if you require books outside of your grade level (Trevor A-N, Kim L-Z)

Recording info: Please access this database link to record running record instructional level and WTW spelling stage.  Please do not add additional information into the cells, as it is exported to another system. However feel free to make a copy of your grade level after completing the info if you wish to include your own data such as reading behaviours, MSV miscues and individual notes. Add in any new students to the bottom of your list.

Logistics:

• let us know if you need a space reserved for taking running records
• please ask EAL and LS teachers to help out 
• Refrain from coaching into any of these testing materials as it interferes with validity
• It is possible students were moved back in levels due to rigour of comprehension required in new assessment kits 
• can refer to chart for expectation at this time of year 

Fountas and Pinnell running record data and Spelling data will be collected for every student 3 times a year Oct (Fiction), Feb (non-Fiction), May (Fiction). 

Due Dates: 
Nov 10th, 2017 (extended 2 weeks due to new system)- Fiction
March 1st, 2018- Non Fiction
May 2nd, 2018- Fiction

Literacy Rep Meeting

We held our first Literacy Rep meeting on Nov 2nd.  A big thank-you goes out to the Literacy Reps for their dedication and responsibility to their teams, school and profession!
 It was a lively and productive collaborative meeting.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Responsibilities of Literacy Reps 
• Successes and Challenges in team meetings 
• Review Workshop teaching expectations
• Seek input on desired internal PD

Find detailed information about the above topics in the meeting notes here

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Math Reps Meeting notes coming soon...

UOI Reps meeting to be held on Wed Dec 6th

Literacy Assessment (Running records and Spelling stages)

Running Records 2017/18

Fountas and Pinnell running record data will be collected for every student 3 times a year Oct (Fiction), Feb (non-Fiction), May (Fiction). 

Due Dates: 
Nov 10th, 2017 (extended 2 weeks due to new system)- Fiction
Feb 9th, 2018- Non Fiction
May 2nd, 2018- Fiction

Reminders:

• instructional level is recorded (take multiple running records if needed to find instructional level- conversation chart taped to each box)
• refer to information files in assessment box for reminders on scoring, coding, and finding instructional levels
• see Learning Leaders if you require books outside of your grade level (Trevor A-N, Kim L-Z)

Recording info: Please access this database link to record running record instructional level and WTW spelling stage.  Please do not add additional information on this form, as it is exported to another system. However feel free to make a copy of your grade level after completing the info if you wish to include your own data such as reading behaviours, MSV miscues and individual notes. 

Logistics:

• let us know if you need a space reserved for taking running records
• please ask EAL and LS teachers to help out 
• Refrain from coaching into any of these testing materials as it interferes with validity
• It is possible students may be moved back in levels due to rigour of comprehension required in new assessment kits 

Shopping for books!!

Good afternoon!

Outside Kim's office (S100) there are hundreds of books to build classroom libraries. These books are predominantly G1-3, but some may be relevant to older or younger grades.

Please bring a basket and choose any books you wish to have for your classrooms.  Any books not collected by this Friday Sept 15th, will be donated.



A big thank-you to Karen Terry for continuing the work of the Literacy committee Bookroom team to set up the new space on the first floor.  This is a big job and we are grateful to Karen for giving her time to this job. We will let you know as soon as the room is available to borrow books for students to take home.

Chie, Celia and Kim are working on setting up a room attached to the library to house book sets that can be borrowed by classroom teachers for instructional purposes.  If you are in urgent need to access sets for book clubs, please send Kim an e-mail.

Book Leveling for classroom Libraries

As new books arrive for classroom libraries, I thought we should share some resources for leveling them for your students. 

Option #1: 
Please go to  http://www.fandpleveledbooks.com/ 
Then Log-in as our school in order to search for books. 

Log-in : literacy@canacad.ac.jp

Pwrd:  Academy1 

Option #2 (This site has more searchable books- but need to correlate to F and P level)

Scholastic Book Wizard

There is no log-in, but you will need to use this correlation chart to ensure it aligns with Fountas and Pinnell.  Up until letter J there is a direct correlation. 

