The Yuletide Villager
Week of October 8, 2018
The vision of GCS is to inspire success and a lifetime of learning.
McAdenville Elementary
H.O.P.E.
Have Only Positive Expectations
Introducing Our Wildcat Lottery
The Principal's PTO fund and donations will support small gifts that will be put into a pot for our school-wide incentive. I hope that you enjoy this small treat. Hopefully, I can make it happen bi-weekly. There will be one number drawn each time. However, just like any lottery, some weeks will not have a winner and some will have multiples.
As you are cited for the things you do you can put your name in the lottery for one of our prizes. But unlike other lotteries, your name will remain in the running for until the end of the month. So your chances are good but get better with your good deeds and investment in MES.
Ticket Holders for October
June Conroy - ChristmasTown design
Renee Davidson - Extra Hours
Charles Poole - (2) Extra Cleaning / Helping Hand
Beth Cosby - Lending a helping hand to peers
Kelsey Payseur - (2) Excellent Standards Mastery Scores /Good PLC Discussion
Bobbi Neely - (2) Rocked a PD off-campus/ Gold Star plus help several BT's feel less stressed
Safety - - - Are You Ready?
- Classroom locked down?
- Evacuation #2?
- Evacuation #3?
- Severe Weather?
- Do you know where the black boxes are located
- Do you know who to call for an emergency medical, fire, other
- Where is your Crisis Emergency Book? Does your Sub know ...we have several people out over the next weeks. Make sure all plans and exit routes are listed.
- Do you have a list of students in your crisis book?
More Class Rosters than needed are better than us struggling to figure out students.
Thanks for being Prepped
Tips for Seeking Work-Life Balance
How can I be more productive at school to better maintain a healthy work/life balance?
Let's take a look at these three words and how they might help to ground you:
1. Patience: "quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence; to work with patience." ~ Dictionary.com
We know teaching takes an incredible amount of patience; not only that which you show your students, their families, and your colleagues but most importantly patience with yourself. So going forward, remember to be kind to yourself as you reflect on where you were, where you're going and where you want to be. Give yourself time to really get a sense of what you worked hard to accomplish and what you still want to work on. Be patient with yourself as you plan and prepare for the days, weeks, and months ahead. Remember that as we look for balance, we've got to be patient with ourselves and at times it requires waiting for the thing we're hoping for. In the meantime, how about looking into the practice of a short daily meditation?
2. Persistence: "the continuance of an effect after its cause is removed." ~ Dictionary.com
Do you have a vision for the future of your work as you seek balance? Are you willing to strive to make it a reality? Will you stay persistent in this goal? Amanda, I'm sure that the answer to all three of these questions is a resounding... YES! Persistence in the face of restless students, anxious parents, and the pressures of the school day is what it takes to be a servant leader. And along with serving and leading, teachers need to consistently seek to find balance in their work lives! As you roll up your sleeves every day, search out your lesson plans, and get down to the business of delivering instruction, persistence will keep you going despite the proverbial misstep that's bound to happen in your daily work. Staying persistent in keeping balance and not giving up when things go "sideways" will support you to feel and be your best for yourself and your students.
3. Play: "exercise or activity for amusement or recreation." ~ Dictionary.com
Keeping balance requires that we take time to play! Amanda, as a new teacher, you may not get out and play as often as you should. I know you must be a fan of play for your students but what about time for yourself? Do you take time to play and really let loose? Taking time to play can support you to have a powerful sense of freedom. Do you have a hobby that supports you to play? How can you work to experience that at least once a week? Can you schedule a play-time commitment with a buddy? Maybe take a yoga class, see a movie or binge on Netflix, or join a Book Club with girlfriends? These kinds of activities will help to give you the balance you're looking for and won't cost you tons of money to enjoy them. Don't hesitate to make play a habit. Years from now, you'll be glad you did!
Seeking and making time for balance in your work life won't be easy. Give yourself permission to explore ways that feel right for you. You'll find that it'll make for more positive daily interactions and carry you through the best and worst days of your career.
Friends, how do you find balance in your work life? Amanda and I would love to know your thoughts. In the meantime, here's to staying patient, persistent and playful as you push through to finish strong in 2018!
