CPJMA Monday Morning Memo

9/25-9/29

 Our students are already playing the violin well!!!!!

 TK and Kinders are working hard already making connections to reading and writing!!!

 Small group instruction is alive and well in the lower grades!!!!

I appreciate our students striving to meet high expectations at all times!!!!

Instructional Coaching focus- As I continue observations and feedback, the conversations will revolve on how students are engaged, alignment to the standards and the rigor of the lessons and tasks assigned. Please be prepared to share how you.

Staff SSC Nominations- We are looking for teachers to participate on SSC.  We need a whole board of three teachers and one classified staff.  I appreciate your support.


Staff Meeting Time- Wednesday, 9/27/15 in room 9 starting at 1:00, we will start by me giving an overview for the Annual Employee Notification.  I will send you off to complete the rest of the videos on your own.  Please remember to give Cathy the appropriate certificates by Wednesday, October 4th.

Link to Annual Notifications Expectations and PowerPoint Link


Recess Duty-  I have talked to most grade-level reps and specialists about the changes to the recess duty schedule.  Please share with your grade level and specialist colleagues.  Please use the link below to access the Google Drive version of the schedule.

Updated Recess Schedule 9.21.17

PLCs- We will be starting our PLCs on Wednesdays soon (10/9/17).  As we revisit what effective, efficient, and quality PLCs are, please start collecting copies of your formative assessments and data you have been keeping on your students as an on-going formative basis.  This is not to be confused with summative or initial placement data for students.

Recess Duty-WEEK A

CPJMA Monday Morning Memo

9/11/17

 Currently, we are working with ILT to determine the focus and needs of our school.  Please do not forget to share any ideas with ILT.

I am already seeing great routines and structures being implemented by our teachers!!!!

Clear expectations and anchor charts are being added to classrooms for students to refer to for classroom academics and behavioral expectations

Classroom Observations- As I observe instruction this week, I will be coming in with the lens of structures and routines for Reading and Writer's Workshop as well as opportunities for engaging students.

Reorganization- We will be starting with the official reorganization changes first thing in the morning. I am asking if you could come out a few minutes early to help out with the transition.  Please also make sure to be aware of the students who will be moving and the new students who you will be taking in.  

Once again I am also asking that we communicate the same message. 

 

1.      The change was necessary due to the grade level classroom enrollment being out of balance.

2.      What the heaviest weighted factor is and driving our decision-making is the data and most current information we have on your child to determine the best placement of students.

4.      Letters were sent out last Wednesday informing parents of the possibility of change

5.      Parents were called last week on Thursday and letters were sent home last Thursday and Friday confirming the official change of placement for only the students affected.  

Dine out-  We will be having a PTO fundraiser/dine-out at Woodstock's Pizza tomorrow, Monday, 9/18 from 4-9 pm.  I will be there and hope we can have some staff and their families be there as well.

Open House-  Wednesday, 9/20/17, we will be having Open House starting at 5:15 pm.  Please be in the auditorium at 5:10 ready so I can announce you at 5:15.  I will quickly release you and parents will be released at 5:30ish to your classrooms for the first rotation from 5:30- 6:00.  At 6:00 there will be the second rotation for those families who have another child in another classroom.  Open House will be completed at 6:30 pm.  I will be going around to each classroom to ensure that you get home to your families as promptly as possible at 6:30 as well.  

PLC Voting Forms- Please return your top-secret ballot to Angela Rieke as soon as you can if you have not done so already so we can count the votes tomorrow.

SGT (School-wide Discipline Plan)- The team has been released and created a draft of school-wide expectations and a calendar for our Character Traits Focus for staff to review.  Please be looking out for a Google Link.  When you receive the link, please make sure you are logged into your SDUSD account so you can open it up.  

 

CPJMA Monday Morning Memo

9/11/17

Thank you for working so hard in the beginning weeks.  I appreciate your student-centered thinking and look forward to watching our students be given that "just right push" to learn

Classroom Observation Focus- I will continue to come into classrooms to do observations.  I am collecting data on school-wide, grade level, and individual trends.  This will serve as a needs assessment for the school, grade levels, and individuals.

