Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all our Joshua Eaton families. Best wishes for a safe, happy, and healthy 2015. See you on January 5th.

Update 12/15

Good Morning Families,

As many of you are aware the Reading Memorial High School is dealing with the passing of a student of the junior class. The passing of a student has an impact on the entire district. The Joshua Eaton community will not be addressing this with the student population. We will monitor students that may have known the individual who has passed. Below are some links that may be a resource for parents. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the student as well as the Reading Memorial High School community.

Karen Feeney

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-imagination/200911/7-holiday-stress-busters-kids

A Few Update

Just a few updates to communicate with everyone:
As many of you know over the few years Dr. Doherty has been working to address the space issues within the district. Two years ago a working group was developed to look at this concern. Ms.Feeney and Mrs. Manna along with other school employees and community members were part of this working group. The team came up with a list of possible locations and solutions. However, the town did not support the need to move forward to investigate the suggested locations. This year a working groups was once again developed. There are 5 members of the original group have returned, including Ms. Feeney and Mrs. Manna. Below is a link that provides an update on the work that has been done so far. I will continue to provide updates on the work this committee is doing.

http://readingsuperintendent.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/early-childhood-space-needs-working-group-update-2/

On Tuesday December 2nd Patti Chesney, a trainor from Math in Focus spent the day at Joshua Eaton. She and I observed math lessons. We saw lots of impressive math lessons in progress and received some helpful feedback. Patti Chesney will be back in January for another training day.

On Thursday December 4th I attended a PARCC Summit. The summit started with an overview of the assessment and was followed by breakout sessions. The sessions that I attended were focused on accommodations for the testing blocks and feedback from teachers from Burlington and Revere who gave the test last year. The sessions were informative and helpful with implementing the test.

Saturday and Sunday was the festival of tree. There were about 100 trees on display. Joshua Eaton's tree was one that supported the businesses of the town. Thank you to the families and staff who donated to the tree and to Mrs. Manna for her work in organizing the tree.

Task Force Information

School Improvement Next Steps

 

As you may know, now that the state DSAC survey has been completed, Assistant Superintendent Craig Martin will be leading a task force of parents, staff members, and administrators to build upon the action steps already begun and to coordinate a comprehensive plan for next steps.  The task force will function as a subcommittee of the Eaton School Council, meeting at least twice a month; and at times, it will also include students as important stakeholders in the process.  

 

Mr. Martin has asked Sherri VandenAkker Ph.D., college professor and Joshua Eaton parent, to join and co-chair the task force with him.  The objective of the group is to review input from the recent DSAC survey; and then using the survey data as a starting point, oversee a more comprehensive plan to continually move the school forward.  This will include looking at all aspects of the school community, providing additional forums for community input, recommending specific action steps as part of an ongoing improvement plan, and establishing communication lines among all school stakeholders (including regular updates).  While we hope to keep the task force to a workable size, we also want to ensure a good representation of stakeholders to provide a variety of perspectives and ideas.  If you are interested in applying to serve on the task force, send an email with a brief description supporting your participation to Craig Martin (craig.martin@reading.k12.ma.us) by Wednesday, December 3^rd.  (All applicants will be notified by the following week.)

 

We anticipate that the task force will meet through the end of this school year and will then reassess with the School Council to determine if it would be beneficial to continue into next year to sustain progress.  As you know, while our team works to address the academic or curriculum needs indicated in the recent MCAS data, we are also eager to take this as an opportunity to completely renew our school vision and review all areas of our school that either directly or indirectly can impact the overall success of our students.  Through the teamwork and talents of our entire school community, we look forward to building the future together.

Math Night

Thank you to all the families in grades 3, 4, and 5 that attended the math night tonight. Parents had the opportunity to hear from teacher about Math in Focus and to even try some problems. Thank you to the teachers for putting this night together. We are all moving forward to ensure the best for our students. 

11/6

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Families should have received a link to the parent survey. Here is the link in case you did not receive it. Please take time to complete it, as all parent input is very important. Please complete the survey by noon on Monday, November 17th.  Please note also that although the survey recommends printing out the questions ahead of completing the survey online, this is simply a suggestion and not mandatory.  (The suggestion is made as the survey consists of over 100 questions and once begun online, must be completed in one sitting.)  If you do not have access to a computer and wish to take the survey, please call Mrs. Greco at 781-942-9161. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_HFzc1Ck3-BP0oaBDWyd-FqQJSIYKAMCNyeiUUa5Nw0/viewform  

Math night for grades 3, 4, and 5 is scheduled for Thrusday November 13th. It has been brought to my attention that this is also the same night as a school committee meeting. The date was chosen based on availability of teachers and myself. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

The topic of Wednesday half days has been a question that has been raised over the past few months. To clarify there are 10 Wednesdays throughout the school year that are identified as professional development time for teachers. The remaining Wednesdays are contractual planning time for teachers. 

