##VIDEO ID:uM_VVhKL8j4## 6:32 Rachel want to start okay good evening everyone it's 6:32 and we will begin the January meeting of District 25's president's Council um I just want to remind you if you can please rename yourself and put your school um at the beginning of your name so we have that for attendance purposes that would be great um we will have the attend Link in the chat so please make sure you sign in um when that's posted and we will go ahead and get started with um some PTA business uh PTA president's Council business um with the review of the minutes so for that I will turn it over to um Clarissa yes I'm here do we have to do the minute now yes Jenny will share the Jenny will share them for you and then you just go over them yeah okay so the meeting on December the 16th started at 6:32 and uh Rich the meeting and Dr Michael uh provided updates on District activities including cc25 Town Hall events and student of Junior High School one uh 94 achievements and PS 130 uh blue ribbons uh celebration and also our district uh newsletter also a parent survey and uh it's very important and hope we could um get a response and also we have special education workshops and there are some UPC uh upcoming events uh details of various uh workshops and events including math and special education sessions also Dr uh Michael uh told us very important enrollment dates uh for high school middle school kindergarten 3K and prek admissions um also he uh shared the shared information on student performance particularly in uh algebra and the importance of supporting students uh also uh we discussed the process and ongoing uh efforts to improve attendance reads uh also Dr Michael uh introduced the I plan portal provided an overall of it and also gives us holiday wishes and then we got uh Antonia from PTA link and shows us very important information and resources and we also reviewed and and approved the minutes of the meeting in October and nov M uh Jenny 10 I'm sorry Jenny uh or cordinator um shares our important information of doe external email accounts and um uh Louis uh demonstrated how to use zoom to capture meting minutes and is very important and very helpful and then we have uh discuss some questions and uh some uh some information about the bank and PTA transactions and the meeting ended at 7:40 okay that's all thank you okay does anyone have any suggested changes to the minutes you can either unmute yourself if you have any questions or changes or you can put it in the chat okay in that case um if we could get a motion to accept the December minutes as they were presented if you could make the motion and state your name my name is kisia huitt PTA president of Robert F Kennedy Community Middle School and I motion to adopt a minutes okay thank you so much if I could have a second and please state your name Jennifer barardi ps21 I second the minutes okay thank you so much so the minutes from our December meeting have been approved thank you all and now moving on we will turn it over to the superintendent report so take it away Dr Mike sounds good thanks Rachel good evening everyone um great to be in company with you uh please excuse if every now and then I have to mute myself to preventing from coughing out loud and into into the screen um so just please excuse that as we go through um my superintendent report this evening uh so a few things that we're going to do just some updates and reminders as typical I do want to talk to you about project soapbox and also uh request hopefully um that you guys would be interested in having some students come to Future president Council meetings to share some of their soapbox speeches I would really love to get our kids um into other venues other than their school to share some of their calls to action I'll talk about that in a few minutes um I want to talk to you about a wellness day that we are planning for March 15th I'll talk to you a little bit about what that means and how we're connecting with uh our local CBO and connecting with our cc to promote this and then uh lastly just to talk to you briefly about winter diagnostic assessments uh we are right in the midst of those right now and um should be coming to completion within the next two weeks uh so I'll talk to you a little bit about what that looks like for District 25 as well uh only because we have not seen each other uh this is just our little happy holidays card that um was AI generated and that'll be a conversation for future sessions around what we see is um you know the the vision for District 25 when it comes to AI um that will be something that I do ask you to reflect on because it is in front of us and we have um a lot of planning and work to do to make sure that our kids are using it appropriately as they get as it's part of everyday life it seems uh right now so we'll be talking more about that uh moving forward but in short wishing everyone a very Happy New Year I'm hoping that you were able to enjoy with your families and that the start of the year has gotten off to a really um good and healthy one for you and your families um Martin Luther King Jr day uh we did have our schools engage in a variety of different activities um one of the things that um that our prek prek students did they engaged in watching of a video uh tting them teaching them about how we have to make sure that we're connecting based on our differences uh students took home kindness leaves along with an explanation of the importance of Dr King's work uh and how families can help children understand his work in a way that is Meaningful to young children so we appreciate the prek center for engaging in that work uh we also have a school coming up actually tomorrow that's doing a fullon uh poetry um contest based on uh MLK as well um so appreciate all of our schools for engaging in productive activities um thank you to council member un um generous allocation of $480,000 uh for Auditorium Tech and bathroom upgrades uh council member on is always a support as well as our other council members in Paladino and Janeiro so we thank them for their continued Outreach but something that just important for our pa uh PTA presidents is to make sure that you're connecting with our building leaders they've already heard this from me but uh always in always um supportive when you guys also ask about reso our council members are always looking to to write those big checks that you see on that screen uh we just have to make sure that we're doing the Outreach necess Neary to get them um so when you pass by or you stop in to see your building principal give them that reminder of making sure we do that Outreach to our build uh to our council members uh to re request some of these res dollars that every year we're so uh grateful for receiving um but really important one that was the latest one that council member un shared at 214 uh Happy Lunar New Year for all of us in District 25 and certainly specifically for our families that are celebrating uh there are a number of activities and um celebrations that are Ur occurring across our district schools um and I look forward to seeing and sharing more of that with you um as um lunar new year approaches lunar new year approaches this coming Wednesday our schools are participating in events uh even tomorrow and and thereafter uh to celebrate this year uh quick recap at uh we had our district 25 math family night I shared during our previous uh president's Council session we had over 200 participants at 129 uh it was really very nicely done so big thank you thank you to principal huet uh ps129 staff uh Beth Eaton from our team and all of the community volunteers that came to lend a helping hand and I couldn't tell you I mean I was so excited to see we had teachers from across our district it was not just ps129 uh we had teachers from across the district that volunteered their time to be there and made for a really really uh nice event um where our kids had an opportunity to engage in math games uh participate with various math tools with their parents um and we received a really a great deal of positive feedback from those that were able to attend so I encourage you um as we share future dates for these you know let your families know make sure that they're aware we do send that our blast too from the district uh but sometimes coming from uh from our parent leaders it may ring a different cord and um it turns out to be a really really nice time for for them and their kids uh upcoming events uh we will be hosting um a few uh acadians workshops for our families for K K1 and two um making sure that we know what's going on with the diagnostic assessments that are being administered right now uh so that there's Clarity for our families around how their children are performing on those Diagnostics and those are screeners they're intended to give us a snapshot of information in terms of how our children are performing against standards um at this time