Ranch View Review Volume 30, Issue 3 May 19, 2016 From the Desk of the Principal: Suzanne Salness Dear Ranch View Families, It is hard to believe that another year is coming to an end here at Ranch View! Again, we have much to celebrate and many successes we will carry forward into the 2016-2017 school year. Here is a review of some of the highlights of our year and information regarding changes coming in the fall. We began the year welcoming over 65 new families to Ranch View during our New Family Welcome Event. Our total school population remains steady, and our diversity continues to be the reason we excel as a community! Our student population breaks down as follows: We look forward to welcoming new families again this year on August 11th. One of our Rising Star/School Improvement Goals focused on the implementation of social emotional learning standards across all grade levels. Over 70 parents attended our “Saddle Up with SEL” night this past November to learn about the standards and the impact of social emotional health on academic success. Teachers provided weekly, direct instruction and activities to support the three main SEL goal areas of relationship building, self-regulation and decision making. As a result of our work, behavior referrals fell dramatically during the second trimester of the year. And, through teacher and student surveys, we know that students are using strategies successfully and are feeling safe and secure in our school environment. We will continue to implement our Inside this issue: SEL curriculum this coming school year to ensure that our students have the FROM THE DESK OF THE 1-3 necessary skills to face conflict, regulate their emotions, develop empathy for PRINCIPAL: SUZANNE others, and learn critical problem solving skills. SALNESS TUDENT UPPORT EAM 4 This year, we saw our after-school Study Skills Academy evolve to support a S S T different population of students. Students who had“ topped out” on math FROM THE DESK OF MR. 5-6 achievement and those who would benefit from a collaborative/team approach BUCKLEY to problem solving and challenge participated in our STEM program. As a result LRC UPDATES 7 of participation in this program, 73% of our STEM students showed additional HOME & SCHOOL 8 PRESIDENT’S LETTER growth in their Performance Series math scores, with 35% showing statistically significant gains from the year prior. Student survey data indicated that SPECIAL PROJECTS/ 9 FUNDRAISING students found benefit in working within a team environment and ART, MUSIC, P.E., K-5TH 10- that they understood and learned from the many problem-solving GRADE, & 23 opportunities to develop their ability to show GRIT! ACADEMICALLY TALENTED CALENDAR OF EVENTS 24 Ranch View Review Continued… From the Desk of the Principal: Suzanne Salness Our Student Council focused their many Quarter-for-a-Cause events on raising funds to extend our use of social emotional strategies onto the playground. Funds raised this year will provide a new “Friendship Bench” that students can utilize to seek playmates. Additionally, we will be providing training and specific locations on the playground for new “peace corners”. These areas will be designated for students to use when they experience conflict. Within the peace corners, students will be supported in applying conflict resolution strategies learned in class to resolve issues as they arise. Funds raised by our Student Council efforts last year brought to our playground new color-coded recess materials which have been accessed daily and have provided students with several options to move and engage in team play during their recess time. Our playground will be updated by the district in the 2017-2018 school year. Coming in the fall will be an expansion of the district’s Digital Learning Initiative to include teachers at Ranch View. Mr. Pinelli’s fifth graders and the entire Second Grade Team (Mrs. Morrow, Mrs. Dill, and Mrs. Wszolek) will be involved in piloting Chrome Books, utilizing a 1:1 ratio within their classrooms. Ms. Suleman will be involved in utilizing iPads at a 2:1 ratio with her students. By participating in the district pilot, these teachers and students will provide data and just-in-time professional development on the implementation of these devices in supporting student learning. The Digital Learning Initiative will roll out to all staff and students in the 2017-2018 school year. Ranch View Home and School members have focused their efforts on raising funds to support the creation and implementation of our new Outdoor Classroom. To date, over $25,000 has been raised to support this new, hands-on learning space which will support the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards coming to our curriculum, as well as the social emotional, math, literacy, and liberal arts standards. Ground breaking will occur on July 1st, and we will celebrate the opening of the