GRE Staff Newsletter
For the week of October 28, 2019
Dear Team,
I like to think of my self as a positive person. I wake up with a great attitude every day, where I some times miss, is when events happen in the day and I don't respond in the way I want to. This week, I had two opportunities to fall into this trap. The first was trip number one to the Emergency Room-that one was for me. I was so scared and so worried that I definitely was overcome with emotions. My mind went to all the worse case scenarios it could possibly think of. By the time I left the ER, I had calmed down (maybe thanks to some meds) but even my brother knew better than to let me fend for myself when I tried to convince him that I would just get my meds the next day..."Yea right Katie, I know how that will go..."I'm fine", "It's not that bad"...and we end up here again". Ugh, I hate it when he is right which unfortunately is pretty often.
The second trip to the ER (yes, that's right, trip number 2) I handled so much better. Although my heart was beating through my chest as I dialed 911 for Allie bug...I was able to calmly give orders to Jace to open the front door and Jax to lie down because he was so scared he was about to pass out. Meanwhile Allie laid there with a dislocated knee asking me if she could still go to the Harvest Party and the birthday party she had been invited to. Looking down at her gave me so much strength. She has a special way of doing that-reminding me how we are supposed to act when we need to rise up. All went well and by the time I got to the hospital with the two boys her knee was in place and she was grinning ear to ear...and asking again about her parties. 2.5 hours later we left the hospital with a hairline fracture in her patella (knee cap for those that are like me and had to google it). I mean the kid has a freaking broken knee cap and just wants to hang with friends and love life.
As I continue to fight the dizziness and frustration of vertigo, I keep thinking about Allie. When is the next party, just wake up and have fun, take a hit and keep going, every positive mantra I can say I will continue to do just that. It's a hiccup, not a life sentence. How many things popped up unexpectedly for you last week? Did you handle them by curling in a ball or did you kick you know what and say "Okay, plot twist!".
We got this week GRE-it may be Halloween- but we got this!
Kate
News to Share
2. OTES formal evaluations begin this week. I will do my very best to be on time and stay the whole time. The only reason I would look at needing to reschedule is if there is a safety situation in the building. If you see me walk in with my laptop you can assume it is your informal walkthrough, this would be for teachers on full OTES this year. All other formal observations will be scheduled so look for an email from me soon if you have not gotten one already! Happy OTES season.
3. All staff need to complete their Professional Growth Plan in etpes by November 15th. This should be easy to do because we've already met about your goals and hopfeully you are well versed in our building goals. The first goal should be academic and the second can be a personal growth goal. To help you out, here are our goals for this school year straight from our CIP:
1. By the end of the 2019-2020 school year, as a building we will increase the number of students who are successful with only Tier I instruction to 70%.
2. By the end of the 2019-2020 school year, as a building we will increase our use of pre-assessments and use of exit tickets to gauge student understanding as measured by the 2020 Reflection Tool Survey.
4. As a reminder, for our Power of Our Words Book study you will need to do the following as a group (I will need your materials in Schoology by next Sunday 11/3/19 to reference in our staff newsletter):
1. Read your designated chapter and add notes to a group Google Doc
2. Find a quote from the book or somewhere else and add it to the Schoology Group
3. Post your Google Doc Notes into a folder for your chapter under the Resources tab
4. Come up with one Discussion Question for the group to respond to at our November staff meeting
5. Here is the sign up information for Eagle Ed. The first one will be Tuesday, November 26. If you have any questions, please let Angie Keller know. The schedule for Eagle Ed has been added to the Building Schedule on its own Eagle Ed. tab.
6. Our staff meeting for November will be held one week from Tuesday. The agenda will be the same as September with one exception. If you are a teacher who has students in Taylor Rosa's SLC, you will be meeting in Trisha Hilton's room. Your focus will be to learn from Bryant Tela strategies that will help you support keeping our SLC students in your rooms, learning! I'm excited to have him back here to work with our gen ed teachers. All other teachers, Justin Plummer will be scheduling time with your PLC's to help problem solve behavior in the future. We will all get a chance to increase our behavioral toolbox so just be patient and reach out if help is needed! Here is the agenda for November if you need to job your brain.
7. Veteran's Day and Art Day are right around the corner. Don't forget on the bottom of the invitation, there is an RSVP. We need parents to fill out an RSVP so we know how many parents/veterans will be attending and if students will be going home with a veteran or parent after the assembly. Please remind students to turn in their RSVPS before November 8th.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, October 29th-B Day; Data Dive Meeting 8:00-8:30 STEM Hub: Bring Writing about Reading or other Writing Sample
Wednesday, October 30th- C Day;
Thursday, October 31st- D Day;
Friday, November 1st- E Day; Star Student; Eagles Nests 9-9:40
Upcoming Events
October
October 21-Nov 1 Yearbook Cover Contest
November
November 1 Eagle’s Nest
November 8 Veteran’s Day Program 2:30-3:15
November 8 Art Day
November 4-15 Food Drive
November 14 PTO Meeting 6:30pm
November 14-21 Book Fair
November 15 Pioneer Day 2nd Grade
November 25 4th Grade Skate Zone
November 26 Eagle Ed
Nov. 27-29 NO SCHOOL