Growing pains

I’m extremely pleased to announce that our enrollment is up to 521 students as of today.  While it’s great to know that parents are choosing Durham, it means that many of our classrooms are at or beyond capacity.  I am especially concerned about our regular kinder classes as Ms. Froehlich and Ms. Greene each have 25 students in their classes.   Unfortunately, HISD will not provide us with another teacher, until we have 32 students in each class.  That is a scenarios I am not willing to inflict upon our students or our teachers.  Since we are still enrolling students, I have decided to work with the talent and resources that already exists on our campus to open an additional kindergarten class on Monday.

I am excited to announce that Dr. Wethington will be taking over our newly created kinder class.  Dr. Wethington is an amazing educator with a long history of serving the students and families of HISD  She began making the transition this week, by observing her new teammates and familiarizing herself with the kindergarten curriculum.  She is also in the process of putting her room together so that it will be a warm and inviting place for her students.    In order to create the new class, I chose eight students from each of our existing classes by a blind lottery.  Parents of students who will be moved have been notified via personal phone calls. 

In order to ensure that all students continue to utilize technology, I have distributed the computers from the lab to classrooms.  I am also working to procure additional computers through HISD.  It is my intention for us to have at least 5 computers in every classroom so that teachers can integrate technology into daily instruction.  You can feel confident that students will continue to have access to web-based programs that support their learning and that we will continue to engage students through the use of technology. 

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback. 

Thank you for your continued support.

September 8, 2013

The second week of school saw teachers moving from teaching routine and procedures to focusing on academics.  In order to help our students to be more successful, we are making a huge effort to be coherent in the way in which we teach literacy and math skills.  We've been working on a literacy plan that addresses what we, as a school community, believe about teaching reading and writing.  One of our core beliefs is that students become better readers when they practice reading text on their level. This requires students and everyone who supports them (families & teachers) to know the student's current reading level.  We also believe that students need to have a goal, a reading level they are working to reach by the end of the school year.  You can look forward to learning more about the literacy plan and what it means for your child later in September.

For math, we are moving from an "end" that aims for students who can perform well on multiple-choice tests to an "end" where students solve all types of problems with accuracy, flexibility and efficiency.  In order to achieve this goal, teachers are working to provide instruction that balances concepts and skills, ensuring students have understanding and fluency of basic facts so as be effective problem solvers.  This link (http://pinterest.com/pin/233131718183998001/) provides some great ways that families can help students to develop their mathematical skills.

Personally, I’ve spend time this week thinking about how to improve communication between the school and families.  This weekend we launched a Facebook page (Click Here) and joined Instagram.   I researched options for newsletters and have found a great tool that offers all of the options we need at no cost.  This means that families can look forward to receiving a newsletter chalked full of information within the next few weeks.  Finally, I launched this blog as an additional communications platform.  You can look forward to regular updates like this one and I welcome your comments and questions.

~Angie Sugarek