Welcome to the 2011—2012 school year. I am thrilled that you are back. I am looking forward to another great year. We will con-tinue in our commit-ment to provide all students with an ex-emplary education.

I believe very strongly that my role is to support you as the classroom teacher. Please never hesitate to contact me with any-thing you may need.

I sincerely thank you for all you do for our students and com-munity. It is due to your passion for

teaching and dedica-tion to our students that our District con-tinues to excel. I feel very blessed to work with all of you. To-gether, we will once again make student achievement a prior-ity for all stu-dents.

Wishing you a great 2011—2012 school year!

Sincerely,

A M e s s a g e f r o m H e i d i . . .

portunity of becoming a certified Olweus trainer. We are also currently pursuing community partnerships.

Having a consistent bul-lying prevention pro-gram District-wide with community support and involvement will un-doubtedly benefit our students.

For further program

As educators, we deal with bullying behaviors on a daily basis. We also recognize the significant impact it can have on an individual student, class-room, and school. Our number one priority is to keep all of our students safe both physically and emotionally.

We currently have 3 of our schools in the Dis-trict (Oakview, Pine

Tree, and the High School) that has or is in the process of imple-menting the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. It is the goal of the District to imple-ment this program even-tually in all buildings with the active involve-ment from the commu-nity.

Recently, an email was sent regarding the op-

Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction

O l w e u s B u l l y i n g P r e v e n t i o n P r o g r a m G o i n g D i s t r i c t W i d e

S e p t e m b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 1 Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

NEWSLETTER

information go to http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/

Stay tuned for further details.

To win a CIA Update prize go on the web-site and be the first of three people to email Heidi Kast the Olweus Pro-gram goals.

MEAP/MME Cut Scores

2

Common Core 2

RTI Story/Lesson 3

Reading Resources

2011-2012 Initiatives

IXL

4

4

4

Inside this issue:

N E W C U T S C O R E S F O R M E A P / M M E

that requires significantly higher level of academic proficiency in language arts and mathematics.

State assessment scores will go down initially, Flanagan explained, for example, it will show that our 3rd graders are not really 90 % proficient statewide—but only 60% proficient.

“But even after this adjustment, we will continue to make progress each year, like we have been for the past 3 years, “ Flanagan said.

The State Board vote was 6-1 to adopt the new cut scores, with Board members Marianne Yared McGuire voting no and Kathleen N. Straus abstaining.

MDE has worked with national and statewide experts, including : ACT Measurement & Research staff, the National Center for Educational Achievement; the department’s own Technical Advisory Committee consisting of loc al stakeholders; and other experts as appropriate to develop the methods to be used to identify career and college ready benchmarks based on the MME.

Likewise, MDE has worked with the same group of experts to develop the methods to be used to identify cut scores representative of being on track to career and college readi-ness for MEAP.

See District chart of scores,

old vs new ~ ATTACHMENT 1

LANSING—The State Board of Edu-cation today adopted more rigorous standards for scores on the state-wide achievement tests—the Michi-gan Educational Assessment Pro-gram (MEAP) and the Michigan Merit Exam (MME).

This shift forward will better reflect whether schools are preparing their students to be on-track to being career and college ready when they complete their high school educa-tions.

Michigan now is only the third state in the nation (New York and Ten-nessee) to have moved to this rigor-ous level of assessment scoring. Like in those other states, this action will result in an adjustment in schools’ overall scores on the MEAP and MME tests, but one that is more accurate to where schools need to be, according to the Michigan De-partment of Education.

With the more rigorous cut scores, students will need to get roughly 65 % of the answers correct to “pass” the state test, instead of only 39 % as was the previous benchmark.

“I was chagrined that we hadn’t put the bar in the right place before now,” State Board of Education President John C. Austin said. “This is a good proxy for what we are try-ing to hit toward being college and career ready.”

The State Board of Education is doing this now, instead of earlier,

because it wanted to wait until students had the full benefit of being exposed to the rigorous Michigan Merit Curriculum for high school graduation and the updated Grade Level Content Ex-pectations.