of the year so um if it if you do have children in early childhood classes in K through two it is a good idea to participate in these upcoming sessions so that you're aware as possible um as to how you can help support your children at home but also to be able to ask those questions of your teachers around what are the things that they're doing in school to be able to support uh we also have a virtual parent math Workshop series our next one is coming up on February the 12th uh it's really about math discussions we have an I ready uh session that is being held on February 13th the goal of this is to make sure that parents are able to get on there on the computer see what's going on with their children after this second diagnostic assessment if you know how to get online already it's not necessarily going to be something that um you need to attend it's one for those families that are unsure um how to log on how to access the diagnostic information it's going to be similar to the first uh session that we had done just now bringing up the second diagnostic assessment data with it um and we just held our um uh special education session around classification um if you have were not able to be part of it and you're you are looking for information on that I do encourage you to um see the recording all of these sessions are are recorded and accessible for those who weren't able to make it um at that given time uh but the next one for special education will be held on the 18th of March and it's really about understanding the kindergarten IEP process really important one uh for our children that are prees getting ready for kindergarten uh for parents who believe their children may need an IEP so the turning five process is really an important one for our families these dates have already reviewed um not going to spend too much time on them um March 6th High School uh offers are being released Middle School admissions that Windows coming closed off offers will be released on April 9th uh kindergarten enrollment uh the window closed um on January 24th for kindergarten kindergarten g&t offers released on April 2nd uh prek 3K prek uh window closes on February 28th uh offers will be released on the 13th and the 20th and I do encourage you at your P PTA meetings that you do share these dates just to make sure your community is aware uh g&t uh grades 1 through 4 uh window opens on Monday April 21st uh closes on May 9th and then offers released on June 11th okay Civics for all uh across our district schools and um some schools went full schoolwide other schools on certain grade levels engage their children in uh soapbox speeches in Project soapbox and basically what this does it allows our kids to take um you know identify an area that they're passionate about or uh want to learn more about and create this call to action for um and kids engage in research they develop their speeches and then they get an opportunity to present them in front of their peers and in some cases in front of larger audiences or even at a Citywide type of an event so we have had kids participate in this throughout the year and what I would love to do is bring some of our kids um that have uh engaged in their speeches to to these meetings so that you can see what it is all that hard work that our kids are putting into this and one in particular that I just want to quickly highlighted and highlight and I highlighted at the CC meeting there was a young man a second grader um who brought up the need for um a call to action for healthc care um he's a youngster that that um had a cancer diagnosis and shared that he wasn't able to receive the support um that was necessary for him and the treatment that he needed and his family made the decision to come to the United States uh where he sought out additional health care but his call to action as a second grader um was just so it's so powerful when we hear from kids and when we hear from kids and their current reality of what's happening to them in their lives they speak through a space of vulnerability and it's quite powerful so I do want to make sure that they have an opportunity to come and share that with you and all of the work that they put in um to make sure that their point is one that's valid it's B based on research and data um and then they can convey it with a with a call to action for everyone to respond to so um provided that you guys are are okay with that and you know even add into the chat yes we would love to hear from some of the kids that that are engaging in these soapbox speeches um I'll be happy to work with their families to bring them to Future meetings so you can hear directly from them um District 25 we did start a youth leadership team big thanks to Melinda who also be presenting to you tonight around Middle School literacy um Amanda solarzano and Elizabeth LaVine are two of our teachers from 379 organized a Middle School uh youth leadership team who are currently in the process of um organizing based on our district survey data to make some decisions and make some put some actions into play around how we can improve some of those outcomes uh from student perspective so we're really excited about this and hopefully it will result in um in some pretty cool actions that the kids establish on their own District 25 Wellness day on March uh 15th if you want to mark your calendar uh we will be hosting a or in process of organizing to host a wellness day uh that's focused on mindup oural program uh mental wellness and physical wellness uh we' partnered with common Point Queens uh who will be opening up their bubble for those of you who know where that is in the Bay Terrace area uh they have their huge Sports field that um we will have access to so we'll have a series of physical based activities that are accessible and then we will be making use of B Academy and 169 that's directly across the street uh to offer parent workshops on uh the Mind upal program uh there'll be a series of vendors for our families to take advantage of as well um so it should be a really really nice event um and if any of you as as parents and PTA uh presidents have any kind of thoughts ideas ways that we can make this a really good experience um for the community I would love to hear about it um and if you yourself are interested in in supporting or volunteering in any way we would love to have you um support this event uh more to follow over the next couple couple of weeks as we uh as we organize our plans um but we're really excited about uh opening this opportunity to our community because we what what I do know is um is that we can continue to push as much as much of the academics as we want uh but it's just as important to me to make sure that we're we're developing children of really High character inside of our buildings um and part of that is being able to manage our manage ourselves uh make sure that we're making really good kind respectful choices of each other and that's what this is intended to do is to promote those expectations uh across our district and Dr Mike what was the date for that you said that's March March 15th Saturday Saturday March 15th uh likely from 9:30 to 12:30 once all of the details are ironed out we'll begin sending out flyers to everyone yep um so a couple of other things I just want to make sure that all of our families are aware of uh d25 athletic Athletics our um elementary schools we offer basketball we have soccer going on inside of our district where all all teams will have an opportunity to play at the alip Pond Park bubble uh there'll be a jamboree celebration like we engaged in last year uh tennis there's a pilot that's going on for grades 1 through three uh all school this will be open to all of our elementary schools and we have cheerleading that's happening for all um all schools as well all seasons Middle School we have a a volleyball championship that's actually happening this Friday really excited about that we have a bo boys and girls League uh we have winter basketball uh it's the first ever girls League pilot we're really excited about that we have a unified Bachi League that we're looking to expand to all schools uh spring we have soccer and Lacrosse really looking to expand on those as well uh here in d25 and just some Partnerships just for you to be aware of we have a partnership with nycfc um the Special Olympics of New York dis NYC uh the New York Mets City lacks we have a new New York Islanders um partnership in fact some of our schools have already been sending out um parent Square messages that I receive expressing to to them to be ready for the New York Islanders assmbly that they're organizing and it comes with equipment and supports for for our kids to start getting an idea of what hockey is about so we're excited about that Outdoors tomorrow Foundation American Heart Association and USA um all of these things can be found on our Athletics homepage I think it's important for you guys