OGCS/SSCS March 2010 ES Agenda

Please read the agenda, along with each of its links (all links available in ES Handbook for future reference) before your ES Group meeting and take any questions with you to the meeting. The agenda quiz must be completed in your ES WEBfiles BEFORE attending your ES meeting! This agenda has been posted 3/5/2010 and the agenda quiz is due 3/15/2010.

Please note that if you must miss your ES meeting, you should inform your Area Facilitator and ES Advisor and make arrangements with another AF to attend another meeting that month. (All meeting times and dates are posted in the ES handbook along with AF e-mail addresses and meeting date, time, and location). Your AF is listed in ES Webfiles on the ES Welcome page. If you miss the meeting altogether, you will be reminded of your responsibility to attend and will be held responsible for the information given at the meeting. If you miss another meeting, it will become a discipline issue and may result in a drop in your student load. We do not believe that you can effectively serve your students if you miss critical information about the school and your job. Thank you for making these meetings a priority as you schedule your time for this school year!  The ES Support Department.

 

1) Dates to Remember and Dated Duties

a) Remember to bring ALL of your completed portfolios for both semesters of 2010 along with your current Portfolio Checklists printed from Webfiles, and other items listed below to your March ES group meeting to be reviewed and turned in to your AF at your meeting! Check the webpage meeting schedule for information as many meetings have changed dates/times/locations for this meeting. You must attend YOUR ASSIGNED GROUP this month due to the portfolio review! Email your advisor if you have any issue with a portfolio and expect to not be able to turn it in at your meeting.

 

b) March 5, 2010:  Have all Writing Scores entered in ES Webfiles and also the Postmark date for original writing samples with scored rubrics to be sent to the school office (See 2a below).  Mail originals to:  (school) Writing Samples, 1166 Broadway, Suite Q, Placerville, CA  95667.

 

c) March 5, 2010: You should have completed your ES Self Evaluation and submitted to Your ES Advisor by March 5th. (See January agenda for info) If this is not yet done, please complete immediately!

 

d) March 5, 2010: You should have marked in your graduates as planning to attend the graduation ceremonies or not in ES Webfiles at View/Students Graduation tab. If this is not yet done, please complete immediately as we want no one to miss out on the graduation ceremonies!

 

e) March 5, 2010: Take the STAR Proctor Quiz in ES Webfiles by March 5th, 2010

 

f) March 5, 2010: Enter your Email Signature in Outlook/Exchange (See February Agenda)

 

g) March 14, 2010: Daylight savings time change!

 

h) March 15, 2010: This is the last day to sign a SA and start a student for the 2010 school year.

 

i) March 19, 2010: Last day to make any final assessment duty trades and inform the Assessment Department at proctor.ogss@ieminc.org . We have reviewed the schedule for any ESs who have gone from full-time to part-time or vice versa at that time. If you believe there is still an error with the number of days you are to serve,please contact Burke at proctor.ogss@ieminc.org ASAP.

 

j) March 25 to April 29, 2010: STAR/PFT testing window.  All of your students must be tested in this timeframe--either by attending a site, or by you testing them individually if they miss attending their site assessment date.

 

k) April 16, 2010: Submit expected grades for your 2nd semester graduates by this date in ES Webfiles.

 

l) April 23, 2010: Submit grad packets for all 2nd semester expected graduates, plus those expected to be done after summer school to your advisor by this date. (Indicate which date they will be done on the paperwork you send to your Advisor). Watch the new "Grad Procedures" Webex posted on the ES Videos webpage if you have a graduate!.

 

m) April 30, 2010:  : Last date to order from IF using 2010 IF, do a transfer of IF, order for summer school from 2010 IF, or enroll in a CP course. Exceptions are GEAS and HQT courses. See details for delayed and/or spring ordering in the training sections below.

 

n) Payroll Snapshots

 

o) Reminder Dates for Graduation.

·         Don't forget to administer the SCANTRON test each of your graduates, and remember the graduation procedures regarding e-mails for missing materials!! BE sure to emphasize the critical importance to the school that each graduate take their final Scantron assessment very seriously and do their very best job.  Our school will be judged on their results.

·         April 16, 2010: Submit expected grades for your 2nd semester graduates by this date in ES Webfiles.

·         April 23, 2010: Submit grad packets for all 2nd semester expected graduates, plus those expected to be done after summer school to your advisor by this date. (Indicate which date they will be done on the paperwork you send to your Advisor).

