Cobra Connect
Teacher Newsletter - 10/15/18
Two Weeks at a Glance
Please check Parent Calendar, Collins Staff Forum, and your personal Outlook Calendar in the event an event was missed.
Monday, October 15th
- United Way Pledges Due
- Fire Drill 2:30 PM
- Eco Dis Enrollment update for each L-C
Tuesday, October 16th
- Crime Stoppers Student Presentation - through PE Classes
- Spirit Day - Grub Burger (All Day)
Wednesday, October 17th
- Shelli's Out - District Principal Meeting 8AM - 1:00 PM
- Allcre8ive Jewelry vendor
- Shelli off campus - district site based meeting 3:30 - till 5:30PM
Thursday, October 18th
- Baby Showers 7:45 AM Library
- Faculty Meeting - 8:00 AM Library - Required Dyslexia Training (Full 30 minutes)
- Shelli Out 12:00 - 4:30 PM CPI Refresher Training
- Fall Frenzy
- PTO Grab and Go Snacks
Red Ribbon Week!
Monday, October 22
Tuesday, October 23
- 7:45 AM Core Leader Meeting - PLC Meeting Room
- Baker's House Lunch Catering
- Shelli Off Campus 12:45 - 3:30 for zoning meeting
Wednesday, October 24
- Sabrina Off Campus 2:00 till end of day District AP Meeting
Thursday, October 25
- 7:45 AM RtI Meeting
- 8 AM Lighthouse - PLC meeting room
- Fall Picture Retakes
- PEIMS Student Snapshot
Fall Frenzy - Save The Date
Friday, Oct 19, 2018, 04:00 PM
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Fall Frenzy - Student Reminders
If soda/candy bar donations come in - 6th grade teachers please store in your 6th break room and 5th grade teachers please store in your 5th grade break room.
Punt, Pass & Kick - team sign up through our Collins Coaches.
The End of The First Grading Period
10-5-2018 Load button goes on to load grades in the morning
10-5-2018 Report card grade pull in the evening after school
10-9-2018 Verification Sheets Printed and placed in teacher mailboxes
10-11-2018 Corrected Verification Sheets due back to Cheryl by 12:00 noon
Please be sure no grades are over a 100
10-12-2018 Report Cards are Printed and placed in your mailboxes
10-15-2018 Send Report Cards home with Students
Red Ribbon Week
Monday (Oct. 22)
Wear Red- Show your support for red ribbon week and a drug-free life!
Tuesday (Oct. 23)
Dress like a friend- Friends help friends make good choices!
Wednesday (Oct. 24)
Wear sunglasses and bright colors/tie dye-Your future is bright! Donβt get tied up with drugs!
Thursday (Oct. 25)
Wear your favorite team jersey-Team up against drugs!
Friday (Oct. 26)Wear pajamas to school (must follow school dress code and proper footwear; no slippers)-Follow your dreams with a drug-free life!
Food Drive for Interfaith of The Woodlands Monday - Friday
5th v. 6th contest
Winning grade level gets extra recess!
Teacher Details for Red Ribbon Week
A mural/display will be created on Friday 19th along the library windows. Friday posters will be put up around the school during fall frenzy.
On Sunday I will put up the lawn signs and banner at the front of the school all ready for Monday.
The Mounted Patrol will be at the front of Collins Tuesday morning starting at 8:15 am.
Food drive all week for Interfaith, who are celebrating 45 years in the community. Canned goods requested along with powdered milk and cereal.
5th and 6th grade will compete to see which grade can collect the most. Cobra council will help with this. It is possible that donated food will be stored on the stage in the gym.
Donations will be collected and taken Interfaith the following Monday.
Teachers have stickers to give to each students during the week.
Student Clubs
Shawna Yates is taking all the responses entered in the Google Doc and creating club lists.
She will send these lists to the sponsor. She hopes to have these lists to you by Friday afternoon - Monday morning at the latest. Without any other hurtles - I think clubs should be free to start meeting next week.
Please start communicating a first meeting date with students. We can communicate several ways.
- Announced on KCOL - have announcement written as you want it read - and window of time to make announced.
- Placed in PowerPoint that runs on Havivison - send announcement electronically to Marie Willingham with window of time to say in PowerPoint.
- Placed in the Weekly Parent Newsletter.
- Work to collect email addresses of club members to email parents directly with regular/needed updates.
- Open to any other suggestions.
Please remember we are learning as we go with student clubs. If your club is not full - keep open to recruiting or being open to adding students as we go. We will create and improve as we grow with these great opportunities you are providing students.
the parent newsletter. Information due Friday - Noon. Targeted publication Friday PM.
