Good afternoon!
We had a fantastic week at Columbia Elementary, as we enter into a new month, February 2015. Before we get into this week's blog update, I would like to thank everyone that participated in the Blog Survey that I sent out in last week's blog for your feedback. I like to know if my goal of improving communication through this blog is truly working or not....
This past Monday, I had the great opportunity to work with our PTO in our second monthly Google Training that we call "Google Talk for PTO." This past week we pulled out our Chromebooks and walked through how to use the Google Docs Word Processing Application. While this feature is similar to Microsoft Word, there are advantages to using Google Docs Word Processing "free" application (i.e.it has the ability to simultaneously collaborate and share the same document with others). Even if you have not attended the previous two trainings, you are welcome to attend our next one on March 2nd from 6 to 7pm. You are also welcome to view our online Google Talk Online Library at: http://www.tinyurl.com/ptogoogletalk. Following each of these Google Talk PTO Trainings, we meet as a PTO to discuss the events going on at Columbia Elementary, PTO Budgetary Items, and upcoming Events (i.e. Upcoming 5k on May 8th with Ariel Corporation).
Each month including this past Wednesday, our building sits down as a team to discuss how we can improve our students' achievement in our classrooms. In these conversations, we look at instructional strategies, activities, our students' data, and our adult actions to ensure that we are providing a quality education for our students. This is a process that carries from month to month. In addition, to these meetings, our teachers meet with their grade level at least once a week, and meet with another grade level at least once per month. We are working hard to provide the very best education for your child/ren.
Speaking of the great children that we work with on a daily basis, I had the pleasure of having our January Students of the Month in my office on Friday for a Pizza Party. We had a great time together as I got to know them better and I got to enjoy their company. Please see our pictures from this party below:
Starting on February 17th, we are starting the first round of the required State Tests for students in Grades 3-5. It is very important that students come well rested and prepared on these days to perform at their very best! These State Tests are like the Super Bowl or World Series in education. While we know we have the very Best and the Brightest Students, these tests give us a good gage of each student's learning process and illustrates to that our students are truly the best to the rest of the world. Please CLICK HERE for our State Testing Schedule.
*All students must be on time for testing. If a student shows up late to school the student will not be permitted to enter the testing environment. That student's test would be schedule for an alternative make up time/date.
This week, I will unveil a reward for the students in Grades 3-5, if they pass all grade level sections of their State Test with at least a Proficient Rating. I will announce this to our students in the upcoming days. They are going to love it!! I will keep you posted in next week's blog update.
To practice for these tests, I would encourage students to be logging into Study Island through our District Website or Practice The ELA (English Language Arts) and Math Practice Questions on this website: http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes
Please see some important upcoming dates below:
Interims-2/12/15
Teacher Inservice Day-No School-2/13/15
Presidents' Day-No School-2/16/15
Thank you for all the support you give to Columbia Elementary!
Go Tigers!
Matt
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