November 2, 2012

*** TIGHT ***

Nurse's Office - Kary takes her lunch from 1:00-1:25 pm. Do not send students down to the office for minor issues during this time (bandaids, bumps, scrapers, aches, etc.). Only send down students who need immediate attention.

Cafeteria Communication - First, welcome (back) Jill Pieretti! She is our new MGE Nutrition Supervisor and I look forward to collaborating with her as we move through the rest of the school year. We met this morning and one change we'd like to begin Monday is having students sort their silverware. On Monday, there will be two tubs (forks and spoons) and students should sort when dumping their tray. Lunch supervisors - please show and model to students on Monday after students are seated. Teachers - please prep students prior to going to lunch on Monday.

TEACHERS: Conference to-do's - A couple quick things to do / think about with upcoming conferences:

• At midnight Friday, the online scheduler closes. Contact parents who have not set up conferences yet to get those arranged (sooner than later).
• Related Arts needs to have progress report info entered by end of day, Monday.
• Teachers should print progress reports and send them home on Friday (11/9) for parents who have indicated they do not have internet access at home.
• Email me if you need coverage at the end Thursday so you can eat prior to your first conference. 
• I will be at conferences on Wednesday until 6pm and Diann will be at conferences on Thursday until 8pm. I will be in Ames Thursday evening. If you have a conference where admin support or presence would be important, please let us know now so we can get it on our schedule.
• I will be in an out of the building on the Saturday of conferences.

ALL STAFF - We had a Recess/Lunch Duty meeting on Wednesday. I appreciate the input from those who attended. I need the feedback by FRIDAY (11/2). An updated memo/rules will be given to ALL staff early next week. Tweaks I know will stick include...

• Cold lunch tables moves to the NW corner of the lunch room
• Students must get 20 (seat-time) minutes to eat. 
• Teachers should help their class get through the lunch line prior to leaving the cafeteria.

*** LOOSE ***

Books Are Fun items are in the staff lounge. Check it out and get any orders in soon.

Where's Barry? - I will be out of the office from 1:15-2:15 pm today (Friday). Next Tuesday, Paula and I will be at a School Messenger training at SMS from 2:30-4:00 pm. Diann and Leslie will (wo)man-the-fort and front desk.

Visitors - Everybody loves to learn from y'all. Monday brings a TON of teachers from Grinnell to Waukee elementary buildings...6+ will be at Maple Grove.

District Office Changes - Student enrollment assistant (i.e. District Office front desk), Jamilee Lightfoot, will be the new Student Services Administrative Assistant working with Roxanne Cumings. A replacement for Jamilee has not been hired as the closing date is today (Friday).

I don't usually wear ties twice in a week or so, but the Iowa State Tie you gave me tries to stretch it's record to 2-0 this weekend. I'm a superstitious man so you'll see the tie every Friday until they lose.

4th Graders Sing: Get out and vote!

October 26, 2012

I had a conversation with a teacher last week and appreciated her honest comment when she said, "I read the FWR when I have time but sometimes I don't get to it." :-) So here is my adjustment. I will try to sort my FWR in to terms we use often in Waukee..."Tight" and "Loose." The "Tight" items would be pieces of the FWR I'd expect all staff to read every week. I'll try to put the "all staff" items at top and must-read teacher items in this area. The "Loose" items would be good-to-know-but-not-vital-to-daily-survival items that you can read or come back to reference. Hope that helps.

<<< TIGHT >>>

Wormeli Feedback - If you have not done so already, please complete the feedback survey today (click here). Those who are taking our PD for Drake credit should also email me a one page summary (you should have received the details of the summary from me last week).

Next Step for PD - Teachers received an email-memo last week regarding your next steps following our Oct 10th PD. About 1/3 have completed the "inter-rater reliability" process using the Learning Target rubric. The memo and LT rubric can be found online. Please complete by November 5th.

Diann will be changing her schedule staring next week. She will be at Maple Grove on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and every other Friday.

Lunch/Recess - Staff involved with lunch and recess duty will be meeting next Wednesday after school to discuss lunch and recess duties, procedures and rules. We hope to come out of the meeting with some "tight" and "loose" rules/procedures we will share with all staff at some point soon. Your BLT member received information from me recently about the meeting so if you have questions, please talk to your rep. 

Upcoming dates to note:

• Today: Harvest Parties! (2:30-3:15p) EARLY OUT SCHEDULE
• Today: District Related Arts PLC+ (2-4p)
• Tonight: BINGO for Books (6:30-8:00p @ MGE Gym)
• Oct 30: PBIS/PS Core teams meet separately (8:00-8:35am)
• Oct 31: PD will be focused on using iPads in the classroom. Bring your iPad
• Nov 2: Online Conference link closes (begin calling parents to set up conferences not scheduled)
• Nov 5: Related Arts staff must have progress reports completed

<<< LOOSE >>>

The Scholastic Book Fair Teacher Preview scheduled for all teachers on Friday, November 9 from 7:45 am to 8:30 am in the Media Center. The PTO will be asking teachers to complete their wish list slips and one ‘Teacher Recommends’ slip.  A light breakfast will be served. 

