Summer is almost here...

As the school year comes to a close, our minds and hearts are filled to the brim. It’s been a great year! What a school! Together we’ve learned much and shared experiences that will long remain with us in the years to come. The strength of our community and wholehearted passion to make our school a wonderful place of learning for our children primarily but for all of us makes Defer truly a special place.

Special thanks to all of you who have contributed in ways small, large and unimaginable! Copying for Thursday Folders, working in the clinic or the lunchroom, driving on field trips, helping with school pictures, providing food and/or organizing lunches for students and teachers, organizing events, working at these events, showing up to support your children, helping in the garden, serving on committees, sharing your talents, helping with traffic, picking up trash, participating in PTO night meetings, brainstorming the “what ifs”… supporting our work in countless ways and providing the resources to do what we dream and know is good for children. Thanks for getting your kids to school on time each day, for kind notes of encouragement that mean so much, for sending your kids with healthy lunches obviously packed with love, for making sure homework gets done… and turned in. Thank you for providing rich and engaging, well-rounded experiences for your children and knowing that education is about joy, wonder and fostering curiosity, along with the development of social skills so needed to succeed. For these, and a million other things, we are truly grateful.

To those of you who are leaving us for new places and adventures, we wish you all the best. Congratulations to our very capable 5th graders who are onto a new stage in their academic career! You are off to great places!

For your calendaring pleasure, the first day of school begins on September 6^th. Back-to-School Night is September 7^th at 6:30 pm.

Until then, enjoy a restful and replenishing summer with your families!

March is Reading Month

I can’t believe it’s already March!   The month of March is known as  the “reading month.”  This is a great time for you to grab your favorite book and dive right in!  Defer’s amazing teachers celebrate reading every day.  I’d like to focus this month’s newsletter on reading instruction and how we differentiate that instruction to meet the needs of all learners at Defer.

In Grosse Pointe, we teach reading through a Readers’ Workshop model.  A typical readers’ workshop lesson is composed of three elements.

Whole class mini-lesson focused on a specific reading strategy or skill :  10- 15 minutes

Class begins with the teacher presenting a reading concept that the students will be focusing on that day.  The teacher presents the concept to the whole group usually using one book as the “mentor text” to serve as the learning vehicle.   The teacher will model the concept in the mentor text and through questioning techniques involves all students in the thinking process around this concept. 

 Independent Daily Reading:  20 – 40 minutes ( varies by grade level)

Students read independently at their own specific level.  With their own book they work on the strategy or concept taught in the mini-lesson.  During this time the teacher circulates in the room, conferring with individual students as they read. 

 Guided Reading/Strategy Groups:  10 – 15 minutes

These groups are composed of 3 -5 students that are gathered to work on a specific skill or strategy.  These students are grouped by similar reading levels so that they can practice the concept with peers at that same  level.  In this case the teacher will have multiple copies of the same book or article so that they can work with all students together.

Last year the Defer PTO supported this instruction by purchasing books for each grade.  Teachers now have a much greater selection of mentor texts as well as multiple copies of books for group work.  The impact has been huge as this has opened more avenues to differentiate instruction for our students.   Thank you Defer families! 

From Our Hearts to Yours!

Defer Elementary Staff  2015-2016

The Spirit of Defer

The Dragon Run was a phenomenal event.  Yes, our PTO listened to our families and went out on a limb and decided to hold just one fundraiser this  year.  And yes, through this fundraiser we were able to far surpass our wildest expectations and raised over $15,000.00.  And yes, there are going to be wonderful opportunities made available to our students because of the Dragon Run.  But, for me, the Dragon Run was so much more than raising money.  For me, it showcased the true spirit of Defer.   And for me, it was the overwhelming number of memorable moments.  Hard to say what was the favorite. 

Was it the group of spirited 5^th graders who lead the entire school is our warm-up version of Whip Nay Nay and the sea of rainbow colored t-shirts dancing along and putting their own special moves into the mix?

Was it the students’ faces when they walked through the green and white balloon arch?

Was it the lower elementary students lining up at the starting line with their official Dragon Run running bibs pinned to their shirts?

