Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Winter Break. Our custodians worked hard over break, and the floors are sparkling. At last month’s PTA meeting, we discussed doing some resets around culture after Winter Break. Carissa, our SEL central office support person, will speak to us as a group about structured recess hopefully at our next faculty meeting. As Ms. Rottman and I discussed the reset earlier this week, we decided to try to have a little fun with it and call it The 15-day Culture Challenge. We have just fifteen school days until our professional development day on the 27th. The challenge is to do the one designated strategy/method/technique for strengthening our culture daily. We created a calendar and are providing more detail to staff weekly. This week we simply had a specific share at morning meeting on Thursday: Why are you glad to be back at school? Then, on Friday, we asked students to list their hopes and dreams for the rest of the school year. Typically, Responsive Classroom schools do this activity at the beginning of the school year. Voicing our hopes and dreams will help us with the reset. Responsive Classroom asserts: Inviting students … Read More

Dear Families, We are in the home stretch before Winter Break — five days to go. But, as always, we have an exciting and busy week ahead. Here is what is happening next week at Shepherd: Tuesday, December 17th — Community Center Groundbreaking Ceremony with the Mayor & ChancellorWednesday, December 18th — LSAT 4:30 pmWednesday, December 18th — PTA 6:30 pmThursday, December 19th — Winter Concert 6:30 pmFriday, December 20th — Winter Concert 8:50 am For the Winter Concert on Thursday, December 19, students should arrive no later than 6:15 pm. They should wear blue bottoms and a white shirt; school uniform works. The more students we have present the better our concert will be! Please let your homeroom teacher know if your child will not be in attendance. We had our largest family turn out yet for today’s All School Meeting, which was led by second grade. The second grade taught us about winter holidays around the world, how messages sometimes get lost in translation and got us on our feet to do the cha-cha slide. They did an outstanding job. Tomorrow some parents will join staff members at EdFest to recruit families to Shepherd. A big thank you … Read More

Dear Families, I have some important updates to share… “Aladdin” Musical Auditions: Aladdin Auditions will be held TODAY (Thursday, December 12th) and Friday, December 13th from 3:30-4:30 in the music room. Students have been working on audition songs during music class, and they have also been told about extra practice times offered next week before the auditions. The students have also signed up for auditions and character parts they are interested in.  Some students have signed up for crew as well, but more for the crew will come after winter break. The show will be cast before winter break, and students who receive parts will go home with scripts. They will also go home with a letter that will need to be signed by their parents, as well as the students. We are very eager to start this journey with the students to make the spring show wonderful! Community Center Groundbreaking Good evening Shepherd Park Community! On behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser, DPR and DGS are pleased to announce the upcoming Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Shepherd Park Community Center!  Please see below for event details. GROUNDBREAKING DETAILS: Date: Tuesday, December 17th Time: 3:00 PM Location:  Shepherd Elementary School (7800 14th Street, NW) … Read More

Dear Families, For the last two days, Mr. Mack, Ms. Scott and I were out of the building attending Courageous Conversation: Beyond Diversity with other DCPS employees at Phelps. Through readings, conversation and activities, we explored race and racism and how each impacts the culture and climate of schools. The first day, we focused on personalizing race: our personal stories, race in our lives and the social construction of race and racial knowledge. On day two, our focus was examining whiteness, and we discussed characteristics of white culture, systemic racism and affirmative action. Discussions with the Academic Leadership Team around eliminating racial achievement disparities prompted us to attend this seminar, and this weekend, the three of us are reflecting on how to share a similar experience with staff. It was powerful and emotional experience for all participants, and we left energized and excited about using this learning to benefit students. If you would like to discuss further or have questions, please feel free to reach out to me, Ms. Scott or Mr. Mack. Learn more about Glenn Singleton’s organization, Courageous Conversation, here. Next week, the learning continues as four staff members attend full day Responsive Classroom trainings. We also have … Read More

Dear Shepherd parents and families, The Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) recently released the second annual citywide School Report Card that includes information about how every public school in DC performed in School Year 2018-2019. At Shepherd, we are focused on ensuring every student receives an excellent education. This letter provides an overview of our results this year and background information on the Report Card and STAR Framework. For the 2018-2019 school year, our school received a rating of 4 Stars, which is consistent with our rating from last year. Our rating of 4 Stars indicates that we have much to celebrate as a school community, including strong student achievement. We’re proud of the high-quality education we provide our students and the great things happening in our school. With your partnership, we look forward to continuing to build on these results to ensure all our students achieve academic excellence through a focus on classroom-level data to provide differentiated instruction that meets the needs of all students. More detailed information is available here. Our team works hard each and every day to improve outcomes for all of our students. To understand more about our focus areas as a school, please review … Read More

