January 28, 2011

Staff Meeting - Friday morning's staff meeting begins at 8am with a team builder provided by our 2nd grade team and treats from our 5th grade team.  Fran Gorde will be here from 8:05-8:20 to talk about our Employee Assistance program and Dr. Brad Buck will be speaking from 8:20-8:35 to staff about ITBS administration.  Only staff who administer the ITBS assessment will need to stay. 

Thanks A-Latte - I've placed the box and slips in the teacher's lounge.  Please stop in and recognize one of your colleagues by writing down a "kudos" for them.  In addition to having a name drawn, I'd like to begin including the kudos on the FWR.  A nice way to recognize a colleague who is working hard/smart during these winter months!


Conference Sheets - After Friday, Paula will make a copy of all conference sheets and place them in your box.  Teachers need to schedule conferences for parents who did not sign up over the past two weeks.  You may assign and call parents of their time OR you may call parents and offer times.  Bottom line - all parents need a time and the times need to be communicated.  When all conferences are scheduled, please turn in a copy to Paula that indicates it is a final copy.

Assessment Data - Friday is the last day to enter DIBELS!  You winter assessment data should be emailed to Lyndsay, Leslie and I when you complete your assessment data sheet.  Many of you are using the Excel sheet I created at the beginning of the year.  If you or your team is not using this and would like to - please see me.  It makes it easier to compare grade level data for your team.

Speaking of Assessment - If third, fourth and fifth grade teams would like additional support with using MAP assessment data should let me know.  We have not spent much (if any) time on this as a group so I'd (and Leslie would too!) be happy to assist anyway I can in using the data to drive instruction and helping teachers differentiate.

Valentine's Party - We will run an early out related arts schedule on Thursday, February 10, in order to accommodate for our 2:30p Valentine's parties.  Please ensure your parents are aware of the date/time of the party and any other communication that goes along with the party for your classroom/grade level.  What response would I get from a listserv email to parents of "No sweets, please"?  I'll wait to try that next year. :-)

PTO Update - On the Border will be hosting a "Maple Grove Elementary" night on Monday, February 7th.  You should be getting information about it from PTO soon to help promote it with parents.  Our PTO (and us in turn) will receive 10% of sales that evening so join us and promote it with your parents!  Mark your calendards...the PTO will be hosting our Spring Carnival at Maple Grove on Saturday, April 10th from 2-4 pm.

Cover Me winner for this week is Sara Harvey. Your check is in the mail though. Sorry - I don't babysit.  Previous winners better cash in before it warms up!!  :-)

Monday - Rescheduled BLT Mtg (8am)	Monday, Feb 7 - SPED Mtg (8am) - MGE's On the Border night
Tuesday - 5th Grade TI (8am) - 1st-2nd PLC (8am) - PLC+ K-AM; 3rd-PM	Tuesday, Feb 8 - K-2 PLC (8am) - District Technology Mtg (AM)
Wednesday - 2nd Grade TI (8am) - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Early Out PD (Bldg: Prob Solving)	Wednesday, Feb 9 - 1st Grade TI (8am) - 3-5 PLC (8am) - District Language Arts Mtg
Thursday - District Admin Mtg (AM-Barry/Marron)	Thursday, Feb 10 - Character Council (8am) - Valentine Party (2:30-3:15)
Friday - Rescheduled Problem Solving Core (8am) - MAP ends - Barry absent 2-5pm	Friday, Feb 11 - Teacher Work Day - Elem Admin Mtg (PM)