SGT-  We will be released to plan out the PBS expectations specific for the entire school.  From there we will also outline dates for recognition assemblies, and the dates for expectation lesson focus as well.  We will also continue to work on the character building component to our school-wide discipline plan.

Back To School Night-  Back to School Night will be Wednesday, 9/20/17.  We will start at 5:15 in the auditorium and I will quickly introduce the staff.  After I release you, I will continue with a quick presentation until 5:30.  I will then release parents to your classrooms at that time.  At 6:00 we will have a rotation so parents can be part of their other son or daughter's classroom teacher's presentation.  We will conclude at 6:30 pm

School Reconfiguration- From my understanding, things typically settle down around the third Friday of the school year.  We are crossing our fingers and are hoping to reconfigure classes by then.  This will allow for more even distribution of students throughout the classrooms.  If we continue to stay steady, I will communicate that we will have an emergency meeting this Wednesday to make any changes of placement for the students who are impacted.  Once we are sure of the final configuration (for now...) I will let parents know as well. I will further let them know that the changes were made based on teacher input (data, discretion, behaviors, heterogeneous classes...)

Music Club- Starts at 2:15 this Thursday

Enjoy the week!!!!

CPJMA Monday Morning Memo

Week of Tuesday, 9/5/17-Friday, 9/8/17

I appreciate our teachers assessing all students as soon as they possibly can!!!!

Thank you for eliciting classroom discussions at high levels!!!

Music Prep will start Tuesday.  Please refer to the schedules I sent out.  I also have links below.  Mrs. Hradsky has already checked in with most of her students and they were very enjoyable to the students.  

Important Upcoming Dates:

Monday, 9/4/17- Labor Day-Holiday for all staff and students
Tuesday, 9/5/17- Staff Meeting @ 2:30 in room 9
Discussion points-

1. Updated sub preferred list- Please email Cathy if you have names for her.
2. Data from SBAC-deeper look into data
3. ILT update-ILT will share the priority of what will be focused on initially
4. SGT update-School Wide Discipline Plan  SGT Brief Presentation Link
5. Vote on temporary behavioral expectations 
6. Vote on date for open house within 3 weeks or within 6-7 weeks
7. Final class schedule and parent letter with homework policy emailed to Armando 4:00 pm Friday 9/8
8. Emergency sub plans emailed to Cathy by 4:00 pm Friday, 9/22
9. Buddy teacher roster sign up
10. Recess and Violin/Music Prep/PLAY PE schedules
11. Attendance-welcoming at 3 various points of entry with teachers
12. Posting attendance sayings in dry erase boards
13. PTO contest 
14. ASB posting posters all over school about contest
15. Assigned tables for lunch
16. 2 week freeze on changing classrooms
17. Yearbook is happening-leads are Cathy and Tra-Viecia
18. EPI PEN
19. Parent volunteers-staff needs to show how to use machines

Wednesday, 9/6/17- PTO Meeting at 12:30 in room17

Wednesday, 9/6/17- ILT Meeting in office from 1:00-3:00

Thursday, 9/17/17- Violin Orientation Assembly from 8:00-8:30 in the auditorium grades 3rd-5th.

Violin/Music Prep/PLAY PE- Please refer to the duty schedule link below.  

Violin/Music Prep/PLAY PE Schedule Link

Duties- Please refer to the duty schedule.  Please refer to the link below for the duty schedule.

17-18 CP Duty Schedule

CPJMA Monday Morning Memo

8/27/17

I am excited for the first day of school and feel we are ready as much as possible.  As we move forward, please do not hesitate to let me know of any processes or procedures that I am not aware of.  

Ultimately, I appreciate your leadership as we begin the first day and look forward to a wonderful year.

Site Visit- Jim Solo and Kimie Lotchefeld will at some point be stopping by to check in.  Please be aware that they may come in to visit classrooms as well.  

Heat- The weather forecasts call for mid-80s-low 90s tomorrow and for much of the week.  Below is the link to our district's hot weather procedures. Please review the procedures and allow for frequent breaks and opportunities for students to get drinks to keep hydrated.

Operation of Schools During Hot Weather Link

Pre-school- As some of you may have heard, there was a possibility that the licensing for our pre-school would not be ready for the start of school.  After working with the district, we are now good to go and pre-school will be starting on Monday.   

