Family and Community Resource Center
At the FCRC our documentation of students experiencing homelessness is caught up in Skyward. Now we’re working toward upcoming winter and holiday drives, fundraising, and overall needs. Here is a list of some of the things we’ve been doing and have coming up:
Gabby has submitted a grant proposal to Washington Department of Commerce last month, and we are hoping to hear back in early November 2019 whether we will be awarded the funds to contract a “housing navigator” at the FCRC.
Highly Capable Program
This past week we sent a team of teachers from Columbia Elementary, North Fork Elementary, and Woodland Middle school to the State “Washington Education of Talented and Gifted” (WAETAG) Conference. Staff were energized, inspired, and built on their growing teamwork for supporting students who are Highly Capable in Woodland Schools.
K-12 Attendance
Stacy Mouat has been following up with court cases, filed several new petitions, referred several students to the Truancy Project, continued to conduct individual student attendance conferences and participate in home visits. Much of Stacy’s time has been tracking down chronically absent students on truancy petitions and those who have left school to pursue alternative options. For those students, she continues to check on them to make sure they become enrolled and start attending school. Stacy also works closely with our TEAM staff to help make sure students in that program are actively attending school.
K-12 Nurse Services
Our school nurses are keeping current with all of our students who have medical plans and medication at school. We are pleased to be past the hectic “beginning” of the school year as students are settled into their routines and schedules, and families have the necessary medical paperwork up to date with the district.
LAP Program
Students qualifying for LAP services began interventions on September 10, 2019. The team of teachers, intervention specialist, ELL teacher and instructional coaches began by looking at reading achievement data. This informed staff of the potential need for interventions. Staff dug deeper, looking into “Acadience” (formerly DIBELS) data to indicate the student’s specific need (phonemic awareness, sound symbol correspondence, blending, accuracy and fluency). Students have been placed into a small group for 40 minutes, 4 days per week, to address their area(s) of need. Program possibilities include: Read Well, Boost, Blast, Phonics for Reading, Read Naturally and Barton.
Student progress is monitored every two weeks using Acadience progress monitoring assessment. Adjustments will be made to their program when we see students not progressing or lack of growth. LAP letters with specific information about the programs were sent home to families in September. Staff are monitoring these programs regularly and look forward to seeing our students become strong readers.
Lewis River Academy
We are off to a great start to the year at LRA. Both teachers have been filling up their days working one-on-one with students. “Learning Labs” have been quite full on Wednesdays as well. On Wednesday, October 9th, we had our own Woodland Schools Nutrition Services Director, Laura Perry, come to discuss with our students what a healthy meal looks like. She also shared how herbs are her secret for adding flavor. She had dozens of herbs available for students to see and smell, while presenting fun facts and ways to use them in everyday cooking.
Here are a few of the comments we received from students:
"Dear Mrs. Retter, I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Laura for coming last Wednesday to show and talk to us about herbs. I enjoyed the herbs she gave us, and had a good time observing and experimenting with them." ~Caleb
"Luz learned so much about herbs and it inspired her to learn to cook. Jesse liked the hands on part and enjoyed tasting and smelling the different herbs. Thank you so much Laura." ~Luz & Jesse Cervantes
"Thank you for the plants. My mom used them in dinner and it was good." ~Lane
TEAM High School
As a group of staff and students, TEAM High School is off to a great start for 2019-20. This year has been a year of changes and collaborations. Along with having a new staff member, Suzy Davis, we have made changes to staff responsibilities. This means we get to work together, problem solve, and learn new skills. Student wellness and progress are at the heart of our discussions and decisions. Our students amaze us everyday as many of them struggle with more obstacles and yet, in their own unique ways, we observe them move forward and make advances in educational growth.
We have a few Juniors who are working to graduate a year early, at least one came in with very few credits. Whether graduating early, on-time, or with a little extra time needed, we have incredible young people at our school. Our goal this year is to look forward from the beginning of the year to graduation, making sure early on that our seniors are on schedule, meeting all state and district graduation requirements.
Title Programs
In addition to teaching students at Woodland Middle School, Title 1 also focuses on maximizing parent involvement. For this board report we are attaching a few Title 1 specific documents:
Transitional Bilingual Intervention Program
Our “Connect Night 2019” was a success! In our session about ELL resources, we had a total of 14 attendees (six parents and eight students). Carlotta Propersi, ELL high school teacher, presented about her goals and what our ELL program can offer our students. Maribel Ramirez explained the graduation requirements and students' expectations at Woodland High School. Maribel also explained the importance of attendance every day at school. Ms. Pitkin, from Clark College, presented about financial aid, scholarships, and admission to community colleges and universities.
Esmeralda Franco and Maribel Ramirez continue assisting our ELL families. Currently, they are working on conferences making sure we schedule our ELL families and those families that need translation.
Special Services
This month, we have 356 with Individual Education Plans in Woodland School District. This is a larger number than typical for this time of the school year. Staff and students are working diligently to make sure all students are in the best educational placements for their academic and behavior achievement growth.