Hilcher Herald
GES Staff Update-Week of 4/11/16
Bumper Numbers
- Breathe!! (During this hectic time of year, take time to take a long, deep breath before responding to a student, parent, challenging situation or an email.)
- Be present (Don't miss those great learning opportunities with your students.)
- Maintain high expectations (Your kids have lots to learn and we all benefit from holding ourselves and students accountable until the very end!)
- Take risks (Try that new app you've been reading about, or the instructional strategy you observed during a CORE visit.)
- Make a difference (As hard as it may be, take these last few months to reach that challenging student who needs you the most.)
- Be true to you! (Surround yourself with fellow staff, friends and family who bring you joy! Avoid negative talk with others because feeding into it makes us all miserable.)
Thanks for the hard work you do each day. My teacher bumper number for the ways I appreciate each of you and your efforts with our GES Stars would be in the thousands. Thank you for making these last 38 instructional days your best yet!
Friendly Reminders
- We've seen an increase in unfilled teacher/staff absences and this makes for a challenging staffing situation. Please call in a sub to Aesop when you, or your child, starts showing symptoms of an illness. We can always cancel it if you don't need to use it. Canceling a sub is much easier than scrambling to get one at a late hour. As a reminder, all personal business absences need to be emailed to Liz 3 days prior to the requested date off. Please notify Liz if your absence, personal business or illness, coincides with a campus wide event and/or it affects a before/after school duty.
- Class Compliments chart reminders: Please continue to compliment classes as they walk through the learning zones. Please remember that food cannot be a part of your celebrations for filling a chart. Free time on iPads or devices brought from home is also not allowed. STAR parties should be no longer than 20 minutes in an effort to preserve weekly instructional time. A few examples of STAR parties: no shoes while in class; bring a book from home; bring a small stuffed animal from home; sit where you like; eat lunch with the teacher; short video; treasure box; pillow/book/snack time; free homework pass; picnic lunch. As we continue to work on goal setting, use this opportunity to vote on your reward party idea BEFORE students earn all their stickers!
- Please remember that students should not be placing items, or retrieving items, from a teacher mailbox. This is a confidentiality & FERPA issue. Additionally, students are not allowed to retrieve items from the copier, or to go into the teacher's lounge. Please accompany students to these areas if you need their assistance!
- CORE visits will be on Thursday, April 21st. Schedule can be found at: https://docs.google.com/a/gcisd.net/document/d/1s4pE2G60SVmocrPoq8-AvBOXZDLT2uR7dnaq57I7t-8/edit?usp=sharing
Updates
- Our Spring Creek Spirit Night will be on Tuesday night from 5:00-8:00pm.
If you signed up to work a shift, you will receive an apron in your mailbox on Monday
If you are working a shift, wear your jeans & GES shirt to school on Tuesday!
Additional Spirit Night flyers are available in the office, if needed
- Please send home Spirit Night Reminder stickers on Tuesday
- We will be providing half days subs for all classroom teachers on May 16th, 17th & 18th. These will be opposite your RtI meeting days and are an opportunity for you to complete end of year assessments, enter end of year assessment data, and/or to complete literacy folders. You may work in the conference room or outside your classroom door (if you're assessing) during this time. We hope you will find this time valuable as your 'platter' of things to do at the end of the year is so large. Nancy Hale has arranged subs for these days. If you have a conflict, please notify Liz as soon as possible. Schedule is the following: Monday, May 16: Kinder AM, 3rd PM; Tuesday, May 17: 1st AM, 4th PM; Wednesday, May 18th: 2nd AM, 5th PM
- Class placement meetings will be held on Tuesday, 5/31, during conference times. We will get placement information sheets to classroom teachers in the coming weeks to complete prior to these meetings. Third grade's will be at 3pm due to your Success Ceremony. Please avoid scheduling appointments for this day as it is imperative that every teacher on a team provide perspective when building class lists.
- Dr. Ryan's message to all GCISD staff was quite exciting! Our school board has asked administration to include a pay raise in next year’s budget. It will be 2% of the midpoint for each pay scale. In case you missed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkp5cPl-D_w&feature=youtu.be
- Do you know someone in our community or do you have a family member or spouse that would be willing to speak with our GES Stars about their passion? Career Day at GES will be held on Monday, May 23. If you know someone who would be willing to share with our students, please have them contact Angela Horn or pass her their contact information! (See flyer below)
- Are you starting to plan your summer learning? Be sure to check out the calendar Nancy Hale has created mapping out opportunities we know about you may want to consider! https://docs.google.com/a/gcisd.net/document/d/1yxMVmM7vsjnN8kHDf4XMavQAghCS_2l2_yIWmRn7V28/edit?usp=sharing
End of Year Certificates
Outstanding Attendance (0-3 absences for school year)
Zero Tardies for school year
Academic Excellence (All A’s - Grades 3-5 only)
Academic Recognition (A/B honor roll - Grades 3-5 only)
President’s Award (5th grade only)
Students will still be receiving certificates for participating in the following activities that will come from the respective sponsors.