Kinder Orientation- Monday, 8/28/17 with teachers 7:40-8:40 in respective teacher's classrooms.  Principal Kinder Orientation from 8:40-9:40 in the auditorium.  We will have PTO parents to help with our beginning Kinder friends if they have challenges watching their parents leave.

Music/Play PE- From my understanding, a schedule for violin with Mr. Luchs and music with Mrs. Hradsky is usually ready for the first week.  We recently just connected with Play PE and we will create a schedule. We are working together in hopes to create a schedule to be ready for the second week of school.  We appreciate your patience and be assured we are working as fast as we can.

Duty- All hands on deck during the recesses for the first week of school.  I will be working with Ms. Macker to finalize by the end of this week.

School Governance Team-  We met on Friday and discussed the importance of creating clear behavioral expectations for students.   As school-wide expectations are being created, please continue to teach your classroom rules and expectations and any common rules for the school you have done in the past.  

Parent classroom requests- As a reminder, any parent request to change classrooms will be reviewed after two weeks.  It is important that we are all clear and we share the same message to parents.

Assessments- As I work with ILT to come to a consensus on common initial assessments, please continue to use the assessments you have done in the past to learn about your students.  Please consider the following areas for initial assessments:

• Narrative writing on-demand sample
• Reading comprehension
• Comprehensive math inventory

Crown Point Junior Music Academy

Monday Morning Memo

8/21/17

Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year.  If I have not met you yet, I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Armando Lopez and I am the new principal at CPJMA.  I have been fortunate enough to meet some of the staff and parents but not all.  My understanding is that we have incredible students, parents, and staff and I look forward to working along side everyone in an effort to make this a tremendous school year.

The Monday Morning Memo-  This blog serves as a bulletin for all staff to be updated on current events, instructional focus or resources.  It even serves as a medium to share images of the great things staff, parents, and students are doing on a daily basis.  

Kinder Assessing- Kinder teachers will be assessing incoming Kinders Friday, 8/18, Monday, 8/21Tuesday, 8/22. Tra Viecia will continue to call and schedule appointments.  Please assess any students in your classroom if they did not make the assessment window before school.

Prep Days- Please note that I am asking for specific committees/groups/individuals to meet with me on Thursday and Friday.  This is voluntary.  I will communicate with the people and committees at some point in the week.

• Wednesday, 8/23- 7:30 checkin to your classrooms.  Please report to room 9 at 7:30 with your staff handbook binder, laptop, and anything to take notes.  This will be the day of introductions, team building, PD and nuts and bolts. Lunch will be provided by the PTO.
• Thursday, 8/24- Teachers prep in classrooms from 7:30-2:30.  Coffee and bagels provided by the principal in the lounge. Ongoing meetings with staff and committees throughout the day.
• Friday, 8/25- Teachers prep in classrooms from 7:30-2:30.  Ongoing meetings with staff and committees throughout the day.  Teacher Potluck in room 9.

Resource Fair- Thursday, 8/24 from 4:00-6:00 pm

• As in the past, this is the time for families to check out the resources and programs at our school before, during and after school
• Student classroom placements will be shared this day for parents to view
• If for any reason a parent has a question or concern about their child's placement, please refer them to office staff to fill out a request form.  The rule of thumb is that the students will stay in their current classroom at least one week then the principal and office will review the request.

Yokohama Sister Society Visit- Wednesday, 8/30/17 time TBA.  

• I am learning more about this partnership and not fully aware of what time they will be coming or what they expect to see.  
• I would be prepared to minimally for classroom observations of instruction and some of your students to be pulled to perform music for them.  
• I will share more information as I get it.

Departing Staff-The following staff members have moved on, retired, working at different locations,  or working in a different career path.

• Maggie Bower
• Debbie Burton
• Margie Orem
• Tom Evans
• Lou Grande
• Christina Magiary
• Sergio Porras
• James Ruland
• Halley Stocks

New Staff- Please welcome the new staff members to CPJMA!

• Clare Modiano (Kinder Teacher)
• Cathy Valenzuela (ESA)
• Heather Jessee (4th Grade)
• Jessie Padilla (BSS1)

Recess Duty Schedule-TBD