Prepping for MAP implementation

We've been gearing up for the switch from the ERBs to the MAPs for several months, and it's exciting to have Implementation Day just around the corner (or weekend, literally). In case you aren't familiar with the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP), you can read all about our decision to switch from a standardized test to a formative assessment, about which I am absolutely ecstatic: we'll get useful data about student learning that can inform instruction in a timely fashion, and that's really cool.  This testing is also so much better aligned with our constructivist philosophy about how children learn, and the purposes of assessment! 

Today we had Steven Davis from NWEA walk six administrators and six teachers through the login protocol, and train us in how to proctor the exams. From a proctor's computer, a teacher can see which exam each student is taking, which question each student is on, how long the student has been on that question, and can pause, suspend, or terminate the test as needed. Undoubtedly we'll have a few bumps as we put our new technology (upgraded wireless routers, and several brand new chromebooks) through its paces, but hopefully the students will feel good about the experience.

If you are interested, you can read about Steve's perspective on his day at TBS over at his blog. He'll be coming back on Friday, October 11th -- our scheduled Professional Development day -- to help train us on making sense of the reports and data.

Today's K-5 division meeting

In the spirit of making learning visible, here's the agenda from today's K-5 Division Meeting, interspersed with some details of what was discussed or done during that segment of the meeting. 

1. Review ground rules (5 min)

Proposed Ground Rules for K-5:

Start & end on time

Be present and engaged

Maintain a sense of humor

Assume good will

2. Celebrating successes (5 min)

-BTSN

-K-3 configuration work

-Master schedule revision

-Sharing from the group

3. Professional Development report (20 min)

Jeff: Using the Think-Puzzle-Explore Thinking Routine from Project Zero, with The Railway by Edouard Manet as the provocation.

4. Meaningful Faculty Evaluation process (10 min)

- this is a means to an end, which is a strong and aligned culture

- Page.2B has professional expectations

- Complete p.1-5 so we can meet to finalize your PD plan for the year.

5. Sharing craft knowledge (5 min)

Daniel: tool for sequencing monthly mini-lessons

6. Site expectations (10 min)

At The Berkeley School, all spaces will…

o   make learning visible

o   demonstrate intentionality

o   demonstrate care for the environment and materials

Activity: Break into groups and create Y-Charts (see below for the posters faculty generated)

7. Calendaring (2 min)

Protocol for setting up field trips

Getting level-based program events on the proper Google calendars

8. Math differentiation (10 min)

Sima and Renee: their roles and resources

Cross-grade buddies

With the shift in classroom grade arrangements in K-3, we decided to take the opportunity to look at when, where, and how we implement cross-grade buddies in our program. We decided "don't fix it if it  isn't broken" was a good approach when it came to the awesome partnership that 4th/5th has had with 1st/2nd (previously K/1st) for the last three years, and to build on that by partnering up the Kindergarten and 6th grade, and also the 3rd grade and 7th grade. Below are some pictures from the first of 3/7 buddy meetings, which happen weekly or biweekly; older students helped younger buddies complete a "you and me" Venn diagram form, and which the pairs then shared with the collected classes. 

Classroom charts and print

Observing in the classrooms today, I was struck by the amount of text and language already appearing throughout the school. From student work to new vocabulary, and from activity instructions to the scribing of children's ideas, the classrooms are already bursting with the language of thinking and learning!

Upper Elementary digs into math and science

One facet of our program is grade level math in the mixed-grade levels; all of the fourth graders gather in Strawberry Creek, while all of the fifth graders meet in Cerrito Creek, for an hour each day. In 4th grade math, students began with a Number Talk, in which they were challenged to come up with as many different mathematical ways to represent the number 36 as they could. As you can see, there was no shortage of ideas!

Fifth grade students were given a slant on the traditional Number Talk, and asked to create the highest number they could using the digits 0-9 with certain constraints (the number can't be even, can't be divisible by 7, etc).

Fifth graders were also asked to explore the relationship between different strands of mathematical thinking including numbers, patterns, and geometry through a coloring activity. This also led to a conversation about efficiency and effectiveness -- what approach to coloring the squares would allow for the fewest number of times a student would need to put down one pencil and pick up another?

In third grade, students returned to the creating-a-compass activity from the first day in more depth; they were asked to make predictions, record their observations through words and drawings, and compare the results of the same experiment conducted multiple times.

Images from the first day of school!

Sweet Briar Creek is the name of the new stand-alone Kindergarten classroom.

In Blackberry Creek (one of the mixed 1st/2nd grade classrooms), students created their own placemats for lunch, which were then laminated.

In Laurel Creek (the other mixed 1st/2nd grade classroom), students got busy with stretching their writing muscles and thinking about the stages of the writing process.

In Temescal Creek, the new stand-alone 3rd grade classroom, students jumped right into their science curriculum with their first experiment: creating compasses out of magnetized needles floating in bowls of water. 

Cerrito Creek students (one of the mixed 4th/5th grade classrooms) were given time to explore the room and then asked to draw conclusions about what they'd be studying based on what they found.

Strawberry Creek students spent some time decorating the name tags that were then attached to their cubbies.