Was it the Kindergarten students taking off in a pack at the start line only to run a few paces, tumble to the ground, pick themselves up, and keep charging around the course?

Was it the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders sitting around the outside of the course yelling out cheers to every Kindergarten, 1^st, and 2^nd grade student as they participated?

Was it the spirited shout outs that every family took time to send into us so that their child got that message that says – I love you and I’m proud of you!

Was it the parents that ran the course with the students?

Was it the students who ran for all their might losing shoes along their way and never stopping or caring?

Was it the students who asked me to run a lap with them and were proud to hold the principal’s hand as they ran the course?

Was it the Dragon stripe of green paint on their cheeks that students proudly displayed on their faces?

Was it the red faces who with a sense of pride and accomplishment picked up their bottle of water as they completed the run?

Was it the 5^th grade boys sitting on a bench with a Kindergarten student calling themselves his training team?

Was it the parents, grandparents, younger siblings, and guests cheering our Defer Dragons along the sidelines and sharing the moment as a community?

Hard to say . . . . .

Tardiness Hinders Student and School Success

Having trouble making it to school on time every day?  Then it’s time to come up with a new plan. Tardiness is sometimes a chronic problem for some students at Defer, and this creates problems for all students and teachers as well.

Did you know that some of the most important learning of the school day occurs between 8:20 and 10:00 am?  Students are the most alert and attentive at this time of day, so important subject matter and concepts are taught at this time.  When students arrive late to school, they miss out on some or all of these important subjects.  They also create a distraction when they walk into the classroom after other students have already begun working.  Teachers must stop what they are doing, and refocus the group.

Studies show that students who have perfect, or near-perfect attendance and are not tardy have much better grades and overall success in school than students who miss many days and are tardy.

An occasional tardy is not really a big problem, and sometimes cannot be avoided.  However, consistent tardiness creates not only the problems discussed above, but also does not help to prepare students for future success in middle and high school, or for the job market.

What can be done about this?  Defer has a tardy policy in place.  Here’s how it works:

·         When a student has three times of being tardy in quick succession (with a two week period), a letter will be sent home notifying the parents that their student has been tardy three times.  This will let the parents know that they need to work together with their student to get to school on time each day. 

           The students will miss their class recess on the day the 3^rd tardy occurs. 

·         If the student continues to struggle with tardiness, the principal will make a phone call home to talk to the parents about how tardiness is impacting the student, and to discuss ways to be on time.  The student will again miss recess to help make up for missed instruction. 

·         If tardiness continues to be an issue, the principal and teacher will have a conference with the parents to discuss the problem.

Remember that being on time means being in line and ready to walk into the classroom when the bell rings.  Students who are at school, but not in their classrooms after the tardy bell, are marked tardy.

Defer is a great school with bright students and involved parents.  By refocusing our efforts on being on time each day, we can be even better!

A few notes about Defer's teachers

Teacher Appreciation Week

This is officially National Teacher Appreciation Week 2015 – May 4^th to May 10^th.  National Teacher Appreciation Day is May 5^th.  The history of National Education Week and Day is not certain.  The movement for such an observance is commonly thought to have begun around the time of World War II and Eleanor Roosevelt made a major push for the day in 1953.

So what about teachers . . . . .

Great teachers give us a sense not only of who they are, but more important, of who we are, and who we might become.   They unlock our energies, our imaginations, and our minds.  Effective teachers pose compelling questions, explain options, teach us to reason, suggest possible directions, and urge us on.

Successful teachers are vital and full of passion.  They love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a writer love to write, as a singer loves to sing.  They have a serious purpose and yet enjoy enormously what they do.  They more than teach their subjects – math, reading, writing, science, physical education, music, art, or whatever – they get excited about the topic no matter how many times they have taught it before.  They push themselves just as they push their students, and their classrooms become memorable learning experiences.

So what about Defer Teachers . . . . . .

Did you know that our teachers give up their lunch hours to work with students who are struggling?

Did you know that some of our staff taught Lunch Enrichment classes this winter even though that meant giving up their lunch hour?

Did you know that the Defer teachers attend evening PTO programs to support our school and to build relationships with our Defer families?

