Staff Weekly Update
Week of January 7th, 2019
- Tara Fure - I got married!!! (Congratulations, Tara! She is now officially MRS. MORELL!)
- Deidra Smith - I had all 8 of my kids (plus daughter-in-law and grandson) home for Christmas morning.
- Erin Nahrstadt - Celebrating my girlfriend at her baby shower!
- Brice Piotrowski - getting to spend time with my sister and her husband from Colorado. Also my other sister is expecting!
- Amy Knueven - Our break was pretty low key - mostly at home hanging out and catching up on projects while we passed around a virus between Christmas and New Years. Once we were mostly recovered, we went to Newfields, Defy Indy, went swimming, installed our new Ring doorbell, and enjoyed some time outside with the warmer weather!
- Angela Bourff - Enjoyed having time to settle into my new house!
- Kyla McDaniel - Between short local trips for Christmas I have literally been on the couch for most of break recovering from foot surgery. I then got bronchitis which continues to keep me down. My husband and girls have been amazing with bringing me every little item I’ve needed to keep my foot elevated. I’m so grateful for the sunshine today, which makes the 5 baskets of clean clothes heaped up in my bedroom bearable. We had a great holiday among the struggles. The best was surprising my dad with dinner at St Elmo’s for his upcoming 80th birthday.
- Alicia Lewis - going to Disney World and being there for Christmas.
- Tammy Westin - I moved into an apartment and I have my two boys back home with me!
- Terri Brown - Spent time over break to create, collect, and organize my new "Magic Day!" (FYI - Terri creates some incredible and elaborate hands-on, problem-solving learning experiences for her class that she calls Magic Days! If you'd like to know more, be sure to ask! They truly are MAGICAL!)
- Jen Skura - Jeremy and I took a trip to Waco for my 40th to see all of the Fixer Upper places! We also got a behind the scenes tour of the Baylor football stadium from an old student.
- Jessica Luchenbill - Spending time with family and making new traditions. I made it to the finals in the Luchenbill ping pong tournament!!! ;)
- Cindy Dowers - My best Christmas presents weren't things! I treasured spending time with my hubby & three children, Kiley, Katie & Caleb.
- Allison Spillman - We had a wonderful time seeing Winterlights at Newfields. I love having all my boys under one roof.
- Deb Milam - Legos, puzzles, and a come-from-behind Northwestern win!
- Connie Largent - I slept in (a lot!), had a fun auntie-niece day, and spent quality time with Kendrick!
- Melinda Strawmyer - We had fun family time with Laura home from D.C. for Christmas and her birthday.
- Vicki Watson - Even though I’ve been sick ALL break, still enjoyed Hilton Head!
- Deb Torrance - Seeing my two children together and genuinely enjoying each other’s company warms my heart! As time continues to pass (and much too quickly) I recognize the priceless value of these moments.
- Robin Wagner - We went to Perfect North with family and Tucker learned how to ski!
Calendar Items
Mon. Jan. 7th
- Welcome back, Jen Evans! WE MISSED YOU!
- Janelle Drisko at SGE all day
- AIMSweb - 1/7 to 1/31
- 8:05 - Morning announcements
- 8:30 - 10:30 - Melanie Bowlin at SGE all day
- 8:45 - Counseling lesson - Wetzel/Westin
- 11:40 - HS Peer Mentors
- 2:45 - Transition mtg. for 1st grader - Largent & Westin - Conf. room
Tues. Jan. 8th
- AIMSweb - 1/7 to 1/31
- NWEA - 1/8 to 1/25
- 8:05 - Morning announcements
- 8:30 - Elementary LT mtg - Largent/Farley - UE
- 1:00 - USS Team mtg w/ Dr. Slonaker - conf. room
- 2:40 - Staffing for 3rd grader - Slonaker, Farley, Watson, Lauer-Jones, Spillman, Rowe - conf. room
Wed. Jan. 9th - LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION DAY!
