January 29 Rise N Shine Gill

Our Mission:  “Educate students for lifelong learning and responsible living.”

Our Vision:  “Provide a learning environment that promotes and develops academic and

social growth.”

Author of the Month:  EB White
Word of the Month: White  Rise N Shine:  Ms. Gill

• Monday Jan 29 - Regular Day.  Tutoring Starts. Grandparents Raising Grandkinds 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Cafeteria and Library.  
• Tuesday Jan 30 - PLC Meetings, Site Visit Pat.  
• Wed Jan 31 - Brett out, Mandt Training
• Thurs Feb 1 - Brett out, Mandt Training, Tutoring 
• Friday Feb 2 - Brett out, Mandt Training
• Sat. Feb 3 - Early Birds at Coolidge

Benchmark Literacy:  Unit 6:  

You should have completed Unit 5 for Benchmark Literacy and should be starting Unit 6.  Remeber that each unit is 3 weeks long.  I have ONLY put the large unit assessment into Mastery Connect..  There are smaller assessments you can be using for your chunking of the material and ongoing assessments.  Those assessments CAN be added to Mastery Connect.  The Unit 6 Asssessment has been uploaded into Mastery Connect.  Remember to test you MUST push the assessment to your students.

Dont forget there is also a web resource for your with Benchmark Literacy, https://okcps.benchmarkuniverse.com/.  This has ALL the tools from the tookkits in your classroom.  

We will be having a trainer from Benchmark Literacy in our building February 19 - 23rd.  While in the building she will be modeling lessons and answering questions about implementation of Benchmark Literacy.

Our Dr. Seuss Themed Math Night will be Thursday, March 8^th from 5:30pm to 7pm. Please follow the link below to sign your team up for a station to run at Math Night. If there is another activity that is not listed on the google form that your team would like to do, feel free to write it in.

Please sign up as soon as possible so that we can prep all stations in advance. The stations will be assigned to grade levels on a first come, first serve basis. If you have questions about the stations, please see this document for descriptions of the activities. We will meet on Tuesday, March 6th during Staff Meeting to discuss Math Night procedures/set up and to make any final preparations for your individual stations. Thanks for your participation in Math Night!

Math Night Sign Up Sheet

Kind Croc's

We are missing one of our Kind Crocs Award Books.  Please check your rooms, backpacks, homes etc so that we can give out all 4 awards each week.  Thank you.

MyOn Update:

• 11,504Books Finished
• 2,430 hr 48 min

Kindergarten:  27 hours, 57 minutes

1st Grade:  18 hours, 37 minutes

2nd Grade:  250 hours, 35 minutes

3rd Grade:  733 hours, 40 minutes

4th Grade:  581 hours, 58 minutes

5th Grade: 271 hours, 58 minutes

6th Grade: 546 hours, 00 minutes

This week 87 students earned certificates.  1,307 certificates have been earned this school year.  52% of our students are meeting their usage needs.  

Ms. Gorman's 3rd period class leads the school with 575 lessons passed!  Ms. Hickman's 2nd period class has completed 407 lessons and her 1st period class has compled 320 lessons.

Keeping the Focus on the Positive

Paying attention to what was going well for students led a special education teacher to a strengths-based approach to teaching.

By Nina Parrish

As a special educator with seven years’ experience as a public school teacher and now seven more as a private tutor, I’ve worked with students with huge academic and behavioral challenges. Often the discrepancies between their current performance and what is expected have been so large that anyone could point them out.

And when I was a classroom teacher, I was frequently surrounded by problems that could feel insurmountable: seemingly unattainable standards, hours of meetings, mountains of paperwork, and more.

I found that choosing to focus on these negative things resulted in my feeling frustrated and depleted—burned out. And I realized that often our students who struggle in school are focused on negatives too: Because of academic or behavioral challenges, they come to school every day and have a bad experience.

his light bulb moment made me realize that instead of mirroring students’ attitudes, fears, and anxieties, I needed to show them something different. For this reason, focusing on the positive is one of my most effective teaching techniques.

