Principal's Newsletter
November 2nd, 2018
WOWs
WOW to our paras who recently attended trauma training. We are fortunate to have such caring adults who are dedicated to our students.--Kerri
WOW to Jessica Freesmeier who provided valuable trauma-informed training to our paras. Your expertise and conversations are changing the way we care for our students. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. --Kerri
Thanks to Christina for purchasing and organizing all the science materials! The kids are loving the experiments and the teachers appreciate the support! We appreciate all you doJ Dr. OH
Thanks to Rob!!! He stepped in over break to help me paint the hallways. He even expressed a change in paint colors for the bathrooms which looks awesome! I appreciate the rest of the custodians helping to cover the work load to allow him the time to help out with the painting! Dr. OH
Thanks to Tony for letting us use your paint supplies over the break for painting! Dr. OH
Thanks to Ayesha for being open and flexible with her schedule and adjusting to the new position. You are doing a great job and we are happy to have you in this role! Dr. OH
Thanks to Jennifer for setting up the food trucks! I always look forward to those days and love that you bring a little treat to the RidgeJ Dr. OH
Thanks to Nikki, Kristy, and Kristen for helping me out at Math Data Team! Your efforts and participation are much appreciated and I love the feedback you give me for improvements or things to add. Dr. OH
Thanks to the special area teachers. You all have done a great job adjusting to sharing with another building, adaptive specials, and “special specials”. I so appreciate your positive attitude, flexibility, and teamwork! Dr. OH
Thanks to Natalie and PTO for helping us to secure the funds for our first ever Spelling Bee! Dr. OH
Thanks to the PBIS team for getting the school store up and running! The kids are so excited to spend their tickets and all the merchandise looks amazing! Dr. OH
Thanks to Lindsey and Melissa for helping a kindergarten student participate in 1st grade math! Dr. OH
Thanks to all the teachers who are supporting our math accelerated students across the building! Dr. OH
WOW to 4th and 5th grade and Nikki! You all are doing a great job flex grouping and supplementing your math instruction to make sure that kids are getting exactly what they needJ Dr. OH
WOW to Angie Regan for taking on Math Centers! You’re doing a great job, and I love how this has helped you get the extra time needed with your struggling learners. Dr. OH
WOW to the Veterans Day Task Force! This is such an important community event and really helps our students have an appreciation for the service provided by all of our armed forces. Thank you all- you always do such a nice job and I am looking forward to the event again this yearJ Dr. OH
Thank you to all of our department chairs- you all do a great job leading your teams and I am so proud of the progress we have made first quarter! Dr. OH
Thank you to the sped paras and Megan and Carrie! I had the opportunity to sub in there with the paras when Megan and Carrie were out and learned how challenging your position can be. I loved when a student said, “Dr. O-H why are you bossing me around? Why are you in here?” He then continued to ignore me and my pleas to do his work with meJ You all really do a wonderful job with our kids and I admire all you do to support them! Dr. OH
WOW to Jaime Little! THANK YOU so much for your willingness to help. You are much appreciated! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Lisa McCauley and Dione Anderson for staying to supervise students with me when my bus slot was late!--Makenzie
WOW to Lisa for putting together our nonfiction book tasting. The kids absolutely loved it and it was perfectly executed to kick off our nonfiction unit! –Katelyn
WOW to Megan, Brandy, and Lisa for making the cold, misty Trunk-or-Treat night SO much fun!! –Katelyn
WOW to Jodi for helping me get started on guided reading groups. Your knowledge and guidance is so appreciated and I can learn so much from you! –Katelyn
WOW to Clark Hepler! You are great with the kids and we are so thankful to have you help in our rooms! You are much appreciated! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Jane Hepler! Thank you for raising an awesome young man who is great with kids! Megan Dunavant
WOW to Carrie Alvernia for all you do with juggling our schedules! You are a life saver and always put kids first! Megan Dunavant
Thanks to Jaime Little for volunteering to be the pronouncer for our spelling bee! Dr. OH
WOW to Josh and Jordan for rescuing a slithery friend that got into the building.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to the Second grade team for making standing out in the freezing rain a super fun night.--Lisa
WOW and thanks to my team for trying new things and finding the fun in everything we do!--Lisa
WOW to Julie Elder, you’re doing a great job working with our students and getting them to talk more. I love how you work with your small groups & keep them focused by coming up with creative ideas to motivate them. Thank you for your hard work! Linda C
WOW to Jamie Little for always helping me with the Tienet program and my 504 Plans! Thanks again Jamie and a big thanks for all you do for our Harvest Ridge Kiddos!--Nurse Deb
WOW to Cassie Baughn for all of your caring, compassion and hard work in helping our students!--Nurse Deb