“This is a school-wide measure-ment, and will end up energizing school districts when they under-stand where they really are,” said state Superintendent of Public In-struction Mike Flanagan. “We have great schools and great teachers who will take this knowledge and really move forward toward im-provement. They want to get their students career and college ready, and so do the students and their parents.

In February, the State Board of Education approved the improve-ment of cut scores on the MME and MEAP. Today was the presentation from the Michigan Department of education on where the actual cut scores will be. “Cut scores” are essential components in defining the levels of performance (e.g., Advanced; Proficient: Partial Profi-cient; or Not Proficient) on a given test, in consideration of the content being measured.

The previous passing scores for the state assessments were set at a very basic level—enough for a basic trade in our old manufacturing economy, not in the advanced in-formation economy of the future

I want to sincerely thank all of the teachers that are involved in the Math and ELA Common Core pro-ject through Oakland Schools. I am so grateful for your leadership. You are thought of so highly by Oakland Schools and surrounding districts. I continually hear posi-tive comments.

This project has not been a small undertaking.

Thank you for your continued in-volvement, expertise, dedication and leadership.

C I A U p d a t e

P a g e 2

Please read the news release ,

right, regarding the approval of the new cut scores for

the 2011/2012 MEAP/MME.

State Board Gives Nod to Improved Standards for State Assessment Scores

COMMON

CORE

Thank You!!!

From Heidi….

The Power of a Bandaid! - Helping Kids Understand Differentiation

need a particular bandaid that an-other teacher gives them. I finally hit the point home when I said, if one student needs a little extra math practice, does that mean we ALL need extra practice? Of course, they said noooo (in only the way a group of 7 year olds can drag out a one word response...)

I also added in how our last student didn't get a bandaid at all! When I asked him how he felt, he said he felt left out and confused. I told the group that never getting a bandaid was even worse and that's why when I'm with a student or small group they can't interrupt because it's the same as taking away their bandaid.

I have to say, it was a goose bump inducing lesson. The visual of the bandaid and the real life, kid level examples really made an impact on them. They proudly wore their bandaids around all day, until re-cess when our Dollar Tree bandaids were no match for the Florida hu-midity.

From: http://imbloghop-pin.blogspot.com/2011/08/power-of-bandaid.html

I have had a saying for a long time that I use with my class: Fair doesn't mean that everyone gets the same thing, fair means that everyone gets what they need. I'm sure I saw it on an overpriced poster that I refused to buy from the teacher store, but the saying itself stuck with me. So when I read about this activity from Saylor's Log, it fit perfectly. We did it today in class and I have to say, it was a very powerful teaching mo-ment.

I gathered the kids on the carpet (don't all the best lessons happen there?). Then I told them to think about a time they were hurt. Of course they all wanted to tell me every little detail of every injury they've ever endured in their seven little years. This was actually causing my head to hurt, but we pressed on. After I let a few share, I asked them all to close their eyes and imagine that something was hurting them right now. They had serious concen-tration faces on during this part.

Then I had them come up a few at a time, making sure the rest could hear and see the action. When each student approached I asked them where they were hurt. No matter what they said to me, I put a ban-daid on the back of their hand. I had a few kids mumbling and whispering and one little girl was just not havin'

it. She kept asking her friends, "Why does she keep putting it on the same spot?" and "That's not where she said it hurt!". She was so bothered by what I was doing, but it was perfect to make my point, so I let her go on. I put 16 bandaids on 16 hands and when my 17th student came up for his, I just told him I was sorry, but I didn't have any for him. He looked a little bummed, but went back to the carpet bandaid-less. I asked the kids if the bandaid made anyone feel better or if I put it on the right spot. Of course, no hands raised. Then I asked them if a bandaid would even help if you had a sprained ankle or head-ache - of course they all said no. So then I launched into a kid friendly discussion of differentia-tion. I told them that not every-one in our class has the same needs, so not everyone will get to do the same things all the time.

We talked about times when I might work with a small group, it's just because they need a ban-daid at that particular moment, but maybe they don't. I assured them that at some time in the year, everyone would need a ban-daid for something. We talked about kids who leave the room for special services and how they

P a g e 3

This lesson was sent to me by first grade teacher Michele Smyth. I thought it was great and worth sharing. Michele got it from a blog and said the lesson went very well with students.

