Team Meadow Update
Staff Update - January 4, 2020
Team Meadow,
Happy New Year! Can you believe we are at the 50 yard line of the school year, and that 2020 is a reality? I hope that you have all found joy, rest, and a little slice of peace these past couple of weeks as you celebrated the holidays with your friends and family.
As we prepare to return to the schoolhouse on Monday, please note the following update items. I know this is a little longer than usual, so thanks in advance for bearing with me.
Here we go...
Review, Refresh, &/or Revamp Routines & Procedures: Returning to school in January provides an important opportunity to refresh expectations, strengthen procedures and solidify agreements. The Life Goals (Treat People Right & Do the Right Thing) are broad for a reason. They provide wide applications in any situation. However, for students to understand them more fully, students must be taught "specifics" in different situations and spaces throughout the course of a school day. Consider how you can provide specifics in their daily experiences, especially those portions of the day that pose a challenge. Please use specific language when communicating expectations and don't forget to employ "Interactive Modeling" (More information below from Responsive Classroom)
One structure that Lauren and I have witnessed in a couple other ZCS schools is the use of the guiding language of "I care for myself. I care for others. I care for my space." Powerful guidelines in such few words! How might we fold that into our Life Goal language?
For example:
Cafeteria
- "Treat People Right" (How do I care for myself during my lunchtime? How should I care for others during lunch? How do we treat other people right by taking care of the space we use in the cafe?)
- "Do the Right Thing" (What is the right thing for me to do during lunch? How do I help others do the right thing? What is my responsibility to take care of the space I use in the cafe?)
We can apply these principles across all spaces throughout the building. How can we teach children to care for themselves, others, and our space more effectively? These will be explorations for our team in some upcoming staff meetings.
Welcome: In the final hours before break, we were able to secure a couple of teachers that will join us in January and February for Tuttila's and Foley's maternity leaves. We welcome two fine educators to our team in the coming weeks.
- Maggie Bennett (Tuttila/Kindergarten) - Maggie and her husband are currently in process of relocating back to Indiana following a year of adventure and work in Colorado. Most recently, Maggie taught at IPS #27, Center for Inquiry School & North Webster Elementary. Maggie is a highly optimistic and energetic personality, and she is planning to be back in town in mid-January. Welcome, Maggie!
- Katie Evans (Foley/1st grade) - This won't be the first welcome to Katie, as we welcomed her and her family to Boone Meadow in August. (Her daughter, Makayla, is in Becky Proctor's classroom.) Katie, her husband (Matt) and their three daughters relocated from Massachusetts when Matt's work brought them to the Zionsville community. Katie is dual certified, and she has been teaching both general education and special education for the past 15 years. Currently, Katie is an instructional assistant at Eagle Elementary, and she will join our team in February.
Global School Play Day - Merely thinking about this day brings a smile to my face. Mark your calendars for February 5th, and read the "refresher" below regarding this highly anticipated day. I will begin communicating information to families in the upcoming Friday Flyers.
Related Arts - Please note the slight change in the related arts schedule for quarter 3. The adjustment includes 2nd grade for STEM. Kara sent you an email, and I have included a screenshot below.
Student Progress Reports- Don't forget that student progress reports will be released to families soon. There's been a slight adjustment to due dates. Please note that all final "grades" and comments need to be submitted in PowerSchool by Friday the 10th @ 8 AM. Admin will review before progress reports will be released to families on January the 14th.
Construction Updates: Planning with facilities and architects lean toward construction beginning in the current BAC/Preschool wing around spring break. This will result in a domino impact of relocating various BME programs (BAC/Bridge, preschool, speech, Early Start Spanish, and OT/PT) for approximately the last quarter of the school year. More details will come later, but in the mean time, we need to consider how to help one another in our ever increasing limited space. In a nutshell, we have no storage and need to move a lot of "stuff" (for lack of a better word) and people. Plans are in the works to call on everyone to pitch in and help with this venture! Thanks in advance for your flexible mindset and collaboration.
Second Step & Lifelines - We are getting ready to move into Unit 3: Emotion Management. Thank you for your continued attention to increase the infusion of the Lifelines, Life Goals, and SEL language within your classroom community. Being intentional to bring the language to life across the curriculum is necessary for us to increase application of these skills at Boone Meadow. When you live out these skills, you serve as the model of what it looks like and how it is applied. Thank you for being an example of how your words match your actions and expectations within our school community. Co-teaching assignments to come soon.
Strong in Every Way Trait of Success: Wellness
Lifelines: Resilience, Self-Control, Forgiveness
Here's to a fantastic 2020!
Tom
I Hope You Make Mistakes...
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
― Neil Gaiman
Interactive Modeling
I'm putting this here again to serve as a strong reminder of "interactive modeling" and how it benefits development of structure for teaching new routines and expectations. I'm going to let this reminder sit for another week for review and to let it soak a bit.
I was reading from one of my Responsive Classroom books a few days ago about Interactive Modeling. It is a great way to teach any routine or skill that needs to be done in a specific way in any group setting. Instead of assuming that if we tell children how do do something enough times, they'll "get it." Instead, interactive modeling show students exactly how to do what we expect and gives them a chance to practice meeting those expectations. The Interactive Modeling structure has build-in steps that help students notice for themselves the details of how a routine or skill looks and sounds in action, and it provides immediate teacher feedback.
Interactive Modeling in Action:
- Say what you will model and why.
- Model the behavior.
- Ask students what they noticed.
- Invite one or more students to model
- Again, ask students what they noticed.
- Have all students practice.
- Provide feedback. (Tell them what they did well, and what can be improved. Try it again if needed.)
