September – 2017-2018

What we are most proud of…

1. Technology
During our recent District Pre-Testing, Copper Basin was able to successfully utilize our Chromebook carts to assess our 3rd - 8th Grade students in Reading, Writing, Math and 3rd Grade McESA’s in Art and PE. Synergy and SchoolCity platforms were easy to use for both scheduling and assessment. GradeCam is a terrific feature that will not only make grading easy for teachers, but will be fun and engaging for our younger students. We look forward to analyzing the data and learning to utilize SchoolCity in the classroom to support instructional effectiveness.
2. Vertically Articulated Extra-Curricular Engagement
Copper Basin Athletics are off to a solid start. Our baseball and softball athletes are very young and looking forward to a rebuilding year. Both teams are improving every day and making strides in their academic growth in the classroom. Our parents have been very welcoming in regards to Register My Athlete. We have had multiple parents discuss how they love the ability to upload all their documents from home and not having to send them with their student athlete to school. Overall it has been a smooth transition so far. We are very optimistic about the rest of the school year and are looking forward to a great year in sports here at Copper Basin!
3. Effective Leadership
The leadership team has scheduled meetings every Monday morning. The team consists of the Principal, Assistant Principal, Instructional Coach, and Mentor Teacher. These meetings are designed to discuss the upcoming week’s challenges, meeting agendas, coaching opportunities, evaluation schedules, etc. One of the goals this school year is to better communication with the staff and this starts with the leadership team being on the same page.
4. Quality Teaching & Learning
This month in our Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) our teachers have created their formal SMART goals, based on the student need. Math PLC’s have been working hard to develop effective intervention for math during their reteach and enrich blocks. ELA has been working on dissecting their standards in order to build vertical articulation. Social Studies PLC’s have developed formatives to help students with map skills. Our Primary PLC is working on identifying students’ needs based on Dibels data. Our Specials PLC is developing Thinking Maps activities to build writing across the curriculum. This week our PLC’s will meet again to review their weekly data.
5. Culture of Continuous Improvement
To help our students gain strategies on processing thinking, our teachers receive bi-weekly professional development on Thinking Maps. All teachers have been trained and incorporated Circle Maps and Bubble Maps into their lessons. Data analysis is underway and will be used to inform decisions at the classroom and school level. During professional development training, teachers reflect, dissect, and plan collaboratively on their experiences working with the maps. Looking at high, medium, and low student work allow us to determine the mastery level and brainstorm ideas for instructions.
6. Clear & Collaborative Relationships
We are hosting our Annual Title I, Howdy To Night, which helps parents learn strategies and activities to help their kids with their learning at home. Teachers host games, activities, reading and math strategies with a western theme and serve punch and cookies at this fun family learning event. Back by popular demand is our Whirling Weekly News! In an effort to maintain open communication with our families and community we send the week’s upcoming events through email and Facebook. Parents have communicated how much they love this and wanted it to continue this year. AzMerit Parent Reports have been mailed to all current families, and reports for our promoting 8th graders are making their way to our high schools for distribution. The PTO is alive and well with a new President being elected, Jen Omerza. The Cookie Dough Fundraiser has commenced and seeks to earn funds for new scooter and bike racks, a school garden, and additional door wraps for the inside patio doors to beautify our school and aid in minimizing glare from the sun in the afternoons and evenings.
COME & SEE!
Friday, September 15 - MIDDLE SCHOOL DANCE - 5:30 to 7:30 PM in the Gym
Monday, September 18 - Friday, September 22 - BOOK FAIR in the Library
Tuesday, September 19 - PTO MEETING - 6:00 PM in the Cafeteria

Discipline & Behavior

Fights / Drugs/Alcohol / Hearing Requests / PBIS Tickets / Positive Referrals
0 / 0 / 0 / 365
Students were rewarded with a trip to the game room or they got to pick from reward drawer. We were not able to reward during testing weeks. We will be rewarding the 40 students who were chosen from the Dusty Alley Board in the upcoming week with an ice cream or otter pop party.