Weekly Blog 3-8-15

March 8, 2015

Good afternoon!

I hope all is well in our Columbia Elementary community! After reading on The Cleveland Clinic's Twitter feed this morning that coffee helps prevents multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases, I felt it was appropriate to write today's blog from Starbucks:)

This week was a very busy and impressive week with both our students and instructional team.  While our students continue to show their greatness through our State Mandated Testing and daily instruction, our teachers also continued to show their greatness through the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System.  This week I spent large amounts beyond my normal walkthroughs in our classrooms observing specific lessons for The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System.  This process is always very humbling to me, because I am continued to be reassured by the great capacity and abilities of those people that are closest to your children, our teachers.  While each one of us, including myself, continues to polish and improve our services to our students, we have a strong team at Columbia Elementary!

A few important updates for you this week:

1) Makeup Day for Students-We will be in school this Friday:

We want to make sure that you know that Mount Vernon City Schools (all schools) will be in session Friday, March 13th .

We had scheduled that day as a teacher work day, but our Administration, with support of our Teaching and Support Staff, has determined that, in light of the many calamity days we have needed to use so far this year, classroom time for students with their teachers is the priority for our district and community.

Therefore, Friday, March 13th will serve as a make-up day for one of the calamity days and students will be in attendance.  

We appreciate your support and understanding as decisions about weather and road conditions are made during these long winter months.  We also appreciate your patience as we look for ways to make up some of the calamity days with a focus on providing students as much time as possible in the classroom with their teachers.  

2) State Testing Continues:

This Tuesday (3/10), our 5th Graders will be taking The State of Ohio's Performance Based Science Tests.  On the following day, Wednesday (3/11), our 4th Graders will be taking The State of Ohio's Performance Based Social Studies Tests.  Both of these tests will begin at the start of these school days.  Attendance and no tardiness continues to be very important for these students.

Following these tests, State Testing will resume in mid-April and run through the beginning of May. These tests will be in a similar format and testing schedule.

3) End of The Nine Weeks:

The Third Nine Weeks will conclude this Friday, March 13th.  Grade Cards will be going home on March 20th.

4) Morning Announcements:
CLICK HERE

5) Other Important Dates:

3/16-PTO 5k Meeting at 6pm in our Library
3/20-Spring Pictures
3/27-Awards Assemblies: 9:15-10 (KDG-2nd Grade), 10-10:45 (Grades 3-5)
3/30-4/3-Spring Break


Have a great week! Go Tigers!!!
Matt