Staff Weekly Update
September 10th - 14th, 2018
This week will be a BUSY one! Please do pay particular attention to the calendar below. Between Connie, Martha, and Jessica, we will be out of the building a bit more than normal due to meetings and trainings. We also have 4th grade going to Camp Tecumseh on Thursday & Friday and 3rd grade will be on a Zoo field trip also on Friday.
And speaking of Friday 9/14, that is a very popular date for according to Aesop. Currently, we have five staff members out for personal days and one staff member out for a professional day.
BOY meetings also start this week for Connie/Martha and Jessica is working hard on her state-mandated bully lessons with each class. Last but not least, we have our September Staff Meeting on Thursday 9/13. It's safe to say that this week will fly right by and before you know it, the middle of September is here.
With much respect,
Connie
Calendar Items
Mon. Sept. 10th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Janelle Drisko at SGE all day
- Melanie Bowlin at SGE - AM only
- Advanced School Safety Training all day - Largent - downtown
- 8:45 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Benefiel
- 10:00 - Jog A Thon Mtg - Farley, Deputy Todd, PTO - location TBD
- 1:00 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Brown
- 2:30 - Bi-Weekly Grade Level Meetings
- 2:45 - Re-Eval ACR for 2nd grader - Andries, Wetzel, Munz - conf. room
Tues. Sept. 11th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Advance School Safety Training AM only - Largent - downtown (back at SGE by 1:00 PM)
- 1:00 - USS Team Mtg w/ Dr. Slonaker - conf. room
- 2:40 - Technology Integration Mtg. w/ Kyle - 3rd & 4th
- 2:45 - Speech-only ACR - Fure, Wetzel, Piotrowski
- 2:45 - FBA CC for 2nd grader - Largent, Andries, Smith
Wed. Sept. 12th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- BOY meetings throughout the day - Largent and Farley
- 8:15 - 12:30 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 8:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Bourff
- 9:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Smith
- 10:30 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/McDaniel
- 12:45 - WTHR's Weather Academy - STEM/3rd Grade - location TBD
- 2:00 - ICC for 3rd grader - Largent, Watson, Frobig - conf. room
- 2:45 - Subject Skip mtg for 2nd grader - Wetzel, Bourff, Skura
- 2:45 - PTO Meeting - Farley - Media Center
- 3:30 - Weekly Meeting - Largent/Farley
Thurs. Sept. 13th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Autism Training all day - Wetzel - Bloomington, IN
- 4th grade departs for Camp Tecumseh
- 7:45 - Largent in BOY
- 8:30 - 11:30 - NWEA & ALEKS Math Training - Largent, Farley, Mastin, Skura, Spillman - ESC
- 10:15 - 2:00 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 12:30 - 3:30 - NWEA Training - Largent, Farley, Spillman - ESC (leaving meeting early)
- 2:40 - STAFF MEETING - Media Center
- 6:00 - Largent/Farley travels to Camp Tecumseh for an evening by the campfire (NO cell signal)
Fri. Sept. 14th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Payday & Jeans
- NO RTI PLC meetings on this date due to 3rd & 4th grade being out
- 4th grade - Camp Tecumseh
- 3rd grade - Zoo field trip
- Autism Training all day - Wetzel - Bloomington, IN
- 2:45 - Office Team meeting - conf. room
Upcoming Events . . .
Mon. Sept. 17th - Jim McMillan at SGE (read below for more details)
Wed. Sept. 19th - Optional Staff Meeting: How To Calculate Your SLOs
Thurs. Sept. 20th - Family Wellness Night
Sept. 24th - 28th - College Go Week! (read below for more details)
Wed. Sept. 26th - PTO's JOG-A-THON
Wed. Oct. 3rd - Parent-Teacher Conferences from 2:30 - 3:30
Thurs. Oct. 4th
- E-DAY for all elementary students
- 11:10 - 7:00 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
- PTO provides lunch for staff
Tues. Oct. 9th - End of Quarter 1
Oct. 15th - 19th - Fall Break
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NUMBER?
- Number of emails in my inbox? Somedays I feel like it but thankfully, no.
- Number of decisions educators make in a day? It's probably close, but not exactly.
- Number of steps Deb T. takes at the end of the day according to her Fitbit? It bet it's close.
Truth is, that represents the number of total printed pages at SGE for the month of August. Yes, that is the combined total for SGE staff printed pages, which averages to 192 pages of copied print per student for the month of August. This number also includes the number of color copies made during August, which was 1,989 pages. And, we are close to being out of color ink within the first 20 days of school.
Each month's end, an email lands in my mailbox that shares the SGE print usage, and breaks it down by each individual staff member. (Yes - I know the number of color, grayscale and duplexed pages you copy.) I usually scan these to get a sense of what our demand is and what impact this has financially and environmentally.
As I look over the numbers from January - May, our average landed about 73,500 printed pages/month, which is a number I've always thought could be lower. Higher enrollment, beginning of the year communication/demands, and classroom setup are going to require a bit more prep and paper at the beginning of the year. I understand. To view details of our last five months, I've posted further information below.
I hope you all know me well enough to know that I don't want to throw unnecessary barriers in the way of your work, nor do I want to micro-manage the volume of paper each person is using or how many trips you make to the copier. None of us have time for that. This is about student learning, engagement, and responsible stewardship. Some paper is necessary, yet can we work together to find ways to reduce the volume of paper we are copying and consuming?
Additional note:
As mentioned above, we are nearing the end of the color toner, which means that the color printer might be offline for a while. Keep in mind that PTO purchases replacement toner for us with a budget of $1,000 a year. At this rate, we will not have enough toner funds to last the entire year. Often, I will find full page prints off the color copier but they are black and white, or I will find a color copy packet of 15-20 pages printed off in color but never claimed.
