The Tiger Times
Week of October 30 through November 1
Hello Tiger Family!
and Happy Sunday!
In the Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith's character provides some practical advice to his son on having the "right" dream. He quickly realizes the impact those words had on his son and offers some better words -some choice words- instead.
"Don't ever let somebody tell you ... you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream. You gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they want to tell you can't do it. If you want something, go get it. Period."
Thank you for being this voice for our kids. For your own kids. Thank you for being this voice for each other.
Blessed and blissed to be your principal,
Shelley
Looking Back on Week 11
Sharpening the Saw Yoga-style
Ladybug Girl Sighting at TES
Timberline's got CHARACTER!
Important Dates
Monday
Dress as Superhero! Can wear jeans with superhero gear;)
Kinder PLC at 2:15
CLT/Lighthouse Bigs & Littles 3:30 on the Patio
Tuesday
Kindergarten Field Trip to Hall's Pumpkin Patch
2nd grade PLC at 2:15
Wednesday
Specials PLC during planning
Face to Face Faculty Meeting 3:30 (only if you don't choose virtual!)
Thursday
Early Release at 11:45
Sharpening the Saw Club Day
Friday
Book Fair begins!
Saturday
Taste of Timberline is here!!
Coming Up
1st grade PLC Monday, the 6th at 2:15
Timberline's Big Three
Tier 1 - A Lesson is Worth 1,000 Words
- Teachers don't accept student use of "it" as a substitute for content vocabulary. Try saying, "Can you say what you just said using the word ______________?" Teachers are also mindful of using the word it themselves. Students may or may mot know what the teacher is referring to when using "it".
- This strategy also works if a student uses informal vocabulary in an explanation. "Who can say what Vincent just said using _______________?"
- Make the inclusion of content vocabulary part of the day's learning target's success criteria.
- Vocabulary critical to the day's learning target is posted so students hear it and also SEE it in print.
- Knowing which vocabulary in our TEKS is for teachers and which is for students. Much of the language in the TEKS is for teacher knowledge and not for student use. The link below was shared last week and provides focus for all grades and all contents!
There are many ways to support vocabulary development for your students. Although this is critical for ELLs, it's important for ALL kids as they learn to "speak the language" of mathematics or science. What are the ways you ensure your students vocabulary development is strong?
Tier 1 - Alignment to TEKS
Eye of the Tiger!
Thank you to awesome 3rd grade teachers, Lacey Hoffman, Abbe Laessig, and Yesenia Casas for leading up the dance for 3rd graders for taste of TES! We are so glad you joined our team at Timberline. You're all amazing! -Stephanie
Thank you to Clara, Alicia, Wendy, Marta, Katrina, Adrianna, Ariel, Laura, Lisa, and Kim for syngergizing Friday to make our team even stronger for our Tigers. I appreciate your honest questions and feedback! -Shelley
Thank you Ms. Decato for being great about communicating with teachers you support! It really helps us plan ahead.-Haley
Thank you so much, Jacqueline J. for holding down the fort in PreK this week. You made sure our littlest Tigers didn't miss any learning while Ms. Bennett was out! - Shelley
A big THANK YOU to all the teachers using their envelope for TOT ticket sales. It has provided an extra level of documentation!! -Barb
Woohoo to Sloan for all of the extra time you spent creating forms and providing great direction to help us have a super first Sharpening the Saw Club Day!! -Shelley
Barb and Shana- It was helpful when you put first things first to let us know about kid allergies right away so we could plan accordingly for Sharpen the Saw Club time. Thank you! -Haley
Cristina, thank you for working so hard on scheduling for you and your Tiger firsties last week. What seemed impossible wasn't and I appreciate you finding the "wasn't" :) -Shelley
Barb, thank you for supporting our sub while a teammate was on the mend. You helped to ensure our littles kept learning!! -Shelley
Thank you Robert for always helping me with KTIM morning announcements! ~Audra
Britt, THANK YOU!! for all of your hard work on the schedule for Thursday. You spent so much time making sure teachers got at least a small break that day. -Shelley
Audra, Jade, Marie-France and Irene - thank you so much for putting so much effort -and love- into the weekly Family Newletter Videos. I get so many positive comments about this. I know it takes time out of your weekend to help make this happen but boy does it make a difference! -Shelley
Thank you Elia for offering Yoga to staff members. It was my first session ever and it was fun! ~Audra
And finally, ThaNk YOu!!! to everyone that participated in Red Ribbon Week!! It's crazy how a teacher wearing sunglasses or crazy socks or a nutty hat brings JOY to school. Also, a shout out to the staff that came out to Skatetown Family Night or the KidzU Open House. These are all ways we communicate our commitment and passion for our school and our kids to the community <3. I appreciate you doing this very much!!
