Badger Bulletin
Working the Willkie Way!
October 10th Professional Development: Rockin the Rubrics!
There are several things you will need to be successful:
- Laptop (fully charged)
- The Torch (this is the flip chart on a ring that has all the district inititative in it)
- An upcoming lesson (elective teacher can bring an article that you want to use for your Literacy Plan lesson)
The work day hours are the same and jeans are acceptable attire. We will meet in the Library.
*Special Education teachers and paraprofessionals you have a different plan for the day that I sent out via email Thursday.
It's going to be an awesome day of learning!
Edivate is here!
Everyone should have gotten an email with your username and password recently. If you deleted it, not knowing what it was, then go find it inn your deleted file because you will need it. You can find a link in the Employee tab on the district website if you want to explore.
I will be setting up a training very soon to introduce you to Edivate. It's going to be AWESOME!
Six Weeks Grades and other stuff
Grading Handbook
8th Grade Lunch Schedule
Below is the parent letter I sent home with students who's schedule will be affected by the addition of a 4th lunch beginning next week. We are calling it 8th Grade A lunch and 8th Grade B lunch. The teachers who will now have B lunch are Mrs. Perry, Mr. Wheatly, Coach Blair, Mrs. Mellado, Mrs. Cashion, and Mr. Ingram. We may have to move a few students around to keep our Intentional Interventions on track.
Dear 8th Grade Parents and Guardians,
Wow! Here we are already in the 2nd Six Weeks of school and I cannot believe how quickly this school year is flying by!
I’m writing to you today to inform you of a slight change in the daily schedule of your 8th grade student. As you can see just by driving through our neighborhoods and surrounding areas, houses are springing up almost overnight. With new houses, comes new families and more children in our school. At this point we have approximately 960 students enrolled at Ed Willkie and our 8th grade class is our biggest of the three grade levels with over 340 students.
As we have been monitoring various aspects of this 1st Six Weeks, one area that we feel needs to be addressed is our 8th grade lunch schedule. As it stands now, our child nutrition manger is reporting that we are serving more lunches than ever before, and with this number of students we want to ensure each child has an adequate amount of time to eat lunch.
Based on our ongoing observations, we have noticed that many 8th grade students are not getting their lunches in a time frame that allows for the students to really eat lunch without being rushed. Likewise, the seating arrangements are getting somewhat congested due to the number of students and it poses a potential safety concern if we had to evacuate the cafeteria in the event of an emergency.
To that end, we have decided that it is the best interest of our 8th grade students to create an additional 8th grade lunch period.
As it stands now, 8th grade students eat at 12:43. The additional lunch period will begin at 1:13. This is only 30 minutes later that the original time, but the reality is that many students aren’t getting their food until 1:00pm or later due to the long lunch lines.
How this will work is very simple. Currently the 8th grade students go to an advisory class after lunch. This class is approximately 30 minutes in length, the same as lunch. We have 12 classes of 8th grade advisory students. We will simply flip 6 of these classes. These 6 classes will go to advisory first at 12:43pm and then go to lunch at 1:13pm.
The way in which we decided which classes to flip is solely based on class scheduling. Some of the 8th grade advisory teachers teach different grade levels during the first 8th grade lunch and it is not possible to flip these classes. I know that some of the students may not have lunch with all of their friend groups once the additional lunch period is added, but when we look at the big picture, student safety and ensuring they have adequate time to eat is our priority. To that end, it is important to note we will not be switching advisory schedules to accommodate students being able to eat with their friends.
This new 8th grade lunch period will begin Tuesday October 11, 2016. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
1st Six Weeks Survey
I really do want to do everything I can to support you and in order to do that I need your feedback. Thank you!
Click on the link below to take the survey.
1st Six Weeks Survey
Survey Concerns: Hallways
One of the overarching concerns that was voiced is hallway behavior. This is an issue in which I really need everyone's help. If we are going to curb hallway behavior then everyone must be in the hallway between classes. I realize that there are times when you have to address a student issue and can't get to the hallway right away, but we need to make every effort to do our best to be visible between every class, even if it is between your conference period, please make an effort to be in the hallways.
Our biggest area of concern seems to be the back stairwells. If you have a class at the end of the hallways, please try and monitor the stairs.
I know this is not an easy task, but it is the only way we will address the issue effectively.
Oral Administration of test.
Thanks!
Have you ever been to Kirklands? You know the home decor store.
Unfortunately, there are many people who have allergies to even the slightest of smells such as perfumes, plug-ins, Scentsy, and other aroma producing devices. As a matter of fact, we have several on this campus who have medically documented allergies to these types of smells, and for those folks, the even the smallest exposure can feel as if they are walking into Kirklands.
Therefore, I am asking you to be diligent in your use of these aroma producing products. I know that the teen age body can produce some pretty funky smells, but please try to limit your used to short periods of time during the day and please make sure you turn them off when you leave for the day. I have had several reports from the custodial staff that there have been some left on at night.
Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated!
504 and ARD Paperwork Part 2
Also, please do not ever suggest a specific placement to a parent or student without there being a CARE Team, 504 committee, or an ARD committee in place. In other words, don't tell a parent that a student should be on a 504, or and IEP, or in Math Plus or Reading Plus, without there being a committee involved.
Thanks for your support!
Lesson Plans
- Lesson plans should be in Eduphoria no later than the beginning of school every Monday.
- Lesson plans should follow the template that is in your Willkie Way Binder based on the ICLE model.
- The lessons and activities in your classroom should reflect your lesson plans.
- Each content area/grade level should be planning together to create your upcoming lessons.
Please keep in mind that this correlates to the Planning Domain and the Professional Practices and Responsibilities Domain in TTESS.
Web Sites
Shout outs!
This weeks Shout Outs!
- Mrs. Copeland want s to send a shout out to Mrs. Perry for the Eduphoria help!
- Big shout out to Mrs. Combs and Ms. Crawford for helping get our SPED Kiddos taken care of!
The week ahead...
Professional Development
Tuesday October 11, 2016
Spirit day- "Play like a Champ!" Wear Willkie Gear!
4:30 Football
7th Grade vs. Wayside MS @ BOZ
8th Grade vs, Wayside MS @CTHS (Admin -Driver)
Wednesday October 12, 2016
7:45 AVID Site Team
6:00pm PTO
Thursday October 13, 2016
2:55 Pep Rally
5:00 Vollyball vs. Highland
7th Grade
8th Grade
Friday October 14, 2016
Happy Friday!
Volleyball Tournament
Saturday October 15, 2016
Volleyball Tournament