Jr. Author Fest

We are under way!! Another beautiful day to celebrate writing!

Parker visit

Today the 8th students from Parker came to visit the 1st graders. This partnership started a few years back. Both sets of students bring stories that they have written to share. It's nice to have former students back at Eaton! 

Eaton Updates

IMPORTANT UPDATE IN REGARDS TO MODULAR CLASSROOMS: Today Ms. Feeney met with Kelly Colon, director for Maintenance, Martha Sybert, and Bob D’Angelo, contractor for the modular classroom. We looked at the site for the modular and they will be on the side of the building on the grassy field near the library door (where the funnel ball is located). They are waiting for the permit but at this time it seems that they will focus on laying the foundation for the modular and will be able to contain the work and not disrupt the usage of the back area. There is the potential that as the project progresses that there may be some work that will have to be done on the hot top area. I will keep everyone informed of the process and progress of the project. 

PARCC Testing: Grade 3 has completed the EOY PARCC testing. the EOY testing consists of 1 ELA testing session and 2 math testing sessions. At the end of the testing session in both math and ELA there was a survey for students to complete about their experience with PARCC. Grade 4 will begin their testing tomorrow 5/22.

A Visit to Eaton

Today Danielle Niles came to visit the 3rd graders. Danielle is the meteorologist from channel 4. Tune in tomorrow morning at 5:15 and 6:15 AM to see some of our 3rd graders, Avery Turner, Tyler Branson, Stephen Diorio and Maeve O'Brien help with the forecast. Also tune in at 5:30PM for a glimpse of our entire 3rs grade! Way to go Jaguars!!! Let's hope they don't predict snow!!!

Blue ribbon day 1

Attending Ms. Quinn and Mrs. Ockerbloom's presentation Technology Intergration with Elementary Writing! The students taught the teacher.

 

We are Boston Strong!!

We are excited to share that Joshua Eaton is highlighted in the Boston Globe about how we are acknowledging the anniversary of the marathon tragedy.  

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/13/mayor-walsh-announces-website-where-people-can-share-marathon-bombing-commemorations/AWZaFFSjY6UNjBp5TQp0VO/story.html?hootPostID=393629ed9db4a20d3d768d5504ec33e1

PARCC Information

Hello and Happy Spring! As of tomorrow (4/10) we will be done with the PBA round of PARCC. The students have been doing a wonderful job taking their time and working through some difficult questions. I am very proud of the effort that they have been displaying. The EOY (End Of Year) PARCC will begin in May. The schedule is below and also on Edline. Just a reminder that the 5th graders will still be taking the Science MCAS. Those dates will be May 13th and 14th.

Joshua Eaton EOY PARCC and 5^th Grade Science MCAS

Wednesday May 13^th                                                              5^th Grade Science

Thursday May 14^th                                                                  5^th Grade Science

Friday May 15^th                                                                       5^th Grade Science Make-ups

Monday May 18^th                                                                    3^rd Grade ELA PARCC

Tuesday May 19^th                                                                    3^rd Grade Math PARCC Unit 1

Wednesday May 20^th                                                              PARCC Make-Ups

Thursday May 21^st                                                                  3^rd Grade Math PARCC Unit 2

Friday May 22^nd                                                                      4^th Grade ELA PARCC

Tuesday May 26^th                                                                    4^th Grade Math PARCC Unit 1

Wednesday May 27^th                                                              PARCC Make-ups

Thursday May 28^th                                                                  4^th Grade Math PARCC Unit 2

Friday May 29^th                                                                       5^th Grade ELA PARCC

Monday June 1^st                                                                      5^th Grade Math PARCC Unit 1

Tuesday June 2^nd                                                                     5^th Grade Math PARCC Unit 2

PARCC Update 3/31

The ELA component of the PARCC for all grade levels is complete. The students put forth tremendous effort. The feedback from the students is that they enjoyed the reading selections and video clips. As mentioned before there were different tests so not all students had the same stories or had a video. We will have make-up tomorrow (Wednesday 4/1). If a student missed more than one session we will only test one session tomorrow. There are additional make -up days built into our schedule. Teachers will be notified the day before make-ups so they can inform the students. 

Today (3/31) 4th grade started the math section. The math is broken down into 2 testing days for each grade level. The students are plugging away and demonstrating our W in PAWS with working towards success! 

