PROPS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you Annette Maes for being supportive and being there to talk to! -Ashley Inman I would like to thank Kevin and the wonderful cafeteria staff for cooking the pizzas I bought for my Bison Buck party. I know how busy they are busy they are taking care of all our students and I hated asking but he insisted, “It’s all about the kids!” Thank you for having a such wonderful attitude and for all the hard work you do! -Aubrey Marsolais Props to Yolanda for giving out Bison Bucks! She is always out looking for PEAK choices and my kids are always really excited when someone besides me gives them Bison Bucks! -Katie Corson
PROP to Kevin for all of his hard work getting the IPod touches ready to go and helping teachers pilot new ideas using them. -Melanie
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER Monday, October 8th
Staff Meeting 3:45-4:45 Exploratory Learning Commons
Tuesday, October 9th
“DRESS LIKE A TEACHER”
Katie Corson on the left and Leslie Burton on the right.
Wednesday, October 10th Wednesday Morning PD 7:25-8:45 Exploratory Learning Commons Equity Team Meeting 3:45-5:15 PREP Learning Commons IST Academic Meeting 3:45-4:45 Cowabunga Room
PROPS to Kim Culhane for thinking of great new ideas regarding getting the Vista PEAK news off the ground. -Melanie
Friday, October 12th UCCS Equity Briefing 10am-12:30pm with Equity Leaders
PROPS to the PBIS Team for helping get PBIS off the ground and getting kids really excited about positive behavior throughout the school! -Melanie PROPS to everyone who helped coordinate and advertise VP Spirit Week. It was a lot of fun for everyone! -Melanie
VISTA PEAK campus PHILOSOPHY “Education must be real-world and relevant, innovative and connected; where staff and students thrive with choice and responsibility; to cultivate creativity and invention.”
VPK 24551 E. 1st Ave Aurora, CO 80018
Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) 3:45-5:00 Ashley Inman’s Room
www.vistapeakcampus.org 303.364.3757
UIP AND 3 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN UIP We are continually working on the UIP in ILT. We have done some amazing work.
October 8, 2012
Thank you Kevin Campbell for being so wonderful and fixing my computer and making me smile on a tough day! -Ashley Inman
PROPS to Alejandra for hosting and coordinating a very successful 1st ever 5th grade science fair! The quality of the projects and student thinking was quite impressive. -Melanie and Stuart
Bulletin #05
Thank you Alejandra Morales for taking my kids for my club when I was having a tough day! -Ashley Inman
3 Year Strategic Plan The 3 Year Strategic plan is essentially our implementation plan for our innovation application. We have made great strides and you can see all completed actions listed in green! Great progress thus far. This year’s THEME: Relationships This year’s INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS: The WHAT=Content
VISTA PEAK campus VISION
“To ensure every student who enters the Vista PEAK Campus graduates with a high school diploma, college credits and/or degrees, industry credentials and certifications in order to be successful in postsecondary and workforce experiences.”
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UNIVERSAL SCREENING for 2ND GRADERS-AGATE-NAGLIERI
Testing window for the 2nd grade screening is October 2-26.
Test books and labels will be delivered by the warehouse on or before September 21. Staff at each building who will be administering the 2nd grade Naglieri should visit the PowerPoint instructions for administering the Naglieri at the following website and make sure they send receipt of training for Naglieri at the same website: assessment.aurorak12.org/assessment-and-resources/agate-testing-training Test books should be sent to Accountability and Research Department ESC 2 on or before November 5, 2012 after testing is complete. Results will be sent to buildings approximately late November.
POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS (PBIS) UPDATE Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Update Several PBIS training opportunities will be available during the month of October. Please see the attached flyers for details:
October 10th 4-6 p.m., ESC 4, Conference Room C
Overview of Check In Check-Out (targeted intervention) *prerequisite for full day training on November 16th (tentative date) Download the flyer.
September 2012
October 30th, 8:30-4:00, PLCC
PBIS Leadership Academy with George Sugai Download the flyer.
FOURTH ANNUAL EDUCATING A RAINBOW OF CHILDREN CONFERENCE There's still time to register as a part of your school's equity team for the Educating a Rainbow of Children Conference! The conference will be held on Saturday, October 20th, from 8:00 am-3:00 pm at Aurora Hills Middle School. Along with keynote speaker Dr. Pedro Noguera, there will be more than 15 other presenters and the opportunity to earn 8 hours of professional development credit. Contact Dennitta Piilola at ddpillola@aps.k12.co.us to register. Download the Educating a Rainbow of Children Conference flyer.
NEW TEACHER INDUCTION CLASSES-MAKE UP COURSES COMING INJANUARY 2013 If you are a new teacher with an initial license and missed the required induction courses, “Effective Teaching”, “ELA” and “Culturally Responsive Teaching”, you have an opportunity to attend these classes at the beginning of 2013. Times and dates for these classes will be posted soon in the Avatar Course Catalogue. Be sure to register for “Culturally Responsive Teaching”, being offered in October, and “Choice Words”, offered in February. Please review all of the new teacher requirements on the New Teacher Induction APS web page: instruction.aurorak12.org/professional-learning/new-teacher-induction.