Sign-up! Literacy Peek into Learning

Next Wednesday March 22nd, the Elementary Parent Coffee morning will include a peek into Literacy learning at CA.  A small group of parents will visit your class for intervals of 10 - 15 minutes sometime between 9am-9:45.  You might consider arranging your schedule on that day to show off your students literacy knowledge & skills.

Particular area of interests for parents include:

• word study (to compare to traditional spelling approach)
• interactive read-aloud
• guided reading
• reading mini-lessons
• reading like a writer (using mentor texts)
• students making books 
• writing mini-lesson
• writing conferences, strategy groups, partner work

Please click here to let us know what your class will be doing at that time, and if relevant, the best time to visit your class. Please fill in the chart by Friday March 17th, so we can prepare the session.

Grade 4 and 5 have Specials at this time, so the focus is likely PK-Grade 3.  However any grade 4 and 5 classes are encouraged to take part if their schedule allows. 

Literacy Meetings in the next three weeks

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to you to inform about a change in Kim's schedule for three weeks after the fall break.
We have identified some unexpected challenging dynamics and learning needs in Angela's grade 1 classroom. We decided that Kim and Angela will try full-time co-teaching in the mornings to ensure that all students can access learning effectively. This means that most meetings with Kim cannot take place as usual. However, for the time being, Kim will provide guidance for reflecting upon the previous Unit of Study and how to start planning the next one. Trevor and I will look into our schedules to support Literacy meetings as appropriate. After the three weeks, we will return back to normal Literacy meeting schedule.

Thank you for your understanding, flexibility, and support.

Heikki

Balanced Literacy in the Elementary School

Dear Colleagues,

Before heading into summer, I would like to congratulate us all for reaching the final stage of the decision-making process for common literacy resources. We can start the new school year with some new resources but most importantly with a shared understanding what and how to facilitate balanced literacy learning in the Elementary School.

Thank-you to all the focus groups and teachers who have volunteered to pilot resources to support our balanced literacy model. Your feedback and contributions along with the guiding document created in semester one formed a strong foundation for the final decisions. You will notice some of the current resources used will continue, and some new resources will be introduced. 

Writing	Reading
Writing Units of Study    (Lucy Calkins)	Reading Units of Study  (Lucy Calkins)
Fountas and Pinnell Phonics and Word Study Continuum (PK-5) Continuum used to determine skills and strategies taught in each year level Binders and kit are available as a resource for teachers PK- G3
Words Their Way  Spelling inventory used K-5 Word Sorts used K-3 (4,5 to explore further resources)	Fountas and Pinnell  Benchmark Reading Assessment System (K-5) Used to assess reading levels and miscue analysis
Handwriting Without Tears  PK and KB 2016/17 (G1 following year, then G2 etc)
Pathways Continuums (K-5) Provide anchor continuums for all 3 writing types	Continue with CA reading continuum for 16/17

We will be placing an order over the summer in order to have materials ready for each grade level starting in August. In the meantime overviews of The Fountas and Pinnell Word Study Continuums and Words Their Way stages can be found in this google folder. 

Kim will be sharing more details on how to use these resources to support teaching and learning in the new year.  She will also be explaining these resources to the new teachers during orientation in August. 

End of Year Literacy Jobs: further details

You can also find the expectations on the End of Year Procedures Document.

End of Year Literacy: further explanation and additional info

Reading:

• Reading continuums to be highlighted for each student and handed to Yuko
• Running record data for each student into the system.
• May running records paper sheets placed into green file and handed to Yuko (these will be handed to next grade level)

Writing

• If you use a writing continuum, highlight and hand to Yuko
• Place a writing sample into Student File (ERB or Narrative On-demand)\

A note for on-demand samples:

Each class has on-demand narrative writing samples from the beginning of the year. K-2 will also collect an end of year on-demand narrative sample to place in the student's writing folder. Please assess each sample using the Narrative writing continuum.

Writing prompt is on page 182 of Pathways Book. 

3-5 teachers, please choose if you wish to collect an on-demand sample to compare beginning and end of year standardized writing.

Writing Folders for next year

*Kim will order plastic writing folders (2 clear pockets) for all students K-5 Please let her know if you wish to order your own.

If you are leaving the school (additional to above):

The following resources should be checked back into Kim for her to check-out to and orientate new teachers:

• 4 units of study books (writing)
• CD (writing units)
• Book: Pathways to Common Core
• Book: A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop
• Book: A Guide to the Common Core Reading Workshop

*Please place them in the book room and let Kim know.

