April 29, 2011

Please help me welcome three new colleagues to our Maple Grove Family! We had many talented interview candidates teach within our classrooms and share their passions with our interview team the past couple weeks and a tough decision lead us to hiring...

• Stacy Roberts will join our 4th grade team. Many of you know Stacy as she has served multiple grades and students as an associate here at Maple Grove and has subbed in many of your rooms too! Stacy volunteered to take on an intervention group this year in the 2nd grade and has helped out in many other areas throughout her time in the district. Prior to being in Waukee, Stacy was a kindergarten teacher in Perry.
• Katie Kerns will also be joining the 4th grade team this fall. Katie worked as an associate at Maple Grove last year and has completed multiple long term subbing positions in the district this year. Currently she is in Mrs. Strack's room to finish out the year. 
• Becky Goerend will be our fourth member of the 5th grade team next fall. Becky comes highly recommended from the Wapsie Valley and Earlham districts. Currently, Becky teaches 6th grade in Earlham. She will bring some phenomenal energy and technology skills to our building and we look forward to her joining us this summer!

Assessment Window - In an email from Leslie this week, she highlighted the days assessment data is due. DIBELs needs to be entered by May 12 and benchmarking data by May 20. We extended the benchmarking period to allow some extra instructional days for you before you benchmark some of your below grade level students for the last time this year. Questions - talk to Leslie or I.

May 4 PD - Carrie and Leslie will be leading PD next Wednesday. As mentioned, it will be focused on integrating technology within your literacy instruction. Please complete the Google.doc form by May 1st. Click on your grade level tab at the bottom of the page and include product, objective, prep, skills needed, time frame, and any links/resources needed to complete the project. Please list all or as many of the projects you have done or can remember doing - Carrie

Summer Learning Opportunities! A couple learning and collaborating opportunities for Maple Grove staff will take place summer.  If you have not already filled out the survey, please complete the Summer Learning Kickoff and the Summer Retreat calendar polls sometime soon.  The Summer Learning Kickoff in June will include learning about using social networking (Twitter) to create your own professional learning network (PLNs) and allow staff to dig deeper into such topics as interventions, co-teaching, project based learning and integrating technology. Our retreat in July will be an opportunity to partake in some team building activities and allow staff to share some of their learning and ideas around those four concepts. If you cannot attend the kickoff in June, but want to partake in the learning, please talk to Carrie, Leslie and I. Our May 3rd staff meeting will provide more information and time for questions.


Allington Workshop - The Problem Solving Core team attended the Richard Allington workshop in Indianola yesterday. Your grade level team member can provide you a summary but we will also be 'digesting' his information at our next PSC meeting and we can already see some neat ideas that we can use from our learning yesterday!


Calendar - Please continue to refer to my Google calendar below and the "events" calendar in the copy room. Add your dates to that calendar and I'll ensure they get added to the Google calendar.


Maternity Leave - Duane Magee sent an email this week to remind staff to email Kate Boettcher as soon as possible with a maternity leave request. If this involves you :-) please email her soon.

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

I'm sure none of you feel the way the principal below feels and most days, I don't feel that way either. :-)  The cartoon made me think of a couple of things though. (1) There are kids at Maple Grove who feel this way and it is our job to fix it. We need to make sure we provide the safest and most caring environment we can for kids during the time they are in our care because we cannot control the other 17 hours of their lives no matter how hard we try. (2) We need to be there for kids. Physically and mentally. You do not have an easy job - others may not understand that - but I do!  You take home their anger, their stress, their sadness at times. ...but you also have the power to provide respect, joy, laughter and happiness for them. The kids need us and I appreciate all you do to focus on being present for kids.  ...and I'll keep dragging myself out of bed too.  ;-) 

April 22, 2011

No School Monday - Happy Easter Weekend!

DIBELs and Benchmarking schedules are set and have been sent to BLT members. Assessment day will begin on May 2nd. Teachers should use the recording forms and final data sheets should be turned in to me (preferably via email) sometime in May.

