September 16, 2011

Data Entry - Please begin (or continue) to enter the fall data onto the Google.doc forms. It never hurts to download a copy of the grade level sheet once you've entered your data! Click on the following sequence: "File : Download As : Excel"  If you have questions, let me know. I will download a final copy once all data has been entered for fall.


Phone calls - If you call a parent, community member or anyone from your classroom phone, please leave a message. Not a day goes by where we don't get a call from someone who says, "I had a missed call from this number. What did you need?" Leaving a message solves that problem.  Thanks!!!

Website Spotlight of the Week: Many of our staff blogs are up and going! I'll try to spot light one each week so this week check out Alissa Sheldon's site! Her latest blog includes an embedded link to Scholastic and ideas for parents to do at home.  Website tips of the week...(1) Clean up your site! Many of the sites have pages/information that was designed as a template. Delete or change them soon. (2) Please do not contact Flying Hippo directly if you have questions or problems.  Instead, work with Carrie and Doug.  Keep up the good work and continue to share successes and ideas.

Next Week Calendar Highlights include Monday's PLC-Tech Integration 8am meeting and MAP beginning for 3rd-5th; Thursday's SPED team meeting (8am), PLC+ for K and 2nd grade and Barry attending Instructional Rounds at Eason; and our...

Next Staff Meeting is set for Friday, September 23, 8:00 am. The Community Education director, Jeff Longman, will introduce himself and our staff will take some time to discuss Instructional Rounds as we will be hosting it in October this year. If a team would like to volunteer for breakfast treats and another team for the team builder, I would appreciate it.  No volunteers - we will just go without. :-) No worries.


Staffing Update - Thresa Stone has moved from recess/lunch associate to a full-time associate in Koenig's room. We also lost another recess/lunch associate so I will be interviewing for two positions soon!! If you know someone (parent/neighbor) interested, please send them my way ASAP!

DonorsChoose.Org - It appears Horace Mann may have another matching incentive on Donor's Choose this coming fall. I will let you know about it as soon as I find out!  PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING FORM NOW IF YOU HAVE A PROJECT ON DONOR'S CHOOSE THAT WAS FILLED OR HAVE ONE CURRENTLY POSTED OVER THE PAST YEAR. I NEED ACCURATE AMOUNTS TO REPORT OUT.  If you do not remember exact amount, please estimate. THANKS!!

At-Bat Song Contest Continues!I'm sure there is some correlation between these two songs this week! This month does include 10 staff members so if your September scorecard includes more than that, let me know and I'll give you your new one.

Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies	I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash
Two more songs next week and we wrap up September and Group A! Good luck! Group A includes: Bebout, T.Broich, Crannell, Grote, Hedrick, Kirby, R.Miller, Ochoa, Robinson, Sheldon	ANTI-PRIZE Reminder: Team with the lowest score for the year has to sing one of the songs chosen by the winning team at a spring staff meeting!!

September 9, 2011

Progress Report Rubrics - Before September 14th's PD, become familiar with the Progress Report Rubrics presented during September 6th ELA PD. Record questions or clarifications your team has - those can be emailed to Leslie and the ELA team members (Pals, Jones, Beavers).

DIBELS & Benchmarking - is in full swing next week!  To help with communication, please keep everyone (especially Paula) informed of your testing locations.  Also, please help our many substitutes next week by...

- making them feel welcome in the hallways and office!

- having comprehensive and detailed lesson plans ready to go!

- prepping your students if needed!!

Next Staff Meeting is set for Friday, September 23, 8:00 am. The Community Education director, Jeff Longman, will introduce himself and our staff will take some time to discuss Instructional Rounds as we will be hosting it in October this year. If a team would like to volunteer for breakfast treats and another team for the team builder, I would appreciate it. There will also be a rep here from Mind Streams Education here that day from 11am-1pm to meet with any interested staff about their educational opportunities. They will be in the lounge and information about them is located on the lounge bulletin board.


Concept PLC Opportunties begin next week! RTI and Project Based Learning PLC teams will meet on Monday. If you're interested in joining the team and checking it out, please show up or contact one of the facilitators listed below. A reminder that you can always contribute or follow their work by viewing their PLC log or using the following hashtags on Twitter (#mgerti, #mgepbl, #mgecoteach, #mgetech). I encourage everyone to share resources and ideas in this fashion OR to seek out resources from other educators across the nation and world via Twitter...and share your learning with your team(s).

Optional Meeting for those on the Evaluation Cycle - Don't quite understand the evaluation process?  I will meet with teachers after PD on Wednesday in the library to cover the basics of what to expect this year!  Please bring your Danielson book, Enhancing Professional Practice - A Framework for Teaching. New teachers to Waukee who cannot attend are strongly encouraged to find time to meet with Lyndsay or Doug before your formal observation week! Returning staff members on cycle are welcome to join us Monday too! 


