Betsy's Bits
April 16, 2017
In Case You Missed It:
I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break. Mine was quiet and uneventful with no alarms or stress. My big daily decision was what to cook for dinner. I took advantage of the beautiful weather by having my windows and doors wide open so my dogs were able to run in and out as they pleased. My family got my full and undivided attention. This break was just what I needed to rest, relax, and renew my energy for the big push to the end of the year.
Allen Johnson, AVID Regional Director brought the Vice President of Embedded Operations for Communities in Schools of NC, Latessa Allen, to view what he felt was the best example of AVID school wide in NC. They were complimentary of the level of engagement in the classrooms visited and the college/future culture throughout the building. AVID will be visiting one last time this year on May 4. Our National Demo Coach, Donna K, Allen Johnson, and Christie McMullen, the Eastern Division Liaison who works directly with AVID Center and the Demo team will be coming on this visit. They will be visiting classrooms and meeting our Leadership and AVID site teams to gather information and answer questions concerning our Demo validation visit in October.
Chatham Middle School Language Arts teachers visited 6th and 7th grade SLMS teachers the Thursday before break (8th was scheduled for a field trip). This is their first year beginning AVID school wide. They were gathering strategies and ideas to take back to help improve student achievement in their school. These teachers were so complimentary and excited by the common strategies throughout the building, amount and level of writing, and taught organizational skills. When they left, the CMS ELA teachers were saying how helpful the visit was, and they were going to suggest other subject come, too.
I received some wonderful news from Natlie Davis, 6th grade ELA/SS teacher. She received a clean PET scan last week and is currently cancer FREE! Natalie is so appreciative of the cards, messages, and prayers sent throughout this difficult time.
Elizabeth Holland will be joining our staff on Monday, April 17, to fill in for Natalie Davis for the remainder of the school year. Elizabeth's husband was recently named the Director of Elections in Lee County. She is coming to us from a middle school in Gastonia, NC where she has been teaching 8th grade ELA. Please make sure to stop by and welcome Elizabeth to the Stallion family!
Gracie Williams has been in Natalie's room since Natalie went on a leave of absence. Gracie has agreed to moving into Sara Nichols' 7th grade Social Studies class to finish out Sara's maternity leave. Missi Mann has been in Sara's class. She indicated the need to step away from this permanent sub position because of multiple outside responsibilities that will be taking up her time beginning this month. We are so fortunate to have wonderful substitutes at SLMS!
Congratulations to Brianna Simmons, Health/PE teacher. She and her husband are expecting their first baby in October!
Our technology department, Shannon Johnson and Robin Neville, have moved down to the end of 8th grade hallway, room 824. Anne Knuth and during the day tutoring has moved up to the old technology room 810. This will keep 6th and 7th grade tutor students from having to travel all the way down the 8th grade hallway to get to class.
The 8th grade field trip to Frankies, that was cancelled due to the unstable weather on Thursday, has been rescheduled to Monday, May 1.
Coming Up:
Reminders and info about Boot Camp:
~Grades are expected to be inputted into teacher online grade books weekly. Students must have at least one grade each week for a class. Grades are a communication tool for teachers and families. Most students check their grades regularly and some parents do this, too. Our district has enabled a feature in PS to email weekly grade reports to those parents which have an email address in the system. Don't forget that it is an expectation at SanLee for our students to make up assignments missed/late and redo if they want to try again. If a teacher is not keeping up with grading or inputting this into PS, this puts up a barrier for this to happen. A teacher that does not grade regularly also is not able to know how students are progressing and if instructional strategies need to change to help the learners in the class.
~You probably have received an email from EVASS concerning roster verification. I will be setting up times after benchmarks to meet and discuss.
~Benchmarks (reading, math, science) will be April 24-26 with make ups on Thursday, April 27. We will be on a modified time schedule like we used for our last benchmarks, beginning classes at 10:30 am each day. The test booklets were delivered before we left for Spring Break. Evan and Jamie will be working on preparing testing buckets this week. More information, schedules, and mod sites will be sent out Monday or Tuesday.
~Jamie, Evan and I will be meeting with Core teachers during their planning on Monday to prepare paperwork to go home for Boot Camp which starts on Tuesday. Please bring a laptop, pen, and the Boot Camp sign up sheets to the Grade Level Team Leader's classroom at the following times:
- 8th - 8:15
- 7th - 9:45
- 6th - 1:15
All 6th grade students should be escorted back to homeroom classes at 2:20 pm to allow homeroom teachers time to pass out Boot Camp information letters. Students must come in and SIT DOWN in homeroom.
~Boot Camp, BC, will begin on Tuesday. Grade levels should gather students staying for after school in one area on the hallway and the teachers that have BC that day must stay on the hallway with students staying after school. Teachers not participating in BC should escort all students not participating in BC to the buses and car rider line. If a BC teacher has duty, please make sure it is covered by teachers not having BC.
~It is HIGHLY suggested for core teachers to make a schedule (teacher, room number, day of week) for students to place in their binders to refer to for BC. An example will be shared with you on Monday. I would also HIGHLY suggest for someone on each team to have students that are signed up for BC to mark Boot Camp dates in their agendas.
~Any student that brings a permission form for BC may come if they provide their OWN transportation. A newly signed up student student must be added to the spreadsheet with all the appropriate information filled out. The teacher receiving the new form must let the appropriate team teacher (ELA, math, science) know, so they can assign a "homeroom teacher." It is TOO LATE to sign any students up for a bus. No students may be added to the bus routes. The students that signed up are expected to stay every week for the 5 weeks, unless a parent sends a note or calls the teacher, otherwise.
~We will be dismissing students from Boot Camp by bus number using the intercom starting at 3:45 this week. Car riders will be the last group to be dismissed. Next week we will begin dismissing at 3:50. Weeks 3-5 we will dismiss buses at 3:55 pm.
~Administrators will monitor the car rider line. Please make sure your students are outside and in the appropriate spot by grade level in the front. Teachers are free to leave as soon as car riders are with an admin.
*In an emergency (only one admin available because of a game or another student/parent issue) we will ask for for at least one other teacher to help monitor the students out front until numbers decrease...safety first :)
Mark Your Calendars
Monday: Boot Camp letter meetings with grade levels (8:15, 9:45, 1:15), Leadership Team Meeting @3:00 pm
Tuesday: Math Boot Camp 2:30-4, Sports Banquet (volleyball and boys soccer) 6-7:15 pm
Wednesday: Science(8th) Boot Camp 2:30-4, Baseball and Soccer (girls) vs. West Lee @ home, C&I meeting @ West Lee @3:30 pm.
Thursday: TOY interviews
, Baseball and soccer @East Lee, Bus Banquet @ Civic Center @6:30pm
Friday: Greenwood 3rd graders baseball visit during lunch
Monday - Thursday: Guests in PLC room (bus training)