Friday Weather Report: February 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

February 22, 2013

Bo Bishop of Horace Mann will be in the teachers' lounge by 10am

with treats and be giving away prizes. Come visit and hang out!

Rescheduled Rounds - Some of you may believe I control the weather, but I don't (would be handy though). I've talked to a few of you who have questions about Rounds being rescheduled on the Thursday of conference week. This has happened before. It is great learning experience for the visiting team. Instruction in the classroom on conference day is business as usual. It will be a great day!! The focus is on the learners (the visiting team) and not you. If you still have questions or concerns, I can stop in during your lunch to put you at ease.

Indoor Recess [TEACHERS] - Do not lock your doors when you go to lunch if we have inside recess. Our associates do not have room keys.

Evaluation Process - Reviewed the April process yet? If not - please see the memo on the FWR-Professional Growth tab today!

Woodland Hills FYI - Parents of students attending Woodland Hills next fall will receive a letter from our district office by early next week. You can read the letter here.

Two Student Teachers start next week. Jolyssa Ginkens with Lindsey Millsap and Justin Gutknecht with Jennifer Latcham. Many of you have already met Jami Thompson with Mrs. White. Be sure to say hello and introduce yourself to all three!

Our last Pizza Ranch Night is next Thursday from 5-8p. Pre-school and kindergarten start the evening and 3rd grade will be closing the night.

Updated Progress Reports/Conference - 89% of conferences have been scheduled online! The parent window closes Sunday night so one last push to get parents to sign up online!

Feb 25 – Parent window closed; teachers contact/schedule parents who have not scheduled
Feb 25 - Related Arts complete progress reports by 4pm
Feb 26-Mar 1 – All remaining conferences scheduled by classroom teacher and parents notified
March 1 - Progress Reports completed by teachers; PS Parent portal opens at 4pm
March 2 - Conferences begin!

Did you know...I learned this new bus riding tidbit this week and thought I'd pass it along: A student can ride home on the bus with another student if he/she (1) already ride another bus and (2) he/she have a note from the school or parents. First Student does ask parents call the dispatch office and set it up prior to the student needing to ride.

Next week is Dr. Seuss Reading Celebration Week. A parent email was sent out this week and it was posted on our website yesterday. We will have assemblies on Friday (K-2 at 2:00p and 3-5 at 2:45p). Students who have met their reading goal will get to throw a cup of water at a staff member...just the water, not the cup.

Marvelous Monday: Everyone reads in the hall from 10:00 - 10:30 am
Topsy Turvy Tuesday: Wear mismatched clothes
Wacky Wednesday: Wear a crazy hat
Theatrical Thursday: Dress up as your favorite Dr. Seuss character or favorite book character
Fun in the Sun Friday: Beach Day - wear your favorite beach clothes (no swim suits please!), and bring a beach towel.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

February 15, 2013

ALL STAFF - Maple Grove will host Instructional Rounds next Thursday! Fifteen principals and district office personnel will be engaged in their own learning and collaboration around Danielson Component 3d: Using Assessment in Instruction (learning targets, feedback, student involvement and mindsets). Leslie and I are excited to have all MGE staff members be resident experts and resources for our visitors as they use inquiry learning to expand their own knowledge. Team members will be out immersing themselves in our building: talking to staff members/students and parents, collecting information and building upon their own knowledge from 9:15a until 10:45a. Thank you in advance for accommodating our visitors!

Updated Progress Reports/Conference timelines are included below. We had nearly 330 parent made conferences in the first day! Please remember to log in to check your parents' progress and send out parent reminders to those specific parents who have not scheduled their conference. The online scheduler closes next Friday.

Feb 11-24 – Parent window open for scheduling
Feb 15 - Close PS Parent portal closes by 4pm
Feb 22 – Teacher workday
Feb 25 – Parent window closed; teachers contact/schedule parents who have not scheduled
Feb 25 - Related Arts complete progress reports by 4pm
Feb 26-Mar 1 – All remaining conferences scheduled by classroom teacher and parents notified
March 1 - Progress Reports completed by teachers; PS Parent portal opens at 4pm
March 2 - Conferences begin!

