Chess Club Completes First Year

The Lincoln Chess Club completed its inaugural year with overwhelming success!  More than fifty children participated in the club throughout the year, with a core group of over twenty students that met on a regular basis. The children demonstrated great motivation and ability to learn, to succeed, and above all, to be respectful of their fellow participants.

Throughout the course of the year, a range of activities were conducted to help the club members improve their chess skills. The participants learned a number of fundamentals of the game, including correct board setup, the rules of the game, proper conduct when playing the game, the system of reading and writing algebraic chess notation, and simple strategic principals. The club offered the children the option to participate in offhand games or competitive games, receive instructional lectures and analysis with the coach, and take home weekly handouts that provided instructive lessons or problems to be solved on their own.

We culminated our efforts with two tournaments, which was the high point for the club members and capped off the year with exciting games and suspenseful conclusions to both contests.  The winner of the first tournament was Deniz Erdem with a perfect record of 5-0, and the winner of the second tournament was Noah Meade-Kelly, who also scored a perfect 4-0 record. Awards of chess-themed pencils and erasers were provided to all participants, and the winners received a chess scorebook. Congratulations to Deniz and Noah for winning their events!

Coache, Robb Stewart and coordinator Deb Varat thoroughly enjoyed mentoring the children and took a lot away from the experience. We also appreciate the great help we received from parent Claudine Lesk and high school freshman and former Lincoln Student, Christian Perkins who dedicated their time every Monday to the club. We are are looking forward to running the club again next fall, and hope to improve upon our accomplishments and success.  Look for our sign up sheet in the fall!

Why Aren't Standards Based Report Cards All Standard?

Why aren't Standards Based Report Cards all Standard?

Earlier this year we sent home revised report cards that were based on our new standards (MA2011 which incorporated Common Core Standards). There will be a few more revisions next year as we remove traditional letter grades entirely. The report cards are an important component of our communication to parents about the progress their child is making. I recently participated in a Think Tank session at Merrimack College with other elementary school administrators where we discussed standards based report cards. I had already immersed myself in knowing and understanding the differences and reasoning for utilizing a standards based report card but I learned even more from the session.

 

Traditional letter grades are now simply an inadequate way of providing appropriate feedback based on what we currently  teach. In 1780 Yale University was the first to quantify grades on a 4.0 scale, which is the bases of letter grades. Prior to that, feedback to students at all levels was mainly in the form of a written narrative. In 1877, Harvard created "divisions" which resulted in 90-100 being the top division, and eventually an "A", and so on.

Today, many schools continue to use the same grading procedures from centuries before us, yet our instruction, curriculum and expectations have changed dramatically. A  powerful and effective report card should provide parents with information on how their child is doing at that point in time by separating the academic achievements based on known expectations and how they are doing with non academic achievements such as social skills, effort and other work habits.

There are many misnomers too that we must overcome when discussing report cards. Thomas Guskey, a well known speaker and professor of Education at the University of Kentucky, discusses several of these in many different articles. One of his main points about traditional grades is that they are either inflated or the teacher believes they must follow a traditional bell curve. A bell curve is what happens when nothing is done. Teaching is intervention and when we provide the appropriate intervention, we can shift a traditional bell curve so that most, if not all students meet a standard, therefor greatly altering a bell curve.

Guskey also addresses the fact that many of us attended schools where grades were based on the standing of other students. In other words, where did we fit in? Were we average or above average for the class? The problem with this thinking is that it doesn't tell us how well a student has learned, only that they did better or worse than their classmates. Grades in this system become unclear. Students need to know what they are expected to do and know how they can show it or prove it.

Furthermore, if a standard is clear to a student, for instance, they are expected to be able to multiply two digit numbers accurately, does it matter how much they struggled to do this for two months if now they can do it and have proven such? Traditional grading systems would have taken an average over the course of a term, and for such a student who struggled, their average score over time would be quite low. However, at the end of the term, they have proven they know how to multiply two digit numbers. Isn't that the only thing that matters when reporting academic achievement to parents? Now if the student didn't work hard and didn't do homework for the first part of the term, which was the likely reason for his/her struggle, then that information can also be communicated in a standards based report card, but in the work habits section.

