Monday Memo
May 2nd - 6th
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. -Abraham Lincoln
Team,
Goodness! I apologize for the amount of information that is being shared this week. Hopefully you find it helpful to have it all in one location.
By the end of this week, all summative conferences must be completed. Please make sure that you have signed your summative in Eduphoria. You do not need to sign it prior to meeting with either Sylvia or me, but please do so afterwards. You may also want to check any other walkthroughs or observations to make sure that those have been signed as well. Sylvia and I will send out reminders to those who have unsigned items towards the end of the week, but would greatly appreciate any time you could save us by proactively checking now.
We will have our annual staff appreciation dinner this Wednesday. Please let Donna know if you will be unable to join us so that we can appropriately plan for the number of people attending. As always, we will present a few staff awards but will need your help. Please follow the link to nominate co-workers to receive these special recognitions by the EOD Tuesday, May 3rd .
Miss Irma's birthday is on Wednesday, May 18th. We will be taking up a collection to present to her on announcements. If you would like to contribute, Donna will keep a collection envelope in her office from now until the EOD on Tuesday, May 17th.
As you are aware, McGowen will be participating in ELM training on June 6th & 7th. In order to make arrangements for the training and create accounts in eStudio, we will need you to complete the ELM Training Registration Form by Thursday, May 19th. This DOES NOT replace registration in Eduphoria. You will still need to register for both days.
Many of you are already aware, but just in case you haven't heard the news, Nurse Vicky will be retiring at the end of this school year. While I cannot imagine McGowen without her, we are thrilled for her to be able to enter into this fabulous new chapter of her life. She has certainly earned it, and with any luck, we'll be able to sweet talk her into being a guest coach or additional office support from time to time. Please note the invitation below for the details of her retirement party.
As we continue to pray for The Prugh Family, count your blessings and make today count!
JL
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Teacher Scales for Reflective Practice
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Bond Election Update
Last week, I sent out an email offering an incentive for every eligible voter to participate in the election. I've included the details below in the event that you did not see that email.
If 100% of our staff, who are eligible voters, cast their vote in the Bond Election, I will award the entire staff a free week of jeans. If 100% of our eligible voters cast their vote in the Bond Election prior to May 7th, I will award the entire staff TWO WEEKS of jeans!!
If you are not an eligible voter, you can still play an important role in earning two glorious weeks of jean wearing. Simply partner up with a voter, and plan a day to cover their duty and/or tutoring so they can leave right at 3:00 to vote without taking any time away from their families.
Voters – You may leave right after dismissing your students any day that works for you. What I ask is that you have your duty/tutoring covered and that you let the front office know that you are leaving to vote so they know where to find you in the event that we have a dismissal question about a student.
You will not need to provide me with any proof of voting because we have access to that information. However, if you would like to take a selfie and share it with me, you are free to do so. Please know that while I have access to who voted, I have no way of knowing how anyone voted. Also, if you do plan on taking a selfie, pay attention to where that is legal and where it is frowned upon.
Thus far, we have done extremely well. On the day that I sent out the email, we had 12% participation. As of Thursday, we were up to 64%! If you are uncertain if you are an eligible voter, please contact Ben Albers. He will be able to tell you.
WE ARE WELL ON OUR WAY TO TWO WEEKS OF FREE JEANS! SUPPORT EACH OTHER THIS WEEK SO THAT WE CAN REACH 100% PRIOR TO MAY 7TH.
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Easing Into ELM
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
- 5 hours of G/T credit will be awarded with ELM training
- G/T credit can also be earned on the first day of Converge
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Shoparoo
Did you know that each week I give out jeans passes to those who are one of the top three participants on Shoparoo? I know that many of you have already joined, but if you haven't, it is not too late. Simply go to www.shoparoo.com to create your account. If you use veft4467 as a referral code, McGowen will earn money for you just signing up. Please feel free to push this information out to your parents as well. Once you sign up, Shoparoo will give you a referral code for your parents to use when they sign up. Schools with just 40 supporters are earning an average of $1,000 every year.
Congratulations to Barbara Peebles for being in this week's top three!
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Focus for 2015 - 2016
In order to help every child their personal best, McGowen teachers and staff will:
- Develop a common language needed to become High Reliability School.
- Develop an understanding and process for effective Professional Learning Communities.
- Engage in collaborative team planning and lesson design to promote higher level thinking and student engagement.
- Present lessons in such a way that students understand and can speak knowledgeably about posted learning and language targets.