- AIMSweb - 1/7 to 1/31
- NWEA - 1/8 to 1/25
- Janelle Drisko at SGE - all day
- 8:05 - Morning announcements
- 8:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Bourff
- 8:15 - 12:30 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 9:15 - DSST mtg.for 3rd grader - Largent, Lewis, Susan DeHart - conf. room
- 10:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/McDaniel
- 4:00 - District School Safety Specialist mtg. - Largent, Farley, Spillman - ESC
- 6:00 - PTO Evening Mtg - Parenting in the Digital Age Series w/ Dan Layton
Thurs. Jan. 10th
- AIMSweb - 1/7 to 1/31
- NWEA - 1/8 to 1/25
- 8:05 - Morning announcements
- 9:30 - Literacy Coach meeting w/ School Psychologists - Largent/Spillman - ESC Tech Room
- 9:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Smith
- 10:15 - 2:00 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 2:45 - 504 mtg/4th grader - Largent, Wetzel, Milam - Jessica's office
- 2:45 - Staffing/4th grader - Farley, Watson, Knueven, Kleeman - conf. room
- 4:00 - School Board + Principals Meeting - Largent - ESC
Fri. Jan. 11th
- AIMSweb - 1/7 to 1/31
- NWEA - 1/8 to 1/25
- K-4 PLC Meetings - all day w/ Largent/Farley - conf. room
- ***8:00 - SBRC's done by this date/time***
- 8:05 - Morning announcements
- 11:15 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Shaw
Upcoming Events . . .
JANUARY 2019:
- 14th - March 1st - WIDA
- 17th - Martha out - personal day
- 18th - Martha out - personal day
- 21st - No school in honor of MLK
- 22nd - Martha out - personal day
- 25th - PTO Spirit Day - Crazy Socks
- 28th - Feb. 1st - Box Top Collection Week
NWEA Schedule for This Week!
Universal Preschool - Staffing Changes
First and foremost, please join me in congratulating Amy Ferguson! This is bittersweet news to share, but over Winter break, she accepted a job opportunity that is exciting for her, both professionally and financially. She has made contact with the parents of her children and they are aware she will not be returning to the classroom. We will sure miss her!
Becky Powers will be taking over the lead position in the PreK room and Jen Milliner will remain her IA. It will be a great team and we are so thankful the children and the families already know Becky, which should make for an easy transition.
WELCOME GINGER LENIG! She has been with UP for many years and she has moved from UE to SGE to be Peggy Keener's new IA. She worked BKB at Stonegate some years back so she might be a familiar face to some.
Laura Bobeck will remain as the UP IA floater on Thursdays & Fridays!
Happy New Year Message Below from Dr. Robison
Additional Announcements & Reminders
ZTEP Middle of Year (MOY) Conferences
- Be on the lookout soon for an email from your ZTEP primary evaluator about our MOYs in mid to late January!
Color Printer Reminder
- REMEMBER . . . PC1-Front Office = Color Printer
Please Join Our REMIND Group
- SGE (staff only) has an all-staff Remind text messaging group called: 18-19 SGE (all staff).
- To simply *receive-only* the text messages, please text the number 81010 and in your "message line" type in the code: @k29hfe.
- If you'd like to be able to text back and forth w/ me via REMIND, please download the app or create an online account.
- As a friendly reminder, please do not share this code with non-SGE staff members.
Leaving EARLY afterschool and you've gotten permission from Connie/Martha . . .
- If this is the case for you, please help us by always emailing the entire office team to let them know you've gotten permission and also leave your cell # in the email message, in case we need to contact you.
- Who is the "office team?" Connie, Martha, Angie, Jen, Jessica, Hailey
END OF QUARTER 2 REMINDERS
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE FULL 18-19 ZCS ELEMENTARY TESTING SCHEDULE.
Virtual Snow Day - E-Day Tips
Now that we've used our first Snow Day of the year, the next canceled day of school will be an E-Day Virtual Snow Day. Below are very helpful reminders and tips from Kyle for creating your E-Day Modules.
Things we have learned from our eDay experiences:
1. Physically go through your entire eDay module as a student (Student View) paying close attention to the following:
- Does your eDay button work correctly?
- Are there any modules/pages/links/documents that are not published?
- Do my students know how to access the portal to get to all external tools (i.e. BrainPop, Raz-kids, Newsela, Typing.com, etc.)
