May 2015
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The 2014-15 school year has flown by! Congratulations to you and your student(s)
for making it through the year. I wanted
to keep you updated regarding a positive academic change we implemented at
Shadow Ridge Middle School (SRMS), during the 2014-15 school year. After reviewing years of student achievement
data, researching literacy interventions, and visiting a handful of other
Denver Metro middle schools we increased your student’s literacy minutes.
We increased the literacy minutes, which changed the overall
schedule from six to seven classes, with the Language Arts class broken down
into a Reading and a Writing class. We increased
our six period day to an eight period day, increased to five core content
classes (math, reading, science, social studies, and writing) two elective
classes, and an intervention time before/after lunch involving additional
literacy and math minutes for every student.
The data from MAPS Assessments has indicated improvement. However, we do need more than one year to
view patterns and trends. The benefits
of having increased literacy minutes
will assist all students in the areas of reading comprehension, writing,
and analyzing literature. Increasing
literacy and math minutes during advisory has also benefitted the
students. We will be using Moby Max for
the upcoming years, in the area of math.
The school day will remain the same time schedule
implemented with bells. All students
will be passing from class to class at the same time, with all teachers out in
the hallway. The class periods will be
approximately 50 minutes long with a 30 minute lunch and 17 minute intervention
time attached to lunch. We will continue
holding Advisory on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Advisory will allow students to continue the
silent reading time, online math, and have a “Home Room Teacher” at SRMS.
Our staff has embraced the change and is excited to move
forward. We are thrilled to make a
positive change and move forward toward an increased focus on literacy. The district has also been diligent regarding
a district-wide literacy change. You may
follow the district’s guidance in our quarterly Five Star Journal or by
reviewing the literacy plan on the district website.
Thank you for your continued support at SRMS, but most
importantly your child.
Sincerely,
Susie
Wickham
Principal