·         May 21, 2010: Email advisor with names of any potential 2nd semester graduates who did not make it, change expected grad date in ES Webfiles.

 

p) May 11 and 12 CAHSEE Make-ups for 10th graders who missed the Feb test (REQUIRED!) and any 11th/12th graders who still need to pass a section or two.

 

q) Graduation Dates and Info: ESs are welcome and strongly encouraged to attend graduation, especially if you have a graduate!

ü  OGCS Graduation: Saturday, May 15 at 2:00 p.m. for 8th grade and 3:00 pm for 12th grade at Ocean Grove's Resource Center site, 16900 North Highway 9, Boulder Creek, California.

ü  SSCS Graduation: Saturday, May 22 at 11:00 a.m. for 8th grade and 12:30 pm for 12th grade at First Covenant Church located at 10933 Progress Court, Rancho Cordova, California 95670

 

r) ES Checkout 2010: Plan now to “check out” sometime between May 21 and June 7. Until you are officially “checked out” by your Advisor, we will expect that you are still available daily by cellphone and email, and available to meet with new prospective students. This year we suggest you wait to print out a final copy of your ES Checkout forms as documents received by the office will be automatically checked off for you on the list.  But, you will want to print a preliminary copy for you to use now from Webfiles by going to View/ES Detail and selecting the yellow “print ES Checkout” button on the lower left side of the general tab.

 

s) Summer School Dates:

ü  March 26th – deadline to email Brandy if you interested in working as a Summer School ES

ü  April 9th – deadline for student summer school application form

ü  April 12th – notification to interested ESs of Summer School status

ü  April 14th – Summer School ES WebEx training (10-12pm).

ü  April 30th – last day to submit a PO for summer school materials

ü  May 24th – 1st day of Summer School

ü  June 18th – Last day of Summer School

ü  June 24th – SSCS and OGCS Summer School portfolios meeting with Brandy

 

t) Save this 2010/11 date! Plan now for a required All ES all day training meeting on:  SSCS: Tuesday, August 17, 2010; OGCS: Wednesday, August 25, 2010.  Details to come.

 

2) Things to Do

a) Print out latest Assessment proctor schedule (OGCS  SSCS) today and highlight your duties, and be ready to serve! Also print out the test location and times for your specific assignment.  There will be no April ES Group meeting so that you can serve your proctor duties. Keep your families updated with any changes to their site location or times at their site location (which we hope not to have, but you never know). Remember that if a student does not attend their assigned test session/make-up session, it is your responsibility to individually test those students.

 

b)   ES Checkout Paperwork is now available in ES WEBfiles. Go to View/ES Detail General tab, and click on the button on the bottom left that says "Print ES Checkout". This button will prompt your computer to print two pages. The signature page will be signed and turned in at ES checkout; page 2 to be submitted will be printed from ES Webfiles when you are done.  Use the copy you print now as a guide of what you need to complete. ESs must be checked out by June 7, 2010. If you have any questions about what is required before checkout, please bring those to your ES meeting for the compilation. Do start early on your Checkout paperwork! Watch this webex for a good review: http://www.sscs.cc/video/ES_Checkout_Final.wrf

 

c)   Use the NCLB Compliance Plan form to update your NCLB plans for 2011 if you are a new ES this year or have obtained additional NCLB certifications this year: http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/esjob/NCLBcompplan.pdf .  If you are pursuing an EL certification, do write that into the form in the English section if you do not expect to be done by August 2010. These forms go to Linette Harris when they are complete in the Placerville office.

 

d) LR standards “Yearly Not Done”. At this time of year, many of our parents tend to acquire “Spring fever” and are more open to your suggestions of “what they should do next month”.  Use this opportunity to print out the LR standards, “Yearly Not Done” and give to them as a suggestion of what they might like to work on this Spring. It is not required that all of the standards be mastered in a course/grade level (90% is the guideline for HS courses with standards), but most should be worked on during the course of the school year. Remember, if a parent doesn’t want this suggestion, it is still “parent choice”.

 

e) Please start completing Student Agreements for Fall 2010 now!

