Wildcat News Principal’s Message Dr. Edwin E. Weeks Elementary

Wildcat News
Principal’s Message
Welcome to 2016! We have
had a great return to
school and work and we are
seeing significant progress
in our classrooms and student work. We had a visit
from a district led review
team that saw evidence of
our work in every classroom
they visited. That is great
news!
January brings cold weather and I would ask that you
double check that your
child has a warm coat, hat,
and gloves. We see many
children coming to school
with a sweatshirt as a jacket even when it is very cold.
If you need coats for your
Dr. Edwin E.
Weeks Elementary
kids, please call 435-4097
child is absent more than 9
and ask for a social worker. days in a school year that
We can help out with that. he/she can be considered
“chronically absent” and
Our Receivership work
require attendance interaround our Community
School Model is well under ventions? It is so important
that all of our students are
way. There is more information further in the news- here on time and ready every day. Please call the
letter, and we encourage
school office at 435your participation in the
4097 if you have
process. We will be reachquestions regarding
ing out to families and the
your
child’s
attendance.
community during February
to get more input on your
needs for a Community
With optimism,
School. If you have ideas or
questions in the meantime,
please email me at creeve- Principal ReeveLarham
[email protected].
Did you know that if your
Math and Meatballs! Fun, Family, Food!
Thursday, January 14 is
a great time for you to
brave the cold and come
out with your family for
some Math and Meatballs! This fun-filled,
family event will focus on
math games that you can
play at home to supplement your child’s learning. We will run from
5:00—7:00 p.m. and the
event is free to families.
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
We receive a lot of feedback from families with
questions about how they
can help their children with
their math homework. This
is a great opportunity for
you to ask questions of your
child’s teacher and gain a
better understanding of
math with the new standards.
We hope to see you Thursday evening from 5:00—
7:00 p.m.!
Volume 2, Issue 4
January, 2016
Special points of interest:

Our secretaries are Mrs.
Spring, Mrs. Buckley, and
Mrs. Hodge.

Afterschool programming
is available at the NECC
from 4-6 p.m. daily and
your child can be transitioned right from school to
the center by NECC
staff—contact the community center for an application.