Typing Pal for grades 3,4 and 5 is up and running. Your child should have received a password so they can continue to practice typing at home. 

On Wednesday I met with Mr. Martin and Mr. Dale Bishop from the DSAC. The purpose of this meeting was to allow Mr. Martin and myself the opportunity to become familiar with the data programs that will be used to analyze the parent survey data and a program that allows us another way to view student MCAS data. It was a very productive meeting.

Veteran's Day Assembly

Our 16th annual Veteran's Day Assembly was a huge success. 5th graders Ryan Branson and Casey Vieira did a wonderful job being emcees. Several students displayed their talents thought out the assembly. The behavior of the students was outstanding!! They demonstrated PAWS-itive behavior the entire time. Our celebration also included the patrotic musical salute by Sgt. Dan Clark and his wife Mary. The songs brought tears to the eyes of many. Some of the veterans commented on what a great tribute this event is to veterans everywhere. It is important to teach students the true meaning of Veterans Day! 

Halloween Fun

The kindergarten and first grade students had their annual Halloween parade! Even the teachers got into the fun!! 

Update 10/30/14

The Title 1 in class math tutors are hired. We are pleased to welcome 3 staff members to our staff - Sandy Emery, Alyson Ritondo, and Sue D'Ambrosio.

Sandy Emery has been a member of the Joshua Eaton family since last year and we are happily extending her hours of employment. Sandy will continue to work with the teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5. She is a certified elementary teacher with a Master's Degree along with16 years of teaching experience in the Everett Public Schools. She took time off to raise her family and is happy to be back in the teaching world.

Sue D'Ambrosio is a certified elementary teacher with 7 years of experience in the Lexington Public Schools. Sue took time to raise her 2 boys and last year Sue worked at Wood End as the Title 1math tutor for grades K-3. Sue will continue a similar role here at Joshua Eaton.

Alyson Ritondo may be a familiar name for some Eaton families as she worked with Mrs. Ingemi as a para in her kindergarten class. Alyson is a certified teacher and has taught grades 4 and 5 in the Newton Public schools. Alyson's passion is teaching the upper elementary grades, especially in the area of math. She will be working with students in grade 4 and 5.

We are confident that with the support of these 3 ladies we will be able to support the students of the Joshua Eaton Elementary.


SAVE THE DATES!! We have developed a schedule that will outline the steps in our school improvement plan. It is important to recognize that some steps and timelines are in line with the support and guidance of DSAC.

· Week of November 3rd a link to a DSAC survey will be sent to parents. This comprehensive survey may be up to 130 questions. It will look for parent feedback on a wide variety of areas of our school.

· Thursday November 13th Parent Math night for families in Grades 3, 4, and 5. Teachers will provide parents with the opportunity to be part of a grade level math lesson. More information will follow.

· Week of November 17th a presentation of the survey results and a World Café will be hosted at Joshua Eaton. This date will be confirmed.

 

The SAC committee met on Monday and began reviewing the School Improvement plan. We will be having an additional meeting to continue reviewing this document. We will inform families of this meeting as they are Open Meetings.

Some Parents have asked about links to information about the PARCC assessment. Below are a few links that provide more information about the assessment and also some sample questions.
http://www.parcconline.org/ 

http://parccgames.com/

 

http://www.parcconline.org/computer-based-samples 

Halloween Howl was a Spook-tacular event

The PTO once again did an amazing job with the Halloween Howl. Thank you to everyone who attended. 

update 10/23

We have immediately begun not only to address the MCAS accountability issue—but also to take the opportunity to reassess and revitalize our entire school community in a positive and comprehensive way.  Using our School Council as the foundational structure, we will be establishing a School Improvement Task Force that will include staff, parents, community members, and students.  As part of this effort, we will be soliciting input from all school stakeholders on all key areas of the school, and we will also be establishing an official Eaton School Council Facebook site, Blog, and Twitter account to keep all stakeholders informed, to receive questions or concerns, and to provide a forum for discussion and increased communication as we move forward.  As this group steers the overall direction and strategies in the weeks and months ahead, we are also moving forward with some immediate action steps, including meeting with the Northeast DEASC team for additional resources to support the change process, implementing our Math and Writing programs to fidelity, bringing in a Math coach to continue working with the staff, adding additional classroom supports during the school day, offering no-cost before/after school tutoring opportunities for students who may be struggling, and expanding our multi-tiered system of supports in all grades.  As we work to address some of the academic or curriculum areas that the recent MCAS data brought to our attention, we are also eager to take this as an opportunity to review all areas that either directly or indirectly can impact the overall success of a school.  We have an excellent faculty, wonderful students, and a committed community—and our goal is to renew our vision in a way that makes everyone proud. 

