Viking Cheers!! Focus on the Fabulous!!
Walter Martinez- Commited to Excellence
We had a lot of great things going on this past week at Skoglund Middle School. First of all, I’d like to recognize the efforts of Walter Martinez. We are happy to have him back in the building and several staff members have made positive comments on the great job he does cleaning their classroomsand office space. Thank you Walter for your commitment to excellence in everything you do! It shows!
Thank you to Lori Cooper for organizing all of the results on our district quarterlies and reviewing them with our teachers. It was exciting to see the gains our students have made already this year in reading, writing and math! The hard work of our teachers and students is paying off. In math, our students didn’t have any below basic in 7th and
8th grade, and they have showed positive growth in 6th grade. Mrs. Donaldson does a great job working with our students. I appreciate her dedication to her job and ensuring that our students are receiving top notch instruction. Gail Martinez and Shirley Atencio also had some impressive results. You can see the progression of our students through the middle school, as their scores improve each year with fewer and fewer students in the lower categories, and more and more students in the upper range. The number of students scoring at the top level has increased tremendously in 8th grade. We were all very impressed with the performance of our 8th grade students on their writing assessment. The 7th grade reading had no kids scoring in the below basic category. It was a 50/50 split between basic and proficient. The 6th grade reading scores already show growth from last year, with a number of students moving out of one category into the next category. I believe these scores are a result of the comprehensive approach we have taken with our reading program. We have Shirley Atencio providing structured LA and literacy instruction in 6th grade, Susan Banning and Kindra Rounds reinforcing those efforts in the TI classes with focus on academic vocabulary and authentic literacy, and Gail Martinez continuing the efforts at the 7th grade level. It really is a team approach and the outcomes show success! Great work ladies! You are all working hard to support our core belief that quality planning, instruction, and assessment lead to high achievement for all students.
Thank you to Lori Cooper for organizing all of the results on our district quarterlies and reviewing them with our teachers. It was exciting to see the gains our students have made already this year in reading, writing and math! The hard work of our teachers and students is paying off. In math, our students didn’t have any below basic in 7th and
8th grade, and they have showed positive growth in 6th grade. Mrs. Donaldson does a great job working with our students. I appreciate her dedication to her job and ensuring that our students are receiving top notch instruction. Gail Martinez and Shirley Atencio also had some impressive results. You can see the progression of our students through the middle school, as their scores improve each year with fewer and fewer students in the lower categories, and more and more students in the upper range. The number of students scoring at the top level has increased tremendously in 8th grade. We were all very impressed with the performance of our 8th grade students on their writing assessment. The 7th grade reading had no kids scoring in the below basic category. It was a 50/50 split between basic and proficient. The 6th grade reading scores already show growth from last year, with a number of students moving out of one category into the next category. I believe these scores are a result of the comprehensive approach we have taken with our reading program. We have Shirley Atencio providing structured LA and literacy instruction in 6th grade, Susan Banning and Kindra Rounds reinforcing those efforts in the TI classes with focus on academic vocabulary and authentic literacy, and Gail Martinez continuing the efforts at the 7th grade level. It really is a team approach and the outcomes show success! Great work ladies! You are all working hard to support our core belief that quality planning, instruction, and assessment lead to high achievement for all students.
Rewind
7th Grade Merit Winners!
I kept busy during the week conducting walk throughs, reviewing lesson plans, and having meetings related to various student issues. I also met with Lori Cooper and core teachers to review results of district quarterlies and writing assessments. Some time was taking up dealing with discipline issues. Our middle school basketball team had games this week against Monte Vista and Alamosa. Thursday evening, I traveled to Monte with the 7th grade students for their Merit win! The kids had a great time watching the different movies! Thanks to Susan Banning, Carla Smith, Deb and Arnold Lujan, and Heatherlynn Butler for helping with the supervision of the trip. I appreciate them volunteering their time to help pull this off. Friday morning, I was in Sargent to watch our HS boys’ JV and C teams compete in a basketball tournament. On Friday afternoon, I dropped by Lauren McEvoy’s Explore class to review History Fair projects with her. I was very impressed with the quality of work the kids had done on their projects. She has done an excellent job guiding them through the process and it is evident in the work the kids have done on their research and papers. Saturday morning I watched our Varsity teams play against Trinidad and Antonito. Our teams played well and both came up with wins.
Forward Focus
I will start the week by reviewing lesson plans and scheduling walk throughs. I have an RTI meeting on Monday and will also be in Joe Martinez’s Explore class to review History Fair projects. Tuesday and Wednesday we will be conducting NWEA testing. Tuesday afternoon, I will be meeting with Lori, Lisa and Carolyn to review district quarterly data. After school, our middle school boys will compete in the first rounds of the basketball tournament. The tournament will continue into the weekend and will be held in Monte Vista. I will also be helping with the Viking HS basketball tournament this weekend.