May 2013

A NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

We are making a concerted effort to ensure that when our children leave Denver CSD they are College and/or Career Ready!  In August when students return to classrooms, our English and Language Arts Curriculum will look much different than it does currently.  We are ramping up our curriculum materials, which will enable us to better meet the demands of the Iowa Core Curriculum. 

We review and update our curriculum regularly to meet the demands of our ever-changing global society, however every six years; we review each of our content-area curriculums with a more in-depth focus.  This year a leadership team, consisting of four elementary teachers, myself, and our Curriculum Director Paul Gebel, spent numerous hours evaluating the “shifts” of the common core.  We then evaluated numerous sets of curriculum materials in addition to the thought of not purchasing materials at all, and creating our own.  In the end, a unanimous decision was reached to integrate McGraw-Hill’s Reading Wonders curriculum into our instructional setting, starting the 2013-14 school year. 

Reading Wonders is the ONLY program on the market today that is built from the ground up to meet the challenges of the Iowa Core.  We will teach through a Reading and Writing Workshop model, while integrating many more non-fiction texts into the hands of our students.  We will also focus on reading more “closely” and with more emphasis on “text dependent” questions.  Next Fall, we will teach students to “Read like a Detective!” and to “Write Like an Investigative Reporter!”  I look forward to your feedback!

If you would like to learn more about our new ELA Curriculum materials, please visit:  http://mhreadingwonders.com

Educationally Yours,

Kim Tierney

Elementary Principal

Iowa Core Curriculum - ELA Revision

Iowa Core Curriculum – ELA Revision

A curriculum revision leadership team at Denver Elementary is currently investigating, piloting, and researching several curriculum resources that will support our teachers in meeting the new demands of the Iowa Core, specifically in the content area of English and Language Arts (ELA).  Our plan is to adopt and implement new curriculum materials into our classrooms with integrity next fall, upon students’ return.

The Iowa Core is the set of standards mandated by our state, and implemented into every school district  within Iowa.  Our standards are adapted from the National Common Core, which have been adopted by all but five states in the country.  With the Iowa Core, comes several “shifts” in the way that we teach and the way students will be expected to learn.   Importantly, several of the shifts can be supported by families at home as well, therefore the following list, as adapted from www.engageNY.org, are suggestions as to how you can support the new English and Language Arts standards at home:

1.     Read and supply more Non-Fiction at home!

2.     Read Non-Fiction aloud with your child!

3.     Have fun with non-fiction in front of them!

4.     Find books that explain!

5.     Provide more challenging texts to your child!  Help unpack the challenge with them!

6.     Demand EVIDENCE in every day discussions and disagreements!  (Blame this on Mrs. Tierney)  J

7.     Read aloud or read the same book and discuss the text with evidence.

8.     ENCOURAGE writing at home!

9.     Write books together and use evidence and details.

10. Make arguments in writing!

11. And most importantly - READ OFTEN!!!!

Standards-Based Progress Report

Standards-Based Progress Report Video

We are excited to share this video that members of our staff created to explain our new Standards-Based Progress Reports!  We hope that this additional form of communication will further help to explain our transition to our new reporting system!  (Please be advised that we don't have a high-end teleprompter - we were using paper held as close to the video camera as possible...) 

Will Your Child Eat School Lunch This School Year?

Noticeable changes will take place in the school cafeteria this year, watch the video (click on the link below) to learn more about the legislative changes that will change the contents on your child's lunch tray.  As always we welcome parents and family members to join your child for lunch in our cafeteria throughout the school year!

http://www.educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2666

A February Note From Mrs. Tierney

We have had several parents ask us what our favorite applications are for student use. For those of you that aren’t aware, applications are accessible to install on our iPads that we have within each classroom at Denver Elementary. Several of the “apps” are also compatible to install on other devices such as smart phones or another tablet device. With the knowledge that families are wanting to know which “apps” we like best, I thought it would be most relevant if we asked the students and teachers in each grade level what their favorite applications are. We will begin this month with Kindergarten and their favorite applications, which are listed below:

1. Monkey Math School Sunshine

2. SHOW ME

3. ABC Spelling Magic

A Note From Mrs. Tierney - November

A NOTE FROM MRS. TIERNEY

You know you are in a high achieving school system when a third grade student says before school, “It’s so cold out here, you can see my carbon dioxide!”

Albert Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

We, as educators, live in a system in which we are forced to rely on student achievement data as a predictor of our students’ and our school’s success. Denver Elementary consistently prevails as a high achieving school based on those assessments, as we consistently rank as one of the top achieving schools in the state of Iowa. This makes me very proud, especially because we work very hard as a school system, as a community, and as families to maintain high expectations so that we ensure that trend continues.

However, I will be the first to admit, it is so important for us at times to take a step back, and look at everything else that our students and teachers accomplish, that is not necessarily correlated within those high test scores. Teachers are preparing heavily for our Parent/Teacher Conferences next week. They have compiled mounds of data that they are prepared to share with you on your child’s report card and in a fifteen-minute conference. Most of that data will correlate to each child’s academic strengths and weaknesses, especially within the report card. What I hope you gain from the parent/teacher conference though, is a more detailed look at your child based on both academic data, but also, what we notice about your child that isn’t measured on an assessment.

For example, our student’s work hard to be Kids of Character, they practice daily being responsible, respectful, fair, trustworthy, caring, not to mention outstanding citizens. I must say that our students are some of the most incredible Kids of Character that I have ever witnessed. Character isn’t necessarily something we measure on a state assessment, but to me, we must celebrate our students’ achievements in this area, just as much as we celebrate high math, reading, or science scores. We must remember, that not everything that counts, can be counted!

Elementary Fundraiser Results

We can’t thank our Denver Elementary students, parents, family and community members enough for their generous support of our Clubs Choice Fundraiser. Our profit from the sale was $15,500.

The profit from the fundraiser combined with the $15,000.00 donation from the KIDS group provides us the opportunity to purchase 30 IPADs for elementary classroom use. Our deployment of the iPads is set for November. The iPads will be used in the classroom setting to further enhance and differentiate learning. Teachers will be able to load numerous applications that will supplement all core subjects such as math and reading.

We are so fortunate to have a community that places such a high value on education and continues to financially support the educational needs and wants of our students and educators.

Please look forward to upcoming opportunities to share in our success as we offer future community friendly events, so that you too, may become familiar with our incredible use of technology, and how it positively impacts our students’ learning!