Running Record Data for May

 KB- G5 teachers,

In order to best consider our community of readers, we ask that a formal running record be taken for every student unless they have already been tested at a level 30.  The data can also be used to inform report card writing.

Important: Running record data should be put into the Running Record spreadsheet  by May 30, 2016. 

Please refer to the following support documents if needed:
How to take PM Benchmark running records 
Where to find Resources

**If you would like a refresher on any aspects of collecting and recording this data, please send Kim a quick message. 

Volunteers:

Once again are looking for a few teachers ( 1 upper primary and 1 lower primary) to trial the Fountas and Pinnell kits.  A correlation chart will be used for the data. Please contact Kim if interested.

Word Study Process re-scheduled

Dear colleagues,

As most people are very busy with the Exhibition and Conferences, Heikki and Kim decided to alter the Word Study process as follows:

This week: No Word Study meeting regarding Resources. Time can be used for collaborative planning, and preparing for conferences and Exhibition.

Next meeting May 11th:  Second Word Study session: Look at resources that support the philosophy in teaching literacy and to make a recommendation for the Leadership Team.

The third Word Study session about planning with the chosen resources and sharing ideas will take place in August 2016. It will function as a reminder and introduction to philosophy, resources and practices of the balanced literacy program in the Elementary School.

Please turn to Kim for further information about the Word Study.

February Running Record Data

Running Record Data for February

 KB- G5 teachers,

In order to best consider our community of readers, we ask that a formal running record be taken and recorded by the end of February for any student reading at or below the grade level benchmarks. Please feel free to use data collected in January to inform report writing. You are not required to record data for students reading above these benchmarks, but feel free to do so. The following chart can be used as a reference:  

KB -      PM level 4        F&P level C/D

1st -      PM level 12       F&P level G

2nd -     PM level 20       F&P level K

3rd -      PM level 24       F&P level O

4th -      PM level 27       F&P level R

5th -      PM level 29       F&P level T

Note of caution: benchmarks can be useful at a macro-level, however individual student focus is on appropriate progress over time.

We are looking for a few teachers ( 1 upper primary and 1 lower primary) to trial the Fountas and Pinnell kits.  A correlation chart will be used for the data. Please contact Kim if interested.

 Important: Running record data should be put into the Running Record spreadsheet  2015/16 for students requiring a running record to be documented.

Please refer to the following support documents if needed:
How to take PM Benchmark running records 
Where to find Resources

**If you would like a refresher on any aspects of collecting and recording this data, please send me (Kim) a quick message and I would be more than happy to come and see you. 

Lunch Time Library Use

Starting in January, elementary students in grades 1-5 are welcome to visit the library during their lunch recess.  Students may use this time to check out books and/or read quietly.  Each grade level has been assigned a day of the week for these lunchtime visits:

Monday - 5th grade

Tuesday - 4th grade

Wednesday - 3rd grade

Thursday - 2nd grade

Friday - 1st grade

Please note that when it is raining outside and an indoor recess has been called, students will follow the 'rainy day recess' schedule/arrangement for that day.

Weekly Uplate, Monday 14 December

Dear colleagues,

Please make to most of the last school week of the calendar year. Past week was busy with Matt Glover. Big thank you and appreciation go to all the faculty for your flexibility, effort and willingness to learn together with your students how to best use the workshop model to nurture writers at their different developmental phases. Another huge thank you goes to Kim who organized it all including TGIF. The detailed and collaborative planning of Mr Glover’s visit ensured smooth transitions and optimal use of Matt’s time for planning, modeling and presenting. Thank you Kim!

Enjoy the week!

Supervision:                                                                Link to Master schedule

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40
Week	Cafeteria Tables	Playground	Playground	Healthy lunch guide in the cafeteria line
12/14/2015	Saiko	Karen	Jerome	Trevor

Matt Glover

Matt Glover provided many exciting opportunities for us all to learn about teaching in general, and specifically teaching of writing explicitly. Matt’s common sense approach, useful reminders about the zone of proximal development and his student-centered modeling helped us to enjoy learning. Here are some of his messages noted and interpreted by Heikki:

“ Nudging vs. Pushing: teach the most appropriate and helpful thing from the student point of view at a time instead of many.”

