Hoot Hoot Herald
April 10-14
Doss Reminders
Librarian Appreciation Week!! Thank you Bonnie and Sherrise for all that you do for Doss Elementary!
APRIL 14th:
Thank you for working as a team on your April 14th PD agenda! Ya'll are working hard! I am enjoying reading your reflections on Problem Based Learning and seeing your plans for your end of year Innovative Learning Plans! Keep up the good work and let me know if you have any questions.
FACULTY MEETINGS:
See the dates for our remaining faculty meetings below:
April 10th
April 24th
May 1st
May 15th
BODY BUSINESS:
Body Business is excited to share that they are now an approved vendor for AISD. They will be in the lounge on Thursday, April 29th from 11:00-1:00 to visit with staff and share information about their programs and promotional rates.
BLENDED LEARNING CONFERENCE:
Are you digging into the Blend online platform and want to learn more? Are you ready to lead the charge at Doss Elementary in BLENDED learning? The district is funding PD for this initiative and I would love to have 1 or 2 staff members attend a blended learning conference with me. The dates are: July 24th-27th. If you are interested, please let me know via email as soon as possible.
CLASS MAKING GUIDELINES:
As we entering the class making phase of our year, let's reflect on the following questions as a team. What kinds of classes do we hope to create? What are the key guidelines that we need to remember as a team in order to develop successful classes for the next grade level? What problems did we see this year in our class make up? How can we avoid those challenges for the 2017-2018 school year?
I will be sending an email to parents this next week regarding how they can give input to their child's class placement.
Please do not promise, guarantee, or even allude to parents who their next teacher will be. Remember, it's a team effort! By working together, we will make heterogeneous classes that can work together well and that will make the next year's teacher smile!
Please take attendance daily between 8:00-8:30. We know how busy you are so here are a few suggestions to assist you with taking attendance consistently and timely: set a daily alarm; assign this task to a student (they take roll and tell you who is absent); have a daily warm up for students at the beginning of the day - label these with student names, the remainders are your absent students. I am sure that you have other tricks and suggestions! Thank you for working towards getting your attendance taken in a timely fashion.
COPIERS:
If something goes wrong with copiers, immediately notify the office so we can remedy the problem as soon as possible. Please do not try to solve the problem yourself, as the new machines are more difficult to manipulate. Pat has hung a DO NOT USE - THE OFFICE HAS BEEN NOTIFIED sign on the bulletin board that you can put on the machine if it jams/breaks. Use you hang the sign, call the office so we can help you. Also, be sure to communicate this information with your volunteers. Thank you!
MAY 26TH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
In regard to May 26th BLENDED Learning Summit, be sure to register for AM and PM sessions. This is our professional development for the day. If you do not register for both, the district sends us an attendance sheet and will require to you put in for time off. During this PD, please look for the BLEND 101 session. In addition, I have been told that there will be lots of fun/interactive learning opportunities.
Do you have a fun technology based learning lesson that you would like to share? We are looking for 4-6 staff members from Doss to present at the Summit. Please let me know if you are interested.
SAFE DRIVING:
Teachers, we have had some parent complaints about teachers using the Exit Only driveway to enter the teacher parking lot along Far West Blvd. This is especially dangerous during arrival and dismissal times when there are numerous pedestrians on the sidewalks and crossing that driveway. Please keep our Doss Owls safe and obey traffic signs/laws on campus.
LATE START PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY:
Doss and Davis Elementary Schools sent a survey to our parents regarding the Late Start Professional Development and Planning Day. Over 500 responses were recorded in the survey. 57% of people that responded either strongly agreed or agreed to support a Late Start PD and Planning Day for teachers. 27% either strongly disagreed or disagreed to support this LSPD day.
What we learned from the survey was that 30% of respondents would need assistance for care for their child during the late start time. Many in this group were opposed to "day care" during the time and felt that their students should be doing academic activities. The biggest concern that we got was from working families. Moving forward, Doss and Davis will work to develop a clear plan that includes the feedback and suggestions given in the survey with the goal of ensuring that the plan is able to support our working families.
At this time, neither school will be moving forward with the pilot Late Start PD day but instead, will be working on a plan for Professional Development for the 2017-2018 school. The united goal of the Anderson Vertical Team Principals is to provide additional time for teachers to receive PD and have planning time.
April 14th Staff Development Day:
**The sign-in sheet for 4/14 Staff Development is on Adriana's desk. Please come and sign as soon as possible.
My goal for April 14th is to give you more time to plan and do the things that you need to do. As a result, you will be given the PD agenda ahead of time to complete as a team when you have the time. You can do it on or before the 14th. Your team lead will be given the forms that will need to be turned in.
