Welcome 2019!
Here We Grow at ALB
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
I love how the end of a calendar year falls in the middle of our school year. It's an incredible opportunity to have a fresh start while enjoying the benefit of the experiences we have learned from in the previous semester. You know your students. You have found your groove. And now you get a fresh start right in the middle of the year. Such an awesome opportunity!
Looking back on 2018, what a wonderful year it has been! At Burruss, we had a 30th Birthday Party, we bid farewell to Julie King, and you welcomed me as your new principal and Celis as your new assistant principal. We also welcomed seventeen new members to our family: Sasha Tutt, Chelsea Brady, Stephanie Platek, Bonnie Mako, LaGretia Williams, Stephen Magwood, Laura Duvall, Amanda Stokes, Caida Mendelsohn, Rebecca Dudley, Mario Mohorn, Hannah Alexander, Dana Lawhon, Madison Knotts, Shakira Johnson, Yolanda Williams, and Serena King. What wonderful additions they all have been! In January, we will welcome our new nurse, Lauren Walters. She is coming to us from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and transitioned with Nurse Chris the last few weeks. You all are so loved, not only by me, but most of all, by your students. I have no doubt that they missed you over this break. Many of them can't wait to get back to school where it's safe, predictable, warm, and structured. Many of them can't wait to return to being loved by you.
This past semester has been incredible. I am so proud of the work we all are doing! The conversations I hear in your classrooms, your PLCs, in the hallways, and on social media are mindblowing. Your passion for student growth is electric! Your hard work WILL pay off! We WILL be seeing GREEN at the end of this year for all of the growth our students are making! It's hard to believe that the year is halfway over. I knew I would love the principalship, but I couldn't have imagined how much I would love being the principal here, at Burruss, with this amazing community of staff and families.
Now, let's look ahead at January. When we see each other on Wednesday, January 2, we will begin our day in the Media Center for a quick rally to welcome in the new year. After that, the pedagogical team will host grade level meetings in the Science Lab. The schedule for this is linked here. I'll also link in a more obvious way below. Each grade level will meet for an hour with a jam-packed agenda. Bring something to take notes! Some grade levels will also work with Kourtney on an LLI refresher training. Those details are also in the scheduled linked a few sentences ago. I'll also link them here for you. :) When you are not in meetings, I encourage you to leverage the time to prepare for the new semester. Plan with your PLC. Get your room refreshed. Take a tour of our new guided reading books--they arrived right at the end of the semester, and I can't wait for you to get your hands on them! I invested some of our charter money on this resource for you--it should save you so much time preparing lessons for guided reading! We'll talk more about this on Wednesday morning!
Looking forward to seeing you in two days!
JJ
Save the Dates
The dates below are also on the Master Calendar if you want to drag them over to your personal calendar!
January 7: SOAR for Kinder and First Grade
January 7-18: Winter MAP Testing Window (See Kourtney or Celis for schedule)
January 10-16: Artist in Residence with Martie Moore
January 11: District Spelling Bee at Central Office
January 18: District Reading Bowl at MPAC
January 21: MLK Holiday--No School
January 28-February 8: ACCESS Testing Window (See Barbie for schedule)
January 25: School Assembly at 2:00pm in Cafeteria
January 30: Step it Up Schoolwide Assembly (PTA Fundraiser) at 8:45 in Gym
February 5: Q3 Progress Report Grades Due
February 14, 15: Conference Days Early Dismissal at 1:15
February 18-22: Winter Break
New Guided Reading Resources!
Burruss Staff Birthdays
January 7: Allison Taylor
February 2: Lauri Bruton
February 12: Christina Updyke
February 13: Jaclyn Bell
February 15: Stephen Magwood
March 2: Hannah Alexander
March 17: Cheryl English
March 23: Yolanda Williams
March 30: Katy Magee
March 31: Candace Torrence
April 3: Bri Ervin
April 16: Martie Moore
April 18: Stephanie Platek
April 28: Celis Hartley-Lewis
April 30: Shellie Evans
May 22: Michael Holst
What I'm Reading
As I sit through your PLCs and I listen to your student growth data, I think about the challenges you face in monitoring that data, using it to its fullest extent. This article is a quick read and offers some easy tips for leveraging the data you collect on your students.
http://corwin-connect.com/2018/10/progress-monitoring-tools-to-make-learning-visible/