WBMS Staff Newsletter
Week of September 18-22
Dates To Remember
Sept 18,19,25,26,27- IOWA Testing 8th Grade
Sept 19- Interium Progress Reports go home
Sept 20- Community Balance (no HW, tests, quizzes, etc.)
Sept 20-22- Rosh Hashanah- No tests/ quizzes/HW
Sept 22- Book Fair Teacher Preview (all day)
Sept 22- SGC Meeting @ 7:30am in the PLR
Sept 25-28- Book Fair
Sept 28- Webster Awards
Sept 29- Yom Kippur- No Tests
Sept 29- Fall Picture Retake
Sept 29- SOS- Signs of Suicide Prevention
Oct 2- Fall TAG testing
September Meeting Schedule
IMPORTANT-We Need Your Voice!- Takes 2 minutes!!!
**We only have 30 responses. We need all teachers to participate**
Growth Academy- Sept 19th
IOWA's
Sept 18,19,25,26,27- IOWA Testing 8th Grade
Also, 6th and 7th Grade teachers, please remember that you should plan for lessons that do not use internet/wifi during testing times.
TKES Pre-conferences
What are Pre-Conferences?
First and foremost, they are a place for you and your primary observer to discuss your craft – where it is and where you hope it will go this year; thus, please prepare for this meeting by reflecting on the answers to two questions: What is going well so far? Where do I hope to grow? By sharing this information, your primary observer can focus future observation feedback and conference time on the places where you want to focus this year.
VALIC Workshop for Social Security and TRS
If retirement may be in the near future, it pays to understand how your retirement benefits really work. In an effort to provide you with some tools to prepare you to meet your financial goals and plan for your retirement, VALIC is pleased to offer an educational workshop on Social Security and your TRS Geogia Retirement. This seminar discusses the role of Social Security in retirement planning, ways to maximize benefits and the importance of leveraging other sources for retirement income to supplement Social Security benefits.
In this seminar, you will learn about:
- Your TRS Benefits
- The cost of retirement
- Social Security benefits
- Bridging a possible income gap
This seminar will be on Tuesday, September 26th from 5:30pm-7:30pm in the MEDIA CENTER at Alpharetta High School, 3595 Webb Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA 30005. We will be located in the Media Center. Please be prompt!
This event is hosted by VALIC Financial Advisor, Joyce Krinsky, (770) 395-4706 or cell: (470)445-2823, joyce.krinsky@valic.com.
Please click on the link below to register for each individual that will be attending:
https://my.valic.com/seminarregistration/availableseminars.aspx?regcode=FCBJOH11AA
REMINDER-County Policy/Training Sign-off Due Oct 31
FCS requests that all employees review some essential policies/training materials annually, so that there is an awareness of the serious expectations outlined in each. The list of this information is accessed and submitted electronically in order to establish a record of the training. It is not an exhaustive list. Also, when policy revisions are made or new ones created, a systemic alert is made to notify district personnel of the policy change(s). (If you are a new hire this is part of your “First 30 days” requirements; please review the instructions listed on the New Employee portal page link).
In order to complete this review,
- Please go to www.fultonschools.org, Human Resources/Talent Department the bottom of the page
- Click on Access Personnel Records/Forms link (at bottom right of page)
- Log in using your FCS email address and click on Forgot Password to have the information sent to you if you don’t recall the password (it may not be your normal network password) OR to receive your initial password
- Click on Forms tab, New Form, go to Employee Policy Code/Review-FY18
- Click on Start Form to begin your review
Several of the essential trainings are housed in Edivate. Watch this brief tutorial to see how to access required trainings and other trainings/courses: Edivate Basic Navigation
It is important that all read Policy GAM (Staff Rights and Responsibilities). Failure to report an arrest within the stated timeline (5 days) can result in the immediate termination of one’s employment with FCS. The electronic Notice of Employee Arrest form is on the Human Resources portal and is to be used for submitting an official notice to the Employee Relations department.
Finally, OCTOBER 31, 2017 is the deadline for completing this review. Again, the checklist is not exhaustive, and it is expected that employees are aware of all the FCBOE policies/procedures that inform their work. Board policies, procedures, and operating guidelines are accessible via the district website.
Please contact the Technology Help Desk if you need assistance, technologyhelpdesk@fultonschools.org or 470-254-4357.
Webb Way Employees of the Week
Congratulations to Traci King, Marie Florentine and Jennifer Pariseau
Thank you for support the Webb Way and our students in the areas of Respect*Responsibility*Citizenship!
You have won the Webb Way Employee Parking spots from tomorrow thru next Wednesday. The spots are marked with beautiful white signs with blue writing (where the Aps parked).
Enjoy and please continue to recognize our students exhibiting the Webb Way!!
