Principal's Message

                   MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

  

Dear Canyon View Families,

The first three full weeks of school are in the books and the students and staff at Canyon View Elementary are starting to settle into our routines.  I want to thank all of our families who attended our Curriculum Night on Tuesday.  We hope the evening was informative and you were able to learn about your child’s day here at school.  As mentioned during our Curriculum Night, we will continue to work hard to keep the lines of communication open with our families.  We fully understand how important it is to build and maintain a strong school-home partnership and we appreciate your support!

As mentioned in the last newsletter, this year marks the beginning of our five-year School Improvement Plan (SIP).  Our site-specific SIP supports Canyon View students in their journey to become college and career ready.  The strategies and action steps outlined in our SIP support the overarching District Objectives in the areas of literacy, numeracy, transfer, academic mindsets, Deep Learning Proficiencies (DLP) and communication.  In this newsletter, we will focus on specific aspects of our literacy plan to give our families a better understanding of the direction we are headed in this content area as a school. 

Literacy

District Deep Learning Goal # 1: Reduce the gap between current and desired student academic achievement.

District Objective: Increase the achievement of literacy in all academic content areas by addressing students’ diverse needs and abilities.

Rationale:  The teaching of literacy skills is integral to growth in learning in all content areas, and there is an increased demand in the rigor of reading and writing in the AZ College and Career Ready Standards (AZCCRS). Students are required to read and write across all content areas. A shift in instruction and learning must take place due to the increased demand for students to read, analyze and respond in writing to text and media selections (e.g., video clips, blog posts, etc.).

Data Sets & Problem Statements:  After reviewing numerous site-based and standardized testing data sets in the area of literacy, the SIP team identified and analyzed various data trends that ultimately provided guidance in the formulation of various problem statements, criteria for success, and literacy goals & strategies. 

Criteria For Success:  In order to be college and career ready in the area of literacy:

• Students are able to read with fluency and accuracy (according to grade level benchmarks) 
• Students demonstrate proficiency or above in reading and comprehending increasingly more complex and varied types of texts across disciplines. 
• Students are attending to complex texts over extended periods of reading time (stamina). 
• Students are making evidence-based claims both in conversation and in writing, using relevant academic vocabulary.
• Students demonstrate proficiency or above in writing a variety of pieces: expository, narrative, opinion, persuasive, short, focused, research-based compositions that respond to ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they listen to and read across disciplines.
• Students are frequently engaged in reading domain-specific texts (e.g., science, social studies, technical subjects) and writing informative/explanatory and argumentative pieces.

Strategy 1: Implement effective instructional interventions to assist all students in achieving the reading standards. Use timely and accurate data sources to identify students for targeted interventions and extended learning opportunities.

        Response To Intervention (RTI):

• Full implementation in grades K-3
• Focus on Tier 1 core phonics planning and instruction, and Tier 2 planning and interventions in grades K-1
• Align grades K-3 annual plans with phonological awareness/phonics continuums
• Closely monitor and reassign, as needed, at-risk students who are placed in the appropriate interventions (Imagine Learning/Six Minute Solution)

Strategy 2: Build professional capacity in the implementation of the CFSD writing standards with a focus on the performance areas for evidence-based opinion writing.

        Writing:

• Review a variety of performance-based writing assessments (from PARCC, Smarter Balance, etc.) at grades 1-5 and select one to administer that matches the performance criteria of the EOY district common writing assessments in order to establish baseline data (in Text Types and Purposes - opinion writing; and DLP, and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving). 
• Analyze the results of the pre-assessments to determine the priority or focus for instruction in opinion-based writing. 
• Unpack the CFSD curriculum framework and documents for writing to develop an understanding of district-approved resources and their support for the teaching of the K-5 writing standards.
• Facilitate grade level discussions about the district writing frameworks and supporting documents and analyze each grade level’s use, understanding and implementation of the framework, documents, and district-approved resources.
• Facilitate the analysis of the levels of use of district resources, compile a list of supplemental resources used at each grade level, conduct a crosswalk between district resources and the compiled list of supplemental resources to determine if there is a need, if any, for supplemental resources.
• Analyze the results of the writing pre assessment and post assessment (DCA) at grades 1-5 to ascertain growth in writing.  

At Canyon View, we are committed to preparing all of our students to be proficient readers and writers who can meet and surpass any standard or expectation that is placed in front of them.  The lofty goals that we have set for ourselves can, in fact, be achieved, and we will continue to support each and every one of our students and staff members along the way.
  
Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Rob Henikman
Principal