Here's the basic agenda:
1. Complete Pink and Blue Cards.
2. Review the following AISD SMORES on Problem Based Learning and discuss as a team:
Problem-Based Learning (Part 1):
Problem-Based Learning (Part 2):
3. Complete template for PBL / Innovative Learning Week.
As we discussed in your grade level planning meetings, I am inviting you to create out of the box lessons for the last week or so of school. Find your passion...your interest! And develop a unit for your class or for your grade level. Development a grade level theme and teach each other's classes. Collaborate with Bonnie or James Young. Recruit parent volunteers to help. Or do a career day with parent volunteers. Start with a problem....guide the kids to solve it utilizing the Problem Based Learning Model. Make it a two week unit. Or one. Or one day. It's up to you! All that I ask is that you try something, invite us to watch, take lots of pics and have fun! I will deliver this template to team leads - you will need to complete as a team or as an individual. If you don't like my template, you are welcome to use your own.
4. Select 3 Dates for Class making.
The list of available dates can be found below. Email Adriana your 3 preferred dates. We will actually meet twice as a team to put together classes. So, select one date earlier on in April and one later (end of April or May). Select three dates in case there are conflicts.
April 18th - 7:00AM, 3:30PM
April 20th - 3:30PM
April 25th - 3:30PM
April 26th - 7:00AM, 3:30PM
May 2nd - 3:30PM
May 3rd - 7:00AM, 3:30PM
May 4th - 3:30PM
5. Discuss and make recommendations for the modernization of Doss.
Make recommendations (from a design standpoint) for Doss facility updates which include modernization and an addition. Think about how we can design a facility that meets our academic and cultural needs. I will provide a form for your brainstorming ideas.
6. Register for the May 26 AISD Innovation Summit (HCP).
This will be our professional development on this day. All staff are expected to attend.
7. Complete Recess Supervision Training (if you have not already completed this requirement. You can find this module in HCP).
8. Review master schedule options and provide team feedback to Alicia Hill.
Alicia will be providing a rough draft of the 2017-2018 master schedule. Please discuss as a team and provide feedback.
9. Participate in Team and Individual Planning for the remainder of the year.
More information will be coming out through team leads. Let me know what questions I have created.
OUTSTANDING OWL AWARDS!
Principal Janna Griffin will be honored at the annual Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT) Hope Awards on May 2nd at the Bob Bullock Museum. Together with Superintendent Cruz, iACT has chosen Janna as an individual who emulates AISD's remarkable efforts and service to our refugees. This is not only a huge honor for Principal Griffin, but for the entire Doss community. It gives Doss the center stage as a community of love & compassion that believes diversity can open minds and hearts. iACT is a nonprofit organization that works with refugees providing ESL classes for the adults and summer camps for the kids. They are one of many nonprofits that make up the Refugee Services Round table of Austin.
Candace Ellison, our student health assistant, has been nominated for SHA of the Year. She is now one of five finalists! Way to go, Candace!
Also, congratulations to our amazing PTA for being selected as a finalist for the Austin ISD PTA of the Year! Also, Kristen Ashy has been nominated as volunteer of the year! Wow! These honors are hard-earned and well-deserved. PTA members have been invited to attend a reception and award program on April 20th. The winner will be announced during the program, and all finalists will be recognized.
Go Doss Owls! Hoot Hoot!
COUNSELOR CORNER
YOU CREATE YOUR OWN CALM!!
MINDFULNESS:
As we are coming to the end of the year, let's be sure that we are continuing to focus on Mindfulness in the classroom and in your personal life. Be sure you are taking time each day, maybe several times a day, to allow your students to slow their minds and bodies down with some mindful and calming activities. Here are some suggestions and resources:
1. Begin the school day with a mindful moment and some time to set intentions for the day/week.
2. From James Butler - Watch this Free CE Video about One Minute Mindfulness Practices:
- What better training in mindfulness than to become aware of how we're being mindless?
- With awareness, we cultivate the freedom to decide what to change in our lives. And we can do it in just one minute.
- Join expert and prolific author Donald Altman in this FREE CE video as he shows you The Top One-Minute Mindfulness Strategies to Use in Your Practice.
The video is FREE — even the CE! But hurry, this offer won't be around forever.
http://oneminutemindfulness.kajabi.com/fe/85369-free-ce-video-segment-1
TESTING: IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!! PLEASE READ!