Did you know that the Defer teachers are giving up their planning periods to help grow leadership in our students?

Did you know that the Defer teachers wrap their loving arms around our students every day from a warm welcome, to providing a missing snack, to calling home to say a student did a great job? 

Did you know that the Defer teachers worked hard to organize a Food Drive and are now feeding Defer families in need of help?

Take time to thank a teacher before the school year ends.. . . . . . .

We have all had teachers in our lives that make a big difference.  For me, it was my high school biology teacher who planted the important message in me – Keep asking questions.   You don’t need to know all the answers; you just have to be willing to look. 

Take time to send your child’s teacher an email or a quick note whether it is today or before the year ends.  Let them know how much you appreciate and value the impact they have on your child every day.   I can tell you first hand – that’s the best thank you any teacher can receive!  

National Reading Month at Defer

March is National Reading Month, and the Defer students and teachers have joined in the celebration!   Guest readers will visit many classrooms in March to share their favorite book.  Classrooms are silent each day as students curl up and read for sustained periods of time.   

Reading together at home is extremely important for all children.  You have the greatest influence on your child and you send a powerful message about not only the importance of reading, but the pleasure of reading when you read together.  Try the following suggestions to make reading with your child both a fun and a learning experience.

1.       Make reading a priority.  Whether it’s 20 minutes every night before bed or an hour every Sunday morning, it helps to set aside a specific time for reading. 

2.      Choose the right book using the “five-finger rule”.  When selecting a new book to read have your child open the book to any page in the middle and read that page.  Keep track of how many words they don’t know.  If the child gets to five words before they finish the page, the book is too hard.  If the child knows all of the words, the book is probably easy and is a good one to build reading fluency.  If they don’t know two or three words, the book is likely to be at a good level for their reading to grow.

3.      Create the right atmosphere.  Find a quiet place for your child to read.  Your home is a busy place, but children need a ‘reading spot’ away from noise and distractions.

4.      Make reading fun.  There are lots of great a book that are filled with humor and that’s always a ‘hook’ for children.  Try ‘hamming it up’ a bit when reading at home.  Play around with funny voices or acting out the scene you are reading. 

5.      Keep reading aloud to your child.  Don’t stop reading aloud to your child once he/she learns to read on their own. When you do the reading, you allow your child to enjoy books that are beyond their independent reading level.  Children learn new vocabulary, and it is a great chance for you to model reading smoothly and with expression.

6.      Introduce new books.  Sometimes one book will steal your child’s heart and that is all they want to read.  Remember, there are millions of books to enjoy.  Ask a librarian or your child’s teacher for a recommendation.  Check out children’s literature web sites. 

News at Defer

PBIS

Responsibility Pyramid

We have created a Responsibility Pyramid with expectations for each grade.  During the month of January teachers taught these expectations at every grade level focusing on what responsibility should look like for them.  

Beginning this month we will be adding purple cards to our class PBIS chart to reflect specifically on the grade-level expectations from the Responsibility Pyramid.   A student will receive a purple card for not showing responsible behaviors.  Listed below are the procedures around purple cards:

The maximum purple cards a student can earn in a day is one.

A student in grades 1^st – 5^th will miss the monthly Reward Party if they receive 8 or more purple cards.

Students will miss the monthly Reward Party is they receive 11 or more purple cards. 

Please review once again the pyramid with your child. 

Responsibility Pyramid

K – Personal Area Neat

1^st – Desk and Locker Organized

2^nd – Desk and Locker Organized, DOT

3^rd – Desk and Locker Neat, Planner Written, Homework Completed

4^th and 5^th – Desk and Locker Neat, Planner Written, Homework Completed, Switch Materials

The Defer Food Drive

The Hunger Games

Defer’s January 90^th birthday celebration focused on giving rather than receiving.  Our goal for the drive was to hope that 90 items at each grade level would be donated during January giving us a total of 540 food donations.  Thanks to your generosity we collected over 1,000 cans in the first week alone.  The Defer community is truly amazing!

