Busy Bee Leader Board
See the Good. See the Need. See the Whole. See the Possible.
Leaders of Learning
This week's nominees:
The following people were nominated by Diann Fortune for their support of the Book Fair and the Family Evening in December. I apologize that this did not make it into the newsletter prior to now.
Marcia Spencer: for helping to unpack and set up the book fair
Taniya Smith: for her assistance in creating our castle atmosphere in the library
Vaetta Cameron: for rolling crowns for our princes and princesses to design
Helen Cole, Shelli Boes, Mary Lovett and Alicia Nazar: for creating the many, many crowns on Tuesday night
Damita Nocton: for preparing our refreshments, setting up the Bubble Bath and many other jobs to complete the Family Evening
Diane Allen and Lisa Michno: for supervising the jousting, horse racing and prancing
Princess Readalot (aka Alvita Thomas): for being our guest reader
Thomas Tidbits
We all must contribute to a positive climate and culture in our school. What do you feel the collective attitude is? What is your attitude? What is the mood (climate) your students are walking into every day? What is the lifestyle (culture) that your students are walking into? Are both conducive to your students having the will to rise to great heights? They face enormous challenges daily and we must do every thing in our power to help them overcome those pressures. You have one of the keys to assist your students to strive to their maximum potential!
Natural diamonds are formed under ground and are dirty when found. They are formed from pressures and heat. When they are found, one must go deep within the earth. Everyone has seen or owned a diamond, whether in the store, or on your hand, ears or around your neck. Some may have some imperfections....cloudy or cracks, but we still find the beauty! Compare your students to a diamond and your are the "Jeweler". When our students come to us, they are sometimes dirty, deep in poverty, or lost. But when you begin to love, care and work with them, you bring the beauty to the surface and their worth (self) becomes priceless. So continue to look for the beauty in all of your students!
And remember, "Every kid needs a champion." --Rita Pierson
Making Our Hive Thrive
K – Teachers are using math stations to help students master the standard being taught.
1st – Teachers have been so flexible and helpful during FRA testing!
2nd- Teachers are teaching phonemic awareness in whole group, small group, and literacy assignments to ensure mastery of this critical domain. Teachers have been working extremely hard to administer the FRA test.
Counselor Corner
Guidance Lessons
I will be starting my guidance lessons back up next week with Year Round and then the following week will be Traditional. I sent calendar invites to everyone with the dates for the remaining lessons.
Volunteers
Thank you to those who sent me names of your volunteers in your classroom. Please be sure to get the required paperwork filled out as soon as possible. I will be putting invites for the breakfast in your mailbox early next week. Please make sure they go home with the students.
Groups
I put a needs assessment form in every teacher mailbox. I just want to know what groups your students may benefit from. Based on the feedback I will determine my next set of groups. Please get that back to me as soon as possible.
Mid Year PDP
A note from Phyllis Magnuson, Head of MCS Nurses
Hello All,
I wanted to update you on the status of filling Halona Elliott's position for your schools. We have hired a new school nurse, Crystal Wheeler. Crystal has previous experience as a school nurse in Richmond County. We are excited to have her join our team.
Judy Oldham agreed to fill in until Christmas, but unfortunately, will not be available while Crystal 1) works her notice at the hospital 2) gets oriented to each of your schools. In other words, your schools will need to be "on call" to me at 638-4534 until we can get Crystal up and running.
I realize this is not the best time for this transition, but it simply could not be helped. Please be diligent in getting sick children home during this flu epidemic, and know that I will assist you in any way I can-just a phone call away!
Thank you for your patience,
Phyllis
638-4534
A is for Anchor
- Every child can learn.
- Every child possesses enormous potential just waiting to be unlocked.
- Every child will rise or fall to the level of our expectations.