Technology Needs
TECCA Conference opportunity
Kellie Lahey is heading to the annual TCCA conference, located at Davis H.S. in Aldine school district on Saturday, Oct. 20.
It's an awesome conference that doesn't cost anything and includes lunch.
If anyone else is interested we can go together or meet at the school.
Check out the schedule!
GT Book Study Reminder
Last call for anyone interested in the Book Study
I have the following people on my list...
Willingham
Faries
Wardinsky
Short
Lackey
Yates
Kirbo
Kajdan
Martin
Pruett
Allen
Mills
If I missed anyone please let me know. Also, would you all rather have the morning study meetings in November/December or February/March - where you attend 3/4 discussion meetings on the book and get your GT training hours?
Thanks for input.
Laura Hollis
Assistant Principal Prose
GT
GT Nominations begin October 1 through December 18, 2018. You can download forms from our Collins Website or ask Assistant Principal for a copy.
Parent Informational meeting, Wednesday, October 3, 6-7pm, Collins Cafeteria
Extra Recess - Sign Up
I have setup an extra recess sign up page under One note in the PE Tab. This sign up will help everyone see who and where extra recess can take place and what times are available. This will help with organization for when your class or LC can go outside. I will also include in One note daily where PE will be located. I have created time slots in Onenote so put either your name or LC. I hope this helps and if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks and have a great Tuesday.
Collin
An interesting fact is that research shows that almost 80% of the people with dyslexia are right brained dominant. What is your brain dominance? Take a quick brain dominance test. (I used internet explorer or you can use your cell phone.)
I'll ask you to share your results at our next faculty meeting. It took me 2 minutes to complete, and it was fun!
Required Dyslexia Training at upcoming Faculty Meeting.
Something to Ponder
The left side of our brain is our logical, fact based side where we filter verbal messages we receive throughout our day. We decide what seems logical to us and what doesn't. This is the side that discounts good messages being told to us. It is where our negative self-talk lives. This is the side that makes it hard for you to take a compliment and you immediately begin either telling yourself or the other person all the ways their compliment is wrong.
The right side of our brain, on the other hand, is our artsy side. It takes information in without having to make too much sense of them. The right brain appreciates things on a holistic level. It can find the beauty in ways the left side never will. It is our imagination side and the side the allows us to dream big.
The one modality that allows us to take messages in without filtering them out is music. We get subconscious messages through music that can build us up or tear us down. What are the messages you are getting through your music choices? What about our students? What messages are they hearing? Are they positive? If you want to build a child up play music that fills their mind with good messages.
Kelly Locke, LPC, NCC, CSC, CCTP
Prof LPC/Mental Health Specialist
Counseling
Conroe Independent School District
Instructional Rounds
We have just put out a new schedule that should allow teachers the opportunity to participate in an Instructional Walk that have not done so yet. If you find there is not a time slot that fits your schedule, please come visit one of us and we will create a time that works for you and the host teacher.
More odds and ends:
- If a visiting teacher sees the host teacher using an instructional practice they use in their own classroom, they'll continue to use it because they were affirmed of how effective it is. The two teachers could collaborate at a later date and discuss/share ideas for upcoming lessons.
- On the other hand, if a teacher sees the host teacher doing something they do not currently do, they will feel more empowered to try it in their own room.
- Research shows that rounds stimulate excitement and energy among faculty members almost immediately. As a result our practice improves and our students benefit too.
- We have had 20 Instructional Walks (43%) to date. Let's keep going! Visiting a teacher in your subject area makes for a great round--you can even try a different grade level. On the other hand, you can go cross-curricula. If I can repeat what a fine arts teacher shared with me recently, "It was interesting to see one of my students in a different setting." Instructional Rounds give you the opportunity to see things differently!
Thank you host teachers. Your willingness to open your doors and allow us into your classroom is allowing us to take our teaching craft and student achievement to the next level. Thank you to those teachers who have already completed their round. You rock!
Kellie, Shawna and Pat
Warm Up Wednesday
Pants
Black warm up pants of your of your choice (either solid or a stripe down the sides)
Shirt
Current PTO Collins school shirt "Work Hard, Be Kind, Dream Big, Collins Cobras"
An LC created team shirt (that the entire team is wearing)
A PLC created team shirt (that the entire team is wearing)
IF we were to create a Collins Staff shirt - it could be worn in the future.
To conclude - four shirt options and one warm up pant option.
If jeans are worn on Wednesday - staff member must use a "Jeans Pass".
Please remember for our staff picture we are are wearing the Gray "Work Hard, Be Kind, Dream Big, Collins Cobras".