The work of the Drive was done by our Student Council leaders.  Students in this organization unpacked bags, sorted donations into categories, and set up storage.  During the upcoming months they will be packing individual bags of food to share with families.  Under the direction of our Student Council sponsor, Mrs. Cross, and with additional help from Ms. Burrell and Mrs. Osborne these leaders were eager to have ownership of this project and they have done a fantastic job.  As our 7 Habits tell us – it was a win/win for everyone!

Parent/Teacher Conference tips

As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher.  You and Defer School have something in common:  We both want your child to learn and do well.  When parents and teachers talk to each other, each person can share important information about your child’s talents and needs.  Each person can also learn something new about how to help your child.  Parent-teacher conferences are a great way to start talking to your child’s teacher.  This tip sheet suggests ways that you can make the most of the parent-teacher conferences so that everyone wins, especially your child.

What should you expect?

Ø  A two-way conversation.  Like all good conversations, parent/teacher/student conferences are best when both people talk and listen.  The conference is a time for you to learn about your child’s progress in school:  share your child’s data notebook and see information about grades, test scores, and homework completion.  Find out whether your child is meeting school expectations and academic standards.  This is also a time for the teacher to learn about what your child is like at home.  When you share with the teacher about your child’s skills, interests, needs, and dreams, the teacher can help your child more.

Ø  Emphasis on Learning.  Good parent/teacher/ student conferences focus on how well the child is doing in school.  They also talk about how the child can do even better.  To get ready for the conversation, look at your child’s homework, tests, and their data notebook before the conference.  Keep track of any questions you may have that you would like to ask the teacher.

Ø  Opportunities and challenges.  Just like you, teachers want your child to succeed.  You will probably hear positive feedback about your child’s progress and areas for improvement.  Be prepared by thinking about your child’s strengths and challenges beforehand.  Be ready to ask questions about ways you and the teacher can help your child with some of his or her challenges. 

Cited from:

Harvard Family Research Project

This year the Defer conferences are scheduled on the evening of November 12^th and all day November 13^th.  Most parents set up a scheduled conference time at Back to School Night.  If you have not set up an appointment, please let your child’s teacher know right away so that a time can be scheduled.  The goal of the Defer staff is that we have 100% attendance at our Fall Conferences. 

                                                                                                                

A New School Year

Welcome to the 2014 – 2015 school year!!! We are off to a great
start! The staff and I are eager to set our learning plan into motion.
Our mission is simple – Every Student learns Every Day. We believe
that, we plan for that, and we work hard to be sure it happens every
day.
So what’s going on right now at Defer?
• Last Thursday, Sept. 4th was our Back-to-School Night. It was a
great opportunity for parent to learn about their child’s learning
program, get a feel for the culture of Defer, and learn about our
parent organization, the Defer PTO. If you were unable to attend
please contact your child’s teacher. They’ll be glad to fill you in.
• This year the Defer staff will be implementing four aspects of
the Leader in Meprogram in all classrooms. Leader in Meis
a program based on Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Adults. The four habits we are piloting include: learning the
7 Habits, reading the The 7 Habits of Happy Children book in
all classrooms, having students set goals and track their own
data toward that goal all year in a data binder, and finally set a
grade-level goal. These grade-level goals, called WIGS – Wildly
Important Goal,will be posted in the main hallway and progress toward those goals will be charted throughout the year.
Building relationships – Teachers are getting to know your child.
That’s really what’s going on right now at Defer. They are planning activities that help them get to know each child as an individual. One of our PBIS procedures in Morning Meet and Greet.
Your child’s teacher meets every student at their door each morning and engages them in a morning welcome. From a simple,
How are you today to What happened last night in your soccer game- The Defer staff is busy engaging students in conversation. The goal is to build a relationship, a relationship that is the
stepping stone for our students to learn, even when it is difficult,
because they know their teacher cares.
        Establishing routines – Part of being ready to learn means that you feel safe. Knowing what the routines are in classrooms builds that safe environment for learning. Where do I put completed homework? How do I fill my book bin and where do I keep it? What time is Gym and when day is Art?
What nights do I have math homework? Right now the Defer staff is teaching students the routines
of the school year.

March is National Reading Month!