Last District Math PD - Our next PD will be on Feb 20 from 2:15-4:00p. Please read through the information below from Lyndsay Law. Related Arts will meet at their regular locations to continue where they left off with their PLC work and please utilize the Google.doc for your PLC notes.

Kindergarten Team - Brookview Media Center
1st Grade Team - Waukee Elementary Media Center
2nd Grade Team - Shuler Media Center
3rd Grade Team - Walnut Hills PD Room (412/414-upstairs)
4th Grade Team - Maple Grove Media Center
5th Grade Team - Eason Elementary Art Room

Lyndsay Law shares: The focus for our meeting will be around the 8 mathematical practices and sharing assessment/communication resources across the district.

The curriculum committee reviewed your feedback from our January meeting, and we have built in some time to discuss assessment and communication tools during this meeting. Please bring an artifact or tool that you will be using to assess or communicate progress for an upcoming unit. Please bring a hard copy of your artifact/tool. We will display these on tables for others to view. Make sure each member of your team has a copy as we will be in mixed teams. Coaches have grade specific items to discuss as well. Please check with a coach, committee member or e-mail Lindsay Law if you have questions.

ESL Endorsement Opportunity - Want to be like Kirby?? Interested in earning an ESL endorsement? The AEA is offering some informational sessions regarding a great opportunity to earn your ESL endorsement with the chance to earn up to $2500 in tuition grants. More information can be found here (link opened at home for me on Safari or Firefox at school)

Next PTO meeting is Monday night. The learning piece will be hosted by 5th grade as they share their own learning and application of mindsets. We start at 7pm in the library.

Looking ahead...

Feb 15: Staff Potluck! Valentine's Party day (2:30-3:15p). RA district PLC 2-4p
Feb 18: 5th grade Band Solo Night (after school); PTO MTG (7pm)
Feb 19: 2nd and 4th switch lunch; 4th grade Fine Arts Night (@ WHS)
Feb 20: Early Out; last day of across district math PD
Feb 21: MGE will host district Instructional Rounds.
Feb 22: No School (work day)
Dr. Suess Reading Celebration Week is 2/25 through 3/1. More info to come.

Website of the Season

Make your own candy hearts. Start with this one to practice your skills:

Friday, February 8, 2013

February 8, 2013

Valentine's Parties are next Friday and will run from 2:30-3:15 pm. Parents who are helping with the parties will be allowed to come down to the rooms at 2:20 pm. Please do not tell parents otherwise so we provide a consistent message. We will run an early out schedule that day as well.

Staffing Update - Kelly Coffman has accepted the 1st grade position for the 2013-14 school year. We are excited to have her as part of the team next fall. At this point, we have all certified positions for the upcoming school year filled.

Iowa Assessments are next Tuesday through Thursday AM. Please remind students to be as quiet as possible in the hallways (2nd grade team - leave notes for subs to remind students!!)

Related Arts will cover bus duties on the Wednesday and Thursday of conference week again so teachers can get a bite to eat and get ready for conferences. THANK YOU RA TEAM!

PBIS Calendar Sign-Up can now be found online!! We realize many of you want to sign up but don't find the time (or like me, forget!!) to go to the Owl's Nest to put your name down. The PBIS sub-committee will transfer your name from the e-calendar to the hard copy. CLICK HERE to access and make sure to click on the correct month. :-)

Planning a field trip? Be sure to get bus request forms in EARLY and indicate any special needs on the form. Also be sure to work with Jill and our nutrition department at least 2 weeks in advance.

He who laughs, lasts... Ran across this article and thought I'd share it with you: What's So Funny About Teaching?!? If you don't have time to read the entire article (not a long one), I'll leave you with this quote:

Being able to survive and thrive in these contexts depends on the ability to detach, see the absurdity, not take oneself too seriously, not personalize, not become defensive and, as much as possible, laugh with some degree of frequency.