Labor Day Weekend Friday! We have finished our second week of remote learning and we are figuring out what works and what we can improve upon. I will make changes when needed and if they work within the Professional Learning Community system we use as a school and district, we will be adjusting our approach. As an administrative team, Mrs. Garlick and I will always be looking for ways to best meet the needs of our students.
Labor Day
No School this Monday, September 7th.
FYI - The lovely Mrs. Grana and I were married on Labor Day Weekend back in 1990. 30 glorious years.
Curriculum Night
This upcoming Thursday, September 10th, Woodlawn will be hosting our inaugural Virtual Curriculum Night! Information and a link will be provided to you on September 10th via SchoolMessenger. You will be able to peruse the presentation at your convenience, clicking on links for all of your teachers and a rousing introduction by yours truly. So exciting. Don’t wish the long weekend away just to get to this. Seriously, I am excited that we are putting this together. On the main page of items to click on, you will see an email your teacher spot. Please communicate with the staff if you have any questions.
NWEA MAP Testing
Woodlawn Families:
Remote NWEA MAP Testing will take place over the next few weeks for your child. Our teachers and instructional coaches will serve as test proctors and will work to build and encourage student engagement during the test and respond to needs of students in real time. In addition, they will be watching student engagement closely to ensure that students are working through the test in a timely and typical manner. Students who are working too slowly or too quickly are tagged by NWEA and proctors are alerted.
Overall, the remote test taking experience is nearly identical to its onsite counterpart, with changes mainly in proctor communication and the log-in process. However, the item bank, interface, and test management tools remain the same. From start to finish, the process is straightforward and easy to use.
See information in the box below regarding MAP growth, and this link below provides further information for families.
What is MAP Growth?
MAP Growth helps teachers understand what students know today, so goals can be set to improve growth throughout the year. Students cannot pass or fail this test.
This test will not affect grades. In fact, it’s normal for students to only answer about half the questions correctly. Please don’t help them!
Given the challenges of learning from home, MAP Growth test results are especially helpful for us this year. These results will help us know what students are ready to learn.
Please see the important Copyright Information from NWEA MAP below:
NWEA MAP assessments, including test questions, are copyrighted, and may not be copied or reproduced in any form, including but not limited to taking photographs, video and/or audio recordings. Any copying or reproduction of NWEA MAP assessments constitutes copyright and/or other intellectual property infringement and is a violation of NWEA’s Master Subscription Agreement. NWEA MAP assessments, including test questions and answers are proprietary information of NWEA.
The schedule for MIddle School Remote MAP testing is as follows:
*All testing will take place in the morning
**Schedules are subject to change
Woodlawn 6-1 Team Thursday, September 10-11
Woodlawn 6-2 Team Wednesday, September 9,10
Woodlawn 7-1 Team Thursday, September 10-11
Woodlawn 7-2 Team Thursday, September 10-11
Woodlawn 8-1 Team Thursday, September 10-11
Woodlawn 8-2 Team Thursday, September 10-11
Attendance
Please let me apologize in advance if you have received a call from the office when you shouldn’t have related to attendance. Attendance is required per class at this point and our system hasn’t been pressed like this in the past, but we are learning. We need the students in class on time, so if you get a call, please know that we are calling out of care for your student that they are participating in learning. Please contact the school office if your student will be absent from class at any time throughout the school day. Parents will be required to provide a reason for the absence. If your student is ill, symptoms will need to be provided to the school office. If your child will be absent for any portion of the day for any reason, please contact the office to let us know. Thanks.
Daily Announcements
Click here for the Woodlawn Daily Announcements
PTO Monthly Blog
Click here to see the Monthly PTO Blog
6th Grade Parents - Physicals
We still have a large number of students who have not had a physical turned in to the school for this school year. Please contact our nurse, Denise Kaufmann at 353-8500 if you need assistance.
Fantasy Football
For all of you who are in a league, I want you to know that I am not prepared. I have been waiting for the NFL to cancel the season and it hasn’t happened. Now I will have an excuse for coming in 8th place, 7th place and 4th place like I did last year. Yes, I am in 3 leagues. Don’t tell my wife.
Clubs/Academic Assistance
We are starting our clubs and academic assistance for students this Tuesday, September 8th.
Here is a breakdown of how the time will look at the end of our school day:
2:30-3p.m. Teacher office hours
2:30-3:15p.m. Band, Orchestra
3-3:45p.m. Clubs/Academic Assistance
Clubs are simply - show up and participate. You do not need to sign up in advance. If we have too many students, we will figure something out.
Academic Assistance - This is for students who need additional help with homework or need clarification on something they have learned. Academic Assistance is available from 3-3:45p.m and from 4-4:45p.m Monday through Thursday.
Look below to see which Clubs/Academic Assistance are offered. We will be adding different clubs and activities throughout the school year.
CLICK HERE TO SEE CLUB/ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE LINK
Materials Pick Up
We will be having a materials pick up at Woodlawn a week from Monday, September 14th. I will have full details in the blog next week. It will run throughout the day and into the early evening, so don't worry about times.
Finally, just a couple of random observations :
The district has been doing renovation projects throughout the district over the last few years. Both the Woodlawn and Country Meadows offices have been redone this year and they are really nice. For the first month, the lights in my office were working perfectly, but two days ago, one light dims every 30 seconds. It is making me nutty. The electrician is coming back on Tuesday. I am not crazy and neither am I.
As someone who isn’t a stickler for grammar and definitely overuses commas, I get angry when someone advertises a new event as First Annual. Inaugural. If you pay attention, it happens all of the time.
The mother of all Praying Mantis bugs was on my window today. This thing was massive. I started thinking about all the bugs I wouldn’t want to have to deal with if I were on a nature walk and this monster is one of them. I am afraid of what my reaction would be if it landed on me and people were around. It wouldn’t instill confidence in anyone. Just like when I walk through a spider web in my backyard, I worry about what the neighbors think to that reaction.
There has to be a name for the reverse medical condition that I have which causes no water to come out when I hold my hands under the sensor for the sink. The second I pull them away, the water starts. Anit Hydro Activation Syndrome.
There is a gentleman who has worked with our district for years. He is an Occupational Therapist with the ELC and is a really nice person. I haven’t had email exchanges from him over the years but I am now receiving them quite often. I get really excited to see a message from this gentleman, Mr. James Taylor. I then realize that it isn’t Fire & Rain James Taylor, and I continue working.
Have a great (3 day) weekend!