Defer is celebrating again this year with One Book/One School. Our entire school and school community is enjoying a shared reading experience around the award winning book - The Cricket in Times Square. Each family received one copy of the book to read together at home each week in March. At school, we kicked off the experience with a school-wide assembly on Monday, March 3rd. During the month there will be a number of activities including trivia questions every Tuesday during morning announcements.
Reading to your child is an easy way to improve your child’ chances at school. Studies show that children who are read aloud to by an adult have a head start when it comes to language and literacy skills. And even more importantly, the bond between child and parent is strengthened with the pleasure of spending time and sharing the enjoyment of a good book.

Below is our reading schedule for this experience.
Happy Reading!
March 3 - March 7 Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
March 10 – March 14 Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8
March 17 – March 21 Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12
March 24 – March 28 Chapters 13, 14, 15

Possible questions to discuss while reading at home:
1. What has happened in the story so far? Have students retell part of the story that you just read together.
2. What do you think might happen next?
3. How does the character feel right now? Why does he/she feel that way?
4. What problem(s) does the character face?

How do we help our students improve?

Each year, schools and districts review policies and practices to consider ways to improve and enhance student achievement. Defer Elementary School continually strives to be a better school on a daily basis. School Improvement is not a topic for the administrator, or a binder on a shelf – it is the way we do business at Defer. So what are we doing right now in the area of School Improvement? I thought you’d never ask!!! I’d like to share a specific action we are taking for School Improvement each month in my newsletter.
RtI
Response to Intervention ( RtI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students for their learning needs. The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Students struggling on a topic are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. Throughout the RTI process, student progress is monitored frequently to examine student achievement and gauge the effectiveness of the intervention. RtI is not a special education intervention, but is a part of general education.
So what does RtI look like at Defer? Three times a week, for a minimum of 20 minutes in each session, students are grouped for RtI work in their grade. The focus of learning is based on the data from instruction in the classroom. Let me share two on-going examples of RtI during the month of November with you.
In 2nd grade after six weeks of reading instruction, data was used to group students for RtI. During RtI time four teachers come together and work specifically with smaller groups on the reading skill areas needed. Two of the teachers are the Reading Specialists and they pull those students needing very intensive reading interventions. During that same time the two second grade teachers then regroup the remaining students into a decoding group and a comprehension group, based on the classroom data. At the end of six weeks of RtI, we will access students on the specific skills taught during the RtI session to evaluate and plan for the next RtI session.
In 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, their November RtI sessions are focused on Math. After teaching the entire math unit, they used the data from the math chapter test to group students for reteaching. During this RtI session, some students are in groups working on telling time because that is where they are struggling, while another group is doing enrichment work around factoring because the data reveals that they have mastered the basic understanding and would benefit from enrichment on the topic.
To put it simply, no longer does the student that did poorly on subtraction on the math test just move on to the next topic. They are given intensive interventions on that topic to help them master it.
So who is a part of our RtI teams? The answer is - everyone at Defer. For instance, Mrs. Raab and Mrs. Moses are a part of the 1st grade RtI team and it is scheduled in a way that they can work intensively with a small group or an individual student. For the month of November they are working on Fluency with 1st graders as a part of RtI. Kindergarten is including parents as a part of their team, and they are doing RtI at the end of the day when parents are available. Karen Labarge, Sheila Russo, and Stefan Harris, our Title 1 team, are a part of RtI teams at all grade levels. Clearly, we are in this together!
Will we make a difference, our assessments will tell us, and that information will keep driving where we go with each 6 week session of RtI this year.
Have questions? Ask!!! The staff and I are anxious to share and so excited about the work we are doing!

Summer tips to stay sharp

Ahhh! Summer. A time to relax and enjoy those lazy days filled with trips to the
park, family vacations and backyard barbecues, right? Not so fast! Summer can
entail more than just a change from the usual routine. For children, it can mean
a serious loss of learning. Research shows that many children experience a
‘summer slump’ and can lose about four weeks of growth from the previous
school year. However, there are many things a parent can do to keep their
child’s brain active. Here are a few ideas recommended by experts to help
prevent the dreaded ‘brain drain.’

Read between the lines. Have your child join the local library’s summer
reading program or start their own reading program or book club. They can set
a goal for reading so many books and even keep track on a book ‘growth’ chart.
Incorporate reading into everyday activities by pointing out billboards, fliers,
food containers and such. Younger children can play the alphabet game on
longer drives.

