Hilcher Herald
GES Staff Update-Week of 2/15/16
A Heartfelt Thanks & Some Humor
Paraprofessional of the Year
It's the time of year to select our GES Paraprofessional of the Year. All paraprofessionals are eligible for the 2016-2017 Campus Paraprofessional of the Year Award. When selecting your candidate remember the following criteria:
-Demonstrates professionalism and continually exceeds expectations
-Inspiration to peers
-Respected, loyal, trustworthy, and a dedicated team player
-Interfaces or communicates effectively with students, parents & staff
-Exhibits compassion and respect for ALL students
-Must not have been a campus paraprofessional of the year winner for 2015-2016
Please use the following form to vote for your nominee: http://goo.gl/forms/tiSe8gAq39
You may vote through Tuesday, February 16, 2016.
Early Dismissal Lunch Schedule
Wednesday, February 17
Kindergarten MAPS 7:55-8:45 a.m.
First Grade MAPS 8:50-9:40 a.m.
Second Grade MAPS 9:45 –10:35 a.m.
Thursday, February 18
Third Grade MAPS 7:55 - 8:45 a.m.
Fourth Grade MAPS 8:50 – 9:40 a.m.
Fifth Grade MAPS 9:45 – 10:35 a.m.
*There will be no formal lunch periods on these two days. Lunch will need to be taken care of in the classroom.
**The cafeteria will be open from 10:00 – 11:15 a.m. Sack lunches will be provided to those students who preorder or need a lunch.
Friendly Reminders
- If LaToya cleans your classrooms along the primary hallway, please leave your students' chairs down on Thursdays. She will be cleaning desks on those nights!
- Don't forget to schedule your mid year PLP meeting with Kim & Liz. Sign up sheet: http://bit.ly/20iutpk
- Please be sure to leave messages on voicemails when calling parents from your school phone. This will minimize the number of parents we have calling the main line asking to know who called them. Also, students may use your phone with your guidance if it is a school related call that you've approved.
- STAAR training for ALL GES staff will be on Monday, 2/29. Please notify Kim about serious circumstances that keep you from attending. Please make arrangements to be here 3:10-4:10pm.
- Don't forget to offer compliments for outstanding hallway behavior when you observe a class working hard. We want to honor the effort our students are making to honor a quiet learning zone in the instructional hallways, as well as the front foyer. Together, we can keep our high expectations on all students as they transition.
Updates
- You may have noticed, but the laminator in our workroom is acting up! It is trying to roll back into the machine so be sure to watch your work closely!
- We have received a permission form to use allowing our students to participate in tasting from the garden. You should have gotten copies in your mailbox. Please send these home as soon as possible as the WOW volunteers are anxious to harvest some of the vegetables. In our google folder, you will also find information from the USDA on best practices for school gardens and handling of produce. I have shared this information available to Betsy Marsh anyone that is working or preparing produce for tasting from the garden. Please let me know if you have any questions. https://drive.google.com/a/gcisd.net/folderview?id=0B90_DLAhTR6Mfk02bVN3aXJDSldZYm50NXN2Z3N6eDJvX1RMb0RoSUdiT1liTlowcVdic28&usp=sharing
- VALOR 5.4 applications went out last week. VALOR is a GCISD program for innovative, growth-minded teachers who seek to advance student achievement through academic study, self-reflection, and collaboration with other change leaders in the district. It is job-embedded professional learning for teachers at its finest! To learn more about VALOR, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cgCBTHbY&feature=youtu.be You can also contact Phillip Lentz at phillip.lentz@gcisd.net.
CORE visits
See Nancy if you have any scheduling conflicts. Please remember to choose two of the nine common campus goals prior to being observed. Thanks for participating in this campus learning opportunity!
Upcoming Dates
Monday, 2/15 Professional Learning Day at GES (8-4); Skate Town event (GES fundraiser for 5th grade from 2:00-4:00pm)
Monday, 2/15 Behavior RtI information due in Eduphoria
Tuesday, 2/16 Ensemble auditions for 4th & 5th grade (2:50-3:30pm)
Tuesday, 2/16 GCISD's Special Program EXPO (5:30-8pm at CTMS)
Wednesday, 2/17 & Thursday, 2/18 11:45 dismissal for student led conferences
Thursday, 2/18 PTA meeting & Media Madness parent program (6:30-8pm)
Monday, 2/22 & Tuesday, 2/23 PLP meetings with Liz & Kim
Monday, 2/22 VALOR 5.4 applications due; Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Monday, 2/22 - window closes at 10 p.m. for progress report gradesMonday, 2/22-Friday, 2/26 GES Book Fair
Tuesday, 2/23 Campus Excellence Committee meeting (3:10 in the Learning Commons)
Wednesday, 2/24 - Progress reports post to Skyward
Wednesday, 2/24 World Read Aloud Day; Running Club & NEHS (2:45-3:30pm)
Thursday, 2/25 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Friday 2/26 GES Bank; College Colors day
Friday, 2/26 Lunch With a Loved One & Book Fair shopping
Monday, 2/29 STAAR training-ALL staff!!! (3:10-4:10; if you cannot attend, you will need to attend on another campus)
Monday, 2/29 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Wednesday, 3/2 Running Club (2:45-3:30pm); AVID parent night at the PDEC (6:30-7:30pm)
Thursday, 3/3 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Thursday, 3/3 Kendra Scott fundraiser at the Southlake location (5-7pm benefitting our 5th grade end of year activities)
Where We Will Be...
