April 27, 2012

Problem Solving Core team will be meeting Monday morning to review final data from the year. Please meet in the office conference room at 8:00 am.

Professional Development next Wednesday will engage staff in applying the Characteristics of Effective Instruction to our current Content PLC work and planning for future differentiated learning for staff. Teachers will also be able to hear about learning and collaboration that took place this year during our initial year of Content PLC implementation. An agenda will be emailed out next week.

BLT will be meeting next Thursday at 8:00am in the office conference room and should plan on attending our 1/2 day CSIP meeting the morning of Monday, May 7.

May 16th Celebration - Looking ahead, our PD on 5/16 will be our 2nd Annual Team Celebration day. Each team should be working on their 5-7 minute 'presentation.' Anything...okay, maybe not "anything"...goes as long as you're sharing your team's successes, goal work, learning and celebrations. We will also be sharing building successes and getting a jump start for summer and the 2012-13 school year. Finally...our 4th grade team will be send us on our way with some music. I've decided to let them choose their song so I look forward to them entertaining us! We hope to make it a fun afternoon of sharing and celebrating!

Scheduling for 2012-13 – A couple additional items worth sharing with everyone about scheduling for next year. First, we will purposely cluster ELP, ESL and SPED students again next year to provide co-teaching opportunities. Those teachers (or I) will be communicating those placements as we begin to build class lists. We believe pushing in to the classrooms during math and reading was a success this year and I have enjoyed seeing the data (observational and numbers) shared with me during annual conference meetings. Secondly, once again, literacy (including writing) and math will be at set times during the day for teachers engaged in co-teaching and those classrooms sending/receiving accelerated math students. It is a challenge to manage/coordinate all the schedules so I appreciate your flexibility! The SPED co-teaching schedule should be completed in early May.  Questions – talk to Lindsey, Kristen R or myself.

Please check out (and add if something's missing) 

our "Dates to Remember"

Thanks to Lyndsay for sending me this. Made me laugh so I thought I'd share...

April 20, 2012

Early out schedule today!! Assemblies today!

Assemblies - As Amy has already communicated with the 4th-5th grade teams, the HS jazz choir will be here this morning to present to our 4th and 5th graders. This afternoon, we would like our kindergarteners to begin coming down at 1:20 pm. 1st and 2nd graders at 1:25 pm. Prior to the Magic Storyteller, Pizza Ranch will be presenting a check to our school for Ranch Bucks and our tip night. We will announce when we are ready for our 3rd-5th grades for the 2:30 pm showing. Please reteach assembly behaviors this morning. Thanks!

Insurance Meeting - Lora Appenzeller-Miller will be meeting with each building over the next two weeks to discuss changes to insurance and prepare everyone for open enrollment.  The Maple Grove meeting is next Thursday, April 26. All staff who receive insurance from the district will need to meet at 8am in the library. If you cannot attend the meeting here, you must attend one of the following times/locations: April 24-WH 3:45; April 25-SMS 7:20; Apr 27–Shuler 8AM; April 30-Eason 8AM;

May 2–WMS 8AM and HS 1:15PM; May 4–WE 8am

Can you hear me now? Yeah!! We now have long distance in several locations in the our building for teachers to use to call parents. Please add the following extensions to your phone list: Conference Rm 119 - x6104 (phone coming soon!); Conference Rm 605 (office) - x6102; Staff Lounge - x6108.

Summatives - Please make sure you know your time for your summative/annual conference (schedule here).


The PTO needs your help with a couple things. First, if you can make it to our Panera night next Tuesday, please sign up for the 6:15-8:00pm shift (or even any time within if the entire time does not work). EASIER THAN THAT...please see the request from our co-president, Allison Hamling below. This is for ALL Maple Grove staff! If your name is not on the document, let me know!

We are planning something special for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Please use the link [below] to fill in your "favorite things".  It will automatically save and I promise it will only take a minute.  Thanks for being the best teachers and staff in Waukee!!!  http://bit.ly/HJb7mu  Let me know if you have any questions. Allison Hamling 

The PTO would like to pass along this message regarding Family Fun Night. I would also like to thank everyone who helped with this event (baskets, materials, attending, etc.)!!

We would like to thank you for making our Family Fun Night a huge success!  Although the weather was a bit crazy we had a great turn out!  We appreciate your help in every aspect from donating items for the raffle baskets, purchasing raffle tickets and volunteering at the event.  Our goal for the evening was to get families together to have some fun and to raise money for educational technology for our children's classrooms.  We were hoping to raise $2000.  We surpassed our goal significantly with over $3500 in raffle ticket sales!  We would love to get feedback if you have ideas/suggestions for making future Family Fun Nights even more fun!  Feel free to e-mail us! PTO Activities Committee (Trinia Rudicil, Abby Smull, Kelly Deimerly)

Grant Opportunity - I received the following message from Phillip McLean and am passing it along to you!