Talk the talk. Ask questions about anything and everything, but not the kind
of questions that only illicit “yes” or “no” answers. For instance, ask “What did
you like about…?” Get children talking, and you may be able to turn a normal
experience into a teaching moment.

Got Game? Organize game nights not just for your family, but in the
neighborhood. Play educational games like Scrabble, Uno crossword puzzles,
Sudoku or basic card games. They make for a fun night and reinforce skills such
as memory, concentration, logic and reasoning. They also teach children how to
take turns, and be both a good winner and a good loser.

Vacation your body, not your mind. Going on a trip can be a great time to
expand more than your physical horizons. Use the library and internet to learn
about the destination and its historical sites. Study maps and plot mileage.
It all adds up to fun. According to the National Summer Learning Association,
losing math skills is the biggest threat. Try a number of activities to reinforce
math skills. For instance, look at the measurements in a recipe you’re making
and ask your child to double it. Ask your child to compute the 15% tip on the
restaurant bill, or determine how many gallons of gas are needed to travel the
50 miles to grandma’s house. Make math a part of your everyday life.
Let’s stamp out summer slump when it comes to our Defer Dragons!!

Welcome Spring!!

With the promise of nice weather it is a good time to review some guidelines so that Defer students are a part of a healthy, safe, and orderly learning environment.

Clothing
We all know that Michigan weather will prevail so please send your child to school prepared for a day of sunshine and warmth or a mid April cold snap.
Children should wear or keep a jacket at school. Students are allowed to go to recess without a coat if the temperature reaches 60 ° or higher.
Safe footwear must be worn at all times. Bedroom slippers are not allowed. ‘Flip-flops’ or sandals are permitted, but only if socks are worn with them. Our playground has wood chips and a student in flip-flops is susceptible to foot injury without socks.
Shorts and skirts must be at least finger– tip length.
Tank tops are not allowed.
Tops and bottoms must meet in the middle with no gaps.

Bike Safety
Students riding their bikes to school need to lock them in the bike racks located at the Nottingham end of the school.
Elementary students ride bikes on the sidewalk, not on the street.

Walking Safety
Any student crossing Kercheval Ave. must cross at the light in front of Defer with the assistance of our Crossing Guard.
Students are not to walk through the parking lot. This is very unsafe. Little people are difficult to see among the cars.
Students are not to ‘hop’ the fence at the back end of the Defer field.
Students should be walking to and from school in pairs or in groups.

Automobile Safety
Do not use the parking lot to drop off or pick up students. This is for the safety of all of our students.
Do not park on Kercheval unless it is in an area marked for parking.
The east side of Nottingham is a drop off and pick up lane. It is not to be used for parking. The west side of Nottingham is intended for parking.
Cross Nottingham with the crossing guard. Do not cross Nottingham in the middle of the street.

School Wide Goals

The Defer Staff is working on two, school-wide goals. Read below to stay informed about both!!

One School, One Book
March is National Reading Month and Defer is taking reading to our families! During the months of March and April the entire Defer community is reading the same book - The Lemonade Wars. The Defer PTO purchased a copy of this book for every family, and the Defer staff has organized six weeks of reading activities including:

Kick-off assembly in which Chapter 1 of The Lemonade Wars was read to the entire school followed by a glass of lemonade and a class discussion of the characters and setting
Three chapters assigned for home reading per week (This week is Chapters 4, 5, and 6)
Trivia Tuesday – All students compete is answering a trivia question based on the previous week’s chapters. Winners from each class receive a lemon head candy
Guest readers every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the Defer library for those students unable to read at home that week or those who would like to hear the chapter again
Covering our One School, One Book bulletin board with pictures of families enjoying reading The Lemonade Wars at home

So read – improve your child’s chances at school. It will entertain and delight them, and it will also develop vocabulary, improve their ability to read, and – perhaps most important – foster a lifelong love of books and reading.

