-OGPS Press- March 7th, 2022

News and updates for all Orchard Gardens staff

Dear Orchard Gardens Staff:

Welcome to March Discourse Madness' first full week! See an overview of Discourse Madness rules and key links below:

Orchard Gardens March Madness 2022

In the month of March, 65 college programs vie to be named the best in basketball. At Orchard Gardens, we have the best of the best. This month we will have a friendly competition with each other in our school's effort to support colleagues in meeting our academic discourse goal through peer observations.

What: March will be our official peer observation month. During this time, we aim to engage in frequent peer observations across classrooms to provide feedback to colleagues on strengths and areas of improvement for consistently practicing strong academic discourse habits.

Why: Our March Madness peer observation initiative aims to help support our learners, it is important for kids to learn in a classroom that provides opportunities for them to lead by sharing and learning from other scholars. While we will not be cutting down the nets like the winning basketball team, we.will have an opportunity to win some great prizes.

Rules:

Points for observers

Observe as many classrooms as possible across grade and content areas. There is not a minimum or maximum amount of classrooms you can observe. Every classroom is open for observations.

Observe a peer in a different program (ES → MS, Art →Resource Teacher, etc): 3 points
Observe a peer in a different academy (K-4 vs 5-8): 2 points
Observe a peer on same grade team: 1 point
2 points for feedback left in a room.
Max 5 pts per visit

Post on the Welcome to My Classroom Padlet each week: short blurb: welcome into my room, this is what we’re working on this week, here are the best times to come in! 5 points

Points for observed

Evidence of Academic discourse:
1 point to the teacher leading for each indicator observed

How to win:

First 50 points (in each Academy)- (2 winners)
Overall top 5 at end of March - (5)
Top 2 Highest grade or specialist team at end of March

Catered team lunch (1st place)
Morning coffee and pastries (2nd place)

Overall champion at end of March -(1 winner)

Helpful Links:

March PD Discourse Madness Slides

Welcome to my classroom- community padlet

CRIOP Observation Tool and feedback sheets

Observation Form- Complete after each observation for points

Discourse Madness Leaderboard

10 points

Mr. Ojdrovic & Ms. Talia Brown

5 points

Ms. Rusch:

Ms. Mulvehill

Mr. King

Mr. Rosenfeld

Ms. Monica

Mr. Hamblett

Ms. Greene

Ms. Lisa

6th Grade Team: 20 points

Arts Team: 15 points

4th Grade Team: 15 points

zoom_out_map

Updates and Key Information

<<PAST DUE>> Doors and wall decorations: By Friday, March 4th please remove BHM door decorations and any other paper decorations from doors. Daily class lists may remain taped to doors. This guidance comes in partnership from the BPS Facilities Department and Boston Fire Marshall.

Chromebooks: The Chromebook repair process can take up to 6 weeks. If students need Chromebooks repaired, we cannot provide a replacement device. Please be sure students have access to meaningful work on paper to engage in if they do not have a Chromebook.

Slack & Whole Group Communication: Last week we experienced increased traffic in our whole school Slack channel. Thank you to everyone who has pointed out operational and custodial emergencies across the building. Please continue to send questions and alerts directly to Emily, Marisol and Lauren via Slack. If you are unsure if a message should be sent through the whole school Slack, send directly to our Operations Team first.

2022-23 Hiring: Please visit TalentEd and encourage talented candidates in your network to apply to 2022/23 opportunities at Orchard Gardens!

Study Island: Study Island is a standards based formative assessment tool available for ELA, Math, and Science content. Orchard Gardens has access to teacher and student accounts to try this program over the next three weeks. Please reach out to LMurdock@ if you'd like access to Study Island to support with Tier 1 or Tier 2 WIN block lesson planning. More to come on training and collaborative planning opportunities using Study Island.

At Home Antigen Test Program: The following communication was sent to all BPS families: Starting March 7, in addition to the routine weekly pool testing and symptomatic testing, BPS, in partnership with DESE, will begin offering free, weekly take-home antigen tests. In order for your student to participate in this new option, DESE, the state department of education requires parents/guardians to specifically sign up for this at-home rapid testing option. If you would like your student to receive a weekly take home test, you must submit a permission form. Please note this form is a different form than the one you may have signed earlier this year for testing.