-Lisa
Gaston County Schools Energy Conservation Guidelines
Teachers, Thank you kindly for your responses to the Energy Exception List. I now have adequate information to share with the appropriate personnel when we meet about our building energy usage later this month. You make working at MES the ABSOLUTE BEST!
Please Review the items I will be recording during IRA Walkthrough
- What skills and strategies are modeled and practiced before, during, and after the reading? Look for how the teacher explicitly embeds her standard work/teaching points throughout the IRA.( I should leave the observation knowing, without a doubt, what the focus standards were.)
- I will look for how the teacher uses think aloud to model the thinking work of the standards.
- How are all students engaged throughout the reading?
- How has the teacher established partnerships and how are partnerships being utilized?
School Events Agenda
Evaluations are under way...
Walkthroughs on Interactive Read Aloud
Parent Advisory Meeting @ Ashbrook
- October 9th
*Grade 5 - Math 2- Prisms and Solids (Volume)
Standards Mastery: NC.5.MD.5
- October 11th
Parent Teacher Meetings @ 12-7pm
- October 11th
- 1/2 day of school dismissal 11:30
Optional Workday - No Students
- October 12th
*4th Grade ELA 1-Interpreting Character
Standards Mastery: RL.4.1
*5th Grade ELA 2- Interpretation Book Clubs
Standards Mastery: RL.5.1
- October 15th
*Grade 4 - Math 1-Arrays, Factors, and Multiplicative Comparison, 3-Multiple Towers and Cluster Problems, (Multiplication and Division)
Standards Mastery: NC.4.OA.1, NC.4.OA.4
- October 19th
End of 1st Nine Weeks
- October 26, 2018
- November 1, 2018
K-2 Formative Assessment #1 and Grades 3-5 Check-ins Window
October 29 - November 2, 2018
November 5, 2018
GASTON COUNTY SCHOOLS INSTRUCTIONAL EXPECTATIONS
ELA
MATH
Instructional Focus
Instructional Focus/Concentration:
Elementary Report Card K-2 Standards Sheet (Tabbed Grade Levels at Bottom)
October Focus
Math and ELA Instructional Practices
ELA Instructional Practices 1-3 & Interactive Read Aloud
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them - Math Instructional Practice # 1
Reason abstractly and quantitatively - Math Instructional Practice # 2
Building The Foundation Professional Development. The sessions will be offered throughout the school year.
Instructional Focus/Concentration:
Engagement and Worksheets
How often are you using worksheets for instruction and homework each day? How can we reduce the number of worksheets used during the school day?
Teacher - Student relationships
How can we change the tone of how we address students? It’s not what you say sometimes it’s how you say it. Model what they expect. The modeling sessions may have to be repeated a number of times, but model the expectations (Behavior and Instruction) with grace and respect for the student.
Agenda and I Can Statements - Daily Expectations
Each classroom should have an agenda listing what will be taught each day.
Each classroom should have I Can statements posted each day and tied to a standard.
- Standards Mastery
- Conferring
- Building Assessments from Standards-Based Instruction
- Small Group Instruction
- Student Proficiency
McAdenville Elementary School
Elite Education Society of Wildcats
MES Social Worker - Whitney Hill
Please use this referral form for student Social Work Request.
MES School Counselor - Eric Otis
Please use this referral form for student School Counselor Request
2018-2019 School Improvement Team Members
Congratulations to our newest team members and thank you to all others for continuing to serve as members of this great group.
Committee Positions ` Name ` Email Address ` Date Elected
Principal Lucretia Rice lrrice@gaston.k12.nc.us 7/1/2017
School Improvement Team Chairperson Bobbi Neely blneely@gaston.k12.nc.us 9/12/2018
Teacher Representative (Process Manager)Beth Crosby edcrosby@gaston.k12.nc.us 6/1/2014
Teacher Representative Kelly Shore kdshore@gaston.k12.nc.us 8/1/2017
Teacher Representative Kirsten Marett kcmarett@gaston.k12.nc.us 8/1/2017
Teacher Representative Bonita Truesdale bgtruesdale@gaston.k12.nc.us9/12/2018
Instructional Support Representative Charlotte Griffth chgriffith@gaston.k12.nc.us 9/12/2018
District Representative TBD TBD@gaston.k12.nc.us --/--/--
Parent Representative Erika Sutphin mollysmama2008@gmail.com 6/1/2014
School Improvement Team Chairperson
Bobbi Neely