Notes from Neil
Info and Updates for the Upcoming Week
For the Week of 11/20 - 11/22
I hope you are well as you are reading this. What a challenging week with so many of our students and staff out due to illness. I really appreciate the flexibility that has been asked of the staff as we try to make things work to ensure that we have coverage for our students. I was able to get into classrooms this week to begin my formal observations. There is some great learning taking place throughout our building. I know there are some challenges that we are facing, but you are all doing a great job.
It was great to brag about our school at the School Board meeting last night. Here is a link to the presentation that I shared with the Board. I had a second grade student join me. She did an amazing job. There were about 60 adults in the room, which created some nervousness, but she did great. Thank you to all that supplied pictures and information to help build the presentation.
How quickly Thanksgiving came up this year. Our short weeks always provide for some busy work days, but it will be nice to have a long weekend. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Weekend. Enjoy your time with your friends and family.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Neil
Week at a Glance
Monday - PBIS Meeting
Tuesday - SST Meeting
Wednesday - No Meetings; Teachers can leave at 2:15
Thursday - No School - THANKSGIVING
Friday - No School
Click Here for a link to the Specials Rotation and Teacher Supervision Schedule
CPS Staff Parking
CPS Parking Passes
If you are a recipient of a parking pass, we ask that you first park in the parking spots to the east of the building on Elm Street (bus lane). Use the spots that start at sidewalk in front of the office and continue to 2nd Ave. After those spots are filled, only park in the BACK row of the large parking lot. Let us know if you have any questions!
Here are our Parking Pass recipients for this week:
JENNIFER RAMIREZ
DAN RAMLET
JACKIE REINARTZ
SUE RICHMOND
CARLY ROBILLARD
MICHELLE SAUZE
PAT SCHAFER
KRIS SCHLICHTMANN
HEATHER SCHURBON
SAM SEAFOLK
KASEY SEARCY
ASHLEY SJODIN
TAMARA TABAKA
CHELSE TAYLOR
LIZZIE VANDERSTEEG
DEIJA WAGES
TINA WEIBEL
VALERIE WELTZ
SYDNEY WESSEL
JESSICA WILLMS
ANDREA WOTACHEK
MARIAH ZIWICKI
Please bring your passes from this week to the office or put them in Shannon or Deanna's mailbox.
See the CPS map of staff parking spaces if you have question about where to park.
PBIS Info and Updates
Kindness Tuesdays are Back! - It’s time to get out your kindness gear! Beginning in November, all CPS teachers and staff and students are invited to wear kindness shirts on Tuesdays. If you don’t have any kindness shirts, check out Kindness Shirts on Amazon.
November Caring Critter Café: November’s Caring Critter Café date is next Tuesday, November 28th.
Book Vending Machine: Teachers, our goal is that all your students will receive their book critter card and choose their book by 12/20/23.
Looking Ahead: Teachers, here is our November PBIS Updates and our 23-24 PBIS Calendar with dates/activities/events that can be included in your newsletters if you would like. Please note that there may be a few additions or edits as the school year progresses.
Golden Tray Award
The next 2 weeks of school (November 20-30), the winners of the Golden Tray Award will be the 'quietest tables'! Spread the word to your classes so that they can win this awesome award.
Trina Talks
A Message from Trina Godfrey, our Academic Coach
Wit & Wisdom
I had the opportunity to spend time with a helpful trainer from Wit & Wisdom, Lainie. My big takeaway was that there are many curriculum connections in W & W. We know about the connections to great topics, such as a scientific look at how a tree changes during the seasons. There are larger connections, though, between modules and between years. We have some exciting discoveries ahead!
Repeats:
1 - Wit & Wisdom implementation FAQ 11.23 Please take time to read it over.
2 - big chart paper is in. Stop by and pick up your giant materials.
