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| Dr. Weber's Monthly Letters - Archive March 1, 2010 Outdoor classroom: a natural fit
The goal of the Byrd HSA this year is to raise enough money to make our dream of an outdoor classroom come to fruition.
An outdoor classroom, sometimes referred to as a schoolyard habitat, is a space set aside outdoors in which students can learn about science and the outdoors through hands-on experience. Although most of what is done in an outdoor classroom relates to the environment, it is also an interactive opportunity for students to learn how math, literature, history, art, and music are influenced by nature and our natural resources. 
Outdoor classrooms help to pique the interest of students in the world around them. This alternative classroom provides boundless educational activities for teachers and students. The "classrooms" come in many shapes and sizes and can include ideas such as butterfly gardens, gardens with particular themes (art gardens), amphitheaters, and courtyards.
Teachers and students will see this outdoor space as a valued resource in which they can apply knowledge in an authentic setting that connects academics from the classroom to the outside. The use of outdoor classrooms has been linked to academic success and pride in the community. They can be sites for inquiry-based science; address the different learning styles of students; be used for reading circles, creative writing and observation; can be used to weave content areas together and can introduce the wonders of the world with modern technology. In outdoor classrooms, students transform information and knowledge into experiences and skills. They explore their world, thus generating new ideas; they explore patterns, cycles, and change over time; move from awareness to knowledge to understanding, and have a place other than the traditional classroom to explore and learn. We hope to build the outdoor classroom on the Marinus side of the building, between the nurse's office and the second grade classrooms, with a plan that blends in with the natural environment and the neighborhood setting. I am very excited about this project, and hope that you are as well!
January 11, 2010 Emergency dismissal? There's a plan
Happy New Year to you and your family! I hope that the New Year brings you good health, good friends and much happiness. I wanted to review our Emergency Dismissal procedures in the event that we need to close school once the day has begun. In the event the superintendent or his designee directs an emergency student release, these are the steps we will follow:
1. A "Honeywell Reverse 911" message will be
sent from the district's Central Office to the
telephone number(s) you have designated for
emergency calls, indicating the time that you or
your designee needs to be at Byrd School for
the emergency dismissal.
2. Please enter the school building through the
main doors in the front of the building.
3. Tables will be set up in the gym. Signs will be posted at each table
designating a range of letters for child’s last name (e.g. A-D), etc.
4. There will be someone stationed at each table with an alphabetical list of
children's names.
5. You will be asked to sign out your child and any other child for whom
you have permission to take home.
6. Teachers and teaching assistants will serve as "runners" to classes to
obtain students. Parents are to remain in the gym until their children are
brought to them. Parents may not go to their child's classroom to pick
them up as we need to keep track of the children being dismissed.
7. Parents who volunteer to help as "runners" need to wear a visitor pass.
If your home telephone has Call Intercept, the Honeywell Reverse 911 message will not go through, so in the event that the weather is bad you might want to either disconnect your answering machine so you can receive the call, call the school to find out if we are dismissing early, or check the district's Web page (www.glenrocknj.org), where a message will be posted. All emergency closings will be posted on the district site as well.
Hopefully we will go through the school year without having to activate this procedure. If the need arises, however, we are informed about what to do.
 May 21, 2009 Safety on the playground
As you may know, an incident occurred on the playground last week during recess that involved some children who were playing down by the play area between the fence at the bottom of the lower level of the playground and the fence by the stream.
I would like to assure all of you that the incident was taken seriously and was addressed administratively. Every precaution has been taken to continue to ensure the safety of all of the children. For the remainder of the school year, we have hired an additional lunch assistant who is assigned outside during both recess periods. A different safety issue During recess, children need to wear closed shoes to prevent injuries while they are playing. With open-toed shoes or shoes with no back, children are falling, tripping and getting splinters in their feet or under their toe nails. To avoid such accidents, children who wear flip flops, crocs or sandals will be asked to stay off of the outside equipment and find games to play that do not include running. May 4, 2009 Be aware, but don't panic
This past week, there has been much in the news about the outbreak of the swine flu, which has caused concern about how to determine whether a child who feels ill with flu-like symptoms is cause for concern, cause for isolation, or cause for school closure. For more information, see the swine flu update (May 3) from the Department of Health and Senior Services posted on the Superintendent's page.
