THE FLIGHT RECORDER
Statesville Road Elementary's Weekly Staff Newsletter
Principal's Point to Ponder
You all know that I am a lover of words and believe in their power. Words are alive and have the ability to impact and influence others in meaningful ways. Impact and Influence are two of the characteristics of school turnaround leaders and teachers, and our words are the vehicle by which this impact and influence is carried. Our carefully crafted words can uplift spirits, can bring about understanding, and can etch a permanent spot in the psyche of another for a lifetime. So for this week's Point to Ponder, I have selected a few quotes from Dr. King as a way to honor his legacy and as a way to ask us all to reflect on the words we use with our kids and our co-workers. Dr. King chose to use his words to impact and influence the hearts of mankind. His words helped to pave the way for us to do the work we do today with our students in a free, public, integrated school system where we have the opportunity to change lives daily....simply with our words of impact and influence.
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
"Life's most urgent question is what are you doing for others?"
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better."
I invite you to reflect on these powerful words and even plan some of your own as you enjoy the MLK Holiday on Monday. See you on Tuesday. -TW
Instructional Strategy of the Week
Kudos / General Reminders / Agreements
- Kudos to our teacher assistants for managing instruction and behavior in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classes as we completed our TRC assessments. Great job!
- Kudos to Norvell, Willis, Grain, and Burgess for attending and assisting with PTA movie night on Friday! We had a record crowd and your presence was appreciated by the PTA, parents, Lungarini, and me!
- Kudos in advance to Beckles who will work diligently to process all the Title I spend plan orders from each of you by Thursday of this week. If she has any questions about your order, she will contact you this week.
- Kudos to Freeman whose workshop titled Give a Hoot! Was accepted for the UnConference. Freeman will present her workshop on Saturday, January 24th at 9:20am. Let’s support our colleague!
- Update on the school's Title I purchases: The SMART tables have been ordered! Just awaiting their arrival. Beckles will order all Teacher Pay Teacher items first since you all will be able to have the quickest access to those resources on line.
- Reminder: Report card grades must be posted according to the schedule emailed by Beckles.
- Below Grade Level letters to accompany 2nd quarter report cards will be available on Wednesday in the workroom. These letters are to be stapled to the report card and you are to keep record of which parents received the letter by highlighting the names on a roster that will be placed in your box. Please turn in your highlighted roster to Ms. Johnson in the front office.
- 2nd Quarter Awards Assembly is Friday, January 30th. Awards certificates will be available for you in the work room by Wednesday of this week.
- January 23rd Workday: It is expected that all certified staff will attend a professional development session offered on January 23rd. A list will be put up in the work room for you to indicate which PD session(s) you will attend. District PD information and information for the Project LIFT UnConference were emailed to you last week.
- Reminder to consult with EC and ESL before assigning grades to our EC and ESL students. This is an issue each reporting period. All issues can be avoided with a simple conversation with our colleagues to ensure we are on the same page when evaluating these students’ progress.
- The instructional strategy for this week was submitted by Lungarini. If you see great things going on in your colleagues classrooms or in your own classroom that you would like highlighted in future Flight Recorders, please submit to Williams by the end of the day on Friday of each week.
Monday, January 19, 2015
- NO SCHOOL (MLK Holiday)
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 (Day 5)
- Williams at PL Principal Meeting (all day)
- End of 2nd Quarter
- Tuesday Folder: send Math Night Flyer home in Tuesday Folder
- 5th Grade Field Trip
- 3rd Grade Full Day Data Planning (refer to schedule emailed previously)
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 (Day 1)
- Lungarini at PD (all day)
- STAFF Meeting
Thursday, January 22, 2015 (Day 2)
- Lungarini, Patterson, Hall at PD (all day)
- 3rd Grade Field Trip
Friday, January 23, 2015 (Day 3)
- NO SCHOOL (CMS Elementary Required Workday)