Twitter 101: Round 2 - will take place soon. This would be for staff who missed our Tweet-Up this summer or for anyone wanting a refresher. I will get an email out on Friday or early next week to let you know when that will take place!! Until then, 


Laminator is broken again. We will let you know when it is resurrected or buried and replaced. We understand the inconvenience of not having it so when it is fixed or replaced there will likely be very specific directions so it does not continue to happen.


Promote Maple Grove - 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're 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!!  


At-Bat Song Contest Begins This Month!The flash-from-the-past continues this week as two of the three At-Bat songs are pre-many-of-you. Stuck in the Middle release date almost coincides with my ownrelease date! ;-) I must admit that I attended my first Journey concert in the early 90's and saw them again 4 years ago. Wow. Not only had the band aged but so had the crowd. :-) Good luck matching this week! 

Don't Stop Believing - Journey	Stuck in the Middle - Steelers Wheel
Feeling Good - Michael Buble'	AT-BAT Group A includes: Bebout, T.Broich, Crannell, Grote, Hedrick, Kirby, R.Miller, Ochoa, Robinson, Sheldon, Steenhoek.   ANTI-PRIZE determined: team with the lowest score has to sing one of the songs chosen by the winning team at a spring staff meeting!! I love it.

September 2, 2011

SAY CHEESE!!  

Friday is Picture Day!

Sept 6 PD - Each of you should have received an invitation to view the PD planning calendar on Google.docs.  This would include the agendas for each PD as we approach them. When the agendas are set, you will be notified to view this planning document. If you did not receive access and need it, please let me know. For September 6th, we will begin with a light snack at 8:00 am. Please bring your laptops.


Cumulative Folders for all returning students are organized!  Please take time over the next week to review your students' folders.  We have had a lot of new students this year and they will be placed ASAP. As you review new files, if you note any information that needs to be shared (504, IEP, speech, counseling, etc.), please let the office know immediately.  This would apply to new students who move in during the year. Fifth grade teachers should also look for high math scores to screen for math placement. As students move in, Paula will always email the classroom teacher, principals and related arts staff when new kids start at Maple Grove and notify you when the cumulative file arrives. 


Phone Calls - I've been meaning to post this on the FWR since it was mentioned to me last June but keep forgetting. Phones in the classroom will not call out long distance and this is standard across the district. I did put in a tech request this week to get the conference rooms and office lounge phones updated so staff may call out long distance on those phones. I will let you know when they are ready to go.


Laminator - A service call was placed on Monday. The laminator had a roller replaced and it was serviced on Tuesday. Wednesday, the laminator was found with the cover off and not working properly again. No one notified the office.  This is too expensive of equipment not to use correctly and if issues arise, the office needs notified immediately. Some quick tips everyone needs to follow:

• Do not use the laminator if you don't know how to use it. Ask a friend to show you.
• Do not have parents use it if they have not been trained.
• If something 'breaks', stop and call the office. Do not take it apart or pull anything out.

Gym Project - A projector will be installed in the gym next Friday, September 9th. While they are installing it, we cannot have anyone in the gym.  If you have PE that day, please let your students know that it will take place outside unless we have rain. Mr. Harris will work with you as to where you will meet him for PE that day.


Classroom Newsletter - Thank you to staff members who have been including me on your e-communication home to parents. If you want to include me on your e-newsletter to parents (or share your link), that would be great!  FOR NOW, The link to the building newsletter, The Branch, will be emailed to teachers on Friday.  Please forward it on to your parent email list.  IF YOU NEED PAPER COPIES FOR FAMILIES who do not have access to email, you should have already notified Paula as to how many.

As a reminder...

Students should be returning the inclement weather transportation form and the field trip permission form. Both of these forms stay in your classroom, and it is your responsibility to track who has/has not returned them.  If you need additional copies, let Paula know.

Theory of Action Focus

Providing high quality customer service throughout the organization. 

I appreciate everything that each of you have done these first two weeks of school to make every child feel safe at school and every parent feel good about their child being a part of our Maple Grove family. Many staff have been going the extra mile to make our students and parents feel special and welcomed at Maple Grove.  Now that our first couple weeks have flown by, it might be easier to stay in your room after school, make less contacts, or become focused on all those things that need to get done.  Please continue to make that extra effort to reach out to parents, students and the community throughout the year to make Maple Grove THE place to learn, grow and work.

At-Bat Song Contest Begins This Month!I picked these three songs from Group A to get us started. It really told me quite a bit about these three staff members. It was nice to see some At-Bat songs from the 80's. Reminded me of junior high dances and socials...the scary thing is it was the decade when many of you were born. Ouch. 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper	Chicken Friend - Zac Brown Band
Whip It - DEVO	AT-BAT KICK OFF! September will includes At-Bat songs from Group A. Work as a team to correctly match as many songs to staff members as you can! Group A includes: Bebout, T.Broich, Crannell, Grote, Hedrick, Kirby, R.Miller, Ochoa, Robinson, Sheldon, Steenhoek. GOOD LUCK!