Collaborating toward Excellence

Teachers:

It has been a joy to become a part of your classrooms these last few weeks. Please continue to invite me in for math chats,visits, and/or to model a lesson. Don't expect me to sit back and just observe when I visit, I will dive right in with you to help students in whatever capacity necessary.

Last week, twenty of your colleagues came together in grades two through five to determine the best course of action in mathematics for this year. We are ahead of the state with Math in Focus because we are already addressing the Common Core Standards. However, the 2000 Indiana Standards are still the focus of ISTEP+ this year, so we felt it necessary to look for any gaps and give teachers a guide to how to proceed. The twenty teachers below worked diligently to find all target areas in the quarterly mappings from the state. Each grade has a longer document that will be emailed soon that shows where each target area is in Math in Focus or if it is missing. Although the document has excellent information, it is a bit cumbersome to be used as a guide. The teachers came back the second  day (unbelievably) and put together a compact plan to give direction for us all in this year of transition.  A tremendous thank you to the team that represented you so well:

2nd Grade:  
Tiffany Cooksey
Pam Brail
Deb DeMuth
Emily Hornaday
Neena Kishan

3rd Grade:
Julie Bishopp
Becky Brodhead
Paula Hunter
Barb Bean
Julie Martin

4th Grade:
Henry Zehr
Michelle Little
Rick Glass
Stacy Huffer
Marc Andrews

5th Grade:
Dennis Allison
David Wayne
Tori Reneker
Ann Sibray
Sarah Ashton

At this point these documents have most likely been given to you by your building team member. We wanted you to have electronic copies as well, so they are attached.

These teachers also benefitted from discussing math with their fellow professionals across buildings. Next week, we will all have this opportunity during the grade level trainings at Claypool Elementary. Monday: 1st grade, Tuesday: 2nd grade, Wednesday: 3rd grade, Thursday: Kindergarten and 5th grade, and Friday: 4th grade. Please bring your teacher editions if at all possible. We will start at 8:30 and end at 3:30 and break for lunch from 11:30 to 12:30. 

Lunch is a great chance to learn and laugh with each other. The Homestead Restaurant nearby is opening their doors to us for the week and offering 3 special buffet style options. The menu is found in the attached image. We hope you are able to join us for lunch and another hour of growing together as a grade level mathematics team. 

We truly are better together and with that spirit Rick Glass has started a Math in Focus math blog. You can access it at school at http://wcsmath.blogspot.com/ . We are continually adding information at this one site from videos of lessons to links on how to use your ebook and sometimes pure inspiration to remind you that what you do every day matters mightily. This is a medium in which we can consult with each other continually to improve our craft. 

Join us for a day of learning at Claypool, a country lunch and fellowship time, and high tech interaction all year long.

I look forward to spending time with you next week! 

Lorinda