Greetings, Mustang Families!
It has been a wonderful first few weeks of school! By now, you have had an opportunity to
attend Back-to-School Night(s), and have, hopefully, settled into the rhythm of the school year.
Manzanita is an incredible school community, and we remain such a place through our
continuous efforts at improvement. At our September 1 FFO Meeting, I shared an overview of
our School Improvement Planning efforts, which I will summarize for you here.
Catalina Foothills School District’s Strategic Plan consists of three large “Deep Learning Goals”:
1. Reduce the gap between current and desired student academic achievement;
2. Raise the engagement of students so they are highly motivated to set and achieve
increasingly challenging goals for deep learning;
3. Partner with families and community to achieve our strategic priorities.
Within these goals, each school is tasked with creating 5-6 annual plans. At Manzanita this
year, these plans include:
NUMERACY
Strategy: Build the capacity of Gr. 3-5 teachers to effectively plan and implement rigorous
mathematics instruction.
Action Plan Involves:
Gr. 3-5 collaborative planning and unit design, with an emphasis on fractions.
TRANSFER
Strategy:
Build the capacity of teachers to implement the eight (8) essential elements of project-based
learning (PBL) in order to engage students in a deeper level of learning.
Action Plan Involves:
Providing professional development to a new cadre of teachers
Teachers implementing PBL units
ACADEMIC MINDSETS
Strategy:
Build the capacity of students to develop and utilize self-regulation skills in academic and social
settings.
Action Plan Involves:
Mindfulness Training - in partnership with the Mindfulness Education Exchange
5th Grade - 8 lessons
4th Grade - 3 “refresher” lessons (since they had a series of lessons last year in 3rd grade)
Professional Development - 10 hours of PD to 20 teachers (Mindful Mentors)
DEEP LEARNING PROFICIENCIES (DLPs)
Strategy:
Build the capacity of teachers and students to utilize systems thinking tools (Change Over Time,
Interdependencies).
Action Plan Involves:
Faculty participation in the Waters Foundation Systems Thinking Institute (Sep. 28-29)
Professional Development - 10 hours of PD to 17 teachers (Systems Thinking)
Collegial Observations
COMMUNICATION
Strategy:
Increase the frequency and quality of interactions between home and school to improve
student learning.
Action Plan Involves:
Implementing Bloomz
Implementing K-5 Student Led- or Involved- Conferences
Continuing to administer Report Card Reflections
