GATE Staff Newsletter
11.17.19 (thru 11.26.19)
Happy Sunday everyone!
Welcome back, Amanda! We are so thrilled to have you back. Your students are so excited, too!!
Check out our new logo! Mr. Hocking (a parent from Ms. Merrill's room) created it for us; he happens to be a branding strategist and was willing to change some things up for us.
You'll notice from my schedule below that I'm in and out quite a bit this week. The in-district resident application window is closed, so now I am going to each school to administer the writing assessment to the applicants.
I'll be putting a Book fair preview and week-of Book fair sign-up by the mailboxes. Please make sure you sign your class up for a spot on each sheet. I'll send out a schedule for the book fair the week of Dec.2nd soon.
Please note that I will not have an additional Staff Newsletter next Sunday - this includes Monday and Tuesday of next week as well.
I'll be sending these newsletters out every Sunday/Monday. Please take 10 minutes and read this newsletter thoroughly - there's a lot of information in it and hopefully many of your questions answered. Let's have another great week of learning!
Comic Relief...
Coming Up This Week...
9:00 - Kate writing assessment at Woodland; 1:15 - Kate writing assessment at Auburn; 3-5 - Kate Admin Council meeting
Tuesday 11.19:
8:15 - Kate meeting with Blessings in a Backpack; 9:30 - Shelter in place drill; 10:15 - Kate writing assessment at Deerfield; 1pm - Kate meeting
Wednesday 11.20:
9-12: Kate Elem. Principal's meeting
Thursday 11.21:
9am - Kate writing assessment at Graham
Friday 11.22:
GATE 1/2 Day - PM records. See note about the 1/2 days below.
Monday 11.25:
Rescheduled Picture Re-take day in AM.
Tuesday 11.26:
Re-scheduled staff meeting 6:50-7:50am in workroom; 1/2 Day - Records in PM; End of 1st Trimester. (Special area staff and Mike - see my separate email from last week regarding your 2nd trimester schedule/students)
School resumes Dec.2nd.
Other School Dates
- Nov. 11 - Nov. 22: Gleaner's Food Drive @ GATE
- Nov. 13: Vision Screening
- Nov. 14: PTO Meeting 7pm, Media Center
- Nov. 22: 1/2 Day; Teacher Records in PM.
- Nov. 25: Fall Photo Retakes
- Nov. 26: 1/2 Day; Teacher Records in PM. End of 1st Trimester.
- Nov. 27-29: No School
- Dec. 2: Art Gallery Walk 6pm @ GATE
- Dec. 2-6: Scholastic Book Fair all week!
- Dec. 12: PTO Meeting 7pm @ Media Center
- Dec. 20: Classroom winter parties - time TBD by classroom teacher
- Dec. 23-Jan. 3: Winter Break
- Jan. 9: PTO Meeting 7pm @ Media Center
- Jan. 16: Early Dismissal @ 1:05pm
- Jan. 17: Blanket Making event sponsored by PTO - details to come
- Jan. 23: GATE Open House Showcase Event - details to come
- Jan. 27-31: NWEA MAP Winter Testing week
1/2 Days and Report Cards
Reminders:
For the two upcoming 1/2 days: You may work from home for the afternoon of the half days as long as everything is submitted/completed ON TIME.
All MiStar report cards should be submitted by December 2nd @3pm. Brenda will print those and I will put them along with envelopes in your mailboxes. I will also place the parent letter explaining how the two report cards are different in your boxes.
Make sure that you can log in and that everything looks ok SOON. If it doesn't - you need to email me ASAP with what needs to be fixed so I can let them know to fix it before it's too late.
If you plan to work from home - make sure that you can access everything from home.
All standards listed in MiStar are only based on their grade level.
If student is working on grade level in an area - use the marks you have.
If student is working above grade level in an area - give 3’s.
All of your report card narratives should be completed prior to Friday December 6th. You need to print these.
December 6th: Send home report card envelopes filled with MiStar report card, report card narrative and the narrative parent letter.
Special area teachers do not do a separate report card narrative. Just add your comments on the MiStar report card.
Helpful links:
Parent Letter - will go home with 1st trimester report card & narrative
Sample Student Report Card Narrative
19-20 Report Card Template for GATE
Google Folder with teacher folders and template.
A Great Time to Review Expectations/Procedures....
Secretarial Changes Coming Soon...
Some other changes are coming, and that is that Brenda will begin to work on the GATE side of the building in my office starting around Thanksgiving week for half the day. She will be in the main office for the first half of the day, and on our side the second half. This same schedule will be in effect for her replacement as well.
Teacher Leadership and Help - LAST CHANCE!
Remember that I know that we are all growing and have our own strengths and areas of need. I think this doc is a fantastic opportunity to help each other. As we edit this, I'll continue to add to the "results" side. There's a lot here - it may not all get addressed at once - but we'll focus on the highest areas of need. I'll be facilitating these "helping" areas.
Please know that this is all an effort to help you grow as an educator at GATE and is not tied to your 5D+ evaluation. However, it may help your growth results! :)
Gleaner's Food Drive - Last week!
Here's the totals as of last week:
Burmann: 35 lbs.
Merrill: 20 lbs.
Gierman: 55 lbs.
Breeden: 16 lbs.
McDermid: 118 lbs.
Bigelow: 24 lbs.
(Total - 270 lbs. as a school)
Our food drive will run November 11-22.
There will be 2 goals:
1. School-wide goal: 550 lbs = We all earn a Pajama Day!
2. Classroom goal: Most pounds donated = Pizza Party!
Weekly Dose of Encouragement
OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW
Positivity Project
Professional Development Slides - For Your Reference
FOSS Kits
Please let me know if you have any questions about the FOSS kits you received.
We will have two FOSS kits this year. They will be used during Trimester 1 and Trimester 2.
2nd-Pebbles, Sand, Silt (Fall drop off, Dec. 1 PU), Solids and Liquids (Nov Drop off, Feb 19 PU)
3rd- Water and Climate (Fall drop off, Dec. 1 PU), Motion and Matter (Nov Drop off, Feb 19 PU)
4th- Soil, Rocks, and Landforms (Fall drop off, Dec. 1 PU), Energy (Nov Drop off, Feb 19 PU
5th- Earth and Sun (Fall drop off, Dec. 1 PU), Mixtures and Solutions (Nov Drop off, Feb 19 PU)
2nd/3rd: Amanda Merrill - 2nd grade kit
2nd/3rd: Kimberly McDermid - 3rd grade kit
3rd/4th: Rachel Breeden - 3rd grade kits
4th/5th: Michelle Gierman - 4th grade kits
4th/5th: Erica Burmann - 5th grade kits
Academic/Behavior Concerns
Staff Meeting Dates
Well, the survey results were 50% wanting AM and 50% wanting PM. As a compromise we'll do every-other staff meeting at 6:45am-7:45am and every-other at 3:05pm-4:05pm. Please mark your calendars.
11/12 3:05pm-4:05pm
12/10 6:45am-7:45am
1/14 3:05pm-4:05pm
2/11 6:45am-7:45am
3/10 3:05pm-4:05pm
4/14 6:45am-7:45am
5/12 3:05pm-4:05pm
6/9 6:45am-7:45am