Dear Families,

I’m not sure the groundhog was correct this year – after he didn’t see his shadow in February I was sure we wouldn’t have any more snow days.  And, I never thought I’d say this - since I love winter - but I’ll be happy when we move on to one season in earnest!  I believe all of these short weeks are not good for children and will make an effort to have fewer disruptions  (like teacher in-service and conferences) together in the month of March next year. 

Speaking of in-services, yesterday's topic was writing.   You can expect to see your children writing more in the coming months as the research shows that writing across the subject areas is the number one way to improve student learning.  While it does chop-up our week, teachers really do benefit by having time to take a step back and consider our instructional practices. 

We had terrific turnout for parent conferences last week.  Thanks to all of you who rearranged your schedules so you could meet with your child’s teacher.  Two of our first grade teachers, Miss Holly and Mrs. LeDrew, piloted student-led conferences during their sessions.  I’d love to hear from you what you thought.  Please feel free to call or email. 

Last Friday I took a small team to the St. Albans City School to visit with their principal and a team of 1-3 grade teachers about their structure.  It was very informative and I think I can speak for team in saying; we came back feeling that our proposed changes for next year, namely putting children into smaller teams and “looping,” are right on target for improving student learning. 

I’d like to remind you that there will be a public forum about our plan for next year to be held on April 25^th at 5pm in the Elm Hill Art Room.  I know some of you discussed your questions with the teachers during conferences and I’d like to hear from you and field some of those questions that night as well. 

The final disruption of this month will take place next week for our current kindergarten students.   There is no school for kindergarteners next Thursday and Friday (March 28^th and 29^th).  It is already time to begin registration for next year’s kindergarten class and I’m sure you can all remember this moment as if it were yesterday!   If you know of any “rising” kindergarten students who might not yet be connected with Elm Hill please have them call us or stop by!

And speaking of connections, Springfield’s Essential Early Education, “EEE,” will be moving into our building over the summer.  Not only will this be a budget savings but we also believe it will make for more continuity between EEE and the primary school.  And, it will offer parents a single location for educational resources.  Please join me in welcoming the EEE team! 

I wish you all a healthy rest of the month and am looking forward to springtime at Elm Hill among some of the most youthful people in the town!

Warmly,

Dana

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As many of you know we are in our first year of state recommended school improvement at Elm Hill.  As such, we are considering adopting a best practice called looping at Elm Hill.  Looping is an educational model where one class of children stays together (with or without the teacher) for more than one year.  By virtue of the children knowing their classmates and teachers there are fewer transitions and less anxiety.  This carries over into better attendance, fewer behavior issues and, best of all, more instructional time.

At Elm Hill we recommend a two-year loop where children from a particular kindergarten class would move to a designated first grade class.  Then the classes would be shuffled again for a two-year loop that would take the children from 2nd grade to 3rd grade so as to soften the transition to Union Street School.

  Jays                      Larks                Chickadees           Wrens      Cardinals

Governor Shumlin has recommended an educational plan for every child and this is much easier task in a team of approximately 60 children than one of nearly 100 (the size of our current grade level teams).  The St. Albans City School in our state has already worked within a model similar to this one and has had enormous success. 

Of course in this first year, if we were to undertake such an endeavor, parent request for a particular team would be taken under consideration when placing children.  We are also thinking about the possibility of keeping lunch or recess periods together by grade level.  All of these ideas will be addressed in a public forum to be held in the Elm Hill Art Room on April 25, 2013.  We hope you will join us!

Dear Families,

While it was nice to have a few days off it has been wonderful having the children back from vacation.   They are eager to learn and we are all re-energized.  

In the time that I had to myself this past week I thought long and hard about our recent NECAP scores and the other data we collect at Elm Hill (Fountas & Pinnell for reading and Aimsweb for math) and how we can improve student learning at the primary level for EVERY child.   In fact, I am thinking about some structural changes for next year.

There is much research to support “looping” at this age.  Looping is when children continue with the same group of students and/or with the same teacher for more than one year.  Studies show there is more instructional time when students and teachers already know each other, there is far less anxiety over transitions for children and attendance improves as well. 

In the coming days you will hear more about this from teachers and I encourage you to share you ideas, questions and concerns as well.  There will be a Parent Advisory Council this Thursday, February 28^th at 5pm as well as March 28^th at 5pm and this topic will be on the agenda.   Please come out and join me in this conversation. 

I would also like to take this time to thank all of you who participated in the parent survey.  Over 80 people responded and the ratings were very high for the most part.  The two places where parents felt we need to pay more attention is providing more frequent feedback about school as well as improving the respect levels between students. 

Both of these concerns are priorities for me and this week the teachers will establish common guidelines for feedback (i.e., frequency of newsletters, home-school journals, etc) so parents will know what to expect.  We have also been working quite a bit this year on our school climate and have noticed some significant gains, yet there is always work to be done in this area. 

I would also like to take this time to remind you that students should not bring electronics – or any toys – to school.  These items can easily get damaged and often cause a great deal of jealousy between students.  We ask that you NOT send them to school with these items.  And speaking of belongings from home, we have what looks like a ski lodge of lost mittens and gloves in our lobby. Please come in and see if any of your child’s outdoor gear has been left at school.

Thank you for all you do to send your children to school ready to learn!  We are honored to spend the day with them and be part of these tender years as they learn to read.  My new motto:  Elm Hill, where children are transformed into readers and writers.  

Warmly,

Dana

Reminder:  School begins at 8:55am and ends at 3:25.  At Elm Hill we need to begin the dismissal process at 3:15, which already feels early enough in our instructional day.  Please do not plan to pick your children up before 3:15pm because it can be very disruptive to the end of the day routine.  Thank you.  

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March 1, 2013

Welcome to March!  This month is very interesting with respect to scheduling - I usually think of March as the only month without anything out of the ordinary - but not this year.  Please see the highlights below.  

We have also been the recipient of a lovely feature in The Message.  I have attached it here and I hope you'll take a minute to read it.  

The Parent Advisory Council and PTA both met last night and we began the very start of a conversation about school improvment at Elm next year.  The discussion centered around the potential of "looping" and you'll be hearing more about this concept more during parent conferences.  We'll also host a forum on April 25, 2013 at 5pm.  We hope you'll come out and help us think through the pros and cons and make a thoughtful decison.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 885.5154.

Warmly,

Dana 

Thursday, March 14^th and Friday, March 15^th are early release days for students.  These half days are being put aside for parent conferences.  Elm Hill’s teachers will most likely run conferences all week to accommodate parent schedules but the majority of appointments can take place on Thursday and Friday. 

Thursday, March 21^st and Friday, March 22^nd are NO school days for professional development. 

Thursday, March 28^th and Friday, March 29^th are kindergarten registration days.  This means there will be NO school for our present kindergarten students.  (In the past there have been up to 4 days of no school for kindergarten due to the work of preparing for the incoming kindergarten class but this year we have cut this in half.)  If you need child care for those days please call All-4-One at 885.2531.

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