I was very excited to visit the North Side PTO sponsored after school program, Girls on the Run. North Side now has its own chapter of this national, not for profit organization. Girls on the Run describes its mission to empower girls to have a strong sense of identity, to successfully navigate the challenges of adolescence and adulthood, to honor their voices by standing up for themselves and what they believe in, to focus on their unique strengths and talents, to recognize the power they have to impact their communities in a positive way, to know the joy that comes from true friendship and teamwork and to celebrate their bodies through the completion of a 5k run/walk event.
It was great to have the opportunity to meet our third and fourth grade girls participating in this exciting extracurricular program and to get the chance to lead a fun warm up activity. I look forward to visiting again soon and to being an adult “buddy runner” partner for the girls at the Dec. 7 5K event. Many special thanks to North Side PTO Co-Presidents Lauren Shannon and Lori Asaro, the executive board and to the volunteer parent coaches Dina Thaler, Kristen Iannone, Laura Burke and teaching assistant Deborah Garbacki all of whom have made this wonderful experience possible for our girls.
There is a similar program for middle school girls called Girls on Track that can be explored for future years, if there is interest.
K-4 vocabulary words have now been added to our website. (Go to www.ewsdonline.org > click on Curriculum on the horizontal navigation bar > see Academic Vocabulary Words.) This now completes our full complement of K-12 academic vocabulary by grade level for this school year.
As I’ve mentioned in an earlier newsletter, one of this year’s district-wide initiatives is a grade level list of tier 2 academic vocabulary words. Tier 2 vocabulary words are not specific to a particular content area (Tier 3), but are those high utility academic vocabulary words found in many texts and across curricular areas. By viewing the grade specific words, you have the opportunity to partner with us in reinforcing this vocabulary as well. Each building and teacher is implementing study of these words in a variety of ways and on a variety of schedules, with the expectation that all students in each grade level will know the words by the end of the year. As I visit our classrooms, I see these words posted, featured as words of the week, and highlighted in many other ways.
Congratulations to Willets Road teachers Kristin Kandel and Natalie Brew who have been selected to present at a national conference, the National Science Teachers Association, in Boston this spring. You may remember that they recently presented at the Science Teachers Association of New York State Conference and now their work is being recognized at the national level. Their presentation is titled, “My Science Story: Where Science Inquiry Meets the Common Core.”
On Nov. 13 I attended the forum sponsored by state Sen. Jack M. Martins with NYS Commissioner of Education John King, Jr. and Regent Merryl Tisch. If you were not there, you may have had the opportunity to see it livestreamed on our website. Happily, though there were differences of opinions between the public and King, unlike other forums held throughout the state, there was a basic tone of respect and civility that characterized this event on all sides.
Recently, the New York State Council of School Superintendents was invited to provide testimony regarding the New York State Education Reform Agenda at the New York State Legislative Hearing. It mirrors in many ways questions raised at this past week’s forum.
Some of NYSCOSS’ testimony included the five points I’ve listed below. These points also represent the view of the Educational Conference Board, a representative group of parents, teachers, principals, business officials, school board members and NYSCOSS (superintendents) associated with every public school in our state.
The five points in the ECB Common Core agenda are:
1 – Institute a statewide campaign to build understanding and support for the importance and value of the Common Core Learning Standards.
2 – Invest in ongoing professional development to implement the Common Core.
3 – Ensure adequate state and federal funding to give all classroom teachers the tools, instructional materials, and technology they need to help all students meet the standards, including extra help for students most at risk of falling short of the standards.
4 – Reassess the state’s approach to student testing and address the most pressing concerns that parents and educators have expressed about testing.
5 – Establish an ongoing process for engaging key stakeholders in reviewing and refining implementation of the Common Core.
The Dec. 4 board of education work session will feature an in depth presentation by administrators and teachers on the Common Core, its implementation, and the opportunity for discussion of each school level.
As noted in previous newsletters, sign up boxes for updates and alerts from the website are posted on each of the four main sites, the District homepage, the North Side home page, the Willets Road home page and the Wheatley home page. This notification system allows you to receive e-mails and/or text messages from specific pages on the site.
Sign in on any of the home pages and check off the specific page(s) for updates and alerts and check off how you would like to be notified (by e-mail and/or text messaging). Don’t forget to click on each school and the district to identify all available pages. If you have any questions, you can contact Susan Checkla, our public information officer, by e-mail at checklas@ewsdonline.org or by phone at 333-1693.
Two Wheatley band members were selected for the New York State Band Directors Association Honors Band. Senior Paul Kim (a clarinetist, who was previously honored as a NAfME All-National Musician and recently performed in Nashville, Tenn.) and junior Arjun Kapoor (an oboist, who is a Siemens Regional Finalist and presenting his research in Pittsburgh, Penn.) were selected among 475 applicants. They are invited to rehearse and perform with the Honors Band in Syracuse in March 2014.
As always, please e-mail me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call me at 333-3758 with any questions, suggestions, and or any topics you would like to see for this newsletter.
