The Gator Tales
The weekly staff newsletter for Glenwood Elementary School
Week of September 25
Monday, September 25- Glenwood Joy Meeting in the LLC
Wednesday, September 27- Begin PTA Fall Fundraiser until Oct. 1
Gators Invade Oceana Air Show
Important upcoming dates and events
Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3 and 4- Donuts with Dads
Friday, October 6- Grades due for progress reports, Citizen of the Month 9:30 am
Monday, October 9- Professional Learning Day- Schools closed for students
Tuesday, October 10- Progress Reports Issued
Friday, October 12- Glenwood Blood Drive
Tuesday,October 17- Fall Pictures
Wednesday, October 18- School Security Assistant Day! Go Mrs. Lewis!!!
Monday, October 23- Achieve 3000 rep visit with grades 3-5 during PE in Pirate Room
Thursday, October 26- PIRATE DAY
Friday, October 27- PTA Fall Festival
Monday, October 30- First Grade Gifted Testing
Friday, November 3- Citizen of the Month 9:30 am
Friday, November 10- Veterans Day (Schools Closed)
Tuesday November 14- Fall Picture Make-Ups
Wednesday, November 15- Pirate Day, Report Cards Issued
Grateful Gators!
GREAT JOB 5th grade teachers preparing and doing EVERYTHING right to ensure an amazing Air Show Field Trip! DF
I'd like to thank Caroline Altman for sharing website creation instructions. A huge thank you to Kellie Weisenbeck for using her Friday morning planning time to help me assemble the basics of my website. I left your room feeling like I was ready to soar on my own. K. Garcia
Kudos to Mrs. Repa for using Google Classroom and Flipgrid during her first Guidance lesson of the year! The kids loved it and had a blast making their "awesome" videos! Jen Malit
KUDOS to Fifth Grade Teachers. They have great synergy and work so well together. This is evidenced by the fantastic 5th grade field trip held on Friday. Shirley Haywood
A huge thank you to Diane Dykes for setting up our training on GoFormative. You rock! Andrea Neal
Kudos to the fifth grade team for working together to plan our first Pirate Day.......with treasure maps and painted rocks! Julie White
Kudos to Barbara Kimpan, Mary Salisbury, and Tony Trovato for signing up to donate blood at our blood drive. Paula Gee
Kudos to: Tara Pfeifer did an amazing and engaging guidance lesson for our kindergators! Angie Sullivan
Kudos to all of the PK-2 teachers for an amazing first 3 weeks of school AND for allowing me to teach Guidance lessons to your students. They have been such Gator Great listeners! - Tara Pfeifer
Kudos to Ms. Sullivan for giving me encouragement this week that made my day. Your kind words meant a lot to me and I appreciate you so much! - Tara Pfeifer
Kudos to Nancy Munson for making Room A2's first Pirate Day memorable with our trip to Portland, Maine and an invitation to participate in Math Congress. We collaborated in an amazing fashion and proved to ourselves that we can do awesome work! Looking forward to a great year of learning. Diane Dykes
Kudos to second grade for having their first Google Hangout to learn more about Go Formative! Nancy Fanning-Munson
Kudos to Mrs. Arroyo for being so willing to help and try new things for the classroom teachers with LA! I speak for the fourth grade team when I say that just her willingness to help find, create, and do is AMAZING! Kudos to Mr. Thietje for being an absolutely amazing co-teacher! He has made every effort to be a team player, and genuinely wants to know every kid he interacts with each day. Mr. Trovato and I are so lucky to have him! Alexandra Ambrose
What Great Teachers Do Differently- 17 Things That Matter Most Todd Whitaker
3. The Power of Expectations
How do the best teachers approach classroom management? What do they do differently? Here's the answer in a nutshell: Great teachers focus on expectations. Other teachers focus on rules. He least effective teachers focus on the consequences of breaking the rules.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Jason Hinson Sept.-22
Teresa Habib Sept.-28
Jamie Phoenix Sept.04
Amanda Agreste Oct.-06
Kim Kennedy Oct.-12
Dina Dreistadt Oct.-14
Valerie Orner Oct.-14
Betsy Harvell Oct.-18
Sandra Kechter Oct.-20
Ashley Smith1 Oct.-21
Antonino Olimpiade Oct.-24
Anita, Seabrook Oct.-25
Erica Cleghorn Oct.-31
Brittany Howell Oct.-31
10 Easy Ways To Create an Amazing Classroom Culture This Year
2. Play music to liven up the day- The environment in a room that you walk into that has lively music playing is special. Music can often bring a smile to people entering the room and is just an awesome way to start the day.
3. Go out of your way to make first impressions positive- This time spent is an investment in the child, not an expenditure.
4. Call parents early...make sure they know you care about their kid- This is definitely an investment in an emotional bank account, and lets parents know that you genuinely care about their child.
5. Have ideas what you are going to do, but always tailor it to the students in front of you.- Be flexible. What you did last year might not work this year because these are different kids.
6. Design the classroom with your kids- We spend so much time decorating the classroom before students show up, and then we call it "our room".
7. Find out the passions of each student and tap into them-One of the best ways to work with people is by finding out what they love and tapping into it.
8. Find out their dreams, and try to help them move closer to those goals- We spend lots of thinking about where we want students to be, and not enough time asking where they want to go.
9. Have them ask questions every single day, and help them find those answers- If a child leaves school less curious than they started, we have failed them.
10. LOVE THEM- Teaching is a tough job, but so is being a kid. There are so many things that kids deal with while growing up, that they just need to know that someone cares about them.
George Couros- The Principal of Change Blog