Remember that this is part of their learning. They'll mess up, make mistakes, and you will continue to guide. Sometimes they need reminders, however, with well established routines and clarity in expectations, you should experience the need to as many reminders.
Boone Meadow is an Energy Star certified school!
On Friday, I received this encouraging email from Ryan Dickson, ZCS Energy Auditor. I want to say "thank you" to everyone on our team for your assistance and energy saving mindset to help us achieve goals that save district dollars and benefit the health of our community.
Happy New Year!
Just thought I'd share the news that Boone Meadow officially earned Energy Star certification for 2019! This means Boone Meadow was among the top 25% compared to similar buildings throughout the nation. On average, buildings that earn this distinction use 35% less energy and cause 35% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to other like buildings. Thank you for your efforts in achieving this certification and I hope to make this a reoccurring achievement.
Thank you,
Ryan Dickson
Energy Auditor
Q3 Related Arts Schedule
Important Dates & Information
December
23-Jan 3 - Winter Break
January
6 - Students and staff return to school
7 - Elem Admin Mtg (AM @ ESC)
8 - BST mtg (Special Education)
9 - Lt Governor Crouch and Representative Schaibley visit (1:15-2:00)
10 - Q2 "grades" and comments due by 8 AM (I suggest having them in earlier to build in a buffer)
13 - Literacy Coach Mtg (12-2:00); Staff Mtg; ZCS Board Mtg; WIDA testing window begins (EL)
14 - District Admin Mtg (AM @ ESC); Student Progress Reports released to families
17 - 100th Day of School
20 - MLK Jr. Day (no school)
25 - Chinese New Year
27 - Staff Meeting
27-31 - Digilab (alternate 5-day rotation schedule for Related Arts - No RACE Day on the 31st)
30 - 4th gr Hoosier Heritage Showcase (5:15-6:00) & STEM Night (6:00-7:30)
31 - Baby Tuttila due date
February
3-7 - Digilab- available for co-teaching with Kara
5 - Global School Play Day
6 - PTO Meeting @ 7:00 (Cafe)
7 - 4th Grade Parent CoffeeTalk w/ Matt Doublestein (8:30-9:30)
14 - Valentine's Day (& parties)
17 - Presidents Day (no school)
18 - Staff Professional Development Day (no school for students)
22 - Boone Meadow Blast
26 - Baby Foley due date
March
4 - PTO Meeting @ 7:00 (Cafe)
8 - Daylight Savings
10 - Holi
18 - Wellness Night
20 - Boone Meadow Mixer (evening social for adults @ Golf Club of Indiana)
25 - Kindergarten Round-Up
27-April 3 - Spring Break
April
8 - Passover
10 - Good Friday
12 - Easter
13 - PTO Meeting @ 7:00 (Cafe)
19 - Orthodox Easter
May
6 - PTO Meeting @ 7:00 (Cafe)
22 - Last Day of School
2-Hour Delay Details
A handful of a few important bits of info should we have a 2-hour delay...
- Bus arrival is at 9:50 AM; Kindergarten students arrive at 10:50 AM
- Preschool will open @ 10:15 AM, the car line will begin at 10:05 AM
- Kindergarten teachers will not meet with regular RtI groups on delay days
- Scheduled PLCs will occur after school on delay days
- Early Start Spanish and Bridge will be from 10:00-10:50
- All BAC sites are open at normal times at all sites, except for Preschool BAC, which will open at 10:15 am (car line will begin at 10:05)
- Certified Staff Members: Your expected arrival time is 9:40 when we have a 2-hour delay. If it is safe for you to come earlier, you are welcome to do so, but not expected.
- Administrative Assistants are welcome to adjust their times to the accommodate the 2 hour delay if needed.
- Instructional assistants should plan to arrive on the 2-hour delay time
- Additional information is located on the ZCS website: http://www.zcs.k12.in.us/apps/pages/school_delay_closing_information
E-DAY REMINDER
With a forecast that includes a few inches of snow with mixed participation, e-day possibilities increase. However, keep in mind that school cancellations can occur for a variety of reasons- power outages, water main breaks, etc. come to mind. if school were cancelled tomorrow, would you be e-day ready? This year, the first cancellation will activate an e-day and will not be made up in May. Please keep this in mind and make sure you are prepared.
First Five Elementary E-day RA Rotation Schedule
*NO KDG RELATED ARTS ON E-DAYS
E-Day #1 – First Grade – Wellness; Second Grade – Music; Third Grade – Art; Fourth Grade – STEM
E-Day #2 – First Grade – Music; Second Grade – Art; Third Grade – STEM; Fourth Grade – Wellness
E-Day #3 – First Grade – Art; Second Grade – STEM; Third Grade – Wellness; Fourth Grade – Music
E-Day #4 – First Grade – STEM; Second Grade – Wellness; Third Grade – Music; Fourth Grade – Art
E-Day #5 – First Grade – Wellness; Second Grade – Music; Third Grade – Art; Fourth Grade – STEM
Personal Business Day(s) Requests
For Certified Team Members:
To requests "personal business days," please complete the following process.- Go to the following link, and complete the "personal business request" form. https://goo.gl/forms/CycfilABEUyILbh83
- Once the form is completed, please send a brief email to me (Tom) that includes the date(s) of your request(s). Remember, this should be completed at least 48 hours prior to the personal day.
- Enter your upcoming absence in AESOP as soon as possible. (It can always be deleted later should plans change.)
Thanks -
Contact Us
Email: thundley@zcs.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.zcs.k12.in.us/bme/
Location: 5555 S Main St, Whitestown, IN, United States
Phone: 3178732226
Twitter: @ZCSBoone_Meadow