Monclova Primary
Weekly Bulletin
Events for Week of April 9 - April 15
Monday, April 9
NO STUDENTS - PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY
Tuesday, April 10
Social Meeting - 8:00 am - Susan's room
Wednesday, April 11
Wellness Day - Jump Rope
Tornado Drill - 1:30 pm
Thursday, April 12
Fire Drill - 3:00 pm
Friday, April 13
Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast - 7:30 - 8:30 am
Announcements
Thank you:
Matt Dick and other district personnel for getting our new locks installed over break. This allows for teachers and students another layer of safety and security.
Reminders:
Safety training will take place all day Monday. Please make sure you have reviewed the agenda as changes and updates are still being made.
Appreciation breakfast is Friday, stop in and say hello to our visitors and parents. Breakfast and a coffee bar will be available for all!
AIR testing begins next week for 3rd and 4th graders, students will test in their classrooms from 10 to 12:00pm Tuesday - Friday. Please be extra quiet when in the halls during this time.
Upon our return from spring break, our months of April and May are extremely busy!
April 17 - 19 - Bookfair
April 18 - 19 - Muffins for Moms
AIR Testing - April 17 - 20; April 24 - 27 - 10:00 - 12:00 pm
Field Day - May 1
Wellness Day - May 2
Teacher Appreciation Week - May 7 - May 11
Right to Read Week - May 14 - 18
Words of Wisdom and Action..............................
Welcome back from a much needed and well-timed spring break! Below is a great reminder on vacation purpose and how to make the best of these LAST two months of the school year. After vacation, staff and students return with a renewed sense of purpose and passion. What are you going to do with that passion? Many staff have taken on new ideas and teaching strategies before vacation, now it's time to take that to the next level. For those of you that have been thinking and researching new strategies or ideas, now is the time to try them out. Constantly improving your practice makes you a better teacher and asset to your students. Lets run with our positive post-vacation energy!
Feeling energized after your vacation? Put that drive to good use
LAURA BEESTON
PUBLISHED AUGUST 27, 2015, UPDATED MARCH 25, 2017
The President of the United States recently made headlines after admitting he was feeling "a little feisty" from his vacation.
Barack Obama said the time away from work left him "refreshed, renewed, recharged" and ready to take on whatever his final term has to throw at him.
We've all been there, Mr. President: returning to work after some time away from the daily grind, feeling like you can take on the world. The mind is clear, as are our ambitions. But after 24 to 72 hours back in reality, the sparkle fades and we begin daydreaming about the next getaway. The postvacation blues set in. You realize nothing really changed. It sucks, whether or not you have "crazies" and a GOP Congress to deal with.
So is there a way to sustain that postvacation glow, or to put it to greater use?
Career coach and consultant Bruce Sandy says it all comes down to stress relief.
"A good, relaxing vacation allows people to not only get clarity about what's important, but to develop a new vision, priority and perspective," he says.
When the malaise sets in, Sandy suggests employees question their own reactive tendencies and look for the patterns they've temporarily stepped away from (and are coming back to). He challenges employees to ask themselves what they want to do differently in order to re-engage more fully.
"I always tell people to build in reflection time and time to re-energize into their daily routine," Sandy says, adding this could be as simple as remembering to get up, stretch and move around every 45 minutes, or it could mean engaging in activities outside of work that help cultivate balance and focus.
A good sleep schedule, proper diet, exercise, yoga and mindful meditation are some popular suggestions to achieve this. Postvacationers can also make small life changes inspired by their trip: unplugging from the Internet and wireless devices, living on less and making efforts to "get out there" and be a tourist in their own city.
It's all about breaking up the routine. "People get caught up in their repetitive patterns," Sandy says, and that's why the vacation is such a desirable idea in the first place.
"I challenge [employees] to think about how they want to be different when they come back. How can they sustain that energy and work towards a long-term focus?"
For psychologist Dawn DeCunha, one of the reasons people feel a low when they come home is because a vacation literally makes us high. "The brain really loves novelty," she explains. "Vacations are novel [and] your brain is on an endorphin rush … unless you lead a life that's balanced to begin with, the endorphins will wear off."
How well you live your life before you get away will affect how much of a vacation "come down" you experience, DeCunha says.
"I advocate balance. You must build this in to your daily life, build joy into your daily life and something that allows you to escape from the routine." She recommended cooking and sharing a meal, sex and dancing. "A vacation itself is not a sustainable plan."
The combination of good habits, greater awareness of one's own energy and making time for reflection is the best way to be as present and effective as possible for when you come off that vacation high.
But the big question for us non-presidential mortals remains how to sustain this mojo.
"The thing is that you have a choice when you face challenging situations [such as returning to work]," Sandy says. "You have a choice to get bitter again, or to look at your challenges as opportunities and seeing how you can apply your new awareness or opportunities for change moving forward."