The YSU Press

Thank you all so very much for all of your contributions towards Homecoming Spirit Week! We had so many special moments that will go down in the YSU History books & will become memories that we'll cherish forever. We're returning to normalcy for this last week before Thanksgiving break and have a few field trips, Lunch Buddies (wed. & thurs.) & Thanksgiving Ham distribution to look forward to later on this week.

Take a moment to make sure you've purchased a copy of this year's Yearbook to ensure you'll be able to look back on all of this year's highlights when they're delivered to our campus at the end of the year. Shout out to Ms. Holliday, Mr. Scott, & the first ever YSU student Yearbook Committee for all of their ongoing hard work to design & put together this year's Yearbook!

Regular School Year attire

• Mondays = Business Professional / Sunday's Best
• Tuesdays = Business Casual
• Wednesdays = College Gear (Smart Casual - work-appropriate jeans permitted)
• Thursdays = Business Casual
• Fridays = School PRIDE (Smart Casual - work-appropriate jeans permitted)

Upcoming Events

• 11/25 - 11/29 = Thanksgiving Holiday (No School)
• 12/3 - 12/13 = STAAR EOC Re-test (HS only)
• 12/9 - 12/13 = Midterms (STAAR Practice Test over ONLY TEKs that have been taught so far)
• 12/13 = Holiday Showcase (Dress Rehearsal for Campus Community)
• 12/17 = Holiday Showcase (Evening Performance for Families)
• 12/19 = Q2 Report Card Grades Due
• 12/23 - 1/3 = Winter Break
• 1/6 & 1/7 = Staff In-Service
• 1/8 = Q2 Report Card Distribution (You should have no less than 9 grades entered for each class (4 for electives teachers) by Friday of this week to stay on pace with compliance)

Are you ready to enhance your teaching toolkit and learn from your peers? Join us for Lunch and Learn, a monthly mini-PD series where our very own teachers will lead 30-minute sessions on practical strategies to elevate instruction and classroom management.

Each month, over lunch, one teacher will share effective approaches in topics like classroom management, instructional strategies, data-driven instruction, and other impactful practices that drive student success. Not only will you walk away with new ideas to implement in your classroom, but lunch is on us!

We’re looking for passionate teachers to lead these sessions. If you have a strategy, method, or insight that has worked wonders in your classroom, sign up to lead a Lunch and Learn session and make a difference for your colleagues (by filling in the form below). Let’s learn and grow together—one lunch at a time!

After School tutoring will end on 11/21 & when we return from Thanksgiving Break, After School programming will only consist of student groups, clubs, sports, & campus life events. Imagine Math time is now in the mornings during Advisory (30 minutes per day), & we are revamping Academic Success time so that all tutoring will now take place during the regular school day (STAAR City Time).

• This is a valuable next step that came from our staff-wide Start, Stop, Continue, Community Circle time that we believe will not only enhance our tutoring program (since ALL STUDENTS will now have access to attend tutoring in during 7th period before busses leave).
• We believe this shift will assist us with achieving our student recruitment & retention goals and will also boost our ADA as the program will likely lead to increased satisfaction & connectedness for students & families.
• Most importantly (as someone brought up during our circle time), we believe this is an important shift that will allow us to achieve our Mission & Vision since students will now have increased opportunities for exposure to participate in things that will make them well-rounded students who are even more engaged/invested in school & who have resumes that indicate they are truly prepared for college life & beyond.
• We hope to do a "soft launch" of our After School Program (ASP) when we return from Thanksgiving Break (Dec. 2 - 19) & will continue throughout Semester 2. If you would like to sign up to run a student club, student group, mentorship program, or campus life event after school, please fill out the google form below. We'll discuss further during Wednesday's power up.

Shout out to the staff members below who have entered exit tickets & or weekly quizzes into Eduphoria for data tracking & analysis! The admin team has added 3 grade level team points for each item entered this week. Great work team; Let's keep the momentum going!

• Mr. Scott (6th SS)
• Mr. A. Williams (9th Algebra 1)
• Mr. G (8th Math)
• Ms. Peacock (6th Sci)
• Ms. Baker (8th Sci)
• Ms. Davis (9th Sci)
• Ms. Hill (7th Math)
• Mrs. Whittaker (6th Math)
• Ms. Brown (7th SS)

💙💛Make sure your exit ticket or quiz is set up as a "local test" so that the data gets shared with the admin team & so that we can add points to your grade level team.