Teacher Tuesdays
Coffee and a tasty treat. Feel free to join us in my office anytime from 6:45-7:15, Nov. 21. To clarify, all adults who work at CPS and ECSE are welcome!
Recess Retreat
Congratulations to those who have had a Recess Retreat! Thank you, also, for those who have been rescheduled due to other things that come up! We may not get in three recesses covered during this next short week, but we will certainly keep going beyond Thanksgiving! Up next week: Sjodin, Fredlund, Kleinmeyer, Izzo.
For those of you who still don’t know about this (really?), read on: You can always use more time, and so Neil, Jodi, and I came up with a new way to gift some time: Recess Retreats! Each week, 3 teachers will have the opportunity to be free for one of their recess days!
If your name is selected, Trina will contact you to pick your day and time. Please help prep the kids for your recess, but once they are marching out the door, your retreat begins! Your recess will be covered by either Trina, Neil, or Jodi. You get a brief retreat to do whatever you’d like!*
*”Whatever you’d like” of course, means things you can do during school hours. Sorry.
Counselor Connect
Happy Thanksgiving from your friendly School Counselor- Mrs. Acker!
It's the time of year to practice gratitude. Did you know that gratitude can boost the neurotransmitter serotonin and activate the brainstem to produce dopamine- our brains "pleasure" chemical. The more we think positive, grateful thoughts, the healthier and happier we feel. Who knew a few minutes of starting out day with gratitude would be so impactful to our mental health? Cheers this holiday season to Gratitude!
Angel Tree
We have 17 families participating in Minnco's Angel Tree holiday gift program this year. It's not too late- if you have additional families in need please let me know.
Care Closet
The care closet has coats, hats, gloves and boots to borrow as needed for recess. If a student does not have their own gear, please let me know and I will try to provide as new as possible for them to keep as their own. When borrowing, please put all things back in their proper bins and hang up coats after using them so they are dry and ready for the next student
Catching Critters: Shout-Outs for Students and Staff
Alexis Oldroyd
Alexis Oldroyd was wiping down staff chairs and tables in the lounge on her own time! With the flu season in FULL swing she is helping us stay healthy!
Thank you, Alexis! 😊
Natalee Larson
Thank you Natalee for helping your house mates with EVERYTHING!
Your technology expertise and knowledge is especially helping your older, less techy teammates. :)
Want to give a Shout-Out? This is the place!
If YOU have 'caught' a caring critter (this can be staff members OR students) doing something GREAT at CPS, please use this form to share your good news/shout-out so we can share it out with others here. (Photos are fun to include, but not necessary.)
Offset
Thank you for remembering to send copying to the ESC! It saves a lot of wear and tear on our own copy machines which helps with LESS JAMMING! It also reduces costs for CPS to run them on Rick's big copiers. The turn around is fairly quick. Here is the link If you are able to plan a few days in advance.
New Resource Room Process (Repeat)
When sending a student out of class to process an incident at the Resource Room, please complete this very brief form. It will go directly to the resource room, so they know what is happening. It also helps with district wide documentation for our behavior data. The link to this form can be saved on your desktop, and even on your phone if you would like for easy access. The cafeteria will have a kiosk for lunchtime referrals.
CPS Calendar
Copy Machine Paper (Repeat)
To help prevent jamming in our copy machines, we need to "FAN THE COPY PAPER" on all 4 sides before loading it into the machine. The Boise paper has an issue with glue on the edges and fanning breaks the glue up so that the machine doesn't pull more than one sheet of paper which causes the jamming. 😵
Employee Assistance Program
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a free and confidential short-term counseling,
information, and referral service for you and your family. It is designed to help you during
challenging times — like issues at work or the death of a loved one — when a little outside
support can make a huge difference.
If you are in need of additional support, please see our Employee Assistance Program for more information.
Bluejacket Gear
Cambridge-Isanti Schools has an online Bluejacket Gear Store ! This is the official gear store of the district and will be permanently available to our families, staff, and the community.