THE STALLION STAR
September 18, 2016
IN THE NEWS...
PHOTO OP
Take a look at STUDENT TALK at its best! Getting students to talk is best practice for ensuring that they are processing and understanding academic language! Way to go first grade Ms. Ching's class!!
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent-Teacher conferences are expected to be held for each student by the end of the first grading period - the end of the first grading period is October 21st. To provide you more opportunity, the week of September 26th has been protected so that you may schedule as many of your conferences as possible during this week. There will be no PLC or staff meetings, and no GLIMs during this week. Please refrain, if possible, from scheduling any Action Team meetings this week as well. Please work with your team to plan points of discussion and give hints for scheduling. Special Ed and ESL/BiLingual teachers are expected to make concerted efforts to meet with as many parents as possible, either in coordination with the gen ed teacher(s) or on your own, especially for those students (or parents) of high need. Special Areas teachers should also consider meeting with parents of particular students, either of specific skills and/or who have individual needs. After all conferences have been held, a parent sign-in log of your conferences should be turned into Carlene for your TTESS folder.
On the evening of Wednesday, September 28th, to support extended times for parents who are unable to come during the school day, we will designate that evening as an opportunity for conferences and will provide pizza and salad dinner to those teachers who RSVP. Carlene will send a Google form so that we may better predict how much to order. You are NOT REQUIRED to stay this evening, however keep in mind that many parents are not able to meet during the day - this is the designated night to accommodate those parents and we will feed you. :-)
A form parent letter was distributed for students last week. Don't forget to consider parents who may need an interpreter present. While we have several Spanish-speaking staff members at ACE, interpreters should be scheduled well in advance. Impromptu requests for interpreters is not respectful of others' time and plans. If you have a conflict or different language needing support, the district has Eva Wallace (x 30236) and Jennifer Mitten (x30343) to coordinates these services.
EMERGENCY PROCEDURES DRILL
This Tuesday at 2PM. Please ensure you know the proper procedures for your class and reviewed them with your class. Please also ensure you have reviewed EXPECTATIONS with your class, along with explaining the repercussions for any misbehavior during the drill.
TORNADO -- LOCKDOWN --- EVACUATION (FIRE DRILL) --- REVERSE EVACUATION/LOCK DOWN
WELCOME ABOARD!!
Please welcome VICKY PERKOWSKI to our ACE family! Vicky is joining our team as our 2nd part-time community liaison (wih Mr. Nicholas). Vicky carries a bright smile so please make sure if you see her, introduce yourself as she has to learn a lot on the fly! Her first day on the job was our busiest ever - so we sure do know how to initiate our new staff!! :-)
FALL CARNIVAL
Carnival is just around the corner (October 6th)! Each grade level (SPED AND ESL included) will pick an activity to have as a station, for returning teachers it is what we did last year. If you will please email Mrs. Caten (Jameson.caten@risd.org) the name, how many tickets your station will cost and where the location of your station will need to be (gym, field, etc) as soon as possible that would be great! Also please make sure that your grade creates a poster with the title and cost of the station. Every grade (SPED and ESL) is in charge of a station and is in charge of manning that station on carnival night. Carnival night starts at 5:30 and ends about 7.
OFFICE REFERRALS/DISCIPLINE
Please remember that if you requested any assistance from the office (administrator OR community liaison), you MUST complete an office referral form -- hard copy AND in FOCUS! You have 48 hours from the time of your referral to submit the completed referral form and enter it into FOCUS.
We have had many students simply being sent to the office or who are being asked to be removed -- without any information from the teacher. Do not depend on kids to tell admin or liaisons what happened. When students are asked why they are there or why they are being removed, the typical answer is "I don't know" or "For no reason" or "I didn't do anything", which causes a lengthy investigation. Teachers immediately lose when students are getting out of class and able to manipulate the time spent out of class.
First, unless there is imminent danger, please do not just SEND students to the office - as many times, there is not available staff to tend to them, and the students are rewarded by being out of class and doing nothing but watching the events in the main office. If you have a student who needs to be removed, please call and be prepared to provide some information regarding the removal. For persistent behavior that is ready for admin intervention, please utilize the "DOCUMENTATION OF CLASSROOM-GRADE LEVEL DISCIPLINE" form (available on Google Swap) so that we are informed of what consequences have been already enforced at the classroom level or grade level. For persistent misbehavior, the office will not enforce any consequences unless there has been documentation of parent phone calls and classroom/grade level consequences.
LIBRARY NEWS
We are taking sign-ups now to participate in the district sponsored Book Review program. How it works:
1. Taressa collects books at the RPL from publishers. Book Reviewers from our building read them and write a short review.
