September 28, 2012

Academic and Behavior ITPDPs (SMART Goals) are due Monday morning. These can be emailed as a team or individually. A signed copy is not needed.

Our fundraiser kickoff is next Friday, October 5th at 3pm. We will call grades down beginning at 2:50pm and will last 15-20 minutes. Like last year with the frogs, we will want to build a little excitement prior to the kickoff.  Penguin posters, lanyards and penguin keychains arrived this week. We will have the posters up by Monday of next week and also have the staff start wearing penguins on lanyards starting Monday and throughout the sale. Thank you in advance for helping with this fundraising event. We were able to raise nearly $17,000 last year and used the money to finish installing projectors and purchase 60+ iPads.

Friendly Recess Reminder - Until it gets cold, teachers should go outside to pick up their students from recess. This helps our associates get to their next duty more quickly. It is not the first reminder so please stick to it until the weather requires a coat.

Promote Maple Grove - Help! Help! Help! One great way to engage our parents and community members to be partners in a meaningful way (from Waukee's Theory of Action) is to have information posted in our newsletter and local newspaper(s).  If you have an upcoming event you'd like to highlight or want to share a neat learning activity your students have been involved in, please get those articles (with pictures if possible) to Paula by Tuesday afternoon.  We will include the information in our building newsletter and/or submit it for the "Every School - Every Thursday" article on the Des Moines Register.  If you've posted that type of information on your blog and would like to push it out to more people, just copy and paste the link/information in an email to Paula!!  

Conferences Timeline - Please see the memo on this blog (PT Conference tab) regarding our upcoming conferences. I will be adding information to this tab (i.e. reminders about the content/requirements of the conference, supporting resources, etc.). Our timeline includes...

Sep 28 - Barry meets with ESL/SPED to go over admin/scheduling procedures
Oct. 1  - All data imported and ready for teachers and staff.
Oct. 3  - Staff meeting (MGE) to enter schedules online (8am)
Oct. 15 - This week, link emailed to parents:
* http://www.waukee.k12.ia.us/2012/09/online-conference-scheduling/
Oct. 20 - Last day for ESL/SPED to enter conference times
Oct. 22  - Parent window open until Nov 2
Oct. 29 - Email reminder
Nov 2 - Close window; teachers contact parents who have not scheduled
Nov. 10-16 - Conferences 

Laminator PLC - Congratulations to Strack, Latcham, Miller, Umphress, Foxhoven and  for making it through the stringent interview and application process for being on the Laminator PLC (Perilous Lamination Crew). If anyone else would like to join this elite bunch, please see Paula or I. Screening question to ask yourself prior to applying in person: Have I caused the laminator to be shut down for longer than 30 minutes? ;-)

Dates to Note...
- Mon:  ITPDPs due.
- Wed:  Walk Across Iowa day (see Whipps email for the week)
- Wed:  8:00am Teacher meeting in library
- Wed:  6:30pm Boundary Committee mtg @ DO
- Thur:  7:45am Flu clinic @ MGE
- Fri:  Picture retakes
- Fri:  3:00pm All school assembly for Fundraiser kickoff

An online activity to share with kids or just for fun on your own...
Tired of political campaigns? 
The last one you need to watch before you vote...

September 21, 2012

Congrats to Megan and Travis Bebout on their new arrival!

Welcome to Morgan Singleton - please stop by the art room to introduce yourself!

Benchmark Data for all students should be entered today (9/21). MAP data should be entered after students have completed the assessment.

Please place PBIS tally sheets in Kary's mailbox each Friday.

Next week's professional development will be focused on PBIS and our problem solving process. Time will be built in for teams to complete their behavior SMART (ITPDP) goals. Academic and behavior SMART goals are due Monday, October 1st.

Only 15 of 44 classrooms completed the Tornado/Fire survey. Although a .340 batting average would win the MLB batting title, it won't win any educational awards. :-) Can the other 29 rooms complete it today or this weekend? Thanks! Click here to start. Only takes 5 minutes...promise. We will have another fire drill within the next couple weeks.

Next week dates to note...

• Tuesday - PBIS/PSC teams meet in library (8:00am) 
• Tuesday - PLC+ K/1
• Tuesday - Kindergarten family picnic @ MGE park (6-7pm)
• Wednesday - Early out / PD (starts at 2:05pm in the library)
• Thursday - Reading Lab Parent Night (6:30pm)
• Oct 1 - ITPDPs due
• Oct 5 - Picture retakes & Fundraiser Assembly (all building 3pm)

A video many of you may have seen before but worth sharing again.

What teachers make...

September 14, 2012

GO PANTHERS!!

ITPDPs (SMART Goals for both academic and behavior) for all certified staff are due on Monday, October 1st.

Fall Assessment - As you complete benchmarking, please add the information to your grade level Google.doc. Please have your students' benchmarking information entered by next Friday, September 21 [this is a change]. MAP data should be entered following students taking the assessments.

...also a remember the computer lab will be closed during MAP assessment. Please refer to Carrie's schedule for more details.

EDM Online Resources - Diann and I loved seeing the EDM resources used in the classrooms the day after our PD!! Wow!! Way to jump in and use it! If you need ongoing support, please work with each other, Leslie, Diann or I. Continue to discuss and SHARE!!  Teachers are expected to share student login information with parents by next Friday (9/21). I will be blogging about the new resource and putting a link on our main page to help parents/students find the resource!

Parent Contacts - I know it can be a challenge, but returning parent phone calls or emails within one day should always be the goal. Our conference rooms should now allow for long distance phone calls (since we have so many parents...and me...with long distance cell numbers) and quick emails letting them know you received their message and a good time to reach you work well too. If you need to problem solve parent questions or messages, Diann and I are available!

