McGill

Ellis Island Immigration Simulation, Monday December 8, 2008

This is a friendly reminder to students to come Monday prepared to simulate the experience of early 20th century immigrants to the U.S.A.  Students should dress warmly, but should attempt to come in costume as an immigrant from their own cultural heritage.  In order to participate effectively, students need to adhere to the guidelines detailed on the packet that was sent home with the criteria a few weeks back. 

I know that there are many students who are bringing a dish of their cultural foods to the simulation as well.  These should be ready to serve and require no further cooking or extensive preparation. 

During the simulation, the students will be given passports where they will get stamps allowing them to move through the steps of the admittance.  In order to ensure that they will be able to write in these passports their own reflections of events as they unfold, they need to come prepared with two sharpened pencils.  As well, they need to have the twenty dollars ($20) in play money in order to show they have resources to reach family. 

The simulation is a good experience to have students learn firsthand that this was a difficult process to endure, and they will see that their ancestors must have really wanted to be here to go through such obstacles. 

It shall be fun and informative!  Ms. DeLass is actually the teacher who has done the lion's share of preparation and organization for this event.  She brought this plan with her from a previous school where she taught.  We found it to be an outstanding learning method and a fun morning. 

Thank you, parents, for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Alex McGill

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a real pleasure to have all the grandparents participating in the Thanksgiving Luncheon today.  Our class enjoyed meeting each family member, and we certainly enjoyed sharing our writing, our tools, and our general spirit with you all. 

Students, I hope your week away from Garrison Mill will be memorable, safe, and rejuvenating.  Take this time to focus on those important things in your life.  Share your talents, and remember the adventures they give you.

I am thankful to be a member of our community at Garrison Mill.

Sincerely,

Alex McGill

The Speak Up Survey for Stakeholders about Technology

Please participate in the 2008 Speak Up Survey

Speak Up is an annual national research project, facilitated by Project Tomorrow, which collects stakeholder views about key educational topics. Since inception, the project has collected the viewpoints of over 1.2 million K-12 students, teachers and parents from all 50 states, and around the world.

Survey results are shared with participating school communities including parents, students, and school/district staff for use in planning and community discussions. In addition, the findings are used by local, state, and national organizations, government agencies, and the business community to inform new programs and polices.

Our district has committed to having at least 10% of our students and teachers take the online survey. Because we will have access to our aggregated school and district data, this is a great opportunity for students, teachers, and parents to join in a local and national dialog about significant and timely issues impacting education today.

* The secret word for schools in our district is: techplan

* The Speak Up dates are October 27 - December 19, 2008.

* Students, teachers, and parents can use our secret word to access the surveys at

http://www.cobbk12.org/instructionaltechnology/speakup/speakup_survey.asp

. (Parents can take the survey without the secret word.)

* Visit the Speak Up How-to guide (http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speak_up_faq.html) for ideas on how to promote the Speak Up event at your school. You can print out a flyer to post at your school or use our email text to send reminders to your teachers.

Thank you and we look forward to your participation.

Technology Notice From Cobb County

Parents, please note the following message from Cobb County School District to its employees:

Due to a major electrical upgrade at the Kennesaw Warehouse, scheduled for November 21^st through November 30^th, all IT services provided for the District will be unavailable during that same period of time. 

During the scheduled outage, the infrastructure in the Data Center will be upgraded with HVAC, UPS and emergency generator functionality that will provide additional capacity and enhance the disaster recovery capabilities for the District's IT services.

At approximately 5:00pm on November 21^st, access to all IT services will be disabled at the

Data

Center

.  This includes, but is not limited to:

·        Internet / Intranet

·        District Web Services

·        Remote Access Services; VPN, Citrix

·        Email services, including Blackberry support

·        Edulink ACS

·        SchoolMAX, including GoalView Interface

·        SchoolMAX iQue (Teachers)

·        SchoolMAX iParent (Parents)

·        Pinnacle Gradebook (Teachers)

·        Pinnacle Internet Viewer - PIV (Parents)

·        Pinnacle Administrative Portal

·        Meal Pay Plus (Parents)

·        Picasso

·        Destiny & CVL

·        Purchasing

·        Star (Human Resources On-Line Recruiting)

·        WebConnect (SubFinder)

·        "Bridge" Applications

·        Financial Portal

·        Advantage Financials

·        After School Program

·        Professional Learning Portal (Staff Development Registration)

If you are expecting email during the scheduled outage, please notify senders to either delay delivery until December 1^st or provide them with an alternate email address.