From my discussion with other colleagues I was amazed at how different each school's reports cards are. It struck me that we really should all have the same report cards. After all, aren't all third graders in Massachusetts expected to know the same things and have the same skills? I can see how there may be some sections, such as work habits and behavior, that are left up to a school district to decide what will be reported, but the core content areas should all have the same reporting system throughout the entire state.

If we all had the same reporting system, we would change the way we grade to help us accurately report at the end of the term, and in order to grade along the way, we would all need to plan effectively with assessments and a consistent focus on what we want students to know and be able to do. Standardizing report cards, would be a great leap forward for improving the teaching and learning throughout the entire state.

Our Guest Principal of The Day

Last month, Kindergarten student, Daniel Ferris, won a raffle to be "Principal of the Day" and shadow me for the school day. Daniel is writing this guest blog post below and has drawn a picture of "His Office". 


____________________________________________________________________________

I was very excited to be Principal of the Day at Lincoln School. My mom helped me pick out my clothes so I would look like Mr. Conway who wears a tie every day. When I arrived in the office, both of my parents were taking pictures of me.

This is the Principal's Office with the bookshelf, coat hanger and desk

I started the morning by making a special announcement over the loud speaker. We then visited 
all the classrooms, including my own Kindergarten room, Mrs. Joslin's class. All the kids were excited to see me and called me Mr. Ferris. We went to all the classroom delivering the Science Fair Certificates of Achievement and ribbons for all the students who participated in the Science Fair last night. That was a lot of work because there were almost 150 students who had projects.

I even got to visit my older sister's 3rd grade class and I gave her a Behavior Report for making me play Just Dance 4 on the Wii. She was a little embarrassed but we were all just having fun. She's actually a really good big sister.

I got to order out for lunch with the office staff and I got Chicken Parmigiana, one of my favorites. While waiting for lunch I got to speak with Ms. Santosuosso who is now the Principal of Winthrop Elementary but was a 2nd grade teacher at Lincoln. Ms. Santosuosso told me that she likes being a principal and meeting all the different people she works with, teachers, students and parents. But she does miss being at Lincoln. She was my sister's 2nd Grade teacher.

The rest of the day was pretty busy, checking on the cafe, outside at recess and even reading to the students in Mrs. Ingall's 3rd Grade class. I liked my day so much, I wish I was principal for the rest of the year. But if that doesn't work out, I'll enjoy going back to Mrs. Joslin's room. When I grow up I want to be a Hockey Player or a Tree Service Worker, like my dad. It was a fun day.

Our Connection to History

The more things change, the more they stay the same. While this may not always be true, this is a lesson that I, along with several students and families at Lincoln School learned first hand last week. While we were unveiling the personalized bricks as part of our new sign in front of the school, I was looking for a brief but meaningful way to connect the bricks and the students to the history of Lincoln. After all,  the entire "Brick Campaign" was titled Be A Part of History. The sign and bricks were meant to look just like the existing bricks of the original school that was constructed in late 1800's. So it was only fitting that we ponder how we will be remembered generations from now.

Through my 6 years at Lincoln I have found many items and connections from the past. However, I think one of the best connections is the collection of historic photos and yearbooks we have. As I opened the box that contains the yearbooks, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the "Lincoln Log" from 1938. It was a letter written by then Principal, Bertha Davis. Ms. Davis served as Principal of Lincoln from 1929-1953. Lincoln was a K-8 school at the time and her letter was to all future Lincoln students who choose to work on the yearbook. While some parts of the letter are specific to the yearbook, the second part was really intended for all Lincoln students and it is the section that I realized was the connection to our history that I was looking to share.

Lincoln School Principal, Bertha Davis, Cir. 1910

In her letter, she was encouraging students to do their finest work and to be proud, so long as they tried their best.

