Tequesta Trace Middle School - School Advisory Council

Tequesta Trace Middle School - School Advisory Council

February 10, 2015

Minutes

Present: Shavawn Baker, Kim Beitz, Marilu Calderon, Maria Clemente, Varetta Cooper, LissyCordoves, Judith Franco, Yamely Franco, Jackie Gonzalez, Kevin Maccagli, Carol Mendelson, Paul Micensky, Maria Orjuela-Mestroni, Reggie Osorio, Beth Passman, Laura Sadule, Gale Schneider, Millie Milone, Mindy Siegel, Julia Valent, Mia Wong, Shirley Wong, Angelica Duarte, Ellen Port, Francis Dymock, Aimee Fretwell, Linda Arnold, Paul Passman, Jessica Winter, Cheryl Barrios, Julie sikorski, Max Devant, Carol Nissen, Cedric Maddox, Ed Gomez

Meeting was called to order at 8:15a.m. by Principal Paul Micensky.

Mr. Micensky explained that over the weekend one of our 7th grader students had been hit by a car and passed away on Tuesday night. We have the Crisis Team coming and we need to be available for our students.

Mrs. Nissen asked that we forego a formal meeting and that she would distribute any information to the parents that was prepared for today. We would also review January’s minutes at the next SAC meeting.

All parents agreed to this plan.

The following is what was sent to the parents:

Information for the February 10, 2016 SAC meeting for stakeholders

BTU – Beth Passman

SAC February 10, 2016

Our BTU Stewards attended a training on Saturday to learn more about our teacher evaluation system and political items on the legislative agenda.

Two matters are of concern to our teachers at this time: 1. That we do not have a settled contract and have not received our promised raises. 2. No time to teach with more paperwork and program design requirements and more functions that have students out of classes. There is another meeting with BTU this Thursday and a meeting with the district committee the following week.

We appreciate that administration at our school continues to have an open door policy for teachers to voice matters of concern.

MATH – LissyCordoves

SAC Notes: Math Department

2-10-16

It is crunch time in the Math department. Our teachers are integrating specific FSA practice into their daily warm-ups, class activities, and homework. We will also be administering an in-class, practice FSA test in the coming weeks. To get the kids familiarized with the system and the tools available on the test.

The district has put together a Parent and Student Resource page at tiny.cc/msg1

This page is designed to be a resource for all parents and students across Broward County. Our resources includes: activities, strategies, interactive worksheets, digital tools, and practice for the Mathematics Florida Standard Assessment (FSA).

Math Club News:

On January 30th our Math club competed in the MathCounts and Mu Alpha Theta competitions held at Cypress Bay and Stranahan High School. This Saturday, the 13th the Algebra and Geometry students will be attending the Mu Alpha Theta competition at Ferguson High School in Miami. And on March 5th the BCCTM teams will be competing at Indian Ridge Middle.

ESE

In ESE news, the SVE classes attended a musical performance of Legally Blond at Taravella High School on January 27 with the advanced drama classes. They had an amazing time and it was wonderful to see the drama students including the SVE students by asking to sit with them during the performance and also including them in their lunch groups at our lunch outing at the Coral Square Mall.

ESE support staff is gearing up for testing. This week we are assisting in WIDA testing for our ESOL students. Upcoming test groups and accommodations are being reviewed in preparation for all upcoming FSA testing.

SAC, February, 2016

Literacy Department:

In our language arts and reading classrooms, teachers have been preparing their students for the upcoming FSA ELA assessments. Each week, the PLC groups continue to meet and collaborate sharing best practices of literacy strategies. We have had cross-literacy groups such as reading teachers meeting with language arts teachers to work on specific standards to ensure consistency in the department. The literacy teachers continue to use small group instruction, interactive writing lessons through MyHRW, intensive reading and writing skills instruction, as well as computer-based programs to provide remediation and enrichment to their students as needed. The first FSA ELA assessment will be in just over two weeks. On March 1st, the FSA ELA Writing test will take place for all of our students. This assessment will be one of the five categories which are used for the one ELA score on the state test. The other sections of the FSA ELA will be administered April 18 and 19.

