Focus on the Fabulous
Our middle/high band put on quite the performance on Wednesday night under the direction of Mrs. Newmyer. The winter concert was full of surprises and the audience was treated to a variety of performances, including a Battle of the Bands! The concert repertoire included a wide range of pieces, some traditional songs and some more innovative pieces to keep the audience on their toes. Individual students and small groups performed throughout the night. Mrs. Newmyer has worked hard the first part of the year to get her students to this point. I was impressed with the leadership role the students assumed throughout the concert. She has built the capacity in her classes so that her students feel comfortable directing and performing. It's impressive to see our students taking ownership of their learning. The concert was a fun event for all who attended. Thanks Mrs. Newmyer for thinking of creative ways for kids to present and entertain. The night was a success!
Rewind
I started the week by getting into a number of classrooms to observe instruction and learning. Mr. Hagan’s class has been working hard on research projects related to renewable resources. Students were busy putting together their tri-boards to illustrate the work they have done on this project. Mr. Hagan did an excellent job scaffolding this lesson by breaking it down into manageable parts. He provided a structured approach for the students that guided the research process and ensured that students had gathered the necessary information. I am looking forward to seeing the finished products. Tuesday and Wednesday we were busy with NWEA testing. This is our mid-year check to see how students are progressing. This data will provide us with information that will help us to focus our efforts on identified areas. Overall, the testing went really smoothly. Thanks to Julio Paez and the tech crew for getting the Ipads and laptops ready for testing and for helping with any technical issues that we ran into. I also want to thank Joy Werner, Sarah Vance, and Kathy Kulp for allowing us to use their labs those two days. A huge thank you to Rosa Ramos, Shelly Lopez, and Maria Villagomez for all their help in making sure things ran smoothly. I couldn’t have done it without them. They all jumped right in and helped wherever needed. Thanks to the Cheri Garcia, Carol Phillips, and Becky Reed for getting the test groups set up beforehand and to Lori Cooper for getting me the information so I could set up target scores. The middle school staff did a great job working together to make sure testing ran smoothly. I appreciate everyone’s efforts. We made it! I will be getting results out soon.
On Friday morning I participated in the All Valley PLC for administrators. We spent that time going over the rubrics that we had created for the teachers’ evaluations. We worked on creating indicators for each standard to help with clarity and uniformity on the teachers’ evaluation. That afternoon I supervised the second round of the basketball tournaments in Alamosa.
Our middle school boys completed their basketball season this weekend. They had games on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Our 7th graders lost on Tuesday in a tough game against Antonito. They received a bye in the next round and had the opportunity to play in the Consolation Championship against Monte Vista. They had an amazing game and beat Monte. Our 7th graders had some pretty flashy moves out there and Mr. Lujan did a great job coaching. Our 8th graders won in the first round of the tournament against Del Norte. They advanced to play on Friday afternoon against Sanford. Unfortunately they lost that game, but played hard until the last buzzer blew. On Saturday they played against San Luis for 3rd place and they won! They played hard and had the lead throughout the game. The boys played as a team and looked great out on the court. Mr. Garcia did a great job throughout the season as the head coach of all the boys.
Our middle school boys completed their basketball season this weekend. They had games on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Our 7th graders lost on Tuesday in a tough game against Antonito. They received a bye in the next round and had the opportunity to play in the Consolation Championship against Monte Vista. They had an amazing game and beat Monte. Our 7th graders had some pretty flashy moves out there and Mr. Lujan did a great job coaching. Our 8th graders won in the first round of the tournament against Del Norte. They advanced to play on Friday afternoon against Sanford. Unfortunately they lost that game, but played hard until the last buzzer blew. On Saturday they played against San Luis for 3rd place and they won! They played hard and had the lead throughout the game. The boys played as a team and looked great out on the court. Mr. Garcia did a great job throughout the season as the head coach of all the boys.
Fast Forward
We will be wrapping up the first half of the year this week. Our district quarterlies will be given on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Teachers are required to give quarterly assessments to evaluate student performance. This is in alignment with core belief #3- quality planning, instruction, and assessment leads to high achievement for ALL students. Tuesday we will host a visit from Rocky Ford administrators. I have a few student meetings scheduled during the week. I will be finishing up my walkthroughs for the quarter and will be working on teacher evaluations. Wednesday we will hold our History Fair Competition in the library. Mr. Vigil will be running the competition and judges will be evaluating projects and determining who will move on to the regional competition. Friday will be a work day for staff. Teachers will finalize grades for the quarter and begin making preparations for 2014! Friday afternoon all staff are invited to our annual Christmas party!