*REPEAT* Our First Snow Contest will happen again this winter. Farmer's Almanac has it happening sooner-than-later so place your guess here by November 2nd. I'm guessing 2014. ;-) If my memory serves me right, Melissa Grimm won last year!

“My chief want in life is for someone who shall make me do what I can.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

October 19, 2012

Upcoming dates to note:

• TODAY: Staff celebration in the library at 8:00am
• TODAY: PBIS Assembly (3-5 @ 2:10p; K-2 @ 2:50p) EARLY OUT SCHEDULE
• Fri: Rick Wormeli workshops and teacher workday
• Oct 22: PT Schedule opens online (through Nov 2)
• Oct 22-25: Reading week (see Pam's email)
• Oct 25: K/1st PLC+
• Oct 26: Harvest Parties! (2:30-3:15p) EARLY OUT SCHEDULE
• Oct 26: Related Arts PLC+
• Oct 31: PD will be focused on using iPads in the classroom

Friday - No kids on Friday (did you know that?) as many of you are engaged in the Rick Wormeli workshop(s) and/or working in your classrooms. If attending the Wormeli workshop, sign-in's will be at the location. I will not be in the district all day but Diann is available at x6658. Also on Friday, Berg Audio will be in the building to complete annual maintenance on the projectors. It shouldn't take very long in each room but just wanted to give you a heads-up.

Progress Reports in PowerTeacher may begin to be entered this coming Friday during the teacher workday. The timeline for progress reports is below. Reminder: if you have parents who do not have access to the internet, you must print off their child's progress report statement and send home with the student on Friday, November 9th.

• PS closed to parents: Oct 18
• Related arts teachers enter information by Nov 5
• PS opens to parents: 4pm on Nov 9

Bench Press Board - As students change benchmark levels in your classroom, please update the "Bench Press" board by moving the sticky note. You would also do the same when you have new students move in to the building or leave the building. It will be fun to watch the board change through out the year.

The Parent Portal for Online Conferences will open this coming Monday. An email will be sent out to parents via the list serve and with a link to the directions and portal. If you have questions that cannot be answered, be sure to send them to Paula or I.

Our First Snow Contest will happen again this winter. Farmer's Almanac has it happening sooner-than-later so place your guess here by November 2nd. I'm guessing 2014. ;-) If my memory serves me right, Melissa Grimm won last year!

Boss's Day Thank You

Having survived my 3rd Boss's Day with the staff at Maple Grove, I am grateful for the daily blessings, celebrations and chuckles you all provide me. I truly feel my job is to get the right people on the bus and help everyone find the right seat (...and yes, some of you sometimes have to have the assigned seat right behind me :-). And then, I drive. It is not me being cliche when I tell you, parents and the community that we have assembled the best staff possible for our students at MGE. You make good decisions. You put in the time and hard work. Your teams make great data-driven decisions. You provide that individualized feeling and sense of belonging to each child and parent. You do all of it each and every day...and I check my rear-view mirror, attempt to provide the correct stops (resources, time, support)  and smile. 

Finally...I ran across a blog article by Scott Williams that made me think of each of you. My additional thoughts are in italics.

If you want to be Surrounded By The Best, you must embrace these three things:

• 1. It’s your responsibility to develop your team and give them opportunities to be the best. The best leaders maximize the potential of those they lead…  they put their people in the best position to win.) I smile when I look at the team we have assembled over the last two+ years. 
• 2. You have to give those that are “The Best” room to fly, dream big and try new things. Learn from Google [as they] allow employees to spend twenty percent of their time to work on their own project, independent of their workgroup. Google believes that no one should leave in order to pursue their personal passions. Letting employees do this results in over twenty percent of Google’s new product launches has stemmed from these personal projects. I look at what you've independently done with Skype in the Classroom, Project Based Learning, Cooperative Teaching, iPads, Flipped Math classroom, etc., and then how you share the successes and watch it grow naturally.
• 3. You must openly embrace that best will not only be sought after, but sometimes the best will leave and take those best practices other places. This one is tougher. With boundary changes being approved at the next Board meeting, I know that team members (teachers & associates) will be leaving us to join other building(s). It comforts me to know we are spreading our knowledge, our experiences, our leadership to other buildings, staffs and ultimately, affecting more kids in a positive way. 

Not related to any of the above, but it wouldn't be "Boss's Day," without a Michael Scott reference...