Week at a Glance
Feb. 8-12, 2016
Five Days of Love Brought to You by the Admin Team and PTA
We love our teachers and staff at Small MS. Each day next week, parents and the Admin Team will be providing you with love-filled goodies. The PTA has partnered with us and our President, Sherene Mayner, decorated the Teacher's Lounge for this week long event.
Tuesday 2/9 -On the 2nd day of love, the team will give to thee - cold milk and chocolate chip cookies - delivered to you at your lunches by the admin team, lovingly baked for you by Amanda Gilroy and her Cafe staff.
Wednesday 2/10- On the third day of love, the team will give to thee- a first round of school supplies refresh for semester 2 from the PTA Supply Drive and something Kind from your Admin Team - delivered to your classroom.
Thursday 2/11 - On the fourth day of love, the team will give to thee- an ice cream sundae bar at the meeting for the Faculty - that's after school in the Library at 3:40. Topic -required TELPAS training for all teaching staff. All staff should plan to come by and make a sundae provided by our community.
Friday 2/12 - On the fifth day of love, the team will give to thee-a school spirit shirt with the school motto- Small School, Big Heart. A shirt has been ordered for every staff member. Happy Valentine's Day!
It's really nice to experience the way the community is coming together. We sent an email and donation link for this event to our parents last week and the outpouring of support for our teachers was incredible in just the first two hours of it going out to our parents. I hear over and over again about the good work you are doing and how much our parents appreciate you. The Admin Team would like to share the following quote with you:
"We refer to our teachers as our kids because over time, they are more than a list of names on the staff roster, they become part of our family and our hearts."
We hope you enjoy our Five Days of Love!
Basic Table of Organization = BTO
- Do we want a full or half time Security Guard, and what are we willing to give up to fund it?
- Can the PTA and the school do more to fund raise for school supplies, so teachers do not have to pay out of pocket?
As of Sunday afternoon 25 respondents had taken the staffing needs assessment/survey sent out last week. Results are being collected to present to the CAC on Tuesday. Currently the majority (16) were voting to maintain the staffing we have this year for next year with no changes to the Library Clerk or Green Tech TA positions- this means the current recommendation is not to fund a Security Guard position. One idea was to have a Volunteer Coordinator instead of a Security Guard reasoning that this position would be able to garner community support for lunch monitoring, etc.
As for number 2 above- it's funny that AISD and UT are involved in a school supply drive that I learned about at Expanded Cabinet on Feb. 3 and are about to deliver to every teacher in AISD a bag of school supplies, and we had the same idea in our Ideas to Action Committee meeting in January and are rolling out a Semester 2 School Supply Refresh. In two hours on Friday when the drive went live our community, they had already sent in over $250.00 to fund school supplies for your classrooms. The idea to have the Small School Supply Drive was based on our PTA Teacher Needs Assessment that was given in January. Results indicated what teachers need are pencils and dry erase markers! Our PTA was shocked that teachers spend so much of their own money on school supplies and had no idea that teachers need basic supplies to support students. It's been really nice to watch our community come together to support our teachers this year.
PLC- Monday 2/8 Teacher Effectiveness: Technology Integration
All teachers (elective and core) should plan to attend on one of the conference periods for the day in Room 105, as Shelley has blocked out the entire day for our campus.
Shelley's topic is Discovery Education BoardBuilder
This is an excellent educational tool that you are sure to find useful and applicable. This is a hands-on session, so bring your fully charged laptop. See you there!
Teacher of the Year
Teacher of Promise
Classified Staff of the Year
Assistant Principal of the Year
Thanks to all of you who nominated staff and participated in submitting our Cougar Faculty and Admin to represent Small at the AISD Salute Ceremony in May. We will celebrate teaching and education and honor these folks at our April Faculty Meeting on Thursday 4/21 in the Library. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.
Carnival Planning Committee Report
The top three themes suggested by our students will be placed on a ballot and they will vote in TRACK for the winner this week. There are many fun subcommittees that could use your help, if this is something you like to do. If you would like to work on the carnival, see Jennifer Newell and she will help you. The Carnival will be the primary topic of the next Ideas to Action Committee meeting on Feb. 18 in Room 112 from 4:00-5:30. It is critical that we make money on this event in order to fund your needs as reported in the needs assessment. Our goal is $25,000.00 (Patton makes $33,000.00 O.Henry $100,000.00, Barton Hills and Zilker~$75,000). We can do it!