June 3, 2011

Rotating Book Option - A selection of 30 fiction and nonfiction books are available to be sent to schools within Heartland, every five weeks, to give students access to more print. Register at http://tinyurl.com/3ejgn65 to be a part of this opportunity. If you have questions, call the Children's Library at 270-9030 or 1-800-362-2720. You might want to keep this information and share remind each other this coming fall! 


Summer Learning Opportunity - A educational Reform Symposium e-Conference, RSCON3, will be on July 29-31. A global online free conference for everyone concerned with education. With up to 60 presentations and 12 keynote speakers it is sure to be an incredible event! Organized by educators for educators, it is FREE but will offer more valuable and inspiring PD than money can buy!  To get more information, visit http://reformsymposium.com - on this site, you can hear/view comments from RSCON2 presenters, including one of our very own!


All staff members must complete the mandatory Bloodborne Pathogens training and Right to Know training for the 2011-2012 school year.   YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR TWO (2) CERTIFICATES  BY AUGUST 17, 2011.   For ease in tracking as to who has completed the training, an envelope has been provided to each building office for you to put your certificates in and check your name off of the list.  Food Service, Custodians, and Childcare employees should submit their certificates to their supervisor as Carla, Norm and Andrea have been given envelopes as well.   Of note if you were a new hire recently and had completed these trainings in the month of May, you do not need to repeat the trainings.     

Each employee in the district will be required to go to the Heartland Area Education Agency home web page at www.aea11.k12.ia.us to access the training programs.   A set of directions was emailed out by Kate. Questions? Ask Kate.

Last Week Info

UPDATED 5/31/11 @ 1:32 PM
Progress Reports - Per Darryl Down's email on May 25th, the progress report pdf will also need emailed to Paula so it can be burnt to a CD and stored for permanent record. Classroom teachers need to print a copy for the cum file.

Work Day - Deep breath. If you don't have labels today, I'm sure there are plenty of other things to do during prep time. Monday is a work day so what doesn't get done by Friday's Mickey's event shouldn't stop you from going and enjoying the evening! :-) No awards given to first one checked out.

UPDATED 5/31/11 @ 9:55 AM
Check-Out Sheets are in your mailboxes and sign-up sheet on my window. We now realize that the progress reports will print out 5 pages, not 3 pages. This is not ideal but it is what we will go with this spring. Hopefully summer conversation, planning and work will result in a more streamlined and efficient process next year.

Related Arts - Early Out schedule on Wednesday and NO related arts classes on Thursday and Friday. Related Arts teachers should be available to help classroom teachers if needed (ex: helping a classroom with an outdoor project that needs one more set of adult eyes/hands - teacher request help) and be a part of celebrations/events as we close the year.

Year End Assembly - Thursday at 2:30 pm in the gym. We will announce when to come.  Order of events: Rob welcome; band; chorus; Doug speaks; slide show (Dirksen introduce it)


Last Day Clap Out - 5th Graders will participate in a Clap-Out Parade at the end of Friday.  See the details below.

o   K-4 Students should have all their bags packed and ready to go by 3:25 pm.

o   K-4 students will sit in the hallways against the walls/lockers.

o   At 3:30 pm, 5th graders will begin to walk through the building starting by the 4th grade and progress all the way through the building to the kindergarten hallway.  Encourage K-4 students to clap! 

o   They will turn around (U-turn) in the K-pod so they can proceed by each other and the main office and out the front doors.

o   Two 5th grade teachers should lead the bus students to the north sidewalk and stay with them. One 5th grade teacher (and SPED staff should be at the parent pick-up area)

o   When all the 5th graders have exited, we will dismiss students as we always do (walkers and bus by bus).

o   All teachers should be in hallways/bus duty to help on last day! Grade level teachers should be out at the sidewalk to wave goodbye to students on buses. Related Arts/SPED at parent pick up.

May 27, 2011

Summer Kick-Off Survey - Whether you will be able to attend the summer learning kick-off event at MGE or not, please complete (another!) short survey today! http://bit.ly/lfrIGn 


Our last 2011-12 certified hire has been made! Please join in welcoming (back) Alice Hahn to MGE and our 3rd grade team! In addition to starting the year off with us as Allison Costa's long term sub this past fall, Alice has subbed in multiple buildings over the past couple years and completed two additional long term sub positions. We are excited to have her return to our MGE family this coming fall!


RA Schedule for 2011-12 is nearly complete. Our team had some great conversation and nobody broke any bones so mission accomplished! :-) Attempting to put together a schedule that ensures a couple days of common planning time, allows for collaborative teaching to take place in grades 2-5, and maintains the 8:00-8:40 morning PLC block is difficult, but our team has laid a solid foundation for a schedule! The final product should be viewable by June 6.


Associate Conferences - A floater sub has been hired for Wednesday, June 1st, to allow all our associates to meet with Lyndsay and I. Please see the schedule above the punch-in clock. We need you to add your location (the best you can) onto the sheet so the sub has a schedule for the day.  Questions - see one of us.


Check-Out Sign-Up - As mentioned in a previous FWR, the sign-up times for check-out will not be posted outside my office until May 31st. It does not matter if you check out with Lyndsay or I. Sorry - no early-bird sign-ups.  We're all at MGE until at least 2pm anyway. :-)  


Problem Solving Packets - In addition to the information in the checkout sheets, any teacher who has started a electronic problem solving packet should email those to me so I can get them to the appropriate teachers in the fall. If the packet was completed entirely electronically, you do not need to print it.

Survey for All Returning/New Staff - If you did not finish the survey at PD last week or you need to take it, please do so sometime soon!  Read carefully and take your time: http://bit.ly/mAHywk

Printers - 100's of sheets of paper have been printed to our printers and not picked up over the past couple weeks. Please ONLY print what is needed for school and your students. Personal items should be printed at home. As we close the year, classroom teachers will need to print over 1500 sheets of paper for progress reports (3 pages each) and data sheets. We cannot afford nor have the time for unnecessary items to be printed.


PTO Announced that we will generated over $4000 from our spring Spelling Challenge fundraiser!  Additional funds from this fundraiser and other fundraising from PTO this year will allow us to install one more projector per grade level and we hope to complete this in July or early August. BLT members should draw additional name and email it to me.  PTO also wanted to congratulate Mrs. Beyer's class for having the most receipts turned in from our Bang-Bang restaurant nights! Every student in Mrs. Beyer's class will receive a free dessert certificate.

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

This week, I was able to celebrate the life of my former colleague of mine in Red Oak. He passed away this past weekend after battling terminal illness for the past year. I wanted to share the poem his sister included on his memorial and hope you're able to use it to refocus like I will continue to try to do. :-)  "Things" can get busy and I can often lose the focus on the truly important things in life. I appreciate all the little things each of you do to help each other stay focused on living life the right way.

Living Life

Life is not a race - but indeed a journey.

Be honest. Work hard. Be choosy.

Say "thank you", and "great job" to someone each day.

Let your handshake mean more than pen and paper.

Love your life and what you've been given, it is not accidental.

Search for your purpose and do it as best you can.

Dreaming does matter.

It allows you to become that which you inspire to be.

Laugh often.

Appreciate the little things in life and enjoy them.

Some of the best things really are free.

Do not worry, less wrinkles are more becoming.

Forgive. It frees the soul.

Take time for yourself - plan for longevity.

Recognize the special people you've been blessed to know.

Live for today, enjoy the moment.

By: Bonnie Mohr