To the Point
Prairie Point Staff Newsletter
Volume 3, Issue #12: Friday, May 4, 2018
I am really proud of the work that we have accomplished this year. It was a year of transitions and a year of celebration. First off, we welcomed 5 early childhood classrooms into our PT family. It was exciting to see our staff grow by adding this dynamic program to Prairie Point. I am especially excited that we will welcome some "veteran" kindergarteners next year as we will have EC students who are staying at PT for kindergarten. How cool will it be when they are able to show their classmates around the building!
We also have year one of AVID under our belts. Our AVID site team worked collaboratively to support our 5th grade team and students as we brought AVID and WICOR into the classrooms. In addition, we achieved our goal of providing short AVID professional development to every Faculty Meeting. I loved sharing and practicing WICOR strategies as a faculty. I loved, even more, when I observed those same strategies being implemented into the classroom. I am excited for our ongoing AVID commitment and continuing to implement AVID in other grade levels.
We also built upon the district initiative of focusing on equity and diversity and creating trauma informed schools. This newsletter served as a forum for sharing ACEs information, as well as introducing some concepts about restorative justice. We will be building on this foundation for next year, as restorative practices support both equity and diversity as well as ACEs.
This year our Building Leadership Team worked to gather data and provide input to our School Improvement Plan. In addition to this work, our BLT had a strong focus on ACEs and creating a trauma informed system. In the past month, I am so excited that we have we have established an ACEs team. This team will work to provide support for all teachers to introduce a trauma informed plan that will help us best meet our students' needs.
As we now have an AVID Site Team and an ACEs Team driving those two initiatives, our BLT will move it's focus to overseeing these initiatives, diving further into our school's data and driving our School Improvement Plan. I am really looking forward to this work.
I am most excited for summer planning with Noelle. This is the first summer where I have been able to really sit down with our administrative team and plan for next year. Jen and I were able to do this a bit last summer...but it was to implement with Janet. This summer Noelle and I will get to sit down and plan for things that we will collaboratively implement for next year. I am so excited for that!
As you head into summer, please know that I am so grateful for the work that you do for our students and our school. You are on the front line every day, providing instruction, guidance and love for each and every one of your students. They were lucky to be in your class and will carry forward the gifts that you have given them. Take time to relax, reset and rejuvenate yourself as we prepare for the best year...YET!
Trauma Informed Schools
A thank you to Dotty Mockenhaupt, Olga Gbur, Beth Gioiosa, Janice D'Ambrosia and Dominique Acuff for participating in these trainings and serving as our ACES Team. This team will work collaboratively to put a plan in place to support all students at Prairie Point as we become more trauma informed.
As we sat through the training, the one thing that I kept coming back to was the importance of relationships. As we look toward supporting our students and building resilience, we know that research supports the need for children to have at least one positive connection and relationship with an adult. While we hope that our students have that relationship at home and with their classroom teacher, we know that this isn't always the case. That is why it is so important for us to be intentional in providing those opportunities for our students. Our facilitator shared the following with us during the training: While we may not be that person for every student, we can be the conduit to someone who is.
Take a few minutes to view the video below. It speaks to the many adults in the building that a child encounters throughout his or her day in our school. Any one of these adults can forge a positive and supportive relationship with students.
Important Information
Copying Information and Updates
ReadyGEN materials that need to be copied, from the shared Google Folder, should all go through the Copy Center. On one of the final screens where it says "Payment" enter DAC for the district office. Please remember that this is for district ReadyGEN and ZanerBloser materials.
Finally, I want to make you aware of a change in copying for the 2018 - 2019 school year. As a district we will be limiting the number of clicks that are permitted on the building copy machines. Teachers and secretaries will be permitted 10,000 copies for the year. Teaching assistants will be permitted 1,000 copies for the year. Please note that this is for building copiers. You are encouraged to use the copy center for your copying, as limits have not been set for the copy center.
If you are curious as to how many copies you made on the building copiers this year, I encourage you to email me. I receive a monthly update of number of copies that each of us make (both color and b/w). I am happy to share your copying history with you, if you are interested.
End of the Year
Pinks and Blues
Please be sure to have your Pinks and Blues turned into the office no later than Friday, May 18th at 9am. We will begin creating next year's class lists from that sort.
Starting Friday, May 25th, clusters will be able to be reviewed in the conference room by: Social Workers, Learning Specialists, and Specials Teachers. Suggestions for changes should be made on the sheets provided to each of these individuals. Suggestions are to be completed prior to check-out and left with Kim in the provided folder.
Starting Monday, July 30th, the revised cluster groups will be available for the previous year’s teachers, specialists, and TA’s to view and provide input regarding groupings of students. Focus will be on making sure grade level classrooms are as evenly balanced as possible.
Conference Room
Please remember that the Conference Room will be closed starting on Monday, May 21st until the start of next school year. We need this space to close out this school year and plan for next year. This is where the magic happens!!!!
End of the Year Check Out
The End of the Year Check Out form is provided below. It has all the specific information for closing down your classroom and turning keys/fobs in. Please note that you must check out with Kim or Laurel in person, please do not leave check out materials on their desks or in their mailboxes.
Fob Access
Fobs will be deactivated on June 1st and reactivated on July 30th. We will have summer hour information out ASAP.
Summer Office Hours
The school will be open Mondays - Thursdays from 9am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm.
Looking to Next Year
June 30th - The school will open for teacher access. You are welcome to come in and start getting your rooms set up.
August 13th - August 14th - Teacher Institute Days. More information will be coming as we get closer to the start of the year.
August 13th - Preview Night will be on Monday, August 13th at 5pm. All classrooms should be set up and open for Preview Night. This includes EC - 5th grade and all specials classrooms.
August 30th - Curriculum Night will take place on Thursday, August 30th at 6pm.
In Every Issue...
Field Trip Information
MTSS Problem Solving Request Form & Paperwork Doc
Wednesday Morning Meeting Schedule
PLC Agenda Options
You should have a PLC Agenda Template in your Google Docs.
The video below shows you how to save the agenda templates to your own Google Drive.