Cardinal News
Were Stronger Together 4/04/16
Like a teacher... right after Spring Break!
Week at a Glance
This Month:
The month of APRIL is
All Things good,
great or
better!
By the power vested in me
I, the Principal Leader Lucretia Rice,
proclaim April as
"Forest Heights Month"
~An LRR Proclamation
This Week:
- Transfer Window for Teachers April 4-15th
- B-Week on Counselor Schedule
- Instructional Department Walk-throughs and PLC visits. Please be prepared each and every day to show off your students knowledge and your magnificent teaching skills.
Monday
- Happy Monday And WELCOME BACK!
- Mock EOG Training - Mrs. Knox will send a scedule of times for those that will not be at the end of the school day.
NATIONAL SCHOOL LIBRARIAN DAY
April 4th is National School Librarian Day. It is set aside to honor all school librarians. All of the daily hard work and dedication given from these librarians often go without our appreciation. Use #SchoolLibrarianDay to post on social media
Tuesday
- Reading Mock EOG
- End of 3rd 9-weeks April 5, 2016
NATIONAL GO FOR BROKE DAY
National Go For Broke Day is celebrated annually on April 5. Go ahead, go for it…this would be the day! What is it?? That is for you to decide. Are you a gambler? If so, take a big risk, “Go for Broke”. If you are not a gambler, it may be you want to take a risk with your job, a new project you are working on, buying a new home, financial investments, relationships, travels or any risk, go for it….”Go for Broke”!
Use #NationalGoForBrokeDay to post on social media
Wednesday
Math Mock EOG
CHILDHELP NATIONAL DAY OF HOPE
During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, communities are asked to come together for the Childhelp National Day of Hope. On the first Wednesday in April, everyone, across the country, is asked to join the fight to end child abuse and neglect. Use #ChildhelpNationalDayOfHope to post on social media
Thursday
Science Mock EOG (5th Grade)
NATIONAL NO HOUSEWORK DAY
National No Housework Day is observed annually on April 7th. This is the excuse you have been looking for. Absolutely no sweeping, dusting, laundry, dishes and all the other items that fall into the housework group. Catch up on a book, have coffee with friends or anything else that you enjoy. Use #NationalNoHouseworkDay to post on social media
Friday
- Grades Due TODAY APRIL 8th @ 3:30pm
NATIONAL ALL IS OURS DAY
Celebrated each year on April 8th. This day is looked at in different ways. It can be looked at as a time to reflect on all of the beauty of nature and all the wonderful things in life and that they belong to everyone. Become aware of all of the beauty in your surroundings. Another way to view National All Is Ours Day is to appreciate everything that we have and do not dwell on what we do not have. All that we have is a blessing and our lives are a blessing and it is ours, therefore, all is ours! Some people also look at it as a day to share all that you have. The greatest times and the greatest things in life are those that are shared. Use #NationalAllIsOursDay to post on social media
In the Coming Days:
- 4/13 5th to 6th Grade Transition-Southwest Middle
- 4/14 5th Grade Field Trip-Catawba Science Center (Hickory NC) 8:30am
- 4/16 Pre-K Field Trip - Gastonia Fire Station 8:30am
- 4/16 Wix Winning Ways part 3
- 4/18 5th Grade Schiele Outreach Program @ 9am in Gym
- 4/20 Field Day
- 4/22 5th Grade Concert @ 8:30am
- Sack the EOGs Assembly May 17th
Mock EOGs
Monday - Student Prep Day and
Mock EOG Administrator Training
Tuesday - Mock READING
Wednesday - Mock MATH
Thursday - Mock SCIENCE
Friday - Make up testing
Monday - Make up testing
Progress Monitoring Below for MCLASS
April Calendar
Calendar will be emailed this week.
Photo message cont...
Fish Reflection
Here is one way to look why...
Fear of change. Fear of change is complacency’s evil twin. It actively works to keep things the same. I’m sure you’ve seen this one first hand at work when someone uttered the dreaded words, “But we’ve always done it this way.” Things are changing too fast these days to latch on so tightly to the status quo, and the costs of doing so can be huge. In one survey, 91% of respondents said that the most successful employees are the ones who can adapt to the changing workplace. Change is a constant part of our lives, both personally and professionally. It doesn’t matter whether you think things should change or whether you prefer the old ways—change just is. You don’t have to learn to love it, but you do have to learn to stop resisting it and to start adapting to it.
excerpt from:
Curious Things That Will Kill Your Career by
Coauthor Emotional Intelligence 2.0 & President at TalentSmart
Teachers and ALL STAFF --- REACH
Our task is simple. . .
REACH
We have to raise our level of expectation to an all time high. Our goals can no longer be to complete a task or even make 50% we have to reach for 85% on every task we complete from April 4th through June 8th.
Reteach - Retest - Results (REACH)
I will put a pledge card in your boxes this week. There will be a staff pledge and a student pledge. The cards will be displayed on the orange wall in the cafe. The first grade level team to get 100% pledges posted in combination with 100% of students in the grade level making 85% average on AR along with 100% of the students participating at 2 books read for the week will get a PIZZA PARTY. (Teachers I will send you a list of exceptions and modifications for your room if you have any)
***Kindergarten and 1st grade you are included in this assignment. You will be judged on compass ELA/Reading use during 4th quarter.
