Skyland Peek at the Week
Week of October 14 - 18
A Flawed Stone
In the 1400s, a city in Italy commissioned a sculpture to be created out of a block of stone, similar to the picture above. They found the most famous and skilled sculptor of time and after looking at the stone, he told the city no because the piece of stone was not perfect. Years later, the city hired another sculptor to work on the same piece of stone. After agreeing, he tried and tried to create a masterpiece from the stone. After much effort, he quit, telling the city the stone was too flawed and that he could not make the stone work to create a masterpiece. The stone sat for 25 years, being weathered by the Italian elements before a 26 year old artist came along. As he began working with stone, he noticed the same issues as the previous two artists. However, he decided to change his techniques to fit the needs and flaws of the stone. When he completed his masterpiece, many asked him how he made it work. Michelangelo stated, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." The statue of David that still stands in the Florence, Italy to this day is one of the most recognizable and famous statues in the world and throughout history.
Do you see the angels in the rejected stones that sit in your classroom? What techniques are you changing to fit the needs of your flawed stones? They are begging to be freed, but are waiting for just the right person to come along and see their potential, to see them for the masterpieces they can be.
Reminders
VIP and Me Breakfast
We already have some tweaks to make the event even more successful when we do it again for the Spring Book Fair! (And be extra nice this week to Mrs. Sanford, Mrs. Kellems, and Charlie. Bring them some chocolate or a Starbucks for pulling off such an incredible event!)
Weekly Flyers
We are hoping this will help not only the help the number of things you are receiving to send home, but also help with how many times you are having to pack folders with different flyers during the week.
There may be emergency situations that we have to send something home on a day other than Monday, but we are going to try our best to stick to sending flyers home on only Monday! We will communicate if there is a flyer that needs to be sent home immediately.
Parent Backpack Flyer for Report Cards
Parent Backpack Flyer for Report Cards – Update - Flyers with step-by-step Parent Backpack signup instructions in English and Spanish will be delivered to your school on Friday, October 11. Please send a flyer home with every report card on October 22. Additional note: Parents/Guardians who apply for a Backpack account must appear in person to verify their identity (must provide a government issued photo id). They only need to provide a student birth certificate or court order to prove their rights to student information if they are not already in PowerSchool as the custodial adult.
We will put these flyers in your boxes as soon as we receive them.
If you need to leave early...
You've Been Booed
Have fun "boo"ing your amazing Skyland colleagues!
Skyland United Way campaign starts Monday!
Make sure to check the letter from Caitlyn to see all the great incentives for donating to United Way, including lots of opportunities for Jeans Passes and a grade level lunch coverage for the top donating team!
Morning and Afternoon Wanders
They have also started to do this during afternoon dismissal. Please make sure you remind them to go straight to dismissal.
Thank you!
SLOs (Repeat)
Read Your Way to the Big Game - Clemson v. Carolina Reading Log Contest (Repeat)
To kickoff our competition for Read your way to the Big Game, we have a silly promo video to show your students on Monday. (See link below.) Please make sure you show it before Monday afternoon, as we will be coming around to hand out reading logs in the afternoon.
Guided Reading Groups (Repeat)
TypeTastic (Repeat)
So you're going to be out... (REPEAT)
* Text Leah and Holli ASAP (Leah - 719-640-0788, Holli 864-561-6225)
* Call the sub list if you are feeling up to it.
* Put it into the Sub Find system as soon as possible.
* Contact your grade level chair to make arrangements for plans and AM coverage.
Reminders from Mase
Reminders from Kenna
Second grade will be testing on Tuesday, Oct. 15-Thursday, Oct. 17 and Monday, Oct. 21-Tuesday, Oct. 22. Please remind students to travel quietly through the hallways on these days.
There will be a MasteryConnect PD opportunity on building and managing assessments on Tuesday, October 29 (2nd Tchr Workday/Exchange day) at Mauldin High School from 8:00-3:00. This will also count towards tech proficiency renewal credits! Here's the link to register:
https://pd.greenville.k12.sc.us/myPD.aspx?action=register&sessionid=162951
Verification Reports for grades 2-5 and Related Arts will be due the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 23. (With the end of Q1 being on Tuesday, Oct. 22, please plan ahead to have grades entered so that verification reports will be completed by 8:00am on Wednesday, Oct. 23.) Don't forget to insert the floor of 50 when needed and to use a comment stating that the grading floor has been applied. Directions for entering handwriting, printing verification reports, etc. can be found using this link. Please let me know if you need anything!
https://sites.google.com/a/greenvilleschools.us/powerteacher/
Reminders from Katelin
- The Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment window opens on September 16 and closes on December 6
- Grades K-5 - Enter fall instructional reading levels in RAS in the fall column.
- Grades K-5 - Replace the previous year's spring benchmark form with the updated fall instructional form.
- Kindergarten Teachers - Do not benchmark your students until they are a level A. If they are not reading at a level A, please wait and benchmark them as close to December 6th as possible.
Counselor's Corner - Reminders from Caitlyn and Chelsea
Important Upcoming Dates
October
10/14 - United Way Campaign at Skyland starts!
10/15 - Skate Night from 6-8 pm
10/15-17 - CogAT Testing (2nd grade)
10/16 - K5 to Orchard (Field Trip)
10/16 - PD/Faculty Meeting (3:15-4:15)
10/19 - Fall Festival 11 - 3 pm
10/21-25 - Red Ribbon Week
10/21 - Stephanie Williams Tech PD (Conference Room)
10/21-22 - Iowa Testing (2nd grade)
10/22 - 3rd grade Cherokee Field Trip
10/23 - No Meeting
10/23-10/24 - 1st Grade Greer Community Field Trip
10/23 - Terrific Kids Celebration (1:30 - 2:30)
10/25 - Best Day Ever Event
10/25 - Causal Friday (Jeans Day)
10/28 - Exchange Day
10/29 - Exchange Day
10/30 - PD/Faculty Meeting
10/30 - Report Cards
11/1 - Bonus Jeans Day (because you made it through a Thursday Halloween!)
Happy Birthday
October
14- Kathy Ensley, Special Education
15- Susan Menard, 3rd
16-Courtney Hagan, K5
16- Andrea Thomason, Nurse
18- Kenna Brannon, IC
19- Leah Stafford, Principal
19- Alice Prentice, Cafeteria
22- Sara LaPage, 2nd
Dates Stafford is super duper sad that she will be out of the building
10/16 - Furman Consortium
10/18 - United Way Meeting (AM only)
10/22 - Cherokee Field Trip with 3rd grade (I'm so excited!!!!)
10/24 - New Principal Meeting (1/2 day)
10/25 - New Principal Meeting (Full Day)
Mrs. Stafford's Contact Information
Email: lstafford@greenville.k12.sc.us
Website: https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/skyland/
Phone: 8643557210
Twitter: @leahcstafford