Batter-Up Baseball
The Defer students are hitting homeruns in our new school-wide Batter-Up Baseball program. Our goal is for all of our students to master their basic math facts. What does master mean? It means that they can recite the math fact answer as readily as they can say their names. Can your 2nd grader tell you the answer to 5 + 7 automatically? Does your 4th grader know that 6 x 7 is 42 and can recite that readily? That’s our goal.
So here’s how it works:
The Batter-Up Baseball bulletin board lays out a baseball field with all the Defer staff playing in the field.
Each week in school students spend time on the computer using a fact mastery program called Xtra Math. Each Friday their progress is reviewed and if they achieve their goal, a baseball with their name is placed on the bulletin board.
Students can add tally marks to their baseballs each Friday as they continue to reach their goal.
Our kick-off last week was marked by a special guest. Chris Getz, a former GP South student and professional baseball player for the Kansas City Royals sent a video clip to the Defer students. In the video he introduces himself and tells about his career in baseball. He shares how important knowing your math facts is to baseball and calculating statistics and he applauds them for their hard work to master them. His message is Go For it DEFER – Math is important!

Welcome back and welcome to 2013! I hope all the Defer families had a wonderful
holiday filled with family, friends, and fun! We are excited to pick-up where we left off in our school year. I’d like to thank all the families that attended our December Student-Parent-Teacher conferences. It provided the opportunity to review student achievement and growth and to set goals as we continue the school year. We look forward to this continued progress as school and home combine efforts to help students grow as learners and thinkers. Your support in this process is essential.

Here are 3 great school New Year Resolutions for families:

*Spend time reviewing your child’s homework

*Be sure reading is going on every night in your home

*Practice basic math facts until they become as automatic as reciting your
own name

Flu season is here...

The flu season has really started out with a bang! We have been experiencing several
children going home during the day due to flu type and stomach symptoms. When
your child is out ill for flu, fever, etc., always follow the 24 hour rule. Students should be free of any illness, including vomiting and diarrhea, for 24 hours before returning to school.

This will help to stop the spread of viruses to other students and our staff. Please remember to call the office if your child has a contagious disease, (i.e. strep throat) so we can send notices home to parents to watch for those particular symptoms. Students go outside for recess, so please make sure they are well enough to participate before returning to school.

If you have any questions,please do not hesitate to call the school office, 432-4000.

Tardiness Hinders Student and School Success

Having trouble making it to school on time every day? Then it’s time to come up with a new plan. Tardiness is sometimes a chronic problem for some students at Defer, and this creates problems for all students and teachers as well.
Did you know that some of the most important learning of the school day occurs between 8:20 and 10:00 am? Students are the most alert and attentive at this time of day, so important subject matter and concepts are taught at this time. When students arrive late to school, they miss out on some or all of these important subjects. They also create a distraction when they walk into the classroom after other students have already begun working. Teachers must stop what they are doing, and refocus the group.
Studies show that students who have perfect, or near-perfect attendance and are not tardy have much better grades and overall success in school than students who miss many days and are tardy.
An occasional tardy is not really a big problem, and sometimes cannot be avoided. However, consistent tardiness creates not only the problems discussed above, but also does not help to prepare students for future success in middle and high school, or for the job market.
What can be done about this? Defer is instituting a new plan to more effectively deal with chronically late students. Here’s how the new policy will work:

When a student has 3 tardies in quick succession (within a two week period), a letter will be sent home notifying the parents that their student has been tardy 3 times. This will let the parents know that they need to work together with their student to get to school on time each day. The students will miss their class recess on the day the 3rd tardy occurs.
If the student continues to struggle with tardiness, the principal will make a phone call home to talk to the parents about how tardiness is impacting the student, and to discuss ways to be on time and the student will again miss recess to help make up for missed instruction.
If tardiness continues to be an issue, the principal and teacher will have a conference with the parents to discuss the problem.

Remember that being on time means being in line and ready to walk into the classroom when the bell rings. Students who are at school, but not in their classrooms after the tardy bell, are marked tardy.

Defer is a great school with bright students and involved parents. By refocusing our efforts on being on time each day , we can be even better!

Welcome Back!