to see some of the other things that we're also doing in on top of the academics um as well so a few things just for you to know in terms of progress monitoring our goals every single one of our schools should be progress monitoring their C goals at this point of the Year within the next two weeks all of our schools will have administered their assessments so it's really important that um that we're asking those questions around how did our kids do what does it mean for our next steps and how are we supporting our children that are falling outside that sphere of success to make sure that we're pushing everyone towards proficiency and Beyond um between now and the end of the school year sorry I couldn't hold back that call um the uh the the administration window for the assessments a cadians k to2 uh reading uh for is through I ready for grades 3 through eight math is K to8 and I ready Algebra 1 for all of our kids that are taking the algebra 1 region is being administered through map that window goes from January 2nd through February the 9th what all schools should also have is a series of benchmarks that they should be striving to meet on this right hand side are the benchmarks that we've established based on the goals that we set so every single school should have um a series of benchmarks that they're looking to achieve by this point of the year now if the school doesn't meet it the the the question should be okay so what are we going to be doing next as a school to help build towards that end likewise for us as a district when all of the data is in we'll be help having those conversations ourselves um if we didn't meet those expectations what are we going to do now between now and uh the end part of this school year the middle middle towards the end part of the school year to help build on those outcomes so for everyone of our goals you will see here I'm sorry excuse me one second sorry about that um for each one of our goals you'll see ani Target so for Priority One you'll see the measurement tool is the cadians for priority three you'll see I ready reading uh for priority four you're going to see I ready mathematics and then priority uh five is around our parent survey which I want to talk to you about in a minute and when I stop sharing and then lastly it's around chronic absente ISM and each one of these goals in their own way has their own set of benchmarks that our schools should be following in order to make sure if they've made the progress that they set forth within their CS so it's an important set of questions for you to ask as um as parent leaders uh to hold ourselves accountable to improving these outcomes because that's ultimately what our goal is to improve outcomes for our kids um the one that I do want to have a quick conversation with you on is around the parent survey goal and and um this space around my school provides me with with updates in relation to the progress my child is making in a timely manner and what I would love to do and I do often wind up spending a lot of time talking to you and I don't get to always hear from you which I would love to do is just these two questions if we can ponder them just individually for a second and then either add to the chat or come off of mute and talk to me about some of the best practices that you see your schools do to make sure you're informed about the progress of your kids um and if if not what are some things that we can do to improve in this area uh to also support my conversations with building leaders from your perspective as a parent um so I'm just GNA come off of um off of the share phase for a moment and just those two questions I would love to hear some feedback um from from you as um as parent leaders anything in particular one that you think that your schools do pretty well right now in terms of sharing of progress um and or things that you feel like you know what these are some things that we could do or add um to our repertoire to make sure that our community members are aware of what their children are doing um or how they're doing rather um know uh throughout the year but I would love to hear any of you please feel free to put your hand up or add some of your thoughts into the chat and I'll just take a a minute's worth of pause here hi this is Jennifer Bry from ps21 jennif Hi how are you doing how you feeling hope you feel better um um 21 is really good at using the parent Square app um me as a parent I feel like that's a really good form of communication you know my husband gets text I get text I know when you know stuff is coming out the teachers use it to communicate with me about tests that are coming up and stuff um so I think that's a really good tool um I do know that not every parent has figured it out yet in our school so you know that's a learning curve there uh but I think it is a really good tool that's been working out for our school pretty well love that thank you Jennifer for sharing um Fabiola yes hello um I'm from 379 Ms 379 um one thing that I appreciate that my son's school does is the class jojo app that they able to communicate with us just like the previous um person spoke about how they send out text and message to her app they do the same thing too so that is a great thing that I appreciate one thing I would suggest though if it's possible I don't know if it's through the app but they will do like some type like a video I remember when my kids were in um Elementary School they were in a private school they used to have some typee of a clip a video of the things that were coming um it would be a fun activity that the teacher and the student will do together to let the parent know upcoming an event or an event that just happened so that was in a way to even though if you wasn't able to participate you able to see it or you able to plan around to go to that event yeah I love that's a great that's a great suggestion I love that go ahead Eden so I shared this at um the c meeting but just to share with everyone what we do utilize Dojo similar to parents sare but we also have notices that go home to parents on a regular basis and the school uses gamma at 193 a great deal um and I definitely know like it's definitely helpful me to get an extra reminder be like oh hey here you go so that's kind of a thing from our side so Eden what what types of things do they share through gamma uh reminders of like events they actually even gamma out the c special meeting this week for instance um but they they like push out everything they can basically awesome thank you for that yeah I want to piggy bag off of that we do gamma we have a school app too so with the CC um PTA any parent workshops anything that has to do with District it comes out um with our um with our app our school app we have the calendar there our uh pallet for our PTA our uh school directory so we can reach the teachers so it's good and then every teacher has its own Niche so we have like Class Dojo whatever other you know student teachers have used before um it's good like the communication in my school I can say is it's there you know I'm not missing anything because I get a phone call I get an email and I get a text so everything's there awesome thanks so much for that anyone else Jennifer from 165 in the chat that says my school constantly keeps parents up to date via Class Dojo personally parents PR post are useful uh quite often each day to communicate with the community in general monthly First Fridays are a great way to see the learning come to life yeah thank you for that Jennifer and I I think more and more schools or whether they call them first Fridays or welcoming Wednesdays or um together Tuesdays or some are just doing it on a quarterly basis more and more schools are starting to open their doors that way which is um which is really really exciting I know I was just at 499 uh Rachel and I know that there was talks just about some of the things that you guys have been organizing to get families into school into your classrooms and um and such so I think that yes that's a great way to keep everyone informed and my my concern is not so much for the for the parents that um keep themselves you know a breast even when you know we get the dojo when you know we get the parent squares it's um you know it's some of those some of those times where even those messages are becoming what I what I've been referring to as like the bottom of the school bag right you know the the instead of what would happen with those paper copies it's starting to happen maybe perhaps in some cases with the digital space uh we get so many emails or so many messages are we able to keep track of them all too so for me you know when when we get our parent survey results and it says 15% of families say that they don't get communicated with about the progress of their children that's something I have to do better with you know we have to be able to do better with that and um you know so as as parents and