Monday Morning Memo - Week 24
2/24/19
"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."
Dear Poupard Leaders,
Welcome Back
It is great to be back in action with you all tomorrow. I hope you all enjoyed this past week off and were able to recharge for the next 5 weeks in our journey. As always, these next five weeks provide us opportunities. Opportunities for our students to continue learning from caring teachers that give them something to take home to think about besides homework. Opportunities for students to return excited, think deeply, enjoy a new book and socialize with peers.
One word that has been stuck in mind is "Attend". I know March is reading month and it could have easily been "read", but I can't seem to shake off "Attend". The reasoning behind this is twofold. Firstly, we as a school made a huge commitment for our families by offering conferences in a different format. We had slightly over 74% of our families attend Fall Conferences. Personally, I am really hoping this adjusted format removes barriers for families and allows for more of them to "Attend" in order to partner with us to support their learner. Only time will tell how these efforts pay off.
Secondly, roughly one-eighth of our student population has concerning attendance. Although, we can't solve every attendance issue. We can continue building one of our strengths as a school and Welcome Students with a Smile. When Poupard uses strategies like this, they help establish and sustain a positive school/classroom climate in which students feel a sense of connection and belonging.
March is Reading Month
The School Improvement Team wanted to encourage students to read during the month of March. You will be receiving reading logs to pass out students to log the amount of time they are reading. If students meet the reading requirements on their reading logs they will be entered into a raffle to participate in a student vs. staff volleyball game.
Requirements:
- Upper grades: 20 minutes inside of class, 20 minutes outside of class. (Face in front of text)
- Lower Grades: 20 minutes inside of class, 10-15 outside of class.
Additionally, we will offer buddy reading for 20 minutes on Fridays. Teachers can use the Dragon Den time from 12:20 - 1:00 or a mutually agreed upon time. The SIT believe that some buddy reading classrooms have already been established since earlier in the year so the SIT randomly paired up teachers that may not have one yet.
Buddy Classrooms
-Hultgren/Mead
-Jabara/Chaklos
-Bourke/Castile
-Sexton-Bolen/Halpin
-Rumohr/Stout-Kirck
-Rillema/Whateley
-Hool/DeSandre
-Gallagher/ split between 2nd grade rooms or buddy up
Monday, Feb 25th PLC - Analyze Story Problems
Please plan on bringing your student work samples from the first two story problems to tomorrows PLC if you've administered them both. Here are the following items you'll need:
- 2 samples of "strong" responses
- 2 samples of "middle of the road" responses
- 2 samples of "low or confused" responses
- Chromebook
Let's have a great week!
Your Fan,
Ali
Week at a Glance
PLC at 8:15 (Prepare Sign-up Genius/Review Story Problems)
Ali in student re-entry meeting at 9:00
Chess Wizards
Tuesday, February 26th - A Day
Ali at Coaching Session 9:30-10:30
Robot Garage during Lunch (4th and 5th)
Ali in parent meeting at 1:00
Wednesday, February 27th- B Day
SIT Meeting at 7:15
Student Support Meeting at 8:45
Ali in parent meeting at 9:30
Thursday, February 28th- C Day
Valentines Day Parties
Ali at Ad Council 1:00-4:00
Grosse Pointe Learning Network 4:00-5:30
Friday, March 1st - D Day
Read Across America
Office Meeting at 9:45
Ali in Coaching Session from 12:30-2:30
Saturday, March 2nd:
Embracing Community One GP
Sunday, March 3rd:
Staff Birthdays - February/March
2/4- Paige Castile
2/9- Julie Mayo
2/15- Heather Halpin
2/18- Samantha DeSandre
2/27- James LaForest
3/1- Kelly Sexton-Bolen
3/5- Cathy Rapp
3/8- Michele Stateczny
3/28- Erika Stout-Kirck
February Student Birthdays
March Student Birthdays
Important Dates
2/25 - PLC at 8:15
2/27 - SIT Meeting at 7:15
2/28 -
- Ali at Ad Council 1:00-4:00
- Grosse Pointe Learning Network from 4:00-5:30
3/1 - Read Across America
3/2 - Embracing Community #OneGP
3/4 - No PLC Meeting: Report Card Prep
3/6 - Town Hall at 2:15
3/7 -
- Blue Ribbon Committee from 6:00-9:00
- Grosse Pointe Unity for Diversity from 6:30-8:00
3/11 - NO PLC Meeting: Prepare for Conferences
3/12 -
- Tornado Drill at 1:45
- PTO Meeting at 6:30
3/13 - SIT Meeting at 7:15
3/14 -
- Ali at Ad Council 1:00-4:00
- Blue Ribbon Committee from 6:00-9:00
3/18 - No PLC Meeting: Pre-Conference Slots AM
3/19 - No Staff Meeting: Pre-Conference Slots PM
3/25 - Bring back story problem #3
Nuts and Bolts - Updated 1/28/19
Cluster/Magnet Nomination Form
1st-4th Grade Teachers,
The magnet/cluster nomination process has moved to an online version. Here are some highlights of what you need to know moving forward:
- You should have received a hard copy list of students whose parents submitted a recommendation in your mailbox. There is also a copy of this information in your schools shared nomination google drive along with some other helpful documents that may be useful as you complete your nominations.
- You need to fill out forms for every parent nomination even if you do not agree with what the parent is nominating the student for.
- If there are other students in your classroom that were not nominated by their parents but you feel they may be showing some exceptional growth/potential, please feel free to nominate them.
- Your F&P scores and your GPW sample (which are only submitted for Magnet or ELA cluster nominations) MUST be from January testing.
- Please be sure to include the students name, grade, building and teacher name on the GPW sample you submit (you will still scan and email the writing sample as has been done in the past. Directions on who to send writing samples to are included in the online nomination form)
- All electronic nominations will be due by Tuesday, February 12th. At that time you will no longer be able to access the document to nominate a student. The online form will be coming this morning to your email.
Please direct questions regarding the nomination process to either Pam or Ann.
Pam Liagre 4523 (planning 8:40-9:25)
Ann Passino 5584 (planning 2:45-3:20)
Magnet Program Co-Coordinators
- Behavior Referrals must be completed using the Online Behavior Form. Staff must complete the behavior form anytime a student is sent down to the office for a major office referral. Homeroom Teachers and Special Area Teachers are responsible for contacting the family to notify them of any incidents that occurred inside of the classroom. Please call home over an email whenever possible. Personally, I'd recommend sharing anything over 3-4 sentences over a phone call as well.