In fact, research points to teacher support and the identification of positive personal characteristics as the strongest predictors that students will feel a sense of belonging at school, which is essential to their well-being. In focusing on the positive, teachers can foster better academic and personal outcomes for students.

HOW I FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE

Be a cheerleader instead of a critic: I make an effort to focus on positive behavior. Each day, I watch my students to determine what motivates them and get to know what they enjoy outside of school.

Be an observer: Students who struggle immensely with academics are often very talented and motivated in other areas. I ask myself, “What makes this student tick?” or “What motivates them?” or “What special gifts or talents does this student have?” I do this even when processing negative behavior, and once I made this change in my attitude I started to see things differently.

Here are some of my observations:

• A child with extreme dysgraphia, who struggled to write even simple sentences and often had his head down, told the most creative stories.

• One of my students with dyslexia was a talented artist. Her face lit up as she drew lifelike portraits at her desk during the lesson. Another student could take anything apart and put it back together.

• A student with an intellectual disability had the kindest heart. His first thought was always for someone else.

• A student who acted out and frequently disrupted the class when he was given a worksheet excelled when given a project.

• One of my students from a group home who required a behavior aide wrote the most beautiful poetry.


Find ways to link strengths to academics: After searching for strengths, talents, and interests, I look for a way to connect what a student struggles with to a skill they already possess. To facilitate this in the school setting, I gave students leadership roles within the classroom and designed project-based learning. I looked for opportunities to provide choice—from the books that students read to the ways they demonstrated learning.

I even searched for ways to incorporate learning into my behavior management practices. I let my student who enjoyed poetry go to the library and get poetry books, and when he was upset, he would decompress by turning his feelings into free verse.

Make academics more accessible: I use creativity and assistive technology to bridge the gap between talents and academics. I showed my student who enjoyed telling stories how to use voice-to-text software that made the recording of stories possible even when writing was difficult. My artist drew pictures in her notes of what she visualized as we read. I also posted art around the room and “commissioned” art to go with the themes of our units.

Help students find a purpose: I try to make sure each student feels that they have a purpose. In the classroom, I searched for things that were broken—pencil sharpeners, staplers, computers—and let my mechanically inclined student fix them. Students who liked to help and had strong interpersonal skills passed out papers or rewards and were responsible for encouraging others.

I find that so often in teaching things change from year to year just as you are adjusting to them. However, focusing on the positive is timeless and cost-effective. It will not be replaced next year by a fancy new program or shiny new technology. It is the foundation for personalized learning and the key to closing the achievement gap for students who are hard to reach.

Instead of starting with the standards that must be learned, I learned to start with the student in front of me. Through focusing on student strengths, I’m able to build the resiliency and interest in my students that’s necessary to achieve academic objectives. By focusing on the positive, I build up the child in front of me to be the best version of themselves.

Go to https://padlet.com/mgbrett/n2myw70omdg9.  Password:  coolidge2018 (lower case, no spaces).  Pick a column.  Add your thoughts.

To Develop Every Child Into a Reader:

• Everyday a child reads something they choose to read.
• Every child reads accurately
• Every child reads something they understand.
• Every child writes something that is personal and meaningful daily.
• Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.
• Every child hears an adult reader read fluently.

Coolidge Elementary Academic Goals for 2017- 2018

• All Students WILL achieve academically.
• Reading:  Increase reading proficiency by at least one grade level, and know their current F & P level.
• Math:  Increase math achievement by 10% with 80% mastery of math facts on grade level.  
• Writing:  Increase writing proficiency by 15%
• Student Attendance:  Increase student attendance to 98%.
• Increase Faculty Attendance to 98%

OKCPS Literacy Standards

          1^st Grade

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          6^th Grade

OKCPS Math Standards

          Pre-K

          Kindergarten

          1^st Grade

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          5^th Grade

          6^th Grade

Melissa Brett | Principal

Coolidge Elementary School | Oklahoma City Public Schools

5212 S. Villa, Oklahoma City, OK 73119

(405) 587-2800

(405) 208-1581 (cell)