#TeamPenn WAG
October 28 - November 1, 2019
- Monday, 10/28, District CORE Phonics #2, District Ren Learn #2 (STAR/Early Lit), Red Ribbon Week through 10/31!
- School Closure
- Tuesday, 10/29, Maureen OFF campus
- School Closure
- Wednesday, 10/30, Spirit Day: Wear Red for Red Ribbon Week
- 8:20 - 8:45 Assembly
- 1 - 2pm Team Time
- 1:10 - 1:55 Martial Arts w/ Master Schafer starts!
- 2 - 4pm Grade Level Collaboration
- Thursday, 10/31, Yesenia Out of Office, Bee Kind outfits/costumes!
- 8:20 - 8:35 PIM/Costume parade on track
- 8:30 - 10:30 TK/K in multi
- 12:30 - 1:15 Learning Team (sign-ups)
- Friday, 11/1
- 8:20 - 8:35 PIM
- 2:50 - 3:50 Chess for Kids starts!
Thank you Clare S. and Amanda A.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Thanks Maureen R!
Things to remember as we return to work.
Checking in with our #pennpanthers!
When school resumes this week, please start the day by providing time to check in with students regarding everything that has happened since last Friday. Many families (including staff) were evacuated. Many families had no power. Some may have housed extra family or friends. All of this (plus the media onslaught of TV, Radio, Texts) impact children. Please take time to process. As an admin team, we did that this morning (Monday). We used an abbreviated World Cafe Method. We first shared in triods with a guiding question, then gave responses to each other, then shared out to the group. We used about a two minute time frame, for students adjust up or down as needed.
How were you affected by this? (No power, no house, caring for people, friends or family were affected.)
What did you learn from other people in your group? Write it down.
Share out.
How can we support each other with this? How does this relate to our Kindness Challenge?
http://www.theworldcafe.com/key-concepts-resources/world-cafe-method/
Wednesday Team Time
Conferences are coming up soon!
We have updated the spreadsheet that we use for tracking families who don't sign up for conferences. As always, we are aiming for 100% participation. Please follow up with families who are not signing up, by calling or sending a quick email. Thank you! :)
Also, this is the time of the year (Assessments, Conferences) teachers see red flags for some students. Please remember that Learning Team needs to know about these children and the team also can give good ideas for support. The Learning Team sign-up document is here.
Teacher and Staff communications via Remind
With yet another county emergency, the importance of timely communication was evident. Amy has two different Remind accounts--one for all staff and one specifically for teachers. I ask that teachers sign up for both, and all other staff sign up for just the Penn Staff one. Here is how to do it if you didn’t get texts from me via Remind on Sunday morning:
For Penn Staff: Text to this number: 81010 For the message write @pennstaf
For Teachers: Text to this number: 81010 For the message write @pennteach
As soon as I was informed by PCS Administration, I sent out the Remind text to all staff and a Blackboard text to all families. I also put the info on Twitter and Facebook. The DO sent out a Robocall to all families directing them to the PCS website. The same was done today.
For decisions about air quality when school is in session, we will use purpleair.com because it has the closest monitoring station to Penngrove. Yesenia is printing out the guidelines from SCOE and will have them in your boxes to post in your classroom. We always err on the side of caution--keeping students inside when the index is close to the level required.
Committee sign ups
Please let Maureen know if you can help with this.
Rainy Day Plan
Rainy day recess plans were updated by the Leadership Team last week.
Here is the link: Rainy Day Recess Schedule. Please look at it as there are some changes for this year as we have two additional classrooms
Morning Subs for IEPs
Write from the Beginning
Mandatory Online Training
Don’t forget that all PCS employees need to complete mandatory online training.
Here is the link:
https://lms.accutrain.com/login?co=5170&v=79144. If you do not know which training/courses are mandatory for your job title, please contact Maureen or Yesenia.From Art Enrichment Specialist:
Thanks,
Kris Thomason
Reminders from Mrs. Rudder
Core phonics and Ren Learn assessment window is open through 11/1. Please ensure that each student is assessed. If absences affect getting this done, let Maureen know.
Some parents are having issues logging the children into Lexia at home now that Clever has been installed on iPads. It sounds like parents should be encouraged to have their students first log in through Clever to get to other apps.
Here is the link to the Health and Safety online classes that are required annually for PCS Staff members. When you go to the site On the right side, you will see “First Time here?” click and self-register. Type in E-mail, First Name, Last Name; choose from the pull-down for your school/building (SoCC), and job description. Click “Save Registration”. You will then be on the main menu with the training courses. Maureen is forwarding the email to all staff members regarding which classes need to be taken based on your assignment. Please contact Maureen or our school nurse, Dana, with any questions.
Thanks to all of the Penngrove Staff for welcoming me back and for keeping me on my toes!!
Ruminations from an Old(er) Principal
One week down! Well, we hit the ground running on Tuesday and it has been so fun and rewarding to witness all the great work being done at Penngrove! For me (and I hope most of you) the transition has been easy because we’ve worked together before and therefore don’t have the challenges of trying to figure out how to communicate and do things.
Getting back into the swing of things, I’ve been reminded many times this week as to the power of our words and the strength of our connections. For the Penngrove students 2nd grade and up, I’m a known quantity. When I’ve had to talk to them about something (and yes, I’ve been busy with some student issues) I’m not a stranger. I was talking to a 3rd grade student this week who wanted to know how students that are not in the same grade level knew him. He really didn’t understand that when you are part of a community for a period of time, many people know you. When they know you, they share their perception of you with others in the greater community. This can be a positive or negative perception based on the interaction.
Connections- There are students at Penngrove who are the grandchildren of my friends, there are parents at Penngrove who are friends/peers/colleagues of my own children. There are teachers at Penngrove who were my grade level or site colleagues previously. There is even a teacher, it turns out, whose boyfriend I taught when he was in 4th grade! So many connections.
Words- Now that my eldest three grandkids are in school, I’m looking at the system in a different way than I did previously as a parent, teacher or administrator. I see these children as so young (even the big 6th graders) with so much of life ahead of them. I know that their parents are SOOO busy, trying to get through each day, paying the bills, driving them to school, practices, games, keeping them safe and loving them.
When I pick up my grandkids from school, I’m the person hoping that it was a good day so I can share that with their parents when they get home from work. I see how excited kids (and parents) get for the cheesy positive rewards given by teachers and schools. I get text messages or phone calls when a grandchild has received another construction paper “Eagle Feather” (La Tercera) and all the grandparents send congratulations.
As teachers, in the thick of things, we often forget the power of our words and how important it is to try to maintain the 5 (positive) to 1 (negative) ratio. When a student or parent has to hear a negative, it’s not as overwhelming if that person also hears the positives on a regular basis. The person can then actually hear it and not shut down. We want those with whom we connect daily to remember the positive in us and from us.
Back to that 4th grade student of mine… what is his perception of me? What I do know is that he remembers (because it was shared with me this week) a discipline issue. GUESS WHAT??? I had totally forgotten about it. I sure hope he remembers lots of positive and fun days in my class, I hope he thinks that I was a fair teacher.
Have a great week!
Aspiring Administrator Workshop
#TeamPenn All day Every Day
Email: penngrove@petk12.org
Website: www.penngrovepanthers.org
Location: 365 Adobe Road, Penngrove, CA, USA
Phone: (707) 778-4755
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Penngrove-Elementary-School-323595021067904/
Twitter: @pennpanthers