1.     Student agreements are all due for continuing students by ES Checkout, therefore please begin asking your current families their intentions for next year and complete SAs printed out from ES Webfiles.  In March you will want to begin this conversation with your current families and plan courses for high school students for Fall 2011, as that information will need to be entered into the database on a report card for 2011 prior to printing the SA. Be sure to select the correct grade level for Fall 2011, as current grade levels are listed now in Webfiles (*Please review the  K-8 Grade Placement Policy and the High School Grade Placement Policy)! 

2.     We will begin enrollments for Fall 2011 to those ESs who have an available space or have completed their planned drops and grads (see 3b for step by step details of how to do this yourself this year) in late March. Please contact and enroll newly assigned Fall prospectives as soon as you receive an e-mail notifying you of the assignment of a new prospective. Remember, if you get a new prospective assigned that cannot start by March 15, 2010, then the assignment is for Fall 2011 only; there are no more new enrollments after March 15, 2010 for this school year!

3.     Transfer requests: You may start the process to transfer a student after this school year is out at any time now by completing the planned drop in ES Webfiles (see 3b below). http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/transferdrops/transferiem.htm . We try to place transfer students prior to newly enrolling students.

4.     Summer School:  Students must have been enrolled for Spring 2010 and also have a SA for Fall 2011 to enroll for summer school this year, if they wish and if they qualify (see 3d for policy and how to enroll). You must send in their Fall SA in order for their summer school enrollment form to be accepted!

5.     Retention of a student for 2011.  Remember there is a spot on the Student Agreement to indicate that a student will be repeating a grade.  It is right next to the grade level box and is labeled “Ret?”.  Check the box if the current grade level will be repeated in 2011 for any reason.  If your student needs to repeat Kindergarten, please have the parent also sign this CDE required auditable form (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/documents/parentagreeform.pdf) and mail it to the IEM office in Placerville. Note: It is an auditable document. Each student can only repeat Kindergarten once, and Kindergarten retention is frowned upon and should be avoided if at all possible. (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/studentenrollment/k8gradepl.htm ).

6. Fall 2011 SAs: You now have the option of choosing a meeting timeframe of every 5, 10, or 20 days on the SA dropdown. Be sure to reflect  the correct time period to match your  AESS contract if applicable.

 

f) Webexs to watch if you have students earning HS credits to prepare for the end of this school year: Grad procedures; HS grades/credits; HS Training

 

g) Reminder: Complete your PG hours for this year if you have not yet done so, and your Learning Styles online training! Send info to your advisor in order to receive your PG hours.

 

3) Training Items

a) Portfolios Due

·         Bring all of your completed 2010 portfolios for every student on your Webfiles Portfolio checklist at Create/Print Portfolio list (except those 1st semester drops/grads already turned in) to be left with the advisor at your meeting after the peer review. Bring extra labels, etc, as might be needed to make corrections.

·         March is our Portfolio Collection Month and a majority of the ES meeting will be spent on peer review of portfolios. Print to bring to your meeting:

  1. Portfolio Review form (http://www.ieminc.org/genericforms/Finalportrev.pdf ) --Bring 25 to use as you review other portfolios
  2. Portfolio Error Sheet (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/portfolio/porterrorreview.pdf)  (print 1 for each of your portfolios, plus a few extra)
  3. Portfolio Sample Q&A's (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/portfolio/portsampqaiem.htm ) to use as a reference
  4. Reviewing Portfolio Samples Guide to use as a reference
  5. Portfolio corrections needed sheet (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/portfolio/portcorrform.pdf )--2 copies for every student to be used as needed.

·         If you need a pre-meeting refresher, watch the Portfolio Video linked to the ES Protected page/ ES Videos on the bottom section of that page.  Remember, Peer Reviewers will be held responsible for their careful portfolio review.  This is an ES job duty that must be taken seriously!

·         If you have a transfer student, and the transferring ES did not include a first semester checklist with their portfolio samples, please contact your ES advisor for assistance.

·         At the meeting, after your peer ES reviews your portfolios, make any corrections as indicated on the Portfolio Error sheets immediately while at your meeting. If possible, make the corrections during the meeting as all portfolios with the Portfolio Error sheets attached and the Porfolio Review Checklist will be collected before you leave the meeting. If there are uncorrectable errors, follow the next step.

·         Use  a 2nd Portfolio corrections needed sheet (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/portfolio/portcorrform.pdf) and list for your usage all corrections that need to be made. (1 copy attached to the portfolio that will be collected; one for your usage to make the needed corrections that cannot be made at the meeting):

·         Any portfolios not taken care at your meeting will require the ES to make an arrangement for their late submittal with your ES advisor at a location given to you by your advisor, and it will be reported on your ES evaluation if it is due to ES error or delinquency.