Dear Families, Our Academic Leadership Team meets weekly and has worked hard on our Comprehensive School Plan and preparing for our upcoming IB evaluation. At this time, we are focusing our attention on classroom instruction and how to improve results for all students. As a faculty, we are working on differentiation, or tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Differentiation is challenging and requires expertise, skill and a deep knowledge of students’ abilities. Teachers plan with the specific students from their class in mind. When they analyze results, whether it is from an exit ticket or a unit test, they think through the misconceptions students may have experienced and how to reteach the lesson. Our coaches and administration will support this work. To reach our goals for growth and achievement, we need to spend time analyzing and planning around classroom-level data. Shout out to the third grade and our emcee, Mr. Mack, for an uplifting and informative All School meeting on Friday. It was sensational. If you have not attended an All School meeting yet, I encourage you to do so. We learn, chant, share, and dance together, and it is a fantastic way to start the day. Please remember that … Read More

It was a short week, but a productive one for faculty and staff at Shepherd. On Monday, we participated in a Responsive Classroom training on logical consequences and spent time completing some important tasks, including grading. The majority of us spent Tuesday in professional development with the rest of the schools in our cluster and attended a Turnaround for Children training as a faculty. Early Childhood and Specials teachers attended training specific to their content area. Having just read report card comments, I know that our students are working hard and achieving a lot. On Friday, I observed a 4th grade language arts classroom where students had a choice to either create a movie title or song to summarize a short story they had just read or select an animal to represent a group of characters in that story and explain their choice. Their work revealed a deep understanding of the text, their creativity, and their ability to collaborate. Last week, I also spent time with a special education teacher inside and outside of the classroom and observed the countless strategies she used to engage her student, including making her a character in the story they were reading. Earlier last … Read More

Yesterday was the best Halloween I have had in years! Thank you to all of you who cheered us on along the parade route. There was a lot of joy at Shepherd yesterday! Thank you all for your patience with Monday’s evacuation. Construction is supposed to begin on 11/4, and I have not received any additional information. I have strongly requested daily air quality reports and daily meetings with the project foreman. Please keep me informed of your concerns moving forward, and I will communicate everything I learn to you. Here at Shepherd we continue to emphasize social and emotional learning. On Monday, we will participate in a 90-minute Responsive Classroom training, and on Tuesday, we will attend a Turnaround for Children training on social and emotional learning. We will also be trained on differentiation, meeting students where they are and enriching or extending their learning. I deeply value these opportunities to learn with our experienced, exceptional staff. With a new month, we have a new IB Learner Profile, which is Thinker. As thinkers, we use creative thinking skills to better understand and take responsible action on difficult problems. We take initiative and make good choices. Thanks so much for … Read More

Last week’s Fall Fest was a tremendous success. Families and staff enjoyed the food, fun and perfect weather, and the Shepherd PTA raised more money than they ever have at this event. A huge thank you to all who attended and volunteered. A special shout goes to Ayana McIntosh who coordinated this year’s Fall Fest and brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm to this event. We are all grateful for your efforts on behalf of Shepherd. Please remember to check the Lost and Found, which can be found at the 14th Street Entrance to our building. With the fluctuating temperatures, it is overflowing with jackets and sweatshirts. We are hoping to donate items left after November 1, so please stop the Lost and Found this week, or ask your student to take a look. Thursday is Halloween and our Halloween Parade! Please feel free to cheer us on at 2:30 pm as we walk around the block, and come in costume if you can. You may sign your student out at the end of the parade. Remember no masks, no weapons and nothing too scary for the sake of our littlest Mustangs. Next Tuesday, October 29th, we will conduct our first … Read More

This coming week is Bullying Prevention Spirit Week at Shepherd, and you will see the fun daily activities we have planned. During Morning Meeting, Ms. Browne and Dr. Brown have been visiting each homeroom to discuss bullying with students and teach them what it is and what to do if they are being bullied or they see someone being bullied. In addition, Ms. Rottman is holding class meetings with specific homerooms that have struggled with playing fairly during recess and reinforcing that we should treat others the way we would like to be treated and assume the best intent of one another whenever possible. Students need to learn how to cooperate, how to be a friend, how to share and how to accept setbacks with grace. During the second quarter, we will be working on explicitly teaching these types of skills to students as an aspect of our work with Turnaround for Children. More to come as we get started. Last week, 5thgrade held its elections, and we have officers for the Shepherd Student Government (SGG).President/ Ise KambuiVice President/ Noemi MilamSecretary/ Ivori JenningsHistorian/ Henry Goldblatt This coming week homerooms will hold elections for homeroom representatives. There will be one homeroom … Read More