"...May these experiences help you to succeed in future years! No impossibilities will be asked of you - just that, you do your best. Each step in advance means a backward glance toward your home & school life. With each ringing challenge that faces you, the mistful echo will drift back and say - What will my home folks and early teachers expect now? It is the answer within that will drive you on. Honor and uprightness are your heritage and all of us are waiting to cheer your success as the results of your right attitudes and loyalty to the best within you
                                    - Bertha S. Davis
                                                Principal "







My message to the students, families and staff that were present, was that nearly a century later, we still ask and expect the same of our students and children. These bricks are their symbolic footprint that adds to the history and lore of Lincoln School. The one line within Ms. Davis's letter that struck me most,

"No impossibilities will be asked of you - just that you do your best."

Lincoln School LEGO Robotics team competes in First Lego League

 Sagar Sachar and Jackson Texeira make some adjustments.

Saturday, December 1, 2012 at Boston University – The Lincoln School 5^th Grade Lego Robotics team competed in their first ever competition. The entire event was a great success and the students were thrilled that the robot they constructed was able to complete several of the tasks that are required, even finishing as high as 8^th in one of the events.

The team had been preparing all year after school with parent volunteers Sandra Cunningham and Jodie Texeira and with the guidance on another Lincoln Parent Volunteer, John Wright, who is affiliated with the High School Vex team.

The team is comprised of nine 5^th Graders from Lincoln School: Abbie Powell-Flatt, Sagar Sachar, Joey Shields, Colby Moss, Lilly Rodriguez, Nick Warren-Southwick, Seth Ferreira, Cormac Lynch and Ethan Brodeur.

The 5th Graders will compete again in January at an event at Melrose Veteran’s Memorial Middle School.

Lily Rodriguez and Colby Moss react to the robot’s actions

Jackson Texeira and Abbie Powell-Flatt are working out a problem.

Colby Moss and Joey Shields remain focused.

The key to success - Perseverance?

Our first marking trimester is coming to a close and we have been busy at school. The students have really taken to our revised writing process and the products coming from classrooms at all grade levels are impressive. Most grade levels are finishing up their narrative writing pieces and will soon start more expository and information pieces.

I recently spent some time with our paraprofessionals training them and having discussions with them about how they support students in the writer's workshop model. Much of our focus was on how much effort students need to apply and how they need to understand that writing is a process and a final product evolves from multiple drafts, revisions, edits, and conferences. These conversations really focused on one key word; perseverance.

The timing of this conversation for me and our staff was perfect. There has been a great deal of recent research on the subject of student perseverance or even more simply put, grit. I recently attended a Think Tank group with other administrators at Merrimack College co-facilitated by my principal colleague Rob Ackerman from The Lane School in Bedford, MA and Dr. Joanne Gurry a Professor at Merrimack College. The focus was on developing grit and perseverance in students. The current surge in research was conducted by Paul Tough and is reflected in his new book "How Children Succeed" and by Psychologist Carol Dweck on the Growth Mindset. The basis of the research identifies grit and perseverance as the essential character trait of successful students and adults in life and that those who maintain a growth mindset as opposed to fixed mindset about learning from our mistakes are equipped to succeed.

I have recently been witnessing perseverance in our students, not only in writing but in other subject areas such as science. These are some pictures of our students in grade 1 and grade 3 exploring a science problem and continuing on with the lab until they are able to determine the conclusion. The facial expressions and looks of concentration and determination tell the story.

The National Common Core standards for Math and ELA, which Massachusetts has incorporated, frequently reference student perseverance. Most notably in the 8 Practices of Math, it states "Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them." Our staff has recently spent several hours at staff meetings and grade level data meetings examining these 8 practices of math and what they should look like in our classrooms.

