Thursday, February 7, 2013

Friday is picture day!  We will take a staff photo at 3:00 as soon as the buses roll.  Those of you on curb duty, bring left over students in early, or if there are substitutes in the building we can leave them to monitor.  The sooner everyone shows up the better for all of us.  Let's wear our newest shirts.  There were a few people who did not order these and we will loan you one for the photo.  :)

Mid terms. Please make sure your grades are up to date for parents to do a mid term check. If you have any students of concern or whose grades have fluctuated significantly. please make special contact with those parents to communicate needs and areas for improvement.

There are some POSSIBLE things coming up that I would like to you to be aware of and prepared to participate if you can.

• Friday, March 15 Notus teaches would like to come visit our building in the morning.  They will observe, participate in discussions or whatever before returning to their district in the afternoon for collaboration.  Mark your calendars!  This has not been confirmed but is a strong possibility.
• Last summer we sent a team of teachers to Vale, CO for Peak training.  It was a fabulous as we had hoped and they requested to return this year.  I said most likely but we might have to share the knowledge with others.  They have demonstrated some of the strategies they learned during professional development opportunities.  Well, the other night I had an epiphany.  Figured for almost the same amount of money we could bring the trainers HERE!  I am currently negotiating dates and number of days.  Then will select our focus topics.  Our first selection is to use the first week of June - all five days.  :)  Remember this is great training.  The second option is the week after school gets out.  If neither of those work for Peak, then we will negotiate three days later in June or part of the last week of May.  Again - our goal is the first week of June.  I encourage you to talk to Kim, Cheryl, Scott, Stephanie S., Susan or Kayla and then tentatively set as many of those days aside as possible.  This is totally voluntary (I can not cover the cost of presenters and stipends) but will add years of knowledge to your professional practice.  Once I get dates confirmed we will offer to our district schools and most likely other surrounding districts.  So if you read this and don't work at my school - you too can save the date.  It's that good!
• ERI (first through third grade) is finally ready to go starting Monday.  We have hired Michelle Bernard for Monday - Thursday and Chelsea Merer on Fridays.  We discussed schedules of them covering small groups or taking your class while you do specific intense instruction.  Please have a starting point ready for Monday.

Next week we are supposed to cover and reteach the playground expectations.  I would like to adapt this to readdress bathroom and lunchroom.  Both need specific and direct instruction based on complaints and referrals.  Since these are more 'open' areas with less adult supervision we will need to instruct, monitor as much as possible and pay off in Hawks Tickets for proper behavior and for reporting vandalism in the bathrooms (honest reporting).  Specific concerns to be aware of include

• Turning soap bottles around so that they don't appear to work.
• Clogging toilet
• Smearing stuff on mirrors
• Trash on floor rather than in trashcans
• "Visiting" other tables during lunch time 
• Harassing others or taking food, especially older to younger