Thanksgiving Week

Good morning everyone,

Over the past two of weeks I have spent a lot of time in classrooms observing your practices.  I have seen many amazing things and together we have identified some specific areas for improvement.

I have also observed Ebenezer (3rd grade) die at least 4 dramatic imaginary deaths.  Most by sharp metallic instrument and once by bear claw. :-)

A general message I would like to convey is that the professional development received during 1st and 3rd Monday PDs should be implemented in the classroom as soon as possible.  If its not perfect at first, that's fine. Muck through it and refine along the way.  If you need more resources let me know.

Let's make this a learning-packed short week, and then enjoy a few days off with family and friends.

Josh

Celebration

• Kristen Scott was awarded the National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  This is a very rigorous application process and the selection process is equally as rigorous.  Congrats to Mrs. Scott for achieving the highest certification offered for teachers!

Updates

• You may have noticed that speakers have been installed in the hallways and main office.  This is in response to the code red drill in October.  The Assistant Superintendent's office provided funding for this project so school funds could be used elsewhere.  The Building Services department prioritized this project over all others.  It would be great if we could send a few thank yous to Mike Herrting and Joe Anderson from the kids.
• No speakers were installed for the playground, so please make sure someone has a walkie-talkie at all times during recess.  An extra walkie has been placed in the bookroom behind the printer for easy access.

Y5210

• Steve Youngbauer, Director of Food Services, has asked Nuestro Mundo to join the Y5210 Classroom fitness program.  He is impressed by our commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle among staff and students.  Please go to this link to find our more about the program.  Let me know if you are interested.

Important Dates

• 11/26--PLC Grant Meeting 2:00-3:00 in Kristen's Room
• 11/27--School-Based Leadership Team 3:30--5:00 (Rigo's Room)
• 11/27--Thanksgiving Luncheon (alternate lunch times)
• 11/28-11/29--No School: Thanksgiving Holiday
• Dec. 2nd--Staff PD
• Dec 5th--Mondo Site Visit

Attendance and Lunch Count Procedures

Please use the new recording sheet for breakfast and lunch starting today.  If you started yesterday, that is fine.  The expectation is that all teachers begin today and have this sheet turned into the office no later than 8:40 a.m.

Do this first thing when you get to class, some of you may decide to build this into your breakfast routine.  Some of you have established routines in the classroom.  Either way is fine, but it is very important to have these into Daniela by 8:40.

Why?

Daniela has to make phone calls home for every student who is absent, if their parents have not already notified us of the absence.  Depending on the day, this can be quite time consuming.

The reason we do this is to be sure that all kids are accounted for everyday.  This is district policy, every school is required to make these phone calls.

In the past the expectation was to have these in by 9:15, some consistently are turned in later than that.  This means that phone calls home are pushed back sometimes to after 10:00a.m.

This is a matter of safety.  If a child is expected to board the bus at 7:45, and for some reason does not, if we do not figure out that the student has gone missing until 10:00, that is over two hours during which the child is unaccounted for.

We have to speed this up.  Please get those attendance/lunch count forms in by 8:40.

Thanks,

November 18, 2013

"No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship."

Over the next few months, the bulk of my time and energy will be devoted to observing your teaching practices and reflecting upon those observations with you. I will be asking you to step outside of your comfort zone and closely analyze your practices and behaviors as an educator. This process will require openness, honesty, and the willingness to put yourself out there. Our students and families require this of us.

Our standards have changed, our assessments have changed, the very field of immersion education is always evolving, and therefore we must be adaptive, reflective practitioners.

I look forward to this time of learning and improvement that this process will lead us to.

-Josh


Updates

• If you have not completed the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey, please do so before Dec. 2nd. You should have received an email with a link to this survey and a passcode. This will offer me good feedback to improve my own practices as your principal.
• Grade-level Team Meetings will continue to be facilitated by either Kristi, Emily Z., or myself, to support you in collaboration with one another. The end in mind is to move toward a structured analysis of your grade-level data to help inform instruction and intervention.
• Please remember to use the "Bully Incident Report" in cases where a parent presents a concern to you about their child being bullied here at school. Please see Stephanie if you need assistance with this form.

Important Dates

• 11/18--Staff PD 2-3:30 in the Art Room
• 11/18--PLC Grant Day Away in the Conference Room, many subs in the building.
• 11/19--9:15 Fire Drill
• 11/22--Picture Retakes in the Lounge
• 11/22--6-8pm Liderazgo/PTO meeting in the cafeteria
• 11/27--Thanksgiving Luncheon (alternate lunch times)
• 11/28-11/29--No School: Thanksgiving Holiday

Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

-- Vince Lombardi

As I reflect on the last few weeks, I perceive a serious flaw in my efforts to lead this school through some significant changes particularly around the Multi-Tiered System of Support. I realize that I have put you in situations of having to take on an complex new system and having to make difficult choices about who will receive intervention, when, and in what language. All of this, without providing opportunities for team building, for creating norms for collaboration, and specific skills we all need to work through these difficult changes and decisions we must make.

Rookie mistake.

I've learned an important lesson about school leadership through this process. Over the next few weeks, I would like to take some time to work on some of these things with each grade level team. It may seem like we are taking a step back, but I feel that this is an essential component that I was too eager to skip over.

This will move us forward.