space during our Ice Cream Social on September 8th! Mrs. Jill Ridder is retiring after a teaching career that has spanned a total of 39 years; 29 of those years were spent right here at Ranch View! Mrs. Ridder has supported hundreds of students throughout her career and will be greatly missed as an expert in fostering students’ reading and literacy skills. Mrs. Ridder was instrumental in bringing new curricular materials to the district, including the Reading A-Z and Razz Kids programs. She has been awarded the Those Who Excel honor on multiple occasions throughout her career, and she leaves a legacy of excellence for all those who follow in her footsteps! Our staff projections remain constant for the 2016-2017 school year. However, we are making an adjustment to our fourth and fifth grade teams as the number of sections will shift at those two grade levels. Mrs. Roy will be moving to fourth grade as the number of sections at that grade level will increase from three to four. Our fifth grade sections will decrease from four to three sections next year. At this time, there are no new teachers being hired for the fall; however, grade level sections are based on enrollment and, thus, may change over the summer. Page 2 Ranch View Review Continued… From the Desk of the Principal: Suzanne Salness Major construction occurring over the summer will involve the installation of a new air conditioning unit which will be relocated on the roof. Interior painting and other minor cosmetic changes will also occur over the summer months. Additionally, Mrs. Mougette’s classroom space will move to the reconfigured, round office within the LRC, leaving room for a permanent Maker’s Space area for our students to explore a variety of technology and engineering stations within her former instructional space. As mentioned earlier, construction on the new Outdoor Classroom will begin July 1st. What another wonderful year at Ranch View! As always, it has been an honor and a privilege to be part of this Ranch View community and to participate in the exciting learning that occurs within our building each and every day. Please continue to monitor our Talk 203 messages, the district and building websites, the Ranch View Principal and Parent Facebook Pages, and Twitter for news and important information throughout the summer. Enjoy your summer break and I look forward to having students return this fall on August 17th! Mrs. Salness Ranch View Rangers; Building Grit through the Power of YET! G-Goal Attainment R- Resiliency I- Integrity T-Twenty-first Century Skills Greatness Requires Internal Toughness Page 3 Ranch View Review The teachers on the Student Support Team (SST) supported students and teachers at Ranch View School. This past year, we collaborated with classroom teachers to co-teach the curriculum within the general education setting. In addition, we also provided individualized instruction for students in academic, social, and language skills. We look forward to following the same instructional model next year. Ideas for summer: Children acquire skills through the school year, but they will lose ground if learning stops during summer break. The SST has put together a list of activities to keep kids reading, writing, and learning this summer! Keep a journal of summer highlights with family and friends, vacations, special activities, sleep overs, cookies with grandma, etc… Continue to use district recommended websites and games that are listed on Ranch View’s home page, under Research Resources. For more summer reading & learning ideas, go to these websites to read about summer reading programs, as well as other opportunities they offer to the public: Naperville Public Library: http://www.naperville-lib.org/ Lisle Public Library: http://www.lislelibrary.org/ Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/summer-reading/379003570 Anderson’s Bookstore: http://www.andersonsbookshop.com/ College of DuPage: http://www.cod.edu/academics/conted/youth_camps.aspx Scholastic: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/ ReadWriteThink: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/ PBS: http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/read Page 4 Ranch View Review From the Desk of Mr. Buckley, Learning Support Coach Research about how much children lose ground over the summer is well-documented. Harris Cooper of Duke University notes, "Overall, children experience an average summer learning loss across reading and mathematics of about one month" (1996). The thing is, though, kids don't have to lose over the summer. In fact, you can encourage your child to have a summer of fun and learning with these five free and easy things to do. Try them out! 1. Read Every Day The Research: At the middle school level, reading four to five books over the summer has a positive impact on fall reading achievement comparable to attending summer school (Kim, 2004).