WOW to Kristen Cuneo – Thanks for all you do for your students – even your former students! Big thanks for the time, energy and caring you give students who need it the most!--Nurse Deb
WOW to the Entire Cafeteria Staff – ANY, JENNIFER, MARY, MARIE and BILL – thanks for all you do, each and everyday! You are all very much appreciated!!--Nurse Deb
WOW to administration, specifically, Dr. OH for recognizing and acknowledging the hard work of others. Thank you!--Nikki
WOW to Natalie Deweese for allowing me flexibility with my schedule when needed. I am very grateful to you. -Nikki
WOW to all office staff you show kindness and patience regardless. --Nikki
WOW to the students in rooms 51/53, we have 3 students potty trained, that we have been working with since last year. Yay! Linda C
WOW to Dr. O, for coming to our rescue in rooms 51/53 when we were short staffed & needed assistance. Thank you so much! Linda C
WOW to Mr. Beer, for taking time out of his busy schedule to help us with a student. We really appreciate your assistance with a behavior issue. Linda C
WOW to Deb, in the cafeteria who helped one of our students, and many others get free milk when the students don’t have the funds needed. Linda C
WOW to Carrie for being so patient & calm when listening to confused paras as we adjust to various schedule errors/changes. Thank you for all your hard work! Linda C
WOW to Christina for your willingness to teach the planned lesson in a classroom so that the teacher can observe in another classroom.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW Shanna for pumping the kids up about Honor Flight. What amazing results this year!--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Megan D. for putting together the hoodie order.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to second grade for attending Trunk or Treat and winning lunch from PTO for best car.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW Haleigh Carr for your patience with a challenging parent situation.--Dr. DeWeese
WOW to Kindergarten for a fun 50th day of school. It's always one of my favorite days! --------Dr. DeWeese
WOW to the Office ladies, that stop EVERTHING they are doing to help me with the copier. One in particular ran down the our IT person. AMAZING!
Lovelace
Meeting Minutes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UDzKjtRQc6wHsjs3bof0GVTWj2-v8ydeQXEke2pfe5o/edit?usp=sharing
FHEA
There was not a meeting held because there weren't any concerns.
Math Data Team
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PLxj4BnYnBBsSnbrl9a79Ar7OAWbAIi7zvb65GEhV3o/edit?usp=sharing
Veteran's Day Celebration Update
- You may begin to hang decorations the week of November 5th.
- The assembly starts at 9:30. We will call you down.
- There is ONLY sack lunch available on Friday, November 9th. Students will either eat in classrooms or outside and lunch is supervised by the teacher. If you need to be relieved from your classroom due to having to eat lunch with students, please contact the office and let us know.
- Be sure to sign up to bring in food donations in the lounge. The Veteran's and their families are always very appreciative of the lunch.
- Left over decorations from last year are outside my office. Feel free to grab them.
- Sack lunch for students is a chicken patty on bun or sun butter and jelly sandwich, apple, carrots, chips, and milk.
Parent Survey Results
Special thanks to the special area teachers for having parents take the survey during conferences. We have 185 people take the survey!
Hotline Call Information
The link below provides staff with the most updated information regarding hotline calls. Please review the information that has been sent by the district.
Spelling Bee
Visitors
Globetrotters
Dyslexia
During Dyslexia training our trainers shared that there would be a letter put together by the district to send home to parents regarding Fastbridge results. That letter was put together, but upon further research and contact with DESE the district has been told that the communication we gave to parents early in the school year is enough. So at this time we will not be sending an additional letter. We will only send the letter that informs parents that their child is being placed in a Tier 2 literacy intervention.
Many of you watched the videos of Aiden telling his story about his dyslexia. Check out the link below to see his recent interview with Art Holiday. He is such an inspiration in so many ways!
General Reminders
Please make sure when you are turning in major office referrals that you are putting them in the mailbox of the administrator that handles discipline for that grade level.
- K and 5- DeWeese
- 1 and 2- Tharp
- 3 and 4- OH
Active Supervision
If you need to step out of your classroom for any reason please make sure you contact the office and we will send someone down to watch your kids. It is not necessary to move your kids to another room. We will get someone to cover.
Cafe Communication
Please make sure you are communicating with the cafe paras when it comes to kids heading back to classrooms for recess or for any other reason.
First Quarter NEE Results
This year we were are not putting NEE scores in our School Improvement Plan. Our scores continue to stay well within the expectations that we have at the building and at the district. Below are the reports that have been sent to me to that show our data for first quarter broken down by month. The scores are an average of all the observations that were conducted during first quarter. Please see an administrator if you have any questions about the data.