💙💛When creating these assessments in Eduphoria please use the naming convention

(24-25_Subject_GradeLevel_AssessmentType_TEKS) as this will keep the Eduphoria system organized

• example = (24-25_Math_8_CFA_8.5B)

Most STAAR exams now have written components. In order to set our students up for success with showing mastery when answering open response questions on the STAAR, each educator in the areas listed below should be regularly incorporating the use of writing rubrics & should use the same scoring measures that are used on the STAAR exam because PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT. If our students are practicing with these rubrics & are able to self-score, their performance will gradually rise to the level of meets/masters on the exam. Conversely, If our students do not ever see the rubrics and do not know what to expect on the exam, their writing won't likely be aligned to what's needed for the STAAR exam, even when things like spelling, grammar, & punctuation are accurate. For teachers who are interested in conducting writing workshops during STAAR City time, the resources below will be extremely helpful!

• ELA Rubrics (scroll down to the bottom & click "Writing Rubrics" & "Constructed Response Scoring Guides")
• Science Constructed Response Scoring (scroll down to the bottom & click "Constructed Response Scoring Guides")
• Social Studies Constructed Response Scoring (scroll down to the bottom & click "Constructed Response Scoring Guides")
• All New Question Type Info (click attachment linked below)

Let's raise the bar for our students by putting rubrics & Constructed Response Scoring CFU in front of them as the CFS each time they're providing written responses in class.

• STAAR City Groups should be entered on the tab linked here for HB4545 reporting (for TEA), also so that we can track the attendance (locating students when needed) & so that we can measure the effectiveness of this initiative.
• Don't forget, the staging areas below will be used to split students in a structured manner at the end of lunch.
• 6th = Douglas 2nd floor hallway (when needed)
• 7th = Douglas Cafeteria
• 8th = Christ Commons
• While admin & teachers/staff on duty will assist with the transition as available, we will not begin pulling our small groups until January (in response to midterm data when it's collected after testing in December). All students should be split amongst the 4 core content teachers this week.

Shout out to Mr. Mitchell's Class for shooting up into the TOP 5 THIS WEEK!!! Way to go!

Click here to access the Advisory lessons for the week. Announcement slides will be updated each morning & links to the presentations will be included in the "Daily Overview" email sent each morning.

• In order to increase the opportunities for student Academic Intervention & tutoring, Advisory Programming will continue to consist of a split between 30 minutes of Imagine Math time & 20 minutes of announcements & SEL time each morning.

The team points tally for the week is shown below! It's still anyone's game!!!

During this week, we'll be showering grade level teams with points for the following.....

• Points for Eduphoria exams entered
• Points for updated Data Trackers posted outside of doors (we're checking EOD Monday & again Friday)
• Points for HERO point Usage
• Points for shout outs entered this week

Shout out to Ms. Brown who set the bar high with the school spirit this week, and who also is setting the academic bar high in the classroom so that they're "STANDING ON BUSINESS" at all times! She was observed doing some great aggressive monitoring with her clipboard in hand, which has made for a highly structured and focused learning environment where each student was urgently working, getting in-the-moment feedback, & Ms. Brown was recording data while checking student work! As a result of her circulation & laps, students were silent & on task 100% of the time during the observation.

Way to push our 7th grade students to the top, Ms. Brown!!! Keep up the great work (we see you shining)!🤩

Fill out the form below if you have a shout out for a staff member or student. Please also fill out the form if you have feedback you'd like to share with administrators.

• Feedback will be reviewed by Mrs. Williams & you will receive an email that details follow-up.
• If you wish to remain anonymous, include that in the notes section.
• Shout outs for staff will be shared in next week's newsletter & Shout outs for students will be shared on Fridays during Town Hall gatherings.

This will be a standing section in each week's newsletters. Feel free to enter shout outs or feedback any time.

Penny Wars starts tomorrow. Someone from student council will be around during 1st period to collect funds. The totals will be announced daily in the Advisory Slides.

Jeremiah 29:11(NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Email: mwilliams@yellowstoneschools.org
Website: https://yellowstoneschools.org/
Location: 3000 Trulley St, Houston, TX 77004, USA
Phone: 502-445-8348
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yellowstoneschools/