March 29, 2013

Potluck is next week. Sign up here.

Resident Artist Week - PTO will be sponsoring a wonderful opportunity for our students coming up in April. The schedule for your art class that cycle can be found here. Please note the scheduled time is your art class for that Day 1-6 cycle.

Professional Development - Hopefully you've had the chance to read the follow-up email from Leslie yesterday. We appreciate the feedback and desire to dig deeper into your learning as a team on April 17. After reading/checking out the resources on Leslie's blog, let us know what else your team might need to support your next steps as you work toward your team goals. Next week, RA and grade level teams (math focus) will report to your regular locations.

Budget Items - Teams/teachers were emailed their remaining 2012-13 budget. You have until April 12 to turn in your requisitions to Paula. Your team will receive information next week regarding ordering paper products and instructional materials for 2013-14. The AEA print orders are not due until teams check out in May.

Please review the Dates to Remember on a weekly basis and keep it updated as we finish out the year.

Technology Grant Opportunity - Check out the Century Link technology grant opportunity. Individual grant awards up to $5,000 are available. If you or your team is interested in completing it, I'd be happy to help support your grant proposal.

PBIS Survey - Staff who took the PBIS survey in the library on Thursday will need to retake the survey. I apologize the for inconvenience, but there was an error and the survey only contained a 1/4 of the questions it should have. Please start the survey here and complete no later than Monday.

Office Refrigerator Rescue Program - A smart fridge, we do not have. When it is too full, the air does not circulate and it will be just a matter of time before it "goes out" (I'm not going to pretend to know what will go out -just believing what I've been told) So...we need to be smart or we will lose our office lounge fridge sooner than later. Please, please, please only put items in the fridge that need to be cooled. If you have a lunch bag with an ice pack in it already, not putting it in the fridge may help save us from having to buy a new one. This is not an April Fool's joke...but rather a public service announcement so thanks for helping rescue our fridge.

Resource of the Week

I LOVE the "Love and Logic in the Loo" our related arts team has been providing us this year. As I reviewed materials we received during a workshop some of us attended in January, I ran across this resource a teacher could post in the classroom. It follows a piece about not having to be specific about consequences (i.e. Student Action A = Consequence B) but rather focus on being consistent. Thought it was worth sharing. 

March 14, 2013

Please welcome Jennifer Ploeger and Jason Lawry to our Maple Grove family! Jennifer began this week in Jennifer Latcham's room as an associate and Jason will begin after spring break in the pre-school room in the mornings.

Spring Evaluation Process Reminder - Please review the spring evaluation memo and timelines found on the Professional Growth / Evaluation tab on the FWR. Some of the dates come up right after Spring Break.

At-Risk Counselor - Following break, Shanlyn returns to work in her 1/2 time roll and Melissa will stay on 1/2 time as well. To help with consistency, Melissa will serve Maple Grove on Monday, Thursday and every other Wednesday; and Shanlyn will serve Waukee Elementary in a similar capacity. Both ladies will be at MGE on Tuesday, March 26, to share notes so you can catch Shanlyn to wish her luck and say "see you later" that day.

Next PD is March 27th. An agenda will be provided following break.

MAP Assessment begins April 1st. A schedule will be out following spring break. For your planners, benchmarking begins April 22nd.

Help needed - if you haven't checked the Dates to Remember list, please do so. Update, add, edit dates so we are all on the same.

Class list meetings will be set for late April and early May. Schedule to come.

OUR KIDS ESL Conference will be hosted at Waukee HS this summer! The flyer can be found here. We hope to have many Waukee teachers sign up for this wonderful learning experience! I have attended several times before and it is great learning and the learning is applicable to use with and for all kids.

Have a wonderful Spring Break and a 

very happy St. Patrick's Day!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

March 8, 2013

Staff social after school today. Join the MGE crew at Mickey's for appetizers, laughter and decompressing. 

Thank you for planning, preparing and facilitating another successful round of student-involved conferences! If you have parents who did not make it, please reschedule. If you run in to challenges, please let Diann and I know and we will try to help get it scheduled or do a home visit with you if needed.

Thank you for hosting our Instructional Rounds. The team was very impressed with what they heard and observed. The team spent the morning engaged in inquiry based learning around mindsets, feedback and student involvement. Your input, point of view and your work was important to the learning of our team members.

Thank you Amanda Robinson! She will be closing her long term subbing position for Allison Costa today. We appreciate the time and work you put in and we will see you in April. :-) 

Lost & Found - If you want to have some extra items in your classroom, please come down to the Lost and Found today. We will be sorting, stocking the nurse's closet and getting rid of remaining items soon!

The Mad Dash begins (...you're thinking, "When did it ever stop?") after Spring Break. Communication is always important but it becomes even more vital as we close the school year with field trips, classroom events, activities, etc. Please visit the "Dates_to_Remember" document to review the calendar of events and more importantly add any events not listed.

Parking lot changes - A recent change is all Beyond the Bell pick-up and drop-off cars have been asked to park in the lot when they pick up their child instead of parking along the fire lane. This has lead to more in-and-out traffic in our parking lot and I'm going to ask staff to either be VERY careful when they pull in the lot from the south OR drive through the parent drop-off lane to enter from the north. We've had some near accidents recently. If you want the long story for the changes...catch me at the staff social and I'll share. :-) 

Book Study Opportunity - REPEAT from last week: After some interest in learning more about Brookview's engagement in learning around The Leader in Me, I am offering a book study opportunity for any staff member (certified, classified, nutrition, etc) to learn more about the process. Please sign up here (we'd start after spring break). To learn more about The Leader in Me, visit their home page at http://www.theleaderinme.org

The Book Fair profits will go toward a grade level set of books for each section next fall. Those will be ordered by Pam and delivered in the fall. The Pizza Ranch nights raised nearly $1600 in all ($1200 for MGE and $400 for WDE). I appreciate your help in promoting both events and for volunteer time at Pizza Ranch!