For the next round of STAAR testing, please be sure that you are communicating with Vickie, Alicia, Shanna or Janna about your students' accommodations. You will be given an accommodation chart to fill out for the upcoming subjects on Monday, April 17th. They will be due to us by Wednesday, April 19. Please be sure you are thorough in filling these out. We need these to be accurate and to be set so that we can hire subs and plan for small groups.
Monday, April 24
TEST ADMINISTRATOR REFRESHER TRAINING FOR STARR in library 3:15 - 4:00ish
STAAR DATES:
Monday, May 8:
3rd, 4th Math
5th Math Retest
Tuesday, May 9:
3rd, 4th Reading
5th Reading Retest
Wednesday, May 10:
5th Science
Make up testing -3rd, 4th, 5th
Thursday, May 11:
Make up testing - 3rd, 4th, 5th
COMPUTER LAB NEWS
AISD has just released a self paced, online course called BLEND 101. You can use it to learn about BLEND and also as a reference if you have questions in the future. The course has been released now so teachers can learn about the system before you have to use it in the Fall. Remember that BLEND is the new software application that all of AISD will use next year for our curriculum information and materials.
To get there, just log into the cloud and search for BLEND. When blend opens you can click on the BLEND 101 module and start learning. I think the most important part of this module is the section called BLEND Basics. BLEND Basics contains over 40 different topics to learn about. Please contact James if you have any questions.
LIBRARY NEWS
April 10-13 B Week
Thursday, April 13th @ 8:30 in the cafeteria--- Andy Griffiths, author visit
(library closed until 10:30 for author prep, presentation, & book signing)
Adjustments to schedule due to author visit and no students on the 14th:
Wednesday, April 12th
10:00 Smith & Hello
10:30 Lauck
Thursday, April 13th
10:30 Raup
10:40 Folts
11:00 Sprague
12:30 Schwarz
1:45 Baehr & Hayes
MUSIC NOTES
Spring Concert - April 20th
Music Class Informances (Kinder-2nd) - May 15, 16, 17
All-City Music Memory Contest - May 20th (Saturday)
4th & 5th Grade Symphony Field Trip - May 22nd
Teacher Talent Show - May 30th
Student Talent Shows - June 1st
ART FUNDRAISER
Computer Lab Schedule
Apr 10 - 14
Monday
8:00 Soong (1)
8:45 Chiu
9:30 Stover
11:00 Mowry
11:45 Hello
1:15 Francis
Tuesday
8:00 Sprague (K)
8:45 Barrick
9:30 Collins
10:15 Jones
11:45 CI 4th
12:30 Evans
1:15 Hyvl
Wednesday
8:00 Schwarz
8:45 Smith
9:30 Elbrecht
11:45 Carroll
12:30 Hall
1:15 Bones
2:00 Truesdale
Thursday
8:00 Johnson
8:45 Warner
9:30 Vrba
10:15 Folts
11:00 Raup
11:45 Means
1:15 Gall
2:00 Singerman
Friday
Student Holiday
Calendar
Monday, April 10th
Fire Drill 2:00
Faculty Meeting, 3:00, Library
Tuesday, April 11th
Wednesday, April 12th
Vision and Hearing Screenings
My Lunch Rocks, Cafeteria
Preschool Club Library/Classroom Visit, 11:00-12:00
Thursday, April 13th
Vision and Hearing Screenings
Author Visit for Grades 2-4, 8:30, Cafeteria
CAC Meeting, 3:00, Library
Friday, April 14th
Staff Development/Student Holiday
Monday, April 17th
Kinder Field Trip, 9:15-1:30, Austin Science and Nature Center
Chinese Immersion Event (K, 2nd, 5th), 1:30-2:30, Cafeteria
Tuesday, April 18th
2nd Grade Field Trip, 9:00-1:30, French Legation/State Cemetery
Wednesday, April 19th
Concert Practice, 1:30-2:30, Cafeteria – optional classes as audience
Doss Spirit Night at La Mancha
Mandarin Immersion Parent Meeting
Thursday, April 20th
Spring Concert, 6:30-8:00, Cafeteria
Friday, April 21st
Dowser Dan (1st Grade), 2:00-2:45, Cafeteria
Library Schedule
April 10-14
B Week
Wednesday, April 12th
10:00 Smith & Hello
10:30 Lauck
Thursday, April 13th
(library closed until 10:30 for author prep, presentation, & book signing)
10:30 Raup
10:40 Folts
11:00 Sprague
12:30 Schwarz
1:45 Baehr & Hayes
April 17-21
A Week
April 24-28
B Week
May 1-5
A Week
May 8-12
B Week