Final Data - Many teachers tied their ITPDP to year-end data. If the data was not present at our annual conference, you would just need to write up a brief summary after your spring assessments are complete. Email/drop off the summary to your evaluator so it can be added to your reflection you have turned in already. As for data folders, I will be talking to BLT members to make sure we have the necessary information and sheets available to teams to get those completed correctly.

Year End Check-Out - Hard to believe we are talking about year end check-out procedures already, but we have less than 30 days of school! Check out sheets will be delivered to boxes sometime near the end of May. The last day of school is Friday, June 3 and the last day for certified staff is Monday, June 6. The teacher workday will be 8am until 2pm.

Dates to Note - In addition to field trips and other events being posted on my Google calendar (it's fixed,  by the way!!), a large calendar will be posted in the office (lounge or copy room) by Monday. Please write up any event your classroom or team/students are hosting, attending, etc.  We will even have a different color for each grade level because I'm coordinated like that (actually it was a strongly suggested comment from a high-C colleague :-). This will allow us to be on the same page as we hit the final home-stretch for 2010-11. Look for it by Monday and begin filling it out!

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Positive Phone Calls - I do confess...I tend to make a much larger percentage of 'negative' phone calls or emails to parents than I make positive ones (the ratio is embarrassing really). In fact, this past week was the first positive phone call home I've made with two students in a long time. You know what though? It felt really good and it was fun! The parents were very proud of their child and thankful for the call. It took me less time than when I make the 'negative' calls because I didn't have to document it nor explain an entire series of events that lead up to the phone call to the parents. Instead, we just celebrated...and one mom cried. Not the tears I sometimes see or hear from parents...but those good tears you see when you catch someone, maybe even me, watching the really touching scene from a movie like Dumbo (hey - I have a weak spot for baby elephants - don't we all??). So - I'm challenging myself (and you, of course), to make one positive phone call a day between now and the end of the year. Twenty-eight phone calls. Twenty-eight happy parents. Twenty-eight times to get to feel really good about being an educator and an opportunity to truly enjoy the ability we have to touch lives in a positive way.

April 15, 2011

Teachers, Just a reminder that spelling challenge packets should go home today.  When communicating with parents how many words you will be testing them on from the list, please remind them that this is an optional fundraiser.  

Thanks so much for all your support.

Maple Grove PTO

ITPDPs are due today! The ones received so far look great and I've had a chance to do an initial review of portfolios - thank you for the putting in the hard work to get these completed on time! Additional data and reflections can be brought with you to your conference of emailed/dropped off later.

DIBELS/Benchmark assessments will begin on May 2nd and will be conducted like we did in the winter. A schedule will be developed and emailed out to BLT members in the near future.

Thank you to all the staff members who attended a Bang Bang fundraiser night over the past three weeks. Once I get the total amount raised, I will let you all know. If someone has them from last night, please return the receipts to the office.

Staffing Update - 4th/5th grade interviews are still in process. Kindergarten and special education screening and interviewing taking place within the next two weeks. We have tons of highly talented applicants!

ESL Summer Opportunity - FREE SUMMER WORKSHOP!!  There are $125 stipends (registration is only $100!) available from the Department of Education if you are interested in attending this summer's Our Kids Conference in Johnston. I have attended the conference a couple times and it is well worth the time as workshops and presenters talk about strategies that work well with ESL students and are good for all kids! We already have two administrators and six teachers in the district going so please join them! If interested, visit the registration page and put in the following number: ES006232311201  Please let me know if you are planning on attending.

Upcoming PD includes PBIS next Wednesday and technology integration on May 4th.

The 2011-12 Newly Approved Calendar can be found on our website now. Please review and let parents know through your newsletter.

PTO Update: The Spelling Challenge begins today with information going home with students. Please review the information with students prior to sending it home today. The Carnival was awesome! Thank you to everyone who helped during this event. I had numerous students and parents comment about how great it was to have a fun, free event and how nice it was to have staff members there. Next meeting is Monday, April 18 - Tara Broich will be getting parents involved in a WTW activity. Thanks Tara!