On Monday October 20th I presented to the School Committee about how the MTSS (Massachusetts Tiered Systems of Support) will help support the students of Joshua Eaton with their social /emotional and academic success. The MTSS process will also help to identify students that may require interventions to better understand concepts and skills. Some of the interventions that are implemented will be: reading support from the reading specialist, additional time in school to use Lexia to develop stronger phonics skills, use of the title I tutors to focus on math and writing skills, frequent body breaks for students, additional practice with the teacher and/or para educator to reinforce skills, and the use of on-line sites to provide additional practice time on skills (both reading and math).  The PowerPoint can be found on edline.

Some Joshua Eaton parents also attended School Committee meeting and took the opportunity during public input to share their concerns in regards to the level 3 status. Helpful ideas and suggestions were made.

 On October 21st Dr. Doherty, Mr. Martin, Mrs. Wilson and I met with the DESAC to identify steps to implement phase 2 of the action plan. With their support we are developing a survey for parents. Mr. Martin and I will finalize the survey.

 A Joshua Eaton Facebook page has been created. You can like us on Facebook by searching Joshua Eaton School Council. Information from the blog will be posted there. Also we have our Tweeter account @joshuaeatonschl We are hopeful that these forms of communication will help families be informed of our steps in moving forward.

Update 10/17

On Tuesday (10/21) Ms. Feeney, Dr. Doherty, Mr. Martin and Mrs. Wilson will be meeting with the DESE District and School Assessment Center also known as DSAC. At this meeting we will develop our timeline for the Accelerated Improvement Plan. The staff has completed the Self-Assessment tool and we are analyzing the data. This is Phase 1 of the plan. Meeting with the DSAC will begin phase 2. There are 5 phases in the process. Here is the link the DSAC website: http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/sss/dsac/ 

Update 10/15

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting last week. It was wonderful to have such a large turn out. With parents who are committed to helping be part of the solution the students of Joshua Eaton will certainly benefit. 

I ask that families use this blog as their tool for updates and information in regards to the steps that are being taken with the process. As mentioned the other night please contact me with questions and or concerns. Having one central location for information will reduce misinformation being communicated.

On October 14th the teachers had a busy day of meetings with grade level colleagues from the Reading district. In the morning teachers worked in grade level teams on the conferencing form that will be shared with families in November. They also had time to discuss the pacing of the math program. The conversations were helpful and productive. Also in the morning 7 Joshua Eaton teachers went to visit schools in Topsfield and Boxford to see the Math in Focus program being used. They had the opportunity to talk with staffs that have been using the program longer than us and hear strategies for implementation. In the afternoon our teachers reported back to Joshua Eaton. Together with Dr. Doherty we began looking at the self assessment tool that is required by the state to be filled out. Again this was an other opportunity for teachers to have open conversations about sharing best practices and identifying ways we can improve teaching and learning for all students. 

Next week Mrs. Ockerbloom and I will conduct interviews for the Title 1 tutor position. We will have an update on the interviews by the end of next week. 

Picture Day 10/7/14

Just a reminder that picture day is tomorrow 10/7/14. Bring your best smile! 😀

Back to school picnic

Great night for the back to school picnic. The weather was on our side tonight. Thank you PTO for the refreshing slush! 

Arrival time

We are about a 1/2 hour from Joshua Eaton

The busses have left!!

We are in route home. A connect Ed message will be sent to inform parents when we are approximately 30 minutes from Joshua Eaton. It was a great trip!!! 

Coastal course

This morning some groups went to explore tide pools. While there seals were spotted in the ocean. It was a beautiful classroom to be in this morning. 

Smooth night

It was a very smooth night. Everyone slept well. A little recess time before breakfast was a nice treat. Getting ready for the first class of the day. 

Good day/night had be all

So everyone is all tucked in and boy are they tired!!! What a great day! After their second class they had "play" time followed by dinner, a Thanksgiving dinner.  They played more after dinner then had hot fudge sundaes. The night ended with a magic show. But I'm sure the settling into the cabins was the best! The giggling  could be heard just walking by. Tomorrow will be another fun filled day!!!