2. ACE gets to keep all the books and have them processed for free. At the end of the year, if we are one of the top reviewing schools we will receive money to purchase books. Last year we were awarded $1000. The year before that we received $500.
3. If you have some free time and are interested in reading new books fiction, nonfiction, graphic, etc. Please click on the link below and sign up to be a Guest Reviewer.
Taressa already has some books you can choose from.
Guest Reviewer Profile https://goo.gl/W8F6Bu
3rd – 6th GRADE ELAR
Good news! RISD staff can now register for Cultivating a Community of Readers with Donalyn Miller through the district’s new staff development registration system, True North Logic. (TNL is available through ClassLink.)
If you would like to search for the session by course number, it is 10162.
Please select the appropriate credit type.
The original flyer is available at https://goo.gl/uVyxxj
SPIRIT SHIRTS
Do you know a former ACE staff member? If you could reach out and see if he/she has any ACE spirit shirts in good condition that they wouldn't mind passing along... we have several new staff members who would greatly appreciate more options!
LUNCH MIDDLE TABLE
Quick reminder that the middle table in the cafeteria is to NOT be used for classroom discipline. It has proven ineffective to be used for problems occurring in the classroom. The middle table may only be used by cafeteria monitors issuing natural consequences for misbehavior in the cafeteria.
REACH
· REACH began last week. Intermediate (4-6) are on Monday and primary begins this Thursday. Students are not counted absent on REACH days.
MORNING/LUNCH/RECESS/AFTERNOON DUTY
If you have a morning duty station (7:15), please take a moment and verify that you are at the right place. Many stations have changed since last year. Several new locations have been added as well.
PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT ALL STAFF has duty at 7:40!! -- if you do not have a weekly designated duty, your duty is outside your doorway, greeting students AND monitoring the hallway. Teachers who are on their computers checking email and/or at their desks doing clerical work are considered NOT doing their 7:40 duty.
For all duties, it is imperative that you arrive on time and should not leave early. DOING SO LEAVES STUDENTS UNDER-SUPERVISED OR UNSUPERVISED. If you are going to be out, it is your responsibility to get coverage for duties.
OLD DISCIPLINE FORM/OFFICE REFERRAL FORMS
Effectively immediately, please discard any old office referral forms or disciplinary forms. We have created new forms that align with FOCUS.
PARAS
If you would like to join RESSA (Richardson Educational Support Staff Association) please stop by and see Carlene, she has the enrollment forms. You may have the $15 taken out of your October paycheck instead of paying up front. This is a para organization, and in February we have the Boss's Banquet that is a lot of fun...but you can't join in if you are not a RESSA member!!!
SUBMISSIONS TO THE STALLION STAR
We will continue to utilize The Stallion Star to disseminate important news, updates, information, celebrations, kudos, announcements, and events. This venue will assist in reducing emails and time spent in staff meetings. Everyone should submit entries (news, events, information, photos, etc.) to our weekly staff newsletter. Please email any submission requests to Carlene by the Thursday before publishing. If photos are submitted, please provide a short 2-4 sentence summary letting us know what the photo captured.
NEW HIRES/NEW STAFF -- HAVE YOU DONE YOUR TRAINING? -- MANDATORY CHILD ABUSE TRAINING
COMMUNITY PARTNERS AT WORK!
ACTION TEAM NEWS
School Climate/Student Incentive Committee
Congratulations to the winners of the mid 9 weeks! Please review the rewards for the winners. If you choose lunch outside, please eat lunch with your kids. You are in charge of them. J
Rewards:
Students: A small reward will be chosen by the winning homeroom team each mid-nine weeks (extra recess, lunch at picnic tables, wear a hat, etc.) and a big reward each nine weeks (party, free day in gym (teacher makes arrangements with coaches), electronic device break, popcorn party, etc.) to one Team (homeroom) in each Gym (grade level).
Teachers: The homeroom teacher of each winning team will receive an award of his/her choosing: jeans pass, early leave pass, gift cards, coupons from local businesses, etc.
SCHOOL COMMUNITY
The Rangers Tickets were a great incentive to increase PTA memberships! Thanks again!
The Annual RISD 5K SPIRIT RUN (sponsored by the Excellence in Education Foundation) is just around the corner! The event is Saturday, November 5th. If you're interested, please let Carlene know if you up for the challenge! WE HAVE INTERESTED STAFF FOR RUNNING AND WALKING -- you don't need to run it to support it!!
SUNSHINE/FRIENDSHIP
Payday is Friday! Woo Hoo! Time for some "milkshakes". It's a good time to gather our family in a casual manner and just vent, laugh, and chill -- please join us at Frankies (Plano Road - about 5 minutes from ACE) on Friday. (P.S. While Sunshine/Friendship takes initiative to plan our casual gatherings, each participant usually needs to pay for their own orders.)
