November 5, 2010

Thank you for your hard work and being a part of our MGE family, Alice Hahn!

Welcome back Allison Costa!

Box Top Contest - Heather Doocy, PTO President, left boxtop collection sheets and contest overviews in your boxes to send home with the kids Friday (today).  She will be bringing in collection envelopes for the teachers on Monday with more details.  Winning classes from each grade level will earn an extra recess or gym time (weather pending). Heather appreciates your support with this contest.


Fall Fundraiser - Fortunately for kids...and unfortunately for me...students reached the goal of 575 sold books and donations!!  I will announce this at our assemblies on Friday and will be sporting a dress the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I cannot wait.  ;-)   ...anyone have something that might fit?


Books for BINGO - Books for BINGO is on Friday, November 12th.  It will be held in the gym from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  The PTO still needs 3 more teachers to help call out numbers - please contact Carrie Foster (<--click to email) to volunteer only 15 minutes of your time for this great event.


Inform - The fall 2010 MAP assessment results have been imported into Inform. Both the overall RIT score and the goal/strand RIT scores (Inform refers to them as _concepts_) have been imported into Inform.

DIBELS - reminder from last week...We will not be getting or giving out DIBELS reports to parents - DIBELS does not have that report ready yet for the DIBELS Next version.

Progress Reports - At this time, the progress reports are not 'printer-friendly.'  They print in a narrow column and are 6-7 pages long - definitely not something worth printing. We are going to recommend that you not "advertise" the printing option to parents, unless they request it. Teachers may want to pull up each students' progress report during the conference for the parent, teacher, and student to view together.  The original plan was to not print any progress reports this year. Due to the PowerSchool printing glitch from the parent portal, we will print 2 progress reports for each student at the end of the school year. One copy will be placed in the cum and one copy will be sent home. District office will work on building the parent-friendly and professional-looking progress reports that we will print in May. Until then, progress reports are all electronic. We will communicate this in our newsletter this week.  


But what if...the parent does not have internet access at home and wants a paper copy?  The records in the office indicate we have a few parents without internet access. We believe teachers can do a "print screen" from the teacher's view of a child's progress report.  You may do this for parents who do not have access to the report at home and who request it.  The comments will not be included in this view so you can handwrite or type those for the parents if needed.


But what if...the parent wants to discuss the progress report, the changes to reporting and how it cannot be printed, etc. during our conference time?  We hope the information already sent out and additional information I will send out at the end of next week help parents understand that conferences is a time for you, their child and the parents to talk about needed progress and/or the student's academic achievements.  Lyndsay will be available during the Wednesday conference times and I will be available the Monday time so you can refer parents to us to answer questions about the online reports.


But what if...a custodial parent lives outside the metro area and wants access to the child's online progress report?  First, we hope custodial parents will share their login information with each other, but if that is not the case, please refer the parent to Paula or I.  They will have to mail a notarized copy of their driver's license and we will discuss this with them.


Visitor - Rob Wedebrand from Griswold CSD will be shadowing me on Friday and Monday as part of his practicum hours.  


Dates to Note...
Monday
- PBIS Core Team (8am)
- Allison Costa returns
Tuesday
- K-2 PLC (8am)
- Elem PAC Mtg (4:30-6:00 pm)
Wednesday
- 3-5 PLC (8am)
Thursday
- District Lang Arts Mtg
Friday
- Progress reports are due (live @ 4pm)
- BINGO for Books @ MGE (6:30-8:00 pm)
Monday (Nov 15)
- Conference begin
- PTO Mtg @ MGE (7-8 pm)

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Throw Away Your Reading Logs - There is a great blog-post by Nancy Ehrlich on reading logs and the attempt to instill the love of reading in our students....and our own kids.  I think about the differences between my own three boys and how it can be a fight with one to get him in a book and a fight with another to get him to put down the book (the kid who sits on and attempts to peak at his reading book during math class).  What happened?  Did we suddenly parent differently?  Did I not read the right books to one son?  How can I light that fire??  From my very short time on the other side of the educational desk - working on my 13th year - I have seen many kids get turned off of reading during school. As a whole, I think we are doing many things very well to get kids to enjoy reading, but I'm sure you all have your half-dozen or so that do not enjoy it.  I don't have all (or many) of the answers, but Nancy has some great insight and thoughts...worth a read sometime this weekend.  What has worked for you?  Post a comment to share.

