BE in the Know ~ March 31, 2023
A Community Committed to Learning!
What does Celebrate, Calibrate, Collaborate, & Clowns all have in common?
Answer: Team BE in another full and fabulous week, of course!
- Grade level leads attended Curriculum Meeting (Thanks for your leadership and KTate for the notes -found on a button below)
- Another amazing assembly celebrating learners led by Mr. Howerton honoring kids for their great work! Special thanks to teachers and Counseling Crew too!
- Kindergarten Circus as a culminating event (Plus special art work displays) Shout out to Mr. Glenn, Mrs. Sharpe, Mrs. Kirk, SPED Team, K Team, and custodians for their great work with this special event!
- Book Fair Kicks Off with Teacher Preview (Thanks Lori and Tiffany for making this so special)
- Fantastic teaching for learning continued throughout the building (Boom for Team BE!)
- Collaboration at its finest full of calibration! **Double BOOM for Team BE!
- Math Leads provided leadership attending Envision 3.0 Demo to lead us forward with curriculum (Thanks to all of our Math Leads)
- Proactive Solutions and SPED Teams both working hard behind the scenes documenting situations and strategies being effective, meetings with parents to discuss attendance, interventions, potential retentions, next year's class placements and so much more! Thanks everyone for working hard to ensure our learners' needs are met.
- And...don't forget the fun times clownin' around! (Thanks for having a sense of humor and just having fun with your learners and colleagues!)
Whew that's alot and I didn't even have the time to expand and share ALL the amazing things seen across the building this week! Please know, YOU are much appreciated and we're so thankful YOU are on our TEAM! Go Pirates!
Thanks for continuing to make BE the best place to celebrate, calibrate, collaborate, learn, grow, work, AND, clown around from time to time!
April
And now, "Let's bring in the clowns!"
2 Shows, 2 Sets of Clowns
More Clowning' Around at BE! 🤡
Hawkins Instructional Highlights
🎵 CALIBRATION Time, Come on! 🎉
Team 1st grade giving a thumbs up or down (during collaboration this week) on if they agree whether or not the response discussed, provided adequate information to determine if the learner "had it" or not.
🎵 Let's Calibrate, and have a good time, Woo hoo! 🎉
Team 3rd discussing the importance of the team members agreeing on "sample responses" to show the level of expected rigor (for each proficiency scale level) to be used next year as anchors with their learners, so that ultimately, learners can refer to the anchors and self assess their own responses and know how improve through their own self-reflection.
#samepage
#equity
#sameRIGORexpectations
SBTL Evidence found in Mrs. Batson's Classroom
CHECK this TEAMWORK out!
All hands on deck~ Christy, Gracie, & Denise are full on, gettin' after it!
Similar to Where's Waldo, can you find all three teachers working with learners in the picture above❓
Book Fair Kicks Off
Precorrects for spending your own money and not asking others for $$
Thankful for parenting partnerships!
Thanks Mom!
Wish List in the Works!
FYI Screening will take place in the gym ~ **PE will be outside on April 11
Save the Dates... Busy times ahead!
April
3-6 Bookfair
3 Mindful Monday @ BE 4:15-5:15 (See details below)
4- Muffins with Mom before school/ 1st grade music concert @ 6:30 p.m.
5- Para Professional Appreciation Day
7- Good Friday ~ NO SCHOOL
9- Easter
10- PD Day for Staff- No student attendance (Breakfast will be Chick-Fil-A biscuits) Please get with your leads and add any topics for collaborative work for this day asap as Dr. Hawkins will be submitting the final draft for approval to Dr. Dawson soon)
17 K SBTL walkthrough @ 2:30p
18 3rd grade field trip to Wonder Works (rescheduled from the week March 23)
19 2nd grade SBTL walkthrough @ 11:30a
20 Proactive Solutions Team Meetings
21- BE Block Party (Bare Books will be on showcase that night so learners will need to have them completed by that day)
25- 3rd grade tours to BI
27- Proactive Solutions Team Meetings
May
5 School Lunch Hero Day
8-12 MAP testing for 3rd grade
10 Nurse's Day/ 2nd grade field trip to The Meadows Theater and Rec Plex Park (9:15a-2p)
15 BE 4th Quarter Walk through w/ Dr. Sheets, Dr. Dawson, Mrs. Brown, & Mrs. Barbee
16- Field day
17- Rain date for Field Day
BE hosts Mindful Monday ~ Come join the fun!
Our LAST Mindful Monday event of this school year will be Monday, April 3rd, from 4:15-5:15pm at Buchanan Elementary. If you missed the opportunity to participate during TLI, this is your chance to create your own unique Zen Garden for your desk or home. Participants will be led through a mindfulness activity and then use the rest of the time to create their unique "Zen" space.REGISTER HERE
Refreshments and door prizes are available! You won't want to miss out!
This event is open to Branson employees. Teachers' kids are welcome to attend as well and can participate in helping make a Zen garden with their parent.
Pirate Praise
Thank you Allysa Buerster for sharing all your awesome curriculum resources with us!
