BESTeam Tidbits
September 10, 2017
Friday Fun!
Friday is also our first pep rally of the school year. This pep rally will kick-off the Laps for Learning fundraiser, PTA's BIGGEST fundraiser of the year. We will also honor our first round of Portrait of a Texans. And, we will throw some kindness in with Abbey and the KC Club sprinkling kindness like confetti. This is a great way to spread Texan pride and get our students excited about Laps!
Since Friday is both Dot Day and a BES pep rally, feel free to show your BES pride with dot day attire of red, white, and blue. Get with your teammates or, for those of you who don't have distinct teams, find a team to join and see what ideas you can come up with for a fun, no cost way to see where your dot can take you. There might be some prizes involved!
Celebrations!
- Congratulations on earning the Golden Apple PTA Award for having 100% of staff members join BES PTA!!!! Thank you for your unending support of BES PTA!!!
Thank you Raschel for heading up the Education Drive! The incentive of jeans for the rest of September enticed almost 100% participation. A generous, anonymous donor made a contribution on others earning us 100% Thank you to each of you for donating to the foundation! The money they raise for our students help fill some of the funding gaps we feel. Thank you to the anonymous donor who brought us to !00%. Enjoy jeans for the month of September!
The website looks AMAZING!!! Thank you to each of you for updating your pages with current information and pictures! Thank you Shelly for serving as our website manager!
Thank you to all involved with LPAC training and meetings this week!!
Actor's Toolbox
The contracts and concentration circles around the building have been incredible!!!! Students and staff are using the Actor's Toolbox language! The Toolbox reminds our students to use their bodies, voices, imaginations, concentration, and cooperation for growth, learning, and to be great team players.
Signing the contract is a great way to gather for circle up and to start the day focusing on the five tools. The concentration challenges (see Mrs. Marino's class above) teach our Texans what it means to focus. The cooperation challenges are great ways to group students or transition from learning experiences. We are on this journey of learning together and the Actor's Toolbox is one part of the process. We'd love to observe, model, or partner you with other classes so we can continue to grow together!
See below for information from Focus 5.
This silent ritual, underscored with music, reinforces the tools and skills required for
acting. The Actor’s Toolbox should be used to begin each day or every acting
session. It is a physical CONTRACT students sign to demonstrate their agreement
to control their bodies, voices, and minds, as well as to concentrate and cooperate.
GOAL:
• Calm, focused, balanced class
• 100% student effort
BENEFITS:
• Enables “Reflective Brain” vs. “Reactive Brain”
• Kinesthetic review and/or agreement of tools, elements, rules/expectations
• Establishes a vocabulary for self regulation/control
• Behavior assessment
• Provides a clear, unifying transition
• Balances the energy of the group
• Provides a framework for reflection
• Addresses Bodily/Kinesthetic and Intrapersonal Intelligence
To Do
- Principal Panel: Each year, students can apply to join the Bransford Principal Panel. This panel affords our students the opportunity to share their voice with the principal. Please share the link for the application with your students. QR codes linking to the application will also be in your boxes. Thank you for sharing with your students!https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUC2XmNwU0dhSGUruxvej_oslb52O6L9Vfqb3mJJpnETsM6g/viewform?usp=sf_link
For Your Information
- Student Voice: Great student voice information can be found here. Looking forward to seeing how student voice is used in your area!
- SAGE: Kris Neubauer is the SAGE rep for Bransford this year. She has set up a closed Facebook group for GT families at Bransford in an effort to get the parents more involved. Staff members can join for SAGE for free at gc-sage.org until Sept. 16th.
Classlink: Technology has launched our Classlink program across the district. Classlink allows for students and staff to login once and have instant access to various software programs without having to remember links or login credentials. The majority of textbook access is still through ARMS as it was last year. Next week you will notice Classlink as a second tab on web browsers as well as an icon on the desktop .
Login to classlink is network logins for everyone: https://launchpad.classlink.com/gcisd
Here is also a link to a handout: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7FLKlDglT7bVm1HSU03TTNiMzg/view
Personalized Learning & Universal Screening Reminder: The month of September is our window for universally screening our students in PK-8 utilizing IStation. Remember that we also use more than one piece of data to identify students, so in mathematics, we have updated computation and problem solving screeners for grades K-6 to go along with the screeners we have already had for middle school. Information about these can be found at this website. This year, we are rolling these out to early adopters on a voluntary basis, un-normed (no cutoffs for Tiers 2 and 3--use professional judgment), and will be collecting data in order to effectively set norms for the 2018-19 school year. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Hylemon, Director of Mathematics.
Cenergistic: The GCISD energy conservation partner, Cenergistic, is making a change. Our current Energy Specialist, Kent Hall, is leaving and our new Energy Specialist will be Monica Silva. For the past few weeks, Kent has been introducing Monica to all the GCISD operating systems and will continue to be involved with her training for the next couple of months. Beginning on Monday, September 11, 2017, Monica will be our official new Energy Specialist and you will be seeing her quite a bit throughout the District. She has formally been working as an Energy Specialist for Fort Worth ISD and is a graduate of Texas A&M University-Commerce. Please help welcome Monica to GCISD.
BES Spirit Wear
GT 6 Hour Update
GT 6 hr Update classes through the TEA Time Model
Thursdays: 3:15-4:15 Sept. 14, 21, 28, Oct. 5th,12th, 19th
Lori will offer six dates in September and October. To receive credit, staff will need to attend four classes, develop a lesson with enrichment for various levels and participate in a follow up discussion.
We will be learning new strategies, talking about research, what's working in the classroom and what are your struggles and then plan a time that Lori can push into classrooms to team teach or give feedback. This will look more like a coaching model.
Three Terrific Texan Tweets
Week at a Glance
Monday Shelly out 1pm-4pm Jump Start Into Phonological Awareness training 3:30pm-4:30pm Garden Club 3-3:45pm Tuesday Spring Creek BBQ Spirit Night 5-9pm Jamie @ T-PESS training Tonya to Ad. Building @1:00 7 Habits Day 2 3:15-4:30pm Rebecca SW Web mtg/training 9 am Wednesday Alecia out pm Jamie @ T-PESS training Tonya to AP Meeting and 504 Training @1:00 Lone Star Literacy Institute @ PDEC 8:00 - ?? All school vision, hearing & AN screening Thursday Denise H. @ mtg. 1:30 Lone Star Literacy Institute @ PDEC GT 6 hour update 3:15 pm Rebecca District training @ PDEC 1-4 Friday Dot Day! Wear dots! Tamela out Laps Pep Rally 2:00 p.m.
Dates to Know
- September 21: Bransford Experience PK, K, 1, 2 at 6:00 p.m. , PTA General Meeting at 6:30 p.m., Bransford Experience 3, 4, 5 at 7:00 p.m.
- September 28: Laps for Learning
- October 6: Day three of 7 Habits
- October 9: FLEX Learning Completion Date
- October 13: Dad's Club movie night
BES Forms
- Field Trip Request Form
- PTA Grant Request: All PTA grant requests are due the Wednesday before the executive board meets.
Jamie Halliburton
Email: jamie.halliburton@gcisd.net
Phone: 806-441-6518
Twitter: @BESHalliburton