Empower each student to reach for greatness. Don't settle for anything less
--Dave Burgess, P is for Pirate: Inspirational ABC's for Educators
January 26 Professional Development
We are very excited that Discovery Place Education Studio has agreed to offer us some Professional Development to support our efforts to build a culture of STEAM at Southern Pines Primary School. They will offer 2 sessions on January 26: 10:00-12:00 and 1:00-3:00. The sessions will focus on using the "Engineering is Elementary" kits. SIT will be discussing these kits on Wednesday and providing us with feedback as to which kits we would like to explore during the PD. Unfortunately, the Education Studio is only able to offer these sessions to teachers at this time. We are hoping to have them back to work with our assistants on another day. Please use the following link to register for the session you would prefer. There are only 20 spots per session, so once a session is full I will move the remaining teachers to the other session.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TIe1AuZ2VlTK4RVu2vTYkbK6-288wAa0xPWyvO3c-y4/viewform
Walkthrough Focus
Upcoming Dates
January 5-16: SRI MOY
January 5-14: Teachers complete Mid-Year Review of PDP
January 12-February 3: mClass MOY
January 12-23: Math Benchmark for TR
January 14: School Improvement Site Visit--10:30-12:00 (Dr. Troutman, Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Metcalf will be the only ones visiting.)
January 14: Staff Meeting--Epipen training with Aaron Ribet and Conversation on Bullying; Please see Edmodo for a Powerpoint that you will need to preview prior to the Staff Meeting. We are "flipping" this meeting so that the time spent in the meeting will be conversation based on what you read/watched in the Powerpoint Presentation.
January 15: Last day for Mid-Year PDPs to be signed by Marci & Alvita--No data PLC team meeting on this day as it is in the middle of the mClass MOY assessment. PLC teams can use this team meeting for whatever is needed. Marci & Alvita will be available in the multipurpose room to sign PDPs for anyone who has not completed theirs prior to the 15th. All teachers PDPs must be signed by the end of the day.
January 16: Early Release day--change of plans. Grade level teams will be meeting together to plan instruction in Science and Social Studies for the 3rd quarter. Dr. Bankhead-Smith will be working with 1st & 2nd grade teachers in Science. Diane Fey will be working with 1st & 2nd grade teachers in Social Studies. Jennifer and Marci will be working with Kindergarten teams in Science and Social Studies. Alvita will be meeting with Danielle and the EC team. Specials, Preschool and Assistants are free to work in classrooms.
January 19: No School
January 21: 1st and 2nd graders to Pinecrest @ 12:30 for Encore Kids! performance of the Carolina Philharmonic
January 21: Marci working with Dr. Rutherford--8:30-11:30
January 21-22: Marci at Friday Institute in Raleigh
January 21: SIT meeting
January 23: Volunteer Breakfast--Please make sure that Alicia has an accurate record of your volunteers
January 26: Required Teacher Workday--DreamBox Session 8:00-9:00 (optional) and "Engineering is Elementary" PD by Discovery Place Education Studio
January 28: Marci at Teaching Fellows Commission Meeting
January 30: Assistants at PD on Supporting the Literacy Framework--10:30-12:30
February 3: Dr. Grimesey to visit 2 classrooms--11:00-12:15
February 4: Marci off campus--Principals Meeting
February 5: Alvita off campus--Assistant Principals Meeting
February 5: Admin PLC team meetings--This will be a Data PLC. MOY cards need to be moved by today. Also, teachers need to bring names of students who will be recognized in Growth Celebration Assemblies.
February 5: RIF--times TBA
February 9: Growth Celebrations
- 7:45--Year-round 1st grade
- 9:15--Traditional Kindergarten
- 1:45--Year-round Kindergarten
February 10: Growth Celebrations
- 7:45--Traditional 2nd grade
- 12:45--Traditional 1st grade
- 1:45--Year-round 2nd grade
February 6: Marci off campus
February 11: Duty Free Lunch
February 13: Early Release Day--PD TBA
February 13: Marci off campus
February 16: District PD Day--Technology Smackdown at our school--more information coming
February 19: Jennifer Beck will lead learning with PLC teams
February 25: Teaching Studies--more information coming
Contact Information for SPP
Email: mhouseman@ncmcs.org
Website: ncmcs.org
Location: 1250 West New York Avenue, Southern Pines, NC, United States
Phone: (910) 692-8659
Twitter: @soupinesprimary