“Approximation: Make sure that your expectations are aligned with the student age and each student’s place in their unique journey of learning.

“ Telling, reminding and correcting are not teaching. They are only applicable and appropriate strategies when students have been explicitly taught and successfully learned the skills they are expected to apply.”

“ In order to design engaging and appropriate writers' workshops, start with developing the stack of texts; then develop a plan for mini lessons and conferring, and only then go and check how well the plans are aligned with the standards and benchmarks”

“Writers’ Workshop is the most effective model for differentiating writing instruction, that we currently have available for responding to the needs of ESOL and Learning Support students.”

Secret Santa!

This is just a reminder to spread the holiday cheer if you've joined Secret Santa. The finale is this Wednesday at the Town Hall meeting, bring a final gift adding your real name!

Coordinator's Meetings

Link to ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

• KB-G5 will wrap-up reflections for UOI#2. Please make sure to reflect with your teaching partner in advance.
• Literacy meetings this week will focus on reflections from time with Matt Glover and continuing to resource unit folders.  

Wednesday PD and Faculty meeting time                    Link to Wednesday PD Schedule

• Town Hall Meeting and Tankyuu: Sharing Learning so far in the BBTAround the school this week:

• Thursday: Last ES Assembly of the Year! 14:30-15:20 in the BBT.
• Patomime in the main theatre on Wednesday 16th December at 6.30pm

Future Dates

There will be another blog on report writing and report cards this week. Keep on checking.

Weekly update, Monday 7 December

Dear colleagues,

As we enter the penultimate school week of this calendar year we hope that everyone feels well prepared for the last week and so. In many classrooms, there may be plans to celebrate the season and we encourage you to do so. However, just a friendly reminder, please respect the diversity in religion, traditions and celebrations as you go ahead with your plans. Thank you for your feedback on the Draft Elementary School Action Plan. We will get back to you with a revised plan before the holiday. Finally, we are very excited about the inspiration and learning around teaching literacy that will be available through Matt Glover this week. What a rare opportunity to learn on the job. Enjoy!

Supervision:                                                                Link to Master schedule

Time	12:15-12:40	12:25-12:55	12:25-12:55	12:15-12:40
Week	Cafeteria Tables	Playground	Playground	Healthy lunch guide in the cafeteria line
11/30/2015	Suki	Jay	Resham	Shunsuke

Matt Glover

Tuesday-Friday 8-11 December, Matt Glover will be visiting ES.  Please refer to the schedule to check for any updates. Planning sessions and labsites (him teaching a class) are open to anyone that can attend.  We haven’t had a chance to explain his visit to students, so we ask that teachers, explain to students who he is and why he will be here teaching classes. Students should also be aware that a number of teachers will be in some classes watching and taking notes.

Sign-up to spread a holiday spirit!

Secret Santa is back by popular demand!  Put your name down to take part in a week of small treats with a colleague. Monday at 4 pm is the deadline to add your name. Names will be shared Tuesday or Wednesday this week. Finale is next Wednesday at the Town Hall meeting. Here is the link to sign up.

Coordinator's Meetings

Link to ES Team Planning Meeting Schedule

• There will be no PYP meetings with Trevor this week to give more flexibility to visit labsites and get the most out of Matt's visit. Next week, KB-G5 will wrap-up reflections for UOI#2. Please make sure to reflect with your teaching partner in advance so we can complete it next week.
• Kim will not attend Literacy meetings this week. Please continue to reflect in teams and document unit resources for Units of Study #2.

Wednesday PD and Faculty meeting time                    

Link to Wednesday PD Schedule

• 2-hour block: Matt Glover (This will be in the auditorium.)

Around the school this week:

• Elementary TGIF from 3:30-5pm in the faculty lounge (beside cafeteria). Come by to say farewell to Matt and to have a cup of cheer!
• Secondary Art exhibition in the Atrium all week. Check out our budding artists!
• Secondary students (and PK/KA) are taking part in Creativity sessions (time and space for students to create something) last period Friday

Future Dates

There will be another blog on report writing and report cards this week. Keep coming back here.