25 and 100 Book Challenge (coming from district)
Geography Bee (Hale)
Running Club (Basil)
Ensemble (Lambert)
Safety Patrol (Basil)
Choir (Lambert)
KC Club (Horn)
Student Council (Hale)
KGES (Wahpekeche/Hale)
School Supplies for 16-17
Friends of Children and Lifetime Membership Awards
It's time to recognize those who help our GES Stars shine bright! Please submit nominations of a parent, staff member, volunteer, or business who has gone above and beyond to support GES students this year. You may nominate using the link below, or you can email your nominees to Lisa Roberts at lisa_kay_roberts@yahoo.com. Please submit these names by April 15! Thank you!
Link to the nomination form: https://goo.gl/uG7b8Z
Pennies for Patients
Homeroom teachers received information from Nancy last week regarding teacher online websites. Class online giving totals will be combined with money collected during April 14-22 to determine our top classes. The top class will again receive a pasta party lunch from Olive Garden and students in the top 2 classes will receive jump passes to Urban Air. This year students can set-up their own individual online giving page that can link to your class giving page. Information will be sent to parents with all these details. This is NOT a requirement, just another added incentive for students if they choose to participate. Students can win prizes for their online giving.
Please see Nancy Hale with any questions.
Egg Cam
The first grade egg cam is up and operating...thanks to Josh Talbott and Brian Subia! The potential hatch date is April 13th. To access the Egg Cam:
1. Go to the Grapevine Elementary homepage. http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/1675
2. Click on the Departments and Programs tab and click on First Grade
3. Click on the Egg Cam tab on the right side of the First Grade Page
Click the button on the chick picture to view live.
OR just use the following link: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Page/38624
Screen Time Collection
As you know, we are in the middle of collecting the average number of minutes our students are spending on individual devices (iPads, laptops, computers) each day. Our plan to do this is through collecting data for 3 weeks in specific categories, beginning Monday, April 4th and running through Friday, April 22nd. We are asking that each of you please track the number of minutes your students spend each day on their devices and to please record that according to the categories listed. See last week's Hilcher Herald for details.
Please turn in your data sheets each week as you complete them. *** Please turn in sheets from April 4-8 to Nancy by Monday, April 11th. If you complete a hardcopy then it can be turned into Nancy’s mailbox, if you choose to record digitally, please email it to nancy.hale@gcisd.net . Liz & Nancy will work on compiling all of the data into one spreadsheet. Thanks so much for your efforts in helping us gather this information.
Poet-Tree
We want to make a "Poet-Tree" in the foyer to display student poems. We have a parent-volunteer who will construct the tree for us, and your poetry will be the leaves. Here are the details...
Step 1: Have your class write poetry (any kind, doesn't matter) between April 1st - April 15th.
Step 2: Each class will select two student poems to "publish" on the tree. You can select these poems a number of different ways. Having other students vote for their peer favorite is always a great option.
Step 3: Once you select the two students, they will write their poem (nice and neat with marker) on giant green leaves. Mrs. Redmon will provide these leaves to you the week of April 18th.
Step 4: Turn the leaves in to Mrs. Wahpekeche, and she will hang them up.
Step 5: Enjoy reading the poems!
Thank you so much for your participation! Please ask Erin and Karen Redmon if you have any questions!
Upcoming Dates
Monday, 4/11 Teacher Self Reports 2 & 3 due in Eduphoria; Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Tuesday, 4/12 Faculty meeting* This is a required meeting for us to hear about the BOND election!
Tuesday, 4/12 Spring Creek Night for GES! (5:00-8:00pm)
Wednesday, 4/13 Running Club, KC Club, NEHS & Student Council (2:45-3:30pm)
Thursday, 4/14 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Saturday, 4/16 Rachel's Challenge Rally (8:00am-noon)
Monday, 4/18 Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm); WOW Garden Club (2:45-4:00pm)
Tuesday, 4/19 Learning Teams/Afternoon PLCs (3:10pm)
Wednesday, 4/20 Running Club (2:45-3:30pm)
Thursday, 4/21 CORE visits; Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm); PTA meeting/Diversity Night (6:30pm)
Friday, 4/22 GES Bank (7:15-7:40am)
Monday, 4/25 Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Monday, 4/25-Friday, 4/29 Kindergarten Registration
Monday, 4/25- Tuesday, May 3 Tarrant County Elections voting in the GES Gym
Tuesday, 4/26 Teacher & Para of the Year Celebration
Wednesday, 4/27 - Thursday, 5/3 Summative conferences with Kim & Liz
Wednesday, 4/27 Running Club (2:45-3:30pm)
Thursday, 4/28 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm); Kindergarten Rally (5:00-7:30pm)
Friday, 4/29 College Colors Day
Saturday, 4/30 GES Dad's Club Crawfish Boil (12:00-5:00pm)
Monday, 5/2 Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Tuesday, 5/3 Campus Excellence Committee meeting (3:10 in the Learning Commons)
Wednesday, 5/4 Student Council (2:45-3:30pm)
Thursday, 5/5 PLCs (conference times & after school); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Friday, 5/6 PTA Executive Board meeting (8:15am)
Monday, 5/9 -Wednesday, 5/11 STAAR testing-CLOSED campus
Monday, 5/9 Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm); WOW Garden Club (2:45-4:00pm)
Tuesday, 5/10 Team Leader meeting (3:10pm in the Learning Commons)
Thursday, 5/12 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm); Deadline for the 25/100 Book Challenge
Friday, 5/13 K-5 Assembly for Charlie Brown performance (1:30pm)
Monday, 5/16 & Tuesday, 5/17 May RtI meetings (DATE CHANGE)
Monday, 5/16 Ensemble practice (2:45-3:45pm)
Tuesday, 5/17 Faculty Meeting (3:10 in the Learning Commons)
Wednesday, 5/18 KC Club (2:45-3:30pm); NEHS (2:45-3:45pm); PTA Talent Show (6:30-8:00pm)
Thursday, 5/19 PLCs (conference times & after school); Kindergarten Success Ceremony (8:00 in Cafeteria)
Monday, 5/23 Monday Morning Math Lab (7:15-7:40am); Career Day; WOW Garden Club (2:45-4:00pm); Ensemble Performance (6:30pm) DATE CHANGE!