R e a d i n g R e s o u r c e s

New reading resources are now available on the LOCS website. Choose curriculum under the employees tab to find an updated Dolch 220 list, and a new sight word test with coordinating flash cards to individualize in-struction. There is also a NEW leveled correlation chart, Sulzby book list and more! If you have not visited this section lately, check it out.

20112011--2012 INITIATIVES2012 INITIATIVES

ELEMENTARYELEMENTARYELEMENTARY

Math Common Assessments

Reader’s Workshop, Writer’s Workshop – Kate DiMeo

Parent Workshop

Student Transition 2nd to 3rd Grade

MIDDLEMIDDLEMIDDLE

Common Assessments

Reorganization

Reader’s Workshop

Common Core Standard Implementation

HIGH SCHOOLHIGH SCHOOLHIGH SCHOOL

Research High School Schedules

Common Assessments

RTI

ALL LEVELSALL LEVELSALL LEVELS

Principal as Instructional Leader

Using Technology to Enhance Instruction

RTI → Core Instruction → Special Education/General Education

Parental Information/Involvement in Curriculum

Grade/Depart. Collaboration →Using Data to Drive Instruction → Pearson Inform

IXL Please remember that all students and teachers K-8 have access to Math IXL.

This is an excellent program that can be used in the classroom and is a wonderful resource for math sup-port at home.

Please be sure that you are promoting the use of this program.

KEEP READING!!!!

Attachment 1—MEAP & MME 2010-11 Old & New Cut Scores

Attachment 2—Reader’s Workshop / Book Club participation form

Attachment 3 & 4— Book club book choices

Attachment 5— ThinkLink Monthly Update

CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT CONTACTSAND ASSESSMENT CONTACTSAND ASSESSMENT CONTACTS

Heidi Kast….…...Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum, In-struction and Assessment

Marysue Schwartzmiller….Administrative Assistant 248-693-5409 or Ext. 3908

Linda Glowaz…….…..Assessment Coordinator...Ext. 6410

District Department Chairs………..………..Listed on LOnet

District School Improvement Chairs……..Listed on LOnet

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3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 11th 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 11th 5th 8th 11th 6th 9th 11th

Math Reading Science Social Studies

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MEAP & MME 2010-11 Old & New Cut Scores

Lake Orion Old Lake Orion New

The Office of Curriculum, Instruction and

Assessment invites you. . .

Join us as we grow together by participating in a professional book club on Reader’s

Workshop. This fall we will be discussing Teaching Reading in Small Groups by Jennifer

Seravallo and Conferring with Readers by Seravallo and Goldberg. Flyers advertising each

book are attached.

If you choose to participate, the book will be offered to you for only $10.00. As a way of

saying thank you for going the extra mile, the district will cover the additional cost. Student

teachers, long term substitutes, friends from other districts etc. are welcome to participate

but must purchase his/her own book.

Interschool mail or e-mail Kate DiMeo at Webber by September 30th at 3:30 PM with your

book selection. A book will be ordered for you and sent to you via interschool mail. You will

only need to return the book if you do not attend at least three of the four meetings on the

book you select. All meetings will take place at Webber from 4:15-5:30PM in office 1.

Childcare will be arranged if interest is expressed.

Teaching Reading in Small Groups

October 11, October 18, October 25, November 8

Conferring with Readers

November 21 (Monday), November 29, December 6, December 13

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This information may be e-mailed or interschool mailed to Kate DiMeo by September 30thth.

Name_________________________________

School_______________ Grade Level___________

Please indicate which books you are ordering (if you already own the book, please indicate that

and a book will not be ordered for you). Enclose $10.00 for each book (non-LOCS employees

include $27.00 per book). Checks may be made payable to LOCS.

Conferring With Readers By Gravity Goldberg and Jennifer Serravallo

Teaching Reading in Small Groups By Jennifer Serraavallo

www.heinemann.com

Conferring with Readers shows you how to confer well and put

students on the path to becoming better, more independent readers.

