Owl Notes
SEPTEMBER 21
A WORD TO THE WISE...
*PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT - We had a great turn out for the night. Thank you for all of your diligence is ensuring that parents came out as I believe this to be a very important night of information for all parents. Don't forget to turn in your sign in sheets to Tami.
*ATTENDANCE - Virginia and I have been receiving emails about attendance. Apparently district wide this has been an issue and TEA is monitoring times when attendance is actually logged into the system. Our official attendance time is 9:00 a.m. We MUST take it at exactly 9:00 AM or within a couple of minutes of that time. While I realize this might not be convenient, it is an expectation that we must follow.
*FACULTY MEETING - Will be this coming Monday. Link for agenda is below.
*FAILING GRADES - As we are coming to the end of the first nine weeks, we need to be mindful of grades. If a child is failing, you MUST contact or have contacted the parent. There should not be any reason a parent is caught off guard by a failing grade on the report card.
*PARENT CONFERENCES - Just a reminder that it is an expectation that teachers have parent conferences with all parents in the fall and in the spring. If you can't get a parent to come in, a phone conference will suffice unless they are failing. If they are failing, we need to strongly encourage parents to come for a face to face conference.
*See You at the Pole - Next Wednesday is see you at the Pole Day. I've copying an email from Carrie Galatas, chief legal for the district.
See You at the Pole is next Wednesday, September 26, 2018. Below are a few reminders.
Employees:
· When employees are on-duty, they are government actors and cannot participate in religious events such as See You at the Pole.
· If an employee wants to participate in the event outside of their duty hours, the employee can attend an event held at a location other than the campus where the employee works. The employee’s attire should not give the impression that they are a representative of the District. i.e. wearing a school shirt or name badge.
· You can give employees permission to attend an event during their normal duty hours at another location, if you would extend the same permission to any other employee asking to attend a doctor’s appointment, non-school related meeting, or any other type of non-school business during their normal duty hours.
*GRADES - Just a reminder that grades should be updated on a weekly basis. At this point, students should have more than half of grades expected for this nine weeks, especially a major grade for third and fourth grade.
*ELA STAFF DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY - Jepilyn is offering a workshop at Ford on October 11 from 3:30 - 5:00 based upon rubric grading. This would be GREAT opportunity for at least one person per grade to attend and bring back some ideas of creating rubrics to use. Those attending need to email Kara so she can RSVP for you.
*FLU - If parents report to you that their child has the flu, please clarify the type of Flu that the child has and then report it to Audra in the clinic. We report to the state and have to keep track until 5/16/2019.
* SCHEDULES POSTED - If you don't have a schedule posted outside your classroom door, please take time to get that done. I'd like to have them all up by the end of next week.If you want a template with the Owl on it, I'll be happy to send it to you.
*STORYBOOK CHARACTER PARADE/EARLY RELEASE DAY - Make sure you help me remind parents about storybook character and early release day. That is October 5!
*PROJECTORS - If you are not in your room and/or not using your projector, please remember to turn it off and save the light bulb usage. We've had these projectors for about 4 years now and I expect we will start seeing bulbs going out before too long and we want to make them last as long as we can.
*JEANS PURCHASE - If you have coupons from last year, they can be used through the month of September (no more than 1 a week). If you want to purchase 1 more jeans day a week, you may do so through Kathie G. It is $5 per day or $20 for the month. Note that you may only wear jeans 1 extra day a week and you must wear a "dressy" top with them and no tennis shoes
*TEAM HUDDLES this week starts the third rotation. We will start with Kinder - Monday, First - Tuesday, Second - Wednesday, Third - Thursday, and Fourth - Friday.
*TEAM HUDDLE QUESTION FOR THOUGHT - What is something you are struggling with or a stressor for you currently?
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Monday is Faculty Meeting.
Friday is Math Review Quiz!
Friday flu shots from 6:45-8:30 in the conference room
OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW
ELA Staff Development @ Ford - Oct. 11 from 3:30 - 5:00.
On campus opportunities to note: (Second Monday after school opportunities)October 9 - Words Their Way (Note that this is a Tuesday as Monday is a holiday)
November 12 - Rubrics
Points to Ponder:
1. Are you taking time to grow lifelong learners?
2. Are you taking time to invest in your own professional growth?
SEEDS FOR GROWTH:
Social Committee and Rachel Henderson for jumping on scheduling a holiday party and getting that ball rolling!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT...
Goals for 18-19
2. Starting in January, teachers will focus on aligning two anchor stations with current learning in the classroom.
3. By the end of the school year, reading and writing teachers will be trained in the conferring process and create their own documentation of conferences.
Upcoming Dates
SEPTEMBER
23 - Laverne Baugus and Missy Giammatteo's birthdays
24 - Faculty Meeting - 2nd grade provide snacks
26 - Kathy Farris' birthday
26 - Tami out at Principals' Curriculum Meeting
27 - Kathie G, Michelle A, and Monique J's birthdays
28 - Math Review Quiz
OCTOBER
1 - Team Leader Meeting
2 - Kara out at EOP
4 - Math Review Training during planning (25 minutes)
5 - Early Release - Storybook Character Parade
8 - Lisa Jones' birthday
8 - Holiday from school
9 - Kaitlyn Frederickson's birthday
9 - After school staff development
11 - Fourth grade to Pavillion
12 - Fall Picture Day
12 - Math Review Quiz
15 - Site Based Team Meeting (Previously CORE)
16 - Gina Godinez's birthday
17 - Raquel Santa Cruz's birthday
17 - Foundations Meeting after school
17 - Tami out to Principals' Meeting
18 - Gretchen Montgomery visit classes for Math Review
18 - Fall Festival
19 - Poster Method Day
20 - Alyssa Barker's birthday
21 - Virginia Vera's birthday
22 - Faculty Meeting
23 - Technology Staff Development during planning time
24 - Kara out to AP meeting
26 - Math Review Quiz