WIZARD WEEKLY
Week of April 10th-13th
WORD FROM THE EMERALD CITY
~ National Library Week is this week, as well as the BOGO book fair! Extended hours are Thursday until 5:45 right before the start of the color run.
~The Reading Festival is tonight (Monday) and begins at 5:00. Make sure those of your students who RSVP'd know that it takes place at Chisholm Trail HS (not Boswell). Ashley will be there working the event, and we are excited that we doubled our participants from last year, and we are half as big. Great job, Ashley for advertising!
~Shout out to Sunshine Committee for organizing the 2nd annual "Golden Egg Hunt." It's so fun to see people get excited when they locate the egg. We are now to the extremely busy time of the year, so it's exciting to throw some good 'ol plain fun in the mix of all the testing and preparation for end of the year events.
~ Speaking of end of the year... I will be placing a quick form in your boxes this week just letting myself and Bobby know your desire for next year. We want to start planning, and although I don't anticipate many changes, I always want to see what your plans are and if you desire to change grade levels, are possibly moving schools, and/or are happy where you are. Please take a few minutes just to fill that out and return to me by Friday. This will help in the planning for next school year.
~ Dr. Chadwell's visit was rescheduled to April 20th. Since I will be going on the field trip this Thursday, he was able to reschedule to come next week instead. The date was adjusted on last week's newsletter, but in case you didn't see the change, I wanted to let you know.
~ Misty Germaine rescheduled her math walks for April 26th at 8:00 am.
~ Teacher Appreciation Week is just around the corner. We have some great treats in store for you during the week. PTA has some fun things planned as well. Right now, plan on letting us provide you with breakfast on Monday and Tuesday, Lunch will be provided on Wednesday and Friday, and special treats such as Kona Ice and Sonic throughout the week! And...don't forget about our drawings for special gifts each day! We definitely appreciate ALL of our staff and want to show you all how much!!
Campus News
~TTESS oservations are coming to a close. Summative conferences are being scheduled or already have been scheduled. I am sending calendar invites for my conferences, and there is a sign up sheet on Bobby's door of his office for those of you who meet with him. Please make sure to look over the email with all the information I sent out about the summative conference, and go in under your goal setting form and fill out the bottom 2 sections. We will be discussing this during your meeting.
~ I hope everyone is planning to attend the color run on Thursday. Leslie and Melanie have worked SO hard to get this fun event organized, and I believe we have over 150 participants so far! Remember, this event IS open to the public, so it will not just be Elkins students/families who are attending. We don't have school on Friday, so it's a great night to have an event with no school the following morning!
~ STAAR scores are due to be in (at the latest) by Monday, April 18th. It's possible we may get them on Friday (which is a holiday). Teachers, if they come in on Friday, I will get them and contact you, since I know you will want to hear the results. Again, the latest will be Monday.
~ Next year, all professional employees are required to get 18 hours INSTEAD OF 12 like it has been in the past. This is for the 17-18 school year. If you remember my earlier email when I explained it, this is due to the fact that teachers are on a contract by days and the state changed the student requirements to minutes. Some trainings are offered on June 5-6. This is TECHNICALLY still within this school year. However, if you have already gotten your required 12 hours for the 16-17 school year, then you CAN use training on those days for the 17-18 school year. Let me know if you have questions. Don't forget that each teacher must have a 6 hour GT update as well.
~ I will be off campus on Thursday and attending the 3rd grade field trip to Medieval Times. We are excited these kiddos get this opportunity, and I know the teachers and other staff members worked hard to help fund all of these kids, so everyone could attend!
~ The district employee recognition ceremony will be on Tuesday, April 18th at 11:00. At this time, our campus award winners will be recognized and treated to catered lunch. Robin will also be recognized, as she has announced her retirement. As you probably saw on the ems job posting email, her position posted on Friday. We will be sad to see Robin go, but we know she will enjoy retirement, and I believe she is going to be a sub, so keep her in mind next year when you're out.
~ We will have a staff meeting on Monday, April 17th after school to discuss the PDSA continuous improvement cycle. Nicole and Shannon will lead this training. This will be approximately 45 minutes and will give an introduction to the cycle, so you will know what to expect when you return in August.
~ Mark your calendars for Friday, May 5th. We will have Muffins with Moms at 7:10 that morning. I will be sending home invitations to get RSVP's in the next week or so.
Be Vocabulous!
Continue to discuss the vocabulary with your students! It's making a big difference!
Here is the copy of the s'more newsletter about the vocabulary program. It has all the words listed for the year, so you can plan ahead! It has each word listed and the grade level responsible. The kids really enjoyed this last year, and I think this was something I had more comments from parents about than anything! They would comment about their students knowing the meanings of words that they didn't even know. The vocabulary parade was a big hit too. Even the older kids got into it and had fun being creative and participating.
Please turn in the "Word Up" Levels sheets when you have students who display the appropriate use of the words. Obviously, the younger they are, the more "adaptation" needs to occur in order to receive the levels, but the students who received the tags last year, LOVED it!! I will put the "Word Up Level" sheet on canvas!
As a reminder, the way the "Word Up Levels" work, goes like this...
All students will start as rookies and all students will have a chance to move up as many levels as they would like. Spirit Tags (that PTA is selling) will be used for levels 2 thru 5 and when a student reaches level 2 thru 5 they will receive a spirit tag for that level from the principal.
Teachers will nominate students to move up through the levels.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Monday, April 10th:
EMS Reading Festival @ 5;00 (All students who attend receive a free book)
Thursday, April 13th:
3rd Grade Field Trip (Kori off campuss)
Book fair extended hours
Color Run at 6:00 (registration starts at 5:00)
Monday, April 17th:
Grades due at 8:00 am
Staff Meeting- PDSA Introduction
Tuesday, April 18th:
Employee Awards Luncheon (11:00)- Kori and Bobby off campus
Thursday, April 20th:
Dr. Chadwell visit- 10:00 (changed from April 13th)
Friday, April 21st:
Kindgergarten Transportation Parade @ 2:00 pm
Monday, April 24th:
Kori/Bobby off campus in AM at meeting
Tuesday, April 25th:
LiiNK training all day- 2nd grade
LiiNK 3:30-4:30 for K & 1
Wednesday, April 26th:
Misty Germaine on campus for math walks @ 8:00
Thursday, April 27th:
Kori off campus in AM at meeting
Monday, May 1st:
Kindergarten Roundup 3:30-6:00
Friday, May 5th:
Muffins with Moms @ 7:10
KORI WERTH - PRINCIPAL
Email: kwerth@ems-isd.net
Website: http://www.emsisd.com/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2336
Location: Fort Worth, TX, United States