Transition Plus Oct 1
Dear October, I'm going to make you AWESOME!
A friendly reminder: If you have information that needs to go out to the whole staff, and it can wait until Monday, submit it to be included in the MMM. We are trying to cut down on all staff emails.
From Nursing
Welcome to October.
I am hosting a FLU VACCINATION CLINIC with MVNA on Wednesday October 17, 2018 from 11:30am to 2pm in the Transition Plus cafeteria.
Please bring your health insurance card (if you have one). MVNA is a nonprofit who prides itself on directing all proceeds from the flu clinics to support In-home nursing visits so those who need it most can heal in the comfort of their home.
Anyone and everyone is welcome (even if uninsured). The FluMist is available again as a nasal spray vaccination option for people 2-49 years old. Let me know if that is an option for you
And I will ask for MVNA staff to bring a supply. I have registration forms that you can fill out ahead of time to make the process smooth and easy.
Any questions/concerns ask Linda Henn, LSN at Transition Plus
PSWE/Equity/SEL
The majority of our behavior challenges occur in the hallway. Let’s all work together to have a greater presence in the halls during passing time. Engaging students in positive interactions during that time will likely have a great impact on the numbers of negative behaviors. And of course the positive influences of 1:1 interactions between teachers and students are endless.
See you in the hallway!
IMPORTANT!
WE NEED YOUR BEHAVIOR DATA! ALL LEVELS!
EVEN CLASSROOM MANAGED BEHAVIORS!
Please email the engagement team a summary of the incident that you were a part of or witness with all parties involved and the date, time and location.
If you need help creating an email group for engagement, please come see Paul.
IMMEDIATE CHANGES TO RELAY TO YOUR CASELOAD:
- Students are expected to return from lunch by 1:30.
- If students arrive late after lunch – the latest they will be allowed to re-enter the building is 1:45.
- If student returns later than 1:45 SW and/or CM will be called to greet student to come up with plan
- If students arrive late in the morning- the latest they will be allowed to enter is 11 am unless they have an altered schedule
- Smoke breaks are allowed during their lunch and advisory unless noted in their IEP (no notes from teachers)
Equity Partners- Book Study Groups
Each person should find one other person to have some conversations with regarding some equity topics we are going to be going deeper into.
I would like to get 3-4 volunteers who would like to host a book study group- each group will consist of no more than 7-8 individuals who will meet regularly to dive into a book with the focus on race.
Student Folders
School Counseling Services
School counselors work in three domains: academic, social/emotional, and college and career readiness. Now that the bulk of the scheduling is complete, I would love to start meeting with more students! If you have a student who needs a check-in or is having a tough day, please consider me as a resource. I am also very interested in helping students determine their future plans, and can assist in the goal-setting/transition process. Please invite me to IEP/relevant meetings so I can learn more and get to know the students and families better. Additionally, I can teach small Advisory/classroom lessons within any of the aforementioned domains and have been trained in circle practices.
The first Accuplacer test will be offered Wednesday, October 10th, during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd hours. The sign-up sheets are posted on the bulletin board outside of
Rachel's office, C226.
Here is the link to State Graduation Assessment Requirements based on the year the student first entered 8th grade:
Conferences and Family Resource Night
Tuesday October 16th brings us conferences AND our first Family Resource Night. On this Resource night, we are focusing on VRS services for students of all three teams:
- VRS will discuss services.
- VRS Customized Employment will present.
- MCIL will discuss SSI benefits and planning for employment.
This is great information for families and students alike. There are some fliers printed in ENglish, Somali and Spanish near the mailboxes. Feel free to use the links to print off as many as you need for your students. Please call each of the families on your caseload (ESP's can help!) to personally invite them. There will also be a robo call and email to our families.
New building update
The building continues to be on schedule for our move. I recently walked through it and each time I am in there I am more and more excited about the reality of our students being treated like the adult learners they are.
A couple of items I learned this week regarding the building and move include- we will be taking some of our Promethean boards with us and we will be getting 10 new ones for the building.
We will be able to keep our same phone numbers in the new building, but in order to do that our phones will need to be changed over to the new system while we are here at Wilder. This will happen over MEA break. Stay tuned for the details of the new phone system.
There are a number of details here in the Letter to Families re: the move. Please make sure you read it over and let Daphne or I know if you have questions so you are prepared to answer if families ask.
Coffee Plus Food Service News
Beginning this week Breakfast Sandwiches will be sold each Wednesday morning during 1st and 2nd period and on the Coffee Plus Cart. Sandwiches will be $2.50. Sandwiches are sausage, egg and cheese. Special orders can be placed ahead of time or by coming to the Food Service room on Wednesday morning. We can provide turkey sausage, meatless and GF options.
Students will be selling Cake and Ice Cream this CBI Friday from 1:30-2: outside of the C183 kitchen. The price for a generous piece of dessert will be $2.00.
