Smoke Signals - Staff Edition
Week of September 12-16
The week ahead...
We are excited to have grandfriends on campus each day this week! I appreciate the work that Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Stifle have done to make this a fun event for students and grandfriends. We will have several locations for them to sit - the cafeteria, lounge, and picnic tables. Cafeteria plans are outlined in the email I sent last week. Grandfriends are welcome to take students to the book fair when they are finished with lunch. Ms. Daehnert will be stationed near the library to help direct families to the book fair.
The book fair will be open from 8:00 - 3:30 this week. Our fabulous PTO will be working the book fair each day. I appreciate the work they have put into organizing and working this event for our students.
We anticipate moving into the portable building this week. Electricity was run on Thursday and Friday last week. Once we get the OK, then Mrs. Monge and her team will get the rooms cleaned and ready for class. Next, we can start moving the science lab and GT supplies to their new rooms. My hope is that they are all settled by the end of this week.
As Dr. Glenn mentioned last Thursday, the district will be asking the board for two new teachers Monday night. I am grateful that our district administration is so responsive to our campus needs and willing to take care of us at Shackelford. If approved, the new teachers will be such a needed relief for our kindergarten and 2nd grade teams. I plan to attend the board meeting Monday night and will let you all know Tuesday morning if the request has been approved. At that point, I'll outline the changes that will happen on campus because a few details are still being worked out.
Great things are happening in classrooms at Shackelford
Letter writing
Compare & Contrast
Engineers in Action!
Community involvement: The Avenue
- Creating an outdoor learning space
- Helping with organizing teacher packets and student giveaways
- Refreshing the landscaping in the front of the building
- Building sand & water tables for kindergarten classrooms
- Helping us get started with a Dads at the Door program
I am very excited about their commitment to helping our campus and the greater Waxahachie community every year. What this group of people can accomplish in one weekend is nothing short of a miracle.
Staff Development Corner - Digging Deeper into the Innovator's Mindset
George Couros and The Innovator's Mindset has been a huge force in WISD since we started back to school. A new book study is available for those of your interested in delving deeper into the book and learning more about taking ideas into practice. It is being offered in the form of a MOOC - Massive Open Online Course and is available for anyone who would like to participate. You can sign up here.
For more information about what a MOOC is and how the Innovator's Mindset will be dissected, see this blog. There is also a hashtag: #IMMOOC, Facebook group , and blog
If you plan to participate, let me know!