All though the 2011-2012 school year has not concluded yet we know many teachers are already planning for next year. ABC5 and Banker’s Trust want to help teachers by giving them a $1000 One Classroom at a Time Educational grant.  Every year I hear teachers say they don’t think their program is worthy of funding.  Rest assured while not every project is funded, they all deserve to be.  So if you have any faculty that need money for a special project for next year, or even a special project this year; please encourage them to apply for the final One Classroom at a Time Education Grant of 2012. Applications are due by COB on 5/1 and will roll over to next August’s grant. Phillip McLean, ABC5 pmclean@myabc5.com

Odd's n End's

• If your team's field trip or other event is not on my Google calendar, email me!!
• A group of teachers from Villisca (IA) will be visiting on Monday, April 23. I will have their schedule out today - they are visiting multiple classrooms so you should just expect to have a visitor at some time on Monday. Thank you for being welcoming - they are excited to learn!
• The final at-bat scores are online. You will be able to see how it really came down to a photo finish to see who gets to sing to us!! Congrats to RA for winning the first annual school wide contest - we will be changing the contest up next year to involve more physical feats so start thinking...or worrying!
• MGE Parent Advisory Meeting is scheduled for next Monday at 7:30pm in the library. Anyone is welcome to join us. Focus: parent survey results and educational reform conversation.
• 1st Grade interviews will be conducted next Wednesday in the 2nd grade conference room. The printer will be turned off from 8am-11:30a and 12:00-3:30p.

I received one of my best "roster request" emails ever this week...

Dear Mr. Barry, This year I am requesting every teacher in __ grade! I wanted to let you know how excited my husband and I are to send our child to Maple Grove again this coming fall. I know you may get a few requests this time of year that may have specific requests or suggestions but we wanted to let you know how impressed we've been with the team of teachers this year (who all know my child's name) and have heard good things about the caring and dedicated teachers in __ grade too! We appreciate all the hard work all your staff puts in every day. From Paula in the office to the custodian in the lunch room to the associates at recess. Everyone smiles, says hello and seems to like what they do. Have a great rest of the year and a restful summer! 

Thank you, MGE staff - your positive energy and caring attitude is noticed and does make our building a great place to learn, grow and laugh.

Have a great weekend!

He who laughs, lasts

DB 

 

April 13, 2012

Dessert Reception for our Volunteers will be on Monday, April 16, 6:45-7:15p, in our library. It appears we will have anywhere from 20-30 parents in attendance. If you're bringing treats (check out the online volunteer form) no need to make a TON. If each dessert has 10+ servings, we will have plenty. THANK YOU THANK YOU for helping!


OH NO!!!!!!! The more-than-usual confusing and lost look on my face next week will be due to the fact that Paula will be out of the building all week. Luckily, Wanda Harter will be subbing the entire week for her so we all hope she is able to keep me on track until Paula returns. Please DO NOT email Paula but rather send any office messages to Wanda at: mgsub1@waukee.k12.ia.us


April 18 PD will focus on your math instruction, assessment and curriculum needs. Leslie sent a Google recording form to BLT members. Special education/ESL teachers should attach to your grade level PLC team. Please complete that prior to PD. Related arts team will be with SE's team and Lyndsay here at Maple Grove! A summary of future professional development includes...

• May 2 - Concept PLC work, reflection and planning (I will be reaching out to facilitators soon!)
• May 16 - CELEBRATION!!! Like last year, teams should begin planning a skit, song, dance, etc. to highlight your goal work, student progress, team learning or whatever else your team would like to share. More information to come. I CANNOT WAIT...lots of laughs and learning last year!

Desks - Some of you have had issues with student desks that do not close. We will have a repair person come in this summer to fix the ones that do not shut properly. Mark just wanted you to all know he didn't forget about you or the problem! :-)


Odd's n End's

• Hope to see you at the Family Fun night tomorrow night at the YMCA!
• Please review upcoming dates located within the April 6 FWR below.
• Annual conference forms due today! Those conferences with Lyndsay or I begin next Friday. Please see the online sign-up form.
• Lyndsay and I will be out of the building until after 2pm next Thursday (Instructional Rounds).
• Two early out schedules next week (SORRY!). Wednesday PD and Friday PTO assembly (Magic Storyteller).
• A group of teachers from Villisca (IA) will be visiting on Monday, April 23. They are coming to see Daily 5, Words Their Way and EDM. I will get information out to staff regarding their schedule.
• The final at-bat scores will be released next week. WAITING on a couple teams to turn them in today. :-) 