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Okay...so you're probably wondering why I posted this video and what, if anything, it has to do with school, education, learning or...well, anything!  This video was one of the top 10 shared/viewed videos last week (poor, poor, girl) on the web so I've now seen it on the nightly news, while waiting to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist and forwarded from friend...and I just keep thinking..."How come she doesn't see that big pool of water?? Hello!!! Was something she was texting that important to block out everything else around her!!"   Then I thought...hmm...where has my focus been lately?  I feel like I've been entrenched in my office the past week with the blinders on trying to get 'stuff done' and have neglected the big-picture - kids, classrooms, teachers, parents, home, etc.  I talked to almost everyone this summer before school started and asked the question many time - "How do you balance work (parents, students, colleagues, papers, emails, meetings, etc.) and life outside of work?"  It's important that we find a way!!  If we focus too much on just one thing (texting in the case above), we lose out on the big picture.  February 1st is approaching and it may be a great time for all of us...me included...to check our surroundings and determine if we are in balance.  Otherwise...we may all end up wet....or worse - all over the web.  ;-)

He who balances and laughs, lasts

Doug

January 21, 2011

Staff Meeting is scheduled for January 28th.  The 2nd grade will be doing a team builder and the 5th grade will be providing snacks.  Thank you in advance!  Fran Gorde will be here to talk to our entire staff about employee assistance program and Dr. Brad Buck will be speaking to staff who administer the ITBS assessment at the end of the meeting.


Recess - Inside or outside, teachers need to be ready to pick kids up or be in the room a couple minutes prior to the end of recess.

Attendance - Please put the attendance/lunch count sheets Paula gave you in your sub folders.  We need to ensure our subs have access to the form to use so we stay on top of attendance.

Classroom Rewards - You have been very creative this year with your classroom rewards.  Many were brainstormed during one of our initial PBIS professional development days and I have heard students getting excited about upcoming celebration days.  One class reward I would like discontinued is "electronic's day."  For many reasons, I would encourage teachers to come up with another classroom reward - one person had a great idea for substituting something else in this day - take your entire class to the computer lab to play games on the computers.  I appreciate teachers giving this your attention and if you have specific questions, let me know.

Cover Me certificate this week goes to Heather Morey!  I'm hoping she picks her lunch break for me to cover.

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

I'd say this piece of the FWR is back-by-popular-demand, but I am not sure anyone noticed it had been missing.  :-)  Sometime down the road, our staff will take a look at the parent survey results from the online survey that was offered to the parents of Waukee students this past fall.  This week, I received and had a chance to look through the results and comments myself.  I must admit, I do get frustrated when people are not 100% satisfied with what I am doing and to my surprise (no really) the results did not come back 100% satisfied!  I know that many of you bust your rear end every single day to meet the needs of kids, parents and each other and the results are telling me that what we, and I, do may not be good enough for everyone. We may need to do more.  So....what does that mean for me?  For our Building Leadership Team?  For our office staff?  For our teachers?  Our associates?  Our nutrition team?  Buildings and grounds? ...etc., etc., etc.  

The good news (and there is much to share) is the the survey results tell me that Maple Grove Elementary is "good."  The feedback is we are doing well or very well in many areas and in many specific things individuals do, or our teams and our building does for kids.  My thought is to not be satisfied with being good and begin to ask myself, "How can we do better tomorrow than we did today?"  Jim Collins summarizes better than I can when he says...

Monday - SPED Team Mtg (8am) - MAP begins! - PTO Mtg @ 7pm (no teacher presentation)	Monday, Jan 31 - MOVED BLT Mtg (8am)
Tuesday - PLC+ (1st AM / 4th PM) - K/2 PLC (8am) - 2nd grade music practice - 2nd Gr Music Program (6:30 @ WHS)	Tuesday, Feb 1 - 5th Grade TI (8am) - K-2 PLC (8am) - PLC+ K-AM; 3rd-PM
Wednesday - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Early Out PD (district TBA)	Wednesday, Feb 2 - 2nd Grade TI (8am) - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Early Out PD (Bldg: Prob Solving)
Thursday - District Soc Stds Curriculum Mtg	Thursday, Feb 3 - District Admin Mtg (AM-Barry/Marron)
Friday - LAST DAY to enter DIBELS - Staff Mtg (8am)  **2nd-Team Build / 5th-treats - Conference sign up ends	Friday, Feb 4 - MAP ends

January 14, 2011

As mentioned last Friday...

