Category: School Goals Updates

DGS is connecting to families

Leave a comment

District Strategic Goal #4:
Ensure a satisfying and productive partnership with families and the community.

In addition to a district strategic goal, DGS Harris Poll results indicated a need for increased communication from school to home.

Dunlap Grade School wants to connect with you and share the news and events occurring at DGS. We know that many parents use facebook to keep updated on local news and events. DGS now has a facebook page to continue to provide parents an opportunity to stay connected to our school. Like this blog, the purpose of the facebook page is to a portal to broadcast information to families in an efficient and effective manner. Updates on school events, goals, and activities will be posted on our facebook page. To ensure the safety of our students, student pictures and identifying information will not be posted.

To keep this page a safe forum for sharing, we are setting a few simple guidelines.

This page is moderated and all comments are reviewed Dunlap Grade School Administration.

To ensure exchanges that are informative, respectful of diverse viewpoints and lawful, we will not allow comments that are:
Spam: Comments selling a product or service will be removed.
Personal attacks: If you disagree with a post, we’d like to hear from you. We do ask that you refrain from personal attacks or being disrespectful of others.
Illegal: Laws that govern use of copyrights, trade secrets, etc., will be followed.
Language: Comments including, but not limited to, profane or provocative language, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive or derogatory content, threats, obscene or explicit language will be deleted.

Any comments that are considered in violation of these guidelines will be deleted.

We look forward to connecting with you!

Find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/DunlapGrade

 

 

4th Grade “How To” Speeches

One comment

District Strategic Goal #1 is:

Continuously improve student growth and achievement

In order for students to continuously excel in a global society, 4th grade students are currently working on giving “How-To” speeches. Each student in 4th grade was responsible for choosing a topic that they wanted to teach the class. Not only did they have to give a procedural speech about the topic they chose, but they had to bring the proper materials with them to give to the class so they could participate in the activity. The speeches were a great practice for students to learn how to speak in front of a large group of people. This is just one example of the 21st Century skills that students will need to succeed!

Submitted by: Teresa Marquis

Kindergarten Visits the Fire Department

Leave a comment

District Strategic Goal  #2 is:

Create a satisfying and productive classroom learning environment

The DGS Kindergarten visited the Peoria Fire Dept.(Central Station) as part of their fire safety unit. The firefighters gave us a tour, showed us the truck and equipment, and informed us what to do in case of a fire.  We even got to watch them slide down the fire poles.

 

Submitted by: Mrs. Kurth

Golden Trash Award

Leave a comment

District Goal #2: Create a satisfying and productive school learning environment

Students at Dunlap Grade School have incentive to maintain a neat and orderly classroom environment thanks to Mr. Horrie. Each month, Mr. Horrie selects a classroom in the K-2 wing and a classroom in the 3-5 wing as “Golden Trash Award Winners.” These classrooms demonstrate responsibility and accountability in keeping their classrooms clean and neat. The September winners celebrated with freeze pops and an short extra recess with Mr. Horrie. Congratulations to Mrs. Lanser’s and Mrs. Kurth’s Classes!

Kindergarten celebrates their Cleanest Classroom Award

 

School Goals Update

2 comments

District Strategic Goal #1 is:

To continuously improve student growth and achievement.

 

The Building Leadership Team has created and monitored School Goals for the first semester.These goals are also located and tracked on our school data center just outside the office. You can now view our goals in real time athttp://www.dunlapcusd.net/dgs/SI/Pages/default.aspx

 

Our goals focus on school-wide behavior and reading comprehension. We have decreased the number of conduct tickets since the start of the school year. We are proud of our students for “Living the Norms” and following expectations. New visual reminders have been displayed through the school hallways and in bathrooms to encourage students to follow the ground rules and expectations.

 

Our reading comprehension goal is monitored using biweekly theme tests. The theme tests provide teachers information to adjust their instruction, differentiate for the needs of their students and gauge student learning and understanding of concepts. We are all trying to continuously improve student growth and achievement.

In his quote, Nivedita states,

“Assessment should be used not simply to judge how much kids know but to illuminate the nature of their knowledge and understandings in order to help kids learn…. Common sense tells us that on-going, classroom-based assessment can serve this purpose. Teachers interacting with students will observe the nuances of their cognitive growth and development over time, their individual strengths and weaknesses in ways that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to capture through standardized or conventional testing alone.”

Niyogi, Nivedita S. 1995. The Intersection of Instruction and Assessment: The Classroom.

Tests and Assessments

Leave a comment

Tests and Assessments

Recently, we have sent home several assessment results to parents.  Each assessment serves a different purpose.  The following are assessments we administer and how we use them are as follows:

ISAT (state-mandated test given to 3rd, 4th, and 5thgrade students each March)

This test measures how our students perform in relation to the Illinois Learning Standards.

