February 24, 2012

Problem Solving Core team met with Jordan Lill and Penny Hudson this past week. Hopefully your PSC member shared some of the learning/discussion with your team. We also have set a "funnel" date for AEA referrals for March 25. Any teacher looking to move a student from supplemental to intensive should meet with Doug/Lyndsay PRIOR to spring break to discuss the student and the data. 


Conference reminders should go out next week for any student/parent who did not schedule their own conference. The majority of these students would be IEP/ESL students and their sibling(s). Please work with your SPED/ESL teacher to make sure those reminders go home (email or hard copy). You can print your schedule and post it outside your room prior to conferences.


Celebrate Reading Week - Please refer to the email from Pam regarding the schedule for next week. Reminder that there will be no early out schedule run on Friday and the assembly begins at 2:45pm. We will call down classrooms/grades. 


Procedures/policy for resources obtained from Donor's Choose are in the works and will be presented to BLT prior to being rolled out to all staff. If you have an item posted or are thinking of posting an item please read through current board policy and Donor's Choose policy as those are current guiding policies. Understand that both policies read that items obtained through grants, donations and sites such as DonorsChoose do become property of the school district/classroom. We're working on the details (i.e. item moving with teacher). Stay tuned. :-) 

If you type in "the laminator" in the search box on this site, my hope is it has less hits than "instruction" or "assessment." :-) With that said, the update on the laminator is we will be securing two well trained parent volunteers to begin processing teachers' lamination projects on a regular basis. The schedule will be posted above the laminator and a container will be under the table for you to drop off lamination. You will be able to attach your name and simple directions if needed when you drop it off. We hope this service helps teachers AND helps Paula/Shelley keep the laminator in working order.

February At-Bat Songs!

 Turn in your cards by March 1st!

This month's contestants include:

Miller, Steenhoek, Whipps, Schleisman, Costa
Arp, Goerend, Millsap, Marron, Beyer

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Simply the Best - Tina Turner

Regulators - Warren G

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

February 17, 2012

ITBS Iowa Assessments Wrap-Up - Please refer to Lyndsay's email from Thursday regarding the procedures to follow PRIOR to turning materials back in to the office. It is EXTREMELY important all the steps are followed before you bring them down to us. Questions? Let us know.

Conference Scheduler window closes this week. As of now we have just shy of 80% of our students scheduled.  We have extended the deadline and parents have until 11:59 pm Sunday night to schedule their conference. Starting next Monday, each teacher would need to log in to the website to check which students have not been scheduled and schedule them online yourself. Entering them on your schedule is a must! You will need to call the parents to let them know the time and know that reminder emails from the site are only sent out to parents who completed the online process themselves. All parents will not be able to access the scheduler after Sunday

Professional Development on February 22 will be district wide and within your grade level or content related teams. You should have received an email from the instructional coach (or Sharon) working with your team as to the location, time and brief "what to bring" message. The intent of next week is casual conversation around your PLC process, your current goal/action plan, and sharing of resources and ideas!

The laminator was moved to the office copy room. We hope this helps with the issue of running through 3 rolls of lamination in less than a month. I appreciate you laminating items of need only and working with parent volunteers to do so efficiently if you are having them laminate your materials. As with any work area, please make sure you pick up after yourself in the copy room too! We did look in to a more efficient laminator, but I felt taking space on the playground or gym was not a good idea. ;-)


PSC Team meeting was moved to next Monday morning at 8:00 am and we will be meeting with Jordan and Penny.

Staff meeting is set for next Friday, February 24 at 8:00 am. Guests will be our very own, Dr. Wilkerson, and Fran Gorde from EFR Employee & Family Resources. Any team want to provide treats?? Thank you in advance for volunteering.


Rebranding Teachers - A blog I ran across this week was a great reminder for me as to how much change we have seen in education and the "art of teaching" over the past 10, 20, 50 or 100 years and their attempt to represent the work you (teachers) do in a more modern fashion.

Teachers are currently represented by uninspiring, childish visual imagery. Images like apples, chalkboards, and the ABCs neither revere the profession of teaching nor do justice to the intellectual and creative development teachers help guide in students of all ages.

The blog on the Studio 360 website is worth reading and seeing how they are attempting to 'rebrand' teachers to fit the work you do in connecting students to meaningful content and learning.

February At-Bat Songs!

 Being a farm boy myself, I can relate to one of our songs

this week. ;-) The hits keep rolling...

This month's contestants include:

Miller, Steenhoek, Whipps, Schleisman
Arp, Goerend, Millsap, Marron

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy - Kenny Chesney

(TWO CHOSE THIS ONE!!) Good Life - One Republic

February 10, 2012

Kathy Richardson math assessments viewed during a previous PD have been ordered (click here to read more about them). When they arrive, I will let teams know. We may have future PD devoted to collaboration and questions around this resource if there is need. Please communicate this with your BLT member.


