Thursday Thriller
January 14, 2021
When "I got noth'n" I have to share photos and videos of my family, right?! Little insight about me... I LOVE SLEDDING!
:D
NUTS-n-BOLTS
1. Tomorrow half day in the PM. We will talk safety measures from 12:30-1:15 ish. The rest of the time is collaboration.
2. Angie, Steve, Cesar and Alex have been making phone calls and home visits to our students who will be starting on Tuesday. As you can imagine, very excited parents. :D We are looking forward to these kiddos starting.
3. FYI Beth's classroom had tables moved out so we could make room for 16 students in the AM and 16 students in the PM upon return in our AM/PM model. We wanted to be proactive and do this so we didn't have to call parents and change AM students to PM and vise versa. The goal is to have 32 desks so that the AM students sit in one desk and the PM students sit in another. PLEASE do not email the custodians about moving anything out of your rooms. Beth was gracious and let us come in to be the guinea pig for lack of better terms :) to see what we could do. As we get closer to bringing students back I will do walk throughs with building and District admin to make sure we are safe and ready for students. UPDATE -Beth will be moving to room 168 since there is a ceiling mounted doc camera.
4. On Tuesday at 3:30 the COVID Consultant will be walking through the building with Mike Kay, custodians and myself.
5. I have been talking with colleagues around the state who have been in person in hybrid models. Northwood Middle School in the Mead District has 800 7th and 8th graders. They have been in person since October with no co-horting of students and have not had outbreaks. I am going to Zoom with the assistant principal as she shows me 'live' their school. There are schools successfully opening up that I wanted to tap into and pick their brains. Before we get to the AM/PM model we will have meetings and planning sessions. If you have concerns or questions now, please let me know.
6. Lynette is going to take over the web page; let her know if there are things that should be posted.
7. Curbside pick up on the following dates:
January 27th last names A-L 7:45-4:00
January 28th Last Names M-Z (Anyone who didn't come on the 27th -7:45-4:00
January 29th prepare leftover materials for delivery
Feb. 3-5 deliveries to home
Materials: 2nd semester planners, Chromebook cases, Math books (volume 2), 8th grade registrations materials for WA HI, library books.
Are there other materials that need to be on this pick up list? I meet with Jami and Kara tomorrow to finalize a plan. We will need staff support. Stay tuned.
8. Pam Jacobson, Mindy, Ron, Rob A, Carina, Chris G and I met this morning to discuss end of 1st semester and beginning of 2nd semester dates. Of course...LOL the end of the semester and the day of 'count' is all on one day. Because the high school has semester classes ending and new ones beginning, we decided as a group that on FRIDAY, JAN 29th students would go to ALL 6 periods (23 mins approx) and the afternoon would be NO ASYNC time (the afternoon to tie up loose ends or whatever :D) Then MONDAY, FEB 1st is an A day and the beginning of 2nd semester. I will work to get a schedule put together. Mark H will most likely be communicating this out.
9. Resource room. Met with Nate, Nate and Adam regarding students on their case loads. We want communication two-way so we have come up with an easy solution...we think. :D Pam Jacobson is going to create 'classes' for Nate, Nate, Adam that have their caseload of students in 'that class.' Weekly, Nate, Nate and Adam will print attendance and grades. If a student has an F or D, they will reach out and talk to you. IF, you the gen ed teacher (remember sped students are GEN ED students first) are going to assign an F to a resource room student you must reach out to that student's case manager and have a conversation with them. There can be some problem solving, maybe giving the student a P, etc. Here is the case management load Google Doc. Yellow highlighted students have been identified to attend in the AM on 1/19 and Blue highlighted for PM on 1/25
10. Concerns with students and/or discipline, so to speak -please send those to Steve and Angie. If it is 'big' they will bring it to me to work through. I want to make sure you are receiving the help you need in a timely manner.
Steve -7th grade students and 8th Grade M-Z (last name)
Angie - 6th grade students and 8th Grade A-L (last name)
11. Kayla Crain will be doing her counseling internship with us. Kayla is a former Pioneer student when Angie and I worked there and a WA HI grad. We are pretty excited to have her join us!! She was a go-getter in middle school and has continued that same enthusiasm!
SOMETHING to PONDER
Do you do New Year's Resolutions? For years, I tried UNSUCCESSFULLY. This year I approached my NYR with a different lens; changing habits. I bought a bullet journal and have created a 'habit tracker.' The sheer joy I get when I can color in the day for completing that habit. One of my new habits is tracking reading and reflecting. Another one is 'no spending.' I haven't been as good at this one. LOL.
Hope you find a gold nugget. :D
Why Habit Tracking
Build Better Habits WORKSHEET
Habit Tracker
QUOTE
“I’m not perfect; no, I step in shit all the time and recognize it when I do. I’ve just learned how to scrape it off my boots and carry on.”
Matthew McConaughey
Greenlights
Little Humor