Thanks for your assistance and cooperation.
Important Announcements & Reminders
Professional Development Requests - What a great problem to have! Team members have started to request attending PD in order to refine their craft. If you would like to attend any type of professional development, please click here. Next week, this message will be moved to the "Links to Work Orders and *NEW* Google Form Links" section below and it will remain there for the rest of this year for easy access.
- Please log in to Office.com
- Click on the People icon
- On the left-hand side look for "Groups" and then choose Stonegate Staff
- Choose Files
- On the right-hand side choose Browse Library
- You'll now see Documents near the top of the page
- Open the folder ---> 18-19 SGE Shared Files
- Open the folder ---> Transportation List by Classrooms
- Look for the file that contains your last name ---> ie, BARTH 18-19 Transportation List
- Please fill this file out for your class
Please Join Our REMIND Group
- SGE (staff only) has an all-staff Remind text messaging group called: 18-19 SGE (all staff).
- To simply *receive-only* the text messages, please text the number 81010 and in your "message line" type in the code: @k29hfe.
- If you'd like to be able to text back and forth w/ me via REMIND, please download the app or create an online account.
- As a friendly reminder, please do not share this code with non-SGE staff members.
Above & Beyond Nomination Form
- On our ZCS website, any ZCS staff and/or community member can nominate the work of any ZCS employee that has done extraordinary work. If you've experienced professional support that is above & beyond, feel free to recognize them through this nomination! Please click here to nominate.
Door Checkers, Please!
- Please assign a student or pair up with a team member to check the doors as you enter/exit the building. We've had some small pieces of mulch and/or pebbles get stuck in the threshold of the door, causing the door not to be 100% latched shut. Thank you!
Leaving EARLY afterschool and you've gotten permission from Connie/Martha . . .
- If this is the case for you, please help us by always emailing the entire office team to let them know you've gotten permission and also leave your cell # in the email message, in case we need to contact you.
- Who is the "office team?" Connie, Martha, Angie, Jen, Jessica, Hailey
College Go Week September 24th-28th
Let’s kick off College Go Week by wearing college attire and jeans on Monday, September 24th! Students will be joining us for our college spirit day by wearing t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, or pins of their favorite college. Families will be informed in the Friday Newsletters so you are welcome to give them a reminder as well! You are encouraged to display your college pennants or signs proudly outside or within your classroom. Each morning on the announcements, an Indiana college will be featured with shout outs to staff and a trivia question of the day!
Exciting News! Jim McMillan is Returning to SGE!
Student Led Conferences
- Discussing/processing with you/your team ideas on what you plan to do in October
- Willing to "model" a student-led conference for you or your team
Reading and Writing Workshop
- Willing to model a mini-lesson for you or your team
- Willing to model a reading/writing student conference for your or your team
- Willing to watch you and offer feedback on any part of reading/writing workshop
I will offer two floating guest teachers to help with room coverage or you can set up a time with you/your team during your prep time. There will be a shared document I will be sending out on Monday (or before) to fill out your needs and what time works best for you and/or your team. T
Please also save 2:40 - 3:30 on Mon. 9/17. Jim will be modeling lesson using the SAY-IT, PLAY-IT, RELAY-IT, WEIGH-IT structure. This will be an optional meeting. A copy of this photo below will be uploaded in our SGE Staff Share drive, under the folder titled, CLASS Resources.
LINKS TO WORK ORDERS & *NEW* GOOGLE FORM LINKS
Technology Work Orders - Reminder from Dan Layton:
- Click here to access this link.
- It is always extremely helpful if you can submit actual technology work orders for any help you need. Please refrain from picking up the phone or emailing a question.
Marquis Work Orders:
Did your trash not get picked up? Does it seem the carpet didn't get vacuumed? Please help Angie & Jen out by filling out the Marquis work order on your own. Thanks!
1. Go to the Zionsville web site
2. Click on Teachers/Staff tab
3. Scroll down about halfway
4. Look for: Custodial Work Orders by Building
5. Click on Stonegate
Click here to access the Teachers/Staff tab
18-19 PTO Wish List - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Click the NEW LINK HERE to access this Office 365 Form
Personal Business Leave Request - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Please click the NEW LINK HERE to access this form and then don't forget to SAVE this page under your "favorites."
- Finally, as a friendly reminder of our ZCS Personal Business Leave + good information to know for our newest staff, I have copied/pasted the email about personal days sent by Becky Coffman on 5/8/16. This is per our CBA - Collective Bargaining Agreement
- A. Amount – Each employee shall be entitled to be absent from work three (3) days each school year for the transaction of personal business or the conduct of personal or civic affairs. Such leaves may be used in whole or half day increments. Requests for personal business leave should be made 48 hours in advance in writing to the building principal. In cases of emergency or other similar unforeseen circumstance, requests may be made orally to both the substitute coordinator and the building principal.
- B. Employees are discouraged from using personal business leave on staff development days or to extend a school vacation. If used on a staff development day then the employee remains totally responsible for securing the learning lost from their being absent during that activity.
- C. Accumulation – If an employee does not use all of the personal business leave in a given school year, the remaining personal business leave shall be accumulated for use in later school year, except that no more than a total of two (2) days may be accumulated from earlier school years for use as personal business leave, so that the maximum total personal business leave available in any one school year is three (3) days earned during the school year and up to two (2) days accumulated from earlier school years or a total of five (5) days.
- D. Conversion to Sick Leave – Any unused personal business leave not accumulated for use in later years as personal business leave shall be added to the employee’s accumulated sick leave.