parent leaders if you start um hearing some of that in your schools and and even for me when you if you can add it as part of maybe even an agenda item for um feedback for me so that we can do can do better than even perhaps what you've already mentioned um I would love to hear it so that we can convey it more widely to our building leaders um to make sure that we have continuity and consistency um from your perspective as a as as parent leaders so would love to hear that uh from as many of you as willing to to share um so that we do this right for all of you guys but I appreciate that and any of you any anyone else that has any comments I'd love to hear one thing that I had suggested at our PTA meeting or not PTA SLT meeting um the month before last is how at the beginning of the year I received the Benchmark data print out from my daughter for reading and that was very helpful but I didn't receive one for math nor did I receive for my eighth grader so just some consistency in receiving those you know the data is there um we want parents to understand it but they have to get it first so that was one of the feedback that I gave to our SLT um which I think we could also take to a district level to make sure that that um data is getting into the hands of our parents yeah 100% love that Rachel and it's kind of on my um on my list as as this window closes up that's going to be part of my messaging to to all of our schools to make sure that that is getting out to everyone um so that there's that raised awareness of where our children are but I love that that's awesome any other comments another comment in the chat from Jennifer from 165 uh it is hard to try to get time off to be able to see the education in action so I'm guessing she's talking about when they open the school during the day but I also think knowing your teachers uh parent engagement time is helpful to try to communicate having trans lers available may also help Beyond parent teacher conferences yeah I love that and I think that that's something that um I definitely need to continue to emphasize Jennifer is just the the importance of of what you just mentioned that we know when our teachers are available and accessible and even if it's not dooring window it doesn't mean that you can't reach out right and I think that has to be made more clear to to all of our parents is that at anytime that they they need some support they they have the ability to reach out to a school and we will make ourselves um you know available to them uh during a time you know an agreeable time between both parties but I think that's really an important part of um of this as well is that sometimes some of our families um might not necessarily realize when they can do that Outreach um so we think we have to make that a bit more transparent in our schools I love that too thank you all right guys if there are other things that that come up um please don't hesitate let me know I do want to make sure we get better at at this there are a few things that I will make sure that I emphasize at upcoming meetings that I have uh with our building leaders um and with our teachers I do a big um kind of uh conversation across our schools um at at the end of every single one of our Benchmark uh windows so that I keep everyone across the district aware of where we're currently performing um and this will be an area that I talk to everyone about making sure that our parents are consistently made aware of uh the progress that that our kids are making uh so this will most definitely be a big part of my conversation so I thank you guys for um indulging me in this brief little chat uh but I also know that we have two of our members here that um and I'm not sure where they fit on the agenda Rachel but they're going to be talking to you a little bit about uh where we are in terms of uh hmh implementation um as a district give you a broad overview and if there are any questions that come from that you know the the team will be there to to answer it too but I thank you guys for your time and I appreciate you thank you Dr Mike and we hope you feel better drink some hot tea with on Lemon thank you or a shot of whiskey either way is your pleasure thanks so much so and thank you for leading into to our next presenters which are Anna origo and Melinda willins if I hope I got the names right from our district 25 team awesome so I will turn the uh the meeting over to you for your hmh presentation thank you thank you everyone so good evening and welcome my name is Anna Rigo literacy point for District 25 and I'm here with my colleague Melinda Melinda Willams I am the literacy Civic social study is youth leadership team lead for and I support the Middle School uh in terms of um Ela perfect so this evening we're going to provide you with an overview of our kada 5 hmh inter reading curriculum which is for our kada 5 and also our Middle School curriculum which is titled hmh into literature I will Begin by giving an overview of our KFI reading program hmh into reading and then Melinda will focus in on hmh into literature for Middle School so our hmh inter reading always begins with whole group reading instruction with all of our students the instruction in hmh into reading learning model is built around the direct and guided practice which is whole group instruction with our big model of direct explicit instruction and guided practice that's deliver at whole group in a nutshell explicit instruction consists of three parts the I do the we do and the you do and being the second part and the Udu being the third part where students are working side by side with students with a partner or and or independently explicit instruction makes learning crystal clear it gives students lots of opportunities to practce and get feedback that direct instruction and guided practice in hmh includes that direct explicit systematic instruction within literacy skills also you can see on our slide it goes into vocabulary reading and writing what's really important in our district and to highlight and showcase is that each skill is direct and deliberate the teaching of the skill that the teacher models and then give students the opportunity um to practice and participate in that particular skill rather than expecting students to figure out those practices we model directly for the students what we want them to engage in in their own independent box in our district 25 classrooms we show them how to implement this L these literacy skills through various Hands-On activities yet not limited to some shared reading and interactive read alouds on the next slide I'll briefly highlight how hmh inter reading learning model specifically focuses on small group rotations which is where the classroom teacher small group or IND student need and that can be based on data from a and or in teachers meet with their learning and at the end of the small group rotations the teacher gathers the students to reflect on the new learn of the day um because we really want to hear from the students their opportunity on the work that they engag in independently so now let's examine a second grade hmh lesson on the next you will see as I review perfect as I review the lesson um within this sample lesson we start off every lesson of the module with a kickoff so it's a setting goals with children this is a second grade sample and it's important to really set the stage and set goals with children um so that they can really see what the what the goal of the lesson is and how they're going to be a part of it so we encourage students to really reflect on their prior learning based on their previous um module and really make having them make those clear connections and as you can see on those sentence strips that are in light blue pink and yellow those are just some scaffolds that we provide for students as they're setting some goals following the kickoff the module kickoff on the next Slide the students are immersed in a daily reading lesson another high leverage practice that lives within our hmh curriculum is vocabulary it's a huge part of our work in District 25 for several years where we're constantly focusing on vocabulary and ensuring that students have that academic vocabulary every lesson within our curriculum begins with vocabulary which is part one of a lesson where the teacher introduces the power words to the students these power words are words that students are going to encounter when they're reading independently so they're connected based on the text the students will be working with in addition to what hmh inter reading curriculum States our district has built student vocabulary and put these routines in place at the center of the actual classroom instruction within literacy we want to ensure that students are able to make meaning of the vocabulary words that they are being exposed to while they're learning the actual definition the meaning of the word and having some opportunities to play