Global Gazette
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 4
GLA Educators... When Our Scholars See Us..They Should See Greatness!
Start with Hello Week was created by the Sandy Hook Promise organization and the goal is to teach students to make a difference with their peers in a simple, fun, and impactful way. They take small but powerful actions to promote connectedness and inclusion, and to identify and help lonely students who are showing signs of social isolation. Social isolation is the overwhelming feeling of being left out, lonely or treated like you are invisible. Young people who feel this way may pull away from society, struggle with learning and social development, or choose to hurt themselves or others. Below is a link with resources that you can use in your classroom.
Weekly Challenge: Each week we will give scholars a weekly challenge to complete. This week, because we are celebrating "start with hello" week, all scholars are being challenged to talk to/have a conversation with ONE SCHOLAR that they don't normally talk to. On Thursday in morning meetings/circles, please have scholars share out about who they talked to and what they learned. Teachers are asked to capture footage of these conversations on video and send footage to your Academy Leader and Principal Tyler.
Weekly Anti-Bullying Classroom Activity: Each week we will focus, as a school, on one assignment/activity to encourage scholars to think about bullying (see attached). For this week, we are asking all classrooms to have scholars complete the first handout. Scholars will be asked to imagine if they could have a safe conversation with a school bully about how their actions affect other people's lives. What would they say? Teachers are encouraged to adjust the rigor based upon your grade. However, we are expecting to see evidence of the final products posted in classrooms/hallways.
School-wide Mentoring Through Reading Buddies: One of the things we know is that we see others differently when we have a relationship with them. This month, we will be encouraging relationship-building across grades through a reading buddies/mentorship initiative. All classrooms have been paired with another older or younger classroom. We ask that teachers coordinate so that at least once per week, the reading buddies class visits the other class. During that 20-30 minute time, encourage the older scholars to read with the younger scholars and learn about their interests/passions. During our October Global Greatness/Jewel assemblies, we will be asking scholars to share out about how the mentoring/reading buddies initiatives has resonated with them.
Attire: School Spirit Day: GLA Button Down Shirt, Professional Bottom
- Annotated Lesson Plans Due 8:00a
- Morning Huddle 7:50a
- Smile Committee Meeting 3:45p (Conyon/Monson's Room)
Terrific Tuesday
Attire: Professional Dress
- Legendary Picture Day
- Legendary Academy Harambee
- Instructional Strategy Meetings
Cultural Wednesday
Attire: Cultural Wednesday Attire
- Full Day of School
- Cultural Wednesday
- Staff Meeting/Professional Development 3:45p - 5:15p
- American Reading Company PD (Legendary)
- Deadline to submit donations for Golf Fundraiser
Thrilling Thursday
Attire: Professional Dress
- Rising Stars Academy Harambee
- 7th Annual Golf Outing Fundraiser
Fantastic Friday
Off-Site Professional Development
- Off-Site PD assignments are due 10/7
Teaching and Learning Corner (with Ms. Snyder)
Instructional Look For:
Throughout the month of October, we will be examining the components of a strong lesson. Starting your lesson with a strong Do Now can make or break a lesson.
- Bell Work: Scholars should get to work immediately after entry. Ensure your instructions are clear and visible on the board or paper.
- Building the momentum for a new lesson through a strong hook will excite scholars for the work of the lesson. Hooks should be customized to your scholars as we embrace our theme “When They See Us.” What do you know about them? How can you engage scholars based on their interests and passions?
Watch the Bell Work/Do Now and Building Momentum videos below to continue to build your teacher toolkit.
This week's Iready champions!
Our highest usage classrooms in Reading this week were:
- Berdan
- Hatcher
- Kennebrew
Our highest usage classrooms in Math this week were:
- Thomson
- Hatcher
- Prieto
WePac: As announced on Wednesday, WePac will begin this week. We will start with an A week. Please reach out with any questions!
Culture and Climate Corner
See below for an important message from our PBIS Champion, Mr. Kennedy!
GLA West colleagues, six weeks in school has passed and our acceptance and implementation of our Global Greatness program has been phenomenal. Staff members have been great in speaking positively to our Scholars daily. Academies and individual homeroom teachers have begun to roll out LiveSchool incentives, which will no doubt strengthen the positive culture and climate in our environment.
