Irving Weekly Newsletter: Sept. 6, 2019

Posted September 6, 2019

IRVING-RELATED: NEW

OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT

Our Irving Open House/Curriculum night is September 11th from 6:30-8:30.

6:30-6:55 Kindergarten, Ms. Vella, and 1st grade
7:00-7:25 2nd grade & Ms. Jirka’s class
7:30-7:55 3rd grade
7:55-8:25 4th grade, 5th grade, & Ms. Mohammad’s class

** Art, Music, Physical Education, and Support Staff will be available in their classrooms/offices from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Childcare will be provided during curriculum presentations. Students must be supervised by an adult at all times if not in childcare.

Pre-school aged children in the cafeteria
Grades K-5 in the auditorium with a movie

We’ll see you there!!

SCHOOL PICTURE DAY INFORMATION

It’s almost time for Picture Day and Norysm Photography is returning to Irving School. Picture Day is scheduled for Thursday, Sept 12 (K-3) and Friday, Sept 13 (3-5). PLEASE NOTE: The photographers will photograph your child individually and with their sibling on the younger sibling’s picture day. Click for a Photo Day Flier and a School Photo Information Letter.

GIFTED TALENTED DIFFERENTIATION (GTD) UPDATE

As we begin the 2019-20 school year, District 97 wanted to update you on the work our district is doing to ensure the success of all students, specifically in the area of Gifted, Talented and Differentiation (GTD) and math. Please read this community letter for more information.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Over the summer our Building Leadership Team wrote our yearly School Improvement Plan and one new area we are focusing on this year is school arrival. In order for students to have a successful day at school, it is vital that they are on time each day. Ten minutes late might not seem like a lot, but as this table shows, it adds up significantly.

Specifically our goal is to increase the percentage of students who are on time for school 95% of the school days (late only 9 times in a school year) from 76% (360 out of 476 students) of the student body to 80% of the student body.

He/she is only missing just...	That equals...	Which is...	After over 13 years of schooling that’s...
10 mins per day	50 mins per week	Nearly 1 ½ weeks per year	Nearly ½ year
20 mins per day	1 hr. 40 mins per week	Over 2 ½ weeks per year	Nearly 1 year
30 mins per day	Half a day per week	4 weeks per year	Nearly 1 ½ years
1 hour per day	1 day per week	8 weeks per year	Over 2 ½ years

In order to meet this goal, we are putting the following items in place:

Education regarding the importance of being on time with families
Communication regarding the plan with the families, staff, and students
At the end of each month, all students who have had zero tardies that month will be reinforced by having their names displayed on the main Irving bulletin board.
At the end of each month, all students who have zero tardies will be entered in a raffle. The winner will select a prize from the pictures on the bulletin board (such as gift cards, books, lunch with a teacher).
A response plan for students are frequently tardy including phone calls, emails, letters, and work with social worker and nurse.

If you have any questions regarding our attendance plan, please reach out to Susan Mura at [email protected].

FALL BENCHMARK ASSESSMENTS

On Monday, September 9th, we are starting our fall assessment window. Students will participate in a variety of assessments to gather baseline data that teachers will use to guide school wide, classroom specific, and student specific curriculum and intervention decisions. Parents/guardians will receive information on their child's assessments at parent/teacher conferences.

Our first through fifth graders will be assessed on their reading level through the Benchmark Assessment System (BAS), which allows teachers to identify each child’s instructional and independent reading levels according to the F&P Text Level Gradient™, A–Z and document their progress through one-on-one formative and summative assessments. The Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems provide teachers with precise tools and texts to observe and quantify specific reading behaviors, and then interpret and use that data to plan meaningful instruction. In the winter our kindergarteners will also be assessed using BAS. Here is a BAS Administration Family Letter for more information.

Our second through fifth graders will take NWEA MAP which is a computerized adaptive test, given to students in grades 2-8, that measures a child's academic growth from year to year in the areas of mathematics, reading, and language usage. In the MAP system, the difficulty of the test is adjusted to the student's performance. The difficulty of each question is based on how well the student has answered all of the questions up to that point. As the student answers correctly, the questions become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier.

Our kindergarten, first graders, all new students to Irving, and students who fall below grade level on other benchmark assessments will participate in AIMSWEB+ Math. Our kindergarten, all new students to Irving, and students who fall below grade level on other benchmark assessments will participate in AIMSWEB+ Reading. AIMSWeb+ which is a formative assessment, data management, and reporting system for grades K-8 supporting multi-tiered instructional models. It is designed to universally screen and progress monitor, AIMSWeb+ uses brief, valid, and reliable measures of foundational skills in reading and math. The assessment helps identify at-risk students early, monitor progress, and differentiate and track the success of targeted instruction.

For more detailed information regarding the assessment process, please refer to the D97 Assessment Information link.

PLEASE NOTE: Students in Grades 3-5 should bring a fully charged IPad to school each day during our fall assessments.

