Staff Newsletter
because it helps to know what's going on
February 22, 2019
Talent Show....Coming Soon!
The following letter will be sent to parents next week:
“South’s Got Talent!”
Hosted by K-Kids
Dear South Families,
Very soon, we will begin the audition process for students who want to participate in the 2019 “South’s Got Talent” Talent Show sponsored by the K-Kids club! The talent show this year will be on Thursday, May 16th at 6 PM.
The auditions will take place after school on Monday, April 22nd from 2:30-3:45 pm. Please make plans to pick up your child in the back of the school at 3:45 pm on this day. Please return the second page of this letter to your child’s teacher by Monday, April 1st as a permission slip for them to stay after school to audition.
Students should meet in the LGI room at dismissal. Students will need to bring their own materials required for their performance. Performances must not exceed 90 seconds and must be school appropriate.
If music is required for the performance, students will need to bring a CD of the track, a tablet or phone that can be connected to Bluetooth, or assist a judge in finding their song online (YouTube works best for this – make sure they know what to search). If your child is singing a song, they will need a karaoke track without lyrics. Students must have lyrics and performances memorized at the auditions. Attire for any act must comply with school dress code.
Audition results will be announced at the end of the day on Friday, April 26th. If your child makes it into the talent show, they will be expected to participate in a dress rehearsal on Monday, May 13th after school from 2:30-3:45 pm. Students will need to be picked up at the end of the rehearsal in the back of the school. If your child is not sufficiently prepared at this dress rehearsal, we reserve the right to take them out of the show. Be sure they continue to maintain and improve their act between auditions and the talent show to increase confidence!
We are excited to see the talent that our students have, and hope your child makes plans to audition for the 2019 “South’s Got Talent” Talent Show! If you have questions about anything regarding the show, please email Ms. McGee, kmcgee@danville.k12.in.us or Ms. Amor, jamor@danville.k12.in.us and we will be happy to answer your questions!
Thank you!
Ms. McGee & Ms. Amor
Tonight at Kelly's
3:00-?? Bring a snack if you like.
Directions to Kelly's house—536 Sycamore Lane, 745-4175: From South Elementary take 36 through town turn left at Kroger on to Old 36. Head up the hill and turn left onto Terry/Kirtley Blvd. (across from Hendricks County Jail). Go past hospital to Sycamore Lane, take a left. Go through (veer left) the 3-way stop. Go about 1/2 mile just past Wexford subdivision on the right. Take the next drive on the right. It has seven mailboxes out the end of a private drive. Turn left at the first driveway 536.
A Request from Technology
Curriculum Mapping Reminder from Morgan
One of the goals this year is to ensure we have a guaranteed and viable curriculum for every course and that it is organized into a central location. This work can be done during PLC time, grade level/department meetings, during your prep/school day as needed, and I am also opening back up Title II grant funds for certified staff to work outside the contract day for pay if they choose (see info below). Thank you for the work that has already gone into this organization-- I have heard from many of you that this has been a valuable exercise and you are feeling more organized and in step with each other! The IDOE actually put out a document that we could use to organize our curriculum that looks incredibly similar to our Essential Standards chart recently- so we are on the right track! :-)
Fun fact: DCSC staff have logged 542 hours of work OUTSIDE of contract time on curriculum mapping thus far!
I wanted to take a moment to remind you of the timeline of this work. The goal was to have at least ONE course finished by the end of the first semester. Following the winter break, the goal is to have TWO additional courses completed during the second semester. (Elementary teachers should be able to finish all work by the end of this school year.) Starting next year, we will work on TWO courses per semester until all of them are complete. **If you find that you are having trouble finishing in the time given to you during PLC time and you are unable to work outside of that time, please let me know. I will do my best to work with you and help in any way I can to finish! You are welcome to move faster than that, of course!
**Certified staff- I have sent out vouchers for winter and am ready to open up work for February and March. If you are working on this outside the school day....click here to submit a form so I can pay you for this time. (This page is also located on the training page of the Curriculum site.) You can submit up to 10 hours at this time and each hour will be paid out at $27.39 per the teacher contract. If you start working and decide you need additional time over the 10 hours, please let me know before you submit so I can ensure I have additional grant funding to cover. All hours must be submitted on the Google Form by April 1st (no fooling!). At that time, I will send out Accounts Payable forms for staff to sign and return to me for payout and decide if the form can be opened up again.
Important Info about the Upcoming Data Team Meeting on March 6
A Message from Your PTO
The PTO has absolutely loved being able to fund several needs for staff throughout this year. It is much more fun to do this throughout the year and get pictures of the kids enjoying them. Waiting until year end and scrambling is no fun. Also, we have heard so many parents enjoying seeing the things their money is going towards. On that note, we have been able to fulfill lots of wants/needs. If you haven't already turned in your yearly allotment you have time, but we would love you to do it sooner than later if possible. Also, If you have something in mind to put in for a mini grant please get those in. We want to fill as many reasonable wants/needs as possible. We can even combine your allotment with a mini grant idea. Thanks for all of your hard work and taking care of our kiddos. We appreciate you all very much.
Behavior Referral Entry Expectations
Correct
Correct
Incorrect
Flyin' High with RTI
There won't be MFM groups today or Zen Zone due to the battles.
From Jaymee: We are plugging away in reading RTI! My phonics groups are working on spelling common sight words that don't follow a regular pattern. We are also working on hearing, seeing, and spelling words with common spelling patterns.