with some of the examples as you can see they can acted out they can make a connection they can write about it our goal is that students need to see how what the words look like in the text and how it looks like in real life so we want them to make those connections on the next slide we're going to take you through just a sample again with the same exact grade we're still on module one lesson three this is a sample reading hmh into reading lesson so following straight from the vocabulary lesson the teacher would step into this reading lesson there's a shared reading again it is whole group each lesson is scripted in a stepbystep model where the teacher models and makes a connection and names the strategy for the students as you can see here we named in the I do right that is the part where the teacher is modeling and she's making it crystal clear and giving students an opportunity to practice skills and give feedback in this strategy the teacher is engaging the students on all the ways you can ask and answer questions while they're reading independently so here are some examples of some what when why and how how all of these connections and um questions are going to build students comprehension if we move towards the center of the image you'll see the focus again on the lesson is the ask and answer questions and then they just to break it down I'll show you in step one this is when the teacher connects and teach this is when the teacher names and models a reading strategy of ask and answering questions it's going to help us be stronger readers and then in step two we do this is where the teacher students read together and practice the strategy central idea or ask and answer questions whatever the skill is the point is this is all within conjunction with the students within the same text and then students s to practice their strategy on their own independent reading at the end after the teacher models and the I do and the we do and the you do students have an opportunity to be part of the share and where students will then be able to share their new learning in the literacy lesson part of hmh we also include a really major component which is independent reading so after this lesson Melinda if you want to just turn over to the next slide students then engage in Daily practice of independent reading with the focus of practicing the skill the students engaged in independent reading our goal is to have students practice independent reading in their own books to to help them make their reading stronger so they have an opportunity to practice with a teacher in their actual myow book in their book with an hmh using this particular strategy and then we send them off to practice again for another layer of exposure and explicit practice in that particular skill on the next slide which is also part of our work within hmh are literacy centers literacy ALS a part of the curriculum where our teachers engage students in centers at a minimum of three times per week centers are a reinforcement where students can practice the skill they may need additional support our teachers in our district intentionally plan out the centers so as you can see we have a plethora of various centers um that are labeled on this slide going from Foundation Center hegr word workor Center a reading Center a digital to a vocabulary to a Writing Center and we have this based on when we look at the data as a as holistically for the student we come up with centers that will support and meet the needs where they are still struggling with um so centers are a major component within the curriculum because again it reinforces where students need most of their work um as another layer of support in addition to centers the curriculum on the next slide we will highlight how the curriculum includes instructional scaffolding for a multilingual Learners within every lesson of hmh inter reading in addition to what the curriculum States as examples for English learner support we have substantial moderate and light within each lesson and there's there's various opportunities where we can engage students in based on their level our district in addition to this has also provided additional support within each reading lesson from our enl specialist on our team Michelle Lee that specifically highlights and lifts what students need in terms of scaffolding and supporting our students um that need additional access and support in addition to the scaffolds that are in the curriculum we've also provided translations across all of the text and anchor charts those anchor charts is what I just showed you previously within the ask and answer questions so that students can also have access our goal is for all students to have access to the entire curriculum these supports again live within every lesson and we provided additional guidance on the next slide I will just show you some sample translations for home language support um and these are just some grades three to five translated texts we have them across our grade bands K to2 and three to five as well where they're translated in Spanish Chinese and Korean um and again also the anchor charts so the text that the students are reading are translated along with the anchor charts to best support our students um and giving them access and being able to read alongside their other classmates in the classroom on the next slide hmh also provides an integrated language um support that's embedded in every reading lesson so what they do is provide English language Learners the support on these tabletop lessons so the teacher can pull a group of students and support them specifically on the skill they were working on on this slide there's one strategy which is compare and contrast right so we compare and contrast two different characters in a text here the classroom teacher can support her enl students that need additional Scaffolding in identifying and understanding this particular strategy um with scaffolds so like how do we compare and cont same in one area of the vent diagram another one different but similar like both exposing them to multiple language frames so they can understand um how to how to unpack and understand what compare and contrast is these tabletops are designed for every single main um anchor chart those main literacy strategies to best support our students again in providing additional access so overall the curricul has all supports needed for our district 25 students and we as a team are constantly adding in our additional skills and resources to best support our students um to addend and connect our literacy curriculum on the next slide our families are really important to us in our district we focus on our on engaging our families in various opportunities to engage at the school level but also to ensure parents are equipped with the most upto-date resources to support their children at home cuz as a parent myself I am not always at my child's event right but I also want to know how can I be a part of my child's um work in the classroom and then how else can I also support my child as a homeschool connection on the next slide you see various pictures um on the next slide perfect well you'll see parents and students engaged in day um activities at the school level to bring literacy and to make that connection but also in the evening as well and I'm sure many parents that are on here have seen our family newsletters and home letters that are also translated in various um languages from Arabic to French um Portuguese um and Vietnamese some of these um as well are still being um translated we just did them all in Mandarin so they're constantly being updated again because we want our families to be our true Partners in our work the program has multilingual family letters that can be sent home from the start of of each module and it gives students an entry point it gives the parents an entry point on what to expect within this module so parents can also support their child when they're coming home with books and when they're coming home with homework that's a replica of what they did in the classroom to end and connect we also um connect with our parent coordinators which is on the next slide so all of our parent coordinators in our district have engaged in professional learning so you can also always reach out to them with any questions you may have of course also with our district 25 family um support center as well but we provided our parent coordinators with various professional learning sessions on each to best support their work their role in as supporting parents understanding in the curriculum and how to support literacy at home and just the impact that it makes is really about building awareness of those uh instructional routines and and what it really looks like in the class classroom and then to finally end we thought let's leave off with a message from one of our schools um from our students on what they um feel and and how it has really