MENTORING NEW TEACHERS COURSES-MAKE UP COURSES OFFERED IN JANUARY 2013 FOR COURSE I AND COURSE II If you are a first year mentor of a new teacher, there will also be “Mentoring Successful New Teachers I, Part 2” offered again after the first of the year. Times and dates of these classes will soon be posted in the Avatar Course Catalogue. “Mentoring Successful New Teachers II (Year 2)” is being offered January 15 and January 23, 2013.
COMING SOON! EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNOLOGY COURSES We are creating courses to support professional learning for new and veteran teachers. New courses will be posted on Avatar in October. We're excited to offer professional learning that supports the immediate needs of APS teachers!
DISTRICT INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT TEAM (DIST) UPDATE The work of the DIST this semester is to observe Instructional Support Teams (IST) in buildings. We are doing this process to learn more about the inquiry based process in IST. We are listening to the types of questions asked at each of the stages of the inquiry based process. We are also looking at the types of evidence/data presented at the meetings. As we continue to learn about the inquiry based process, we realized that we should also be mindful of the resources that are available at IST. The five areas of the inquiry based process that we are learning about are: Gathering Data Analyze/Define the Gap Develop Plan Implement the Plan Evaluate Data In our observations we are looking for: What questions were asked at the meeting? What evidence/data was presented at the meeting? What resources were used/present at the meeting? Each school will have observations throughout the year. This is in addition to scheduled support visits by your RtI Coordinator. If you were not visited during first quarter, you may receive a call from your DIST member to schedule a time to visit during second quarter. DIST meeting dates for professional development and to discuss building observations are: October 17, 2012, December 12, 2012, January 16, 2013, February 27, 2013, April 3, 2013, and May 8, 2013
OCTOBER COUNT The October Count window begins 9/24 and ends on 10/8. The official count day this year is 10/1. As always, but especially during the count window accurate attendance is essential. Below are a few things to keep in mind during the count: * Please enter attendance by 4:00 PM each day. * Students who enter the classroom after attendance has been taken please take the time to change the absence to a tardy. An absence consist of a student missing more than half the scheduled class time for a non-school related activity. * Any student on your roster who has not shown up or has very infrequent attendance please email Ana L. the student/s name. * If a student has sporadic attendance during the window a Teacher Verification Form must be filed out and returned to the attendance office. You can find the teacher verification form in your mailbox. * Any students missing on count day (October 1st) require a Teacher Verification Form. * If a student attends school ONLY on October 1st, please complete Teacher Verification Form
VISTA PEAK COMMITTEE CORNER
September 2012
We will use this portion of the bulletin to share news and happenings from committees across campus. Staff asked for a way to know what others were producing and accomplishing and we wish to heed this call. See update from ILT below!! STAFF CLIMATE & CULTURE: OLT NOTES / TECH SQUAD NOTES / IST NOTES / ILT NOTES
BISON STAMPEDE Our Stampede will be upon us very soon, Sat. Oct. 13. This promises to be lots of fun, and a great fundraiser, too. And don’t forget, after the run is the pancake breakfast. Here is a link to the registration form. please return early, to avoid the additional $5 charge to be added after October 5. http://sites.showitfast.com/44012/60360/bisonstampederegistrationform2012_13.pdf We hope to see you then!
5TH GRADE SCIENCE FAIR We would like to share some images from the 5th Grade Science Fair hosted and coordinate by Dr. Morales (5th grade science teacher). What a huge success! There were many excellent and well thought out science fair projects. The 5th grade students were able to explain the scientific method they used for their project, the data they collected and the results in a very articulate manner. Please see some of the images below from the 5th grade science fair.
TCAP 2012 GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT CHARTS NOW AVAILABLE ON SchoolVIEW.org The Colorado Department of Education has updated the interactive growth and achievement charts on the SchoolVIEW.org Web page. The link for APS schools is below. https://edx.cde.state.co.us/growth_model/public/index.htm#/year-2012/district-0180/schools The Growth Summary Reports should be available in the next few days. If you have any questions, please e-mail Norman Alerta at nsalerta@aps.k12.co.us.
STAFF KICK-BALL GAME!
KICKBALL GAME Hosted by Vista PEAK Climate and Culture Committee DATE: October 17th TIME: 2:00 PM
September 2012
LOCATION: Softball Field (between the two build- ! ings) Come take a break from grading and enjoy a little time with the staff from both buildings in a fun game of kickball. We will bring out the grill and serve up some hotdogs. Come for 10 minutes or 30. We hope to see everyone there!
FACT SHEETS REGARDING THE MILL LEVY Please see the linked fact sheets for info on the Mill Levy that APS is currently seeking. The outcome of this vote will be significant for our students, staff, and district. We encourage you to know the facts and share them with all stakeholders! FACT SHEET ENGLISH FACT SHEET SPANISH