- Monday, 2/15- Wednesday, 2/17 - Ray out at Assessment Conference
- Wednesday, 2/17- Liz at communications training
- Thursday, 2/18 - Horn at Counseling PLC
- Friday, 2/19 - Ray out 12:30-2:00 pm
Monday Message to Parents
Disclaimer: It will be a work in progress until late Sunday night!!
Information from Nancy Hale
iStation testing in the Labs
It has come to our attention that it is taking a great deal of time for students to get logged into the computer lab computers and then find the istation application for istation testing. In an effort to avoid both the loss of instructional time and the frustration, Josh will be helping us out by logging in to the lab computers using the testing ID for istation testing. However, he will need to know when you are planning to go in for testing in advance. Please use the Google calendars for the mac lab and dell lab to sign up for a time and title your event "istation - your name." For example "istation - Hale" so Josh will know that you are planning to go in for testing on that day/time. It would also be helpful to invite Josh to the event on the calendar so he gets an email about it. Josh will check the calendars each morning so he can help you prepare.
Information from Angela Horn
February 15-19th is Random Acts of Kindness Week!
In conjunction with our Rachel’s Challenge program at GES, we challenge you to complete at least 1 random act of kindness each day this week! What do you get in return? Besides the satisfaction of knowing you left someone happier than before they received your act of kindness, your kindness has many personal benefits:
Kindness makes us happier. On a biochemical level, it is believed that the good feeling we get is due to elevated levels of the brain's natural versions of morphine and heroin, which we know as endogenous opioids. They cause elevated levels of dopamine in the brain, so we get a natural high, often referred to as "Helper's High."
Kindness gives us healthier hearts. Emotional warmth produces the hormone, oxytocin, in the brain and throughout the body. Of recent interest is its significant role in the cardiovascular system. Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in blood vessels, which dilates (expands) the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure and therefore oxytocin is known as a ‘cardioprotective’ hormone because it protects the heart (by lowering blood pressure). The key is that acts kindness can produce oxytocin and therefore kindness can be said to be cardioprotective.
Kindness slows aging. Aging on a biochemical level is a combination of many things, but two culprits that speed the process are free radicals and inflammation, both of which result from making unhealthy lifestyle choices. But remarkable research now shows that oxytocin (which we produce through emotional warmth) reduces levels of free radicals and inflammation in the cardiovascular system and thus slows aging at its source. Incidentally these two culprits also play a major role in heart disease, so this is also another reason why kindness is good for the heart. There have also been suggestions in the scientific journals of the strong link between compassion and the activity of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve, in addition to regulating heart rate, also controls inflammation levels in the body in what is known as the inflammatory reflex. One study that used the Tibetan Buddhist loving kindness meditation found that kindness and compassion did, in fact, reduce inflammation in the body, mostly likely due to its effects on the vagus nerve
Kindness is contagious. A recent scientific study reported than an anonymous 28-year-old person walked into a clinic and donated a kidney. It set off a ‘pay it forward’ type ripple effect where the spouses or other family members of recipients of a kidney donated one of theirs to someone else in need. The ‘domino effect’, as it was called in the New England Journal of Medicine report, spanned the length and breadth of the United States of America, where 10 people received a new kidney as a consequence of that anonymous donor.
I’m not suggesting you donate a kidney. Simply donating a few minutes of your time to go out of your way for someone else (stranger or not) can reach the same, if not more, people as a kidney donation. :-) Watch out; you may be RAK’d!
Rachel's Challenge Rally
Information from Erin Wahpekeche
Groovy Book Fair
Monday, 2/22 Wish lists will be created by students & teachers in grades K-2
Monday, 2/22-Wednesday 2/24 Book Fair open for shopping 8am-3:30pm
Wednesday, 2/24 World Read Aloud Day (more info on how you can participate to follow)
Thursday, 2/25 Book Fair will be open 8am-7:30pm; *We are planning an evening family event that will bring in more shoppers! Details are coming...
Friday, 2/26 Lunch With a Loved One; Book Fair open from 8am-2pm
GCISD Information
Handwriting Feedback Opportunity
Save the date for The GCISD Innovative Teaching with Technology Conference - June 14
Google Links
- Lesson plans, or links to your plans, should be saved to our Google drive folder in the GES Faculty and Staff folder:http://bit.ly/1LqQ4sg
- Newsletters, or links to newsletters, should be saved to the Google drive folder in GES Faculty and Staff: http://bit.ly/1MAJbWP
- 1:1 work-all resources can be found in the GES 1:1 folder for teachers on Google Drive: http://bit.ly/1YsPIqd
- Digital Citizenship document: http://bit.ly/1YsPIqd