BPS Mask Mandate: The Boston Public Health Commission is lifting Boston’s Indoor Mask Mandate on March 5th for most indoor spaces in the City of Boston. The Boston Public Health Commission has advised that BPS’ masking policy, for now, should remain unchanged. They will continue to monitor the numbers and advise when they believe it is appropriate for our masking policy to change.

Classroom environment: All classrooms are expected to have a Peace Corner/ break area in your learning space: See the resource below if you need to reestablish or enhance your break area.

A Think Space is a place in the classroom where students can go to take a break, reflect on emotions and practice strategies to manage stress. Review key steps to collaboratively create with students, more info here.

Essential Classroom Procedures: This week, plan to reteach and revise essential classroom procedures, as necessary. Deans and Leadership Team members will be observing and supporting with strengthening essential classroom procedures over the next few weeks. Reach out to your Dean of Students if you need specific support with strengthening classroom procedures.

COVID-19 Information Session: The district is hosting two, virtual Covid-19 Info Sessions on February 28th and March 3rd. Both sessions will begin at 5:30PM. More info here.

Health Practices: Carefully read the reminders below from our Health Team and continue to exercise high vigilance to keep our community safe.

Ensure that masks are worn over the nose and mouth at all times outside of eating and mask break. If students struggle to maintain this, a parent meeting needs to be scheduled to address concerns.
If students are doing group work outside of their seats (i.e. rug time) they need to be 3 feet apart and sitting near the same students from your seating chart
Any student who is out for COVID related reasons, a calendar invite of their return date will be emailed to you. Please be mindful of this list and check it daily. Flag immediately for Emily B/Hannah if a student has returned prior to their return date
Only fill out the COVID Google form for cases that are reported directly to you by family members. Do not fill out this form if you are hearing about a positive case or close contacts from Emily B/Hannah/Tatiana

MTEL Flex - DESE recently introduced a new MTEL testing policy called MTEL Flex. MTEL Flex allows licensure candidates who took certain subject-area MTELs on or after October 20, 2020 and did not earn a passing score to submit a written assessment instead of re-taking the test. To register, click here, FAQ,

Parapro Assessment Prep Classes: The Office of Recruitment, Cultivation, and Diversity is offering support in preparing candidates to take the ParaPro Assessment.These courses are free of charge for City of Boston Residents. Please share this flyer with anyone interested in becoming a paraprofessional who does not possess 48 college credits (includes course schedule and registration information)

Circle of Bricks (Free legos): Circle of Bricks is a non-profit organization founded by a high school sophmore. See below for information on how to get involved with this initiative. website of the fundraiser is here: https://www.circleofbricks.com. Click here for the local news story

Missed sign-in: Complete the missed sign-in form if you forget to sign in. Repeated missed sign ins may result in time docked or additional disciplinary measures. Please continue to reach out to BPSEquity@ and/or your direct manager if support or accommodations related to signing in or reporting to work are needed.

Emergency Call Outs: Reminder, emergency call outs (time off requests submitted within 24 hours of request date) must be text to BOTH Lauren Murdock, Principal (617-516-3970) and Emily Bekenstein, Director of Operations (617-721-6265) as soon as possible and before 5:00 a.m. to indicate an absence. (Details, P14 Faculty Handbook.) Do not submit emergency call outs through ESS. Ms. Williams will process all emergency call outs.

Staff Spotlight

Orchard Gardens houses an immense amount of talent and intentionality. Please join me in celebrating in learning from staff highlighted below.

Ms. Rigueur, 2nd Grade has created meaningful routines that keep students engaged and invested in learning at all times. Both in class and during transitions, Ms. Riguer's 2nd graders maximize every minute of the day. Thank you, Ms. Rigueur!

Photo below: 2nd graders in room 101 reading for enjoyment during morning bathroom break.