Dates to Note

• Please review/edit/update Dates to Remember document!
• 3/11 - Costa returns! Student teachers begin in Huisman and Bode
• 3/12 - Barry @ Cognitive Coaching class (all day)
• 3/12 - Kindergarten Parent Night (6:30-7:30p)
• 3/14 - An old woman in the office gets a year older ;-)
• 3.15 - Spring Break begins!

You gotta laugh...

After a week of conferences, day long class and Instructional Rounds, this

could have been me this morning. :-) Hope you find it as humorous as I did.

I think Paula would put me in a time-out prior to me taking over

the intercom, though. Don't mess with my Camry though... ;-)

March 1, 2013 (WHAT?!?!? It's March already??)

Thank you to staff who helped out at our Pizza Ranch 

events over the past month. Totals raised will be shared once

I have them from PTO. Last night was a HUGE success!

Assemblies today so we are running an early out schedule. 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...guess I need to bring a towel today. 

ALL STAFF - PLEASE, PLEASE, please...make sure when you're coming or going from the building, you ensure the door closes/locks behind you. During the extremes (hot/cold), the doors tend to stick a bit more. We are finding doors open way too often. Thank you for your help.

Book Study Opportunity - After some interest in learning more about Brookview's engagement in learning around The Leader in Me, I am offering a book study opportunity for any staff member (certified, classified, nutrition, etc) to learn more about the process. Please sign up here (we'd start after spring break). To learn more about The Leader in Me, visit their home page at http://www.theleaderinme.org

Teachers:

Conferences begin tomorrow! I will be in an out tomorrow as I have my own boys' conference at Eason. I will be present until 6pm on Wednesday and 8pm on Thursday. If you have conferences you'd like me to be present at or "in the area" during, please let me know today. We have 43 students left unscheduled. Please let me know if cannot reach parents as conferences are mandatory. Diann and I would be happy to help by reaching out to parents too.

AESOP item to note for certified staff: When entering quarter day leave for appointments (self or family), you must select the 1/4 day option. If you do not, your leave will be counted as 1/2 day. If AESOP does not allow you to select 1/4 day, it means you're out of them and would have to use the 1/2 day or reschedule. 

Recess and Illness - There are often times when parents ask you to have their child stay in for recess. I've included our policy from our handbook below. Please be consistent in following it as you communicate with parents. Students should come to the office with something QUIET to do. You also need to communicate with Paula and Kary if you send a student down as sometimes we have multiple students in the office. These are times they will let you know whether it is okay to bring a friend or not. 

When students return after being absent, make-up work will be given at the discretion of the teacher. If your child is recovering from an illness, we request a note from you indicating your desire for them to stay in from recess and/or PE under these special circumstances. WE CAN HONOR A NOTE FROM YOU FOR A MAXIMUM OF TWO DAYS FOLLOWING AN ILLNESS. IF YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO STAY INSIDE FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD FOLLOWING AN ILLNESS (THREE OR MORE DAYS) YOU WILL NEED TO SEND A DOCTOR’S EXCUSE TO COVER THIS EXTENDED LENGTH OF TIME.  (p.7 handbook)

Rescheduled Rounds - Are this coming Thursday. Visitors will be out-and-about between 9:15a and 10:45a. REMINDER: 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. 

Dates to Note

• Sat   - Conferences begin
• Tues - Barry @ Cognitive Coaching class (all day)
• Wed - Early out (conferences)
• Thurs - Instructional Rounds / Conferences PM
• Fri   - SPED PLC 
• 3/11 - Student teachers begin in Huisman and Bode
• 3/12 - Barry @ Cognitive Coaching class (all day)
• 3/12 - Kindergarten Parent Night (6:30-7:30p)
• 3.15 - Spring Break begins!

Final Thoughts for the Week

Where I keep typing/talking and you

don't necessarily have to keep reading/listening.

I have been thinking a lot about priorities and focus the past couple weeks. Over the past 2 1/2 years, I've come to realize that individually and collectively, Waukee staff members are just an extremely focused bunch of people. Whether it is sitting in PLC meetings, the classroom or just talking with you, there is a constant thinking, wondering, collaborating and planning for how to improve your practice....and this goes beyond instruction and the classroom teacher. These conversations take place with associates, office staff, etc. My thoughts the past week though have also made me realize that your priorities and focus are in the right place. Don't get me wrong, all the above statements, beliefs and practices are a great (and needed) focus, but the reason I love being where I'm at is even with all the focus on being better professionals, educators and employees, each of you still focus on your own family, your students' families and your colleagues' needs first. We've had a rough few weeks with deaths and illnesses within our colleagues and students' families and each time I see others step up and help out...and you do this without skipping a beat in your professional responsibilities. I appreciate all you do and hope you're able to use our upcoming spring break to refresh, relax, rejuvenate and "reload" as we close out the year. Thank you for focusing on the right things and making MGE a great place to be for everyone who walks through the door.