FIRST GRADE LEVEL MEETING – MINUTES

October 14, 2003

ATTENDANCE: Alderwood:Susan Little, Connie Westhaver Birchwood: Carl Cozier: Sara Balston, Valorie McElroy, Jeff Jacobs Columbia: Gayle O’Malley Geneva: Jan Stamey, Marla Foote, Christine Beebe Happy Valley: Linda Stevens, Lori Thoreson, Kevin Quinn, Shirley Potter Larrabee: Patrice Wilson, Kelly Glynn, Jennifer Pittis Lowell: Northern Heights: Debbie Nelson, Lisa Hawes, Kristin Roche Parkview: Jill Caldwell Silver Beach: Sharon Lingbloom, Pam Brink Sunnyland: Krista Walcker

PLANNERS: Gayle O’Malley, Kelly Glynn, and Linda Stevens

OUTCOME: Teachers will have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with peers in order to increase understandings about district curriculum and direction, as well as to incorporate powerful instructional strategies into lessons and unit design.

POWERFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING FOCUS: District Reading Program

MEETING AND GREETING: FIRST GRADE READ-A-LOUD

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
• Barn Dance by Bill Martin
• When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden
• Tough Boris by Mem Fox, Kathryn Brown
• Mrs. Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard

INFORMATIONAL UPDATES :

1. Elementary Math Task Force-Elementary Task Force continues to meet and work on Core Understanding and Common Practices and the development of a professional development plan. http://www.bham.wednet.edu/staff/elemliteracytaskforce.htm
2. Bellingham Centennial Web Page-Bellingham is celebrating its centennial this year. An interesting and informative web page has been developed by Elizabeth Johnson that features instructional resources and lesson plans. http://www.bham.wednet.edu/district/centennial.htm
3. National Science Foundation Grant-The Bellingham School District is part of a consortium of districts who received an NSF grant of $12,000,o00 that will provide extensive professional development for teachers in science. http://www.bham.wednet.edu/events/NSFGrantforScienceLearning.htm
4. District Professional Development Catalog–The catalog has been developed for the 2003/2004. Copies can be found in each school or on the district web site at http://www.bham.wednet.edu/departments/currdept/profdev/courses/CourseList.htm

DISTRICT READING PROGRAM: Adrienne shared a graphic representation of the District Reading Program. Teachers discussed the graphic representation: The Reading Process and The Five Core Elements of Reading: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Text Comprehension. The section of the Elementary Literacy Support Guide, “What Guides My Reading Instruction”, has been revised and was given to each teacher. The revisions were reviewed along with the research that supports the best instructional strategies to use in teaching the core elements. Then, teachers recorded instructional strategies and resources that they use for each of the five core elements of reading. These charts will be available in Microsoft Outlook/Public Folders/All Public Folders/Grade Level Work/Grade 1. The graphic and the revised section will be available soon on the District Web Page

GOLDING MINING IDEAS FOR LITERACY BLOCK COMPONENTS:

Gayle O’Malley guided the group in a gold mining session around key components of a literacy block: Writing Demonstrations, Guided Groups, Conferencing, Management and Structure, and Multiage and Diverse Learners.

Teachers selected a component of a literacy block and shared questions and ideas. The ideas were charted and will be posted in Microsoft Outlook/ Public Folders/ All Public Folders/Grade Level Work/Grade 1

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

· I wonder what scope and sequence the district expects for Science, Social Studies, Art (not curriculum)? One approach to delivering the Science and Social Studies curriculum is an integrated approach where the content of Science and Social Studies are used to incorporate the teaching of the reading and writing processes. So the scope and sequence is determined by the guiding questions and concepts. Teachers select reading and writing strategies that align with specific concepts. It is expected that a block of time for intentional mathematics instruction occurs regularly in the first grade day. The art curriculum was developed and adopted by the school board in 1999. Additional work will not take place in art until the moratorium on new curriculum development has been lifted.

· Conference – who will return my 3 hours of planning time 1/2 hour each of 6 days? Grade school conferences – half-time teachers leave at 12:15 p.m. – who will pay them for the extra 15 minutes? Conference schedule – Are we losing planning time? How has this been allowed to happen? Since there are many different models in our district, teachers will need to talk with their principals to discuss the planning time.

· I understand that the DRA levels 18 and 24 are to be set aside to be used just by 2^nd grade for The State Reading Assessments, so…how are we to assess children who are at that level? Is there a book that should be consistent used in the District? Some schools have purchased the Alternative DRA Kit and use the 18 and 24 from the kit. The research on validity for the DRA says that teachers can use the 18 again with a student if it has been at least 6 months since the first use.

· Are there extra literature guides available for student teachers? Just like curriculum guides, there are not extras for student teachers. There should be a Literacy Support Guide in the school’s library that a student teacher may check out to use.

· Book Marks with updated book titles? Parents love them! Hope we can have them for conferences. Talk with the building librarian and principal about ordering Book Marks.

SUGGESTIONS FOR NEXT MEETING:

• More open conversation on science, math, social studies, art, music.
• More time to talk freely with other teachers – less structure for the meeting.
• Math?
• Math block – What does it look like?
• Writing: Demonstrations, write-to sequencing, publishing ideas.
• More time to talk with colleagues ~ this is usually where I get the most out of meetings.
• More time to discuss important items ie: people suggest an idea in a circle format and we prioritize at the meeting.
• Look more closely at other curriculum areas – math, science, art, P.E.
• Whole group overview of learning targets on Bellingham website.

FEBRUARY MEETING:

The next Grade Level meeting for First Grade Teachers is scheduled for February 5, 2004, in the Board Room. Time will be announced.

Meeting Evaluation

TOPICS	Topic Value (1 lowest– 4 highest)	IMPORTANT LEARNING AND CELEBRATIONS
District Reading Program	3.5	Good info – gives more freedom to teach phonics. Great hang time to go through the literacy support guide. Resources (books) not equitable building to building. Thank you – it was nice to have the time to read and understand the program. Had to be done – I liked the clear organization – less time. Better knowledge of 5 core elements. Clarifying process and 5 core elements. Helpful updates re: literacy guide and it’s always nice to have dialogue about the guide.
Information Items	3.0	More presentations will lead to more in depth conversation on topics. Clear, to the point.
Grade Level Sharing	3.6	Great resources from colleagues. Group discussions helped to solve some issues. “What are you doing?” I enjoyed having time to talk freely about topics. I felt validated about my program and how it matches other 1^st grade teachers. Need full day every day Kindergarten to make K-3 reading a go!!! Best part – interacting with others. I was looking forward to this – in my groups I perceived a difference between what I’m hearing at my school and what I heard here so I’m slightly more confused @ district values around literacy instruction.
Overall Rating of the Meeting	3.3	Informative and clear. Good information from a variety of topics. I enjoyed the format and a chance to share. Need academics and social play so need 2X as much time! We packed a lot into a few hours!