Resumption of all IT services is scheduled for 6:00am on December 1^st.  If you have any questions or concerns prior to November 21^st, please contact the

Customer

Care

Center

at (770) 426-3330.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Technology Services

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Pancake Breakfast

Pancake Breakfast
and Raffle
Saturday, October 25th
7-11 AM
$5.00 Pre-Sale Tickets
$5.50 at the door

YEARBOOK

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL $22*
Nov. 1st price increast to $25*

On-line ordering available at:  http://www.myyear.com
*Note:  cost includes taxes.  Does not include 1x $1.75 processing fee per transaction, multiple items per order allowed.  Be sure to print & keep your confirmation for proof of payment.

ORDER FORMS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE CREDENZA OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE.

END OF GRADING PERIOD

REPORT CARDS GO HOME FRIDAY, Oct. 17th

The first nine weeks has been a successful building project. We have accomplished a great deal of training. The track is laid for future movement in our standards-based learning style.

Students receive a printout daily of what their responsibilities are. The use of the printout is for individual assessment. Students may work at an individual pace and manage their own time when "Falling Back" into work zone status. Direct instruction takes place either whole group, small group, or individually if needed. 

Grades are to be monitored by the student for their own advocacy practices. Parents are welcome to question grades also. However, the student should be able to answer their parents questions concerning grades before a teacher is notified. If this is not a clear communication practice for the student, please notify the teacher and we'd be happy to explain the situation at that point.

ASSESSMENTS AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE

We have used multiple assessment tools this nine weeks.  The two main types of tools are known as formative assessments and summative assessments.

Formative assessments are evaluations of students' knowledge, ability, and skill performance.  These assessments are used in evaluating the needs of the learners in our classes.  We determine much of our instructional direction and planning based on these assessments.  Paper and pencil, kinesthetic activities, technology-based work, and verbal responses are some examples of formative assessments.

Summative assessments are measures of student learning at the conclusion of units of study on standards-based curriculae.  These may include chapter tests, multimedia performance tasks, presentations, or written essay responses. 

The use of rubrics, or guides for performance tasks, are usually involved in multifaceted summative assessments.  As our year progresses, students will gain more experience with these tools.  They will be able to self-evaluate their work with more accuracy and confidence.  Rubrics give specific expectations for student work.  They are helpful to student learning on many learning levels. 

MATH POST TEST for 1st NINE WEEKS:   Wednesday, Oct. 15th

Chapters 1,2,3,5 and Ch.7 page 134 from Textbook for study purposes.

See standards sheet by visiting the Picasso Link on the Cobb County Home Page: www.cobbk12.org

SCIENCE POST TEST Friday Oct. 10th, will be on Chapter 3 from the Textbook for study purposes. The students will use Beyond Question or Active Vote to test on physical change vs. chemical change (standards S5P2a and S5P2c).This method provides a remote control for each student. A flip chart is shown on the Promethean Board. Each student then "clicks" in their own answer to each multiple choice question. It is graded automatically. The remainder of the test will be pencil and paper. It will be matching vocabulary and multiple choice. There are practice pages for this on pages 170 and 171 at the end of Chapter 3.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO EMAIL QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS. EMAIL IS THE FASTEST and MOST EFFICIENT FORM OF COMMUNICATION.

REPORT CARDS GO HOME FRIDAY, Oct. 17th

The first nine weeks has been a successful building project. We have accomplished a great deal of training. The track is laid for future movement in our standards-based learning style.

Students receive a printout daily of what their responsibilities are. The use of the printout is for individual assessment. Students may work at an individual pace and manage their own time when "Falling Back" into work zone status. Direct instruction takes place either whole group, small group, or individually if needed. 

Grades are to be monitored by the student for their own advocacy practices. Parents are welcome to question grades also. However, the student should be able to answer their parents questions concerning grades before a teacher is notified. If this is not a clear communication practice for the student, please notify the teacher and we'd be happy to explain the situation at that point.

ASSESSMENTS AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE

We have used multiple assessment tools this nine weeks.  The two main types of tools are known as formative assessments and summative assessments.

Formative assessments are evaluations of students' knowledge, ability, and skill performance.  These assessments are used in evaluating the needs of the learners in our classes.  We determine much of our instructional direction and planning based on these assessments.  Paper and pencil, kinesthetic activities, technology-based work, and verbal responses are some examples of formative assessments.