impacted the students in our district being embedded in the curriculum within hmh inter reading can you guys hear it welcome Dr District staff and all assistant principles PS [Music] 29 my favorite part of hmh is that each story has a different purpose and theme to it and a different lesson the thing I like best hmh is the writing part because I can be creative with my writing [Music] in I like to do reading because I most often use descriptive language and I like to use those descriptive language words to understand it more and picture it in my mind [Music] [Music] I am proud when I [Music] write and I am proud when I uh I write I read all by myself and I feel like a grown up [Music] one of the stories is about art for everyone it was a man who playing the trumpet and wanted to be a musician then he tried out and play beautiful songs and been accepted and shows that the trumpet is telling [Music] I know if I'm doing well because if for example the teacher asks you to write down an answer to a certain question if the question strongly relates to the text you are reading then you could tell that you're reading it well and have you show and provide a great understanding to it also you may retell the story to a friend to see if you actually know what you're reading and understand [Music] it if I get stuck on the words I can skip the word then I can sound it out after I can just tap it out so you can try your best or sound it out I get stuff while I'm reading um I I can try to sound out the words [Music] [Music] okay that's a hard act to follow um but I will try so looking at our Middle School curriculum into literature it is different than into reading in that in K to 5 our students are learning to read but in middle school we are now reading to learn um so the curriculum does look different um for into literature we have six units and following guidance from the central literacy team there are each teacher in Middle School will follow approximately four units we're hoping they get through all four units and then if there's time permitted at the end of the year there is an option for a fifth unit um on the next slide I'll show you the structure so every unit follows the exact same structure with opportunities for students to engage with a variety of texts to build on skills that they are learning throughout the texts that the students are reading are appropriate for their age and they are culturally relevant to our students each unit begins with a unit opener that we call spark your learning which gets them excited about the text that they're going to read we engage them in um in skills where along on with the reading where they're analyzing and applying the skills that they're using to help guide them through the text they also have an opportunity at the end near the end of the unit to engage with two paired texts meaning it's usually a fiction and a non-fiction um on a similar topic where they are comparing the two selections and this is actually something that they will be doing when it comes time for the ELA um I think it's in the beginning of May this year and uh we call them paired passages where students have an opportunity to use the skills that they've learned but apply them to two different texts we also have reader Choice which I'll look to I'll share with you a little bit um a little bit later but there are opportunities for some other texts that are connected to the text that they're text selections that they're reading in the unit but that are separate and then every unit has a series of end of unit tasks in including some choices where they can demonstrate their um understanding in different ways some in artistic ways they can create podcasts and posters and things to in other ways than just paper and pencil assessments to demonstrate their understanding and at the end of every unit there is a an extended writing piece um where students are using whatever is the mentor text or the lead text for the unit and they're following the structure to to um to create their an original written piece next we are going to look at the structure of the unit it uh uh the unit themselves so again with the unit opener we're exploring the essential question that is um an open-ended question that is carried through all of the textual lections in the unit um across a somewhere between 15 to 20 days it's usually a little bit longer um students are reading up to six or seven different texts some poems some articles short stories um where they're engaging with skills they are doing guided reading and writing and responding to the texts with support of their teacher and they are being assessed along the way and in a variety of different ways which I'll show you at the end um again the reader's choice where student teachers have um many of our schools have uh middle schools have up to eight Ela period a week and in the extra period so we have five periods of core instruction where they're using the text selections that are in the into literature unit um but in those additional two to three periods a week St teachers are using their I ready data and their hmh data to work with small groups of students and during that time students who may need additional support on skills get some skills instruction but students that may not need that additional remediation but are ready for some enrichment or extension can engage with some of these reader Choice activities um and then at the end of the unit we have end of unit tasks and students always have an opportunity to reflect on the learning that they did during the unit sorry so into literature follows again this Con consistent structure um they teachers have a guide these blue pages that are at the beginning of every text selection which give them all of the information that they need in order to um provide the skills instruction the additional support opportunities for differentiation for our English language Learners and for our students with disabilities um every Tech selection has a um has a sections at the bottom for when students struggle so opportunities for teachers to provide some additional supports and there are opportunities that say to challenge students where students who may not need that remediation have uh opportunities to extend their thinking all but all of the students are reading the same grade level text we are providing access to it so we begin with a get ready um we engage our brain in activating their prior knowledge we're introducing the explicitly introducing the skills that the students will focus on in that text selection we introduce the vocabulary and we just do some like um sparking activities to get their brains ready for the reading every text selection is anywhere from one to about three days they're no longer than three days um and through that through the reading the guided support that the students are getting um they are applying the skills and strategies that they've learned um that they were introduced to in the engage your brain portion of the Les of the unit and they are uh responding to text every day in writing right in the book that they have some uh every uh almost every one of our students has the book some of our students also do it online so they use the Ed platform to respond in writing students are responding while they are reading they are analyzing text they are an notating text they're applying the vocabulary that they're learning um they're completing Choice activities and they are synthesizing their learning they're not just giving back what the text says but they are applying their learning in new ways and at the end of every text selection there is a selection quiz that is aligned to standards so that teachers can monitor the um their students progress every so again every day begins with direct uh direct skills instruction there is informal assessment on the days that they're reading they're reading and analyzing the text and informal assessment they are doing um what we call analyze the text where they are responding in writing or in discussion to op more open-ended higher level questions and actually we've built in an opportunity for students to um to respond to these questions in a way the same way that they would be on the actual Ela um something that teachers have said had been missing prior to adopting this curriculum was um grammar practice so with every Tex selection there is a vocabulary skill and there is a grammar skill um at the end of every unit so that students are having an opportunity to learn how authors uh use these um these PR practices in their in their writing there are a lot of resources available for students there we call them skills coaches peer coach videos the kids really like the peer coach videos because these are kids that look like them explaining a skill that they are learning there are lots of anchor charts in English and in Spanish um the peer coach videos are also in English and Spanish things are interactive um and