Staff Weekly Update
Week of December 17th, 2018
Dear Friends,
Our last five days before we start Winter break. When we come back it will be *2019!* Hard to believe. Enjoy this week with your students and take peace in knowing that after this week, we have two weeks of a well-deserved break. Don't let the stress of the holidays take your energy and joy and relish in the little things like sleeping in, getting to use the restroom whenever you want, having more than 30 minutes to eat lunch, NO recess duty! :)
With much respect,
Connie
Calendar Items
Mon. Dec. 17th
- Jen Evans' FMLA (11/28 - 1/6/19)
- Largent out for 1/2 day AM sick day (taking mom to dr. appt)
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUE LEWIS!
- Janelle Drisko at SGE - all day
- 1st-grade NWEA Fluency - all week
- 8:05 - AM Announcements
- 8:20 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Knueven
- 8:30 - 10:30 - Melanie Bowlin at SGE
- 11:40 - HS Peer Mentors
- 12:15 - 1:15 - ALEKS math - Mastin & Largent - Media Center Lab
- 12:45 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Delp
- 2:00 - CC for 3rd grader - Watson, Farley, Brizzolara - conf. room
- 2:40 - Bi-Weekly Gr. Level Mtgs.
- 2:45 - 504 mtg. for 2nd grader - Wetzel & Smith - Jessica's office
- ?? 2:45 - Parent Mtg. - Largent, Fure, Wagner - Robin's room
Tues. Dec. 18th
- Jen Evans' FMLA (11/28 - 1/6/19)
- 1st-grade NWEA Fluency - all week
- 8:05 - AM Announcements
- 8:30 - Meeting w/ KDG parents - Largent - Connie's office
- 9:30 - LT Meeting - Largent/Farley - ESC
- 11:35 - Zeek Squad w/ Beimfohr - Media Center Lab
- 12:15 - 1:15 - ALEKS math - Mastin & Largent - Media Center Lab
- 1:00 - USS Team mtg. w/ Dr. Slonaker - conf. room
- 2:30 - ACR for 4th grader - Watson, Farley, Milam, Drisko
- 2:40 - Technology Integration Mtg. - Kyle & 3rd grade
- 2:40 - Parent mtg. re: 3rd grader - Barth, Slonaker, Rowe - Anne's room
- 2:45 - Second Step mtg. - Wetzel
- 4:00 - District Discussions meeting - Largent/Farley - ESC
Wed. Dec. 19th
- Jen Evans' FMLA (11/28 - 1/6/19)
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY KNUEVEN!
- Janelle Drisko at SGE - all day
- 1st-grade NWEA Fluency - all week
- 8:05 - AM Announcements
- 8:15 - 12:30 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 12:15 - 1:15 - ALEKS math - Mastin & Largent - Media Center Lab
- 12:45 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Munz
- 2:45 - ACR for 2nd grader - Dowers, Largent, Delp - conf. room
- 2:30 - Mtg. re: 3rd grader - Watson, Farley, Frobig - Matha's office
- 4:00 - 5:00 - Connie/Martha in weekly mtg.
Thurs. Dec. 20th
- Jen Evans' FMLA (11/28 - 1/6/19)
- 1st-grade NWEA Fluency - all week
- 8:05 - AM Announcements
- 10:15 - 2:00 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 12:15 - 1:15 - ALEKS math - Mastin & Largent - Media Center Lab
- 2:45 - BST Team Mtg. w/ Christina Moore - Largent, Farley, Wetzel, & USS Team - conf. room
Fri. Dec. 21st - End of Quarter 2
- Jen Evans' FMLA (11/28 - 1/6/19)
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANGELA BOURFF! (THE BIG 4-0!!)
- NO PLC Meetings today
- Winter Parties - all day
- PTO Spirit Day - Holiday Wear
- Payday & Jeans
- 1st-grade NWEA Fluency - all week
- 8:05 - AM Announcements
Upcoming Events . . .
DECEMBER:
- 28th - Happy birthday, Amy Ferguson!
JANUARY 2019:
- 7th - 25th - NWEA
- 7th - 31st - AIMSweb
- 9th - Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
- 9th - PTO Mtg - Evening time TBD - Parenting in the Digital Age Series w/ Dan Layton
- 11th - SBRC done by 8:00 AM
- 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
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 Announcements & Reminders
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
***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.