GRE Staff Newsletter
February 10, 2020
Dear Team,
Snow! How great was it to see snow these past few days? Not nearly enough of it, but I'll take it! I really enjoyed last week's staff meeting and had no idea how many times I would use what we learned throughout the week. Some key takeaways for me were:
1. Strategies for listening:
WAIT-Why Am I Talking
CLASS- Clarify using restatement, Listen for the real message, Avoid assumptions, Silence, Stay in the moment
2. Challenging students are delayed in: Flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, problem solving
3. Challenging behaviors show us the kid doesn’t have the skill yet
My other powerful ah-ha was the conversation around attention seeking versus connection seeking. We have many, many students who are crying out for connection...usually in ways we would not prefer. I'll be honest, last week was a difficult week for some of our students and our staff members. We continue to see behaviors that we have not seen before. However, that won't stop us from loving all our students. Every single student...every single day. Once a year (maybe more sometimes) I have to dig deep and give myself a pep talk. I have different videos, podcasts, and blogs to lift me up but this week I turned back to my friend Rita. She reminded me that "No significant learning can occur without significant relationships". Whether that learning is how to better handle frustration, be more flexible and adaptable, or how to partition a shape, learn what a closed vowel is or how to identify the main idea of a passage. It won't happen, no matter how good we are, if we don't have meaningful relationships.
I know the same is true about our relationships with each other. That's why this week I want to celebrate you (see below for details). Each of you. I see you...here early, staying late, crying over student issues and all the other things that make life as a teacher challenging. You matter. You are making a difference. The work is hard-but you can do it. In the words of the Navarro Cheer Team..."We can. We will. We must."
Who will you champion this week?
Kate
PS-If you have Netflix and you have not watched "Cheer"...it's a must see!
Everyone needs a dose of Rita now and then! Check it out!
Welcome Baby Bryant!
News to Share
1. Help share the good news about Neighborhood Bridges. Please encourage your families to follow along but liking and subscribing to Big Walnut Bridges. If you have a family in need of something, please let me know and I can add it to our Bridge!
https://www.facebook.com/BigWalnutBridges/
Twitter at @BridgesWalnut
Instagram @BigWalnutBridges
2. We will have Eagle's Nests this Thursday since we had a snow day this past week. We are having it on Thursday because Friday we will follow our Assembly/Party Day schedule found in our main scheduling doc by clicking here.
3. The Big Walnut Education Foundation (BWEF) is excited to join Big Walnut Schools in a campaign to send cards and letters to our troops. The troops find these notes incredibly uplifting and fun to read while deployed. In turn BWEF would like to offer grants to teachers whose classroom participates in the campaign. To qualify a teacher who has students that write letters will be entered into a drawing. Click here to learn the specifics.
4. On Tuesday, HR Imaging will be in the building taking group photos and candids. Please plan to wear your Adventure Awaits tshirts with jeans. We will take our staff photo at 8:15 in the gym. Be there or be square! Plan for several announcements to indicate which group is up.
5. Please help me welcome Kylie McKenzie who is our new tutor filling Jen Nichols place. Kylie grew up in the Big Walnut School District and attended Otterbein University where she got her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education with a 4/5 endorsement. She is currently the Junior Varsity cheerleading coach at Big Walnut High School. Kylie shared that she is super excited to be back at Big Walnut and to join the GRE team! Let's give her a GRE welcome this week!
6. Our Best Buddies Program is once again supporting the Spread the Word INCLUSION initiative and would love your support. Spread the Word to End the Word is a campaign to raise awareness of the hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using it. A National Awareness Day will be held on March 4, 2020. Visit www.r-word.org to take the pledge today and find campaign resources. If you still have your yellow shirt from last year, plan to wear it on March 4th! If you'd like to order a new shirt, we are offering a couple different styles this year. Visit the website below and place your order prior to 2/21 to guarantee delivery prior to March 4th.
http://bestbuddies.bigwalnutapparel.com/
A portion of these sales will go directly to our Best Buddies Chapter and allow for more students to attend the Best Buddies Leadership Conference 2020.
Upcoming Events
Monday, February 10th- D Day;
Tuesday, February 11th- E Day; Yearbook Candid's Day including staff photo at 8:15!; Wear jeans and your Adventure Awaits t-shirt
Wednesday, February 12th- A Day; Happy Birthday Maggie!
Thursday, February 13th- B Day; Eagles Nests 9:00-9:40;
Friday, February 14th- C Day; Valentine's Day Parties 2:30-3:20
Upcoming Events
February 7 Eagle’s Nest
February 13 PTO Meeting 6:30pm
February 14 K-4 Valentine Parties 2:30-3:20
February 17 NO SCHOOL: President’s Day
February 20 P/T Conferences 4:00-8:00pm
Feb. 24- Feb. 28 Read Across America Week
Feb. 28 Rockin’ Recess