The Birmingham Brief
January 11, 2019
#BES1team1dream Levels Up for ALL kids!!!
Happy New Year!!!
One of my words this year is BALANCE!! This was actually one of my words a few years ago, but it fits with my intentions and expectations for myself again in 2019!! Balancing personal and professional time is difficult for me. I really try to disconnect while I'm at home to be more PRESENT (another one of my words) with family. I'm a work in progress!! LOL! Have you decided on your word or words for 2019?!? If you have, I'd love to hear!!
Things I've learned in 2019 (continued):
*I have to now add Tums to my grocery list! Geesh!! Hello, Road to 40!!
*Capes are so 3 years ago (according to Brayden)
*Walmart and/or Kroger grocery pickup is a game changer!! Do it!
*I wake up happier when I go to bed thinking about all of the things I'm grateful for in my life ...rather than my to-do list. Try it!
*Teachers LOVE their students! Hearing you all celebrate your kiddos with happy tears in your eyes is just one example of that today!! (P.S.- I knew this before 2019!)
Next week in walk-throughs:
Tracy and I are going to be intentional about our "look fors" during walk-throughs in 2019. One area that I would like us to focus on is questioning during instruction. We learned so much from BAS testing last month!! One thing that I kept hearing was about the level of the questions on that assessment. How are we leveling up to ensure students are hearing those questions or other strategic questioning to deepen learning?
In your walk-throughs next week, you will notice that Tracy and I will be scripting as many questions as we can while in your classroom. There is no wrong or right, but more of anything......let's use these questions to reflect on our level of instruction, especially at the teacher table. We need to see the Fountas & Pinnell prompting guides out during instruction. Tab pages, questions, etc. The prompting guides are AMAZING!!!! Please let us know if you need help navigating through those.
Bells:
Please let us know when your team is ringing bells. We definitely want to celebrate with you and students. #LetTheBellsRing
January is School Board Appreciation Month!! Our school board members truly LOVE our school and WISD!!! We appreciate the countless hours they spend serving our district to ensure we are the BEST of the BEST!!!
SUPER PROUD of all of our little things coming together!! 2019 is going to be a BIG year for Birmingham Elementary!! I can feel it!!!
Wishing you the BESt weekend!!!
#BES1team1dream #LivingTheDream
-Doolan
Team Shout Outs and Smiles!!
I just couldn't get enough of the brags from teacher to teacher this morning at Bear Boogie!!! Happiest Heart!!!
From Mrs.April:
I want to brag on Jennifer Childers.. She is always so positive and uplifting. She always has compliment or encouraging word for you. She has made my day completely turn around by just being her.
I want to brag on Mrs. Wanda. Thursday I had an emergency come up where I had to run home for about 5 min. She didn’t even blink. She said, “Let me read to 1st while you run home real quick.” When I got back, they were all sitting nicely listening to the story. Mrs. Wanda even said she wants to come back and read again. Love her giving heart!
From Chuang and Lambert:
We want to send a big brag for the following people. If I look in the dictionary for #1Team1Dream, I would see their picture.
Debbie Inwood – She has dropped everything and helped us completely set up our new LLI kit. She has given us resources and so many tips to help teach us how to best utilize this tool.
Marissa Oldfiled – She has given advice on practical ways to use LLI, best practices, and even helped us gather resources to help us be the most prepared.
Debbie and Marissa also were open and willing to completely change up their normal way of doing things to make sure that each child has what they need. Thank you thank you!!
Adrianne Dulaney – She spent a week cutting, sorting, and organizing resources for us to get everything in order.
THANK YOU for ALL of these SHOUT OUTS!! OUR team is the BESt!!!
Upcoming events & Reminders:
(Calendar Attached Below)
Reminders:
-The master calendar has been UPDATED for January. Please review.
--Jimmy John's Student of the Week:
Team Birthdays!!!!!
January
19-Aubrey Goodman
21-John McCrary
February
3-Brandi Carter
3-Janay McDowell
6-Gail Allen
6-Sally Powers
7-Chelsea Perrin
7-Maria Behna
11-Marissa Oldfield