Remember you can place an order with Food Service for just about any baked item. We can supply cookies for meetings, cakes for birthdays and specialty items for the holidays. Just talk to Tia or Jill. Students will be designing an order form in the near future.
On Tuesday, November 20, students will have the opportunity to have lunch from the MPS Food Truck and staff can order food too.
Please complete the form if you are interested in ordering.
Join the Paper Route
We have students that are working on employment goals. You can help by adding your room to the paper route. A student will stop by once or twice a week during 6th period to ask if you have any papers that our students can shred. If you don’t have papers, not a problem! The goal of the Paper Route is designed for students to learn employment skills, such as, learning a route, following a work routine, building interpersonal skills, and finding pride in a job well done.
If you are interested in helping by joining our paper route contact Ben Rodriguez at: benjamin.rodriguez@mpls.k12.mn.us
Get To Work Grant
Do you have students who have not been competitively employed, but
want to be working for a paycheck? Rise has a grant to support these students to reach their goal! Rise will be presenting on their programming on October 12th at 1:30pm in Room C121.
To qualify, students must fit one of these requirements:
- Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver eligible
- The student’s IEP is being served at Federal Education Setting Level 3 or 4
- Adult (18+) SSI/SSDI eligible
Contact one of the work coordinators for more information!
Hurricane Fundraiser
The students from Tom/Frederick’s Advisory are going to do a Fundraiser for Hurricane Florence.
Many people are still being impacted by this storm and we want to reach out and help. During the month of October, we will collect donations of any amount. We will check with case managers about times to come into Advisory to present our information. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
A Christmas Carol
If you are a staff member with a child who has these higher needs also, please provide Melissa with your name and number too if you'd like to take advantage of this opportunity.
If you have a family you think would be interested in this please give the name and number of tickets to Melissa by the end of the day today (Monday 10/1/18) so we can reserve a block of free tickets for our students/ families.
Sensory-Friendly Family Concerts
Nobuntu at the Ordway
On Thursday, Oct 4, we have a total of 10 tickets for students and staff to see Nobuntu at the Ordway. The bus will be leaving at 9:55 and will return at 12:00. Three tickets are allotted for each team until Tuesday, then it is first come - first serve. Use them as rewards for students who have been outstanding this month! Email Colleen with student and staff names.
Staff Absences
From the Staff Handbook -
Staff Absences
All staff members are required to report your absences daily, prior to the start of your work day. In order to facilitate staffing reassignments due to absences or tardiness, please call as early as possible. You are to report your absence directly at 612-668-4100. If you are not able to speak to Secretary, you are to leave a message on the voice mail.
In addition you need to send Jason an explanation of the absence via email- e.g. illness, family illness, child care issues etc.
Please complete the pre-approval request off form in the office for planned absences. This helps us plan for our preferred substitutes.
If you know you are coming late, or leaving early a pre-approval request form needs to be filled out.
CBI
With two weeks left on Round 1 of CBI Modules, it is a good time to finalize teacher partnerships and nail down appointments for Round 2. As a reminder, teachers are expected to lead two rounds of modules per semester (rds1&2, or rds1&3, or rds2&3). Modules should be an extension of what is being taught in classes. Lesson plans are needed to schedule a school bus.
Please email the following information to Colleen by October 1:
1. Round 2 Module plans with teacher partnerships
Module Name: Teachers:
- Oct 12
- Oct 26
- Nov 9
- Nov 16
- Nov 30
2. A brief 3-5 sentence description of the Module goals (what can students expect in your module). The descriptions will help advisors and students place themselves without doing the introductory rotations.
3. If ESPs have a skill they'd like to facilitate on Friday afternoons from 1:30 - 3:30, let me know! We can try it out for 5 weeks.
3b. Students want to lead a club? Let's try it out! (Calling all leadership class students!!!)
Need Some Extra materials?
Do you need some extra materials for your room?
DO you have an innovative idea you need funded?
Nat is the new T-Plus grant writer!
Let them know about your great ideas that need funding through this Google Form. They'll be in touch soon!
Upcoming at TPlus
Tuesday ------ Staff Meeting-------------------------------------- 8:30 AM Auditorium
Wednesday-- SEA Meeting--------------------------------------- 10:05 AM- C205
Thursday-----
Friday---------- ILT Meeting ----------------------------------------- 8:30 AM-- C205
Upcoming Dates
Monday -------- Oct 15- Picture Day--------------------------------------- Auditorium
Tuesday -------- Oct 16- Family Engagement Night/ Conferences
Wednesday---- Oct 17- Conferences
Thursday-------- Oct 18- MEA Trade day (licensed staff if you worked Monday 8/20)
Friday ------------ Oct 19- MEA No school
Wednesday--- Oct 24- New SEA Meeting----------------------------- 10:05 ------- C205
Let's get social!
We are up and going on all platforms!
Please be sure to friend and/or follow us! If you have pictures or activities you like to share send the info to Melissa.
Be aware of what biases you may be bringing to the conversation. Here are the protocols for Courageous Conversations.