Fire & Tornado Drills - With the number of students in the building, we may need to make adjustments to our plans. Anne Franklin from WMS will be reviewing your responses from the following mandatory safety survey to make needed adjustments. New maps will be printed for those who need them! Please click the link to respond ASAP.  Adjustments needed after today's drill (which took 3:25 minutes) are...

• Doors cannot be left propped open. 
• Please use both sides of exit doors when leaving.
• Teachers with walkies in their rooms should always take it. That ensures we have a walkie at EACH exit to help with communication.

Upcoming dates to note...

• Friday - Barry @ Mandt training; Williamson @ MGE
• Spirit Week!  To allow the students to help celebrate Homecoming week, our social committee will email out dress up days but they include
• Wednesday - Hat day
• Thursday - PJ day
• Friday - Spirit day 
• Monday - SPED PLC mtg (7:45am); OWLS Nest opens in rm 415 (across from Koenigs)

Teachercast is a great site to bookmark (or follow via Twitter @TeacherCast). Links to wonderful resources and podcasts you can download and listen to on the go. One example is his podcast about PBIS Kids.

Schooltube.com has updated their website this week and is worth taking a look at if you have not done so lately. The videos from this site have gone through a review process prior to being posted (still good to be safe though) unlike Youtube. Schooltube.com does include some 'old school' School House Rocks videos from my childhood Saturday cartoon days...

Final Thoughts for the Week

Where I keep typing/talking and you

don't necessarily have to keep reading/listening.

This month, we will highlight a 2nd rule from The Engery Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy. One of Jon Gordon's summer blog posts, Five Ways to Be Happier at Work, is worth the read AND includes a testimonial about The Energy Bus and The Energy Bus for Kids from a teacher in Cedar Rapids. She explains how she engaged students in the 10 Rules within her classroom. I know that Stacey Roberts was contemplating reading and using that book with her students this year. Our BLT discussed that either book may be a good "read aloud" for your students. Let me (or your team) know if you give it a try!

September 7, 2012

.       Happy Cy-Hawk Team Spirt Day!         .

Please welcome Shari Duncan on Friday! She will be our last recess associate (Jason Lawry has been filling in until now). We are excited to add her to our team.

Fall Assessment - As you complete benchmarking, please add the information to your grade level Google.doc. MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) will begin later this month for our 3rd-5th graders and that data also needs to be entered on the form. Please have your students information entered by Friday, September 21.

Professional Development is next Wednesday (Sept 12). Staff will be getting hands-on time and sharing around our EDM online resources. Related arts staff will be with like-subject colleagues from across the district. Locations of your meeting are on the Google.doc I forwarded from Michelle H. If you cannot access the document, please request access to it from Michelle.

As we begin completing walk-through observations, please note that you should receive an email copy of the walk-through that same day (within 30 minutes). Please review the feedback and comments, but you do not need to respond. I always welcome staff emailing or stopping in to discuss one of the reflective questions or comments, but it is not required. The emailed copy is your "official" copy as you/I do not need a hard copy. I will have at least two additional people joining me this year from time to time as they are working on their admin degree. If you do not want another observer, please let me know now so I can avoid your room on their visit days.

Our first Owl's Nest Day will be on Monday, Sept 17, and it will be located in room 415 (across from Koenigs and Lentell). Teachers are always welcome to provide positive rewards and activities for students within your room but I would encourage you to also sign up on the calendar Nicole emailed about this week. Kids LOVE eating or hanging out with RA staff, former teachers and "older" teachers (i.e. "my older sister's teacher). 

Odds-n-Ends worth sharing from our district admin meeting today...

• Watch some of our high school athletic events LIVE online! Including this Friday's home game at http://www.highschoolcube.com/schools/WaukeeHS  
• Additional wellness dates is Oct 19. Please sign up if you are interested. We had over 250 employees sign up the first round!
• There are A LOT of IT requests right now so please have patience! They are working long hours and working diligently!
• Phishing: DO NOT reply to any request for information unless it is from a specific IT employee. This creates 10's of 1000s of emails from your account and really, really slows down our email system.
• Human Resource Director interviews will be later this month.

Final Thoughts for the Week

Normally, it is where I keep typing/talking and you

don't necessarily have to keep reading/listening...but this week

I'd like you (teachers & associates) to keep reading! 

As we wrap up our fall benchmarking assessment period, it is a great time to think about the purpose and importance of the time our students are engaged in independent reading during the school day. A couple of our teams over the past two years have spent time reading and discussing a great book, What Really Matters for Struggling Readings, by Richard Allington. He can state it much better than I can so I wanted to provide a few of his thoughts as you begin to set up your students' book boxes/bags and/or start having conversations with students about what "type" of reading really increases their progress toward becoming proficient readers!

Allington highlights the importance of accuracy through multiple studies and mentions "that quality of word recognition in first grade (i.e., being able to recognize words) is more important than quantity of exposure to words" and through studying multiple intervention programs he concluded that "reading achievement of students...appeared to be explained primarily by one aspect...reading text at a high level of accuracy, between 98% and 100%" (p.69). 

So please be cognizant of what your students are reading - especially our struggling readers - as the research clearly indicates it is the amount of high-succes reading activity that delivers the gains we need to see in order to help EACH child be successful. 

...on that note, I would also LOVE to host a coffee, evening or electronic book club during the school year for any staff members interested in reading, discussing and working through Allington's book, What Really Matters for Struggling Readings. Please email me or stop in if you're interested!