Today is Sam Van Gorp and Cassandre Dirks last day in their long-term positions!  I truly appreciate the both of them stepping in and doing a wonderful job with their students and teams.  As I said - it is not good bye - but "thanks and see you soon!" 

Which means...

We are excited to welcome back Tara and Kacey to the Maple Grove family.  Each of them have busy taking care of their own family (rightfully so!) and we are glad they are back with us. I'm sure a PD/work day is a great way to ease back in to it, right?

Benchmarking should not be a "woulda-coulda-shoulda" assessment in that each teacher needs to record the benchmarking 'score' the student gets the day you benchmark.  I understand a student may have an off day and I understand a teacher's desire to mark it up based on prior work with the student (i.e. "I know Cindy is an E reader, not the D she benchmarked at today!").  Just like we cannot add 15 points to a MAP score or move a child from the 37th percentile to the 44th percentile on ITBS based on classroom performance, we need to record the benchmark results during that specific window.  This may not have been stated explicitly in the past so I wanted to take the time to do so before we get full-gear into our winter benchmarking!  Questions - as always - see me.  


Lunch - To encourage healthy eating habits, we need to allow students as much time to eat as the schedule allows.  Each lunch time has 25 minutes so students should be at their seats eating for at least 20 minutes.  I know this becomes more difficult on some days than others.  A "trick" that I have seen work for a couple lunch supervisors is having students at a voice level zero the last 5 minutes to allow for more eating than talking.  I would never encourage an entire lunch period at that level but please find that balance.  


Flashback Announcement - Through a parent conversation today, I was reminded of one of my previous FWR items.  Going back and rereading it again today, I realized I was not very explicit.  The expectation of me is to respond to parents within in 48 hours - I would expect the same from everyone at Maple Grove.  I hope that clarifies "timely manner" and I apologize for not being explicit.  (from Dec 10)  Responsibility to Our Public - Please make every effort to return phone calls or emails from parents (or community members) in a timely manner.  I know that we all lead a busy life so sometimes a quick phone message or email in response to a parent's email to let them know you got the message and will get back to them as soon as you can will help.  As mentioned at the start of the year, we are 'public servants' and to provide the best customer service, we need to ensure we respond in a timely manner.  Something you may want to watch closely is your SPAM summary email each day as some of our parent emails may be getting caught up in that 'web.'  If you don't know how to fix it - see Carrie or I.  We can help!!


Hiring Process - Our HR Director, Duane Magee, met with our Building Leadership Team Thursday morning to discuss the Waukee hiring practices and to help clarify some questions that have been asked by staff and applicants.  BLT members will be sharing this information with your teams in the near future.  


1/2 Way Point - The end of the semester does not mean too much in the elementary world here in Waukee but it does mean its time to switch duties for those before and after school teams who split the year up by semester!  Plan (and dress) accordingly!  Please also share tricks/tips that have worked with the team replacing you.  


I'm not a fan of Inside Recess but it does take place on occasion.  To assist our recess associate, Ryan Lenerz, and other staff who may move from one duty to another, please be back in your room at least 3 minutes prior to the end of recess.  


FOSS Kits - The message below is from Lacey Miller regarding FOSS refill ordering this coming spring.  There are "refill sheets" provided in the folders within the kits.  You should  track those needs as the year progresses so that the process Lacey outlines below is easy come end of May!  Live critters would still be ordered as needed.  Questions - let me know. 


I am sending out this email concerning an email I sent out to the elementary teachers last week regarding FOSS ordering.  I decided that it is just going to be easier to order all kits at once instead of the method that was previously being utilized.  With that being said I will send out your respected FOSS  kit refills [sheets] on May 23, 2011, and those will need to be turned in by May 27th.  This means thru out the year teachers will be responsible of keeping track of what items they will need from their kits for the next school year.  The nice thing is too, is that you will have all kits at the beginning of the year.