 

b) Planned List:

Enter in your planned list YOURSELF as soon as you know a student will be dropping/graduating/new and requesting you using these new directions.  Do not email Cindy directly about these from now on! We will begin to assign for next year after all students who will enroll this year are assigned, probably in late March.  Students will be assigned by seniority to those ESs showing space.  HINT: You may not have space for next year’s students unless you complete your planned list!

1.     From View/Students Active tab click the yellow "Planned Departures" button.

2.     Select “Departures” or “Expected students” tab.

3.     To enter a planned departure, click in the Type field and complete that screen that pops up. Click submit when done. The departure info will now show up for you and the student assignment department.

4.     To enter an Expected student, complete the info in that tab. The departure info will now show up for you and the student assignment department. Note:  YOU MAY NOT ENTER A STUDENT CURRENTLY ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER ES!

 

c)   Delayed & Spring and Summer PO Requests: SSCS Training    OGCS Training

 

d) Summer School: (http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/sumsch/ogss/sspol.htm )

·         We have condensed the summer school session into 4 weeks, beginning on Monday, May 24th and ending on Friday, June 18th.  Note: the regular school year ends on Friday, May 21st. 

·         We will have a limited amount of space for students interested in taking classes during this summer.  To be eligible for summer school, a student must be either behind in credits and/or have failed the CASHEE.   To check to find if any of your students are behind in credits, in FRED click “View” --> select “Students”.  Look at the column that has the student’s grade level indicated.  If the student grade is shown in bold font, that student is at grade level with respect completed credits and is not eligible for summer school.  If the student has their grade level shown in a faded light gray color, that student is behind in credits and is eligible to take summer school.  Because of state funding budget constraints, only eligible high school students can take summer courses this year.  Find which of your students are eligible for summer school and contact the eligible families ASAP.   Also to be eligible, a student must be enrolled in our school in Semester 2 of 2010 and have a signed Student Agreement for Semester 1 of 2011. 

·          Space in summer school will be on a first-come-first-serve basis.  If you have a student who is eligible and wants to take summer school classes, have the family fill out and sign the summer school application ASAP.  This form should be submitted as early as possible, but must be received by the IEM/Placerville office before Friday, April 9th.   (Contact Brandy Anderson at guidance@ieminc.org after that date to see if a late enrollment can be accepted or not)

·          If you have a student who does not qualify for our summer school but still wants to earn additional credits during the summer, encourage that student to take a class at a local community college.   The family will need to fill out the concurrent enrollment paperwork and mail it to the Placerville office ASAP.  The enrollment process for community college summer courses starts in April at most colleges.  If a student takes a community college course during the summer, be sure to have the student send an official transcript from the college to the IEM/Placerville office after the summer course is over.   Our guidance counselor will enter in the high school level courses and credits into the student’s high school transcript, which will have those courses listed as being taken during the summer session.   Remember, a student can take summer school with our school or with a community college, not both.  Hint: We do not process concurrent enrollment paperwork for students who are not yet “active” in our database, whether or not we have their Student Agreement for next fall, nor can we count their summer college courses on our school transcripts.

·         If you would like teach summer school to your students and/or other students, please email Brandy Anderson (guidance@ieminc.org) before March 26th.  He will be planning and coordinating summer school this year for both SSCS and OGCS, and will notify you if you have been selected to teach summer school.   There is no separate funding available for summer school – this includes funding for SME courses.  Therefore, if you are interested in teaching summer school, you must be HQT in the courses you are teaching for summer.   (Hint:  If you do not have both Math and ELA NCLB certifications, do not apply to teach summer school!) If your student qualifies for summer school and plans to take classes this summer, you will need to purchase all of the books and materials with this year’s instructional funds.  Remember, April 30th is the last day to purchase materials with this year’s instructional funds.

4) Messages from School Departments

a) ASSESSMENT

·         STAR Testing: 

ü  It is very important that you look at each of your student’s EOC (End of Course) information as soon as possible to verify that they are signed up for the correct EOC test (View/Students/click their blue ID #/click assessment/assigned EOC tests will be checked in the box on the right).  If there are any necessary changes that will need to be made by the Assessment Department before testing begins, contact us right away.  Please explain to each of your students what grade level they will be testing at and what EOC they will be taking in addition to the grade level booklet. 