Have a great day everyone,
Josh


Kudos

• Becky Smith--for making lunch a community building event.
• Kristi Nelson--for guiding us through a complicated WKCE schedule without a hitch

Updates

• Channel 27 News will air footage of our Kindergarten and 1st graders in the cafeteria on 11/25 on the 10pm news, and 11/26 in the morning news. Hopefully they will play footage of the "Gracias por la comida" song.
• I have placed an extra walkie-talkie behind the printer in the book room to be used for recess. Please make sure that at least one person has a walkie out on the playground at all times. In the event of a code-red, this will be the only way to communicate with those outside.
• From Alberto: Please turn off your projectors when they are not being actively used. This will prolong the life of the bulb by years. These bulbs are expensive.
• We now have a plastic grocery bag collection box in the foyer. We could win a park bench made out of recycled bags if we collect enough bags, please promote this with your kids, great lesson opp for environmentalism/being a part of a community.
• When Custody Battles Occur: Remember, It is District practice to not take sides in family disputes because in the end we need to work with both parents.  Therefore it is essential that we remain neutral.  The only way to do that is by not agreeing to write letters or testifying in court.  If a teacher gets pressure from a parent have the teacher tell the parent that this is what they have been advised by legal services and refer the parent to call us.  That way the teacher is not put in the middle and the parent can be mad at us down here.

Having a Bad Day?

No doubt about it, what we do everyday is not a walk in the park. Here's an article letting you know how to deal with bad days as a teacher.

Important Dates

• 11/09--Girls on the Run 5K, Parent School Partnership 10am-12pm in room 50
• 11/11--PBS Team Meeting 2:15pm, PLC Grant team meeting 2pm
• 11/12-11/15--Parent/Teacher Conferences
• 11/12-11/14--3rd Grade takes the WKCE
• 11/13--Josh, Emily, Kristi, and Kristen out all day
• 11/15--No School
• 11/16--Parent School Partnership trip to UW!
• 11/18--PLC Grant Day Away--Josh out all day, many subs in building
• 11/18--Staff PD: TAG Presentation
• 11/19--Fire Drill 9:15am

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Hi Everyone,

WELCOME BACK STEPHANIE!!

Just a Clarification on P/T Conferences:

• Teachers must be available for 3.5 hours Tues. (12th) and Thurs. (14th) 5:30-7:30.  From what I understand, these times have to be part of the schedule.  
• Teachers can have off all day Friday as long as conferences are done.  
• No comp time available (in return for the option of having Friday off)

Additionally

• There is a new Conference Tracker in Infinite Campus--click here for directions for use.
• Materials for all teachers to give during P/T conferences can be found by clicking here.  (Many of these will be provided for you, so you don't need to print out)

3-5 Grade Teachers

• Please plan to share the Student Goal Setting Sheet from the NWEA website.  I will work with Kristi to get these printed out for you.  This shows students' scores from the Fall MAP and provides their specific growth target for the year.  That way you can (student, teacher, and parent) work together to develop a plan as to how to reach the growth goals.
• I realize that our MAP testing was interrupted and some kids were not able to finish.  The likelihood of the them having a make-up opportunity is slim, especially by P/T Conferences.  For these students, please provide other sources of data.

November 1

Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.

--Roy Goodman

We're in the thick of it now, let's keep our heads up. Behavior has settled down this week, but I know I'm not the only one feeling assessment-laden. Let's make sure these assessments are used to improve teaching and learning. That's where our discussion lies for this month.  

I continue to be inspired everyday by the commitment, passion, and expertise I see everyday in this school.

I've seen students talking to each other in structured ways in nearly every classroom I visited this week. Great job!  

Next week I will be focusing on looking for evidence of gradual release of responsibility--Focus lessons, Guided work, Collaborative learning, quality independent work. I'll try to stop in during literacy time at least once per classroom.

Thanks for all you do!

Kudos:

• John Wheeler and everyone else for making the Puma Run such a success!
• Chris Powers for an amazing drum corp and color guard presentation!
• Kristen Scott for beginning another Parent/School Partnership cycle!
• Kristi Nelson for tackling the WKCE logistic beast like a champ.
• Erin Davenport for guiding us through the wireless MAP pilot with grace and composure.
• Emily Z. and Sarah M. for all their work in initializing a Multi-Tiered System of Support for our students!
• Lucia and Maxi for keeping our students well nourished!

WKCE:

The test begins Monday 11/4.   4th and 5th graders will test next week, 3rd graders will begin the following week (11/12).  We really need to enforce quiet hallways all day for the next two weeks.

K-2 teachers, please plan to have your students write letters or draw pictures for the 3-5 kids wishing them luck on the test and to do their best.  This is a K-5 effort, and I think this would serve as a great encouragement for the kids taking the test.  Next year, we will do this the week before the test.

Updates:

11/1--Mondo Site Visit

11/1--Day of the Dead (evening event cancelled)

11/2--Parent/School Partnership (Kristen is looking for a few teachers to be present)

11/4--WKCE Begins

11/4--Staff Meeting 2:00-3:30, focus on Close Reading through a shared reading activity

11/7--1st Grade Teachers gone for district-level Lead Teacher Team work

11/9--Parent/School Partnership (Marj Passman presenting from the BOE)
11/12-14--Parent/TEacher Conferences
11/15--No School

11/13--Leadership Team Meeting

11/18--PLC Grant Day Away

11/19--Fire Drill

Question of the Week:

Do you know your students with disabilities' IEP goals? If not, you can look them up in IC. If you do not know how to do this, ask the student's case manager. We are all responsible for the learning and well-being of our students with IEPs.

From the District:

OMGE--Get free Credits from Edgewood and priority access to GLAD training, to find out more click here.

Parameters for sending jobs to printing services, click here.