I am really excited about implementing this with all of you as I think it will be a smoother process, and put the teachers in more control as well.  As we all know they are the best judge of when and what time of the year their kids needs to be taught these kits.  I have had nothing but positive feedback regarding this ordering change, which is great!

Grant Opportunity - Please see the Grant Opportunity link on this page for a new one added this week, the Alpha Gamma Literacy Grant. 

Cover Me winner for week two is Pam Mefford!!  I wonder if I'll need to wear my coat to cover this one?!?  Hmm....

Horrace Mann -  Annette Munoz will be in the teachers lounge Tue. 18th and Thur. 20th from 10:50a to 1:30p.  She said if "they would like me to run a quote for them, to come down to the lounge on one of those days.  Please let them know that I would like a copy of either auto/homeowners policies if at all possible.  This allows me to compare apples to apples and give them the best rate. It should only take about 10 minutes for me to gather the information I need."  This is voluntary.

Monday - T.Broich & Beyer return! - Bldg PD (8-10am) - Teacher Work Day (10a-4p)	Monday, Jan 24 - SPED Team Mtg (8am) - MAP begins! - PTO Mtg (Van Meter/Marron present) 7pm
Tuesday - DIBELs begins (ends Jan 25)- K-2 PLC (8am) - 3rd Gr TI Mtg @ 8am	Tuesday, Jan 18 - PLC+ (1st AM / 4th PM) - K/2 PLC (8am) - 2nd grade music practice - 2nd Gr Music Program (6:30 @ WHS)
Wednesday - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Kindergarten TI Mtg @ 8am	Wednesday, Jan 19 - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Kindergarten TI Mtg @ 8am - Early Out PD (district TBA)
Thursday - Character Council (8am) - Barry @ Instructional Rnds @ PVS - Elementary PAC Mtg (4:30 p @ SE) - Potluck for lunch!	Thursday, Jan 20 - District Soc Stds Curriculum Mtg
Friday - Nothing scheduled?!?  I can schedule a meeting if you'd like.  Let's vote.	Friday, Jan 21 - LAST DAY to enter DIBELS - Staff Mtg (8am)  **2nd-Team Build / 5th-treats - Conference sign up ends

January 10, 2011

Drake Practicum Student - Please contact Alicia <soepracticum@drake.edu> soon if you're interested in hosting a Drake student this semester.  She is still in need of host teachers.  You do not need to have taught in Waukee for a certain number of years. Please contact Alicia directly.

Problem Solving Steps - The "seven easy steps" during the problem solving process are attached and are posted on the Wiki on the Problem Solving link.  We hope Lyndsay and my explanation clears up some confusion.  Continue asking questions!

Cover Me Certificates - I remembered the other thing I was going to mention Friday morning.  During the "dark days" between now and Spring Break, I'll be drawing a staff members name each week to win a "Cover Me" certificate.  The staff member will earn 30 minutes of coverage by me.  This week's winner is Amy Adamson!   Your certificate will be in your mailbox.  

The Treasure Box from Horrace Mann is in my office has lots o GREAT prizes!!  Come check it out!  You may send your January student down to the office anytime during the month and I do like the idea of tying it in to your classroom PBIS plan.  

Root Beer Floats - Thank you to everyone for getting your attendance completed on Friday.  It is extremely important everyone does attendance twice a day!!  There is plenty of extra ice cream in the freezer and root beer in the fridge so please help your self on Monday! 

