BAMS Staff Newsletter
September 13, 2015 - Volume 3, Issue 2
Be Awesome Today!!
Bessie Allen Middle School - SLO & Goals
Building SLO:
*To Be Finalized in October*
Building Goals:
- Have Patience and Courage
- Purposefully Use Learning Targets/Lesson Goals for Every Lesson
- Have Solution Based Discussions
- Be an Award Winning School - DPI School of Recognition/PBIS School of Merit
Driving Question for 2015-2016:
What have we changed with our instruction to prepare all our students for higher level thinking opportunities?
HELP WANTED - Please consider helping with these opportunities.
- BAMS Historical Timeline - continue a timeline through the present like we have in our main hallway.
- Honor's Reception Leadership - Connie Gross is willing to help you with this.
- BAMS Got Talent Leadership - Adam Micke is willing to help you with this.
- Data Warehouse Leadership - Design a collection tool for all of our behavioral/academic data to be housed in one Google Doc.
- Veteran's Day Leadership - Theresa Galligan is willing to help you with this.
News and Notes
- Patience and Courage - There is still time to continue to practice classroom routines and procedures. The time spent now will save you instruction time later in the year. Have patience with this.
- Lockdown Drill - Please review our drill information before the drill on the 15th. The purpose of the drill will be to practice our procedures and see what questions arise. Let me know if you have any questions.
- Many of you have already made parent contacts this year. Awesome!!! Thank you so much for doing this. This is a great way to start the year on a positive note. I have also made several positive phone calls home. I am also in the process of calling all of our new families to welcome them to our school.
- 2 Minors - In the first 2 weeks of school we have had two referrals building wide, both minors. I am very proud of our start to the year. This could be a "honeymoon" period or what we are doing matters and we are creating well organized positive environments for our students. I tend to believe in us and our ability. We have power to do great things!
- The Food4Thought Cafe will be open after school for our middle school students on Tuesdays and Thursday. This will be for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. They will not need to have a sign formed, they can just show up. this will be another after school location for students on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Talk to Jill if you have any questions.
- You may have seen Melanie's email about some information about our new state assessment. We will start learning more about this as information is released. If we prepare our students for any higher level thinking opportunities, I have no worries about anything throw at us. Our driving question is solid.
- School board members, Melissa Will and Mike Streetar, each came for a tour of the building this month. It was great to show off our staff, students, and building to them. I encouraged them to contact me or any of you if they have questions moving forward.
- Have-To Acknowledgement Form - Please have that signed and turned into Aaron by September 15th.
- Educator Guide Acknowledgement Form - Please have that signed and turned into Aaron by September 15th.
Out of the Office
The following times I will not be in the building or will be out of the office:
- September 16th - BCT Team Meeting 8:30-9:30, Team Room
- September 17th - 1-3pm - Admin Team Meeting - DMR
Oriole Way - Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Safe
Minor Behavior form link - here
Major Behavior form link - here
- 16 positives to 1 negative - How are we doing with this for our at-risk students? This is a challenge, but it can be done if we are purposeful.
- Behavior is Communication - Students behave a certain way for a reason. If we can figure out the "why", this will greatly impact our ability to help a child.
- At our first meeting, the team reflected on our first day of school and made notes for next year based on staff feedback.
- Our first BAMS Buck Drawing will be September 18th.
- NEXT Meeting - September 23rd, 7am
OASYS and Teacher Effectiveness
To Do List
- Think About PPG and SLO for this Year - Month of September
- First Round of Student Surveys - Due by October 15th
- Complete Survey Growth Plan - Due October 15th
- Finalize PPG and SLO - Due by October 30st
- Make 2 Professional Visits to Another Classroom - Due by End of Year
Click Here for a link to Teacher Effectiveness Info from CESA 6
Click Here for a Teacher Effectiveness Calendar for EDUCATORS/SPECIALISTS
Dates to Remember
- September 16 - Writing Sample Benchmark #1 for Building SLO - during SSR/SSW
- September 22 - STAR Math - during math classes
- September 23 - STAR Reading - during SSR/SSW
- September 23 - Staff Meeting 2:50-3:30pm
- September 28 - School Board Meeting 7pm
*See Google Doc titled "2015-2016 BAMS Yearly Calendar" for a look at events for the entire year.