Iowa Assessments for 3rd-5th graders start on Tuesday (why not on Valentines' Day, right?) so all students should move through the halls in a mindful and quiet manner to help keep our students focused! Testing will take place from 9:00-10:30 am Tuesday-Thursday but there will be pockets of kids testing throughout the building each day.


Pizza Ranch night is approaching: February 27th! Thank you to those who signed up for the first shift! We are still looking for 3-4 more for the 2nd shift (6:45p-8:45p). Please sign up here. PTO is using the funds to help us purchase additional iPads for the classroom.


Know what's really embarrassing?  Yes...wearing a checker design on the back of your head all weekend and to the Eason carnival, but even more embarrassing is calling a parent to ask them if their child is home sick and finding out the child is at school that day. This has happened several times in recent weeks and it is something that should be prevented. If you mark a child absent and they show up without a pass, you must call down so Paula can make the necessary changes.


Please complete the online training for the Overview of State Requirements Regarding Seclusion and Restraint prior to March 2nd. Start here. Give completed form to Paula.


PLC Institute - Those signed up to attend should receive an email confirmation of your registration sometime over the next week or so. ALL Teachers: we have a few teachers attending who may end up having a conflict with the June dates. If you're interested in being on the "waiting" list to attend (whether you've been before or not), please email me today so I can add your name.


Recess Odds-n-Ends - I will have all the balls filled up over the weekend and add new balls to the mix! This is a must: DO NOT stand next to the other person on duty at recess. This is a supervision and a liability concern. Those on duty should be moving around the playground throughout recess. Thank you for following through with this starting Monday. I'm not a fan of Inside Recess but it does take place on occasion.  To assist our recess associates and other staff who may move from one duty to another, teachers, please be back in your room at least 3 minutes prior to the end of recess.  

February At-Bat Songs!

The office team had a banner month in January with 8 correct matches plus

the bonus point for getting their card in on time! Results found here.

This month's contestants include:

Miller, Steenhoek, Whipps, Schleisman
Arp, Goerend, Millsap, Marron

Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

Dream Life, Life - Colbie Caillat

Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin

February 3, 2011

Please welcome to Nancy Doughty! She starts this afternoon in Kelli's

room as her long term sub!

Conference Scheduler window opens on Monday, February 6th and will be open until February 17th. Our office will encourage parents to complete the signing up for conference from home and we hope to have a spare laptop in the office starting Monday morning. If you have questions during this process - do not hesitate to ask! After February 17th, teachers should contact remaining parents to set up any needed appointments.


Thanks-a-Latte! - Horace Mann will be selecting a teacher at our February staff meeting (2/24 @ 8am) to win their "Thanks-a-Latte" prize. Please take time before then to pat your colleagues on the back by filling out a note and putting it in the box. Following the drawing, we will post the kind notes! Thank you in advance for filling your colleagues buckets during the month of February.


Valentine's Party - We wil run an early out schedule on Thursday, February 9 (work day 2/10). Please ensure your parents are aware of the date/time of party (2:30-3:15p) and any other communication that goes along with the party for your classroom/grade level.


Tuesday is our 4th grade music program. 4th and 2nd grade are swapping lunches to allow 4th grade to get to the high school. Lunch duty would remain the same time (i.e. 2nd grade lunch duty staff would help with 4th grade lunch). We would need one volunteer to help with 2nd grade lunch from 12:55-1:15pm.


Iowa Assessment begins February 14th. Everyone should be aware that we will be assessing students Feb 14-16 from 9:00-10:15am. Please limit disruptions to our 3rd-5th grade classrooms and in the hallways as we will have students testing all over the building in our extra rooms.


Money Smart Kid Contest - Money Smart Week Iowa sponsors a poster contest for children in grades 2-6 in order to help students improve their financial literacy skills. The winner of the poster contest will receive a $200 prize. More information can be found online.

Some of you Simpson fans had asked to see the entire video

we showed last Friday. Here it is... gotta love Bart.

February At-Bat Songs!

The office team had a banner month in January with 8 correct matches plus

the bonus point for getting their card in on time! Results found here.

Although February is our last month on the recording card, we will do

a bonus month (March) with all new staff and staff who didn't get in the first round! 

Winner takes all! Losing team sings in front of all!!
This month's contestants include:

Miller, Steenhoek, Whipps, Schleisman
Arp, Goerend, Millsap, Marron

A couple flash-backs to get us going this month!

Regulate - Warren G

Don't Stop Believing - Journey