September 12, 2019
NUTS-n-BOLTS
1. Cookie Dough Sale is coming up. GREAT news! Agnes and Stacey K have streamlined this to make it a lot easier!!
a. No packets to collect, no forms to complete, kids won't be missing valuable instruction in order to go to the office to reconcile their orders;
b. Online sales mean live, up-to-date, and accurate information on sales;
c. No assembly! Short snippets of information via video on GNN;
d. We will still have cookie dough delivery to Garrison in November;
e. Catalog packets will be delivered to all students during 7th period on 9/19--it's only for sales, they won't have to fill anything out and bring to school anymore;
f. Instead of spending $1700 of the earned cookie dough sales for a trip to Get Air for top sellers, we will do two celebrations for students who sell 10+ items. These celebrations will take place on 9/30 and 10/08. More to come on that but way more simple and less expensive.
g. CRITICAL piece - 9/19 1st period ALLOW students to register after the video, link will be on GMS website. They do need to use their phones. If they can't in PE first period, the library will be open. Your assistance is appreciated as we launch this sale.
2. Thank you for being in the hallways during passing. All hands on deck is making a difference!
3. On Oct 4th during the 1/2 day with Carina and me we will be discussing goals, eval and how we will do observations.
4. Carina and I are doing classroom walks. Right now and for next couple weeks we are staying 7-10 mins and either talking with you, leaving a sticky note or following up via email. It's go time with curriculum and essential standards. You have done a great job of laying the foundation of the importance of a growth mindset, self-efficacy and your expectations. These foundations are critical and need to be reviewed/visited/given feedback on consistently. Let's do this!!! :)
5. If you send a student to the SSR room, Carina and I are notified. This is a classroom exclusion and one of us will follow up with you to touch base about the student re-entering the next day during class. You will have called home to let parents know what happened. Terri will have given the student a copy of the 're-entry' plan they worked on with her and then please touch base with the student. It might be confusing and clunky in the beginning but as we work through the process, tweaks can be made. Appreciate your feedback and patience as we try something new.
6. I will be posting my daily schedule outside my office. Thank you, Armida, for keeping me organized!! :) Many times you happen to be in the office and need a quick touch base. If my door is open and schedule is clear COME IN!! :)
7. Mary is working on scheduling IEPs. As we know, IEP students are GEN ED students first. We need gen ed teachers at the table when conducting IEPs. It is a professional responsibility to attend the meeting which is usually outside of contract time and there won't be a 'green sheet' option. We are advocating for all of the students' gen ed teachers to attend. Mary will be using GOOGLE Calendar for invites and one identified teacher will be considered POINT person, while the others should attend if at all possible. We are going to shoot for 8:00-8:40 a.m. meetings. Thank you for supporting this important effort! Shooting for the stars! :D
8. Carina and I are still adjusting para schedules due to need. Thank you, paras, for your flexibility as we change up where you go. We will settle in here shortly.
9. I know in years passed it was for safety reasons that we covered our windows on our doors. That is no longer the case. In fact, our Risk Management team for the District has advised us that classroom windows on doors be open and visible. The risk of false accusations is much higher than that of an active shooter so to speak. If you have questions about this PLEASE ASK. It was new to me because we had done this for years at Blue Ridge for safety. You are free to uncover your windows on your doors! :D
10. I HAVE HAD PARENTS TELL ME WHAT A GREAT STAFF YOU ARE!!! When I am out and about and talking with people, they have wonderful things to say about you.. "Staff is so nice! They care about kids. My child has the best teachers all day." I'm not making this up. :) THANKS for WHAT YOU DO!!
FIRE DRILL Follow Up
This first one of the year was not bad especially since we had students gone to sporting events and subs in the building.
A few things:
1. Classroom doors need to be unlocked;
2. We need to reinforce the silent, no talking during the drill;
3. Sense of urgency needs to be heightened;
4. Total time start to finish before heading back in to the building was 9 mins.
5. We understand there was some confusion about where to line up within some of the zones--more follow up about that coming for zones affected.
Classroom Discussions
An interesting article from Jay Howard in the Chronicle of Higher Education on leading quality class discussions. Several different strategies to look over.
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