We are in Week 6 of our 10-week Literacy Workshop. Student reflections of those attending the workshops have been very positive. I would like to acknowledge and thank our business partner Huntington Learning Center for their recent donation of backpacks.

As a previously announced, the Literary Fair will be taking place at our school beginning February 16th. We encourage our students to submit their original work to their language arts teacher. Categories include: children’s books, essays, literary comic strips, myths, narratives, and several types of poetry.

In our reading department, all students enrolled in the intensive reading classes recently completed their mid-year progress monitoring through FAIR, and letters are being sent home this week to parents to report their progress.

Also in reading classes, our 6th graders and intensive 7th and 8th graders continue to show gains as measured by the Achieve 3000 program. As a school group, we have 596 students using the program and their lexile growth has increased from a September school average score of 766 lexile to a February average score of 906. For reference, a typical middle school student may score between a low range of 665 to a high range of 1100. Considering that most of these students are 6th graders, we are proud of the progress that they have made.

"On March 1st, the FSA ELA Writing test will take place for all of our students. This assessment will be one of the five categories which are used for the one ELA score on the state test. The other sections of the FSA ELA will be administered April 11 and 12."

SCIENCE

We are now halfway through the third quarter of this school year. Our science teachers report that they are engaging our students in many learning activities using kahoot assessment games, wave machines, Lego labs to learn about elements and compounds, body system tracing, and Oreo cookies to show and practice moon phases.

Mrs. Andreolas’ students will enjoy learning about fossils on Monday February 22nd with an in-house field trip assisted by Science Eye.

The Broward County Science Fair ended last weekend. Thanks to Mrs. Diez and Mrs. Andreolas for chaperoning our students at the Science Fair exhibition at the Broward Mall. Three TTMS students advanced to the county finals: Kevin Page for Engineering, Mark Yelen for Astronomy, and Rachel Cheng received an Honorable Mention for her Biomedical/Health Science project entry.

Our 7th grade life science students completed learning cycle 3, and the results are very good. Nearly 90 percent of our students scored at 90 percent or above on the Body Systems common assessment. Life science students began studying the immune system this week.

All science students are performing writing activities to practice using factual text and citing evidence to support the claims in their writing. This practice is expected to help them perform well on the writing FSA in a few weeks.

Submitted by: Science Department Co-ChairmenPaul A. Passman and Reggie Osorio

SOCIAL STUDIES

An update on 8th grade for SAC minutes: Eighth grade teachers are assigning President groups in their classes to examine the administration and highlights of the first seven Presidents from George Washington to Andrew Jackson. We are also gearing up for the Junior Achievement Field Trip in March. Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Piglia and Ms. Lawrence will be going on Monday, March 14. Mrs. Currie and Mrs. Barrios' period 1 and 2 classes will go on Tuesday, March 15. Mr. Swickle and Mrs. Barrios' periods 4, 5 and 6 classes will go on Wednesday, March 16. Mrs. Ramirez will be chaperoning the History Fair county competition later this month at Pompano Beach H.S.

All Social Studies Classes are keeping a close eye on and discussing the Primary Elections in Iowa and New Hampshire. Students have also visited websites such as ontheissues.org to see which candidates match up with their own views.

Civics students have just finished their cycle 4 Unit on USA Test Prep that covered Political Parties, Voting + Elections and Public Opinion + Government.

We are now beginning to explore State and Local Governments and are comparing the U.S. Constitution to the Florida Constitution.

6th grade students are finishing their unit on Ancient Rome and moving next to India.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT/ACCREDIDATION

At this time the SIP is being monitored through the classes and through iObservation Informal observations. We are pleased to say the out artifacts are up to date on the Accreditation website.

The data for our schools’ discipline is being monitored by the administrators and the attendance is being monitored by guidance and Mr. Gomez.

A great big thank you to PTA for a successful Cougar challenge – our students had an awesome time!