Write Score (Grades 3-5)

Last year, Write Score helped us take a big jump in improving our writing in grades 3-5.  Teachers are given fun, engaging, colorful lesson plans that they can use to help students understand, analyze, and practice the writing process.  Students are given the chance to take practice assessments before on a computer, and receive detailed feedback in less than two weeks.  The teachers can easily see individual student’s writing and feedback as well as identify areas of strength and weakness for his/her own class.  The teacher can then target future lessons to address the areas for growth. 

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Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative Annual Site License

The initiative is based on high performance expectations, ongoing professional development, examining student work, and improved math instruction. The initiative includes a formative and summative performance assessment system, pedagogical content coaching, and leadership training and networks. With this site-license, teachers will have access to hundreds of MARS Performance Tasks, videos and resources outlining how to build classroom climates for mathematical learning, formative re-engagement lessons, problems of the month, and primary performance assessments.

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Marilyn Burns' Math Reads Libraries for Kindergarten through 5th grade

Math Reads gives teachers the support they need to integrate children's books into their math instruction.  Each grade-level collection includes books that engage students' interest and provide springboards for math lessons, along with lesson ideas from Math Solutions instructors that involve students in thinking, reasoning, solving problems and making sense of mathematics.

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Co-Teaching Rolling Room Divider

This divider is used in a 3rd grade co-taught classroom that uses parallel teaching and small group instruction.  During parallel teaching, both the general education and special education teachers instruct at the same time - each to one-half of the class.  This board serves as a sound/visual barrier as well as a surface for writing and presenting visuals during instruction for one group of students.  Check it out here!

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FLOCABULARY

Flocabulary is an online resource that supports instruction in language arts (tier 2[1] vocabulary/grammar), but the program also has tools to support math, science, social studies, life skills (financial literacy and social/emotional learning), and current events.  Students enjoy the innovative and exciting nature of Flocabulary’s videos and activities. Tier 2 vocabulary is general academic vocabulary. Tier 3 vocabulary is content-specific vocabulary. For example, in mathematics, “justify” is a Tier 2 word, while “denominator” is a Tier 3 word. Students will benefit because they will continue to interact with vocabulary, grammar, and language arts in a fun way – promoting the mastery of various ELA concepts and skills such as annotating definitions, finding synonyms and antonyms, making vocabulary connections, applying meaning, analyzing and fixing grammatical errors, and interpreting vocabulary within context

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Online Subscriptions 

TIG TAG and Tig Tag Jr. - Standards-based online science curriculum supplement that provides real-world videos, visuals, games, activities, lesson plans, worksheets, and quizzes for teachers.

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LEVELED BOOK ROOM

Our Foundation is proud to support a K-6 leveled book reading room with 910 unique titles (6 copies each) and an extraordinary supply of resources for teachers to enable all students to become strategic and independent readers.  

View the TITLE LIST HERE.  The leveled book room will be located in the Media Center and will be installed in February 2017.  

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Document Cameras

Our Foundation supported the purchase of 5 document cameras for classroom instruction. Mary Lin's PTA also supported the purchase of 10 document cameras for a total of 15.  All teachers have a document camera to enhance their instruction in the classroom.  Learn more about how document cameras are used HERE.

Mary Lin Foundation has granted $33,000 for the implementation of Phase 1 of our school’s new Outdoor Classroom. The Mary Lin Outdoor Classroom and Learning Garden will provide students with real-life experiences, outdoor labs, observations and investigations that will assist our students in the learning process. All subjects or curriculum can be presented in an outdoor classroom and all ages can take advantage of learning in the great outdoors. The funds will be used to widen and grade the hill by the art room patio, mitigate erosion and drainage problems, remove and replace some trees, and provide new planting areas and pathways. Additionally, we plan for new seating for the art room patio as well as the Mary Lin Habitat so that students can participate in hand-on learning in a natural wetland area like they did for many years pre-construction. 

If you are interested in keeping up-to-date on all of these events and progress on the Outdoor Classroom, please like our Facebook Page “Mary Lin Outdoors” and go to www.marylinoutdoors.com. The website will be a tool for parents, students and the community to connect and learn about what’s going on inside and outside the classroom when it comes to hands-on learning in a living, interactive and stimulating environment. You can find design plans (and phases), fundraising efforts and opportunities, information about the Outdoor Classroom Club (garden club, etc), garden and outdoor classroom events, information about Mary Lin Go Green Week, photos, recipes, latest news and curriculum lessons that tie in to our Mary Lin Outdoor Classroom and Learning Garden.