as Anna showed with the translation our phenomenal enl specialist Michelle Lee has been working with the Middle School bilingual and enl teachers to translate almost every single one of the TCH selections and um and beginning in some of these anchor charts into um into Chinese as well so that more of our students have access to the curriculum um next slide please so I was mentioning the reader's choice so with every one of the teex selections there are about four short stories that are available that are aligned to the same essential question and there are up to three or four um novels that are available and depending on the needs of our students whether they need remediation or um uh enrichment and extension teachers do have the opportunity to assign these short and long s to their students additionally hmh has worked with a variety of different types of authors um to create a more another set of diverse long they're short stories but they're longer short stories right now there are 17 they call them fresh lit and they have additional slides and um and activities and things that go with them and they the kids really like these we've been um suggesting that they send these types of short stories home during extended Vacations so the kids are still reading and getting some of the instruction that um that they may not that they're not getting when they're in school so they're really great I can post them um and share the titles with the one pager so you can see what some of those look like and so just quickly I'm going to walk you very quickly through a typical into literature lesson um this is the beginning of our learning map these were uh created for the teachers with um an overview of each unit and then for each of the days of the lessons teachers have a learning Target all of this all or most of the resources that they need in order to successfully teach that unit uh lesson sorry and um and the vocabulary next slide please and this is what it looks like on the teacher end a learning Target the vocabulary what the reading looks like for the day and any um of the resources that teachers may need in order to support their Learners so this is um from e8th grade unit two this is their favorite unit and this is the thrill of horror every text selection in this unit is a horror story so Telltale Heart for anyone knows it is a very creepy story but the kids absolutely love it so if you look this this pacing is about 5 days we usually extend that to six or seven because some of the um some of the activities the choices and the the selection test really needed a day of their own so if it's five days here it's about six or seven for us next slide please and this is what it looks like on the teacher end we have engage your brain with two um options for for students to really gets ready to read uh something from Edgar Allen Poe getting into Edgar Allen Po's brain these are the skills that students will be learning in the unit they are focusing on the genre of short story which is very different than reading a novel because a short story can be read in one sitting um we'll look for so for this in for instance we're looking at point of view and suspense next slide we have the skills instruction so uh using our explicit instruction model teacher are um unpacking what it means to analyze point of view and what it means to analyze suspense and then for our students who need additional support there is an anchor chart and if you click um lwis we can I can show the anchor chart to everyone and this is what it would look like for students this also comes in Spanish and I believe we have also translated it into Chinese so that students have an opportunity to see um more explicit what it means to have a first point person point of view and a third person point of view there is an opportunity for students to engage with first with the teacher modeling what it means to annotate so for this we're analyzing the firstperson point of view and that students are using their close reading strategies throughout the story answering um targeted questions that are in the margins of their books but um at the beginning of every text selection there is um annotation in action where the teacher models explicitly where the stud how the students are thinking about what they're annotating we don't just want them highlighting everything in the book and F we have an opportunity for students to be introduced to some of the vocabulary that they will see throughout there are for this particular text selection there are six words that will be um of need while reading this short story and finally we build some background about who Edgar Allen Poe was understanding um what the author this is for every text selection there is the background of the author just to give a little other information to our students and then the students read this happens although it's a one and you know as adults we can read the T zart in one day this is broken up into two days this is what the students will see and then after reading analyze mentioned analyze the text with is's a series of six questions there is usually a an an option for teachers on how to give this to students some of these are done in discussion some can be done as a debate they can be done as think PA share with a partner or in small groups and we choose one of these questions to assign as a writing piece as practice for the ELA and on the the uh opposite side where we have choices where students have another opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the short story by rewriting the scene dramatizing the scene or um uh creating this one is a game creating an escape room on how to escape the Telltale Heart and finally ex uh expand your vocabulary and the watch your language the vocabulary and grammar practice that is available at the end of every text selection um and in terms of assessment throughout each text selection there are a series of different types of formative assessments um this is a assessments out a glance that I created at the beginning of last year as we were unpacking the curriculum so the teachers were aware of the different types of Assessments when to use them how to use them and if you just click Lewis we can see it a little bit more closely there is assessment practice there this is about two questions in every Tex selection just a quick multiple choice there is a quick check at the end of each day read so if it's a one- day read there'll be one if it's a two-day read there will be two of these where the teacher can just do a quick um verbal in uh check-in with students to make sure that they're comprehending the text selection every text selection does have a selection test which um assesses student understanding of what they've read um at the end end of every unit there is a longer unit assessment where it's different um different text selections that students will be reading just as they would be doing on the ELA so that we're assessing their uh understanding of the standards that they were introduced to throughout the unit and then there are some performance-based assessments the writing piece some of the more creative things that we're asking students to to engage with and that is all for into literature we also just wanted to share with you that for Middle School um Michelle Le Al is again has been working with the bilingual and enl and dual language teachers to create supports for um our newcomers especi particularly there is a link here that you can go take a look at some of the work that they've done to um make into literature more accessible for our middle school students Anna you want to close it out and thank you and now we'll stay on if there's any questions um we're here to answer any questions that you may have within the curriculum and any other thoughts you may have or questions thank you both for this very informative presentation and if anyone I don't see any questions in the chat if anyone has any questions feel free to unmute yourself or put it in the chat um and they said they'll stick around so if anything oh wait we have a new message oh Dr Mike said thank you okay so we'll move on with our agenda um next up on the agenda is um um Eden Rubenstein from our community education Council Eden do you have any updates for us hi good evening everyone um happy New Year to those I haven't seen uh just an update this Thursday we do have a special business meeting that we're hosting um at 6m uh we have to do some budget changes and then our general meeting for the month is actually on February 5th at 7 p.m. our usual time so if you're able to attend we will probably be going over um some of the fair student funding and things like that this month and then we have a couple other things we're just going to be updating on in addition the election season has opened for Community coun Council seats for next year for the next two years actually um so if you're interested in running or you know somebody