The concept of having students become aware of their perseverance and think of it as an accomplishment by itself, has our staff thinking. We have always recognized effort and have praised students for their hard work, after all, effort is one of our defining characteristics in our C.A.R.E.S. acronym. But should we closely examine how we define effort and begin to think of it as perseverance? Although I don't think the acronym C.A.R.P.S. quite has the same marketing power with kids, I think our common language and discussions with students can be specific about what effort really looks and feels like. Wouldn't it be great to hear from a 2nd grader, "I really persevered with that math problem and it feels good to finally solve it."

I know I will be looking for examples of perseverance by students and adults in the coming months and I hope we can celebrate these examples together.

Fall Field Trips...A Lincoln Tradition

Last Friday was an exciting day for Lincoln Students. Many of our students took field trips or had special events. I had the pleasure of joining our third grade on their walking field trip to Mike Festa’s house. Mr. Festa is our former State Representative and a former Lincoln parent. Mike and Sandra Festa welcomed our third graders for a complete tour of the gardens, chicken coups and Koi ponds. The gardens are an amazing hidden treasure within the neighborhoods of Melrose and Mike’s knowledge and ability to teach the children was impressive.  His enthusiasm was clearly evident as he showed us his “baby” which has taken over 30 years of care.

Mike Festa explaining how the Koi survive in the winter.

Mike showing off his prized Rhode Island Red Chickens

Along the slopping hills of the backyard, our students took copious notes about what they were seeing. Mike walked the students through each stage of the compost pile and the kids got to feel, see and smell all the stages. The array of plant species was remarkable. Did you know there is a northern species of kiwi?

And of course, if learning firsthand about gardening and different plant species was not enough, Mr. Festa won us all over by treating the entire third grade to pizza, and popsicles on his backyard patio. I am struck by Mr. and Mrs. Festa’s generosity but mostly by their continued devotion to Lincoln Elementary, even though their own children are grown adults.

 Our Kindergarten students had their annual visit from Johnny Appleseed. This special guest had all the students engaged during this Fabulous Friday event. Thanks to all the parents who joined us last Friday and helped the students with cutting the apples. Folktales are an important part of our literacy curriculum and Johnny Appleseed has so many local connections to the historical elements of the folktale. 

"Johnny" and Mrs. Breda spin the tale.

I'm not sure who had more fun, the students or the teachers. We are very lucky to be paid a visit from such a "character."

Clearly Fall was a theme on Friday and our First graders took a trip to Smolak Farms for some apple picking, hay rides and donuts & cider. We had many parents who also volunteered for this trip.

First Graders on the hayride

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Be Part Of Lincoln History - Buy A Brick

As school resumes, we will kickoff our Buy A Brick campaign. This fall we will be constructing a brick pillar sign on W. Wyoming Ave. Both our PTO and the 5th Grade class of 2012 have pledged a significant amount of funding to make this a reality but we are also selling bricks as part of the patio surround to help fund the project in its entirety. Each brick will include a short personalized message and the entire project is designed to meet the esthetic appearance of the original brick of the school with such fine detail, that we have matched the color of the capstones and the off white background of the sign to match the window panes of the building.

A big thanks to Lincoln Parent and Architect, Olaf Vollertson for working on our plans, including this image above.

Keep your eye out soon for the information on how to buy a brick and be part of Lincoln History.

Summer Reading and Fun

How is the summer reading going? Are you looking for ways to make it more exiting to engage the kids on a rainy day. Share some of your projects or neat things you have done this summer with books you have read. Post links below to any online projects or just have the kids reply with a comment about the books they have been reading. Be creative...post your videos, pictures or online created story maps and other features.

