EAGLE MOUNTAIN NEWS & NOTES #2
AUGUST 24, 2015
EAGLE MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY
Email: bmclain@ems-isd.net
Twitter: @bmacEME
REAL QUICK
Thank you all for a great first week last week! Kelli & I are wishing you an exciting & memorable first day today! We know you are very well-prepared for our kids. Thanks again to all of you for the enthusiasm you conveyed at our Meet the Teacher night & for generating excitement with your students because of who you are & how you teach! They are so lucky! We wish you the best first day ever!
Your rooms look great, & it’s amazing to me that despite all the frenzy, it does all come together, & you brought it all together with with class & style, so an extra thank you for stepping up & making sure you had all your ducks in a row!
We want to welcome the latest additions to our team – Hope Howell joins us in fourth grade & will be an asset to the already spectacular fourth grade team. We also want to welcome Catherine Massie to the Kindergarten team. Both ladies have worked hard to get their rooms ready & are excited to be part of our team. We’re also thankful to have Becky Jackson as Kristin’s long-term sub while Kristin is out on maternity leave.
Today I begin my twenty-ninth “Opening Day” with a calm confidence that this will be my best one yet.
This sense of aplomb derives from the confidence I have in every teacher & staff member in our building. I love the excitement of the first day – there’s not another day like it with the eagerness & excitement students exude as they begin their amazing journey with each of you.
Today we set the stage for yet another year of leading impressionable young people. I take great comfort in knowing that these impressionable students are at Eagle Mountain, where their minds, emotions, & values are shaped by outstanding educators. These young people will go on to become our future. We will produce many noble citizens who will go on to greatness.
At Eagle Mountain, you are widely known for caring about kids. I think it’s safe to say that we care about kids more than we care about anything related to our jobs. I believe human relation skills are even more important than specific teaching skills or content knowledge. I know you will set the appropriate tone for a culture of caring in your classrooms, classrooms where teachers & students care about learning, care about each other, & care about our community.
As you know, the first week of school – even the first few MINUTES of the first class session – sets the tone for the entire year. If our students leave school today feeling excited about themselves as learners & about you as their teacher, then we are halfway home! From what I know about you, I anticipate that this will be the case. Remember, too, that our kids will meet any expectations we set for them as long as we are firm, fair, & consistent with these expectations & build relationships with our students so that they will want to meet them. Finally, remember that the primary way we accomplish this positive relationship-building with our kids is simply by caring deeply about them as learners & as young people.
Again, this year, each of has a significant opportunity awaiting: to be “a little part of something big” – i.e. playing a role in what our own future will look like! Because I work with the best teachers anywhere, I am confident that our kids will make us all extremely proud throughout the year & later in life. Thanks for molding the minds of our future engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, athletes, & future leaders. I really hope you will be blessed with a healthy & happy year both at school & at home. Here’s to a exciting first week & a magnificent year!
Important Information this week!
· Kelli & I will come around this morning to introduce ourselves to the students once we get settled.
· Please make sure you spend time going over routines & expectations. As you know the first day is the most critical day in setting the foundation for the rest of the year.
· Make sure attendance is taken promptly & get that habit down as part of your daily routine.
· Please keep students hydrated and allow them plenty of water breaks until the hot weather subsides. Please be very diligent about outside supervision during recess.
· Please make sure you know how your students are to get home today, & make every effort to get the bus riders on the right bus…that can be a challenge, so please be proactive in this area!
· We will have “YOU MATTER” labels for you to put on the students at some point today! Please put them on your students before they go home today if you can.
· Please share copies of your newsletters & parent communication with us so that we are kept in the loop!
· Kelli & I would each like a copy of your daily class schedule by the end of the week.
· Congratulations to Kristin Mullen on the birth of her son Lawson Dean who arrived last Monday. We know how special his arrival is for Kristin & Rob & send our best wishes!
· If you have items that need to be placed on our September calendar, please have those to me by Wednesday if possible.
· We know you are anxious to get your I-pads, & Candice will work to get those to you the first part of this week.
· We’re glad to have Tim on our campus more this year; his time will be designated as 70% with us at EME & 30% at Elkins. Still, it’s more than we had him last year!
· September 11th is the due date for having your Bundle Compliance video training completed.
· Relax & enjoy the first day – it’s always one of my favorites!
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Monday – GAME ON - First day of school – we wish you an exciting opening day!
Tuesday – 2nd day jitters are over – time to settle in & let deeper learning begin!
Wednesday – Faculty meeting – 3PM
Thursday – Please have a copy of your Daily Schedule to us by the end of today.
Friday – You’ve almost made it through the first week!
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:
Dear World,
My young son starts school today…it’s all going to be sort of strange and new to him for a-while, and I wish you would treat him gently. You see, up to now, he’s been king of the roost – he’s been boss of the backyard – his mother has always been near to soothe his wounds and repair his feelings. But now things are going to be different.
This morning he’s going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand, and start out on the great adventure – it’s an adventure that might take him across continents, across oceans – it’s an adventure that will probably include wars and tragedy, and sorrow. To live his life in the world he will live in, will require faith and love and courage.
So, World, I wish you would sort of look after him – Take him by the hand and teach him things he will have to know. But do it gently, if you can.
He will have to learn I know, that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel, there is a hero – that for every crooked politician, there is a great and dedicated leader – Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend. Steer him away from envy, if you can…and teach him the secret of quiet laughter.
In school, World, teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if someone says that they are wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crow when everyone is getting on the bandwagon – Teach him to listen to all men – but teach him also to filter al he hears on a screen of truth and take just the good that siphons through.
Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he’s sad…teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success.
Treat him gently, World, if you can. But don’t coddle him – because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the courage to be impatient…let him have the patience to be brave.
Let him be no other man’s man – Teach him to have sublime faith in himself – because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.
This is quite an order, World, but see what you can do – He’s such a nice little fellow, my son.
-Dan Valentine
NOTEABLE QUOTABLE:
SHOUT OUTS
· Donna Bell needs to take a bow for the incredible lengths she went to ensure all kids were accounted for, in rooms, etc. MANY parents’ commented on how smooth Meet the Teacher Night went, & that is largely due to Donna’s efforts. She makes it look easy, but the reality is she is behind the scenes working her magic, staying late, & her organizational skills are among the best I’ve ever seen! We are already embracing Donna in her new role! GREAT JOB DONNA!
· Sandra Short also deserves a pat on the back for many things that she has done to help us all get ready for this week! She is our financial guru & does an amazing job with our budget & stretching our dollars. As you know Sandra has a great attitude & a great sense of humor, & I tip my hat to her for many many things. Sandra, your boss thinks you’re a big deal! THANK YOU!!! J
· I also want to thank Kelli Shipp for working to get textbooks out when there were a thousand other details that also demanded her attention. Kelli’s work-ethic is second to none, & when I think of the word INVESTED I think of Kelli. She is one of our many rock stars! Thank you also Kelli for the “YOU MATTER” notebooks you made for the staff, & for your willingness to always go the extra mile – no matter what it takes! We are blessed to work beside you! J
· KUDOS to Candice Martin for her willingness to take over the CTI role. Candice enjoys technology & will be an asset to us in this role.