Friday Weather Report: November 11, 2011 or 11/11/11

Welcome to 11/11/11

A somewhat interesting MSNBC article about the human tendency to find meaning or patterns

in randomly occurring data. If you read it on Friday at 11:11, I'm sure it would be even more inspiring.

Please Welcome Nichole Foxhoven to Maple Grove and our preschool room! Nichole started on Monday so take time this week or next to wander down to introduce yourself. Also, please welcome back Lyndsay next week!!! We (most importantly, me) are very happy to have her back with us, starting on Tuesday!

Conferences - If you have a conference you wish for me to attend, please talk to me this week so I can get it on my calendar. Conference snacks/drinks will be available Wednesday afternoon and the meals will be coming by 3pm on Thursday. If you have booked yourself straight through on Thursday, please select a time (<-click here) that you could come down to eat prior to 4pm. I will try to find coverage.

Artifact Collection and Conferences Follow-Up: Conferences are approaching and we understand the stress level is at it's highest point. We hope the email sent out this week eases some anxiety. Please continue to send any questions or stop in to visit. Reviewing the presentations on our Wiki may be helpful too.

Book Fair Open House is Friday morning. Please stop in and enjoy some treats and take a look around!

Student Absences - If you don't see Paula's name in an email from parents about an upcoming absence, please let her know ASAP. This would include phone calls too. Please do not assume the office was notified.

Fundraising Opportunities - PTO has set up several restaurant fundraising opportunities for our staff to get involved with this year. The money raised from these events will go directly toward additional iPads for the classroom. As an individual or team (great team bonding!), sign up on the Google.doc sheet I've created. Reminders will be sent out to teachers from PTO or myself. If your team signs up and you'd like to extend your evening to enjoy some additional 'bonding time' together, let me know and I'll get those "excuses" sent to your spouse/significant other. :-) Sorry - I don't babysit though.

Contest Winners! Our "First Snow" winner is Melissa Grimm as she picked the correct day! Prize to come. Our October At-Bat winning team is the 2nd grade team (won the tie breaker with RA)! Related arts still has a commanding lead, but several teams are within striking distance. Our 3rd grade team should begin warming up their voices... :-)

Final Thoughts for the Week

Where I keep typing/talking and you

don't necessarily have to keep reading/listening.

In an article from the Fort Dodge Messenger, Iowa Director of Education, Jason Glass, references Iowa's desire to be a world class educational system. As I've told parents, teachers and anyone else who will listen, Waukee/MGE has many of the pieces outlined in the proposed blueprint already in place. That doesn't mean we can be satisfied and wait for others to "catch up" nor be happy with being ahead of the game in Iowa. I truly believe all of you constantly and consistently look for ways to improve and push yourself and your colleagues! Jason Glass states this about high-performing organizations:

"They don't stand still," he said. "All high-performing organizations

are constantly trying to improve and adapt."

Our BLT spent time reviewing data, feedback and information from our October Instructional Rounds. Most of the information shared, highlights the wonderful things that are going on at MGE. There was a lot of great things going on at MGE we were able to share with the district team and they noted many of these through their observations and data collection. The feedback also indicates areas of growth and possible next steps. When given this type of feedback, it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable but I was recently reminded by a colleague that sometimes in order to grow we need to feel a bit uncomfortable. AFTER CONFERENCES, we will begin to look at feedback from rounds and discuss where BLT sees us now and where they identified we need to go. Until then, I'll leave you with Colleen Canney's great analogy I found this morning:

If you feel too comfortable in life it probably means you are not growing as an individual. By nature growth is uncomfortable. As a child I experienced Charley Horses, otherwise known as growing pains, in my legs. I would wake-up in the middle night because I was uncomfortable. This is part of growing. Whether it is physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental growth, if you want to evolve and develop as an individual, be prepared to experience a certain level of discomfort.

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At-Bat Song Contest - Group C (November)!Two months down and November kicks off with a couple "old school" hitsand some more modern picks. This months separates the contenders from the pretenders!Good luck! Third grade, you can phone a friend this month.