Early release day

Hello,

I hope the early release day went well for all of you.  Teachers met to talk about the new Common Core Standards for writing.  I spent half of my time with the fifth grade team.

All of the looping slips that I expect to receive have been returned.  We will have eighteen students returning to room 120.  I should find out relatively soon about any new students joining our group.  I proposed to the principal this morning that we have more students placed in our room than any other class to insure that we won't get any more new students in the middle of next year.  It looks like our current numbers place the totals at nineteen per class.  I asked for 21.  I believe that students that will be joining our classroom should know ASAP so we can start building a relationship.  I'm hoping that the students will come from a pool of students that I am already familiar with, but I don't know if that will be the case.  Either way, I'm excited about the possibilities.

The class did really well on the NWEA MAP reading test.  I'm still waiting for one student score, but the average gain is currently at fifteen points.  The expected yearly gain is 6-7 points.  It is not my favorite test, but I'd rather see high scores than low ones.  I think some of the gains are based on the fact that some of our kids are learning how to take a test.  It is an important skill and I am pleased.  I'll get more detailed scoring next week and have individual talks with students about their results.  The results will also go home with the final report card.

My wife is summoning me.  Have a good night.

Mr. Shea