Below are some ideas and links for some neat technology tools to explore. I look forward to hearing from you Lincoln students!

http://dotlearnt.com/2012/07/23/free-summer-reading-adventure-for-kids-on-itunes/ 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/48-summer-websites-kids-teachers-keith-ferrell

• We used Voice Thread last year during our Author's night. http://voicethread.com is an amazing site that allows students to create web 2.0 slide shows that become interactive and collaborative. This is a great place for students to discuss common genres and books online. Students can create a slideshow summary of their book with pictures, audio, and text. Other students can leave text, audio, or drawn comments on the book reviews. 
• Wikis are an excellent place for students to share book reviews. Wetpaint http://wetpaint.com, PBWorks http://pbworks.com, and Zoho Wiki http://zoho.com/wiki are outstanding online wikis where students can write reviews about books they have read and share them with other students. 
• Bookcasting is a recorded audio podcast about a book. A bookcast is a movie trailer-like audio review of a book that students can create and share with one another. Free online tools such as Audacity http://audacity.com, G Cast http://gcast.com, or Pod Bean http://podbean.com make recording audio and sharing simple. Bookcasts let students be creative and provide them with a great sense of audience. It has the added benefit of acting as a book review to excite other students about reading. 
• Use visual and graphic imagination to make a cartoon version of the book they have just finished. Tools like Creaza http://creaza.com, Piki Kids http://pikikids.com, or Kerpoof http://kerpoof.com to inject a little fun into the book report. Kids can create a short cartoon or comic strip summarizing the book they just read. 

• Create a short video clip about the book. Creaza http://creaza.com, Kerpoof http://kerpoof.com, and Xtra normal text to movie http://xtranormal.com are all great online tools that allow kids to create short movie clips. They can create an interview type show where they interview characters in the book, create a short movie trailer for the book, or actually have characters act out portions of the book. 
• Create virtual and online trading cards for characters or real people from history they have been reading about http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/ 
• Get into geocaching. Everyone loves a scavenger hunt! Get in on the latest outdoor craze with geocaching, where families search for hidden "caches" or containers using handheld GPS tools (or a GPS app on your smart phone). Try a variation on geocaching called earthcaching where you seek out and learn about unique geologic features. Find more details about geocaching plus links to geocaching websites in this article from the School Family website, Geocaching 101: Family Fun for All, in Every Season. Then have your child create a blog about it using http://edublogs.org/ or www.sparktop.org 

Credit to www.teacher.monster.com for some of these ideas.

Lincoln School Honors Jay Conley from Heavenly Licks

This year, on the 2^nd anniversary of Jay Conley’s death, the Lincoln School families decided to remember him in a special way at their annual Ice Cream Social.  A collection for Make-a-Wish was held with a goal to build an ice cream cone to meet Jay up in the sky.  Over $300 was raised in his memory and we are sure he is smiling at the giant ice cream cone.

For those of you who weren’t fortunate enough to know Jay, he was the popular owner of Heavenly Licks Ice Cream Shop for over 23 years. He passed away unexpectedly on June 4, 2010. Jay was a man who loved life and loved people. Whenever you entered Heavenly Licks you were greeted by this happy, funny and charismatic man who not only knew the name of your child but, had a way of making your child feel special. Many of Jay's customers went to Heavenly Licks as much for a serving of his contagious humor and happiness as for an ice cream. We all miss the smiling face of this special man who is now making ice cream up in the sky!

Lincoln School welcomed over 400 students  staff and new kindergarten families for next school year to the Ice Cream Social. The event was once again a big hit and we wish all our families a safe and happy summer.

Geography Bee Participants Selected

Our 2012 Geography Bee will happen on Friday, June 1st. All our students in grades 2-5 participate in the National Geograhy Challenge and the highest scoring students at each grade level are selected to participate in our school-wide Geography Bee.

This year's participants will be:

2nd Grade	3rd Grade	4th Grade	5th Grade
Peter Sevastyanov	Julia Foley	Anais Abrego	Gunnar Frawley
Sera Kawakami	Ferdinand Akombi	Emma Munro	Robert Winer
Will Dugan	Ryan Maher	Jackson Texeira	Cory Bright
Aidan Salickram	Eli Champoux	Piper Frankenthaler	Matthew Bornstein
Ethan Lessor	Iain McMaster	Elisabeth Schwarze	Abby Champoux
Anthony Ericsson	Max Vollertson	Cormac Lynch	Max Salkin
Megan Strasnick	Alexander Lock	Ethan Brodeur	Adam Bayoussef
Aidan Sullivan		Shane Buckley-Fennell	Max Mullaney
Matthew Viliott		Cole Lepler	Stephen MacIntosh
Sam Brodeur		Coleen Keenan
Ellie Ferris
Erin Doherty

