Cowboy Courier
November 21, 2019
Today I choose to be thankful. I am truly fortunate to come to work each day to a second family. I am thankful to work alongside people who give of themselves in service to others. The work we do is not easy, If fact, it is sometimes too much and we find ourselves on mission, rather than "at work" like other friends and family.
I visited a classroom this week and it happened to be one of "those" classes. You know that's how random visits go. :) After my brief visit, the precious teacher met me in the hallway and jokingly asked me to be kind in my report. I thought it was funny, but also interesting. While I watched the squirrels in that room try to get through the intervention the teacher was providing, I was struck by how thankful I was that this sweet lady was willing to come to our school each day and wrangle all those squirrels. I don't even remember much about the actual lesson. I just watched a teacher connect with kids and balance all the unique circumstances presented in that one room. What a service to these families! I happen to be raising a child who is presently one of the squirrels a teacher gets to have. He requires the very best of the adults in his life every single day. So please know that while I push us to continue to learn and grow as professionals, and I will likely fuss when something can get better, I will always be thankful first for many reasons. I'm so thankful for amazing people like YOU who choose to give so lovingly in service to others.
Get some rest over the Thanksgiving break, eat way too much yummy food, and take care of yourself and your families.
Thank you for all you do!
Amber
Time for the Holiday Countdown!!
What's Coming Up?
Nov. 22-Read In Day
Nov. 23-Happy Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 2-CMS Holiday Countdown Begins
Dec. 4-Faculty Meeting
Dec. 9-13-Book Fair
Dec. 11-Leadership
Dec. 11-8th Grade Parent Meeting 7:00pm
Dec. 20-Q2 Ends
Read In Day
Friday, November 22nd is our annual Fall Read-In Day!
This is a day that we invite all CMS students and staff to enjoy reading a good book! You are welcome to join in the reading fun (no matter what subject you teach) by inviting your students to relax and read a book of their choice in class. Students (and teachers) may wear school appropriate pajamas this day, and I’m hoping to have some special treats set up for teachers that day, too (stay tuned)!
Students should already have a book when they come to class on Read-In Day. We will be working with ELAR teachers to ensure students have books, as the library will be at capacity that day with displaced Fine Arts students. Please remind your students to have a book the day before so that they are prepared!
I’ve attached the Read-In Day poster if you’d like to print or share it with your students. Please let me know if you have any questions.
From the Counselors
The canvas course “Mental Health for Educators” is now available in eduphoria. This course was written by our IMPACT team and will award 3 hours. Lots of videos and resources.
https://mckinney.schoolobjects.com//wshop/default.aspx?cid=20510
Call for Presenters
Hello, MISD Educators!
We are in search of TOTALLY AWESOME sessions & content facilitators for our next district-wide PD on February 17, 2020.
We want this to be a valuable learning opportunity in which teachers can learn from other teachers about effective instruction (HRS Level II). If you would like to share your passion with other MISD educators and have a TOTALLY RAD session to present, then throw on your legwarmers, pop your collar, tease your hair, and submit a session proposal, or BE SQUARE. Session proposals for February 17 should focus on engaging strategies to improve teaching and learning. If you have presented at Carnverge or any other conferences this past summer, we encourage you to replicate your presentation for February 17.
Also, we are looking for ROCKSTAR teachers that would be STOKED to facilitate a session that content Coordinators have created.
Please complete your Session Proposal, and/or Content Facilitator Form by November 15, 2019.
Kudos!
Mrs. Nixon,
My son LOVES your art class! Thank you for providing my son, who normally doesn’t like school, with something positive to enjoy and look forward to every day. -Happy Parent
KUDDOs to Amber, Sandra D., Judy, Nancy, Rosa and Teri for helping out with coverage of classes today. You are the best! -Sandra
This is from one of our Memoir Projects…a positive reminder that it takes a village ☺ “…It’s time for AVID and I just met some new friends. They said their names are Madi and Justina and they’re really kind. They let me sit with them when I had nowhere else to sit. Today is November 11 and this school hasn’t been also bad. There were sometimes where I wish we never moved, but if we hadn’t moved I wouldn’t have been able to meet my AMAZING teachers and friends. So if you’re going through a hard time just know it WILL get better even if you don’t think so.” ~7th grade student Mr. Kenealey, I just want you to know that I appreciate your videos on Canvas; they are hilarious!!! -Happy Parent A BIG thanks to Lauren Scott and Nicole Spinnato for helping me with all our tech issues. Our PJ Movie Party was a success!! -Dorrie Wow! I have to brag on 6th ELAR and History! The ELAR team visited each History class today and had the opportunity to observe the students working through a DBQ. These two teams have done an amazing job of collaborating in order to support the students as readers and writers! -Judy Thank you to my amazing SPED team for helping me have a bright School Psychology Awareness Week despite the chaos of this time of year :-). I am proud to be a part of “the flagship” at Cockrill and work with so many people who are passionate about helping ALL of our kids succeed. -Jennifer Goodman