Griffith Elementary
Weekly G*News * December 3, 2018
Principal's Principles
Dear Griffith Staff,
As we jump back into full gear, we know that the holiday season brings joy and stress. Let's be mindful to focus on the Instructional System:
- Planning Instruction
- Providing Instruction
- Adjusting Instruction
When you're planning and designing your lesson, is it aligned to the curriculum, standards and pacing guide?
Are you providing quality instruction in a classroom that has a culture for learning and authentic engagement?
Are you open to peer feedback, using data to drive instruction and being reflective to make adjustments?
Principally yours,
~DG
Week-at-a-Glance
Follow-Up Facts (Concerns Corner)
Excessive Tardiness - I will be sending home a letter to parents and posting in the office a newly clarified Tardy Policy. Tardies will NO LONGER be excused with parent drop-off/ID. Excused Tardies must follow the same parameters that qualifies an Excused Absence (as outlined in the handbook).
- Wednesday Morning Assemblies - We will begin having Wednesday morning assemblies, starting at 8:15-8:30 in the gym [breakfast will be at 8:30-8:40]. They will be designed to be so fun, that kids will not want to be late. Then we will make the incentive that they have to have progressively good weekly attendance to be able to participate in it.
- Griffith Houses - we are going to use the House System to build community, incentivize attendance, and give us all, students and staff alike, a fun thing to participate in. They will not be Harry Potter Houses, yet having a similar feel so that many will have a basic understanding of how it works. Students across campus will make up the houses. Your whole class will NOT be in one house. They will be divided. We will work on getting House shirts (for students and staff). More information will come as we begin to brainstorm, collaborate and workout the logistics. [see WeAreTeachers link below]
Boys & Girls Club Busing Issues - last word heard was that starting in January, B&G Club will send over 1-2 staff members at 3:30 to supervise their students and get on the bus with them. This will alleviate any Griffith staff from supervising the B&G Club.
- SpecialEd/Transportation Meeting scheduled for Wednesday to address issues
Security & Maintenance - after being made aware of a number of concerns by the staff this week, I had a meeting today on campus with Adrian from Maintenance, JanPro, our evening custodial manager, Mike & Darrell.
- Meeting scheduled next week with ClimaTech to look at adding/fixing interior magnetic doors to make ADA compliance between 400-600 buildings as well as address broken key-card gate
- Requested additional accordion-gate to secure off backfield in 600/700 Breezeway so there will be no access to interior hallways
- ALL TEACHERS/STAFF NEED TO MAKE SURE YOUR INTERIOR/EXTERIOR DOORS ARE LOCKED WHEN YOU LEAVE - I will provide you with a checksheet/log to track if doors are found open. Please check all exterior doors you are by to guarantee there are NO ROCKS propping door open.
- Break Ins - we were made aware today at our meeting that the evening custodial lady has found young men (teens) in the building at midnight. We are pretty sure that some of the minor thefts has been due to unwanted guests and not the evening cleaning ladies. We will be making sure that PAC as well as our cafeteria staff are diligent about securing doors.
- Alarm System - we will be having the campus alarm activated at 6:15 so the building is armed before the evening crew arrives. Please notify me & (I'll find out who) if you are staying late.
- Gym cleaning - the gym floor will now be cleaned every Wednesday
After-school Tutoring - still looking into it
Summer School - yet to be determined
GIANT Giants
November Perfect Attendance:
Floyce Chavez ................. Megan B McCluskey
Susan L Dent ...................Domenica M Minin
Kat George ..................... Marian Morris
Kathleen Greene ............. Stephanie Pease
Darren Hill ........................ Debra Rubi
Deborah A Jacobs ......... Stephanie Rynne.......... Nataline Shaw Stewart ......... Sarah Simpson
Lara A Koebler .............. Jillian K Stumpf ............ Paige Stumpf .................... Allie Thimons
Suzanne Malvin ............. Quisha Ward .............. Hannah Williams ................... Lisa W-Krebs
CONGRATULATIONS
5th Grade Parent Meeting
We are facilitating a 5th Grade Parent Meeting to address a variety of topics (i.e. Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Restorative Discipline for Parents/Child, Resiliency, Social Media Monitoring, Appropriate School Relationships). A Phoenix SRO will be our Keynote Speaker; Everybody Matters along with our SEaL Team and I will be conducting break out sessions for parents.
We are in need of help with setup, translating, directing to sessions, assisting with child care, collecting feedback cards. Please RSVP if you are able/willing to help with this venture. I will have more information for anyone involved.
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018, 05:30 PM
Griffith Elementary School, East Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- PTO Reindeer Lollipop sale during lunch December 10th-14th (.50 cents each)
- Holiday Door Judging on Tuesday, December 18th from 7:45-8:45 AM and from 3:30-4:15 PM in the cafeteria. Please stop by and help judge these student created holiday doors.
Everybody Matters Update
Everybody Matters wants to thank Griffith staff & teachers for letting us work with your kids! Our interns had a great semester and will be back in January to meet with them again. You can send in referrals during December and those kids will be matched with an intern in January. Have a great December and we look forward to working with everyone in January.
~ Kelsie Shevitski
Our SEaL (Social Emotional aspects of Learning) Team will be putting a schedule together - to START IN JANUARY - for Everybody Matters to lead a social lesson with your class. If you have a specific topic you would like EM to focus on, please let the team know (Sarah, Megan or Alison).
Mindful Moment
During the holiday season, we know how it can effect our emotions. When emotions run hot, imagine this:
If you had $86,400 in your bank account and someone stole $10 from you, would you be upset and throw all of the remaining $86,390 away in hopes of getting back at the person who took your $10? Or move on and live? You'd more likely move on and live.
See, we all have 86,400 second each day. Don't let someone's negative 10 seconds ruin the remaining 86,390. Don't sweat the small stuff, life is bigger than that, and your 86390 seconds are more valuable than the ten.
Playworks
Thank you for another great week with the Giants! Attached is the newsletter summing up all of the fun we had together during Class Game Times and recess. Below are a few quick consultation notes including program goals.
- Recess feels good with many students playing games together.
- Equipment is inconsistent and sometimes in poor condition. A potential solution is to provide reminders for equipment expectations on the morning announcements regularly. The next step would be to revisit the system for which equipment is provided.
- Shout out to Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Castro, and Ms Burnstad who have all been actively supporting recess. They all consistently use attention-getters during transition times which is a huge support!
~ Kelsey Rendelman