Union Weekly Staff Update
Volume 31- April 3, 2016
Our Mission
A Message from Jen
Welcome back...and a special welcome back to Emily, Julia, and Cyneka, who are returning after extended leaves!! We have missed you! I hope that everyone had a Spring Break that was relaxing and full of memory-making with family and friends. The Raycroft family survived the RV trip and maintained happy camper status...mostly :)
This week's update has several action items that are in bold print. Have a great last night of vacation and see you all in the morning!
Jen
This Week's Events
FitKidz during PE- the entire month of April- Yippee!!
Digitarium in STEM this week
NWEA Begins April 7th- Check Schedule from Maggie
Monday, April 4th
8:00, Transition Conferences in Conference Room (Andrus, Ruthsatz, Ioannacci)
ZEF Grants due to Dr. Robison's office by 4:00.
Tuesday, April 5th
1st grade to Zion Nature Center (Kurtz, Boggs, Steward)
8:00, Literacy PLC in Kathy's room
9:30-12:30, Erin and Jen at LT meeting
4:00, District Discussion at ESC
7:00, Dads Club Meeting in Teachers Lounge
Wednesday, April 6th
1st grade to Zion Nature Center (Michener, Smith)
9:15-10:15, PTO Exec Meeting in Conference Room
12:30-1:05, Star Student Lunches- Last one for the year
4:00, District Safety Meeting at ESC (Jen, Erin, Maggie)
Thursday, April 7th
8:00, ACR in Conference Room (Meyer, Raycroft, Zucker, Swenson, Lockhart, Tisch)
8:15, Speech ACR in Small Conference Room (Van Curen, Ioannacci, Sorgen)
10:00, Office Meeting
Friday, April 8th
Maggie Out
60s Spirit Day
8:00, ACR in Conference Room (Andrus, Munley, Van Curen, Lockhart, Raycroft)
9:30, ABM Meeting
Looking Ahead....
Monday, April 11th
Maggie Out
ZMS Music Visits
Tuesday, April 12th
NO STAFF MEETING
Kindergarten Round Up
Wednesday, April 13th
Thursday, April 14th
10:00, Office Meeting
Friday, April 15th
9:30, ABM Meeting
April Birthdays
The happiest of birthdays to the following STARS who will be celebrating another year during the month of April:
Courtney Beiermann, April 2
Tonya Clark, April 27
Cyneka Hooks, April 27
Teacher of the Year
Article to Read and Discuss
As we look ahead to next year and the addition of a wellness teacher to our staff, I am excited about the possibilities that exist to develop students that are "strong in every way."
The article below provides examples of how a group of schools in Texas are integrating more movement into their school day through multiple, shorter recesses. It came across my Twitter feed on the same day as an article in the Harvard Business Review article about looking critically at the "why" behind practices. It made me question our traditional lunch/recess block. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Can you please put this discussion item on the agenda of your next team meeting? Please chat about what you like about the idea of multiple, shorter recesses throughout the day, what concerns you have, what questions you still need answered, what other creative ideas that expand upon this, and what solutions that you have to potential problems. You are welcome to send me your thoughts as a team and/or as an individual. Below is a link for using DeBono's 6 Thinking Hats as a way to structure your conversation. This is certainly not something you have to use, but is a nice resource. I first came across this in master's classes, then again when taking courses for teaching high ability learners and find it a useful way to think critically about an issue.