Anchor Weekly
A newsletter for Alta Vista Staff~Week of March 30, 2020
Don't Forget! Next Week's Calendar
- Monday, March 30 at 9:30 am: Alta Vista Zoom Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/975211125
- Wednesday, April 1 at 9:30 am: Alta Vista Zoom Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/445133231
- Wednesday, April 1: "We Care Wednesday" Phone Call to All Families
- Thursday, April 2 at 9:30-12:30 pm: Packing STEM Kits for Distribution
- Friday, April 3 at 9:30 am: Leadership Team Zoom Meeting
- Monday, April 6 at 9:30 am: Alta Vista Zoom Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/975211125
- Tuesday, April 7 at 10:00 am: Building Open to Prepare to Welcome Back Students (MAYBE??)
- Wednesday, April 8: School Resumes (MAYBE??)
Coming Up Soon: Not Sure....
#WacoISDReads Weekly Challenges
Please encourage students to participate and post pictures of you doing the activities too!
- Monday-Alta Vista Voyagers are CREATIVE! Draw a comic about a book you have read and post a picture!
- Tuesday-Alta Vista Voyagers are COMPASSIONATE. Post a picture of you being helpful and write about it!
- Wednesday-Alta Vista Voyagers are ADVENTUROUS! Post a picture of you reading in your favorite costume.
- Thursday-Alta Vista Voyagers are RESPONSIBLE! Post a picture of you practicing math!
- Friday-Alta Vista Voyagers are FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE! Take a picture of you reading a book in your favorite college or high school shirt.
Captain's Log
I can't thank you all enough for the tremendous work you have been doing "behind the scenes." I know you that are in constant contact with your families and doing everything you can to help our students be successful during these crazy times.
Please make sure you are checking your email DAILY for new or update communication. At time that I wrote this (Friday morning), Waco ISD has not extended school cancellation beyond April 7. Make sure you're checking email regularly for changes to your workflow that may arise as things develop.
Mrs. Helton's Week At A Glance
- Monday-Staff Zoom Meeting at 9:30 am
- Tuesday- Transformation Waco Zoom Meeting & ESL/Bilingual Dept. Zoom Meeting
- Wednesday-We Care Wednesday Phone Calls; Staff Zoom Meeting at 9:30 am
- Thursday-Packing STEM kits; AUSL Zoom Meeting
- Friday-Leadership Zoom Meeting at 9:30 am
Staff To-Do List
- ALL STAFF-Professional Development Book Selection (PAST DUE)
- ALL STAFF-We Care Wednesday Phone Calls (4/1)
- PK-5 Teachers: Unit Plans in PLC Folder (4/3)
- ALL STAFF-Campus Needs Assessment (4/10)
- Behavior Team: Classroom Remodel Wish List
- Add items to the Wish List including Summer Professional Development (ongoing)
Virtual Office Hours
We want to make sure that we are establishing clear boundaries with parents-we are not available any time they have a question (like at 8:30 at night). Staff are welcome to be available to families beyond these times, but this should be the minimum. Please let me know if you have any questions.
We will publish the information via Facebook at 10 am on Monday.
We Care Wednesdays
We will continue to call families for "We Care Wednesday." On the call log, please fill out the section for Contact #3 including the column of who you spoke to (Column O). Please encourage families to complete the technology survey ASAP so we can adequately plan technology needs.
- Homeroom teachers-work on contacting each student weekly (including Special Education/Dyslexia students); use aides as needed. If someone else calls a student for you that week (like a Specials Teachers) you don't have to make an additional call unless you want too.
- Specials teachers, support teachers, and other staff without a homeroom-please choose 20 students to call from across the grade levels; this will support homeroom teachers. Make sure you document on the call log so the homeroom teacher knows this student has already been contacted
- Aides-support the teachers you work with in calling students
- Spanish speaking staff-please help with ALL students highlighted in yellow (especially upper grades)
- Special Education and Dyslexia team-will be reaching out to students in addition to homeroom teacher contacts (so that they are being contacted twice a week)
PLCs
Continue to work on your unit planning templates in the PLC folder. These should be wrapped up by Friday, April 3. Ms. Boggess and Ms. Orchard will be reaching out to you for support and providing feedback.
Resources: PLC Notes Template
Campus Needs Assessment
- Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment: Salazar
- Family & Community Involvement: Baker & Ward
- School Context & Organization: Maynard
- School Culture & Climate: Malcom
- Staff Quality Recruitment & Retention: Orchard
- Student Achievement: Spark
- Technology: Boggess
These leaders will be reaching out to you and the rest of the committee to schedule 1-2 meetings to collaborate and provide input on various questions regarding your assigned topic. The folder with the questions, team assignments, and campus data can be found HERE. Only one member of the committee needs to type the input/answers to the discussion questions. The deadline for meeting and providing input is April 10.
**Please note that you may see some confidential information. This information may not be shared with anyone outside of Alta Vista and should not be discussed except in regards to the discussion questions provided.
Instructional Materials
Please let families know to KEEP IT SIMPLE when it comes to students working through instructional materials. If families are struggling with getting their students to do work (or if the work too advanced for some students), if students will READ and DO MATH FLASHCARDS then parents can sign off for the day on the activities. If students work on Smarty Ants/Achieve/Dreambox, then they get credit for the day. I will work on putting some more videos out of things we are doing at my house to meet the requirements.
We will be creating STEM Kits for families on Thursday, April 2 to pass out with the next round of materials. These kits will be optional and will contain different supplies students can use to create their own art projects. It will also include some ideas and suggested activities. We are encouraging them to use the materials and recycled trash from their home to create a city of the future.
Meal Pick Up
Self-Care for You!
As humans we are wired to thrive off structure and consistency. When something as uncharted as this flips our norm upside down and seems to be playing with our stress and anxiety levels, it is so important to find that our “self-care niche” and make it normal and create a routine. Unfortunately, we’ve lost a lot of control in recent times as we listen to health officials and watch our world change day to day. I want to remind you that you DO have control over your attitude and approach to our current situation.
Let’s talk ways to create structure:
- Daily schedules for you and your household – When are you moving? When are you eating? When are you working? When are you RELAXING?
- Weekly cleaning plans – Take a room and give it a day of the week!
- Journaling/meditating/breathing to stay grounded – is important to keep us in the here in now even though things seem to be changing everyday around us.
- Free app’s for breathing and meditation – Headspace or Calm
- Free creating positivity apps – Mindful Affirmations or Think up: Positive Affirmations
- Free brain game app – Elevate: Brain Training
It’s hard to think about creating and sticking to new habits among these trying times. But I would challenge you to use this time to stabilize your self-care routine and find new ways to foster a positive mindset. You all continue to do great work and I want to emphasize the importance of being honest with yourself and your loved ones about the challenges you are facing and overcoming during these weeks. I encourage positive thinking but also want to acknowledge that this may not with ease. Allow periods to feel your true emotions but then take back control and follow your routine with positive thoughts!
Conscious Discipline & CHAMPS
Ms. Malcom and Ms. Rigg will be working on some resources that you can share with students to help with SEL struggles during this time.
TELPAS/LPAC Reminders & Deadlines
We will be doing EOY LPACs. More details to come.
Staff of the Week
A special thank you to Mrs. Orchard for hanging out at the school for 3 hours on Sunday afternoon to receive more materials!!
District Employee of the Month Nominations
Screencast-O-Matic
The free version only lets you do 15-minute long video, but who really wants to make a video longer than that for students? :)