Monday Memo
April 11th - 15th
Every child deserves a champion - an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be. - Rita Pierson
Team,
I came across this Ted Talk and because it aligned so tightly with ELM and T-TESS, I thought it was worth sharing with you. Will Richardson asserts that if we focus on the immeasurable, we will excel in the measurable, and I could not agree with him more. Let me know what you think.
We have a Team Leader Meeting this afternoon. In effort to address needs, ideas and/or concerns in a timely fashion, as well as to give everyone an opportunity to have a voice, our entire staff has the opportunity to participate in the creation of the agenda. Please utilize this Google Form to share anything you would like to be addressed, discussed and/or considered at the meeting.
It appears that we are collectively in need of a reminder of the end of the day dismissal procedure. Lately, we have had students arriving to dismissal spots too early and some arriving too late. With the exception of Safety Patrol, no student should be dismissed from the classroom or be in the hallways without teacher supervision. Teachers should not arrive at dismissal locations with students prior to 2:55pm. In addition, when you are not on time, the entire carpool line is held up, which then requires your teammates to remain on duty longer. I know you are not intentionally trying to disrespect your coworkers, but please know that regardless if you are early or late, you are disrespecting someone's time and/or space in the case of the gym. My hope is that this knowledge will help us all be more mindful of the impact that deviating from the expectations has on others and will prompt us to reevaluate our practices to ensure this does not occur in the future.
It is hard to imagine that this school year is nearly at it's end. The week ahead is one without testing or altered schedules. I hope that you enjoy a more normal routine with your students and have amazing learning experiences planned to fill the time. Please feel free to invite me to participate in anything fun, unique or special that you have going on. While my schedule may not always allow it, I always welcome the opportunity to try.
As we continue to pray for The Prugh Family, count your blessings and make today count!
JL
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The 3rd Grade Team is Growing. Guess Who...
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Summative Conference Sign-Up
Jennifer's Summative Sign Up
Sylvia's Summative Sign Up
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Teacher Scales for Reflective Practice
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Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
Our Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon will be held on Friday, May 20th. Please utilize this link to submit the names of anyone who has volunteered in your classroom this year by the EOD on Friday, April 15th. Please review the timeline below so that you are aware of what will need to be done in the weeks ahead.
April 15th - Deadline to submit names of any classroom volunteer
April 20th - Stacie will place invitations in your box
April 26th - Send invitations home with your students
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Boosterthon Information
At dismissal, students will need to enter and exit the gym and the doors closest to the cafeteria. This will all the Boosterthon people to pack and load up all of their equipment.
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Professional Development Overview
- 5 hours of G/T credit will be awarded with ELM training
- G/T credit can also be earned on the first day of Converge
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Outdoor Learning Space
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Shoparoo
Did you know that each week I give out jeans passes to those who are one of the top three participants on Shoparoo? I know that many of you have already joined, but if you haven't, it is not too late. Simply go to www.shoparoo.com to create your account. If you use veft4467 as a referral code, McGowen will earn money for you just signing up. Please feel free to push this information out to your parents as well. Once you sign up, Shoparoo will give you a referral code for your parents to use when they sign up. Schools with just 40 supporters are earning an average of $1,000 every year.
Congratulations to Barbara Peebles and Donna Fabian for being in this week's top three!
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Focus for 2015 - 2016
In order to help every child their personal best, McGowen teachers and staff will:
- Develop a common language needed to become High Reliability School.
- Develop an understanding and process for effective Professional Learning Communities.
- Engage in collaborative team planning and lesson design to promote higher level thinking and student engagement.
- Present lessons in such a way that students understand and can speak knowledgeably about posted learning and language targets.
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Remind for Staff
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APPRECIATIONS
- I sent out an email this week asking if anyone knew someone that could look at our sprinkler system! We are moving on April 10th, my husband is out of town for work until April 9th and I’m a tight wad who refuses to spend money on a sprinkler system that isn’t mine(hehe). So I reached out to the people I know I can always count on, in good times and in bad! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who responded so quickly and offered their services! Special shout out to Nick Relle for giving me a full on, hands on, demonstration of how to check each sprinkler head and clear them out. I would like to give an even BIGGER SHOUT OUT to David Cohen! David came to my house on Thursday afternoon (his only free day of not having kids practice/games) and dug until he found the problem! After discovering that the piping had been broken (due to my inability to stay in the middle of the drive way), he disassembled, cut new pipe and rebuilt the pipe line. Then, ta-da, problem solved! Lesson of the day: Literally and metaphorically, when speaking in terms of friendship, the grass is greener when you water it. AGAIN, thank you Co-Co and I appreciate the care you have for the people around you and how truly big your heart is! YOU ROCK! - Chitwood
- Stacie - Thank you for helping me with copies on Wednesday. You were my hero! -JL
- Michelle & Dianne Bitter- I appreciate you staying extra late to meet with parents! SL
- Shiela- Thank you for all of your help administering STAAR ALT2! SL
- Sharon- Thanks for your patience with check in/check out of STAAR ALT 2! SL
- Peebles – Thank you for picking up lunch! You are always so generous and kind! - Michelle C.
- Jen M. - Thank you so much for covering me on Friday. I don’t know what I would do without you and Lori! Y’all are amazing! -Michelle C.
- Kinder Team, Martha, Bonnie, Shiela, JL and SL – Thank you for coming together on Wednesday for a staffing on your kiddos. It is apparent you know your students very well and I appreciate your time, heart and collaboration. - Michelle C.
- Valerie- Thank you for staying late Thursday evening for a very important parent meeting. I am thankful for your dedication and commitment. - Michelle C.
- Maria – Thank you for the breakfast bar and being so great to work with—always! - Michelle C.
