The Gator Tales
The weekly staff newsletter for Glenwood Elementary School
Week of September 10
This week at Glenwood
Wednesday, Sept. 12- Fifth Grade Gifted Screening
Friday, Sept. 14- FOOTBALL FRIDAY
Virtual Learning Days October 8 and November 8
Grateful Gators!
Kudos to ALL THE TEACHERS for making the first day of school the best day ever for our kiddos! Kudos to TINA REPA for being a rockstar with so many 504 requests already. I LOVE working with you and I am so thankful for you for so many reasons! Kudos to Amanda Agreste for going out of her way to show me love for me and baby! You are the sweetest! Tara Pfeifer
Kudos to Mary Salisbury for being the BEST assistant ever and pulling double duty to help in the office! Angie Sullivan
Kudos to Nancy Munson for coming to the rescue on Day 1. Thanks for helping out with a smile on your face! Andrea Neal
Kudos to Jason Hinson, Tina Hood, and Danny McVey for passing out the bus brownies to the bus drivers! Paula Gee
Thank you to the entire Glenwood family for your warm welcome joining you full time! Thank you to Mrs. Chandler and the kindergarten team for being so welcoming and supportive. I appreciate your kindness and help. The kindergarten team is strong, talented, and fun! I am excited and proud to be a part of it. Jessica Durkalski
Kudos to Ms. Gee for buying brownies for our bus drivers on the first day of school. Jason Hinson
Thank you to Marykay for her help with all things technological on Day 1. Thank you to the wonderful 2nd grade team for all their support as I moved and set up in a new room. Kathleen Slinde
Kudos to the custodians for all their hard work and for and for moving all classroom belongings to our new room with care! Kudos to Mrs. Lee for granting a request for us! Kudos to Mrs. Roemer for always attending to our technical difficulties. You are ALWAYS so quick to fix problems right away! Danica Petko and Jennifer Hernandez
Thank you to Mrs. Dykes for thinking of me with my future planning and adding to my purple obesession!!! Jennifer Hernandez
HUGE Kudos to the 1st grade team for putting in the work last year to make sure we had the #BestFirstDayofSchool!! Kudos to the 2nd grade team for all of their open mindedness and patience as we dive into Schoology! Dina Dreistadt
Kudos to Laura Negron for making me feel so at ease about being away these first 10 weeks. When I came in for open house I truly felt like the classroom was a great blend of her and I. Her enthusiasm with the students and parents made for an awesome kick-off. Thank you for all you are doing.
I also, want to thank the third grade team for all their support. You all are the BEST!
❤ Stacie Barba
"Kudos to my generous friends who have donated consumables to the Art Room!! Probably more appreciated than you know :)" ❤ Allison Harder
Kudos to Ms. Serrano, Ms. Larson, and Ms. Goshert for being so flexible on the first week of school. Kudos to Mr. French for being so supportive and helpful.
-Symphony Keatts
New procedures for make up hours!
Upcoming Important Dates and Events
Friday, Sept. 21- Fifth grade trip to Oceana Air Show
Morning Meetings- Kindness Counts by Caltha Crowe
Making sure your classroom and school environment is one where all children are safe, where all children are included, and where kind words prevail requires day-in, day-out attention. One month of bullying prevention is not enough. Assemblies, plays, or read-alouds are not enough. Effective bullying prevention is a daily effort that focuses on teaching children how to be inclusive and kind.
Many studies on bullying prevention have found that school and classroom climate is a key to preventing bullying. A bullyproofed classroom is one where each student is ready to work with all classmates, where students are invested in following classroom rules about kindness, and where the adults in the classroom notice small mean behaviors and stop them respectfully and efficiently.
We educators can teach children how to work respectfully with all classmates by teaching in ways that emphasize inclusion and that help children develop the skills they need to be successful at working with others. For instance:
· Set the tone by making it an expectation that students will work with all of their classmates. Then create opportunities for children to do so by assigning learning groups.
· Use Interactive Modeling to teach children how to work respectfully with learning partners.
· Be a model of respectful behavior, toward colleagues and students. It’s vital for children to see that you hold yourself to the same high expectations you have for them.
We must also teach children how to include others outside of the classroom. Lunch and recess are parts of the school day when children may need additional support and guidance. For instance:
· Assign seats and “lunch partners” in the cafeteria and rotate them frequently to show that inclusion is an expectation in the cafeteria.
· Teach students what to talk about at lunch and how to be friendly to someone you don’t know very well.
· Teach children how to invite someone to play at recess, especially in large group games—an essential skill for an inclusive playground.
· Reflect with students before and after the mid-day break about how they did at including others at recess and lunch. This doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes, and it keeps the issue of inclusion front and center.
“If it’s mean, intervene.” Small, mean behaviors can easily escalate into out-and-out bullying. It’s a lot easier to stop a small, mean comment than it is to stop out-and-out bullying.
· Observe student behavior, in and outside of the classroom. Watch for the rolled eyes, the body turned away from a student who is talking, or mean comments.
· Stop these mean behaviors firmly and efficiently. Saying “Stop. We use respectful words in this classroom,” is sufficient.
When children feel safe and supported they are ready to learn. Creating this safe and inclusive climate in our classrooms is a daily effort. It’s an effort that can pay off with safe, joyful, and challenging classrooms where children thrive.
https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/bullyproofing-every-day/