January 7, 2011

Changes in Schedule - I feel like the only thing I've been talking/thinking about is the "change in schedule" for our kindergarten and 3rd grade.  Schedules for the new related arts and lunch/recess duties were placed in your box on Wednesday (Wiki too).  Please throw away the old schedules!!  The changes will take place Friday and just some things to note:  

• 3rd grade will eat first, at 10:50 am, starting January 7th except (there's always an exception, isn't there?) on early out days.  Our early out lunch, recess and related arts schedule will remain the same as it is now (i.e. kindergarten at 10:50a and 3rd grade at 12:05p). The short answer to why is...because.  If you want the longer reason, see me.  :-)  
• The parents of kindergarten and 3rd grade students received a note and email about the changes this week.
• The changes will allow all four of our kindergarten associates to be engaged with kindergarten students for 160 minutes versus the 120 minutes they currently spend with them prior to the change.  
• The changes will also provide a 20 minute intervention support 'block' to our 1st & 2nd grade students too.
• I appreciate everyone's flexibility - specifically the 3rd grade, kindergarten, SPED and related arts teams!!

Waukee Foundation Donation - The annual Waukee Foundation Dinner and Auction will be February 5th at the Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines.  This year, the staff at Maple Grove will be donating 1/3 of the "jean day" donations to the Waukee Foundation team to allow them to use the money for purchasing needed items for the auction. We will present the Foundation with $315.  If you wanted to add to that donation, see me early next week. Perry Washburn is the Auction Chair and he emailed me with additional ideas - click here to read his email.  After reading his message - if you have additional ideas or items to donate, please see or email me.


Assessments - DIBELs and Benchmarking begins on January 18th.  Sub schedules are out.  A reminder to our 3-5 teachers is that if you complete benchmarking prior to the end of your sub's time, please send her/him down to a primary grade to help out.  Our MAP assessment has been postponed until later in the month (Carrie emailed those involved) and will begin on January 24th.  A revised schedule to come.  ...and believe it or not, ITBS for 3rd-5th is right around the corner: February 15-17.  More information to come regarding ITBS.  


PBIS Expectations - If you have not already started, please take time to revisit/reteach our PBIS expectations by January 14th.  Each of you should have the pink sheet detailing the lessons that need to be retaught.  If you cannot track your sheet down - please see Kelli, Nicole or Lyndsay.


TQ Observations/Work - I will be working with Leslie to assist teams in getting their Teacher Quality plans into action over the next couple months.  We will be working with the district calendar and your schedules to find time that works for everyone. 


PTO Meeting - Thank you in advance to Kelli for volunteering to present at the January PTO meeting.  She will be talking to parents about our PBIS program.  I do need (PLEASE!!) teachers to sign up for the remaining slots this year.  The PTO loves to hear about what is going on in the classrooms, within your teams and our building.  The sign up is located in the work room on the mailbox counter.  


Parent Teacher Schedules - Emailed everyone Tuesday regarding PT conference schedules. Please, please read through the 'directions' prior to completing your schedule.  

Monday - PBIS Core Mtg (8am) - Barry absent after 2pm	Monday, Jan 17  - T.Broich & Beyer return! - Bldg PD (8-10am) - Teacher Work Day (10a-4p)
Tuesday - K-2 PLC (8am) - 4th Gr TI Mtg @ 8am - Barry absent until 10am	Tuesday, Jan 18 - DIBELs begins (ends Jan 25)- K-2 PLC (8am) - 3rd Gr TI Mtg @ 8am
Wednesday - 3-5 PLC (8am) - 1st Gr TI Mtg @ 8am - Code 411 Begins	Wednesday, Jan 19 - 3-5 PLC (8am) - Kindergarten TI Mtg @ 8am
Thursday - Character Council (8am) - Building BLT Mtg with Duane Magee (8am) - District Language Curriculum Mtg	Thursday, Jan 20 - Character Council (8am) - Barry @ Instructional Rnds @ PVS - Elementary PAC Mtg (4:30 p @ SE)
Friday - Problem Solving Mtg (8am) - 5th Grade Hall of Pride Trip (AM) - Barry @ Elem Admin Mtg (PM)	Friday, Jan 21