Recently, you may have heard that five of our GPPSS schools were
designated “Focus Schools” by the Michigan Department of Education.
These schools include: Defer, Ferry, Trombly, Parcells, and Pierce. This
does NOT mean that these schools are low performing schools. In fact,
our test results show that all of our schools are excellent schools and we
are very proud of the achievements of our students at each of them.
What the Focus School designation means is that the gap between the
highest 30% of performing students and the lowest 30% of performing
students on standardized tests at a particular school is among the top
ten percent of gaps statewide. This is not surprising to us because we
know that many of our top students perform at extremely high levels.
Likewise, we also know that our lowest 30% do much better than the
lowest 30% of students statewide, but actual performance is not figured
into the designation, only the gap itself.
We are constantly working to improve the performance of our lowest
performing students and this designation will bring additional limited
resources toward bridging the disparity. The Michigan Department of
Education will develop and provide a District Toolkit for Focus Schools.
MDE will provide technical assistance to these districts on the use of the
toolkits in the form of MDE-trained and paid-for District Improvement
Facilitators. While this will allow us to continue intervention efforts to
bring up student performance, it will not change our mission of providing
an exemplary education for all Grosse Pointe Public School System
students. As we work to close these achievement gaps, we will continue
to meet the needs of our high and average scoring students and
challenge them to keep moving forward in their individualized
educational plans.
The most important thing to remember here is that the overall
performance of Defer students has not been called into question. We are
very proud of our school and are confident that our teachers and staff
are among the best in the field.

On October 9th I will be presenting the Defer Annual PA-25 Report and
our School Improvement Goals at 6:30 pm in the Defer Library, just prior
to the PTO meeting at 7:00pm. Please join me for this presentation.

Dates to Remember
September
17 Constitution Day
18 Picture Day
20 Back to School Night @ 7:00 pm Defer Gym (Parents Only)
28 Fifth Grade to Camp Howell Day Camp
F4 After Dark (PTO) 6:00 pm
October
1—5 Walk to School Week
6 PTO Progressive Dinner
9 PTO Meeting @ 7:00pm Library
10 Market Day Pick-up between 2:00 and 4:00pm
11—31 MEAP Testing Grades 3, 4, 5
15 Picture Retake Day
31 AM SCHOOL ONLY — Halloween Parade, Assembly & Parties
PM Staff Development

Teacher Appreciation

National Teacher Appreciation Week 2012 was May 7th to May 11th.

National Teacher Appreciation Day was May 8th. The history of National Education Week
and Day is not certain. The movement for such as observance is commonly thought to
have begun around the time of World War II and Eleanor Roosevelt made a major push
for the day in 1953. Congress declared a National Teacher Day in 1980 and in 1985 the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) established National Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week in May. It has been celebrated nationally ever since.

So what about teachers . . . .
Great teachers give us a sense not only of who they are, but more important, of who we are, and who we might become. They unlock our energies, our imaginations, and our minds. Effective teachers pose compelling questions, explain options, teach us to reason, suggest possible directions, and urge us on. Successful teachers are vital and full of passion. They love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a writer loves to write, as singer loves to sing. They have a serious purpose and yet enjoy enormously what they do. They teach their subjects – math, reading,writing, science, physical education, music, or whatever - - as if it really mattered. They get excited about their subject no matter how many times they have taught it. They push themselves just as they push their students, and their classrooms become memorable learning experiences. Great teachers know they are always on stage and that who they are, how they act, and what they believe are as important as what they teach.

The Defer community recognized our staff this week with a beautiful luncheon served in
the library on Tuesday. It was the opportunity for teachers to put aside their sack lunch
from home, the stack of papers that need correcting, the emails to be answered, and to
relax and enjoy each others’ company. It was recognition of the hard work they do
every day, a chance to recharge, and it was greatly appreciated.

Take time to thank a teacher this week.

On a personal note, I have been in the teaching profession for many years and I carry a
set of memories and experiences from my profession that sustain me and make me
smile every day. Over the years students and parents have taken the time to write me
and those are some of my most precious possessions. I keep all of these notes, letters,
and poems in a box and pull them out often, always with a smile on my face. I often
think that if my house were burning down – it would be that box of precious notes that I
would grab on my way out.
Let a teacher know they made a difference.