breakfast with director - 2015

MARCI MCCORD

What Makes DMP Special?

● Exceptional Teachers - Personal connections/relationships

● Educating the whole child ● Small instructional groups in math and language

arts● Nurturing/safe environment - physically and

emotionally● Focus on good citizenship ● Character education/school values ● Enrichment classes music, art, Spanish, PE,

technology, hands-on science, library● Curriculum Alignment across grades

What Makes DMP Special? ● Many Special Events - Fine Arts Day, Science Discovery Day, Living

Museum in 5th grade, Read Across America, field trips, assemblies, etc.

● Public Speaking opportunities in all grades/Speech Masters program in upper grades.

● Dr. Perez-Williams’ programs in upper grades.

● Ray as IT troubleshooter.

● Buddy programs

● Class Musicals and Spring Sing

● Graduates prepared for success in middle schools and beyond.

Support Programs

●Following student progress from K-6 - McCord inall conferences.

●Parent Group leadership and meetings.●Del Mar Pines Foundation support of programs.●Technology integration in all subjects.●Student Leadership group●Math/Science Field Day events●Shining Stars Giving

2015 Parent Survey Results

3. Del Mar Pines School is living its mission statement.

Strongly Agree/Agree 98%

4. Del Mar Pines School is living its vision statement.


5. Del Mar Pines School is living its guiding principle.


6. Del Mar Pines School provides an environment where all members are treated with respect.


7. Del Mar Pines School provides an environment that fosters honest, and personal accountability.


10. Del Mar Pines School facilities are adequate to support students’ learning needs.


11. Del Mar Pines School provides a safe and orderly environment for learning.


12. Del Mar Pines School mathematics program was effective this year.


13. Del Mar Pines School language arts program was effective this year.


14. Del Mar Pines School social studies program was effective this year.



15. Del Mar Pines School science program was effective this year.


16. Classroom teachers provided a reasonable and appropriate amount of homework.


17. Del Mar Pines School Spanish program was effective this year.


18. Del Mar Pines School Technology program was effective this year.


19. Del Mar Pines School Art program was effective this year.



20. Del Mar Pines School Music program was effective this year.


21. Del Mar Pines School library program was effective this year.


22. Del Mar Pines School PE program was effective this year.


24. Del Mar Pines ancillary teachers are effective in inspiring children.


25. Del Mar Pines classroom teachers are effective in inspiring your children.



26. Del Mar Pines’ curriculum meets the overall learning needs of your children.


28. Classroom teachers communicated my child’s progress effectively this year.


29. Ancillary teachers communicated my childs’ progress effective this year.


30. Del Mar Pines report cards are an effective form of providing feedback on student progress.


31. The End of Year Student Led Open House was effective in reporting my child’s year long progress.



32. Del Mar Pines’ presentation on standardized testing was effective in providing feedback on my child’s results.

Strongly Agree/Agree 88% for those who watched the presentation

33. Classroom teachers provided timely and constructive feedback on my child’s strengths and weaknesses this year..


34. Del Mar Pines formal communications to the community are an effective means of communication.


35. Del Mar Pines’ Director responded to parent needs in a timely and effective manner this year.


36. Del Mar Pines’ Director responded to students needs in a timely and effective manner this year.



37. Del Mar Pines provided sufficient opportunities for parent involvement this year.


38. Before school care is a valuable service that Del Mar Pines offers to its families.

Strongly Agree/Agree 45% (42% didn’t use it)

38. After school care is a valuable service that Del Mar Pines offers to its families.


39. Del Mar Pines after school enrichment classes are a valuable service that Del Mar Pines offers to its families.



Math Curriculum

Adopting the Engage NY math curriculum school wide. Uses Singapore math strategies and Common Core. Focus on deep understanding, problem solving, and mastery of content.

Teachers will still be utilizing materials from other sources to enrich the curriculum.

Curriculum MappingMapping our DMP curriculum has been one of our WASC action items. Adopted Atlas Mapping software to facilitate. All teachers are mapping math curriculum this year. Next year will be language arts, and Science and Social Studies the following year.

Purpose is to build transparency and continuity between grades and teachers.

Curriculum Mapping is never finished - it is a working document that is constantly being adjusted and improved.

Additions to Language Arts Curriculum

NewsELA will be used by our upper grade students this year. An online Current Events program geared to each student’s reading and comprehension level.

Motivational ELA program for second and third grades gives students practice in a variety of comprehension skills using short passages both online and hardcopy.