ü  Plan now to be available during your students’ testing dates so that you may respond immediately and call or test as needed by the assessment department.

ü  Waiver info can be found at http://www.ieminc.org/Assessment/2005/starexempt05.htm .

ü  “No Shows” for STAR Testing: Each afternoon of dates your students are testing, please check ES Webfiles (go to ES Webfiles, View/Students test info tab, Star/Attendance tab and then scan your student list and comments for any student who did not show up for testing.  Call missing students to insure they attend the next available test session or arrange to administer the test yourself.  After speaking with the family enter comments by clicking on blue student number, click Star tab and type in light green comment box labeled ES Call Result.  Relay any new concerns to assessment by email to fhustrulid@ieminc.org.

·         PFT Testing: 

All 5th, 7th, & 9th grade students will be taking the PFT test during their STAR testing days.  Please explain the importance of wearing appropriate shoes and clothing and that they will need to stay at the site until they have completed the Physical Fitness Test. On our school web-site, we have a chart that shows what students need to get in order to be in the Healthy Fitness Zone.  The link is:  http://www.ieminc.org/Assessment/healthfitzone0910.pdf.  Look over the graph and pass it on to any 5th, 7th, and 9th grade student. 

·         CAHSEE Letter: An explanation letter with the February results will be mailed to all students in late March.  By the end of March the Assessment Department will notify you of any students not yet tested (10th graders) or 11th  grade students who have only taken it once this school year and any 12th grade students still needing to pass either the ELA or math.  It is critical that you explain to your student/parent at your next LR meeting the importance for the listed students to attend the May administration.  If results show they passed in February (11th & 12th grade only), then they will not need to attend the May test. 

 

b)GUIDANCE

Summer School Issues –See above 3d.

 

c) Ed Liaisons: 

For both schools:

·         Parent Chaperones – parents who wish to act as official chaperons for an IEM school, who will take responsibility for children other than their own at a school function, must be livescanned specifically for that school, at their own expense. For example, there will be a week long science camp for OGCS in September 2010/11. They will need 7 to 8 adults to chaperons for this camp. They must be live scanned well in advance of the camp. Any parents, who are interested in chaperoning this event or others like it, need to get this done well in advance of the GEA and the fall rush for fingerprinting.  Please have them contact the Educational Liaison of their school their name and address so the process can get started. All ESs are already live scanned, so if they would like to chaperon there is no problem.

·         2011 GEAs – GEAs for the 2011 school year are being planned now. If you have an idea for a GEA for your school, please contact the Educational Liaison with the event idea, the potential number of students, and the vendor, or potential vendor who would sponsor such an event. There is a particular interest in GEAs for high school students. Judging the correct number of spaces to reserve has been a problem in the past, with either way too many or way too few spots available, so please be realistic in the numbers you think will be interested. OGCS contact Mary Ann Shapiro at ogliaison@ieminc.org and SSCS contact ssliaison@ieminc.org. Thank you for your input.

·         New EL Requirement – Beginning fall 2010, charter school teachers are now required by the state of California (as are all teachers in every public school in CA) to have English learner authorization. This means that no matter when you received your credential, you will need to get the updated CLAD certification, which is the currently the CTEL. Got to the CTC website to find more information on where and how to receive this certification. Also, pass on any information you find to your school Educational Liaison. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE LAST MINUTE!!

SSCS specific:

I have sent information on three different classes available.  All of the start immediately!  I have information on a couple more, but they are more expensive.  Let me know if the first three don't work for you.

OGCS specific:

·         Graduation – The graduation this year is May 15th for OGCS. All ESs are encouraged to attend, especially those who have students participating in the graduation ceremony. At OGCS we have the tradition of the ES of record making very short remarks about each of their students as they are called up to receive their “diploma”, 8th and high school both. Please prepare these remarks carefully and thoughtfully with positive remembrances for you and the student. If it is impossible for you to attend the ceremony, please forward those remarks to ogliaison@ieminc.org. Mary Ann will read the remarks in your place, so each student will have that special remembrance, although they would really like to hear your remarks directly from you, if at all possible.

·         VPSS classes can still be paid for by our grant money. We will have access to this money until January 2011. Any classes that are committed to and the PO processed at that time can be paid for by the grant. Please take every opportunity to get all the classes or take all the tests you can to bring your credential up to NCLB qualifications. Keep an eye out for emails with further class announcements.