The NCLB waiver for MA and what it means for Lincoln

Over the past few years I haves shared many pieces of information regarding the Federal NCLB law, and particularly how it impacted Lincoln because of our use of Federal Title I funds. While I commend the law and it's authors for addressing the need for proficient readers and mathematicians, the law punished schools who were performing very well and labeled them as failing schools. How can MA, which is considered and statically proven to have the best performing students and schools in the country, have 82 percent of it's schools labeled as failing just because they did not meet a statistical target of 100% perfection. This is the AYP formula and its one size fits all consequences for schools. It simply wasn't working.

While Lincoln made AYP last year in the aggregate and all our subgroups and was one of the 18% of schools in MA to do so, I have consistently shared my disdain for this law. I am truly excited by the fact that MA was granted a waiver from many of the NCLB requirements. Here is the official press release from the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

What really excites me is the fact that we will now have an opportunity to be truly innovative. MA will not escape accountability for student performance, as some have suggested, but rather lead the way for the rest of the country on how to reach students who are not proficient. The waiver is hardly a free pass. In fact, MA schools will now have layers of data goals that will give the public, school administrators and teachers a broader look at how students are performing and showing growth. We will also be able to use funding sources, like Title I, with greater levels of flexibility to address what our individual school and student needs are, rather than the one size fits all "you must do this" approach that NCLB requires.

These data goals will still be measured using the MCAS, and eventually the replacement for the MCAS (which is being developed by PARCC) but they do look at several improvement categories and will use a 4 year span of data with a weighting system that gives the most credence to the latest scores. This is important because the year to year view of student performance only told part of the story, as did the AYP student performance goals. The MA DESE has created some guiding documents but this simple 4 page documents compares the Pre and Post NCLB based on the MA Waiver. The overarching goal is to cut the proficiency gap in half by the 2016-2017 school year. Many schools have done this already over the last 6 years.

The bottom line is, we are a good school doing many great things. We will now have ability and the flexibility to do even more great things and implement innovative but appropriate ideas with the goal of being an even better school. Ideas such as the successful Summer Academy can be expanded. We will be able to add to our Title I Tutors to more effectively implement a Tiered System of Support, and we'll be able to upgrade and improve our progress monitoring and assessment practice. It is my commitment to our students, staff and parents that we will stay the course for improvement and work diligently to provide the very best education to all our students. I am glad the policy makers have also made this commitment.

Guest Blog Post from our Student Principal of the Day

Last month, 3rd Grader Eli Champoux, had his name picked from a hat in one of our raffles from Pizza Bingo Night. His winning prize was to be "Principal of the Day" and shadow me for the school day. As part of his expereince, he is writing a guest blog post on the Lincoln School Principal's Blog. Below is Eli's description of his day as Principal of Lincoln School.

I had morning duty, and welcomed a new student and gave his family a tour. I stopped in on some of the classrooms, and 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. McBrine, even asked me for a raise! One thing I will definitely remember, was how my older sister seemed a little emabarrased when I visited her 5th grade class.

I distributed the math-a-thon packets for every class in the building and I read Rapunzel to Mrs. Breda's Kindergarten Class. Mrs. Breda was my kindergarten teacher and I remember sitting on the rug hearing other people to read to us.  This time I was the one sitting in the rocking chair reading.

I have a lunch meeting scheduled with Mrs. Corduck, the Franklin Early Childhood Principal. I am going to explain how kindergarten was for me so she can learn more about how to help preschoolers be ready for Kindergarten.

The day was very busy and things seemed to go quickly. I had a full schedule and many things to do. I want to be a football player and a video game creator when I grow up but being a principal isn't so bad either.