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Remind for Staff
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APPRECIATIONS
- Trent - Thanks for sharing the article about Twitter! I appreciate you looking out for us. -JL
- JD & Shiela - Thanks for your flexibility and your participation in a parent mtg. I appreciate you more than you know! -JL
- MC - Thanks for covering for JD for me. You are awesome! -JL
- A-Team - Thank you for being such an amazing and supportive team. I cannot imagine doing this job without you. -JL
- Relle - Thank you for inviting A-Team to participate in PE on Friday. Your timing could not have been more perfect. -JL
- Relle, Shambo and Nall - Thank you for your positive attitudes and flexibility. I appreciate all that you do to support the random and special events that create fun memories for our students. -JL
- Barton & McCartney - Thanks for serving as our professional slime artists on Friday. Your pouring skills were quite impressive. -JL
- Bonnie- Thanks so much for your leadership and for helping with our STAAR plan for communication! SL
- Stacie- Thank you for helping get STAAR communication out to parents! SL
- Melanie- Thanks for your continued flexibility and positive spirit! SL
- Michelle C.-Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for ALL you do to help me, help my kiddos! I appreciate you so much!! Maria
- Martha-Thank you for everything! Maria
- Trisha-I love our spontaneous chats in the morning:) Maria
- 2nd Grade-Thanks for a fun Team Time, I love you guys:) Maria
- Amy Arnold and Jennifer Breazeale – I would like to take a minute and thank you for being such amazing co-workers/colleagues! You have both jumped in with us and immediately became part of our collective team. You both work extremely hard and are so supportive of anything and everything we throw your way and we couldn’t be more thankful. We adore you and so do the kiddos! - Michelle Caballero
- Rico – Thank you for your help with Kyle on Thursday.:) - Michelle Caballero
- Martha and Rhonda – Truly grateful for all you do for our students and staff. I LOVE working with you both and think you are just simply amazing!- Michelle Caballero
- Haas~ Thank you for the superhero capes!!! We missed you!!!!! -Ticehurst
- O’Connor & Cochrum~ Thank you so much for the recordable DVD’s!!!!! ~Ticehurst
- Burford~ Thanks a million for taking the time to help us with our Mother’s Day videos!!!!! ~Ticehurst
- Laurie L.- Thank you for being a great teacher and working so hard this year with your kids!! You go above and beyond!!! SD
- Garro- I love planning with you!! Thank you for all you do!! SD
- Trent- You're so awesome and helpful!! I appreciate you!!!! SD
- C. Everett- Thank you for being such a wonderful friend to me!! I love you!!:) SD
- J. Little- Thank you for being so supportive of me taking off half/full days on Fridays so that I can drive 5 hours to AR. I appreciate you!! SD
- K.Ward- I appreciate you so much and think the world of you!! You're an absolute treasure!!!!!! SD
- Jen B & Amy – Thank you so much for being so flexible, on top of things, and for going above and beyond to help our students and parents! I could not have done this without both you! I appreciate you both more then you know! Love, JD
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Chitwood – Thank you for taking some tasks off my plate, big or small, it was a huge help to me! You are the best girl! Love, JD
McGowen family – Thank you smooch for helping our 5th grade students with the Science Symposium. The students are loving going to your rooms and answering your science questions! I work with the best staff ever! JD
5th grade team – Thank you for taking my kiddos as I had to go to an appointment. I love how flexible we are and how we can just go with the flow. Love you all! JD
Cab - Thank you for taking over my class Friday morning as I was taking care of some important business. You are the best! Love, JD
Bravo – You are a rock star! Thank you for doing all that you do on a daily basis! You bring so much to our team and I’m blessed to be able to call you a friend and teammate! Love, JD
Trisha— Thank you for my “pick-me-up” last week! You are always so kind and thoughtful. --KWard
Carin & Tracey— Thank you for helping me get my school work done, by providing your expertise and time! ;-) —KWard
Laura G.— Thanks for always helping when needed, at car rider duty! —Kward
Nick— Thanks for all you do to make every McGowen Maverick love coming to school! You are an amazing teacher! —Kward
Relle- Thank you for coming to my rescue when I needed some folders out of the closet . Your Ninja skills were amazing! - Barbara
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Action Items
- Update RtI logs by EOD Thursday, May 5th
- Start, Stop and Continue due by Friday, May 6th
- K-5 - Remind parents of STAAR testing in your newsletters
- Verify who will be attending the Spring Program on May 17th by Friday, May 13th
- (Optional) Contribute to Miss Irma's birthday envelope by EOD Tuesday, May 17th
- Complete ELM Training Registration Form by EOD Thursday May 19th
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Bad Dude
Join us in congratulating Martha Gordon as this week’s Bad Dude! This time of year is the most hectic for her, but even with her extremely difficult schedule managing multiple campuses and timelines, she always goes above and beyond supporting our staff and students! She is always willing to collaborate and works countless hours to ensure that our student’s evaluations are clear and concise and a true picture of the whole child. If you have had the pleasure of working directly with Martha, you know her kindness and heart shines through everything that she does!
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McKinney ISD's Vision, Mission and Beliefs
Any time we have an idea, concern, solution and/or comment, this is the filter through which we should speak. Let's help each other live up to our vision, mission, and beliefs.
Vision:
We are a cohesive, diverse community providing engaging learning experiences for all.
We will provide engaging learning experiences so students can become effective communicators, quality contributors and socially responsible citizens.
Beliefs:
- Partnerships between students, parents, community members and staff are foundational to educational success.
- Positive school culture and a safe environment foster growth.
- Everyone has inherent value and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
- Learning is an active process requiring engaging tasks and engaging minds.
- Relevant and authentic experiences ignite continuous, deeper learning.
- Meaningful relationships enrich learning.
- Confidence fuels risk taking and higher achievement.
- Financial stewardship ensures a tomorrow for education.