·         EL certification: OGCS ESs can have the cost of obtaining it, classes and/or tests, reimbursed through our remaining grant money (but not the costs payable to CCTC for your certificate issuance). Please look for emails with further specific information where and how this certification can be achieved.

·         GEAs:                    GEA 18434 - May 6th, Roaring Camp train ride and gold panning. 10:30 to 2:00 pm

 

d) CURRICULUM

·         CURRICULUM WEBSITES NEEDED
During March, please email Shelley Ross, curriculum@ieminc.org, your favorite curriculum websites and she will add them to our school websites.

·         DISCOVERY EDUCATION streaming--IMPORTANT ORDERING INFORMATION!!!
WE MUST HAVE NEW & RETURNING PARENTS’ POs for 2010-2011 POs CREATED BEFORE MAY 31st
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.  QUESTIONS?  EMAIL SHELLEY ROSS, curriculum@ieminc.org.

ü  2009-2010 Discovery Education streaming school-purchased licenses will expire at the end of June 2010.  Please share next year’s pricing with your families NOW for next year, and encourage them to continue this wonderful resource.

ü  ESs with families wanting a license for 2010-2011, need to create a PO before May 31st for seamless service and same login. 

ü  Create the PO:  Quantity 1, Discovery Education streaming license, Unit Price $145. 
This is the price per family!  In the body of the PO, put the family’s last name and the family’s PARENT CODE, as it is very important that Kirstine has the correct family when issuing the login.  Returning parents will keep their same login if their PO is place before May 31st.  ESs will want to create their PO’s NOW for next year by using session 11, Service PO.   (There is no cost limit restriction for 2011 service POs; this does not count against their Product PO ordering of $150.)

ü  Prorated pricing will be available in July/August.  It will be communicated via the list serve, then posted on the online vendor link, and communicated at the August ES Inservice. 

·         USA TESTPREP (CAHSEE)
http://usatestprep.com/front/state.php?product=2
--CAHSEE Prep ELA or CAHSEE Prep Math.
--This is a new vendor, offering many features to their online CAHSEE prep ELA or CAHSEE prep MATH.
--I would need 10 people to place a PO in May at $40 for a one year license for ELA ONLY. 
If we reach the 10 minimum ELA PO’s, they will all be processed July 1. 
If we don’t, these ELA PO’s will be cancelled.
--I would need 10 people to place a PO in May at $40 for a one year license for MATH ONLY. 
If we reach the 10 minimum MATH PO’s, they will be processed July 1. 
If we don’t, these MATH PO’s will be cancelled.
--All students enrolling later in the school year, would be able to enroll into this program for FREE.

·         A-G EXAMS
The a-g exams (midterm and final) have been linked on the Curriculum Handbook for easier access. 
http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/curriculum/a-g%20exams/a-g%20exams.dwt
If you need an exam that is not located there, email Shelley Ross, curriculum@ieminc.org

·         AT RISK STUDENTS
Do you have an at risk student?  Then consider The Learning Springs.  Some charter schools are finding that their at risk students do well with this program if the student is required to answer their questions with complete sentences, and answers all of the essay questions. 

·         SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS
Special education students needing to pass the CAHSEE are showing good results using Measuring UP CAHSEE Prep and Study Island CAHSEE Prep.

·         FREE GRAMMAR WEBSITES
Guide to Grammar and Writing, http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Grammar Slammer provides instruction and examples for practically every aspect of grammar, http://englishplus.com/grammar/Over 440 free grammar lessons, covering parts of speech, to prepositional phrases to, noun clauses and verb participles, http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.shtml

·         STUDY ISLAND--Inexpensive!   Effective standards review for grades K-8, and CAHSEE Prep. 
Study Island wrote their standards review courses FROM the California standards.  They did not take national course program and loosely align it to our standards so they could say their courses align. 
That is one reason why this product is getting such good results.
A one year license is only $20, and it gets prorated down from there if you phone the company.  Just for this year, SSCS will be changing over to a July to June license period, so their pricing will be for a longer contract and the prorated pricing will go down from there.   So every ES in all schools should just call the company to get the pricing before doing their PO.   Kirstine Larsen, iemtraining3@ieminc.org creates your login after you email her with the information listed in the PO Notes.