Saxon Phonics (K-2 and Special Education Teachers)

Our Foundation funded the training of our K-2 and Special Education teachers in the mechanics of the Saxon Phonics which has now been adopted by Mary Lin to effectively teach phonics.  The teachers completed this training just before our school year began in August!

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Two Mary Lin teachers to attend National Association for Gifted Children Conference

One GATE (gifted program) teacher and another non-GATE teacher will be attending the NAGC conference in November which offers a multitude of workshops focused on creativity in the classroom and techniques of gifted pedagogy.  The objective is for these teachers to bring back ideas and techniques to share with the Mary Lin team that can be utilized in all classrooms.

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Four Mary Lin teachers to attend the Greg Tang Math 1-day Workshop in September

Greg Tang's methods are built around a deep understanding of place value, number, and sense-making.  Understanding how to provide students with a solid mathematical foundation is essential for elementary school teachers, and the new Georgia Standards of Excellence which require a much higher level of conceptual understanding than ever before.

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Ten Teachers to attend the Georgia Science Teachers Association Annual Conference in February 2017

This year's Georgia Science Teachers Association Conference will help teachers engage their students in 3D science learning with the new Georgia Standards of Excellence, in STEM learning that is grounded in the science classroom, and in literacy that supports effective science reasoning. Sessions outside these strands will offer a range of strategies and resources to support student learning in science. It is important that teachers at Mary Lin are knowledgeable about the newest and most innovative teaching practices that align with Georgia’s curriculum. At this conference, teachers will have the opportunity to interact with the new science standards that Georgia is rolling out in the 2017-2018 school year. In addition, we are always looking for new ways to integrate literacy and writing in to the other academic content areas. This conference has specific sessions that will address this concept – focusing on integrating literacy into science lessons.

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Our School Counselor, Ms. Huguelet, to attend Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference in March 2017

The Evidence-Based School Counseling Conference (EBSCC) is a national conference held each year to provide school counselors with critical information and successful practice, evaluation, and relevant research to create dynamic and powerful school counseling programs.  The conference uses a unique format to incorporate both peer-reviewed research presentations and small group consultation with leaders in the field.  "By attending the EBSCC this year, I will gain knowledge and skills in the areas of academic, social/emotional, and career development to further meet the needs of our students at Mary Lin Elementary with innovative, evidence-based, and creative interventions.  Additionally, I will learn how to best assess these interventions through the use of data.  By creating a comprehensive school counseling program at Mary Lin Elementary, which these learned interventions are critical components of, I will be able to create school change and affect school climate and culture."

Engaging Academics

Michell Carter (3rd grade); Brooke Ashworth (1st Grade) and Elizabeth Tolmach (2nd Grade) to attend Doug Lemov's highly regardie Engaging Academics in March 2017.  "The purpose of this training is to learn and practice specific teaching strategies that work regardless of subject, age, socioeconomic status.  We will learn how to teach, not what to teach." To learn more about this wonderful professional learning, VISIT HERE 

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Daily 5 and Math Daily 3 Frameworks

20 of our Mary Lin teachers to attend this experience in March 2017.  This professional learning experience supports the delivery of the Georgia Standards of Excellence (in all grade levels and content areas) in an innovative, student-centered format. The Daily 5 and Math Daily 3 frameworks enable teachers to choose individualized goals for students, assign strategies, monitor progress, and provide just-in-time instruction to meet the needs of every student. The Daily 5 Literacy framework structures literacy time so students develop lifelong habits of reading, writing, and working independently. The Math Daily 3 framework structures math time so students develop deep conceptual understanding and mathematical proficiency. 

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Math Instructional Coach to attend Math Plus Conference (July 2017)

The theme of this year’s Math PLUS Conference is progresssions. In math, concepts build on previous concepts, and skills build on previous skills. Understanding how everything connects is the key to helping struggling students. It is also the secret to laying the groundwork for future learning. The goal of this conference is to connect concepts and skills in both directions and make learning and teaching progressions clear. http://gregtangmath.com/mathpluskc

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The Foundation recently applied funds received from the proceeds of the May 2016 Little Shop of Stories book fair for many new reference matererials for the library including dictionaries, atlases, almanacs, and thesauri, which were all at least 10 years old!