Summative assessments are measures of student learning at the conclusion of units of study on standards-based curriculae.  These may include chapter tests, multimedia performance tasks, presentations, or written essay responses. 

The use of rubrics, or guides for performance tasks, are usually involved in multifaceted summative assessments.  As our year progresses, students will gain more experience with these tools.  They will be able to self-evaluate their work with more accuracy and confidence.  Rubrics give specific expectations for student work.  They are helpful to student learning on many learning levels. 

MATH POST TEST for 1st NINE WEEKS:   Wednesday, Oct. 15th

Chapters 1,2,3,5 and Ch.7 page 134 from Textbook for study purposes.

See standards sheet by visiting the Picasso Link on the Cobb County Home Page: www.cobbk12.org

SCIENCE POST TEST Friday Oct. 10th, will be on Chapter 3 from the Textbook for study purposes. The students will use Beyond Question or Active Vote to test on physical change vs. chemical change (standards S5P2a and S5P2c).This method provides a remote control for each student. A flip chart is shown on the Promethean Board. Each student then "clicks" in their own answer to each multiple choice question. It is graded automatically. The remainder of the test will be pencil and paper. It will be matching vocabulary and multiple choice. There are practice pages for this on pages 170 and 171 at the end of Chapter 3.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO EMAIL QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS. EMAIL IS THE FASTEST and MOST EFFICIENT FORM OF COMMUNICATION.

REPORT CARDS GO HOME FRIDAY, Oct. 17th

The first nine weeks has been a successful building project. We have accomplished a great deal of training. The track is laid for future movement in our standards-based learning style.

Students receive a printout daily of what their responsibilities are. The use of the printout is for individual assessment. Students may work at an individual pace and manage their own time when "Falling Back" into work zone status. Direct instruction takes place either whole group, small group, or individually if needed. 

Grades are to be monitored by the student for their own advocacy practices. Parents are welcome to question grades also. However, the student should be able to answer their parents questions concerning grades before a teacher is notified. If this is not a clear communication practice for the student, please notify the teacher and we'd be happy to explain the situation at that point.

ASSESSMENTS AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE

We have used multiple assessment tools this nine weeks.  The two main types of tools are known as formative assessments and summative assessments.

Formative assessments are evaluations of students' knowledge, ability, and skill performance.  These assessments are used in evaluating the needs of the learners in our classes.  We determine much of our instructional direction and planning based on these assessments.  Paper and pencil, kinesthetic activities, technology-based work, and verbal responses are some examples of formative assessments.

Summative assessments are measures of student learning at the conclusion of units of study on standards-based curriculae.  These may include chapter tests, multimedia performance tasks, presentations, or written essay responses. 

The use of rubrics, or guides for performance tasks, are usually involved in multifaceted summative assessments.  As our year progresses, students will gain more experience with these tools.  They will be able to self-evaluate their work with more accuracy and confidence.  Rubrics give specific expectations for student work.  They are helpful to student learning on many learning levels. 

MATH POST TEST for 1st NINE WEEKS:   Wednesday, Oct. 15th

Chapters 1,2,3,5 and Ch.7 page 134 from Textbook for study purposes.

See standards sheet by visiting the Picasso Link on the Cobb County Home Page: www.cobbk12.org

SCIENCE POST TEST Friday Oct. 10th, will be on Chapter 3 from the Textbook for study purposes. The students will use Beyond Question or Active Vote to test on physical change vs. chemical change (standards S5P2a and S5P2c).This method provides a remote control for each student. A flip chart is shown on the Promethean Board. Each student then "clicks" in their own answer to each multiple choice question. It is graded automatically. The remainder of the test will be pencil and paper. It will be matching vocabulary and multiple choice. There are practice pages for this on pages 170 and 171 at the end of Chapter 3.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO EMAIL QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS. EMAIL IS THE FASTEST and MOST EFFICIENT FORM OF COMMUNICATION.

Parent Alert: New School Money Policy Beginning Monday 9/29

Beginning Monday- we need each student to only handle their own lunch money

. They can either turn it in while in line for lunch or they can take it down in the morning and put it in the gray box just inside the kitchen door. Any lunch money would need to be in an envelope. I'm sure our older children will have no problem adjusting to this new procedure. Our K, 1 and 2 students may need to be shown where the box is prior to sending them to the kitchen. If you have time today (not during lunch hours) it's fine to walk down and show your class where the money goes.

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