INCLEMENT WEATHER DROP OFF

During inclement weather, such as rain or extremely cold days, students gather inside. Our kindergarten through second grade students meet in the lunchroom and our third through fifth grade meet in the auditorium. As a parent/guardian, you can drop your child off to enter through the main office door or the 2nd grade entrance on the turf. School staff are at the doors to take the students to the auditorium and lunchroom. We ask for parents/guardians not to enter the schools during these drop offs for security reasons and high volume of adults.

IRVING-RELATED: PBIS, SOCIAL EMOTIONAL, & SECOND STEP

POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS & SUPPORTS (PBIS)

At Irving it is a priority for us to build a positive climate and culture that is inclusive of all students. One way we build this culture is through Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS).

Some of our PBIS initiatives this fall include:

School wide expectations: The Eagle Essentials (be respectful, be responsible, be safe everywhere)
Station rotation of common areas (bathroom, hallways, stairs, playground and lunchroom) for students to learn the expectations in each area.
Eagle Slips: “gotcha slips” when staff catch students following the Irving Eagle Essentials
Student Celebration: weekly raffle for a prize
Classroom Reinforcement: when each classroom receives 100 Eagle Slips they are recognized over the intercom and earn a classroom incentive

SECOND STEP

In addition to PBIS, we use a social emotional curriculum, Second Step, which teaches skills in the following four areas:

1. Skills for Learning: Students gain skills to help themselves learn, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, use self-talk to stay on task, and be assertive when asking for help with schoolwork.

2. Empathy: Students learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Students also learn how to take another’s perspective and how to show compassion.

3. Emotion Management: Students learn specific skills for calming down when experiencing strong feelings, such as anxiety or anger.

4. Problem Solving: Students learn a process for solving problems with others in a positive way.

Your child will be learning a lot this year in Second Step—and he or she will need your help! Make sure to join www.secondstep.org with the appropriate activation key (see table below) to watch videos about the Second Step program and get information about what your student is learning. Every Friday, I will be emailing the Home Links that go with several of the Second Step lessons. Home Links are simple, fun activities for you and your child to complete together. They are a great way for you to understand what your child is learning and for your child to show you what he or she knows. They are not mandatory, but a good home school connection. The first lesson Home Link is attached in the table below.

If you have any questions about the Second Step program, please do not hesitate to contact Susan Mura, [email protected], for more information.

Grade level	www.secondstep.org Activation Key	Lesson 1 Home Link
Kindergarten	SSPK FAMI LY70	K- Home Link
Grade 1	SSP1 FAMI LY71	1- Home Link
Grade 2	SSP2 FAMI LY72	2- Home Link
Grade 3	SSP3 FAMI LY73	3- Home Link
Grade 4	SSP4 FAMI LY74	4- Home Link
Grade 5	SSP5 FAMI LY75	5- Home Link

NEWS FROM THE PTO

PTO MEETING: OCTOBER 3RD @ 7PM

(LEARNING SESSION: POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS & SUPPORTS)

Our next PTO meeting will be held on October 3rd at 7pm. During our learning session, Irving staff will be presenting on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at Irving. Have you heard your child talk about the 3 Be’s (be respectful, be responsible, and be safe), Eagle Slips, or Second Step? These are part of PBIS which is a data-driven decision making framework for establishing the social culture and behavior supports needed for a school to be an effective learning environment for all students and staff. This includes providing maximum structure, setting expectations and rules, increasing student engagement, acknowledging appropriate behavior, and responding to inappropriate.

Please attend this PTO meeting to learn more about PBIS at Irving.

SAVE THE DATE: GENDER INCLUSIVITY TRAINING

Tuesday October 8th 7-9pm and Tuesday November 5th 7-9pm

Join us for a collaborative training program for parents, teachers, staff, and community members on gender and inclusion provided by the PTO and DivInc. A flyer and registration information coming soon!

DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY INFORMATION

INTERNET FOR ALL

District 97 will be offering free home Internet service to students in grades three through eight who do not currently have access to this critical resource. Click here for more information.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Sept 9th- Return Summer Math Challenge Sticker Charts to their homeroom teachers Charts are due by Monday, September 9. Students will receive prizes for their participation in the program. Please make sure each child's full name is on the sticker chart.September 11th Grades K-5 Open House/Curriculum Night
September 12-13 Fall School Pictures (and Sibling)
September 17th Picture Retake Day
October 2nd Walk to School Day
October 3rd PTO Meeting (Learning Session: Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports at Irving)
October 18th Irving Fun Run
October 8th Gender Inclusivity Training (7pm-9pm)
October 17th Math Night (6:30-8:00)
October 21-24th Book Fair (Scholastic)
October 24th Staff Soup Luncheon (11am-1pm)
October 31st Halloween Parade (1pm)
November 5th Gender Inclusivity Training (7pm-9pm)

IMPORTANT LINKS

Helpful Links

Below are links that feature important school and district-related information and resources.


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