·         WRITE REFLECTIONS
Kirstine Larsen, iemtraining3@ieminc.org,  can transfer this entire program to your flashdrive if you mail your flashdrive to her (we are not responsible if your flashdrive gets lost getting to us).   Flashdrives cost anywhere from $10-$15, and you can use your automatic stipends paid to you monthly to purchase one.   Mail to SSCS or OGCS, 1166 Broadway, Suite Q, Placerville, CA 95667, ATTN:  Kirstine Larsen.  Include a self-addressed, stamped envelop to return it in.
In the parent’s home, all you have to do is insert the flashdrive into the computer port, open it, then drag the grade level folder onto their desktop.  It’s very easy to do.
REMEMBER:  We are license bound to only give the parent the grade levels that will be used that year.  They are to agree to delete those grade levels at the end of that year.  You may not put the entire program on their computer.  Whenever a password is asked for, it is “write”.

·         SCHOOL-WIDE WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2010-2011
Next year’s genre will be expository writing.   Ask your parents now if they want you to purchase any support writing materials for next year.   It would be best if the families can have these materials in their possession by the first day of school.  Refer to Rainbow Resource Center and teacher supply stores.  Don’t forget about Write Reflections which teaches expository writing in grades K-5 in scripted lessons, and as a genre in grades 6-12, http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/curriculum/indexiem.htm .

e) VENDOR RELATIONS

Vendor/PO Updates!

·         New Vendors by School:  SSCS   OGCS

·         ES/Student Personal information: Sometimes a service vendor will request that an ES provide their phone number when creating a PO for an educational activity. If a vendor desires this, there will be a note in the ES notes field. Please put your work contact number in the description area of the PO. Remember to NEVER include a student’s personal information (other than their name and student number).  The parent can provide any necessary personal information themselves to the vendor after the PO is approved and processed.

·         ES Pick-up of Materials from Vendor:  When completing PO for pick-up, remember that only the ES can pick up the items, not a family!  Items must be marked with the school name before being provided to a student. After the ES will pick up is checked, the ESs name and work phone number are automatically entered on the PO.  There is no longer a need to write that info in the body of the PO. Remember to mail in the receipt after picking an item up—this is an auditable document! Please add the PO number to the receipt if it is not printed there by the business.

·         Any school checks for product or service not used prior to the last day of school must be mailed back to the IEM accounting office!  No exceptions!!

·         The vendor watch list is updated.( http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/purchase/watchlist.htm )

 

f) HR Reminders

·         Your school offers eligible employee’s participation in a 403(b) plan.  This is a tax deferred savings and investment plan to which Charter School employees may make voluntary salary deductions.  For more information on participation please view our 403 (b) plans Third Party Administrator’s Website https://www/cpicrs.com .

·         Eligible credentialed employees will be enrolled in STRS.  This School makes the required employer and employee contributions to STRS on the employee behalf monthly. Information on this program is available at the STRS website at www.calstrs.com.

 

g) IT

·         Technical Support Guidelines:  Reminder that you are only to contact our tech support and/or Cenion contractor for issues related specifically to Citrix or email…PERIOD!! Your working computer is YOUR COMPUTER and we will not pay for computer repair/internet issues/problems with other programs on your computer/etc. For other issues, let them know up front to bill you for the service and not the school.  Citrix and Email only, or we will send you the bill!!

·         New Planned List (see section 3b above)

·         SSCS only: New Delayed status on Product Pos (see section 3c above)

·         New Materials database coming to you for Fall 2011.  If you see it during the summer or before, do not panic, you will be trained in the August All ES meeting on how to use it.

 

5) ES Networking

a) As you review your peer’s portfolios, look for the following to “show and tell” during your review time:

Use any additional time to share good ideas and general networking.

 

6) Good Ideas from February 2010 AF Meetings:

*Office Max has a “PC Restore” product that works very well.  $99/ you get a live tech to go in and remotely clean up your pc, viruses/spyware and other problems that may be slowing it down.

Ideas for reminding families about STAR:

*One ES provided her parents with maps to the STAR test location as an additional reminder.

*Ways to inform parents about test sites:  One ES goes directly to the website during her visit and shows them how and where to find all site info. 

* Some ES’s gave the parents the physical piece of paper with their site highlighted.  Others copied and pasted the site and days into an email and emailed the families just their site.  One ES changed the color of the dates to red (testing date, not make up date), ES’s will send an email a week before and then the day before to remind the parents of the testing. 

