Hidden Valley Weekly Bulletin
Week of 3/21
Principals Point to Ponder
Do your students habitually sneer, roll their eyes, or make sounds resembling an alley cat trying to cough up a hairball? Does this happen just about every time you say or do something they dislike?
The danger in allowing this behavior is that actions shape beliefs and attitudes. Yep! If anyone acts annoyed or offended often enough, seeds of discontent and feelings of victimhood sprout in their hearts, leading to pervasive feelings of being tread upon.
Let their arrows miss the target.
Students launch these emotional missiles in order to strike at the heart. Our greatest source of power against such attacks is showing that they don't get the desired result of anger, lectures, threats, or frustration.
Expect mature expression of feelings.
Doing your best to remain calm, reply, "I will know that you are really maturing when you can share your feelings without giving dirty looks or huffing. If you feel something I do is unfair, we can have a mature discussion when both of us are calm."
Reinforce mature expression by listening with respect.
A great irony: When our students are able to talk to us about how they feel, they are less likely to act these feelings out in nasty, disrespectful, or irresponsible ways. Listening means demonstrating we care about their opinions. It also means reinforcing healthy, mature expression of opinions and emotions. It's not about allowing them to run the class. It's about ending infantile drama in the classroom.
The key to rebuilding respect from our students involves proving to them that we can handle them without getting frustrated or angry.
Acknowledgements
*Kudos to Ms. Allison. Three years ago in 2013 she began working with the new teachers at Hidden Valley. Three years later every one of those teachers from that first group is still working at Hidden Valley. With the incredibly high turn over rate in education, especially with new teachers, this is an amazing feat. Way to go Ms. Allison.
*Shout out to Ms. Milner our school nurse! For those of you who have worked in schools that had a part time nurse know how difficult it is to meet the needs of students without the support of the school nurse. We are extremely fortunate to have a school nurse like Ms. Milner that is so helpful and involved in student support team meetings, 504 meetings, and informing staff of medical concerns with our students. She works with students on contracts to stay on track with their responsibilities related to their health and works closely with our parents to help them with students with medical concerns. We appreciate you!
* Welcome back Ms. Gaddy, we missed you.
* Congratulations to Lunch Monitor Ms. Fernandez in the cafeteria for getting a full time teacher assistant position in the district.
*Shout AGAIN to the ESL team and EVERYBODY involved in completing ACCESS testing! At check in all 295 students were verified for testing and ALL testing books and materials were appropriately tracked as well as the necessary forms for verifying testing! This was not the case for many schools and we were complimented on how testing was administered at Hidden Valley! Thank you all!
* A Special Thank you to Ms. Blandon and all of the teachers that had to "donate" their chrome book carts for testing this month. Your flexibility is greatly appreciated.
Reminders
All Certified Staff Please take 10-15 mins to take the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey. As of Friday, 32 of 79 staff members have completed the survey. We need more participation in order for our results to be published and available for administrators to use it for school improvement. PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY :)
The DEADLINE is Friday March 25th. Mrs. Riley has 12 more codes left if you need another one. Thank you for your participation!
Mrs. Riley
*The Hidden Valley Elementary School PTO is excited to host its next School Spirit Night of the year. So come on out and join the fun and support our students by purchasing a meal. This event will be held at the McDonald's located at 1201 W. Sugar Creek Road on Tuesday, March 22nd from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm. The key to a successful Spirit Night is having 50 or more friends and family members to visit and enjoy a meal during our designated time period. Last month attendance was down a bit. Teachers could you please encourage students to attend. The general manager is working on some potential surprises for the kids this month. All proceeds from Spirit Night will benefit Hidden Valley Elementary School. Thanks to all of you that came out last month and supported us that day. We really appreciate it. Have a great day....
The Hidden Valley PTO
* 4th and 5th grade Teachers-
As the National Junior Beta Club Sponsor at Hidden Valley Elementary I am writing you this brief email to issue a challenge and ask for your help. I have spoken to 4th and 5th grade classrooms about Beta Club. I have created flyers that have been sent home about Beta Club. I have had students inquire about Beta Club. Now I ask if you have eligible students between now and near the end of the school year please encourage them to join Beta Club. If a child has the grades and the character to join Beta Club there is no reason they should not submit a completed application. The sooner they join the better. Since you have access to students grades I am issuing a challenge. The teacher that has the most successfully submitted Beta Club applications will receive a $50 gift card. Why is becoming apart Beta Club important? First, it allows kids to be apart of a national organization. It is something bigger than their environment, culture, and even school. It also exposes them to service and character development. Finally, the fact that we even have a chartered Beta Club here is an accomplishment. There are very few schools in CMS that have a Beta Club. Let's get those applications going.
* The Hidden Valley basketball team will play Saturday at 1:30 against Windsor Park. The game will be taking place at Albemarle Rd Rec Center. The address is 5027 North Idlewild Rd. Please come out and support our team.
* I know you’re counting down for spring break and trust me, I am as well. I would like to offer the team an invite to come and have great time at the superhero night. Grab your costume and a date and come and show our students and parents we enjoy working with their students. I will have to charge you $6.00/ person for the meal because the event is catered by Moes. My committee folks, your meal is covered by me. Please let me know if you plan to attend in order to provide an accurate count. I thank you for all you do, have a great day! We truly plan to have a great time and enjoy the moment. Ms. Stoner
* Many of our families come from El Salvador and the struggles they face are unimaginable. A family in my neighborhood visits El Salvador for missionary work and participates in this event. It is truly a wonderful program. Please check out the attachment and consider bringing in a pair shoes to support the children- what a difference you will make! Think of it as the 'Samaritan's Feet' even that CMS participates it and the joy it brings our children.
ELL Strategy of the Week
Teach students to use as few sentences as possible to summarize the main idea of a selection using different formats (oral, written, acting it out, singing a song, chanting a poem, illustrating ideas) and in different group formats - individually, partners, small groups. This can also be used to bring down the lexile of a text without sacrificing content.
Instructional Strategy of the Week
Walking through Ms. Stones class is a pleasure as every student observed is working hard at their close read strategies. There is strong evidence on every paper as students write notes, identify tough vocabulary and summarize sections of the passage. Every student can tell you the purpose of close read and what exactly they are focused as they read. Great work Ms. Stone
What to Expect This Week
Monday 3/21 (Day 3)
- Wear your school colors
- 2nd grade MAPS
- 5th grade MAPS
- Beginning Teacher Meeting @3:15 in the Media Center
- Art Club afterschool
Tuesday 3/22 (Day 4)
- Tie Tuesday
- After School Tutoring grades 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
- PTO Spirit Night at McDonalds on sugar Creek. Stop on by and say you are from HVES
Wednesday 3/23 (Day 5)
- Arts Assembly - (9am Pre K-2) (10am 3-5)
- Good news Club
- Staff Meeting PD- @ 3:15
Thursday 3/24 (Day 1)
- End of the 3rd Quarter
- After School Tutoring grades 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
- Super Hero Mother Son Dance
Friday 3/25 ---NO SCHOOL