- Tracey – Thank you for taking care of Kyle when I had to stay late for a meeting and for working with him the other day as well. You are always there for us and we appreciate you more than you know. - Michelle C.
- Kristi – Thank you for representing McGowen as our Teacher of the Year! You are so deserving of this honor and make us all proud to be your friend and colleague. - Michelle C.
- Stacie – Thank you for hand delivering my flowers Saturday! YEA! Now time to plant! - Michelle C.
- My Team – How can I thank you enough for everything!!??! I am blessed to be able to laugh, cry, work, and well….do life with each of you! -Michelle C.
- JL – Thank you so much for coming to me and putting me at ease about what I need to do to keep my BP down! That meant the world to me that you came without me having to say a word! - Bravo
- 5th Grade Team – Thank you for all your support with everything and your understanding of my pregnancy and what I need to stay healthy. Love you guys! - Bravo
- Lhauren – You are such a rock star! I literally don’t know what I would do without your support and understanding. You have taken on so much and have done it with such grace. Love you! - Bravo
- McGowen family- I cannot even begin to expression my gratitude to you all for the prayers, thoughts, texts, calls, and FB posts for my family and I as we dealt and continue to deal with the death of a family member. It is never easy losing a family member no matter the age, but you all definitely brought my family much needed love and support. My family and extended family made a comment to me at the funeral that brought tears of joy, love, and pride for all of you when they collectively told me that I work with the most loving, caring, supportive, and, uplifting (just to name a few words they said) people they could have ever asked for me to work with! McGowen truly is my other family and I love you for all you do for the students, parents, community, and each other! Ok, enough of this sappy chit…wink :) Love, JD
- Chitwood- I love you! -JD
- 5th grade team- Thank you so much for covering me last week while I was in Michigan with my family. I didn’t even have to ask for anything because you took care of everything. That means so much to me because all I had to do was focus on my family. Love you all! -JD
- Tanya- I cannot thank you enough for taking my class last week so I would not have to think about my science classes! You are truly amazing and I love ya friend! -JD
- Jen B. & Amy- You rock for going above and beyond to plan and prepare your lessons for next week! Both of you are amazing educators and I knew without a doubt that you would know what to do and your collaboration, from the awesome things I heard this week, is awesome! Thank you for all you have done and continue to do! -JD
- Donna- Thank you so much for taking care of putting in for my sub and canceling my one sub job so I could focus on my family and getting home. Love you sweet friend! -JD
- Stacie- You are my science symposium lifesaver! I would not be able to make the symposium run if it wasn’t for all your behind the scenes work. Love you friend! -JD
- To my car rider duty cover person- Thank you!!! I know that job is not an easy one and I truly appreciate you doing it for me while I was gone. I owe you big time! -JD
- Melanie- Thank you so much for introducing the Biome Project to our 5th graders on Monday and Tuesday and assisting when needed throughout the week. Between you and Tanya, I knew they were in the best hands! -JD
- Cab- You are my guardian angel in so many ways! Thank you for checking in with my math/science teammates and for taking care of anything I needed or forgot. Love you sweet friend! -JD
- Sylvia- Thank you for telling me to go be with my family that Thursday evening and not worry about anything with my classes. That meant the world to me especially with it being an important time of the year and me just switching gears. Love you friend! -JD
- JL- Thank you for everything last week! It meant the world to me. Love, JD
- Bonnie – Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to show us how to use iTunes U! You have literally saved me so much time during Boot Camp!! You ROCK!!! - Ashley
- Bonnie!!!! Thank you SO MUCH for helping third grade using your studly technology abilities! Now we will be able to better meet the needs of all kids in our classrooms during boot camp. You. Are. The. Bomb!!!- 3rd Grade Team
- Caballero~ I can not even begin to thank you enough for all of your help with my friend’s dyslexia referral! I seriously could not have done it without you!!! ~KT
- Miss Barbara~ Thank you so very much for getting those documents to me so quickly for my friend’s testing file! ~KT
- JL~ Thanks a million for the seat and for the ice cream when bus duty ran over on the day of our big meeting with Cody & Dr. McDaniel! ~KT
- Miss Stacie~ As busy as you are, you still manage to help out with last minute copies & sentence strips! You are appreciated! ~KT
- Lynn~ For all of the books & printing- you are amazing! ~KT
- Melanie~ Thanks for your help when I needed to rearrange our iStation testing! ~KT
- Melanie – Thank you for taking the time to show our 3rd graders how to use the makerspace. They are really excited to have the opportunity to come use it. -AE
- Jennifer - Thank you for helping us out during math planning by providing us with some more efficient tools. - AE
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Action Items
- Submit names for Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon by EOD on Friday, April 15th
- 3rd Grade - Schedule SS DA with Bonnie asap
- Submit MVM by EOD on Thursday, April 21st
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Amber Evans!!!
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McKinney ISD's Vision, Mission and Beliefs
Any time we have an idea, concern, solution and/or comment, this is the filter through which we should speak. Let's help each other live up to our vision, mission, and beliefs.
Vision:
We are a cohesive, diverse community providing engaging learning experiences for all.
We will provide engaging learning experiences so students can become effective communicators, quality contributors and socially responsible citizens.
Beliefs:
- Partnerships between students, parents, community members and staff are foundational to educational success.
- Positive school culture and a safe environment foster growth.
- Everyone has inherent value and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
- Learning is an active process requiring engaging tasks and engaging minds.
- Relevant and authentic experiences ignite continuous, deeper learning.
- Meaningful relationships enrich learning.
- Confidence fuels risk taking and higher achievement.
- Financial stewardship ensures a tomorrow for education.