MID-WEEK EMAIL - SENT 11/3/10

Please help us welcome Cindy Bugg, Pamela Swanson, and Kelley Neumann to Maple Grove.  We also are excited to announce that Nancy Anderson will move from the preschool room to the kindergarten room next door as our 4th kindergarten associate! They begin as our kindergarten classroom associates this morning and will be with us from 8:45 - 11:45 am each day.  In addition to assisting kindergarten, they may be available to other grade levels for student interventions during kindergarten lunch & recess.  More to come on that...

Conference reminder forms will be in your boxes this afternoon.  If the 1/2 sheets do not come in Central Print this morning, I will go pick them up so you have them during work time today.  

Recess clarification:  Recess teachers/associates on duty should line kids up 1-2 minutes prior to the scheduled end of recess and send students in the building at the scheduled ending time.  Classroom teachers may wait for students inside the doors.  Since the teachers outside cannot see if teachers are present inside the doors - the expectation is for classroom teachers to be present at that time.  If it becomes a concern, we will have teachers pick up their students outside.  This is for the safety of our students.

Associate Hiring - Update

Maple Grove Staff,

As of Sunday evening, we are still in the process of filling open
associate positions.  We have four 3-hour associates that will be in the
kindergarten classrooms in the morning.  Three candidates have have
accepted offers but the associates cannot start until we have background
checks back.  The fourth position has not been offered yet and interviews
are still pending.  I am also in the midst of interviewing for the one
2.5-hour recess associate.  This position has not been offered yet.

To help help with some high-needs in our kindergarten rooms and holes we
have in our recess schedule, we will be bringing in 2 sub-associates this
week.  These two associates will help until we have the positions filled. 
The associates will be in the kindergarten rooms except for when they are
covering 1st, 4th and 5th grade recess duty - and taking their own lunch.

Except the 4th & 5th grade classroom teachers not having recess duty, all
current duties for staff will remain the same at this point.  I will have
an updated recess/lunch schedule for staff before the recess associate
starts his/her first day (sometime in the next 1-4 weeks).

Thank you for your patience during this process!  The extra support will
be great when we get it in place.

He who laughs, lasts
Doug

October 29, 2010

MAP Reports and RIT Reference Charts - District office has printed individual student MAP reports that I will pick up Thursday.  They have also provided reference charts for all 3rd grade parents and new to the district 4th and 5th grade parents.  Both documents are available for "pick-up" in my office on Friday.  The reports and reference charts (for 3rd graders and new 4th/5th) should be given to parents during P-T Conferences.  We will not be getting or giving out DIBELS reports to parents - having the conversation with parents about DIBELS, sharing scores and child's progress is very appropriate even without the reports. Teachers who used the updated Excel data sheet I sent them would have the option to print individual updates (last tab) and I would be happy to assist teams with an assessment update handout for parents if I did not update your Excel data entry sheet. 


Progress Reports - Leslie and I have started posting (hopefully) useful information on our Wiki about progress reports.  You may submit questions and we will attempt to answer them.   On Friday, please access the Wiki to post questions and provide help to each other.  Even though you will all be working independently, it would be helpful to ask and respond to each other's questions.  We will keep this information on the Wiki - and add to it - throughout the year.  


The Parent Portal to PowerSchool has been shut down until after school on November 12th. When parents attempt to log in, it will state "Invalid User Name or Password."  We have posted a message to parents on our website (see the daily bulletin link) and we will include this information in our building newsletter next week.  After school on November 12th, parents will be able to log in and view students' progress reports!


Teacher Quality Resources - Our building was allotted $5266 for professional development for the 2010-11 school year.  The BLT met Thursday morning to discuss several different options as to how to best meet the academic needs of our students and the instructional needs of our staff.  The team decided to develop action plans by grade level/PLC teams and use the money to continue each team's progress toward our SMART/building goals.  When teams have reported their plan back to me, I'll compile those plans to develop a building plan - this will be communicated with everyone late next week.  More information about the teacher quality funds can be found on the blog.


