WIZARD WEEKLY
Week of May 8th-12th
WORD FROM THE EMERALD CITY
~Shout out to EVERYONE this week for your flexibility and patience as the STAAR test is now COMPLETE!! Woo-hoo! Thanks so much to Bobby for organizing everything. It ran smoothly, and everything went as planned!
~There will be various leadership opportunities within the district next year for those of you who are looking to continue to learn and grow as leaders and/or wanting to take that next step towards career advancement. There is the Teacher Leader Summer Institute designed for teachers who want to strengthen and deepen their leadership skills. There is the Aspiring Leaders Institute (ALI) for professionals who aspire to become campus and/or district leaders. There is also the Aspiring Administrator Institute for those who have completed ALI and want to continue with the program and hope to be an administrator. I emailed the application this week.
~ For the planning meeting on Monday (team leads, specialists), we will be talking about schedules for next year, possible theme ideas, parent/staff survey results, continuous improvement, and anything else that arises. Please talk with your teams and bring anything that you would like talked about or addressed for next year. Think of theme ideas! I have a few in mind, but I would WELCOME any ideas, if any of you have seen or heard some that would be fun to do.
~ Our 2nd semester PRIDE Posse party will take place on Monday, May 22nd. As like last time, members of PRIDE Posse will go to the gym during their specials time and have bounce houses and popcorn!!
~ Next Wednesday, May 17th, Channel 8 will be here to run a story on LiiNK. They will most likely only be talking to me and some of the LiiNK teachers; however, let's forgo warm ups next week. Please dress in normal work clothes, and you all are welcome to have Warm-Up Thursday for next week! I will keep you posted on when the story will air! This is GREAT publicity for our school and our district!
~ Speaking of great publicity. Check out the list of the school rankings on this site 173.45.238.175 (copy into search bar). Elkins ranked 866 in the state and 300 in North Texas! That's a great accomplishment!
MOVEMENT NEWS:
~ As you all know, as with each year, there will be changes as we head into the 2017-2018 school year. Thankfully, not as many as last year, but I did want to let you know of the changes we have taking place thus far:
* Of course, with Robin retiring and leaving us, that means we need to fill her position. Luckily, Emily Killen has agreed to come back and pick up where she left off. So, even though we are getting a new SPED teacher, she's really not "new." She will be here on Monday for our planning meeting as well. We were able to arrange that with her principal.
* SPED made some program changes this year and moved different programs around to allow for more students to be on home campuses. With that change, we will be losing 1 of our life skills classrooms. That will mean, we will only have one section and one teacher. I have talked to both Jessica and Naomi, and it was decided that Jessica's section will be the one to transfer. Jessica is looking to be closer to home in the Mansfield/Arlington area, and I have no doubt that she will be hired. This means that if she were to stay here, that we would likely end up hiring someone new. Therefore, we will list Jessica's section as the one who will be going to Lake Point. Tonya will go with that section. This actually works out well for her because LPE is a late start campus, so this will be better for her schedule and getting Addison to middle school. Right now, Ronda is tentative, and her placement will depend on numbers. Naomi and Kelley will stay here, and if we get enough students in their class, Ronda should be able to stay as well (we hope!).
* Conni Wallace will be leaving Elkins for Chisholm Ridge. She and that principal have known one another for a long time, and they are eager to work together again. We will miss Conni, but I know she will take her great teaching to those students of CRE. The first grade team, Bobby and I will begin our search for our next 1st grade teacher as soon as the job is posted.
Campus News
~ May is super busy with a lot of extra meetings, evening events, parties, etc. Make sure to ask if you don't know when something is or have a question about it! I may be a little scattered for the next 2 weeks as well, so if I forget something, don't feel bad reminding me! haha
~ Boswell will do a senior walk (where seniors come to walk through the campus in their caps and gowns) on May 23rd at approximately 1:00. I haven't gotten exact times/details yet, but I will send your way as soon as I know more!! Add this to your already EXPLODING calendars! The students loved it last year when CTHS came, and I think the seniors really enjoy it as well. With being a TRUE feeder school this year, it's going to be fun to start the Boswell school spirit early and continue on throughout HS.
~The final PTA meeting is next Thursday! This will be our Kindergarten program! We are excited to watch them perform!!
~ Encourage your students to start thinking of their vocabulary word they would like to represent at our parade on May 30th.
~If you haven't turned in your yellow "next year plans forms," please do so by Friday. If you are missing some from your students, please reach out to those parents. I really need a form turned in for each kiddo.
~ Please get Lilly the Elk of the Month forms to hang on the wall! We want everyone to be recognized.
Be Vocabulous!
Continue to discuss the vocabulary with your students! It's making a big difference!
Here is the copy of the s'more newsletter about the vocabulary program. It has all the words listed for the year, so you can plan ahead! It has each word listed and the grade level responsible. The kids really enjoyed this last year, and I think this was something I had more comments from parents about than anything! They would comment about their students knowing the meanings of words that they didn't even know. The vocabulary parade was a big hit too. Even the older kids got into it and had fun being creative and participating.
Please turn in the "Word Up" Levels sheets when you have students who display the appropriate use of the words. Obviously, the younger they are, the more "adaptation" needs to occur in order to receive the levels, but the students who received the tags last year, LOVED it!! I will put the "Word Up Level" sheet on canvas!
As a reminder, the way the "Word Up Levels" work, goes like this...
All students will start as rookies and all students will have a chance to move up as many levels as they would like. Spirit Tags (that PTA is selling) will be used for levels 2 thru 5 and when a student reaches level 2 thru 5 they will receive a spirit tag for that level from the principal.
Teachers will nominate students to move up through the levels.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Thursday, May 10th:
Kori out 1/2 day in morning
Friday, May 12th:
Kori out all day
Nacho Bar luncheon (Sunshine Committee)
Monday, May 15th:
Planning meeting for 2017-2018 (grade level team leads & specialists)
Tuesday, May 16th:
LiiNK Training after school- Kg & 1st 3:30-4:30
Wednesday, May 17th:
Kelly Stowe's baby shower @ 3:00
Thursday, May 18th:
Kori off campus at DLT meeting
PTA Meeting & KG Program @ 6:00
Friday, May 19th:
Field Day- Grades 2-5
Monday, May 22nd:
PRIDE Posse Parties (during specials times)
CARE Team Meetings (2nd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade & Kinder)
Tuesday, May 23rd:
Talent Show @ 8:30
Boswell Senior Walk- 1:00 (ish)
Wednesday, May 24th:
Kindergarten Awards @ 8:00
Thursday, May 25th:
Field Day- Grades Kg & 1st
Friday, May 26th:
No School- Bad Weather Day
Monday, May 29th:
No School- Memorial Day
Tuesday, May 30th:
1st Grade Awards @ 8:00
3rd Grade Awards @ 9:15
Vocabulary Parade @ 2:00 pm
Wednesday, May 31st:
5th Grade Field Trip
Kori off campus in AM
2nd Grade Awards @ 8:00
4th Grade Awards @ 9:15
Thursday, June 1:
5th Grade Awards @8:15
Kickball Tournament (staff versus students) 9:15
End of Year Parties: 10:50
Last day of school- Early Dismissal at 11:40
** students plan to be in hallway at 11:30 to have a final "clap out" for our 5th graders as they exit the building. Students/teachers can line up in the hallway by art/music and hallway leading to horseshoe area.
KORI WERTH - PRINCIPAL
Email: kwerth@ems-isd.net
Website: http://www.emsisd.com/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2336
Location: Fort Worth, TX, United States