Bobcat Bulletin
September 21, 2020
This Week's Events
Monday, September 21
- Kindergarten Meet the Teacher
Tuesday, September 22
- Kindergarten In-person start
Wednesday, September 23
- Virtual PTA Meeting - 7:00 pm - Link
Thursday, September 24
- Fire Drill - 2:45 pm
Friday, September 25
Next Week's Events
Monday, September 28
- Kindergarten Meet the Teacher
Tuesday, September 29
Wednesday, September 30
- Extended Time
Thursday, October 1
- Fire Drill - 2:00 pm
Friday, October 2
Looking Ahead
Monday, October 5
- 3rd - 5th grade in-person start
Thursday, October 8
- Family Drive-in Movie Night
- Fire Drill - 1:00 pm
Thursday, October 15
- Picture Day (In-person AM and Virtual PM)
Progress, not Perfection
Remember...this is HARD work. I am certain that you did one thing better this week than you did last week! Those are the small victories that we need to remember to celebrate! I am so very grateful for each and every one of you!
Quick Updates
- I would like to meet with each (in-person) grade level team the week prior to your students returning to in person learning. So, next week I would like to meet with 1st and 2nd grade. Please have someone on your team reach out to me with a day/time. The only day that will not work for me is Monday.
- PTA is offering their usual Classroom Stipends this year! Full Time classroom teachers get $225, part time teachers get $175 and those teachers that have two cohorts will get $325! Please remember you need to be a PTA member to get reimbursed.
- The Office of Instruction Newsletter is constantly being updated with new information. You may want to bookmark the link to check it out periodically. 2020-21 Instructional Newsletter
- As a reminder, please send me a copy of your weekly newsletters or share them with me through schoology.
- If you have not added your Schoology course to our list, please do so here.
- Staff Shirts are coming that reflect our new school theme changing tides... please indicate your size here
NWEA is BACK!
Whether you are teaching F2F or Online, once the Window Opens September 28th, some things will look familiar to you and some things will be new. We will walk you through everything in the coming week. F2F teachers, you will get a draft of the schedule to review on Monday, please check your emails. We will get through this together!
How students will order lunch this year...
Students/Families will pre-order lunch using a program called Nutrislice. You will not be taking lunch count in the morning anymore. Families will need to create an account on the app on their phone or by visiting the Nutrislice website on a computer. They can pre-order lunch for the entire month at a time if they would like.
Until this becomes more routine for our families, I would highly suggest for the first few weeks of school asking your students who is getting a school lunch and then double checking with them to see if they remember a parent at home helping them order online. If a student doesn't remember ordering, you can talk with Beth in the office and she can double check to make sure they ordered.
This information was sent to families earlier this week by the district. I will also be including it in the Bobcat Broadcast as well.
Lunch/Recess Schedule
While many students will be eating in their classrooms this year, classrooms with students who need to eat lunch at the allergy table will be eating in the cafeteria. Please click here for the lunch/recess schedule. Names you do not recognize are new lunch/recess aides this year.
LC CORNER - CURRICULUM, LITERACY & LEARNING...OH MY!
In case you missed it...
Since it has been published, almost weekly updates have been added to the Fall Instructional Newsletter. Here are some of the newer items that you’ll want to check out.
EPIC has arrived! When you go into ClassLink the app should already be there. There is an app for teachers to set things up and an app for students to enter from. According to the Newsletter you will first need to create an account at Welcome to Epic! for Educators! You will get a class code and if you go to ClassLink and click on the logo, you can put in that class code.
Why choose EPIC? Because it gives you and your students access to 40,000 + titles. There are classics, current favorites, award winning titles, fiction and non-fiction books. Thank you for reading for comprehension. Email me the work epic to me by noon on Monday to be entered to win a prize. Please don't tell others about this hidden message. It is an entire digital library that also includes audio books and instructional videos. This is a great site to get your students reading, you could also use it to assign books for book clubs or even interest based assignments. Introduction to Epic!
The Bridges Screeners for each Unit are now available on-line. I followed the directions in the Instructional Newsletter and it took me a moment to find where I needed to go, so if you are the kind of learning who needs to see it and not just read it, here is a video to get you started: Online Bridges Unit Assessments
If you want the written directions, here they are:
Log into your Bridges account
Click on Resources and Support 2020-21
Click on the overview grade level that you would like
Scroll down to unit 1 in your grade
Click on Screener, English (Google Form). It also appears to auto-correct!
You will want to then send it to your students or embed it into Schoology using the link, so you will have access to their answers.
The screeners are formatted as a pdf and as a google form. You should be able to embed the google form link into Schoology. Or download the pdf version and then upload into Schoology for students to write right on and submit.
ZOOM TIPS & TRICKS
Two common pitfalls that arise when sharing screens and video via ZOOM is sound not working and students complaining about seeing black boxes on their screen. Here is a short video to show how to avoid that and what to do when it happens: Zoom Pitfalls #1
Here is a trick to use if you are utilizing an Alternate Host in your Zoom sessions. This video comes compliments of Kari Tacket, LC at Silver Springs. Alternative Hosts in ZOOM
Viewing 504 Accommodations in MiSTAR
By Individual Student
Menu > Enrollment > Student Documents > Student Name > click on doc type “504 accommodations > Look to right > click on pdf icon and file name.
For Entire Classlist
Menu > enrollment > reports-student documents > 504 accommodations
Select teacher name; create report
All students with 504 accommodations assigned to teacher will appear.
Random Useless Apple Facts
- The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.
- Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.
- Apple blossom is the state flower of Michigan.
- 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.
- 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
- 100 varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States.
- Apples are grown commercially in 36 states.
- Apples are grown in all 50 states.
- The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- The science of apple growing is called pomology.
- Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.
- The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea.
- Apples are a member of the rose family.
- Charred apples have been found in prehistoric dwellings in Switzerland.
- Some apple trees will grow over 40 feet high and live over 100 years.
- Apples are the second most valuable fruit grown in the United States. Oranges are first.
- In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth.
- In 1730, the first apple nursery was opened in Flushing, New York.
- Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C.
- The old saying, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” This saying comes from an old English adage, “To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.”
Mindful Moment
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life for tomorrow: Our life is our creation of our mind.” ~Buddah