Gator Gazette
Expect Success for All
Professionalism
Teaching is a profession; Therefore teachers are expected to display appropriate, professional behavior, appearance and dispositions.
Sounds simple enough right? Well, let's dig deeper on the term disposition. Our professional disposition affects our values, ethics and behaviors towards students, colleagues and families. If our disposition is negative the result is lower student achievement. That lower student achievement may not directly impact your classroom but it can impact an entire campus. How is your disposition towards others? Do you go around saying negative things? Do you make hurtful or helpful comments? Not everyone is going to teach like you do. No one is expected to. Everyone has their own unique way of delivering information to students. That is what makes us human. Celebrate and embrace how unique each of us are. I am going to be brutally honest here. It is sad to me to see or hear about trained professionals who make remarks about individuals when they offer or share ideas. I don't understand it. Who is to say that your ideas are better? That does not create a safe environment for professionals to grow. Let's learn from each other. Let's embrace how unique we are. Let's begin to realize people do change and that people do have wonderful ideas. As a trained professional, work on your supporting your colleagues with words, facial cues and body language. When you see others being negative do not feed into it. Stop it. Tell that person you do not want to hear about it or put a positive spin on the situation. I know that is hard because sometimes it is your dear friend. But...to help Gardens to continue to grow we need to stop the negativity and foster a culture of positivity and support.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week
Monday - Enjoy the gift of jeans all week.
Watch for other fun gifts coming your way very soon! :)
ACE Program
1. For the STAAR tests, they changed their lessons plans to directly support the exams. They also made cards and notes of appreciation for our teachers and students.
2. They have implemented an ABL lab this year. That is an action based learning lab. They are directly impacting how a child learns by have the students do gross motor movements while learning their SEs. Think about our kinesthitic learners. We are finally reaching the whole child. We will have a lab set up in the kinder pod next year for all of us to use. This is great for our students with ADHD, etc.
3. There is a new computer program they are going to pilot this summer called Insync. It will directly teach our parents how to teach the SEs. It also provides academic clarity to our college students who work in the after school program since they do not directly work with the SEs daily.
4. They have promoted chess with our students throughout the year. If you have a student in the ACE program in grades 2-4, I guarantee you have heard about chess. Students hate to miss out on chess.
5. Field trips, art projects, community service and more! The after school program is constantly looking for ways to engage students after school. The days do become long at times for students and for the staff; however they all enjoy it! That is because the staff makes learning fun and entertaining.
So give the staff a pat on the back. Know that they are working hard to make the program educational and fun at the same time. They do a lot of great things for our students. Don't think of the program as something separate. Think of it as partnership. Together we can make a difference.
Gator Greats
She did it! Liliana Garza worked diligently on Friday with our PTA to help support them during our mother/son dance. We had numerous parents show up and our families created many memories together. That was SUPPORTIVE and KIND!
They did it! Gaby Duran, Nelda Grizzaffi and Nataly Martinez came up with some great ideas for centers. They brainstormed with our district specialist and when she left she was so excited about their conversation she sent me an email about how great their meeting was. That is AMAZING and EXCITING!
She did it! Norma Jimenez has won the Together We Can award for our campus for Creating Magic. She has been instrumental in the development and changes of our mathematics curriculum on campus. That is SUPPORTIVE and AMAZING!
Summatives
Most of you have received your annual summative on Eduphoria. Make certain you sign it before May 5. We have summative conferences this week. Please be respectful of conferences occurring in the office. Please let Cindy or me know if you have any questions.
Summer School
Bilingual PK and Kinder - No bus service available. Parents will have to drive their child to and from Golden Acres.
We currently have 15 slots available. To qualify you need to be in our bilingual PK or kinder classroom and be below grade level.
Summer School Retention Program will be at Sparks Elementary. Bus services will be available for our students from Gardens.
Kinder - Send students who are struggling and reading below grade level. I would look at your AA and A readers. We currently have 8 slots available. If we need more, let me know.
1st Grade - Send students who are below a level "F" and did not meet standards in Math and Language Arts. It sends we have 13 slots available but if we need more, let me know.
2nd - 4th Grade - Any child who will receive a final average of an "F" in math, reading, and/or language arts qualifies. Again, it says we have a set number but I am going to send whoever needs to go.
Science Camp at Sparks Elementary. Bubble students qualify for camp. Bus services will be available for our students.
Kinder - No science camp
1st Grade - This is the only grade level where they will have classes in Spanish. There are 16 slots available for both our Spanish and English classes.
2nd Grade - No Spanish classes but there may be a teacher who can support our students. We have a total of 16 2nd grade slots.
3rd and 4th Grade - Classes will be in English. There are a total of 22 slots available for each grade level.
If a child says they cannot go, hand the form to someone else. I want to fill our numbers and not leave any open. We can always make more copies of the registration forms.
When you turn in your registration forms, you will also need to turn in the following information:
1. Health Inventory (this will be attached to the registration form)
2. A copy of the report card
3. Accommodations per the 504 or IEP as applicable. Liliana, Shauna and Marina can help you with that if need be.
4. Graphic organizers for testing if applicable
All of the information will be turned into me (Lindsey) once it is collected. Libby and I will be working on registering each child into the system.
Where are we?
Cindy - Here all week! :)
This and That
Tuesday- First grade book pick up day 2
Wednesday - Fourth grade field trip, summer reading program in the cafeteria, dyslexia parent meeting, Kinder book pick up day 1, Happy Nurse Appreciation Day!
Thursday - Faculty meeting, Kinder book pick up day 2
Friday - Hodge book pick up
Double check your calendars. I left mine at school. You would think one day I would learn to place a copy in my bag. :(