Harvest Ridge
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w3Gpv5_BfOSNzW3jXCllrl50OCTY5KRv/view?usp=sharingDistrict Results
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kuxzVoWsGH1_8fgOWyRj4ffq_sd_UAQQ/view?usp=sharing
Staff Updates
Kelly Harris could still use lots of positive thoughts and prayers. Kelly has extended her medical leave until January. She has not been given a lot of information on her condition, but is still very sick. If you would like to reach out to Kelly I know she would really appreciate it.
Reset/Calming Room
- This is a Tier 2 intervention.
- Students are referred through team meetings.
- The Behavior Specialist will attend team meetings on students.
- The Behavior Specialist will teach skills like brain regulation, self regulation, and zones of regulation.
- Parents of students who will receive support from the Behavior Specialist will be contacted via a letter.
- There is a data collection system for the room and for student reflection.
Thanks for all your patience and support as we have worked through this process and gotten this support up and running for our students.
Kid Time Drop Ins
At my last session we began studying the work Mike Rutherford who has researched and written some materials about effective instruction and feedback. I love the work he has done around 30 second feedback and have decided to set a personal goal around his work. I have shared the work with Kerri and Angeline too, which has caused us to want to dive into the work as a team.
Mike writes about seeing effective instruction over time. He stresses that it is important to see it over a span of time and the importance of recognizing the great things happening in classrooms. You may have noticed this week that administrators have been dropping into classrooms with just a small notepad and leaving some quick feedback for the teacher. These have not been formal NEE evaluations or any type of data collection walkthrough. They are just Kid Time Drop Ins. These are opportunities for us to make a quick visit and leave positive specific feedback for the teacher. There is ZERO data collection and ZERO constructive feedback on next steps. They shouldn't last more than 5 minutes and only positive specific feedback will be left on the note.
The only thing we are tracking is who we have visited so that the same person does not get a drop in visit on the same day. Our goal is for each administrator to visit 5 classrooms a day for 5 minutes. So, that equates to 15 classroom drop ins a day. So far, we LOVE it! We love getting to see all the great things happening, visit with kids, and to get into classrooms that we don't always get to visit.
Please just carry on with what you are doing when an administrator stops by for a drop in. No matter what is happening we plan to stay. Don't change what you are doing just because we popped in. Even if you are not participating in direct instruction there are still great things for us to notice with your kids and about your classrooms. Just keep on keeping on. No need to apologize for being off schedule or for whatever you are doing. Just do your thing and we will leave our note and be gone before you know it.
If you have any questions about our new goal and new learning feel free to just ask. We are excited for our quick visits. It's so fun to find the good and to be able to tell you about the good without having to collect data.
PD Day
Faculty Meeting Follow Up
Thanks for your questions and attentiveness during our faculty meeting. I wanted to provide some clarification to the data that was shared when Jeff shared the referral number. When he shared 368 referrals that was for majors and minors. Below is the referral information based on just majors. While there is definitely obvious disparity between boys and girls it is also important to celebrate that when I pull data from last year using the same timeline we are down by 23 major office referrals. Should that continue throughout the year that would drop our referral number by close to 100 referrals!
- 197 Majors by 59 students
- 189 major office referrals out of 197 were by boys
- 51 students out of 59 are boys
Using the same date range from last school year we had 220 major office referrals during the same time period.
At this time the information shared regarding boys vs. girls is just to bring awareness to staff. It is an opportunity for us to start to problem solve how we can close that gap in our office referrals. Our next steps will be to provide staff specific ways to increase opportunities to respond during classroom time. Sharing the data was not a way to tell you to stop writing referrals for boys. It's just a good point of discussion to figure out how we may need to work with boys differently to support them.
After the meeting Mr. Moersch shared with me that so far the number #1 purchase students are making from the school store is a coupon to visit a former teacher. 50 students made this purchase and it is an item where they need a significant number of tickets to get it. I'm considering it a celebration that our students are seeking time with staff for a reward over tangible items. I believe that is a testament to the relationships you build with kids and how much our students value those relationships.
Holidays
The first is just how busy and stressful the holiday season can by on us as adults. Remember that through the holidays it is important to keep that stress in check and not let that take over in your work with students. Use your safety plan, lean on each other, and ask for help if you need it.
Remember that the holidays can be very stressful for kids, especially for kids living in situations that are less than ideal. For some kids holidays can be a negative and possibly trigger behaviors that we haven't previously seen. Some kids have things going on that make celebrating holidays challenging and stressful.
Lastly, you all know that we are an extremely diverse building. Thinking about our diversity it's important to keep in mind that not all of our students celebrate holidays by following our same traditions. Be careful when you are only celebrating or recognizing the holidays one way. That can lead to excluding students. You know your students best so be sure to be inclusive, stay balanced in your life, and support your students through what are hopefully happy times.