Principal of the Day
Eli Champoux

Expanding the learning day? Technology did it for us.

It's really a simple formula; more time equals more learning. This is not news to those of us in education and it certainly doesn't seem like an earth shattering revelation to others. A recent study by Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer looked at the correct "recipe" for highly effective schools. His study is highlighted in a recent Boston Globe column by Gareth Cook. Mr. Fryer identified 5 common elements, one of them was extended learning time. This one aspect has proven to be very challenging for public schools mainly due to the large scale financial implications of extending the school day.

Before Fryer recognized the need for purposeful learning beyond the traditional six hour school day, Lincoln and the Melrose Public Schools starting using a variety of technology tools to "expand the learning day" with targeted activities.

Lexia, a powerful literacy development tool, is web-based and provides individualized student accounts that are closely followed by teachers, tutors and administrators. The folks at Quantum Learning, New England's largest Lexia user group, know full well the benefits of this program and how it's consistent student use with teacher follow up instruction based on the Lexia results, can make huge improvements with students decoding and comprehension skills. When students use Lexia from home or in school 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes each, we have seen students close a 1 year reading gap in 6 months.

Similarly, the Symphony Math program, is a web-based program where students progress through various stages of math skills, while the program responds to student answers, forcing students to tackle additional problems they demonstrate difficulty with. This program, uses a strong visual component to learning math, which for struggling math students, can be the piece that ties it all together.

In both programs, teachers and administrators can view each individual student's progress, where they are struggling and then respond by providing the students with some additional instruction. These programs are powerful, but they still will never replace direct, explicit instruction. However, when they are used consistently by students and the information is used by teachers to help students, the results for us have been impressive. It is real time data and assessment without testing.

With only 6 hours in the school day, we must find ways for students to engage in meaningful and directed work outside of the school day. Technology, and in particular, web enabled responsive programs like Lexia and Symphony, may be the answer for those who are looking to catch students up, but are constrained by time.

A Tiered System of Support through a Comprehensive Literacy Plan

As a school that made AYP last year, we were one of only 11% in the State. We have made great strides over the past few years but we are always seeking to provide students with more and to insure that all students become proficient in their academics.

Literacy Instruction in Melrose and more particularly, Lincoln Elementary, has evolved greatly in the last 3-4 years. With the adoption of the Harcourt Storytown Balanced Literacy program 4 years ago, our current 3rd grade students will be the first group of students taking the MCAS who have had the benefit of one consistent literacy program. We also shifted our instrucitonal approach to focus on small group explicit instruction, based on the practice of guided reading. These changes required a fair amount of professional development and some time to take hold, but the results have been very positive.

As with any new curriculum adoption, after the initial implementation stages and adjustments, we needed to take a look at the effectiveness of the program and what areas within reading were our students not progressing they way we expected. So last spring we did a series of assessments and we also studied the data from our own district assessments. We initially worked with Literacy Consultant, Dr. Ilda King, who helped us to determine that we needed to do a better job of teaching our students automaticity with their decoding skills which would then result in better fluency as children reached higher grades. This was going to be a task that required a K-5 effort.

Simultaneously in the spring, a group of teachers, administrators and community members from across the district participated in a grant from the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a Literacy Plan for the district. The group worked with another Literacy Consultant, Dr. Elissa Arndt, who led us through the process and also introduced us to a book called Annual Growth for All and Catch Up Growth for Those Who Are Behind. All of this work tied in so well with what we were doing at Lincoln School, that we purchased a copy of the book for every professional at Lincoln and we all read it over the summer. We also met as a staff in July to discuss the book and how it can help us make changes and improve literacy instruction at Lincoln.

A small group from Lincoln (2 teachers, a SPED teacher, a Title I Tutor, the Principal and our Assistant Superintendent for PPS) then spent three days at the Summer Reading Institute with Sally Grimes where we immererssed oursleves in intensive hours preparing our own Comprehensive Literacy Plan based on a Tiered System of Support for students. While there, we learned that as a school, we were well ahead of most schools in Massachusetts, as far as meeting the needs of students and understanding what it takes structurally and strategically to make it happen.

