Hello Palencia Elementary families, 

We are halfway through the 2nd nine weeks and the teachers, staff, and I couldn’t be prouder of the student growth we’ve watched unfold before our eyes. Each week, deliberate scheduling allows grade level teacher teams to meet for an hour to specifically examine how students are progressing, to sync up their acuity regarding what mastery of curriculum (standards) looks like through student work, to review student tests to determine where pockets of misunderstanding may lie, and to determine next steps in enriching or extending knowledge for students who already mastered grade level content. I so enjoy listening to the teachers celebrate student success and I take pride in teachers’ commitment to making sure ALL students demonstrate proficiency on essential standards. Our teachers are, indeed, passionate about what they do. You may have heard teachers or your students refer to these meetings as the PLC (Professional Learning Community) process. A basic principle of the PLC process is teachers working collectively will serve our students better than teachers working alone. Teacher teams capitalize on each other’s strengths to benefit the grade level student population as a whole. You may have heard your little one say “we switch classes” or you may have heard a teacher mention “flexible grouping” at Curriculum Chat. For example, a gifted certified teacher may work with a handful of students in other classes who show the need for more challenging material on a given topic. Or let’s say the majority of the class scored well on an end of unit test, but two students in the class earned lower scores. Those two students may attend re-teach sessions with another teacher on the grade level who had a different approach delivering the information, or with another teacher with a different teaching style. The idea is that we will not give up on students. If what we tried at first was unsuccessful, we try something else. Interim reports are available for 1st – 5 th grades tomorrow, Tuesday. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to schedule a face to face conference with your child’s teacher. It is through parents and teachers working hand-in-hand that students benefit the most. 

Together in Education, 

Catherine Goodrich

Principal