What's The Buzz?!?!
October 25, 2015
What a Week!
You guys were awesome last week! Thank you for being so patient with the set up of conferences. I would welcome any feedback you have regarding the scheduling of conferences for next year (I will send out a survey tomorrow morning in order to better organize your feedback).
- A big thanks to Mr. Ott and his crew for keeping the building looking great for conferences!
- You will notice that you have updated safety drill and mission statements papers for your classroom. If you do not have new ones yet, please send Shelly Ivey an email to let her know you need one. Thanks to Shelly for all of her hard work in getting those looking great!
- A big shout out goes to Tammy and all of her work on the Book Fair! The decorations and set up were a total hit with our students and parents! Thank you, Tammy, for nurturing our students love for books!
- Thanks to all of the Specials teachers who stayed for conference night to facilitate the survey taking process. I am proud to announce that we have 120 parent responses! Awesome job! We will review these results at our next faculty meeting.
- I would also like to thank all of you, and especially Shelly Ivey, for all you have done to make the teacher pages a success. I know that it hasn't worked out quite like we planned. However, all of you have been good 'soldiers' and provided our students and parents with a lot of great info! HOPEFULLY, we will have access to them in the next week!
Socrative
Socrative is an awesome site where you can create quizzes or tests and see the students progress as they are taking it. It's a great way to formatively assess your students. It is super easy and fun for our students as well! Kathy Hancock is a pro, so if you are looking for additional help just send her a message! http://www.socrative.com/
5 Minutes for Faith
With all that we have experienced as a school community this past week I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time reflecting on the positives in our lives. I challenge you each day to think of one positive thing in your life, write it on a piece of paper and stick it in your pocket. When you feel like complaining or just being down, pull it out and remember that God is good and that He heals.
Again, thank you for all of the prayers and support over the past week. It truly does mean a lot!
Please continue to pray for Eileen and her family.
Fair Isn't Always Equal
One of the things I took away from our AMLE conference is a good message about differentiation. Rick Wormeli is a wonderful educator, speaker, and author. He describes the topic of differentiation in an easy to understand, and tackle, way. He is the author of the book Fair Isn't Always Equal. I encourage you to Google him as there are many free resources out there that he provides. Additionally, if you look at ASCD.org there is a video of his classroom that they taped over a 5 week period. It truly is awesome! Finally, he holds live Twitter chats each Wednesday where you can ask questions or just listen to the great information that is out there!
A look ahead....
This week will be another busy, but fun, week!
- Halloween festivities will begin with the parade, led by our Student Council, at 1:15 pm. Classroom parties will begin at 12:45 pm. Please reference last week's Thursday Newsletter (they are all shared in a folder with you on your Drive, or on the Homepage of the website) for directions that were given to parents regarding arrival and dismissal times.
- Grades close October 28. Please have all grades updated and finalized by 8:00am on October 29. Mr. Eckman will be printing all report cards on October 30 for Father Bline to sign before they go home.
- Please remember to fill out your Mandated Services. All minutes should be ready to be signed (electronically) by me on Monday, November 2. Please see me if you need assistance with this!
- I will be out of the building on Thursday with Mrs. Ott, Mrs. Reese, Ms. Getzinger, and the 8th graders for a fun filled trip to Camp Y Noah. Please pray for our students that their experience is fruitful and they come away with a greater understanding of themselves and their classmates.
- Tuesday I will be at principal's meeting. If you need me, please do not hesitate to reach me on my cell. 330-819-9234.
- Our next faculty meeting will be on November 2 from 3:30-5:30. We will take part in the professional development that was scheduled for last Friday.