Bear Tracks
Summer Edition - August 26, 2016
A Note From the Principal:
The Open House and Orientations are behind us and we are getting closer to starting up!
We have an awesome blank canvas in front of us and it is really important over the next week, in the calm before the storm, to take a minute to visualize what we want for this year. What kind of teacher or therapist or para or support professional do you want to be? What do you want your students to experience? It is important for every single one of us to push past our comfort zones and to be better than we were last year - regardless of how good we were last year. Being as good as we have been is simply not acceptable - we have to strive to be even better. Every one of our students deserves that from us. We need to be brave (see the article of the week) and push ourselves to be the best we have ever been.
I have no doubt that we can do it and I am looking forward to seeing it. This year is going to be fun.
Enjoy your weekend and soak up the last few weeks of summer.
Happy Friday!
Sincerely,
Chris
PS - I continue to be BLOWN AWAY by our custodial and maintenance staff. They have done so much at BT this summer. We have new water fountains and sinks throughout the building, lots of new paint and I saw a crew of six people spread an enormous mount of mulch that took up four parking spots in one day, just so we'd be ready for our PTO meet and greet. They worked like machines! Not to mention the total renovation of the trailers and all of the furniture that has been moved throughout the building. The teamwork and effort motivate me to start the year at 100% and give it all that I have.
Information & Dates:
- Opening Day - See below for the opening day schedule.
- Bulletin Boards - This year I numbered the bulletin boards around the school. I'm going to ask that staff members sign up or 'call dibs' on specific bulletin boards each month to ensure that they are current and changed somewhat regularly. Some bulletin boards are outside of specific clusters, so it is mostly understood that specific grade levels will maintain them. It is ok for staff members to split a month or to call 'dibs' on multiple months. There are always unique circumstances, so if you want to leave up a bulletin board for more than a month - just sign up for more than one and let me know. The primary purpose of this is to ensure that the tough ones, particularly in the library/computer lab hallway, are current and looking good and that everyone who wants a chance can have a chance to showcase their ideas and students' work. I'll fill any unfilled slots. Above all, just work together and communicate. Start signing up as soon as you'd like - and if you've already done a bulletin board, just put your name there. CLICK HERE for the spreadsheet and let me know if you have any questions.
- FREE STUFF - I'd like to thank Shannon, Dolores, Lori and Kelly for going through the remnants of the storage room in 208! They have identified a table worth of items that are "up for grabs." These items are free to a good home and are in good condition, but will not be returning to storage in room 208. The table in the rear of the stage will go back into storage, but the one in front of that one, labeled 'up for grabs,' is the table in question. First come first served...
- Chalk - Last year, I used sidewalk chalk to write some messages for students for the first day. I want to extend an invitation for any and all interested staff to join in this year. Save the date - September 6th. Time TBA (not too late, so we can all get some sleep!).