It shows you how to determine what readers have learned and

what they need to practice, then provides suggestions for targeting

instruction to meet students’ needs. Its explicit teaching methods

demonstrate:

n researching a student’s use of skills through questions and observations

n complimenting to support and build upon successes

n following up on prior instruction for accountability and depth of understanding

n explaining a reading strategy by providing an explicit purpose and context

n modeling the strategy to make the invisible brainwork of reading more visible

n guiding a reader in practicing the strategy

n linking the strategy to independent reading.

Conferring with Readers repeatable frameworks target six

specific purposes:

n matching students to just-right books

n reinforcing students’ strengths

n supporting students during whole-class studies

n helping students move from one reading level to the next

n holding students accountable for previous learning

n deepening students’ conversations about books in order to deepen their thinking.

Read Conferring with Readers. You’ll feel confident and well

equipped to foster any student’s growth and independence as

a reader.

978-0-325-01101-1 / 0-325-01101-X / 2007 / 224pp / $23.00

Conferring with Readers Supporting Each Student’s Growth & Independence

Jennifer Serravallo & Gravity Goldberg

Supporting Each

Student’s Growth&

Independence

Conferringwith

�eaders

Foreword by Lucy Calkins

Gravity Goldberg & Jennifer Serravallo • Foreword by Lucy Calkins

A great reading

conference only

takes five minutes, but its impact

can last a lifetime.

To order call 800.225.5800 or visit us at www.heinemann.com

What’s After Assessment? Follow-Up Instruction for Phonics, Fluency, and Comprehension Kathleen StricKland

978-0-325-00572-0 / 0-325-00572-9 / 2005 / 176pp/ $21.00

In What’s After Assessment?, Kathleen Strickland provides a comprehensive

instructional resource that will help you select the strategies that best match your

students’ needs. With emphases on engaging kids in the process of improving their

own reading and on differentiated teaching, Strickland shows you how to develop

children’s abilities to use semantic, syntactic, and graphic strategies to help them

build a variety of meaning-making skills.

You may also be interested in...

www.heinemann.com

Read Sample Chapters of our books anytime—online!

One to One The Art of Conferring with Young Writerslucy calKinS, amanda hartman, and Zoe ryder White

978-0-325-00788-5 / 0-325-00788-8 / 2005 / 232pp / $24.00

Good conferring, like good teaching, relies on your ability to communicate effectively

with children. The skills you develop as you learn to confer will improve your teaching

abilities in all areas, including developing curriculum, leading strong minilessons, and

untangling the classroom chaos that can derail a smoothly running workshop. Read

One to One to improve your conferences and your teaching. But most important, read

it to improve your students’ writing every day.

Gravity Goldberg is a full-time staff developer at the Teachers College Reading

and Writing Project at Columbia University, where she consults with principals,

coaches, and teachers in New York City and throughout the country. Gravity was

a special educator and third-grade teacher in Boston and is currently a doctoral

candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she is also a part-time

instructor in the preservice early childhood education department.

Jennifer Serravallo is a full-time staff developer at the Teachers College Reading

and Writing Project at Columbia University, where she consults nationally to help

urban, suburban, and rural schools develop strong reading and writing workshops.

She is an alumn of Vassar College and Teachers College, and a former New York

City public school teacher of grades three, four, and five.Jennifer Serravallo & Gravity Goldberg

Supporting Each

Student’s Growth&

Independence

Conferringwith

�eaders

Foreword by Lucy Calkins

Aboutthe

Authors

Special Book Study Group Discount: 15 books for $312.38 • Save $55.12! 978-0-325-03079-1✽

Grades 2–6 / 978-0-325-02680-0 / 2010 / 248pp / $24.50

Prices are subject to change.

Jennifer Serravallo helps you

n use formative assessment n differentiate for individuals n enhance Tier 1 and Tier 2 RTI instruction

For teachers who sometimes

feel as if data-based

instruction, differentiated

groupings, and formative

assessments somehow involve

going over to The Dark Side,

this book is a powerful

antidote. It will help you

know that you can hold tight

to your deepest beliefs about

children and literature,

classroom communities, and

good teaching.