Barry in a Dress Clarification - I'm sorry to say, but the only way students (and staff) get to see me in a dress is if we reach our fundraiser goal.  As this went to print, we were about 200 Entertainment Books short of our goal of 575 books.  


Parent Teacher Conference Info - We are printing conference reminder notes for teachers to send home the end of next week.  These half-page forms will be placed in your box next week.     


Problem Solving Updates for the month of October are due to me by next Monday.  Please get the list of students in your room to your Problem Solving Core team member this week so she can get the list compiled and emailed to me next Monday.  Last month we did not have a complete picture of who and how many students we had involved in the process so please help us paint a more accurate picture!


PBIS Sheets - As mentioned (but I forgot to include it last week) in our October 20 PBIS PD, please mark "A" for adult and "P" for peer in the last two columns (Gain and Avoid).  I ordered more copies of the correct recording sheets.  


Doors - Please, please ensure doors are fully closed if you're coming in on the weekend.  The main doors on the north and west were open this past Sunday evening and the west ones were open the previous Sunday.  If you're coming in or leaving through any door, you must push or pull until you hear a click.  Thanks for helping us out with this concern!


Books for BINGO - PTO will be hosting their annual Books for BINGO night at Maple Grove on Friday, November 12th.  It will be held in the gym from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  The PTO needs 3 more teachers to help call out numbers - please contact Carrie Foster to volunteer only 15 minutes of your time for this great event.


Box Top Contest - We will running a Box Top contest from November 5th-19th.  More information will come from our PTO next week but winning classrooms at each grade level will earn extra recess/gym time for their class!  


Fall Harvest Review - Whoa. 


Revisiting a prior post - Has anyone set up their classroom on Donor's Choose?  I would be more than happy to help you.  Here is what I wrote two weeks ago: 
Classroom Supplies - Feel like you've taken out a second mortgage to set up your classroom?  Remember each classroom has a small budget from our building budget to start.  If you've forgotten yours or would like an update on how much you have spent, see me.  There are programs out there such as Adopt-A-Classroom, Donors Choose, Classroom Wish List, andIloveschools.com that allow potential donors to browse needed classroom items and fund teacher requests.  Teachers at my previous school brought in over $3000 worth of classroom materials through Donors Choose!  Sign up and try it out.  


Office Bulletin Board and Snow Guessing Contest - . See last week about the "snow pool" but place your guess here by November 1st deadline.  ....and because I have gifts to give....any staff member who has their family picture up on our office bulletin board by November 5th will be in a drawing for a fun prize too.  I'd like that board filled up by conferences and the holiday season.  


Dates to Note - Wow...where or where did October go? 

Monday
- 

Tuesday
- K-2 PLC (8am)
Wednesday
- 3-5 PLC (8am)
- Early Dismissal; Teacher worktime
Thursday
- District Admin Mtg (Barry AM)
Friday
- Teacher Workday (NO School)
- Elem Principals' Mtg (PM)
- PBIS Assembly (early out schedule)
November 11
- Book Fair begins

Final Thoughts for the Week

...my new addition to the FWR where I keep talking/typing and 

you don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Progress Reports II - I have thought a lot about our summer retreat building-a-plane-in-midair analogy lately.  Although the process of progress reports may have caused some stomach pains and sailor-type language over the past couple weeks, the conversation I keep hearing during PLC meetings and post observation conferences has been invaluable.  We cannot secure our tray, tighten our seat belts and land the airplane to work on progress reports.  The end product in this process will be great for the students, parents and teachers of the Waukee School District.  I had one teacher tell me that through her PLC discussions, classroom discussion and own new understanding of the grade level curriculum and expectations - she knows each of her current students' needs, progress and abilities better than she has ever in her career.  The work you are doing - I can honestly say - is not the standard in many districts across this country.  Thanks for choosing to be a positive part of the process and an important member of our Maple Grove family.  I've taken the seat belt sign off - you're free to move about the cabin. Enjoy the flight.