GRE Staff Newsletter
For the Week of August 20, 2018
Dear Staff,
Wowza! What an awesome start to the school year! Thank you to each and every one of you for making our students feel safe, supported and loved over our first three days. I loved every second of watching all of you meet and work with students. This newsletter is packed with information and I do promise that they won't always be this long...but I want to make sure we are all on the same page. Thanks in advance for reading this newsletter in it's entirety.
When I was an Intervention Specialist at the beginning of my career I had lunch duty every day. I thought, "How cool, I will get to see so many kids!". That thought quickly changed when I learned how challenging this duty would turn out to be. Every day I'd show up with a smile and talk with kids. Some kids were so kind and I loved talking to them. But in all honesty, I quickly began to hate this time of day because the amount of kind kiddos was far out weighed by the amount of kids who would talk when I was talking, do crazy things (like stomping on a ketchup packet...how is that even a cool thing?), and push and shove each other during dismissal. After observing the lunch room the last few days, I started to have a few flashbacks to those early days of lunch duty. So team...I'm asking for some help. At some point this week, I am asking you to physically practice lunch routines including entering, eating lunch, and lining up. I think this will greatly support our teachers that have lunch duty and will go a long way in ensuring our students recognize that all adults in the building are "OUR" teachers and this is "OUR" school. Check out the section below to see the lunch room expectations and make adjustments needed this week. If you need help with this, I will be happy to practice lunch with your kiddos! With some minor tweaks, I think we can make lunch an enjoyable experience for all students and staff members.
It will be a busy week, but I am confident we are going to ROCK it!
Kate
Supporting Our Students: GRE Lunch Room Expectations
1. Walk in and out of the cafeteria
2. Use a level 1 or 2 voice
3. Be silent when an adult is speaking
4. Keep their hands on their own food
5. Stay in their seat
6. Raise their hand if they need something or have a question
7. Line up at their designated spots (*New* We will have something on the floor indication two line up spots per class. Please practice having students line up either in one line for boys, one line for girls, or numbers 1-10 in one line, and 11-? in the other)
8. Clean up after themselves
Adults Will:
1. Have a classroom job of Cafe Captain. This student will meet by the stage when we start cleaning up and stay to help us get set for the next group. This may include picking up trash under tables, helping wipe down tables (expect the peanut free table), looking for left over lunch boxes, sweeping up food trash, etc.)
2. Move around the tables, talking to students, helping all students engage in lunch conversation. Many students need ideas for what to talk about at lunch that could include all students in the conversation.
3. Help Hoss and students with cleaning up between lunches.
4. Use the microphone to ensure all students can hear announcements.
5. Distribute Keys to Success for awesome cafeteria behavior.
6. Monitor classes and select one each week for the Golden Spatula Award, to be awarded on Friday Morning announcements. This will earn their class a small prize for the week.
News to Share
1. Reminder! We will have a fire drill on Wednesday, August 22nd at 9:30. Please make sure all students are prepared for what to do in the case of a fire or emergency evacuation prior to this date. If you have questions, please let me know. Additionally, if you have a student or students who have a sensory or anxiety issue surrounding the fire alarm or unexpected drills, please let me know. If you requested a fire map for your room, they will be in your mailbox by the end of the day Monday.
2. Here is the link to the 2018 Fall Data Collection Document that our Intervention Team shared through email earlier this week. As a reminder, please record all of your assessment data in this doc before your scheduled data team meeting. List students in alphabetical order last name, first name. For BAS assessments, you will now need to record the Accuracy Rate, Comprehension Score (4/7 for example), and Number of Self-Corrections (all of these are found within the BAS score sheet). As a reminder here is the schedule for Data Teams:
Kinder - August 30 (8-12)
1st - August 29 (8-12)
2nd - August 28 (8-12)
3rd - August 27 (8-12)
4th - August 24 (8-12)
For more information on what exactly needs collected use the data collection document or see the email sent by Ginna on August 14th.
3. Be sure to wear jeans and your red staff shirt again this Monday to help our Kindergartners easily recognize who to go for help!
4. If you need any support for Curriculum Night feel free to chat with Kate or Ginna. Here is a link to the Scavenger Hunt. Please pass these out to families at the end of your first session and encourage them to participate and turn it in to the office on their way out. I'm not sure if our PA will be functional by Thursday so plan to set a timer to help you stay on schedule.
5. If you are interested in participating in International Dot Day from our book talk on Monday, click here. If you aren't interested in Dot Day but would like to see some cool ideas for sharing this text with your students, click here to see the Pinterest Board I created.
6. Keys to Success is up and running! We will talk more about this at our Tuesday PAC meeting and will share out any new information at that time. Check out this resource in regards to prizes for earning Keys. We will begin to celebrate this Friday!
7. Tuesday we will have our second PAC meeting. Notes from the meeting will be shared within 48 hours through email. You can preview the DRAFT agenda here.
Important Dates
Tuesday, Aug. 21- A Day; 4:00-5:00 PAC Meeting
Wednesday, Aug. 22-B Day; 9:30 Fire Drill
Thursday, Aug. 23-C Day; 6:00-7:30 Curriculum Night; Happy Birthday Megan S.
Friday, Aug. 24-D Day; 8:00-12:00 4th Grade Data Team Meeting