—Lucy Calkins

Author of Units of Study

for Teaching Reading

Visit www.heinemann.com to read Sample Chapters of our books and order online.

Join the online Extra Credit Club and save! • To order by phone call 800.225.5800.Dedicated to Teachers

Fr o m Je n n i F e r Se r r ava l l o, au t h o r o F Conferring with Readers

In Teaching Reading in Small Groups, Jennifer Serravallo extends the

powerful teaching that made Conferring with Readers a hit and helps you

meet instructional challenges effectively and efficiently.

Visit www.heinemann.com to read Sample Chapters of our books and order online.

Join the online Extra Credit Club and save! • To order by phone call 800.225.5800.Dedicated to Teachers

Jennifer Serravallo

came to New York

City to develop

her passion for

urban education reform. While working

on her MA at Teachers College, Columbia

University, she taught in two Title I schools

with swelling class sizes, high numbers of

ELLs, and an enormous range of learners.

She’s now a full-time staff developer and

national consultant with the Teachers

College Reading and Writing Project. What

she shares in Teaching Reading in Small

Groups comes from the work in her

classroom and from the classrooms where

she consults.

Trust a master teacher and readTeaching Reading in Small Groups

to find out how small groups can make a big difference in your classroom.

Jennifer Serravallo shows how small groups help

you uncover hidden time in your teaching for meeting

individual students’ needs. You’ll work more closely with

more children each day with her how-tos on:

n using formative assessment to create groups of

readers with common needs

n differentiating for individuals, even when they’re

in a group

n enhancing your Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction.

You’ll see how Jen captures the strength of individual

conference while working with multiple students—even if

they aren’t reading the same book. For comprehension,

fluency, engagement, and print-work strategies, she shares

ideas for assessment and flexible grouping structures as

well as her own teaching language. You’ll help readers:

n get into texts and get more out of them

n earn vital strategies that help them read more

challenging texts

n talk about books with rigor and vigor.

When we supplement individual conferences with

small-group conferences, we work more efficiently

and can deal well with higher benchmarks, larger

class sizes, and the increasing demands placed on

readers and teachers. —Jennifer Serravallo

ThinkLink Monthly Update

September 2011

A collaboration between Lake Orion Community Schools and Orion Township Public Library

For All Schools

For Elementary Schools

For Middle and High Schools

Featured Resource

Orion Township Public Library 825 Joslyn Road Lake Orion MI 48362 248.693.3000 www.orionlibrary.org Children’s Services Debra Refior, Department Head 248.693.3002 drefior@orionlibrary.org

Welcome back! Our unique partnership allows teachers in the district to

obtain a teacher library card. With this card, you can check out up to 30

books for six weeks. Items kept longer than 50 days past the six weeks will

be charged a $2 processing fee. Materials for your classroom can be

delivered to you at your school and returned through the blue ThinkLInk

bin located in your school library. Let us know if you need a card so we

can send you the application or stop in for a brief tour.

Our Book Bingo program on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7:00 pm offers

students in grades K-5 the opportunity to play bingo and win new books.

We have some great books to choose from to start off another great year

of reading. Saturday, Sept. 17 is our first Lego@ the Library. This will be a

monthly program with a different theme each month and a great

opportunity to showcase the creativity of your students as they build an

object based the theme that is only revealed on the day of the program.

If you have any questions or requests you can call at 248.693.3002 or find

links to any of the children’s librarians on the librarian page.

We have Brainfuse, a live homework help website to assist your students

when you're not around to answer their questions. We also have great

databases that can be accessed by going to www.orionlibrary.org, then

clicking on Research in the menu bar. We have all the middle school and

high school textbooks for reference. No more excuses for not having

homework done! To know more about any of these services, please contact

Deb Motley at dmotley@orionlibrary.org.

This month’s featured resource: Reading, Math and Science websites

Do you have special reading, math or science websites that you use with

your students in the classroom? We can add them to our list on our

Homework Help page and have them available with our other resources. To

see the sites we already have go to the Homework tab on the Children’s

page and scroll to the bottom of the page for the links.