Head U Gator News
March 25, 2019
Grateful Heart...
I am grateful for...
....Donna, Kim, and Bryan who have been so gracious in accepting and working with a transfer student.
....Annette and Shelly for working with that same student. They have been extremely responsive and flexible in learning about and designing interventions for the student.
....Truly for being so flexible when we asked to move her classroom. She not only agreed to the move but helped make it happen.
...Will, who cares so deeply about his student and takes extraordinary steps to care for their social and emotional needs.
...Christina for all her work on the website. That was a HUGE task and she did it without complaining.
...Tracey Stone, who has had to learn some new and very complicated things in a very short time. She has the ability to problem solve on her own very fast and efficiently, and she has also been a great help to Jenn.
...thanks to everyone for being gracious about the safety changes that have been made. We know that change is uncomfortable and the changes we've asked are annoying, so we appreciate you taking them in stride.
Feedback that I got this week.... and thanks
However, the feedback I wanted to share was that this mom was very concerned about what kindergarten would look like. We talked very briefly, and I realized she needed to see what was happening in classrooms in order to understand so I walked her into Jayne's room. She was thrilled and amazed to see what was happening in both kinder and first-grade classrooms. She loved that children were freely moving about the room, working on a variety of tasks, and she observed how happy everyone seemed to be.
That's not the first positive feedback I had this week from visitors to our school, and I realized that you all needed to hear that as well. You have made our school a place that we are proud to showcase (at any time) and for which people are extremely interested in attending. Thank you for your willingness to learn new approaches, try new things and be responsive to children's needs.
Retention conversations
1) If a student is mastering the standards of the grade, they will be promoted. District policy doesn't allow for retention for "social and emotional" reasons. There are some exceptions to this policy, but we need to be careful about following the right steps if we have concerns about things like maturity.
2) If a student isn't mastering the standards, parents can't require us to promote so if you encounter resistance, please make sure Tracey and I are in the loop and very involved in the process.
Jeanette
Cindy is going to organize our GTU for April. If you have other needs that Jeanette might have taken care of, there are instructional coaches that are ready, willing and able to help. However, I told Dr. Newell I didn't think she needed to set up a structured schedule for them to be here. We'd prefer to let them know what our needs were and work around that.
grades 3-5 and LWP
While it may be difficult to enforce, it's a part of the process for them to understand that this is celebrating goals that were achieved, and not necessarily everyone will be able to attend. We are working on a process that can be messy, but it's also an important lesson for them to learn!
Positive changes
Calendar
March 26
2:55-4:00 Art Club
3-4 STUCO
March 27
2:55-4 p.m. Good News Club
STARR training after school
March 28
March 29
Lunch with Principal
2:55-4:00 Mad Science
3:30 -Menchie's outing sponsored by PTA. Come join us for an afternoon treat!
March 30
No school- holiday