HCS Elementary 

Family Literacy Night

Thursday, March 15, 2018 

4:30-7:30

We are excited to present an evening of literacy and fun for the entire HCS Elementary learning community.  This event will include a free dinner, many literacy workshops, and conclude with a dance in the elementary gymnasium.  This is a family event and all workshops are planned to include both the adults and the children.  Families may chose from about 20 workshops.  

Some of the workshops included: 

            • Early Language Development Skills

            • Visual Thinking Strategies

            • Reading Aloud to Your Intermediate Elementary Reader

            • Reading with Your Child from Infancy Through Young Adult

            • Screen Time 

            • Telling Your Family History

There will also be a scavenger hunt, door prizes, a raffle and conclude with a dance with a D.J.  

More information will be sent home to families regarding this event in the near future.  We hope to see every HCS Elementary family attend this important event.  

Below is a link to an article that will help you start thinking about literacy and the importance of having vocabulary rich conversations with your children at an early age.  

The Brain-Changing Power of Conversation:  Interplay between parents and children ignites the brain and boosts its response to language, spurring lasting literacy skills

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/02/brain-changing-power-conversation

CARTwheels: Consistent Advocates for Relationships and Trust

School/Steering Team - CARTwheels:  

Members of the Elementary Steering Team met three times in late September and October to finalize processes for our goal of creating a mentoring program for students in need.  We decided on the name, CARTwheels (Consistent Advocates for Relationships and Trust). The goal of the program is to match community members with students that need consistent advocates to help build trusting relationships and self-esteem.  The Steering Team defined the purpose of the program, created an application for mentors along with interview questions, and brainstormed ideas for advertisement and recruitment of mentors.  We also discussed a kick-off event for mentors and mentees and began planning training for mentors.  We hope to have at least 20 mentors working with students by December.  

PBIS/Character Education Assembly (October 6, 2017)

PBIS/Character Education:

An assembly was given on October 6th in which the student council, along with teachers, aides, cafeteria workers and bus drivers, introduced our PBIS/Character Education themes for the year.  Areas of focus this year will center around the students taking their own responsibility for these themes in the cafeteria and at recess.  Students will earn stickers for demonstrating the themes, which are respect, responsibility and safety.  Stickers will be added to “goals posters” located in the hallway and the cafeteria. Deniz Cabas, school counselor, and  Amanda Sunderman, 5th grade teacher, are both leading this effort.  

eSpark After School Class has started for 2017/18

eSpark After School Class:

Targeted students have begun attending our after school eSpark Class.  Mrs. Follett is working with 4th and 5th graders, Mr. Massi and Mrs. Rowland are team teaching our 2nd and 3rd graders, and Ms. Forth is teaching our K-1 students.  Half of the time will be spent working with the individual learning path program eSpark.  This program meets the students needs at individual levels and students are able to progress as they master skills.  All students are required to demonstrate their knowledge by passing an exam and then teaching what they learned through a self-made video.  Students will work on both math and reading skills.  The other half of the time will be spent building students self-efficacy through games and lessons designed by the teachers.  Students meet twice a week for an hour after school on Mondays and Thursdays.  

Data Dashboard

Data Dashboard:

Elementary teachers met on October 20th with Jeff Hammes from the MORIC.  He has been working with us to have our dashboard up and running since last spring. The dashboard is functioning at near capacity now with most of our data inputted or extracted from SchoolTool.  Teachers can use the dashboard to gain an overall view of their student’s key educational pieces, all in one place.  The dashboard also divides students into four (4) separate tiers, based on their performance in all areas.  Weight can be adjusted to each piece of evidence (more value may be added to Fountas and Pinnell benchmarks than is assigned to attendance).  This tool will help us when making key decisions about support through RtI and other services and to monitor the overall progress of all students.    

NWEA Parent Information Night

I hope to see the parents of students who took the recent NWEA assessments tonight in the elementary library at 7:00 p.m.  The purpose of this event is to help parents to understand the assessments and to clarify any questions they may have about their child's results.  Topics will include:

What is NWEA MAP?
Why are we giving this to our students?
What do we do with the information from the results?
Help me understand my child's report

We will also answer questions parents may still have.

Data is a key piece in our decision making process and helps us to deeply understand our actions.

Hope to see you there,

Kevin Ellis
Hamilton Elementary Principal

Amy Konz
District Data Coordinator

What About Social Studies and Science?

In the Elementary, we spend a lot of our time and energy in teaching ELA and Math.  At times, Science and Social Studies are pushed to the fringe.  As a result, elementary teachers have become more and more skilled at infusing Social Studies and Science content into the Language Arts and Math curriculum.  For example: 4th grade teachers are required to cover the time period of the Revolutionary War and the birth of our nation.  That content could be covered in a Language Arts unit on non-fiction reading and writing.  This layering of curriculum also helps students to see that learning is a process and isn't defined to one subject.  

Recently, NYS has refocused the Science and Social Studies curriculums through "Next Generation Science Standards" and "The New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework ." 

The New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework is designed to prepare students for college, careers, and civic life with courses that are rigorous and aligned to New York State Learning Standards. This Framework integrates existing New York State Learning Standards and the New York State Core Curriculum for Social Studies into a single, three-part document.  This Framework can be found using the following link <http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/frameworkhome.html>  or <http://www.moboces.org/Page/1040> 

In December of 2016, the NYS Board of regents approved the Next Generation Science Standards for New York State.  These Standards will be in effect on July 1, 2017.  These standards for learning can be found at <http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/sci/nyssls.html>

Teachers at HCS will be meeting over the next year to update our curriculum maps to reflect this new Social Studies Framework and the new Science Standards.