The result was a plan that included expanded literacy assessment data for all students, progress monitoring for students who were behind, flooding grade levels with intervention staff members during their literacy blocks, providing students who were behind with as much focused instrucion they needed beyond the core literacy block, and frequent highly structured data meetings by teachers. We wanted students to be proficient readers by 3rd grade. In short, we were going to provide students with what they needed, when they needed it, and with the frequency they needed.

Our results have been outstanding thus far. We have continued work with all three literacy consultants and in fact, we invited Sally Grimes to come in December and present to literacy teams from all 5 Elementary buildings which has spurred a movement by the other schools for which we can serve as the learning site. We are also learning from a few schools in MA who have already excelled with this work. The Winthrop Principal, Mary Alise Herrera, and I recently visited the Murkland School in Lowell. The Murkland is a Level 4 school as designated by the DESE, which means they are in need of dramatic improvement based on MCAS scores. This K-4 school with about 380 kids, has a student population that is 90% low income and 60% ELL. Yet, in 1 year of a tiered system of support for both Literacy and Math, they made AYP and had huge improvements in their scores. The state has promoted the Murkland as a model for what the state hopes to help districts implement through their own model of a tiered system of support.  Our visit served as both reassuring that we are on the right path, and informational as we assessed what our next steps should be.

We continue to make tweaks to our system as we reflect and assess our system and our own teaching. However the data tells us that each time we reassess, using measures such as the DIBELS, the DRA2 and the Quick Phonics Screener, more and more students are meeting the grade level benchmarks and fewer and fewer are in need of intensive support. While we will always have students who need additional attention and support, our goal is to minimize that and provide appropriate interventions in a timely manner and make sure kids don't fall through the cracks. I look forward to sharing more information as we grow, especially some examples of student growth, but it has been a great start to this process.

Tips on cooking your Thanksgiving Turkey from our Half Day Kindergarten Students

If you are preparing a Thanksgiving meal next week, you may want to consider seeking some advice from experts. Some people will tune into the Cooking Channel's Turkey Marathon and others will use tried and true family recipes.

I recently had some time to sit down with our Half Day Kindergarten students in Mrs. Risinger's Class to ask them about some tips they may have for people cooking a turkey.

All generally agreed that it was important to cook the Turkey at the proper temperature. Ian suggested that you cook the turkey at 13 degrees for 13 minutes. This differed slightly from
Victoria's family recipe which calls for a much higher cooking temperature at 32 degrees  for 34 minutes. Be sure to leave enough time to cook a turkey using this method. Nevaeh normally sets her oven to 75 degrees which of course results in a fast cooking time. No one wants to wait around for the turkey. The gravy could burn.

Several of the students felt it was very important that you select the right size turkey. Chris was looking forward to his 200 lbs turkey that was to serve 20 people and Mary recognized that the cooking time would vary depending on the size of the turkey but anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes would be perfect for a juicy plump turkey of average size.

But the true culinary talents of these young chefs became apparent when they were asked how they would season their turkey. For those who enjoy that old fashion citrus tasting turkey, Nour recommended cooking it with orange juice and white rice. Malykai uses a more traditional method of "using the grease with the turkey baster stuff." Malykai also likes to stuff his turkey with "something green or yellow, like cheesecake." Who needs Pepperidge Farm?

Mila knows that everything tastes better with Catchup and of course, she would prefer to serve the turkey with cheese. Chris had a similar sentiment but for his own reasons. When asked what type of cheese he would serve with it, Chris offered "American. It's an American Holiday." Patriot spirit is alive.

Of course we couldn't talk about just cooking the turkey. After all, with guests joining you, presentation is everything. Victoria knows that a colorful display of bananas, strawberries and pineapples are the perfect touch to dress up a freshly roasted turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our families!