- Do all of my students have accounts and have they logged in successfully?
3. Content will look different on the Canvas app vs. website. Encourage them to use a web browser instead of the app.
4. Add a “YOU ARE DONE!” page to the end of the Canvas module so that students (and parents) know they have completed all of the work.
5. Include a reminder for your students to complete their Related Arts class work for that day.
6. Be sure to remind students to go to the Dashboard on Canvas to access the Related Arts course.
7. Your eDay should NOT include modules filled with worksheets that need to be filled out and turned in to the teacher (Ask Kyle how you can do these activities online). We continue to hear from parents about this topic.
Important Note:
Please remember that our eDays should be utilizing our online resources so that all students can access the content during an eDay. We have many online tools available that allow students to write, read, reflect, create, compute, etc. online. We don’t want to assume that students have materials at home, other than a device, to complete this eDay work. Below is a list of just some of the tools that you can use for a successful eDay.
BrainPop:
- Movie and Quiz (make sure to create an assignment for students)
- Make a Movie
- Make a Drawing
Canvas:
- Discussions (can be written or video/audio recordings)
- Quizzes.Next (great option for math)
- Embed videos directly into Canvas
Raz-Kids (K-2nd):
- Reading practice
- Quizzes
Newsela (3rd & 4th):
- Reading with attached Quiz
- Writing
EveryDay Math (1st-4th):
- Online activities
- Online lessons
Typing.com (2nd-4th)
Please let Kyle know if you have any questions or would like him to help as you develop your next eDay. It may be here sooner than we think! Kyle Beimfohr - kbeimfohr@zcs.k12.in.us
***IMPORTANT LINKS***
Professional Development Requests
- If you would like to attend any type of professional development, please click here.
Technology Work Orders - Reminder from Dan Layton:
- Click here to access this link.
- It is always extremely helpful if you can submit actual technology work orders for any help you need. Please refrain from picking up the phone or emailing a question.
Above & Beyond Nomination Form
- On our ZCS website, any ZCS staff and/or community member can nominate the work of any ZCS employee that has done extraordinary work. If you've experienced professional support that is above & beyond, feel free to recognize them through this nomination! Please click here to nominate.
Marquis Work Orders:
Did your trash not get picked up? Does it seem the carpet didn't get vacuumed? Please help Angie & Jen out by filling out the Marquis work order on your own. Thanks!
1. Go to the Zionsville web site
2. Click on Teachers/Staff tab
3. Scroll down about halfway
4. Look for: Custodial Work Orders by Building
5. Click on Stonegate
Click here to access the Teachers/Staff tab
18-19 PTO Wish List - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Click the NEW LINK HERE to access this Office 365 Form
Personal Business Leave Request - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Please click the NEW LINK HERE to access this form and then don't forget to SAVE this page under your "favorites."
- Finally, as a friendly reminder of our ZCS Personal Business Leave + good information to know for our newest staff, I have copied/pasted the email about personal days sent by Becky Coffman on 5/8/16. This is per our CBA - Collective Bargaining Agreement
- A. Amount – Each employee shall be entitled to be absent from work three (3) days each school year for the transaction of personal business or the conduct of personal or civic affairs. Such leaves may be used in whole or half day increments. Requests for personal business leave should be made 48 hours in advance in writing to the building principal. In cases of emergency or other similar unforeseen circumstance, requests may be made orally to both the substitute coordinator and the building principal.
- B. Employees are discouraged from using personal business leave on staff development days or to extend a school vacation. If used on a staff development day then the employee remains totally responsible for securing the learning lost from their being absent during that activity.
- C. Accumulation – If an employee does not use all of the personal business leave in a given school year, the remaining personal business leave shall be accumulated for use in later school year, except that no more than a total of two (2) days may be accumulated from earlier school years for use as personal business leave, so that the maximum total personal business leave available in any one school year is three (3) days earned during the school year and up to two (2) days accumulated from earlier school years or a total of five (5) days.
- D. Conversion to Sick Leave – Any unused personal business leave not accumulated for use in later years as personal business leave shall be added to the employee’s accumulated sick leave.