Mustang Message
October 16, 2017
A Principal's Perspective
Have you ever heard your students say, "I can't do this!" "I am not a singer." "I can't solve that problem." Comments from our students in our own classrooms often times demonstrates a fixed mindset. But what about us? As educators, do we ever say things or believe things like that? As educators, do we have a growth mindset for ourselves? Inktober is a great example of challenging our growth mindset. Many of us feel that we are not artists especially comparing ourselves to an artist. But, Inktober is an opportunity to grow our mindset while also modeling for our students to take a risk while increasing our brain's plasticity. Read Christian's comments below:
"Inktober is still going strong but we need more and more creative additions to the Inktober wall. It can be a simple Haiku or a quick small doodle in ink (even post-It or index card size works). If you can't find the time to complete one every day, pick a prompt or 2 and create. Just think if each person completed one we would have a wall of over 80 pieces of creativity. Almost everyday, I speak to students about not worrying about perfection and focusing on the purpose, or as the creator of Inktober Jake Parker said, "Finished Not Perfect". I hope as teachers we can show our growth mindset and not worry about how our creations hold up next to peers and instead focus on bettering ourselves by challenging our minds. So if you can, take a brief moment out of a day this month and create something."
"Now go make something beautiful" -Jake Parker
Be Innovative - Design the possibilities!
Donna
Morning Duties of the Week
Gym & Morning Assembly (7:20): S. Anderson
Gym (7:20): Lake
Parent Drop Off Direct Traffic (7:20): Simmons
Parent Drop Off Car Doors (7:20): Reed & Williams
Cafeteria (7:20): Murphy
Bus (7:15 - Buses/ Car Drop Off after all buses arrive): Fortner
Counselor Schedule: - 2nd & 3rd (Trustworthiness/Respect & **Bullying/Friendship)
Librarian: GP
Week at a Glance
Busy Week - Please Take Note!
Campus Social Focus: Mustang Spirit (video link: http://safari.csisd.org/SAFARI/generated/embedlinks/fe133a14a132a0b63a5df0a35edd1bd1.mp4
Book Fair All Week!
Monday: : CBM #1 Begins; 2:45 Specialist Leadership Meeting; 3:05-4:00 Choir
Tuesday: Staff & Students Dress Western to Promote Book Fair Night (Yes, :) Jeans) 5:30-7:30 Book Fair & STEM Night
Wednesday: 8:30 am Sing-A-Long (A Sing-A-Long CAMP schedule will be sent out on Monday.) CAMP times will be slightly reduced.; PTO Luncheon for Staff - Potato Bar;
Sing-A-Long, PTO Lunch, Attended Book Fair/Stem Night (yes?)? Wear jeans and a GP shirt on Wednesday!!! A great humpday indeed!
Thursday: 1st Grade Vision Screeing; 1:45-2:45 4th Grade OPAS Storytelling Cafeteria; 3:05-4:15 BRAVE & Chess Club
Friday: GP Staff Social Luncheon in Science Lab (see sign up link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E49AFA629ABFC1-gpstaff1 (If your student teacher/method student is participating, please have them sign up too.) ; 1st Grade Vision Screening; SIT; Staff Fall Party at the Ice House in Bryan; End of 1st Nine Weeks!!!
Instructional Planning Opportunity
As we prepare for the second nine weeks of the school year, I would like to provide additional instructional planning time for each grade level. This would be planning time to focus on unit/lesson planning centered around the TEKS. To prepare, Casey will request subs for each team on the following days. If this day/time is not good for your grade level, please see Casey on Monday. More information will come your way next week. First steps for effective planning?
- Decide what subject & unit your team would like to plan. Begin with the end in mind. What do you want the students to know/learn?
- Share relevant research with team.
- Prepare any resources that you've used previously to share with the team.
Monday, October 23rd:
8:00-11:30 2nd Grade
11:30-3:00 3rd Grade (Subs can eat lunch during 3rd grade lunch times)
8:00-11:30 First Grade
11:30-3:00 4th Grade (Subs can eat lunch during 4th grade lunch times)
Monday, October 30th:
11:30-3:00 Kinder
News & Notes
GP Social Dues: Dues are $25 for full-time staff, $12.50 for part-time staff and $15 for paraprofessionals. Please pay your grade level Social Rep. Our goal is to collect all the dues by Tuesday, October 31st. See Social Committee tab below in this Smore.
All grade level teams that have turned in 100% of their social dues by October 31st, can wear jeans Wednesday, November 1st!
Upcoming Social Committee Events You Don't Want To Miss!:
- Friday, sign up to bring something for the luncheon. Our first one of the year!
- Friday evening will be our fall party for the staff. Look for upcoming information on Monday. Save the date! The Texas Unlimited Band is playing. They are awesome! Queso/chips provided. Costs?
- Social Committee will pay for the staff member's entrance fee.
- Each staff member bringing a spouse, friend, or a significant other will need to pay the entrance fee for their guest($8).
- There is a $5 dollar park entrance fee as you arrive to Lake Bryan. Hold on to the ticket stub. You can redeem the $5 for any food on the menu.
Morning Assembly for October: For Wednesday Writing in Morning Assembly, we are going to highlight particular writing skills for the month. This will be in lieu of each Morning Assembly teacher having their students share. For October, we will be highlighting interesting vocabulary words. If you have a student's writing piece that would be a good example of the use of interesting vocabulary words, please email me their names. I will coordinate readers for each Wednesday.
Paraprofessional: Due to increased enrollment, we have posted a position for an instructional assistant. We will be interviewing soon. This person will have office duties and work with the specialists for interventions/programming.
Kids Klub Note
My name is Sydney Hollums and I am the supervisor of Kids Klub here at Greens Prairie. We have been adjusting for a few weeks, but I think we have a solid plan now. I wanted to communicate my expectations of the children and counselors at Kids Klub to all of you.
At the beginning of the day we have announcements in the gym. Children are allowed to come into the gym and dance or sit in their lines. They are allowed to talk at a level 2 with their friends, so it does get loud in there until we start announcements. In the hallways, my expectations are that the children are walking in a line and they are expected to be at a level 0 or 1 (depending on how the day is going). During free time, our children come into the first grade pod to wash hands before going to snack. At this time of day, the children are allowed to be at a level 1 in the hallways.
Kids Klub will not be using any of the indoor spaces (except the gym) until 4:05 on most days. On rainy days or days when we can not go outside, I will need to utilize the inside spaces starting at 3:20 to be able to accommodate all of our children. Mrs. Bairrington emails me when a space is being occupied by something going on at the school, but if you are in need of a Kids Klub space last minute please feel free to contact me to let me know. It helps to have a plan B ahead of time with our kiddos.
I have reiterated all of my expectations to the counselors that are currently on staff with us. We have discussed appropriate tone and voice level when redirecting the children. If you notice anything that is concerning, please feel free to come talk to me or send me an email. Our hope is that we can all work together as a team in keeping our kids safe and creating a positive, fun atmosphere. Thank you for your time and cooperation!
Thank you,
Sydney
Social Committee Overview
Tell Me Something Good!
Mustang Yee Haws!
Happy Birthday:
No birthdays to report for the upcoming week.
Congratulations:
CSHS's Cougar XC wins District Champion Varsity Girls and Avery Seagraves, daughter of Tami Seagraves, gets 6th overall with a new PR for the course!