Principal’s Coffee Chat Elon Park Elementary March 20, 2015

Today’s Chat Coffee Chat Norms Please put cell phones on vibrate If you have to take a call, please go into the hallway Limit sidebar conversations Hold questions until the end of each segment Focus on issues that are within our control Today’s Agenda  Vision and Mission Statement  Harris Teeter Playground Grant  School Report Card  School Grades  Reading 3D MOY Update  MOCK EOG  EOG Prep Books

Vision  At Elon Park Elementary, staff, students, families and community members collaborate to provide an extraordinary learning environment where all reach their full potential, enrich their individual talents and exhibit school pride…at ALL times, in EVERYTHING they do.

Mission At Elon Park Elementary, the school community will support the commitment to the following:  Providing every student with rigorous, engaging and balanced instruction.  Basing all decisions on student strengths and needs according to all available data.  Appropriate, effective collaboration among staff, families and community members for the benefit of each student.  Facilitation of 21 st century learning through implementation of best practices.  Delivery and participation in effective professional development.  Continuous school improvement.  180 School Days resulting in a minimum of one year’s growth academically for every student.

Harris Teeter Grant $5000 Thank you Melissa Lanoue for writing the Harris Teeter Grant that has allowed us to purchase swings for the new playground. The PTO will be paying for the installation. Thank you to Ross Mandell who donated money for us to purchase a Gah Gah ball pit. We should have it built by the end of the month. We are currently working on a Jimmie Johsnon grant to buy additional equipment for the new playground.

School Report Card The state of NC decided to give each school a letter grade based on the proficiency and growth of our students over the course of a year. Information was sent home in Monday folders and you find our school report card on the school website as well. Read to Achieve letters will be going home in Monday folders to students who have not met the state’s benchmark for proficiency at the third grade level. We will continue to work with your child until the end of the school year.

Reading 3D, Middle of Year Assessment  Reading 3D is an assessment required by the State of North Carolina for all students in grades Kindergarten through Third.  Middle of Year administration procedures.  Review of process  Feedback from parents  End of Year Procedures Middle of the Year Reading 3D assessments went well with the new state of NC procedures. Testing was completed with another teacher other than the homeroom teacher. Some of students did not make the progress we had hoped but we are glad that we began the new administration process so that our students will be more comfortable with the end of the year assessments that begin April 27th.

Mock EOG  When?  3 rd, 4 th, 5 th Reading – March 23 rd  3 rd, 4 th, 5 th Math – March 24 th  5 th Science – March 25 th  Why?  All this testing seems crazy…  How we use the data?  ½ Day planning sessions  About the test. MOCK EOGs are scored by objectives. We do not use the MOCK EOGS as a grade. Teachers use this information along with MAP data to plan reteach, practice, and enrichment lessons as part of our EOG preparation. We will flexibly group students. The small group may be taught by another teacher other than the homeroom teacher so that we can maximize instruction.

EOG Prep Books  How we will use the Prep books that you have already purchased  Standards and objectives  Flexible Grouping  Certified Support Staff  Optional books for home  Purchased through the school  Optional Tutors  Other Resources:  Lakeshore Learning  Matthews E. Independence Blvd. Matthews, NC Monday-Friday 10:00-9:00 Saturday 10:00-8:00 Sunday 12:00-6:00  NC Dept. of Public Instruction  EOG prep books will begin being used after Spring Break. We also have optional EOG prep books that can be purchased to be used at home. The letter is going home in Monday folders. Make sure to pay by April 2 nd. We will be ordering the books over spring break and can’t accept any payments after spring break.

Parent Feedback and Questions 1.What about test anxiety? Test anxiety does exist with some of our students. Our guidance counselors held a test anxiety workshop earlier this month for parents. Our guidance counselors also meet with small groups of students who show signs of text anxiety to help them develop strategies to cope with text anxiety. EOGs will most likely begin on a Friday like last year. Our plan is to have a kickball tournament just like last year. It is our way to show the students that we have confidence in their ability to do well on the test and not add any stress. 2.Is TD different this year? Yes, it is different; but more impactful. We are a model school for the district based on our approach this year. We cluster our TD and catalyst students. Our TD teachers co-teach with the classroom teacher. The teacher is then about to use the strategies taught by the TD teacher all day long. We also sent 14 teachers to the TD conference courtesy of the PTO to continue learning strategies to help our students. We will send the link to our monthly TD newsletter in the Friday principal . We will also set up a tab on our school website to access the link as well. 3.Would you recommend buying an optional EOG prep book to use at home? It will depend on your child. Some children need the review only at school. They need to play when they get home. Some children will need the extra reinforcement at home. It really will depend on your child.