Chancellor News and Notes
October 5, 2015
Crisp and Cool Mornings are Here!
Aren't you excited? This weekend was absolutely beautiful, as we start to get a little bit of relief from the Texas heat! Little easier to get outside when the weather's nice! Our first progress reports go home this week, so hopefully you have uploaded all your grades by 8 am this morning! If you are reading this and thinking, uhm...no I forgot, please email Crystal so we don't waste paper printing any blank progress reports! A few reminders as October gets into full swing:
- This week is Fire Prevention Week!
- This Friday is Lunch Bunch, and today (Monday) is the last day to order!
- E-Colors training is Wednesday and Thursday, which means ALOT of subs in the building, again. If you are going to E-Colors and you are a classroom teacher, please make sure you leave detailed sub plans and stress to your students how to behave when you are not here.
- Progress Reports go home on Thursday. If you will not be here, please make arrangements to have these sent home.
- Next Monday is Columbus Day, and we have a holiday, yay!
- Don't forget, if you see any Houston area Professional Developments you are interested in taking, let us know! There is money set aside every year for this purpose. See the links below for Region IV and HCDE professional development calendars.
If you are writing a grant, time is ticking! Due the end of this week!
The final deadline for Chancellor to turn in grants to the district is October 16th. In the email sent out by Lisa, your grant is due to us by October 9th in order to give us time to review and prepare for submission. Several teachers have submitted grants for review already, and hopefully will be funded! If you are working on your grant, this week is your deadline to get it in! You can go to the Chancellor Common/SDC/2014-2105/CAP folder, which you can use in your description for the part about meeting campus goals (our CAP has our campus goals!). Remember you have to include the exact amount it will cost and where your items will be ordered from. When you ready to submit, please email to administration to review! We want to get all of our grants in this week, so if you have questions, please come ask.
Giving Feedback to your Students
How do students know what they are doing is right? How do they know if they need improvement? Feedback is a vital part of the classroom, but in keeping with a positive classroom environment centered on growth, we have to mindful how we give our feedback to students. Our students thrive on our attention, and studies show they need at least 4 positive interactions to one negative every day to stay engaged in the classroom. Our more behaviorally-challenged students need up to 10 positives for every negative. But how to make that happen? We have to be cognizant at all times and look for those opportunities to provide positive feedback to our students. And when constructive feedback is needed, being mindful of privacy for a student's feelings can be key to get the effort you are looking for. Attached is a great article on the art of feedback, well worth the read!
Fall Festival is on it's way!
The Fall Festival is on October 22, from 4:30 to 6:15. This is a correction from the flyer that went home containing 2 dates- October 22 and October 28. Apologies! A flyer will go out to parents with the correct date and time this week. Please coordinate with your teams to organize your games, and keep in contact with your 4th grade contact chair for any questions that you have! Last year was our first Fall Festival in many years, and it was a huge success with turnout from parents and students, and this year will be no different! Time for some fun fall games! If your team is unsure what to do, there are tons of ideas on Pinterest, or see the link below!