Grading PolicyAcademic Performance or Effort - Grades K-6

EE - Exceed Expectations. Student exceeds teacher expectations by doing more than what is asked and consistently going above and beyond. ME - Meets Expectations. Student is meeting the expectations of the teacher, doing what is asked, and performing at an appropriate level. Most students will be performing at this level. WME - Working to Meet Expectation. Student is not meeting the teacher’s expectations yet, but is working to improve.

Academic Performance Grades 2-6A+ 97- 100A 93-96A- 90-92B+ 87-89B 83-86B- 80-82C+ 77-79 C 73-76C- 70-72N- Less than 70%

Ancillary Grades (Music, Art, PE, Spanish, Technology):

Grades K-1: One Grade combining Effort and Behavior using the EE, ME, WME scale

Grades 2-6: Two grades for each child. One based on Skill in the subject, and one based on combining Effort/Behavior using the EE, ME, WME scale.

Library• Updating Library Website with abundant resources

● New Book Adventures reading program for all students. Students search for books, read offline, answer questions online and receive prizes for their efforts. Parents and teachers can monitor progress.

• Mrs. Murphy’s Bookshelf - Showcasing books that Mrs. Murphy and other teachers are currently reading.

• Overdrive (online library) program continues with link and helpful information on the Library website.

• Weekly library lessons and read-alouds with a focus on teaching basic library skills.

Improvements to Facilities●New HVAC units in all classrooms●New partitions and lowered vanity in student

bathrooms●New flooring in 6th to prepare for Hand’s On

Science●Beautiful landscaping in front of school●New water saving MP sprinklers throughout●Wendy’s pretty succulent pots around campus●Cool, filtered water for students●Roofs power washed, asphalt resurfaced,

playground resurfaced, carpets washed●Complete LED lighting retrofit in all buildings

coming soon

Campus Expansion Coming!Mid-October

●The downstairs will house a new library for all students and will be the additional classroom for sixth grade math and language arts groups.

● The treehouse will be the new sixth grade classroom with beautiful views!

● Ms. Fritz will move into the old sixth grade classroom for Hand’s On Science and Spanish

● The current library will house a new Black Box concept Performing Arts classroom.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Date To Be Determined

The new building will be open and the DMP Tile Wall will be revealed. 115 Tiles

were purchased by our community.You will have a chance to purchase this

year too.

Family Food Truck & Movie Night

Friday, September 18th 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Parent Education(Continued)

●Susie Walton is a local parent coach who gives excellent talks to parents on many topics. Parent group meetings will help me select topics of interest to our population.

●Want to schedule 2 parent sessions during the year in the evenings.

Marketing Initiatives Continue

●Ambassador Program - Huge Success last year- Wendy leading.

●Only openings: 2 boys in kindergarten, 3 girls in second, 1 child in third

●34 new students, 22 new families this year●Website is best marketing source, besides current

families●K/1 Open House in the Fall●Continue to get recommendations from families posted

on GreatSchools.com, Yelp, Google+.●Join us on Facebook to increase awareness.

Educational Leadership TeamThe Educational Leadership Team was created to help facilitate communication between teachers and administration, foster collaboration among teachers, be an advisor/mentor to teachers, assist the Director with school organization and functions, and help lead the school to perform at its highest potential.

The members of this team are:Sandy Connolly - Kindergarten TeacherErica Manthe - Fifth Grade TeacherVeronica Scott - Technology TeacherMarci McCord - Director

Meets once a month.

CIA TeamCurriculum, Instruction and Assessment

The CIA Team was created to fulfill our WASC action items over the next three years. The goals of the team this year are to facilitate and lead Engage NY math adoption, curriculum mapping for math, create the WASC midterm document and welcome the visiting team in March.The members of this team are:Bette Davis - First Grade TeacherRay Fausel - Sixth Grade TeacherMarci McCord - DirectorMona Goetsch - Music TeacherMeets once a month.

Heads of Independent Schools Group

I am excited to continue to be a member of this “Heads” group that started two years ago. There are 18 schools participating.

Mission: To develop a heads group that meets every six weeks, over lunch, to network while also discussing current issues that affect all private/independent schools in San Diego.

To organize a second San Diego professional development day for all private and independent school teachers, to take place in 2017. Keynote speakers as well as workshops given by teachers will be part of the exciting day. All DMP teachers will be participating in this second San Diego Independent Schools Conference at CCHS.

THANK YOU!I am looking forward to a

terrific year.