August 22, 2011

A few items to start the week (Friday seems too far away to wait)...

Oldest & Only - Please email Paula the number of "oldest & only" in your classroom today. How do you find out? Pretty complicated and techie - you just ask "How many of you are the oldest brother/sister here at Maple Grove?" and count the hands. When all the dust clears from summer registration, I'm sure there is a way to get it from our PS system. Until then, Paula needs your help. :-)

Teacher Websites - I have had several questions asked of me on Friday an over the weekend about your teacher/classroom websites and whether you should introduce them to parents or wait until you are given more information about our new website. Carrie and I met on Friday and we will be spending some time going over the new website and everyone will create their own 'home page' on our website.  The general guidelines we received from DO about keeping your current sites is below. We feel sites like Shutterfly and any site that you may have learned about this summer that would encourage student blogging/parent interaction will be okay to maintain and you will be able to link it to your homepage eventually. Sites that use advertising will not be allowed anymore. If you have a question about a site you're currently using, see Carrie or I.

District Curriculum Teams - Lyndsay has entered subs for all teachers involved in our district curriculum teams. An advanced "thank you" for all the work each of you will do this school year to keep us on the cutting edge of curriculum, instruction and assessment!  To view the teams and schedule, go to the curriculum tab on my blog.

From District Office regarding websites:

There was also a question regarding outside websites that have already been created by teachers for various reasons.  The general rules of thumb is: 

• If the site is used for communication with parents and/r students, the district template must be used.  For example, if it is something that students or parents would reference to gather information about a team or class, homework assignments, or upcoming events, it MUST use the Waukee template.  
• If the site is used as a learning tool (i.e. blogging about books, web quests, etc.) or as a work management tool (i.e. Edmodo), then teachers can continue to use that site.  The purpose of using the Waukee templates is so a parent can just go to the Waukee website and have access to all their students' teachers in one place.