Class Placements It’s that time of year again when we begin to think about, and plan, for next year. The teachers and I will soon be working on student placement for the upcoming academic year. | We believe it is healthy for our students to work with and appreciate many different adults and peers to become well-balanced, mature individuals. |
As part of the placement process, we consider the blend of students within a class, and every attempt is made to balance classes academically, socially and by gender. Every attempt is also made to divide students as evenly as possible between the two classrooms at each grade level. Mixing the students helps them establish new friends and develop socially.  As the principal, I think about class placements all year as I meet with teachers and families and monitor and interact with the children. At Byrd, we want to ensure that every child has the best possible classroom experience every year. As both a parent and an educator, I know that each year in the life of a child is precious.
April 6, 2009 NJ ASK answered
'Tis the season that we begin thinking about the upcoming New Jersey ASK testing. Third and Fourth grade: week of May 4 Fifth grade: week of May 11 Stringent procedures Testing security and protocol for administering the NJ ASK are set forth by the New Jersey Department of Education and are rather stringent. We have no flexibility in the rules for administration. Testing will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. Any student arriving after the testing has begun will have to wait until the test session is completed before entering the classroom. Although the testing is required and we want our students to perform well, we do not want them to feel that their performance will have any bearing on their grades, report cards or placement in fourth, fifth or sixth grade. Purpose: for ranking only NJ ASK is considered a large-scale assessment and, like all assessments, it is designed for a specific purpose. Those used in most states today are designed to rank-order schools and students for purposes of accountability. Assessments designed for ranking, however, are generally not good instruments for helping teachers improve their instruction or modify their approach to individual students. This is because: Students take them at the end of the school year, when most
instructional activities are near completion. Results are often not received until after the school year has ended,
by which time the students have moved on to other teachers. The results that the teachers receive usually lack the level of detail
needed to target specific improvements
Best assessment for student learning: classroom results  Student learning is best assessed through the quizzes, tests, writing assignments and other formal and informal assessments that teachers administer on a regular basis in their classrooms.
Teachers trust the results from these assessments because of their direct relation to classroom instructional goals. Plus, results are immediate and easy to analyze at the individual student level. It's not just one... Consequently, no one assessment tool or instrument should be more highly ranked or valued than another when we review results — as we continually evaluate our programs and instructional techniques.  Assessments are a vital component in our efforts to improve instruction, but should not be considered in isolation when identifying a student's academic strengths and needs. Rather, we should view both standardized and curriculum-based assessments as an integral part of the instructional process, a central ingredient to student learning, and only one of many different methods used to evaluate success.
Best preparation for performing well Parents frequently ask what they can do to help their child perform well on these tests. The best thing you can do is to make sure that your child gets a good night's sleep, eats a nutritious breakfast and arrives at school on time.
September 23, 2008 Safety has to come FIRST
Help us ensure the safety of all of the children by observing the following: Tree climbing on school property -- please do not allow or encourage your children to climb any trees on school property. Bikes -- 4th and 5th grade students are permitted to ride their bicycles to school as long as they observe the safety laws, wear helmets and respect the school property. This means that children should ride only on the paved areas (not the rubber matting in the back school yard) and should not ride on someone’s handle bars. ** Students who do not practice appropriate bicycle safety while on
school grounds will have their riding privileges to school suspended. Lunch in town -- Dismissal at lunchtime can be hectic. Students who are going into town for lunch are expected to be accompanied by an adult. The adult should meet the student(s) on school grounds and walk with them into town. We do not knowingly dismiss children to "meet" an adult in town; we need to know that they are safe when they leave the school property Thank you for helping us keep our children safe! |
. Stop the runaround -- Once children are dismissed at the end of the day, they are NOT to re-enter the building unless they are accompanied by an adult. Byrd's evening custodian is responsible for cleaning the classrooms and is not responsible for the safety of the children. Teachers here after hours are working to prepare for the next day and are also not responsible for the safety of children running through the building. Of late, we have had an increasing number of children, primarily 4th and 5th graders, running in and out of the building, up and down the hallways and stairs. This makes for a very UNSAFE situation in which an accident is sure to happen. Remind your children that once they are dismissed, the building is closed and they are not to re-enter unless accompanied by an adult. | |
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