ILEARN/YOU LEARN
**If you teach math or ELA in grades 3-8, reading these updates is NOT optional. You are expected to know the information contained in each update. Please make the time to ensure you have read and understand all of this information.**
If you missed a previous version, please catch up by accessing the following links:
Got the winter blues??
Monday, February 25th has been deemed "beat the winter blues with blue jeans days!"
You're welcome!
A Message from the Danville Community Education Foundation
STAFF: We will be making grade level baskets to raffle off at the DCEF BINGO event. We are also asking STAFF members to donate any type of alcoholic beverages to make some adult baskets. We are looking for bottles of wine, wine glasses, craft beers, any type of beer, signs, gift cards, etc. Anything that would be great in a basket!!
These items can NOT be brought into school but we have a drop off location set up at Paisley Peacock on the Square (in Sage Home's old store). They are open Tuesday thru Saturday 11-7pm. Please drop all donations off by March 2nd.
You are all encouraged to buy tickets to attend. Bring some friends and reserve a table! We will be honoring all teachers in attendance too!!
Please help us make this a successful fundraiser to raise more money for teacher grants and senior scholarships by spreading the word, making donations and attending the event!
Thank you for ALL you do for kiddos! It is greatly appreciated!
An Update on Nhut
Here's a note from her husband Josh...
Nhut is in good spirits, she’s currently staying at Brownsburg Meadows while going through more therapy. She is still paralyzed on the right side of her body, although she is able to use a walker and has been doing great at increasing her walking distance every couple days. We continue to work with a (TENS) Electrotherapy unit to try and stimulate more movement on her right side. I’m also taking her for a acupuncture specialist this week in an effort to see if that might help (fingers crossed).
We are also waiting to hear back from her surgeon on a tentative date to get her bone flap replaced. He is leaning towards completing her MoyaMoya surgery at the same time. I have reached out for a 2nd opinion by sending her medical records to MoyaMoya specialist at Stanford and will be insisting her surgeon consult with him before proceeding.
Insurance has been asking for weekly updates, so they may be pulling the plug on her stay at Brownsburg Meadows soon. Which would mean she finally gets to come home. But we also have to begin paying in home care as she may require 24/7 supervision. Insurance will likely only cover a small portion of that.
That’s about it for now, many things are still up in the air and in God's hands at the moment.
Nhut says thanks everyone so much for all of the support! I appreciate the thoughts, prayers, letters and well wishes. She also says thank you all for helping keep her boys fed and we thank everyone, too! We definitely could not make it through this maze without everyone’s support and will be eternally grateful.
Love,
Nhut, Josh and boys
Here are the links to the meal train and GoFundMe if interested.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e054aa4af2ba0fe3-meals
Surplus Roundup
The PTO room is FILLED up with surplus supplies. Please cruise through there in the next two weeks (by March 8th) to see if there is anything in there you want. Take what you need to use in your classroom. The storage containers will be repurposed, so please don't take those.
I will be sending out pictures of the surplus to the rest of the district to also come and take what they want....so you might want to get a jump start on your treasure hunt now.
Life Hacks
- If you ever go to the zoo, wear the same colors as the employees do. The animals will come right up to you.
- Take pictures of friends holding items you've lent them with your phone, so you remember down the road who borrowed what.
- When doing your nails, use Elmer's glue around your nail, let it dry, and then go crazy with the nail polish. Peel off the glue to reveal perfectly manicured nails.
February Birthdays
Renee Bowman- February 13
Battle of the Books
Everything you need to know for this year's big battle:
- Monday and Tuesday Library classes are now ready to battle!
- FINAL BATTLES:
- 3rd grade final battle is at 1:00 on Friday.
- 4th grade final battle is at 1:40 on Friday.
- The winning team from each classroom will have a designated spot on the gym floor while the rest of your class will watch. The battle is shortened this year! :) Winners for each grade level will win a trophy and be able to spend money in the Scholastic book order.
Reminders
- It's the end of the month....be sure to update your data dashboard!
- Don't forget to schedule your Principal Read Aloud time each month.
- Nominate a Student of the Month for any outstanding student you might have.
- Don't forget....Send any students down to the office with a "positive referral" to sign the Great Big Book of Awesomeness. Students who sign will get a notification to take home to their parents.
- Don't forget to "Sign In" each week on the 2018-19 PD Sign in for PGP Verification" Doc
Data Team Meetings for the year
March 6, 2019
May 1, 2019*** this will likely change due to ILEARN testing
CIC Meetings For The Year
Upcoming Dates
Feb. 26: PLC's
Feb. 27: Grade Level Meetings
Mar. 4: National School Breakfast Week begins
Mar. 5: PLC's
Mar. 6: Data Team Mtg.
Mar. 7: PTO Mtg.
Mar. 8: End of Quarter
Mar. 8: CIC Mtg.
Mar. 11: School Board Mtg.
Mar. 12: PLC's
Mar. 12: 4th Gr. Music Program
Mar. 13: Faculty Meeting
Mar. 14: 4th Gr. Music Program
Mar. 18: IREAD3 Testing
Mar. 19: IREAD3 Testing
Mar. 19: PLC's
Mar. 20: 4th grade field trip
Mar. 20: Western Day
Mar. 21: Men-in-Action Read to Classes
Mar. 21 Pajama Day
Mar. 21: J.W. Riley Presentation to 4th grade
Mar. 22: Sports Day
Mar. 22: Riley Volleyball
Our Data
8.5 % in Third-grade reading
12.1% in Third-grade math
3.6% in Fourth-grade reading
Our third grade IREAD3 predictor data has blown up!! A 14.4% increase!
Keep up the great work everyone!