WIZARD WEEKLY
Week of November 7-11
WORD FROM THE EMERALD CITY
~ We want to welcome Cassie Irby to our Elkins family! Cassie begins today, and we are very excited to have her here. She's spending the week floating, observing and getting to know the kiddos! Please make it a point to say hi or drop by kindergarten to introduce yourself and welcome her aboard!!
~ It's election week! Tomorrow, Tuesday, all students will take part in our campus election. They will be voting during their specials classes in the Election room in 5th grade hallway. Shout out to Shirley Milstead for organizing the campus wide election. Please make sure each student has their voter registration card with them in order to be able to participate. We are making this as "life-like" as possible. Tying in those "real world" scenarios. We are also asking everyone to wear RED, WHITE and BLUE tomorrow to show our American pride!
~ Congratulations to Kendra, as she has been chosen for the district's employee spotlight!! We are so proud of her, and she is a well-deserving recipient. Megan Carradine will be on campus this week to video her, one of her colleagues, and a current student, which will be featured in the December edition of the district newsletter! Congrats, Kendra! We are so proud of you!!
~During November, I will send out a link to an online video for you to watch through Edivate. This is the online professional development site that I discussed in last week's newsletter. You will need to watch the video and comment under the "reflection" section in order to receive credit. The district has a "rollout" plan for Edivate, and for the month of November that includes viewing and reflecting on one video that ties in with the campus instructional focus. You should be receiving that link sometime this week, so be on the lookout!
~ Just a reminder that Friday is early dismissal. Remember, once you complete your conferences, you may leave. Make sure you're keeping documentation of each conference to show that each conference was completed.
~ This is a repeat from last week, but it's important... The Documentation training will be Wednesday, November 16th. Please make it a point to try and attend, since I know from our CARE team meetings that documentation is something that several of you have mentioned interest in learning more about and finding a system that works in order to keep it all straight. Speaking of documentation, please don't shred documentation on Tier 2/3 students at the end of the year. We need this information from year to year in case we ever get to the referral process. Make sure you keep this information and turn it in to either myself or Ashley at the end of the year, so we can get into the appropriate folder for safe keeping.
Campus News
~ Lisa Dunn has scheduled to be on our campus this Wednesday for walk throughs. Please do not wear warm ups this Wednesday, since she will be on campus. Since we are having parent conferences all week, and almost all of you are participating in those, it's probably more beneficial not to be in warm ups this week anyway. Thanks for understanding! Please make sure all learning targets are updated in your classrooms, learning targets are posted in the hallways with student work, and you are using the ICLE rubrics when planning in order to get those Quad D moments and lessons. If you have something planned on Wednesday that you would like us to see, please let me know. She will be on campus at 1:00.
~ Angela Kennedy will be on campus for curriculum walks this Thursday November 10th also at 1:00. I sent an email this morning with the specifics that she will be looking for, so make sure to look over that email, and if you're a writing teacher, have your portfolios by the door for her to look through.
~ I will be off campus most of the day on Thursday. I will be at training in the morning, and then I have to attend a funeral on Thursday afternoon. I will have my cell if you need me.
~ If you have not gotten Lilly your form for Elk of the Month, please do so before you leave today. It's important that each student has his/her form on the wall to show the accomplishment of receiving Elk of the Month.
~ Make sure to take advantage of the $5 IN & OUT burger baskets that can be purchased for Literacy Night. The Elk Junior Council gets 80% profit, so this is a GREAT fundraiser! Make sure to order for your family and help us meet the minimum number of orders!
~There will be a Cliburn musical performance on Wednesday, November 16th at 1:30 for students. This performance is for students in 2nd-4th grades. If you remember, they came last year and did amazing things using just the piano for their performance. I know this is the 2nd grade field trip, so it looks like it will be just 3rd and 4th in the assembly.
~ Angie has scheduled a book club meeting for the book Reading in the Wild (the sequel to the Book Whisperer) for December 8th after school. Please mark this on your calendars, if you would like to participate!
~ Don't forget those positive phone calls!! The end of the semester will be here before we know it!
~ The date of the School Spelling Bee will be Wednesday December 14th at 8:30. Remember, the spelling bee is for 2nd-5th grade students. We will take the top 2 spellers from each class to participate in the campus spelling bee. Leslie will need the 2 names by this Friday, November 11th.
Be Vocabulous!
Continue to discuss the vocabulary with your students! It's making a big difference!
Here is the copy of the s'more newsletter about the vocabulary program. It has all the words listed for the year, so you can plan ahead! It has each word listed and the grade level responsible. The kids really enjoyed this last year, and I think this was something I had more comments from parents about than anything! They would comment about their students knowing the meanings of words that they didn't even know. The vocabulary parade was a big hit too. Even the older kids got into it and had fun being creative and participating.
Please turn in the "Word Up" Levels sheets when you have students who display the appropriate use of the words. Obviously, the younger they are, the more "adaptation" needs to occur in order to receive the levels, but the students who received the tags last year, LOVED it!! I will put the "Word Up Level" sheet on canvas!
As a reminder, the way the "Word Up Levels" work, goes like this...
All students will start as rookies and all students will have a chance to move up as many levels as they would like. Spirit Tags (that PTA is selling) will be used for levels 2 thru 5 and when a student reaches level 2 thru 5 they will receive a spirit tag for that level from the principal.
Teachers will nominate students to move up through the levels.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Tuesday, November 8th:
LiiNK training has been cancelled K & 1st grade teachers!
Wednesday, November 9th:
NO WARM UP WEDNESDAY
Lisa Dunn here for walkthroughs at 1:00
Thursday, November 10th:
Angela Kennedy will be on campus for curriculum walks at 1:00 pm
Elk Junior Council Meeting until 4:00 in Guidance Room
Kori off campus most of day for training in AM /funeral in PM
Friday, November 11th:
Early Release for Parent/Teacher Conferences
Spelling Bee winners due to Leslie
Monday, November 14th:
Grades due by 8:00 am
Kori off campus with K. Stowe for PLC/Data training
Tuesday, November 15th:
Progress reports go home
Kori off campus with K. Stowe for PLC/Data training
Wednesday, November 16th:
2nd Grade Field Trip
Cliburn musical performance at 1:30 (3rd and 4th grades)
Optional Documentation Training after school in the library
Thursday, November 17th:
IN & OUT burger presales due!
Kori off (personal day for Kellyn's tonsillectomy)
November 21st-25th:
Thanksgiving Holidays!
November 28th-December 2nd
Book Fair this week
Thursday, December 1st:
Kori off campus from 11:00-1:00 for Principal Luncheon
Literacy Night: 5:30-7:00
Tuesday, December 6th:
Dr, Chadwell on campus - 9:00-10:00
CARE Team Meeting- 1st grade @ 1:20
Thursday, December 8th:
Kori off campus from 11:00-1:00 for Principal Meeting
Reading in the Wild book study meeting- 3:00 in Angie's room
Friday, December 9th:
Kori off campus at training all day
Angie Lemons off campus at Title 1 Meeting
Monday, December 12th:
Grades due by 8:00 am
Tuesday, December 13th:
Progress reports go home
Wednesday, December 14th:
Admin Christmas Open House- EMS Board Room (all day)
Friday, December 16th:
Holiday parties
Early release at 11:40
KORI WERTH - PRINCIPAL
Email: kwerth@ems-isd.net
Website: http://www.emsisd.com/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2336
Location: Fort Worth, TX, United States