Staff Newsletter
For the Week of August 5, 2018
Dear Staff,
It's been so great to meet so many of you whether at our Staff Cookout, 1-1 meetings, or popping in to the office when you are there. I've had the chance to meet most staff members at this point and hope you have enjoyed the opportunities to get to know each other as much as I have. I feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing District and even more blessed to be at GRE with all of YOU.
Finally, as you begin to think through your opening activities I wanted to share a few ideas with you. Feel free to lose them or use them, I just like to pass a long new learning!
1. Consider give parents a Google Form link to learn more about their child. Aside from the normal questions, I always included questions like:
-Next June, what do you hope your child says about his/her experience in school this year? What's the story you hope he/she would tell?
-What is the best way to share with you what is going on in the classroom?
-Is there anything else you want to tell us that will help us have the best year possible?
2. Make sure the first day of school leaves students excited to come back! What about trying a new Design Challenge? Click here to check out the d.school's Design Thinking Wiki full of K-12 Design Thinking Challenges.
3. Find a brand new book to read that introduces beginning of the year ideas. I am picking up a collection from the NA library that were published in 2017 or 2018. Feel free to stop by!
4. Check out the resources from my go to back to school books: The First Six Weeks of School and Rules in School. These are in my office if you want to glance at them. I used them as a resource to make sure I didn't forget to teach any routines or procedures.
I'll be back next Sunday with more updates. I hope to share the Opening Meeting staff agenda late this week so that you can be prepared to come back to school August 13th!
News to Share
1. Please make sure that you check any floor or desk lamps you have. They must be UL verified. If they are not, they have to go:( Including the two desk lamps in my office. If anyone finds a great deal on lamps that are UL approved, be sure to spread the word. We had A LOT of non approved lamps in our building.
2. Class placement information, bus information and student ID information is being mailed home in a letter on Tuesday. This is consistent among all four elementary schools. Expect some neighborhood excitement as these hit mailboxes this week. A huge thank you to Angie who has been working so hard to keep up with any moves or changes and who will be working her tail off to meet our Tuesday timeline...all while her daughter shows at the fair on Monday!
3. New Teachers have their orientation this week on Monday and Tuesday and we are down to just one more Educational Assistant to hire. Our Rockstar team is almost in place and I couldn't be more excited about the additions to GRE.
4. PAC will have our first meeting this week so look for minutes to come out by the end of the week. We will share the meeting minutes through email.
Important Dates
Tuesday, August 7th- New Teacher Orientation
Wednesday, August 8th- 8-12 PAC Meeting
Thursday, August 9th- 9:30-3:00 Fundations Training
Friday, August 10th-