Patience and Flexibility is Appreciated
A Message From Student Council
Teachers:
You will find in your mailbox the forms for the students running for Student Council. There are 2 forms: The Guidelines- this must be signed by the student as well as the parent and the other form is the Teacher/ Student Council Representative Information Sheet- this is the one you will complete to let us know who the student council representative is as well as a PASS for them for next Wednesday’s meeting.
I would like to have both forms- The Guidelines that was signed by the parent as well as the Information Sheet with your name as the Homeroom teacher and the name of your representative turned into me ( McFarland or K. Wood).
IF you need more forms- I have put some on the cart in the mailroom. We only ran off 5 of each, so, if you need more they are in the mailroom.
Elections are now until Monday- then on the 19th all voting should be complete.
Nail Zone
20% off coupons at Nail Zone (from preplanning)
4000 Old Milton Pkwy #100, Alpharetta, GA 30005
Autobell Carwash
Barnes and Noble
September Birthdays
1 Amber Bean
3 Stefania Battaglia
4 Yvette Clemmons
6 Julianne Hunter
12 Michele Meddin
13 Janelle Consola
14 Lisa Milian
18 Patti Cerio
18 Jennifer Pariseau
18 Christina Webber
18 Brooke Wood
21 Allison Hill
23 Ed Kaiser
25 Meredith Hall
See a Bug? Report it!
Anonymous Feedback to Ms. Perkins
Send feedback anonymously to Ms. Perkins by following this link: bit.ly/toperkins
Need to Meet?
Hurricane Relief
As families recover from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, our Fulton Employees’ Charitable Fund is offering employees an opportunity to donate to the American Red Cross. It’s consistent with our Fulton Gives campaign – making a difference in the lives of people who need our help.
Now, through this Friday, September 22, you can make a donation to support relief and recovery efforts by clicking this link. At the end of the brief giving campaign, we will share a total of what Fulton contributed to survivors’ recovery and efforts to rebuild in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Thanks in advance for giving!
Boost Your Assessment Power with GradeCam
We all know assessment is a key component of good teaching. And it’s most valuable when we can apply what we learn from it right away: Getting results back quickly is essential for helping us make instructional decisions based on student understanding. But scoring assessments takes time, and we’re all short on that. So we probably aren’t assessing students as often as we should.
GradeCam is a tool that can help. It allows teachers to create assessments that can be scored in seconds using a smartphone, a tablet, a document camera, or a webcam. So instead of spending hours hand-grading simple assessments, teachers can finish the job quickly and get to what really matters: actually doing something with the results.
Read the rest at Cult of Pedagogy
Suggestions to Extend Verbal Reasoning Skills PART 1
Verbal reasoning thinking skills include using reasoning, flexibility, fluency, and adaptability in working with words and solving verbal problems. Some things you could do to support children’s growth in this area include:
2. Generate a list of questions about a vocabulary word, a story, a character, a setting, etc.
3. Create a drawing, model, or action for vocabulary words
4. Write vocabulary word definitions in your own words
5. Write synonyms and antonyms for unknown words
6. Learn Greek and Latin word roots
7. Learn which English words are based upon words from other languages
8. Analyze multiple-meaning words and decide when to use each meaning
9. Use fantasy to discuss vocabulary words or write stories
Have Something To Share?
*If you aren't sure if students have their media permission forms signed, then please take pictures from the back (see example).
Thanks!
2017-2018 School Year
First Semester
August 1 – 4 ........................................... Preplanning for teachers
August 7......................................................... First Day of School
September 4........................................Labor Day (schools closed)
October 6 ......................................Teacher Workday (students off)
October 9 ......................................Columbus Day (schools closed)
November 20 – 24.............. Thanksgiving Holidays (schools closed)
December 21 ....................................... Last Day of First Semester
December 22 – 29 ...........................Winter Break (schools closed)
Second Semester
January 1 – 3...................................Winter Break (schools closed)
January 4.......................................Teacher Workday (students off)
January 5....................Professional Development Day (students off)
January 8.........................................First Day of Second Semester
January 15..............Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (schools closed)
February 16*................... Student/Teacher Holiday (schools closed)
February 19 ......................President’s Day Holiday (schools closed)
March 9*.......................................Teacher Workday (students off)
March 12....................Professional Development Day (students off)
April 2 – 6 .......................................Spring Break (schools closed)
May 24........................................................... Last Day of School
May 25.................................................................. Post Planning
May 28...............................Memorial Day Holiday (schools closed)
* Designated as inclement weather make-up days (if needed).
Our School Release Days
These are the dates approved through the RFF process as part of School Governance. WBMS students will NOT attend school on the following dates:
September 1, 2017
October 5, 2017
January 16, 2018
March 8, 2018
Community Balance Days 2017-2018
September 20
October 25
February 21
March 21
The idea is that students will go home right after school to create balance in their lives. Staff members and students alike will take a night off. Club sponsors and coaches and directors may hold meetings and practices and games as needed. We feel students release stress through these extracurricular activities.
Please plan to enjoy yourself and work your assessments around these dates this school year.