that wants to run I would say have them get on the deadline for that is February 16th before they move into the next phase so those are our updates for now okay thank you so much and um so now I think Jenny has some information she'd like to share um one thing I do want to let everyone know is that our president's council meeting on Monday March 17th will not be the regular format it will be a um uh n uh candidate forum for the CC candidate thank you thank you my brain stopped working okay Jenny you want to share your screen yeah I'm going to share a little bit more about the CC elections um we'll go a bit into the details let me share my [Music] screen let me know if you see it see SL okay so good evening everyone it is CC election season Let Me Clear My Voice I'm sorry been a long day so um CC elections officially launched on January 13 2025 following the trans announcement during a press conference on January 8th all parents can apply via Nexa account current CEC council members who wish to rerun or also incurs to um apply the application period runs from Monday January 13th to February 16 after this the candidate Forum will be held candidate Forum are hosted by the president's councils where candidate will introduce themselves and answer a series of questions prepared by the president's councils these Forum will allow the community to learn more about the candidates before making voting decisions um the voting period will run from mid April to miday and will result announced in June so what does cc um CC they they're both Citywide and Community uh education councils they perform a variety of important tasks including working closely with the superintendent approving zoning lines hosting town halls with the chancellor organizing leg legislative breakfast with elected officials and community members to discuss concerns um these elections are very important because CC council members advocate for students families and schools and they will be the voice of your District um so if you run and you get elected you will hold a seat for two years terms so it's from 2025 to 2027 school year so who elects the CC um there's more bullet points of what cc they do um so what sorry so who elects the CC members parents to all parents of public uh public school students are eligible to vote and elect council's members and to apply you must have a Nexa account parents can use this account not only to for the C elections but also to access the child's attendance records report card and Etc so eligibility um it's eligibility depends on your child's district and program your child is enrolled in if you have a child if you have a if you have children in different districts for example if you have a child in District um 25 middle school and a high school in District 26 you can vote for both councils and run for both councils but you can only serve on one when applying please you must indicate your District preference and a little bit data um District data this is our district data District 25 data I'm sorry so as you can see although um as you can see how many parents voted and how many applied for the CC for the past two years um although the par participation number in District 25 may appear low but we are still one of the top performing District in terms of Voters turnout compared to others so if you're not running for the C we are still we still need your support by you know by voting for the candidates um and for parents who who are are interested in running but has a lot of questions about the C and its role and the best way to learn more is by attending one of the monthly CEC meetings to observe the council's inactions or by um or by reaching out to one of the council members directly we have uh Eden Rubenstein here she's our CC uh president um that's it from me does anyone have any questions now Jenny the only thing I would say and to all of our um PTA presidents I would love for as many people as possible to get involved um Eden would would share that there are times that um you know getting a full full team together has been difficult and every year even when it's a a full team there always seems to be something that happens where there become vacancies um so we do encourage as many of you as possible to show your interest and get get um into that applicant pool and uh just as important to to uh cast those votes um so that we we have that full participation as a district with 24,000 opportunities and only having 1500 folks uh cast the vote uh while that was you were doing well comparably to other districts we can certainly do better I would love for as many people as possible to have their voices heard so I encourage you guys to participate and make sure your next account is set up and ready to go Rachel and if it's not you can contact your parent coordinator at your schools and they can help um to set set up your Nixa account yeah okay can you go to the next slide Jenny okay so this is a reminder oh sorry this is your slide okay I mean you can also so this is a reminder for our DPAC meeting so we are also having monthly dpack meetings for all our title one pack chair uh pack chair person alternate and AR and we have finally um finalized our DPAC meeting dates for the remaining of the school year as you can see the next meeting is uh this Thursday so if you are interested you are all welcome to join and Rachel and um our next president's council meeting will be on Monday February 24th um it has been mve due to the midwinter break and again as I mentioned the March 17th date will be the candidate forum for the CC nominees um to answer questions um and it can it's open to the public of course so everybody can make their voting decisions um when it comes to the CC nominees next slide so just a few updates um first off and very important is your 20242 interim financial report is due this Friday um it covers the period of July 1st 2024 through January 15 2025 um one thing that was brought out at the CPAC meeting is that for the income section you can group income together by event or fundraiser you do not have to have a line for each individual um uh donation same with the expense section you can group expenses by event so you don't need to have a line for each individual expense that was incurred for an event or even for a fundraiser the form needs to be signed by both the treasurer and the president and it needs to be submitted to your principal and parent coordinator by January 31st um uh end of this week and then at the following membership meeting you would share it with your membership as well so the next slide shows a picture of what the form looks like um you start with your beginning balance as of July 1st membership dues gets its on line You'll itemize your areas of income you'll itemize your areas of expense and then you'll provide a fund balance as of January 15 202 which of course needs to match your bank statements um as of January 15th next slide um at our Chancellor's parent advisory Council their CPAC meeting some of the subjects that were covered at the January meeting which is available to view on YouTube were the office of student enrollment regarding the enrollment process class size reduction law um which if uh principles were applying it should have been done in conjunction with SLT and that was due December 20th PTA elections forming a nominating committee there were questions for the chancellor uh there's a link there for um the CPAC NYC YouTube channel or you can also just Google CPAC YC the next meeting will be held on Thursday January I can't see that it's under the scene uh it says February 13th Rachel Thursday February 1 thank you um and as I said it's a public meeting it is available on live stream so anybody would be able to attend the meeting if if interested so Now's the Time for any questions if anyone would like to ask about anything that's been discussed throughout the meeting or just anything going on in your ptas um this is your time to have access to president's Council board the superintendent uh our family support coordinator um so you guys have the floor you can either put your questions in the chat or you can come off mute and ask your questions okay well if there are no questions um then we will move towards adjournment for our January president council meeting um it's 7:5 do I have a motion to adjourn our meeting if you could make the motion and state your name Jennifer barardi I motion to end the meeting tonight thank you thank you somebody could second the motion and state your namea re is I second the motion okay thank you both very much so it is actually now 7:59 and that adjourns our January uh president's council meeting thank you all for your participation thank you for our presenters for all the information that we can take back to our ptas and we will stay on the call a little bit longer in case anyone does have any questions um and we will stop recording so it won't be recorded thank you thank you