Colleagues, always remember that learning new skills both behaviorally and academically requires lots of teaching…and re-teaching! We help our Scholars by continually and consistently teaching and re-teaching Global Greatness expectations. Remember to provide feedback, and allow opportunities to redo a skill correctly while strengthening our relationship with our Scholars. When guiding Scholars to improve behavioral skills, we as a staff can also reflect on ways to prevent unexpected behavior. What routine or procedure do I need to reteach? Do I need to increase my active supervision? Am I acknowledging Scholars frequently enough for showing the expected behavior?
Here at GLA West, we will be steadfast in focusing on various prevention strategies to increase the likelihood of appropriate behavior.
Global Greatness Tips:
· Re-teach Global Greatness lesson plans in appropriate area when necessary
· Focus on WHAT you are giving out LiveSchool dollars for, rather than just utilizing system.
- Use LiveSchool dollars to reward expected behaviors - not as coercion
- “If you don’t do this, I’m not giving you a LiveSchool dollar.”
liveschool champions!
Top LiveSchool Users for September (Staff)
Ms. Marazas
Mrs. Hatcher
Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Sanchez
Top LiveSchool Classrooms
Rising Stars – 2A Paradise Stars
Legendary – 3C Blooming Legends
Collegiate – 7B Kennebrew
Top LiveSchool Performing Grades
Grads 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Kudos Corner!
Kudos to Ms. Wilson, Mrs. Forrest, Mrs. Leonard and Ms. Stoecker for leading phenomenal choice sessions during PD. Kudos to Ms. Prieto, Mrs. Forrest and the 6th Grade team for your best practice highlights!
A special shout out goes to all of the Rising Stars Champion Educators for warmly welcoming our families to our Reading Relays last week. It was indeed a success.
Our hats go off to All of our Champion Educators for creating inclusive learning environments for all of our children to learn and grow. Check out Nyla’s parking spot in Ms. Callender and Mrs. Tribble's class. Way to go Tribble!
The Rising Stars Team is truly grateful for Mr. Williams. You are supporting our Educators in countless ways and we can’t thank you enough.
Your moments of meditation and reflection for our scholars, has proven to be effective. Keep it up!Kudos to our Top Ten LiveSchool Users: Marazas, Hatcher, Lawrence, Sanchez, Kennebrew, Wolff, Stoecker, Cain, Forrest, Roman
Ms. Minor and Mr. G for their flexibility and teamwork
Ms. Marazas, Ms. Davis, Ms. James and Ms. B fo all their hard work with track and cheerleading tryouts.
Ms. Stoecker for all her support and continuous relationship building.
Thank you to all teachers and staff for your assistance with our Global GREATNESS and Jewel assembly for September. Also a huge shout out to our S3s and Ms. B. You guys rock!
Mr. Carter for timeliness of adhering to Collegiate Academy schedules and cultural norms.
Collegiate Instructional Look for Shout outs to: Mrs. Leonard, Ms. Mackey, and Mrs. Wilson
Mr. Wright for your leadership with University of Penn Trips this week.
Mr. Brown for a great start with leading your first Jewel Assembly
Mr. Simpson & Mrs. Dean for scholar Showcases this week.
Important Reminders!
Timeliness: As professionals, please ensure that we are being mindful of arriving on time to posts, meetings, etc. Support staff please remember that we need you on your post on time to assist with our Morning and Dismissal process. Teachers, please be on time to morning huddle, professional development and when picking up your scholars.
Recess: It is imperative that all grades are adhering to the recess schedule. You must leave the yard at the conclusion of your recess so that we avoid extra scholars on the yard.
Dismissal: Please dismiss scholars according to the announcements and not on their own. Bathroom and water use ends at 3:00p. Scholars should not be sent out of the rooms for any reason after 3:00pm. Getting water is not an emergency!
PCOM: 6th through 8th grade scholars will be turning in PGSEP paperwork for our medical science program with PCOM, please encourage your scholars to turn in their paperwork to participate in this amazing program in the health and sciences field.
Committees: Mr. Fleming will have committee signups available at Wednesday's staff meeting. All staff are encouraged to sign up for at least two committees. If you are interested in serving on the smile committee please attend Monday's brief meeting. If you want to serve on the career day committee, please contact Ms. Leggett.
october calendar
Happy Birthday to Our October Babies!
Ms. Wilson - 10/2
Mrs. Greene - 10/3
Ms. Griffin - 10/3
Ms. Simpson - 10/6
Mrs. Anderson - 10/7
Ms. Thompson - 10/8
Mr. Montgomery - 10/17
Ms. Martinez - 10/18
Ms. MacElvaney - 10/18
Ms. Thomas - 10/19
Mr. Webster - 10/23