Art Show Exibitors
Make plans to see our students artwork in the art show in Dallas from March 26 through May 7, 2016 if you come through Dallas. (Dallas Museum)
Jazmir Dye from Ms. Motes
Jayden Wakefield from Ms. Psorianos
Melanie Zavala from Ms. Psorianos
Aerielle Carter from Ms. Miller
Jonathan Ferrera from Ms. Martin
Aryannah Hall from Ms. Branch
Employees say you have a toxic culture? Here’s how to fix it
American Airlines’ merger with US Airways is not going well.
American Airlines’ pilots’ union notified CEO Doug Parker in a March 4 letter that the merger is going so badly that the airline’s former ‘toxic culture’ has returned.
In the letter, the pilots outlined how the airline has violated contract terms as well as federal regulations on crew scheduling, air operations, and labor relations. They explained that the airline’s product is “outright embarrassing and we’re tired of apologizing to our passengers.”
Finally, the pilots described how middle managers are “misaligned” with the CEO’s recent call to action to improve labor relations.
A company spokesman said that executives are “well aware” that a cultural change is needed. At recent meetings in the Dallas headquarters, Parker “told thousands of managers that the airline must take better care of its employees as part of taking care of customers.”
“We’re intent on making American a fantastic place to work,” the spokesman said. The culture change is “not going as fast as we’re wanting.”
It is not unusual for organizations to have a less-than-stellar organizational culture. 64% of respondents to Tiny HR’s 2014 engagement and culture report said that their company doesn’t have a strong work culture.
A few organizations have healthy, vibrant, productive cultures. Those organizations – Starbucks, Zappos, WD-40, Ritz Carlton, etc. – are well-known and celebrated regularly.
Certainly some organizations around the globe deserve the “toxic culture” designation. American is clearly one of those.
Most leaders don’t know the condition of their organization’s culture. They don’t observe, they don’t ask. When they do learn that their organization’s culture is lousy, they don’t know what to do to fix it.
American Airlines’ response to the pilot union’s issues is all too common. And, that response is unlikely to make a dent in their culture issues.
What did executives do? The CEO held a meeting to tell managers to treat employees better. Telling someone how to behave doesn’t mean they’ll behave as you’ve asked! That’s the“managing by announcements” fallacy. The airline’s middle managers aren’t acting to improve labor relations because they’re not being held accountable for doing so.
To ensure aligned behavior, change the rules. Specify the values — in behavioral form — that all leaders and team members must demonstrate in your new culture. You might want behaviors like “Be civil,” or “express gratitude for effort and accomplishment,” or “validate others’ ideas.” Then hold everyone, including executives, accountable for those behaviors, in every interaction.
Contract terms or federal regulations being violated? The customer experience is abhorrent? Change the rules. Make it easy to report issues and violations. Make it easy to report aligned activities. Then, create accountability for all leaders to ensure that these minimum standards are being met. Maybe leaders need to fly often and engage with pilots, employees, and customers — and report back what’s working and what’s not. Celebrate what’s working. Address what’s not.
Want to create powerful accountability? Link a portion of executive and middle manager compensation to employee engagement and customer service as well as to results.
Culture is driven by, reinforced by, and managed by senior leaders. They can’t delegate that authority to anyone else in the organization. They must embrace this responsibility, every day.
Relate to you as the leader of your classroom company
Give A Child A Memory
Spring Break Highlights
Big Money
I Rested
Pennyless
Gaston County Go Getters on an Aquarium Quest
They told me that I won...........Say What? a SPELLING BEE ?!...lol
Yes ....I'm still laughing and smiling.
This is proof that with the right attitude, EVERYONE can be a winner!EDUCATOR EFFECTIVENESS
Truenorthlogic Upgrade
The Truenorthlogic application was upgraded Saturday, March 26th. The new version includes several updates that will benefit our educators. These updates include interface components for evaluation dashboards and updates to the transfer credit manager for the professional development component of the tool.
GCS Grading
Purpose: To provide direction to all teachers in expected grading practices
Expectations:
Reading and writing grades – The weights of each shall be reading 70 percent and writing/word study 30 percent.
In reading and math, at least three (3) must be test grades that are reflective of their proficiency on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
Homework shall not be included in grades.
If a child is working below grade level, it shall be noted in the comments section of the report card.
Academic grades shall not be reduced for misconduct or for punishment.
Grades shall be based on percentages, not points.
The final Language Arts grade shall be based upon a minimum of ten (10) reading assignments and four (4) writing assignments.
The final math grade shall be based upon a minimum of ten (10) assignments.
The science grade shall be based upon a minimum of four (4) assignments.
The social studies grade shall be based upon a minimum of four (4) assignments.
Teachers shall enter grades in PowerTeacher weekly.
School level professional learning communities shall help determine an appropriate number of additional assignments to be given for each discipline.
- The teacher shall adhere to the IEP, the 504 and any Tier Plan.
- Teachers shall not give a final grade below 50 on the report card for all marking periods.
- The teacher shall utilize the appropriate PowerTeacher comment on the report card.
- Actual grades shall be reflected on assignments that are returned to students and in the gradebook.
- Interim reports shall reflect actual grades.
- The teacher shall maintain frequent communication with student and parent.
Kindergarten and Pre-K Registration
Lowell Elementary: May 2-4 from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
Gardner Park Elementary: May 6 and May 9 from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 7 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Carr Elementary: May 11-13 from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
We're Stronger Together!
Know your Purpose (EVERYDAY)
Principal Lucretia Rice
Email: lrrice@gaston.k12.nc.us
Website: http://www.gaston.k12.nc.us/Domain/22
Location: 1 Learning Place, Gastonia, NC, United States
Phone: 704-866-6079
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forestheightselem?ref=hl
Twitter: @msprincipalboss