Update 3/17

Another successful day of PARCC testing! Today grade 3 took the Research section of the PARCC. As with most standardized tests not all the students have the same test. Today there were some students that video clips to watch and respond to. Like yesterday the students were focused on the test and appeared to be comfortable using the technology. We are fortunate to have Kathy Santilli, our tech integration specialist in the building with us. Between Kathy and me we are able to be in the classrooms to support the teachers and students in the event of any issues. During the entire testing block the Joshua Eaton School will not be testing on Wednesdays. The length of day does not allow us to provide the appropriate time for all testing sessions. We are looking forward to continued success with the PARCC testing sessions. I will continue to keep you posted.

Yesterday (Monday 3/16) was a busy meeting day. SAC (school advisory committee) met to finalize the School Improvement Plan. We wanted to make sure that we were capturing the concerns of the school community so between gathering information and snow days the plan has been delayed in getting to the final stages. Dr. Doherty has supported us taking the time needed to capture the needs of our school. I will be making the final revisions and will post the final SIP on Edline by the end of this week. SAC will now focus our attention to how to implement some of the action steps.  

Also on Monday night (3/16) the Task Force met. We reviewed information from the World Café. More information about Monday’s meeting will be shared when the notes are finalized.

This morning Tuesday the MTSS (Multi -Tiered System of Support) team met. This is a team of teachers that meet twice a month before school to work on core values (PAWS – practice compassion, act responsibly, work towards success, and show respect). This meeting we worked with the consultant from Wedikko, who is funded through a recent grant that the district received, to discuss our plans for moving forward in sub-groups. These groups will focus on rolling out PAWS in a more comprehensive way. The groups will develop ways to share this information with staff, students, and families. We are excited to have core values a part of our day to day routine and look forward to having them embedded into our school culture.

PARCC Update

Today was the first day of PARCC testing for grade 3. The students did an AMAZING job. They took their time and took the test seriously. I was able to be all of the testing sessions and all of the students put forth great effort. We were fortunate that there were minor technology glitches to tend to. This session contained 7 questions one was a short answer. It was nice to see students using their skills to maneuver the computer. Everyone appeared comfortable using the equipment. A majority of the students finish before the scheduled end time. I am very proud of ALL of the 3^rd grade students and the effort that they demonstrated today. I am looking forward to tomorrow when they take their second section. The PARCC schedule can be found on edline. If you have any questions please contact me at karen.feeney@reading.k12.ma.us .  

 

Math In Focus

Kindergarten teachers from across the district are taking part in a Math in Focus training with Patti Chesney. Patti is a consultant through the program. 

Grade 2 Success

The second graders completed the math fluency section of the Diagnostic Field Test. They did a great job and we did not experience any technology issues! Great done by the teachers and students! 

Way to go Grade 4

Well yesterday's diagnostic field test went very well...we can't say the same for today. We were able to get Ms. Callan and Ms. Johnston classes connected and able to take the field test. However, we ran into some issues with Mrs. Lydecker's class. They were supposed to start their session at 8:35.  This is when we recognized that the COW (Computer on Wheels – the laptops) was not properly charged. We resolved this by adding power cords to all the computers and plugging them in. Once we solved that bump in the road we ran into trouble with connecting to the test site. After trying many different strategies, at one point we had 5 district tech members in Mrs. Lydecker’s room; the decision was made not to take the field test for Mrs. Lydecker and Mrs. Nazzaro classes. Mrs. Nazzaro’s class would not have had enough time to take the test based on the half day schedule and the difficulty that we were having.  It was identified that there were issues with the strength of the internet connection in room 10 as well as some errors from Pearson.

I am looking at this as a GREAT test run for PARCC. Lou Caputo, the district Network Manager and I walked through the building and identified classrooms that have the strongest internet connect and therefore should be used during PARCC. I will personally double check before leaving that the COWs are plugged in properly the night before all PARCC tests.  We are moving forward with grade 2 tomorrow and Friday.

A BIG SHOUT OUT to the students in room 10 for being so well behaved and patient as we were troubleshooting the issues

Great job 3rd grade

Way to go 3rd grade students and teachers! They completed the math fluency diagnostic field test. This test is an opportunity to test questions so we will not receive any data. The students did a wonderful job using the computer to take the assessment. We did work through some technology issues at the very beginning of the testing sessions but issues were

resolved quickly. The district IT staff was on hand to address the concerns. A BIG THANK YOU to Kathy Santilli for her role in preparing and supporting our school during this period. We will have grade 4 testing tomorrow followed by grade 2 on Thursday and Friday. They students should be very proud of themselves!! 