If you move, please contact
the main office to change
your address. You will need
to provide proof of your
new address. We need your
new phone numbers , too!
Inside this issue:
Our goals—Reading
2
Receivership
2
Winter Concert
2
Enrichment
3
Join Us!
4
Updates on Receivership Status
One of the main goals of our Community Engagement Team is to implement a Community School Model here
at Dr. Weeks. The Community School
model would purposefully partner with
supports, services, and agencies in
order to remove the barriers that
prevent success in school. We are
working closely with the Syracuse
Northeast Community Center to see
how we can provide a single point of
access for parents, families, and the
community in order to empower and
educate the community in which we
live and work. We are currently developing a needs assessment and we will
be looking for your input into what
you would like to see supported
through this partnership. Please feel free to
email me at [email protected] or
email Mike Collins, Director of SNCC at
[email protected] if
you have questions,
comments, thoughts, or
ideas.
Our goals: Our progress in
Reading
Grade
Grade 11
We track our growth and progress on
reading using a tool called a Running
Record. It allows us to identify the
level a student is reading on and identify appropriate supports. Our grade
level targets identify where students
should be by the end of the school
year in order to be able to meet the
demands of the next grade level. The
charts here show where are students
are as of December and how many of
our students are on track to hit the
target by the end of the school year.
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
If you want to know where your child
is performing in reading, ask him or
her! Our students should all know
their reading levels and have goals
that they have set about where they
want to be by the end of the year.
Grade
Grade 55
The best way to improve in reading is
to read, read, read!
Page 2
Wildcat
Goal
Goal
October
October
December
December
85%
85% Instructional
Instructional G
G
4%
4%
15%
15%
65%
65% Independent
Independent G
G
1%
1%
7%
7%
40%
40% Instructional
Instructional JJ
0%
0%
2%
2%
Goal
85% Instructional
K
October
17%
December
20%
65% Independent K
4%
24%
40% Instructional
M
2%
17%
Goal
October
December
85% Instructional N
22%
31%
65% Independent N
12%
20%
40% Independent P
4%
10%
Goal
85% Instructional R
October
25%
December
31%
65% Independent R
40% Independent S
13%
25%
8%
20%
Goal
Goal
85%
Instructional
85% Instructional SS
October
October
29%
29%
December
December
38%
38%
65%
65% Independent
Independent SS
25%
25%
29%
29%
40%
40% Independent
Independent V
V
8%
8%
14%
14%
Save the date! Winter Concert! I Like to Move it Day!
Please mark your calendars for our
Winter Concert on Wednesday, January 27, We have such talented
young people here at Dr. Weeks and
we are excited to share our many
talents with you. We will feature
students in Chorus and Band, as well
as small ensembles who have been
working with Ms. Juman. Look for
more information from Ms. Juman
about this wonderful event!
Our Wildcats will be enjoying “I Like
to Move it Day” on Friday, January
22. Students will need to earn 7 Doc’s
Deeds in order to participate in activities like Outside Play, Yoga, Zumba,
Power Walking, Minute to Win It,
Snowshoeing (weather permitting), or
Jazz Dancing. We are excited to have
these opportunities for our students
to experience
What are we learning in Enrichment?
Cities, buildings, architecture. What
makes up our community and what
would we include in our version of a
perfect city? How does the community make decisions about what
should be in our community? These
are all questions that our Wildcats
will be grappling with in Enrichment
classes.
Our students will be applying skills in
creative problem solving, spatial reasoning, and community activism during the unit on “My City, My Community.”
Real life experiences are important
for students as they learn and grow.
By using the community in which they
live to teach divergent thinking and
problem solving, students are able to
apply their new learning to their prior
knowledge and it can have a significant impact. When in-class learning is
coupled with field trips and other
expanded learning experiences, they
can become very powerful and can
last throughout a lifetime. Our 2nd
grade students will be traveling to
Rochester during February to visit
the Strong Museum and 4th and 5th
grade students have been taking
walking field trips to the ArtRage
Museum.
Be sure to look for the next installment of the Enrichment
Newsletter for more information
on our amazing Enrichment program!
What is Blended Learning?
Students in grades 3, 4, 5 are
working with digital technologies
in their classrooms as a part of
their learning. This combination
of traditional learning and computer-based technology is called
“Personalized Blended Learning”
and it allows students to work at
their own pace to build on their
Volume 2, Issue 4
skills or accelerate their skills. Personalized Blended Learning allows us
to provide more individualized
learning for students. Our students
are excited about the prospect of
working with technology and it is
certainly helping us to be college
and career ready!
Page 3
Dr. Edwin E. Weeks
Elementary
710 Hawley Avenue
Syracuse, New York 13203
Phone: 315-435-4097
Fax: 315-435-6222
Website:
www.syracusecityschools.com/
districtpage.cfm?pageid=90
Every child. Every day.
College and career ready.
Dr. Weeks Elementary School is located on Syracuse’s north
side and serves approximately 790 students representing
many diverse cultural backgrounds. Our newly renovated
building reflects the new technologies and opportunities that
our students have to interact with hands-on curriculum and
enrichment activities.
Dr. Weeks Elementary School is an extended day school. Our
hours are 8:10 a.m.—4:10 p.m. daily. Our doors open daily at
8:10 a.m. for breakfast. We are conveniently partnered with
NECC and our students can participate in afterschool programming daily at the Center. Students can also participate in
our School-Based Health Center which offers dental, vision,
and mental health supports as well as a full range of health
services.
Like us on
Save the Date! Upcoming Events
January 11 and 12—ANet Assessments
January 14—Math and Meatballs (5:00
p.m.)
January 14—Puppet Show (2nd Grade)
January 18—NO SCHOOL
January 19 –Parent/Principal Coffee
(8:30 a.m.)
January 21—James and the Giant Peace
In-School Performance (Grades 2-5)
January 27—Winter Concert, 7:00 p.m.
Facebook!