504 Teacher Input Forms
Please remember when you receive the Teacher Input Form for a student with a 504 please meet with you LC and discuss the accommodations, concerns, behavior, etc. and document it on the form. Then turn the form into either Mrs. Hosier or Mrs. Pomales. This ensures we have current data on students to help make decisions in the 504 meetings. Thank you
Lighthouse
Lighthouse (previously Social Club) has collected dues, from all staff members, in the past. These dues were used to buy flowers in the event of a close family members death, to provide snacks for the staff and many other ways. At the end of the year any left over funds were used to buy the entire staff lunch. This is just a couple of examples of how the funds were used.
We would love to see 100% participation from our Collins Family.
100% of staff gathers and celebrates every activity sponsored by the Lighthouse team - this is a great way to support each and every Collins family member.
This year the dues will be $20.00 for Teachers and Administrators and $10.00 for Paraprofessionals.
60% of our staff have contributed to Lighthouse through social dues. Thank you so much for your involvement and support.
Parent Contact
Even though our parents have immediate access to grades and progress, we would never want the parent to receive a failing grade for the child on a report card and not have heard feedback from the teacher.
In View-It a teacher can even create an action plan that describes what the teacher, child, and parent will do as part of the plan for improvement. This plan can be sent to the parent via email and even posted in PAC.
When you reach out personally it shows how much you care and how invested we are in the academic improvement of the child.
Copy Machine Important Update
Something new regarding cardstock copying...
Not only do you have to:
- load the card stock in the side (tray 5)
- select the appropriate paper weight (heavy)
- select the correct paper size
- ensure orientation of the inserted paper matches the selection of the paper size
But, you also should NOT use the duplex function. If you need your card stock to be 2-sided, you should run 1 side...collect your copies and turn them over to run the second side.
Ugh...I know...it's a pain in the tail to have so many rules and processes and procedures, but know they are for the good of us all so our beloved copy machine stays in tip-top shape. Thanks for being rule-followers! π
Copy Machine - Please review #5
- When loading paper in his trays, be patient...wait for the tray to completely lower before dropping in a ream of paper. He looks like a strong, tough guy...but he doesn't like surprises and his tray cables are more delicate than we think. They can't handle the force of a ream of paper being dropped in unexpectedly.
- Before loading a ream of paper, it may even be helpful to slightly thumb through/fan the paper to help separate those sheets of paper.
- Mr. Copy Machine is smart. Follow his instructions - in order. In the event of a paper jam, he will tell you how to locate the jam in great detail....be sure to follow the steps listed on his display monitor. Don't automatically assume that the jam initiated in the paper tray. Following his steps in the order listed will reduce the potential for ripped paper pieces getting stuck in unreachable areas of the machine. If it states to turn knob 3, then open tray 1, then remove the paper from slot C...that's what you should do (even if you see the paper in slot C sticking up and waving at you). I can't stress it enough....please FOLLOW the sequence of instructions listed on the display screen.
- Please ensure that all of his levers & lids are shut, lowered and/or replaced properly before pushing the guts back in the machine after clearing a mis-feed/jam.
When things aren't closed properly, it throws off the alignments and sensors to allow paper to flow freely and correctly.
- If you are printing something with a dark border, please make sure the margins are set to at least .4 - anything smaller/narrower than that confuses our otherwise brilliant copy machine and will create problems when printing.
Cardstock...this is a biggie and requires it's own set of bullets
cardstock should always be loaded in the side bypass tray 5 (never in the main trays)
- always identify the paper as heavy weight
- always verify the correct size & orientation of the paper
- If staples need to be replaced, please check with me or Karen Kline to obtain staple cartridge & instructions on the replacement process.
Yearbook
When taking group shots make sure you know the students that are not allowed to have pictures taken. Mrs. Cast will share those names with teachers that have the student in their LC's.
Yearbook on sale now!
$40.00 Now
$45.00 In the Spring
CARE Team - Foundations
Heather Ramsey: LC 5-1, 5-2, 5-3
Paige Kirbo: LC 5-4, 5-5
Melanie Cockshott & Julie Berg: LC 6-1 & support staff
Shawna Yates: LC 6-2, 6-3
Lisa Lackey: LC 6-4, 6-5
Collin Henry: PE and Fine Arts
One-liners
β Check your Feet
β
Third Tile - Single File
β Check your Hands
β Check your Voice
β Right Side, Safe Side
β Hats/Hoods off
****** Next Meeting Thursday, November 1st********
United Way Campaign
The United Way Campaign is underway at Collins. Please watch the 3 minute video which describes what the United Way is. Pledge cards were placed in your box last week. Please return the pledge cards along with your donation to Julie Berg's box by October 15th.