Miner Minutes
August 6, 2016
Teacher Workday Approximate Plans
August 22-25: Capped
August 26: Uncapped
I encourage you to come get the physical aspects of your classroom set up early. The best times for you to do this would be this coming week or next (if you want to do it on your own time). This coming week is the last 4 day week for the school system. It's always nice to think you'll have time to work on your classroom during the capped workdays, and we will try to give some classroom work time, but you know how it is... there's never enough time. So the more you can do earlier, the better you will feel!!
Please remember to check out the professional development offerings for August 17-19 from CCS on the C/I webpage. All registrations for sessions must be complete by August 12. There are really some great opportunities for your learning, and you have the power of choice! Also a great way to get some literacy credits! I strongly encourage the use of the search option on the main August PD page - it's a timesaver!
http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/Page/38773
August 22 will be a full day of our learning together as a staff. August 23 will be some district PD opportunities, so not as much as a school. August 24, you will be permitted to arrive late (10:30am) due to open house. August 25 will have full staff required activities. And August 26th will not have anything scheduled that is required as a full staff.
Please remember that for the uncapped days, you may only use flex time that was earned THIS SUMMER or you may use annual leave, sick leave, or personal leave. Many final details will be worked out this week, and I will have a more detailed schedule to release to you the week of August 15th.
CCS Open House
1. All schools must have an Open House at these times (elementary, middle, and high dates).
2. High School Open House will be for all students (Principals may stagger times to assist with traffic but not before)
3. All staff members must be present for Open House
4. Parents will be provided with student schedules, an overview of the class, and the expectations of students.
5. All teachers will be in their classrooms to greet parents, not in other areas of the school doing other things.
6. Kindergarten Open House may not be scheduled on Wednesday night of the first week that teachers are back.
7. Principals should make arrangements for the few teachers that cannot attend their own child's open house to meet their teachers the following day (to be agreed upon by the principals).
Cheer Camp Ready to Rock!
Transition Camp T
CMS Transition Camp Bonding
Policy Changes
Miner Time Details So Far
Monday, Wednesday, Friday will be remediation/enrichment days; MT is the same time for the entire school 10:04-10:45 (41 minutes as of now); Tuesdays will alternate between club day and reading; Thursdays will be study hall days. Leadership will be discussing the specifics of remediation/enrichment groupings in the next meeting. We will do a pass/fail grade for Miner Time. Leadership is meeting this week. You are welcome to share ideas with your leadership representative. We will many options for our clubs, and every staff member will be responsible for facilitating or helping with a club. Be thinking about various ideas you may have for clubs.
CMS Transition Camp: Bonding activities
CMS Transition Camp: School Tour
CMS Transition Camp: Overview
Closing the Attitude Gap
Please be sure you have read this book by Baruti Kafele by August 22! This is your copy of the book, so you're welcome to mark it all up and turn page corners, etc. We hope you've enjoyed it, and we are scheduling time to talk about "what next" as a result of this learning opportunity during the beginning teacher workdays.
Need money for your classroom for a special project?
The Cabarrus County Education Foundation (CCEF) is excited to kick off the 2016-2017 Classroom Mini-Grant Program. Grants are awarded to teachers annually for up to $500 for classroom projects that identify special opportunities encompassing innovation, creativity, sustainability, and alignment with Cabarrus County School goals and curriculum standards. Some of this year’s recipients created an outdoor learning lab, explored Chinese paper cutting, held staff development training, built robotics into their curriculum, introduced stability balls, and even held a Resume Day that brought companies in to meet with students not attending college.
The Classroom Mini-Grant application is attached and will be due by October 11, 2016. It is also available on our website at www.ccefnc.org.
Miner Girls working hard!
CMS Cheerleaders!
Our girls learning stunts!
Interesting Staff Stats
- We have 69 certified staff members (positions that require a teaching license)
- It looks like we will have about 16 new staff members this year. 7 of these (currently) are in their first year of teaching, while 11 total are still classified as beginning teachers (in their first 3 years). We still have several open positions.
- 21 of our teaching staff have spent the majority of their teaching career here at CMS.
- 26 of our teaching staff are experienced teachers but have 5 years of less specifically at CMS.
- This past school year, from August 2015-July 1, 2016, we had 25 staff members (classified and certified staff members) leave CMS for varying reasons (retirement, resignation, temporary contracts, transfers, moving out of the area, etc).
- Last year (August 2015-March 2016), we were able to get 36 staff members trained in Capturing Kids' Hearts.
- We have 10 more staff members receiving CKH training on August 18-19 with staff members from Central Cabarrus High School and Hickory Ridge Middle School.
Calendar Reminders
August 11th 8:00am-12:00pm Leadership Team (lunch will be provided)
August 17-19: CCS PD Institute (math teachers capped all 3 days)
August 17: First workday for teachers
August 24: CMS Open House (all staff required to attend) 430-630
August 29: first day of school for students