Beating the Odds
Lakeview Staff Newsletter - Mid-August 2018
Ready?
The older I get, the more I wonder what ready means. Does it refer to the physical room being ready? Does it mean lesson plans? Or perhaps just a state of mind for a new school year? In any case, being ready seems a whole lot more complicated that I used to think it was. And in the end, the students are coming regardless of whether we are ready or not.
So whatever state of readiness you find yourself in at this point, there are quite a few things I am sending in this newsletter in order to help us spend our time together next week more productively. Please read everything this week and I will see you soon ... ready or not.
But for this week, we are heartbroken. Please continue to send thoughts and prayers to Rachel and her family. The educational community of our area is sad to lose a great leader. Jenny Johnson sent an email to staff about arrangements.
Opening Week Schedule
The time we spend together at the beginning of the year is priceless. Each of the different ways we come together during opening week builds our vision and skills for the year. Thank you to all the people who have worked hard to put together our opening week professional development.
Monday, August 27 - Staff meeting, 3-4 p.m. in the library
Tuesday, August 28 - Staff meeting, 8-10:30 a.m. in the library
Tuesday, August 28 - 3:00-3:45 Classroom teachers with Diane Konjura in the library
Thursday, August 30 - Classroom teachers, special ed staff, and EL staff at Blakewood from 7:30-11:15 (see the revised opening week schedule link, above).
Lakeview Guidelines & Procedures
Specials and Lunch Schedules
During our opening week, grade level teams will develop individual instructional schedules in collaboration with special ed staff and interventionists. Don't get too far ahead on this yet ... I will provide the number of minutes that need to be included for each content area.
Lunch ... We need to adjust our lunch/recess schedule to shorten the lunch period to no more than 50 minutes. This ensures that we meet the number of instructional hours mandated by DPI. Therefore, please view this spreadsheet for more explanation and two proposals. I am happy with either proposal, so please be ready to discuss and decide when we are back together. Many thanks to Kristen and Amy for helping with this.
Room Setup
Something that our Summer crew frequently dealt with was scraping scotch tape and poster putty off walls. Just say "no" to scotch tape. And Jeff's advice for poster putty? Go ahead and use it - but use big hunks of it. It comes off easier and doesn't get stuck in the concrete wall.
Making a list ... Checking it twice
Thank you to Roxanne and Cortney for managing the enrollment and registration process. It is a crazy amount of work that most of us never think about!
Class lists - Families will get a postcard this year with the teacher's name. These postcards will go out this week. Please do not contact families before Friday, August 24. Families will not get a postcard until they have registered.Staff list - includes room numbers and phone extensions.
Be sure to ...
Go into your Google Calendar and be sure you have the "Lakeview Staff Calendar" and the "Lakeview Website Calendar". You should also add my calendar by typing csepersky in the "Add a coworker's calendar" box .
Our staff meeting dates and times for the year are all found on the "Lakeview Staff Calendar". They are all Wednesday mornings from 7:15-8:15.
Paraprofessionals Reminder
Lakeview Elementary School
Email: csepersky@sdsm.12.wi.us
Website: lakeview.sdsm.k12.wi.us
Location: 711 Marion Avenue, South Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone: 414-766-5252
Twitter: @sepersky