Bug Update - Several staff members have stated that the little black clover mites are starting to come in the rooms again. The inside was sprayed this week and he should be back next week to spray the outside. I have also talked to Bryce and turned in a request to have the windows sealed better which should help. Keep us posted.  As for the spiders...well, I'm sure they eat the mites. ;-)

Website of the Week

I would love to hear from a team that finds a way to use this site with how you approach formative assessments It has potential. Flubaroo is designed to automatically grade assignments that are administered via Google Forms. It also gives teachers some analytics, highlighting questions that 60% of the class failed to get right and creating histograms of grade distributions. Flubaroo will also email each student their grade, along with the answer key.

April 8, 2011

Join the Killer-B's at Bang Bang Mongolian Grill tonight from 5:30-7:30pm!

Broich, Broich, Beyers and Barry!

Jump Rope Assembly - Please refer to JoAnna's email about the jump rope assembly tomorrow (Friday). Our 3rd-5th graders should be packed up and ready to go in the rooms prior to heading down to the gym as the assembly will end near dismissal time.

PTO Carnival!! Please remind students today of our PTO Carnival taking place this Saturday from 2-4pm! It is a great FREE event for Maple Grove families. Please bring your own family to help out and partake! The raffle baskets look AWESOME!!

Also this Weekend - 2nd grader, Callie Willham, and Tara Broich will be recognized during a ceremony at Barnes and Noble this weekend. Callie's essay, My Favorite Teacher, written about Tara was chosen as the store winner!  The ceremony will be 11:00 am at the Barnes and Noble located at 4550 University Avenue in West Des Moines. It is open to staff, family and friends.  They are also running an Educator Appreciation week were teachers receive 25% off books, games and puzzles all week. In addition, there will be coffee, treats, free classroom materials, prizes and a chance to win a $500 gift card for any teacher who comes! The B&N at Jordan Creek will have their open house from 1-3 pm so you can hit both ($25 gift card door prize)!!

Building Use - If you are using the building in the evening for something more than just you (e.g. PTO event, book club, etc.), you must secure the room/building area through Sonya Nelson at district office.

Spring MAP Begins next week. This is our last go around with MAP this school year. Please follow the schedule Carrie emailed out to teachers.

Class Roster Meetings will begin later this month. A memo will be coming out next week with the schedule and details. BLT members should facilitate these conversations. Any questions about the process after the memo comes out, please see me.

Access Cards - If you were assigned an access card and you do not know where it is, you need to contact Amy Patters immediately so it can be deactivated and you can be assigned a new one. This is a safety issue. Thanks!

Recess Reminder - Better weather does not always equal better behavior. As mentioned before, staff on duty should be proactive by spreading out (1+1 does not equal 2 analogy) and engage with students who are 'playing' rough during recess.

Staffing Update - The hiring season has officially started! Interviews for 4th grade will begin next week so we will have several guests in the building.

PTO Spelling Challenge - You will receive a letter in your box explaining the upcoming Spelling Challenge fundraiser the PTO is trying this spring. Please review the information you are sending home and the note for you. Encourage students to participate but it is not mandatory! It is something new for Maple Grove so feedback during and after the process is helpful.

Other Important Dates to Note - Google Calendar below is the final word
Mon - PBIS Core meeting
Tues - 1st & 5th swap lunch; 5th grade Fine Arts Night (6pm)
Thur - Language Arts curriculum mtg
Fri - PTO Spelling Challenge begins
Fri - ITPDPs due via email to Marron/Barry
Fri - Barry hosts Elem Admin mtg

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Why Tweet? - I will admit, I'm new to the Tweeting world. My wife finds it funny that I'm on it now because I often made fun of Twitter and had also recently quit Facebook because I just ran out of time and energy to keep up with it (and multiple other reasons that don't fit in the FWR). I have found Twitter worthwhile from the educational and personal learning end and have been amazed at how many resources can be harnessed with a simple post or five minutes of reading. Dr. Buck had sent out a link to an article, How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN (Personal Learning Network), a while back (not sure if was to everyone or just admin) that is worth sharing in case you didn't get a chance to read it. If you're on Twitter, you can find me at @djbarry98.  PS - That's my youngest, Lewis, in the Spidey mask, not me. :-)