Tuesday, 5/24 2nd grade Success Ceremony (8:00am in Cafeteria); Year in Review meeting for Team Leaders (11:15-3:30pm)
Wednesday, 5/25 1st grade Success Ceremony (8:00am in Cafeteria)
Thursday, 5/26 Field Day
Friday, 5/27 Bad weather make up day-NO SCHOOL!
Monday, 5/30 Memorial Day holiday
Tuesday, 5/31 3rd grade Success Ceremony (8:00am in Cafeteria)
Wednesday, 6/1 4th grade Success Ceremony (8:00am in Cafeteria)
Thursday, 6/2 All school Sing Along( 8:00am in the Cafeteria); 5th grade Success Ceremony & Graduation (9:45am in Cafeteria)
Thursday, 6/2 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL & Early dismissal at 11:45am
Where We Will Be...
Monday, 4/11 - Heather off campus (11:00-12:00)
Tuesday, 4/12 -Heather at New Student Online Enrollment training (7:30-12:30); Angela off campus (11:00-3:00); Kim Ray off campus (10:30-12:30)
Wednesday, 4/13 -Liz at Instructional Rounds
Thursday 4/14 -Johanna off campus until 9:45am; Liz off campus (11:40-2:45)
Friday, 4/15 - Kim Ray off campus (12:00-3:00)
- Monday, 4/18 - Gina out all day; Erin W. out all day
Monday Message to Parents
Disclaimer: It will be a work in progress until late Sunday night!!
Summer Programs in GCISD
Language Academy:
Message from Anne Ricci (Language Academy Principal) & Mia Magana (Language Academy AP)
Pre-registration for the Language Academy has been very successful. We currently have over 300 students planning to attend this summer. This week forms are going to be sent home with the students in 1st - 5th grade who have pre-registered. Now it is time to collect the registration fees. Pre-K and Kindergarten students will attend for free so they will not be receiving a payment form. The form has a place where the cash or check should be attached. Teachers will have an envelope to place the collected fees in. They will then give the envelope to Kim Ray daily. The teachers have been reminded not to keep any money in their rooms over night. Once a week either Mia Magana, or myself, will come by to pick up all money that has been collected. Receipts will be written and sent back to the teachers to give to the students as proof of payment. We are hoping to have most fees collected by Friday, April 22. We are aware that they may be financial difficulties with some families. We will not keep any student from attending due to financial reasons.
The cost is:
Pre-K and K: no charge
1st -5th that qualify for F/R: $25 non-refundable registration fee
1st - 5th: $180 + $25 non-refundable registration fee ***(This is for the full 6 weeks)
We will be located at Timberline Elementary from 8:00 - 12:00 June 6 - July 15 (We will be closed Monday July 4).
Information From Angela Horn
Rachel's Challenge Information
Friday, April 15th will be “Team Up Against Bullying” at GES. In support of our Rachel’s Challenge Rally on Saturday, April 16th from 8 a.m. until 12 noon, please wear your favorite sports team shirt on April 15th. If your class has the most attendance at the rally, Mrs. Horn has a special prize waiting! Students will need to submit a ticket into the GES box at the Rachel’s Challenge Rally in order to count toward the class attendance. For every teacher that attends the Rally, he/she can tweet from the rally with #GESshineon in order to receive acknowledgment for attending; every teacher attending will receive a jeans pass worth 5 days! Please see the flyer included for registration information.
PTA Information
WOW Garden Learning Opportunity on 4/19. Please see Liz if you'd like to attend!
GES YEARBOOK NEEDS YOUR PICTURES!
GCISD Information
Bond 2016 Talking Points
Summer Humanities Learning
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