"Friday the 13th" makes me think a lot about the power of thinking. I cannot remember my age, but at some point the number "13" became my lucky number. Whether it was a pro athlete, a teacher, my older brother, or just my choice - someone influenced my decision to not believe that a specific number was bad luck and I decided that I liked that number! It became my sports number for any sport that had numbers. I always picked "13" for any game, activity, time to set my alarm, etc. It was the power of someone else's thinking and/or my own self-talk that lead me to be in the minority - I like Friday the 13th! I've heard at least a half-dozen times this week, "Ohh...I bet the kids will be nuts this Friday!" and think, "Yes, they probably will if that is what they hear." As educators who spend a large portion of our lives influencing their lives, it makes sense to focus on the positive message. Our building leadership team has spent some time this year reading a Jon Gordon book, The Energy Bus and we are excited to share our learning, understanding and growing with all of you this coming summer and fall. I know that being a leader (in your classroom, your team, your family, etc.) puts you in a position where others are watching and listening to you all the time. YOU have a challenging job so it's hard to always focus on the positive all the time!! I appreciate you looking for ways to find the positive AND share that with your team, your students and our building. Jon Gordon posted yesterday, 

Being positive doesn't just make you better. 

It makes everyone around you better.

Agreed. 

Happy Friday the 13th, gang. 
It is going to be a great one!

April 6, 2012

Good luck to Katelyn Jamison as she leaves Mrs. Cramer's (aka Ms. Coulter) room for a position at Valley HS. Please welcome Theresa Wiehoff as her replacement. Theresa may be familiar to a few of you as she has subbed in several classrooms over the past few weeks.


Thank you to our math curriculum team for their hard work on the documents presented to the staff yesterday and the collaboration it took to get you the information during our PD. I believe all of our curriculum teams work very diligently and are focused on making sure Waukee stays at the forefront of learning, instruction and assessment!!


Spring MAP for 3rd-5th grade begins next Monday. Please follow the schedule Carrie provided. Data should be entered on the SPRING TAB of your grade level Google doc when you have the data. This will help with class list meetings coming up in a few weeks.


Annual Conference forms (ITPDPs) should be emailed to your evaluator by April 13th.


Dessert Reception for our Volunteers will be on Monday, April 16, 6:45-7:15p, in our library. THANK YOU for all those who have signed up to help already! This staff rocks when it comes to showing others we care!! Opportunities still exist to help so please check out the online form!


Speaking of helping out...there are still opportunities to help at our PTO spring carnival on April 14th (click here to sign up). The kids LOVE having their teacher at events outside of school. Come on your own, bring your spouse and/or family and enjoy the fun! Thanks to those who have signed up already!


Our April 20th PTO Assembly was mentioned in the March 16 FWR, included on our Dates to Remember document, talked about at each of our last 3-4 PTO meetings and has been on my calendar for a couple months. The Magic Storyteller, Chris O'Brien, will provide an engaging assembly for our K-2 students at 1:30pm and our 3-5 students beginning at about 2:30pm. Both presentations will be about an hour long. Annual conference schedules for both Lyndsay and I for that afternoon have been blocked out as we will be in attendance. We have no other assemblies planned until the end of the year.


Paper Orders (from Office Depot & School Speciality) - Refer to Paula's email regarding the process and one requisition from each team is due to Paula by May 7th. Questions? ...see Paula. :-) 


Last day for personal days is Wednesday, May 9th. Those requests need to be to Lyndsay two days in advance (in writing or email) of your requested leave day.


Teachers who will move rooms this summer have had a conversation with me already. BLT will see the new room assignments tomorrow and the 2012-13 room assignment map will be out prior to check-out. 


April dates to stick in your own calendar...
* Apr 6 - Barry in Iowa City (recruiting fair)
* Apr 9 - MAP begins!
* Apr 13 - Annual conference forms due via email
* Apr 14 - PTO Carnival @ YMCA; 6:30-8:30p
* Apr 18 - Early out (MGE PLCs: math 'digestion'; MGE RA PLC)
* Apr 20 - 4th/5th AM HS music event;
* Apr 20 - PBIS Assemblies: Magic Storyteller in the PM (EO schedule)

Some of you are cheering, others may be shedding a tear as we enter...

Our last week of At-Bat Songs

The last month includes:

Lorri Lynde, Mark Joye, Toni Rand, Shelley Wagaman

Tasha Turner, Abby Masters, Shanlyn Doll and Thresa Stone.

I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack

Send in the Clowns - Frank Sinatra