Staff Newsletter Team Leader Notes
April 2, 2020
This document will replace this week’s Staff Newsletter. Please share and discuss the information with your team members.
Thank you to ALL of you! #YouAreEnough
congratulations!
Congratulations to Erin and Tiffany for receiving the PTA Life Time Awards!
Congratulations to Pompi for her 15 years of service at Plano ISd!
Congratulations to Tiffany for being nominated for the Superintendent's Award!
Both Pompi and Tiffany would have been recognized at the Salute to Service event tonight. Fingers are crossed that the district will still select the Superintendent's Award winners.
Congratulations to Lydia for her retirement! She's been with Plano ISD at Skaggs for 31 years!
Thank you!
- Jacklyn for making the "Hi, Stars!" video!
- Kyla for the FB updates!
- Everyone for finding ways to help each other and students! So many of you are going out of your way to take care of people! You are in the right business!
- IF YOU haven't sent Kyla a Skaggs Stars Challenge, please send it her way!
What’s Working? What’s been the hardest and is still hard?
Specials: video PLC chats are a lifeline, District Structure is amazing in Art….district consistency in the form of lessons between specials for remote learning is developing , students are slowly joining the specials class which is heart warming since we are working so hard to be there for them.
Units/Resource Molly -Meeting with teams and pairing up to create resources and plans for students. Hard part is that families are overwhelmed. Katie is sharing the stress is keeping up with who is in on each activity and documentation.
Specialists Katy has started dyslexia classes with her students, Lisa is connecting with beginners and families to help them with RAZ kids. Kyla & Molly are starting their curriculum with PACE students next week. Courtney is using her Google Classroom to connect with students and share videos.
Office (share parent feedback) Office staff is working on the yearbook proofreading. Tiffany is reaching out about school supplies. A great idea was shared to have each grade level add an extra supply to their list in order to share with specialists: (example)
K- sharpies, 1 - Wipes, 2 - Hand santizer, 3 -tissues, 4 notebooks, 5 pencils
K & 1 -- The parents and students unfamiliarity with Google Classroom. Aimee shared that it is going better!
2 - Thankful that our goal was technology.....students are doing well. Nicki is working with Hedgcoxe 2nd grade...it is going well.
3 - Students are familiar with Google Classroom and the technology. Planning is going well, but it is the mind shift that this is online learning and not at school. Hardest part is the quality of work.
4 - Getting in a groove with planning and how to troubleshoot with Pearson. The hard part is the balance between too much and not enough work.
5 - Technology issues with Pearson, but overall going well because students are aware of the programs. We are working on the right amount of work.
Support Groups
Dyslexia, Tier 3 (Katy): Katy started with them last week with live lessons and google classroom. Additionally, the students have been assigned to Lexia. Katy is going to workout with teachers to make sure that students are not overwhelmed.
CMIT/504(Katy &Nia): remind teachers to fill out 504 accommodation receipt google form
CMIT is staying as is. 504 meeting with district is having Katy & Nia to look at everyone's accommodations to match online learning. Katy has gone through the shared document to see which parents to contact and how to amend those accommodation. Students that have nursing needs, those will obviously not be provided at home.
ESL(Lisa): All students are encouraged to use RAZ KIds and Headsprout and reaching out to those parents to help them with any confusion. She is working with our newcomers and beginners daily. She has the students speak and record so that she can give feedback that way.
GT Hours/Updates/PACE(Kyla & Molly): PACE lessons are starting with Phase III. GT Hours --everyone must have 6 hours each year. Curriculum provides 2 hours , Kyla usually provides 2
but we only got to one hour. That means everyone needs to get 3 hours on their own. Those can then be attained in TAGT, Region 10. Once complete, go to Power School Development, go to out of district activity, complete that form. Email or call Kyla for questions. This is only classroom teachers and specialist who have the 30 hours to be updated.
Counseling/Guidance(Nia): discuss lessons, virtual spirit week? Nia has checked in with students from her small groups to see how the transition has been going. Like library, counselor activities are optional initially. Now the district is giving out lessons for each week.
Food for kids is being provided for our students/families who were interested. Discussion of virtual spirit week.....yes! It could replace some of the challenges.
Read Alouds, Morning Announcements, Book Fair (Courtney)
Courtney has created a google classroom with read alouds, helping students with ebooks and author's read alouds to keep our reading culture alive. Morning announcements could be done with the pledges, moment of silence, birthdays, etc. LIVE video at 10 then save to a you tube channel created by Mrs. Walker. Book fair is cancelled, but an online book fair is possible.
Resource(Katie H)
Be mindful of our SPED kids that the work can be overwhelmed and cannot keep up with students who have multiple teachers. It should still only be 2-3 hours.
Accommodations need to continued to be track that makes sense at home. Modifications are different than accommodations ask Katie H. if you have concerns.
Discussion on level of participation per grade level: Most students are participating and we discussed who we have not heard from at all. The list is very short, but keep Karen involved if there are students who we are not hearing from.
Discussion about where to post specialist information
Frequency of Communication / Meetings
Virtual Meetings
Virtual Meeting with students -- Starting next once a week using Zoom, Google Meet to help create a sense of community through Morning meeting topics, Show announcements, etc. We will collect times and links on a spreadsheet and share with everyone.
- Skaggs TL Meetings - Thursdays at 3:00
- Grade Level / Department Meetings - Fridays if possible
- District Meetings
- Virtual Communication Expectations
- Use Google Meet to make phone calls
Written Communication
- eNews: Thursdays
- Class Newsletter: Sundays at 5:00 PM
- How to Use Pinnacle to Email Parents: VIEW HERE
Notes and Reminders
- School closed through May 4. Contact Karen if you need to enter the building. View guidelines
- NEW! No School on April 10th and 13th
- COVID 19 - Notify Karen if a staff member or family member(student) is affected
- Staff Password Expiration: Staff can visit is http://password.pisd.edu
Important Dates
- Thursdays @ 3:00 PM TL Meeting via Zoom
- No school on April 10th and 13th
staff news
Happy Birthday this week to KRISTEN (3/23), LISA (3/26) and AIMEE (3/29) &
KIM (4/6) and MADISON (4/8)!
Caitlin, we missed your baby shower, but we are sending love and hugs your way!!!!
Tiffany is our new Office Manager!!!! She has been doing double duty on many things, and we are so appreciative!
Technology For Teachers
In case you need help...
https://youtu.be/rCNImsWUxZA - Google Classroom
https://youtu.be/DPZb3D0500I - Google Hangouts