❤️Your first grade team
Pirate Praise to Tiffany Quiring for taking care of all our website needs! She is always ON IT and being a leader for web managers across the district!
Thank you Mr. Gibson for helping me with a student and his attendance. I appreciate all the help!
❤️Your first grade teamShout out to Lori and Tiffany for the yummy eats for book fair preview and always making things special for learners and staff! YOU are much appreciated! ~Team BE
Pirate Praise to Mrs. Wilfong, Mr. Glenn, and Mrs. Mings for hosting attendance celebrations this week! Shout out to Sunnie Miller and Joanna Jones who also assisted with some of the supervision. Thanks for always making BE a great place to BE!
Shout out to Mr. Glenn and the support of the K Team for their great job with the K Circus! Also, special thanks to our SPED Team for also coming out and helping support our learners! Parents and learners alike continued to express their love for the evening and the great work you all do not only for the Circus event, but the great work you do with them (the children) all year long!
Happy Birthday to you!
Our Sunshine Committee would like to say Happy Birthday to:
March
31- Tiffany Burd
April
6 Christy Masters
13 Marlie Reese
17 Makenzie Burtless
18 Debbie Curtis
21 Teresa Boyd
29 Sunnie Miller
29 Mikayla Saak
We hope your day is filled with tons of sunshine!
Switching gears to a team member who could use some cheer...
As you likely know, Darla McCarver recently experienced the loss of her husband, and now sadly, she also just lost her mother this past Sunday.
Since the funeral was in Kansas on Wednesday, we already sent flowers on behalf of our team.
Please continue to keep Darla in your thoughts and prayers.
Hiring Process
Dr. Hawkins will be at DO Monday morning engaged in another round of SPED interviews as we look to fulfill Cyndi Hodges' vacancy. We also conducted some in person interviews this week along with google meet interviews, and hosted teaching interviews for our other open grade 1-3 position. We are currently considering different staffing options based on best fits for our grade level teams. Stay tuned!
Other District Updates
Heat transitioning to AC
The Maintenance Staff has been working hard this week getting the systems ready to switch over to cooling. We will be turning on the air conditioning this weekend so it’ll be on for Monday. Please inform your staff that the setpoints are changing from 68*(heat) —73*(AC). There may still be some cool days but we think the buildings will maintain temperature well enough that it shouldn’t get too cold and require the heat to be turned back on. Please try to keep all the windows closed and remember each room has its own system/thermostat so keeping the doors closed as much as possible will help control the temperature in that room. Everything will be set at the lowest setting, which is currently set as low as our practice will allow. It however can be raised if someone is too cold. Just submit a work order to have your temperature raised.
Thanks for your help and understanding during the temperamental spring time.
Summer School
June 5th-June 29th: Elementary (16 days) @ CRE (Monday thru Thursday) 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
June 5th-June 22nd: Secondary (12 days) @ HS (Monday thru Thursday) 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
June 5th-June 29th: Secondary Online
Student enrollment information will be available after Spring Break. If you are interested in applying for a summer school teaching or paraprofessional position, please complete the appropriate application.
Professional Growth Plan for 2023-24
This spring, with the support of the Professional Development Committee and building leadership teams, the Instructional Service Team finalized the Professional Growth Plans for 2023-24. The goals align to the district’s strategic plan and continue the district’s commitment to standards-based learning. Elementary teachers will continue to focus on refining classroom data collection systems and calibrating scores on benchmark assessments. Secondary teachers will identify and refine priority standards and will begin deconstructing the priority standards. These goals are essential elements of a Professional Learning Community that allow us to answer guiding questions: “What do we want students to learn?” and “How do we know if students have learned these essential skills to be successful?”
Safety Reminders
- If classes are going outside, please make sure to have a walkie on you that is on and turned up to communicate and let the office know of your relocation. Thanks!
- Please help us make sure DOORS remain closed and locked throughout the day. Specifically, help us make sure NO DOORS are propped open without a teacher standing there with it. All doors should be closed and locked unless you are in transition. Thank you for keeping safety our highest priority!
Paraprofessionals Advance Degree Program
Special Education Paraprofessionals, Branson Schools is partnering with Missouri State University to support any of our SPED paraprofessionals who wish to pursue a bachelor's degree and special education teaching certification through the program. Attached is a flier with some further information about Pathways for Paras. Please join a virtual Zoom meeting on Wednesday, 12/14/2022, from 4:00-5:00 p.m. for further information.
We will honor the following retirees for their service to the district and to public education:
Michelle Meier, Jodi Blackwell, Darla McCarver, Myra McNeill, Ginger Conner, Judy Collins, John Estes, Susan Allgood, Tim Long, Kris Hollis, Karen Hart, David Large, Anthony Hampton, Doug Furtkamp, Rob Watson, Karen Littrell, Susan Simms, Joan Bulkeley, Sharon Moske, Dana McPherson, Frederick Moses and Rodney Vise.
Closers
Oh, wait, there's more clowning around happening here?
Mr. York and Miss Reese caught staging a little incident where they said there was a "mouse" caught under the trash can... Guess what kind of mouse it was?
A computer mouse! Funny clowns! 🤡🤡