Update 2/4

Hi Everyone! Over the next few days you will receive updates that will help to outline the 3 topic (Leadership and School Culture, Learning and Teaching, and School-Family Partnership and Communication) that will be explored at the World Café. This is an exciting opportunity for our school to be able to have teachers and parents work together to improve our school! If you have responded to the first link for the survey in regards to attending the World Café unfortunately you will have to resubmit your reply and possible questions. Here is the correct link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PHQPBSH

To keep you posted on some of the happenings at Joshua Eaton, I want to share with you one of the opportunities that our teachers in grades 3-5 took part in. The DSAC – District and School Assistance Center, came in and used a tool called the MVAR to help teachers take a deeper look at the 2014 MCAS data. We have had the chance to look at that data as a staff but this allowed teachers to really drill down into the information. This tool allows teachers to create more specific ranking to gain a different perceptive on the information. Some of the PLC leaders were able to take part in this training as well. This training took place at the end of January. Teachers spent 90 minutes working with the DSAC team. These work sessions did not include me (Ms. Feeney). The DSAC team focuses not so much on the data but rather the conversations that take place as a result of looking at the data. What is it that we notice from that data? What is the data telling us? As I mentioned at the October MCAS meeting we recognized that scores were low in fractions, data and measurement, geometry along with students not receiving high points for open response and short answer questions. This information was confirmed through the use of the MVAR. We learned a few things that the basic MCAS data did not tell us. Here are a few things that learned: boys did not score as well on the math MCAS in grade 4, the vocabulary score dropped in 5^th grade when compared to scores in 3^rd and 4^th grade and when faced with questions that involved inferring the students in all grade levels did not score well.

So what are we doing to help address these students in all grade levels are having more opportunities to answer questions in short answers and open response format. This began back in the beginning of the year. By providing students more opportunities to explain and reason it will help them be more prepared to answer these questions. Students will be provided with text that will give them opportunities to use context clues from the story to infer what is happening. Reading folk tales was one way that was suggested to us by the DSAC team as text that will support this development. For improving vocabulary we will read and allow student to read text that includes more rich vocabulary and incorporate more challenging vocabulary into daily lessons. By providing hands on opportunities for all learners in math we envision that boys will take more to the concepts as most learn by doing.

As a staff we continue to find new ways to reach all of the learners and their learning styles. We look for ways to make learning enjoyable as well as engaging for the students. I am in the process of scheduling a date to have Helene Levine, a literacy specialist from DSAC, come to Eaton to work with the teachers with some of the identified areas of concerns. I will keep you posted on when that date is set.  

Spot Challenge

Did you know that the Joshua Eaton School is in the middle of a spot challenge? Spots are our student recognition system that has been in place for at least 8 years now. Students are recognized for behavior that is outlined through PAWS - practice compassion, act responsibly, work towards success, and shows respect. These are the core values that are identified on our behavioral matrix and that we spent time introducing at the beginning of the year. We have been keeping track of the spots that are given out at each grade level. We are proud of the behavior that is being displayed by our students. Wonder what grade level will get the most spots!! Good luck Jaguars and keep up the good work!!

No school tomorrow

There will be no school on Wednesday January 28th. Stay safe and for those who "want to build a snowman" share pictures ⛄️⛄️ 

Additional information about the Diagnostic Field Test

I have heard back from customer service from the Diagnostic Field Test. They have indicated that the questions on the field test are multiple choice and fill in the blanks. The test is not timed but usually runs between 30-45 minutes. Please let me know if there are additional questions.

Response to some questions about the diagnostic field test

Hello! I have received a few questions about the Diagnostic Field test and after a call to the Help Center I was able to gather some of the information:

QUESTION: What is the length of time for the testing blocks?

The lengths of the testing blocks are shorter than the PARCC assessment. The Math Fluency, which will be given in grades 2- 4, will be 20 -30 minutes. The ELA Decoding, grade 2, will be 35-45 minutes.

Are second graders too young to be taking this test?

The Diagnostic Test will be a tool that will be available for districts in the 2015-2016 year. When the tool is used its primary purpose for these tools is to provide educators with instructionally useful information related to how students demonstrate CCSS proficiencies (including in relation to content progressions), and to provide that information at an appropriate level of detail and specificity to supplement a teacher’s current understanding of student proficiency (taken from PARCC website). The information will be used for instructional purposed and will not have the accountability of the PARCC test. We will implement this in a relaxed manner for students.  

What will the questions on the Diagnostic Assessment look like?