There have been some cards by the sign in for our staff to sign. Please make sure to do so if you haven't already.
Sunshine dues help support staff morale, celebrations, and help support our work families during tough times. Please make sure you submit your dues ($15)! For those staff members wanting coffee each morning, please submit $5 for the Fall Coffee Fund.
DIFFERENTIATION
COLLEGE AND CAREER
TECHNOLOGY
Student Google Access Week, September 26 - 30
Well teachers, here we go! Since we will finally be getting our Mac Lab set up September 21st and 22nd, now it is time to get our students on board with Google too! Yes ALL OF THEM! (Kindergarten – 6th grade).
The week of September 26 – 30, teachers will follow the LIBRARY SCHEDULE for computer lab access. Taressa will be working with you and your class to help set up each of the students’ accounts AND set new passwords. You will be given more details at the next staff meeting concerning procedures and passwords.
PTA/PARENT ED/PARENT VOLUNTEERS
PTA will again be recruiting memberships at the ACE Carnival. New student spirit shirts will also be available.
We have parent volunteers in the building to do work for you. Please remember that there is a form to fill out in the Science Lab or by the sign in sheet. Place your work to be done in your grade level box in the Science Lab (room B132). If you have any questions, contact Sherri Harris ext 2936.
KUDOS GOES TO!
SpEd Team -- for working together and responding together to reach your kids' needs, as well as your team's needs!! Also, for continuing to learn the new system for IEPs and ensuring we are complying to expectations!
Michelle Hutchison and our ILT-- for keeping us on target! So many details don't fall through the cracks because of our team!
Jameson Caten -- for starting the plans for Carnival!
Sherri Harris -- for helping with our FRIDAY late pick-ups!
IT'S YOUR DUTY! (If you are out, please swap days/get coverage!)
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 19th
Morning (7:15) -
Entrance- Paternostro
Gym- A Gonzalez (5th, 3rd, and 1st) and Juma (2nd, 4th, 6th)
Cafeteria- Hanson and Ching (Cafe) and Lee (Food Line)
Science Lab- Tanner
Hallway (7:40) - All classroom teachers need to be outside their rooms @ 7:40
C. Smith - Main staircase downstairs
Holt - Main staircase upstairs
Albers - Outside library
S. Smith - Staircase by Art Room (B Hall)
D. Williams - Staircase by music room (A Hall)
Hames - Upstairs by ESL (D Hall)
Harris - Upstairs by SPED (C Hall)
Tribble - Outside teacher's lounge
Baxter - D Hall by 5th grade
Afternoon -
Cones -- Herbert
Daycare -- Hill and Gandy
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 26
Morning (7:15) -
Entrance - Caten
Gym - Benavides (5th, 3rd, and 1st)
Gym - Brown (2nd, 4th, 6th)
Cafeteria- S. Smith - food line
Cafeteria - J. Gonzalez - monitor
Cafeteria - Herbert - monitor
Science Lab - Lucas
Hallway Duty (7:40) - All classroom teachers be in their doorway @ 7:40
Schwartz - Main staircase downstairs
Evangelista - Main staircase upstairs
McLaurin - Outside library
E. Williams - Staircase by Art Room (B Hall)
Lucas - Staircase by music room (A Hall)
Herbert - Upstairs by ESL (D Hall)
J. Gonzalez - Upstairs by SPED (C Hall)
Hill - Outside teacher's lounge
Reed - D Hall by 5th grade
Afternoon -
Cones -- J Gonzalez
Daycare -- Hames and Lucas
ACE Carnival
Thursday, Oct 6, 2016, 05:30 PM
12600 Audelia Road, Dallas, TX, United States
UPCOMING DATES:
9/19 -- Grade level PLCs -- set norms, schedule, goals/homework for first PLC
9/21 -- GLIMs -- Staff Meeting
9/21 - 22 Technology Rollout in computer lab and library
9/23 -- PAY DAY -- ACE Gathering at Frankie's
9/26 -- Week of Parent/Teacher Conferences -- NO GLIMs/NO STAFF MEETING
9/26 -- Student Google Access Week in computer lab...follow library schedule
10/3 -- Grade level PLCs -- Tutoring Begins
10/4 -- PROGRESS REPORTS (All students) GO HOME
10/5 -- GLIMs -- Staff Meeting
10/6 -- ACE CARNIVAL
10/7 -- NO STUDENTS - STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY
10/10 -- STUDENT/STAFF HOLIDAY
10/18 -- Report Cards DUE
AUDELIA CREEK ELEMENTARY
Email: rachel.sanjose@risd.org
Website: http://www.edline.net/pages/Audelia_Creek_Elementary
Location: 12600 Audelia Road, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 469-593-2900