Staff News and Views
Faculty and Staff News October 22, 2017
Happy Monday!
Tomorrow night, there will be a showing of the movie, "Out of Darkness", which is about the Ebola Crisis in Liberia. Stephen and Kirsten will also share about their experiences. Popcorn and Pizza will be available before the movie but you must let Kirsten know if you are coming.
Tardiness to work is a growing problem. Please address this if it applies to you. We started off this morning at 7:55 with 5 people in devotions.
Please continue communicating with your parents about the Trunk or Treat and the need for candy, baked good and volunteers. Then, be sure to keep accurate records of service hours ($1 equals 1 hour - do not give more than they earned please) and turn it in to the office next Monday.
Grades and comments are due by the end of the day on Tuesday. You need to check your grades and comments for accuracy before you consider yourself done. If the grade doesn't look write or accurately assess the students progress, that is the time to take a look and figure it out. Please make the comments meaningful and personal. I would urge you to not wait until the end to begin comments. Instructions for inputting them on Renweb1 were sent last week. It is very simple.
I sent an email last week asking if that if I could obtain sweatshirts, would you want one and wear it and if so, what size. I can't spend time tracking people down for answers about this, so if you do not respond to that email I will assume that you do not want one and that is fine. This applies to full-time staff at this point.
It has come to my attention just today that there is a student who has been missing a workbook since the beginning of the school year. This was never communicated to me before so it was a bit of a surprise. If you have any student who is missing any workbook or textbook, please let me know. You should not be making copies of any workbook page for any student. They all need to have their own AND their names should be on them.
Be sure to turn in pink slips for all hours that parents have worked for you and for donations (match the dollar amount). It is important that we have this by next Monday.
Visitors this week
PLEASE talk to your children about offerings. They have been really sad this year. It needs to be a part of your class culture and requires conversation in class about giving.
Update to the update on hurricane damage
This Week
Tuesday: Dance, Middle school sign, Girls BB tryouts
Wednesday: Visitors, all school chapel, Boys BB tryouts, Wear red polo shirts to school. Staff wear read to school. If a child is still waiting (unbelievable) for a red shirt from sunshine, they may wear any solid red shirt. I do have a list of outstanding orders if there is any question.
Thursday: Early release, MS tentative meeting with the mother of Nichelle
Friday: Teachers planning day. There should be departmental meetings. If you are concerned with the length of the day due to the trunk or treat, you do not need to come in until 11AM.
Activities, Extracurriculars, Permission Slips
October Birthdays
Yashiqua 3
Lisset 6
Soraya 11
Pastor 12
Thammar 20
Shirley 21
Karen 22
Arrielle 26
Marie 27
Looking ahead
Appreciations and Shout Outs
Early childhood- great activities for Hispanic Heritage Day
K5 and 1st grade - tie dying tshirts for thursday. Way to get your hands dirty.
Jan - two STEM activities while the others were gone on the camping trip which required collaboration.
Faith - put on a Reader's Theatre with the 4th grade while the other students were gone on the field trip and performed it for other classes including PK2
2nd grade - great writing activities posted outside
PK3 - awesome cooking activity - E is for elephant
Holy Cross Vision, Mission Statement, Core Values and Beliefs
Any time we have an idea, concern, solution and/or comment, this is the filter through which we should speak. Let's help each other live up to our vision, mission, and beliefs.
Updated - to be discussed today.
Vision Statement: Holy Cross will serve as an example of exemplary Christian education.
Mission Statement: Holy Cross Lutheran School exists to empower students to reach their full potential, walk in faith and to serve others.
Core Values:
Develop a Growth Mindset.
Strive for personal growth and excellence.
Live a life of faith and service to God and others
Every student, Every day. Whatever it takes.
Motto: Learning in HIS love and care
Beliefs:
- Partnerships between students, parents, community members and staff are foundational to educational success.
- Positive school culture and a safe environment foster growth.
- Everyone has inherent value and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
- Learning is an active process requiring engaging tasks and engaging minds.
- Relevant and authentic experiences ignite continuous, deeper learning.
- Meaningful relationships enrich learning.
Focus for 2017-2018 ( Keep reviewing)
In order to help every child their personal best, Holy Cross Students and Staff will focus on developing a growth mindset. What does this mean?
In a fixed mindset, people believe that their basic qualities of intelligence or talent are fixed traits. They believe that talent alone creates success. They are wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is necessary for great accomplishments. Instead of thinking, "I can't do that" instead you think, "I can't do that YET".
Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity. I would encourage you to take the time and do your own reading and research. There are marvelous resources available online including TPT and Pinterest and there are great books written just for teachers and for children of all ages about this topic.
This goes very nicely with our theme, which is Building Champions...through Goals, Growth and Grit. In Philippians 4:13, it states, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength". We need to instill this belief in our students, that with the help of God and their own hard work and determination, they can learn and will learn.