Beating the Odds
Lakeview Staff Newsletter - February 1
The Week That Almost Wasn't?
To be honest, I'm a little stressed about everything we needed to accomplish in our missed staff meeting and the missed PD day. None of us likes to do things halfway and some of the topics that were missed (Bookroom, AdvancED, Trauma Sensitive, plans for AGR coaching 3rd trimester, updates from LT's, Lakeview committees) are big topics that we can't just skip past. I promise not to let the stress show and we'll figure it out together.
Raptor Visitor Management System
• Every person in our building that is not employed by the school district of South Milwaukee needs to sign in through the Raptor system in the office and wear the provided name badge if they want to proceed past the office for any reason during the school day until the office closes for the day. No exceptions.
• If you, as a district employee, forgot your district ID or for some reason do not have one, you need to wear a Raptor name badge.
• Examples of people that are not district employees are daily subs from Teachers on Call, contractors, parents, retired staff volunteers. It doesn't matter how regularly they are here. If they are not our employee, they need to sign in.
• Spouses and family members of employees need to sign in if they want to go past the office. You can come to meet them in the office if they choose not to sign in.
• People that sign in need to sign out as well by returning to the office and returning their sticker. For example, do not let parents exit through the closest door when they are done volunteering.
• On rainy or cold mornings, parents may not be allowed past the lobby. The last remaining parents with this issue seem to be our 4K parents. They may wait in the lobby without signing in - or they may choose to sign in and wait in line by the 4K room.
• If you see someone without a sticker, ask them to go to the office. Call the office for assistance if necessary.
More thoughts about school safety
Learning Targets
Looking Ahead
Kindness week extended - please see below
Monday, February 4
Science Committee 4pm in the PDC
Tuesday, February 5
Yearbook group photos
Admiral's Day - wear blue shirts - 3rd grade's turn for a reader
Wednesday, February 6
Staff Meeting 7:15-8:15 a.m.
Topic: Bookroom, part 2. Denise from Custom Ed Solutions will be here to educate us about the resources in our new and improved bookroom.
Friday, February 8
SLO mid-interval submissions due in My Learning Plan
SM Literacy Night at the high school
Tuesday, February 12
3rd-5th grade to the HS PAC for annual concert
District Character Ed team 4pm in the PDC
Thursday, February 14
PTO Meeting - 7pm in the library. Please be sure you attend at least one PTO meeting this year. Our PTO gave generously to the bookroom and is working on playground equipment for the east playground, in addition to setting themselves up as a formal PTO and 501(c)(3) organization.
Kindness Week
UPDATE - we will extend kindness day as follows:
Monday, Feb 4 - Pajama day - as regularly scheduled
Tuesday, Feb 5 - Admiral's day - blue shirts
Wednesday, Feb 6 - Hat day
Thursday, Feb 7 - Team/Workout clothes day
Friday, Feb 8 - SM/Lakeview Spirit day
The coin war and kindness chain activities will continue through Friday, February 8.
Starting Feb 11, you'll have to pick out your own clothes ... many thanks to Sarah and Heather for adapting our kindness week dates.
Student-Centered Coaching
As mentioned above, one of the topics we were unable to talk about in recent days is AGR coaching for 3rd trimester. As Rachel and I have learned more about this type of instructional coaching, we have tried out and adjusted the strategies within the framework provided by Diane Sweeney.
There are two "tracks" to AGR coaching during 3rd trimester:
1. Classroom teachers and specialists that have not yet had the chance to work with Rachel should plan to complete a 6 week cycle. I will send a separate email to staff in this category for a short meeting next week.
2. Any staff member that has already had the opportunity to work with Rachel and wishes to engage in another coaching cycle is welcome to join. If this is you, please contact Rachel.
One cycle will begin next week and run through Spring Break. The last cycle of the year will begin after Spring Break and run through the end of the year.
For either track, here is some explanation from Rachel:
1. Meet with Rachel at the start of your cycle to identify an area you would like to strengthen for your students. We'll do some planning together about/for your students.
2. For the following 4 weeks, we will do some co-teaching, watching your students grow and implementing the strategies we have identified together.
3. The final week, we will meet to debrief the process and talk about student growth as well as personal growth.
I believe the teachers I have worked with this year would tell you that it has been a valuable process! If you are interested in working as a team (grade level, etc.) I would be open to that as well. We will decide together what we want to work on! If I have worked with you this year, I am still available! Please let me know if you are interested in continuing our work and if it's possible I will keep it going! For those that are new to instructional coaching, I look forward to working with you!
Structural Items
Family newsletter - Here is the link to this week's family newsletter.
Golden Lions - we expect Raptor to take up a considerable amount of time for both Roxanne and Cortney in the coming weeks. Continue giving Golden Lions, but only send students to the office between 9am and 2pm, please.
EdCamp in Elmbrook - March 2nd at Brookfield HS. Here is the link for info and registration.
Elementary Blackout Dates - Here is a link to the calendar
Character Dares & Trauma Sensitive Schools
Lakeview Elementary School
Email: csepersky@sdsm.k12.wi.us
Website: lakeview.sdsm.k12.wi.us
Location: 711 Marion Avenue, South Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone: 414-766-5252
Twitter: @sepersky