*STAR testing and how we share information with families: Most of us print out the site form and circle the site for each individual family. We give that to our parents at the beginning of second semester. Then, we give them another reminder form one month before testing. We also call most of our families the day before testing as well.

*Ideas for reminding families about STAR: All agreed that it’s important to email families 1 week before, 2 days before, and then call the night before to check in directly with families.

* A few ESs had ideas of how they get test site and date information to their families in a positive way;

a.       Ask for a reply when sending out a reminder email

b.      Let the family know that if they don’t reply, you will call

c.       Embed a message within the text that offers a reward, such as, “if you mention this email at our next meeting, I’ll bring you a Hershey’s Kiss” (really, someone has done this with success)

d.      Bring a hard copy of your student’s test date and site to your LR meeting and leave it with the parents

*We send emails for STAR reminder with the site copied and pasted, without the makeup dates, to make sure they go, the makeup days are then used on an as needed basis only.  We also bring them a reminder to the meeting, copying the email sent, highlighting the test dates and location.

*STAR notification: We talked about notifying parents 1 month ahead, 1 week ahead, and 1 day ahead of testing.

*Testing reminders: one ES emails, tells them in person, and TEXT MESSAGES!

Portfolio Ideas

* I print and write out sample labels for all my students (leaving them on the sheets).  After I place the label on the sample, I know what is missing by what labels are left on the sheet.

*One ES brings blank pieces of paper and her camera to take portfolio pictures then the student can write their statement while the ES is there and the sample is almost complete.

Curriculum Resources that the ESs liked:

*Aventa online classes, Revolution Prep, Oak Meadow Online, Time for Learning, R.E.A.L. science, Writing Camp workbooks, DK Eyewitness science and history workbooks.

*We brainstormed favorite curriculum ideas :

*Home Ecomonics- Starline

*Computer Concepts in Action- Glencoe

*Computer- Odysseyware

*Consumer math- AGS

*Personal finance- Starline

*Academy of science for kids K-6

*Your teacher.com-  online math tutoring for any textbook

*Tobins lab dissection kits

*Real science for kids- Gravita- able to look through and touch and see and smell. 

*ES’s have received good feedback regarding Keystone Middle school.

*Lulu.com- publish books in black and white for $8

*Enchantedlearning.com- join for $20 for the year, you can print out worksheet for samples.

*AGS from Pearson has reasonably priced and easy to use textbooks and workbooks for basic High School students.

*Starline has a good Health course (5 packets, 5 credits).

Misc. Tips:

*Graduation: We talked about the importance of sending a personal note to Mary Ann to read for graduates for any ES who is not able to make graduation.

*Timeliness for ES meetings with parents: Some ES's found if they didn't arrive at the exact time, parents were upset. A suggestion was made to be sure to tell parents you cannot know the exact time so give an approximate time or arrival.

*Tip: To other ES's- it is helpful to keep needed student information in a 3 ring binder with tabs for each area to various papers. All of us have found this the best way to keep student papers organized. In addition some keep a larger file with all student names in order to put papers that don't need to be keep in the binder-thus less weight to carry around. 

*3rd Wednesday of every month is 'free' day for the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and March is going to be free for all teachers and fire-fighters!

*Ordering from 2010 AF: Our group set a deadline of April 1 for families to get their orders to us. Several shared experiences of families losing their funds because items were rejected or backordered and there was not sufficient time to order replacements.

*All agreed that letting families know right away what their IF funding amount left is and assisting in any way to get monies spent right away is beneficial to all.

*Those families ordering materials should be encouraged to order in March to avoid the pain of having materials backorder and then arrive after June 30 when funds are taken from the next year’s IF.

*Some ES’s prioritize this way: 1) Educational materials still needed for learning this year. 2) Classes for this year. 3) Summer school materials needed. 4) Materials needed for next year

*All ES’s really enjoyed listening to February’s Webex. As the AF happened to have History Odyssey materials, we were able to look at them and discuss how each has used them. Some ES’s recommended these materials for students who really enjoy reading. It also works for families with parents who want to deeply delve into information, as these materials are a great starting point especially for middle and high school levels. For those high school students wanting to use these materials, with extra writing/vocabulary support, these materials can easily render honors level work in English. While the history is not aligned to the high school history standards, many students are receiving special interest credit for their history work in this program. With support from parents/teacher, it can be a great curriculum for AP level students.