I was unable to find sample questions on line. I do have an email into the support center about this. As soon as information is provided to me I will post that information.

Please continue to ask questions. I want to keep everyone as informed as possible. 

PARCC Information

As you may remember last year the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) had some schools pilot the PARCC assessment. There were a few classes in Reading that were part of this pilot. This year the DESE was looking for schools to pilot the PARCC Diagnostic Field Test.  In early December I applied for students in grades 2-5 to take part. The DESE randomly selects schools and grades to take part, this is what happened last year with the PARCC pilot. This February students in grades 2, 3, 4 will have the opportunity to take part in the PARCC Diagnostic Field Test. Students in grade 2 will be assessed on ELA Decoding and Math Fluency. Grades 3 and 4 will be assessed in Math Fluency. This is an opportunity to ‘test the questions’. We are looking forward to students having the opportunity of taking the field test prior to PARCC. Below is some general information about the PARCC Diagnostic Field Test.

General Information

The PARCC Diagnostic Assessment is designed to provide data to help inform instruction with up to four unique administrations at any time during the school year. When operational, the Diagnostic Assessments will provide educators with the kind of snapshot and progress-monitoring data they are seeking to inform and adjust instruction in real time. Aligned to the Common Core State Standards and designed to maximize flexibility, the Diagnostic Assessments will provide easy-to-use and actionable reports.

Benefits of Participation in the Field Test

By participating in the voluntary field test, schools and districts will benefit in a variety of ways:

·         There will be a cost reduction if districts choose to purchase the Diagnostic Assessments (available in school year 2015–2016).

·         Teachers who participate will be considered for future opportunities related to PARCC tool development and item review.

·         The assessments will provide students with an opportunity to practice online test-taking skills within classroom instruction.

·         Schools will receive an early preview of the Diagnostic Assessments and associated tools.

Please note that no score reports or feedback will be provided, as the field test is designed to “test the test,” not the students.

   http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-begin-development-diagnostic-assessments

Last week the staff of Joshua Eaton, along with Kathy Santilli our Technology Integration Specialist,  took time to look at the PARCC assessment. We took the PARCC tutorial which is a walkthrough of the layout of the test. Teachers were able to see the tools that will available for students during the assessment. We also took a practice PARCC assessment. This allowed us to look at questions in the format that the students would be seeing. It was a great opportunity to ask questions and have open conversations about the assessment. Here is the link to the tutorial and practice test http://parcc.pearson.com/#

Here are some take aways from that training:

·         Students will be prompted if there are unanswered questions before submitting their tests

·         Students can go back to questions once they move forward on their screens.

·         Students will be using laptops at Joshua Eaton and not iPads.

·         There is no Long Composition section for 4^th grade. Students will be asked to respond to pieces of literature.

Just a reminder that the PARCC Parent Nights will be held on February 3^rd at Coolidge Middle School and on February 4^th at Parker Middle School, both sessions will begin at 7:00PM

Update 1/8/15

Happy New Year!! I hope that 2015 is off to a great start!! The students have made a smooth transition back to school.

Tonight the Superintendent will begin presenting the recommended budget for the FY16 school year to the School Committee. An overview of the proposed budget can be found on the Superintendent’s blog ( www.readingsuperintendent.wordpress.com ) An item to note is the potential addition of a 1st grade teacher at Joshua Eaton for the 2015 school year.

On Monday night Superintendent Doherty went to Town Meeting to ask for a special town meeting to look at adding modular classrooms for the beginning of the 2015 school year. In the proposal Joshua Eaton would receive either 1 or 2 modular classrooms. This would help address the potential additional 1st grade class however, there is no determination as to the assignment of the modular classrooms. If Joshua Eaton is to receive modular classrooms they would be located on the side of the building near the library door, this is where the old swing set and funnel ball were located. It is important to note that the modular classrooms would not take up any of the student play space. I encourage parents to google images of modular classrooms to get an idea of what the design and layout would be. They have come a long way!

On Edline you will find the schedule for the March sessions of PARCC.  During the month of March students in grade 3, 4, and 5 will take what is called the PBA – Performance Based Assessment. This is a mid- year assessment that will cover 75% of the grade level standards. In May, the students will take the EOY – End of the Year assessment that will cover 95% of the grade level standards. The staff has spent time taking part in tutorials for PARCC and becoming familiar with the layout of the assessment. Students will have time during school to take some practice assessments.  In early February there will be parent information sessions held to provide an overview of PARCC. More details will follow.