Sunday Shakedown
Weekly Memo for Washington Elementary
Principal Post:
Simple Methods In Loving Everyone Our purpose at Smile is to help meet the physical needs of foster kids in our area by providing them with clothes, shoes, and personal items (backpacks, books, toys, carseats, blankets, bottles, etc.) We do this out of a passion to serve the foster children and the foster families taking care of them. Fostering is a difficult journey for all parties involved but giving to them is a way of supporting them in their tough season of life.
Thank yous, appreciations, and celebrations:
- Thanks to LCG for feeding us a great lunch for the Fulkerson shower.
- Thanks to all who participated in the Spaghetti lunch by Riverfront, I know Mallori was so pleased to receive such love and care from you.
- Thanks to Kim for a great bookfair
- Thanks to Traci and Mollie for a productive SPED collaborative
- Thanks to all who participated in the jeans day for United Way!
- Thanks to all for another great club day-on the Friday before break nonetheless!
- Thanks to Kelli Cate for a great faculty meeting, we look forward to what's next (on Monday)
- Thanks to Kim B and Agnese Goins for a great storytelling field trip!
- Thanks to Sue M. for quick scanning of all assessments, our data is looking good!
- Thanks to all for working so hard to get DRA/writing data into the spreadsheet and for thoughtful and productive data conferences.
- Thanks to our leadership team for your support and guidance on initiatives!
Week of October 22-26
Faculty Meeting 3:45
Tuesday:
Literacy Walkthroughs with Dwain and Emily 8:30-11
Wednesday:
RTI Meetings (Remember Celebrate, Recognize, Consider paperwork with graphs)
Wolf at Principal Collaborative 9-12:30
Socktober service project begins
Thursday:
Science PBL Collaborative
Optional Read to Be Ready Professional Learning at Jefferson
Flu shots at GWES
Friday:
Birthdays with the Principals
Coming soon:
McTeacher's Night on the 29th (see Google form to sign up for a slot) Let's have some fun!
Spirit Week Oct 29-Nov 2
Run/walk on Nov 2
Beware!
Please be aware that there is a virus going around spoofing email addresses, including state email addresses. Please read about this below and caution your staff:
EMOTET VIRUS WARNING
There has been an up-tick of phishing emails targeting our districts from the internet with the EMOTET VIRUS being delivered thru attached files such as documents and PDF. Please be very cautious of emails with links in them or documents that you receive. In addition to checking for a valid email address please hover your mouse over the link and verify the source is the actual website. Better yet go into your browser and type in the link vs just clicking from your email. If you happen to click on a document from someone that you do not know please don’t enable macros. By doing so you could cause the virus to run and propagate to other machines.
Below is what one type of malicious document looks like. Again do not enable macros as that is what runs the virus
Be aware of emails that seem to be from a valid name. Please triple check the sender’s email address before opening any documents or links to ensure it is a valid user. If you don’t know them, don’t open it! Write down the email address and contact the sender to see if it is legitimate.
FYI and Reminders:
Open Enrollment for health, vision and dental insurance will be from October 1, 2018- October 26, 2018.
All benefit eligible employees may change, sign up or cancel insurance during that time.
(Further detail on the information below, including plan information, enrollment forms, premiums and other helpful information can be found on the Kingsport City Schools website or the Partners for Health website)
- www.k12k.com (Staff/Staff Only/Employee Benefits)
- www.tn.gov/partnersforhealth
GENERAL INFORMATION:
You will only need to participate in open enrollment if you are making changes to your current coverage.You do not need to do anything if you are keeping the same coverage you have in 2018 for the 2019 plan year.
You should already be receiving information in the mail from Partners for Health on open enrollment and any changes for the 2019 plan year. Please look for their flier in the mail.
- www.k12k.com (Staff/Staff Only/Employee Benefits)
I have attached a document explaining a new Transforming Teaching and Learning (T2L) Teacher Leader opportunity as well as a video. The intention of this role is to offer opportunities for leading, learning, and sharing digital tools and resources. We are excited to provide this layer of support for our teachers. I hope some of you will consider applying.The district is looking for a teachers who are interested in working closely with administrators and teachers in their schools to support the integration of instruction and technology. T2L leaders strive to enhance student learning by leading teachers in the application and best practices of established and emerging digital tools. If this description sounds like you, see the following attachments and apply! This could be a great opportunity for those of you who are tech savvy and love finding ways to use technology not as a filler but as a real way to move kids academically.
The deadline for application is October 22 and the initial meeting is November 8th.
As a reminder, time off directly before or after a school break must have superintendent approval. This should go through the principal. In addition, time off for personal reasons may be declined if more than 10% of staff is already scheduled to be off that day. Also remember, you have 1 hour or under of time during a day in which you can be out of the building without taking leave. This is a courtesy and should only be taken if you have coverage for your class by an assistant. You should not double up classes or request another teacher take your class. You should also notify and sign out in the office when this is a necessity. Calling Candice to record it for you is sufficient. Lastly, please remember to save personal time for your children's awards days, graduations,etc. You cannot attend these and get back to school within an hour. Although we want to be family friendly, in order to be equitable, you should adhere to these policies.
We cannot get the WIDA survey to work, I have asked Pam to get us a paper copy of a signature page.
Social committee is "Booing people" again this year. If you find your mailbox holding a bucket with a treat, please refill and pay it forward to another staff member. Please check to person's name off the list. Also, last year, we planned for cross school partnerships to help us focus on levels of appreciation, that will continue this year.
The principals are preparing to have a discussion on field trips. As nursing responsibilities will keep them from traveling as much, we will need to plan ahead. In an effort to consider what trips are valuable and provide the most support for learning/child development, I would like you to complete a simple survey, please respond by Wednesday. The link is here.
Certified staff observations have begun. To ensure that all staff are prepared for the changes in the planning view of the rubric, administrators and InDes have taken your input and created guiding questions for you to reflect upon and be ready to address in pre-conferences during an observation that uses the planning rubric. These questions are attached below and are also in the GWES Team Drive.