Nuts and Bolts is our "virtual faculty meeting". Please read all information carefully and reach out if you have any questions or need clarification.
Classroom teachers, we have gotten great feedback from subs on the instructional part of lesson plans they're provided. One area they've asked for more clarification on is procedures, specifically dismissal. Remember they do not have access to the master "How Does My Child Get Home?" document and so they have no way of knowing how each child gets home. Please make sure you have provided a list of how each child in your class gets home as well as what exactly the sub is supposed to do to get kids to car rider, left walker, etc. I will work with the office team on communicating ride changes to subs.
Jade and I have identified stop time and developed a plan for an "end time" for dismissal. We can't have a 100% hard stop time because we can't take students to KidzU if a parent has done what they were supposed to but are still in line. We will be working with the parents who are the second wave of parents typically arriving after 3:20. Please let Jade know about any "repeat offenders" so we can speak specifically with them. Please work with us on this. Although we would like to be able to be "balck and white" about end times, we have to assess the car line situation when making the call that we're taking kids over. Right now we're working with 3:15-3:20 but again that depends on how quickly we can move cars through the car rider line. Know that getting kids in cars safely and you back where you need to be is a priority!!
We're having an increase in students running in the hallways and cafeteria. Not running was a stated and shared expectation from the entire staff this summer. It also presents a safety concern for runners and runees. Jade and I will be working with teams this week to develop ways to re-establish this expectation. Teams that are having great success maintaining this, share strategies! This can sometimes feel like a shampoos puzzle!
We're still short on help for Taste of Timberline. If you haven't had an opportunity to help in some way, please look at the list of ideas provided by Melissa and Marie-France. Our PTA carries so much of the weight for making TOT happen for our kids and community. Additionally, the funds raised through TOT directly help our teachers and students by funding things we may not be able to do otherwise. Plus it's a small way to say thank you for the lunches and Special Treat Fridays PTA has taken the time to do for us :D. THANK YOU to all of you that are helping with Silent Auction items, helping kids learn dances, volunteering to run a booth Saturday and so much more!! You're AMAZING!!
The Lighthouse team has worked hard to get us ready for Sharpening the Saw Club Day. Please read emailed directions and complete the To Do's by the provided deadlines. This will help decrease the number of problems "day of" which will be hard to solve since almost everyone on campus will be clubbing :D
TEA Commissioner of Education is asking for feedback on the A-F Campus & District Rating Accountability System. A recorded presentation specifically covering A-F Domain 2 can be found here. You will be able to provide feedback on what's presented here. If you don't feel like the survey allows you to address specific concerns you have, you can email your feedback directly at feedbackAF@tea.texas.gov. The deadline for providing this feedback is 5:00 on October 31st. This information was shared with me Friday.
The schedule for Thursday's Early Release can be found here. Because we have STS Clubs during the school day, we aren't able to do normal conferences. Thank you again, Britt, for working so hard to make sure everyone gets a break Thursday! And to Specials team for going to classes to cover breaks :)
Click here for our Faculty Meeting Sign-in Sheet!
Ways and Where the Tigers Tell Our Timberline Story
Email: firstname.lastname@gcisd.net
Website: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/2032
Location: 3220 Timberline Drive, Grapevine, TX, United States
Phone: 817-251-5770
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TESleads/
Twitter: @TimberlineNews