Aimsweb (given to all students in August, January and April)

Teachers administer Aimsweb assessments 3 times per year in the areas of reading, math, and writing.  Teachers use this information to determine whether or not students may require additional support. Students that are identified as needing additional support are then assessed weekly or bi-weekly to monitor their growth and progress.

COGat (administered last school year)

This assessment was administered for the first time last school year.  The scores are valid for two years; therefore, will be administered every two years.  2nd grade students will be assessed in the spring.

This assessment measures a student’s developmental ability as compared with the students of the same age nationally. The scores are used to guide and adapt instruction to meet the needs and abilities of the students. It also identifies students whose levels of academic achievement are substantially lower or higher than expected which may indicate the need for specialized instruction.

Bulletin Boards and Whiteboards Installed

Leave a comment

District Goal #3 is:

To obtain a satisfying and productive classroom and school teaching environment

Dunlap Grade School recently made some small upgrades that are making a big impact for our teaching staff and students. Dunlap Grade received 8 new full-sized bulletin boards that are now adorning our hallways outside classrooms. Teachers have already made use of these new bulletin boards by displaying grade level data centers, student created mission statements, and examples of quality student work.

Bulletin Board in K-2 Wing

In addition to the bulletin boards, DGS had whiteboards installed in many classrooms to replace the existing chalkboards. These whiteboards join the 5 additional SMART Boards that were installed over the summer. All classroom teachers, the special education classroom, literacy aide classroom, and art/music classroom are now equipped with SMART boards. These additions are just one way DGS is making improvements to increase satisfaction and productivity in our classrooms!

Mrs. Flinn’s Whiteboard

Mrs. Pitzer’s New Whiteboards

Introducing Number Bonds

Leave a comment

District Strategic Goal #1 is:

To continuously improve student growth and achievement.

2Z students show number bonds

Mathematicians in 2Z found a new way to look at numbers bonds this week! As part of our new Math in Focus math program, number bonds are introduced as a way to explore the part-part-whole relationships of numbers.  To demonstrate this in a concrete way, we counted the number of letters in our names.  With partners, we used our individual names as the parts of the number bond and found the whole number by looking at our names next to each other.  Together we explored that numbers can increase as we combine them, and can be seen as two or more parts that make a whole. We also had fun seeing who had the longest and shortest names!

Learning with Math in Focus

A number bond is a mental picture of the relationship between a number and the parts that combine to make it. The concept of number bonds is very basic, an important foundation for understanding how numbers work. A whole thing is made up of parts. If you know the parts, you can put them together (add) to find the whole. If you know the whole and one of the parts, you take away the part you know (subtract) to find the other part.

Number bonds let children see the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. Subtraction is not a totally different thing from addition; they are mirror images. To subtract means to figure out how much more you would have to add to get the whole thing.

 

 Watch the Video below to learn more about number bonds

 

 

Submitted by: 2nd Grade Teacher Kelsie Zarko


Powerschool App available

3 comments

Goal 4 of the District Strategic Plan reads

”To Ensure a Satisfying and Productive Partnership with Families and the Community.”

Progress reports will be sent home with students on September 21, 2012. The Dunlap School District has been utilizing Pearson PowerSchool for the past two years which is a web-based Student Information System for tracking grades and attendance.

PowerSchool is now portable! The PowerSchool for Parents app is available for download from the App Store and compatible with the iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch®. Parents can easily view each child’s progress in a single feed to check grades, review assignments, and more!  Learn more online!

DGS Morning Meeting

Leave a comment

District Goal #2 is:

To obtain a satisfying and productive classroom and school learning environment

The morning routine at Dunlap Grade School looks a little different this year. To align with the other  elementary buildings, Dunlap Grade has implemented all school morning meetings. Students that arrive by bus are dropped off in the rear of the building and car riders or walkers enter the front of the building. Students then enter the gym where they sit in rows by their classroom. These rows are identifiable by the classroom flags that were created the first day of school and paraded at our school year opening ceremony.

Mrs. Ellis and 5th Grade Student during Morning Meeting

The meetings begin promptly at 7:35 am and conclude by 7:39 am. Students than proceed to class ready to begin their days. Because many teachers are able to take attendance and lunch count during the meeting and students experience minimal transition time, this new process has increased instructional time by nearly 10 minutes daily or 50 minutes weekly. That adds up to over 30 hours a school year or over 4 days of instructional time! This change has already made a big impact!

 

The morning meeting is focused on developing a community of learners. We use this time to celebrate attainment of goals, reiterate our mission and vision, communicate our direction, discuss building expectations, and share announcements. Students that are celebrating birthdays are recognized during the meeting and receive a coupon to redeem a birthday book in the office. Additionally, individual students practice their public speaking skills by sharing the daily lunch menu with their peers. We end the meeting with a school-wide recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

This new routine aligns to our DGS mission of “promoting active engagement of all members to ensure that students have the skills to succeed in the 21st century!”

1 2 3 4