Knight Notes
August 29, 2016
HAPPY MONDAY!
Good Morning--
It was another wonderful week at FHN. It was fantastic to be with you in your classrooms and to spend time with you at PD. It is clear that our staff is truly focused on continually to grow and learn so that we can help our kids to achieve more. I was greatly impressed with what I saw and heard throughout the week. Great things are happening at FHN!
Thank you for all that you do to make FHN a great place to work and learn! Enjoy your week!
--Andy
5 QUICK FACTS
Ryan Johnson--Foreign Language
1. Kristen and I will have been married for 7 years next Monday. We have twin 4-year old boys (James and Elliot) and a 1-year old girl (Evie).
2. All of my college applications had “Astrophysics” as the intended major. A professor at KU (like I would have gone to that cesspool anyway) saw the wannabe, science-fiction fanboy in me from a mile away and put me in my place in a single conversation.
3. While running and listening to music I daydream about starting a rock band with my children. The kids’ instruments change from day to day, but I’m always on rhythm guitar and back-up vocals. They’ll shine and I’ll bask in the afterglow.
4. Kristen and I attended Truman State together and even were in the same Mass Communications class sophomore year. However, we didn’t know each other until meeting at FHN during new teacher meetings. 6 months later I’d finally worn her down and the class of 2008’s dream came true.
5. I’ve recently discovered the life-changing game Spikeball, and I would be willing to lead PD on it.
I nominate Rob Stegeman!
GUIDANCE NEWS
Attached is our new counseling pass. Options give teachers more information about when we need to see students. Passes are color coded per counselor and secretary.
KUTO – August 29 all Health classes and 9th grade students that took health online over the summer will be pulled in for this important lesson.
Counselors appreciate your patience with schedules changes.
CELEBRATIONS
- Congratulations to students who earned their white coats in the PLTW Biomedical Science Program.
- Congratulations to our recent graduates on an average ACT score of 21.4. This is 1.2 above the National average.
- Congratulations to Lavanya Kolluru and James Dohrman on receiving full scholarships to UMSL and $1,500 research stipend. Read more about them at http://www.fhsdschools.org/
ATTENDANCE
Knights @ 90: FHN currently has 87.4% of students attending 90% of the time.
Attendance Committee Discussion Items:
· Informational meeting for Attendance Allies on Tues Aug 30th
· Planning the next Fun Friday event
· September is Attendance Awareness Month
Attendance Committee Action Items:
· Tues Aug 30th @ 7am and 2:30pm Attendance Allies will have an information meeting in Rm 213
· Contacted Activities Office to reschedule the next Fun Friday
· Delegated some tasks to kick-off Attendance Awareness Month
CLIMATE
Today is the first meeting of the Climate Committee. All are welcome! Join us in the main office at 2:30 today. We will finish by 3:30.
On Tuesday, August 30th, the FHN Admin Team will be hosting the first quarter Coffee With the Principal for FHN parents. This is the third year for this program and it often yields great feedback and ideas. This is part of our SIP to continue to improve the experience of FHN families.
BEHAVIOR
The Tardy Policy is working very well. FHN has also seen a 60% reduction in out of school suspensions compared to this time last year.
Important Dates:
Behavior Leadership Team 9/1 at 2:30 in Main Office Conference Room
Tech Committee 9/6 at 2:30 in Main Office Conference Room.
Practice ACT for all Sophomores on 9/8. More information will be coming later this week.
Technology
Below is the Prezi link from Mr. Riffee’s Lunch and Learn. The teacher that created the Prezi has a fantastic structure to her flipped learning environment.
· Prezi link = https://prezi.com/-vbtn0xnnyzx/my-flipped-classroom/
Here are a couple more super useful links.
· https://flippedlearning.org/
· https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPc8nY6Tcns
And lastly, below are the dates for the “workshops” Mr. Riffee will be hosting in the learning commons at 2:30 – approx. 4:30:
· August 30th
· September 20th
· October 24th
· November 16th
· No Date in December
· 2nd semester TBD
STAFF COMMITMENTS
2016-2017 Staff Commitments to the Learning Environment
In order to improve the climate/environment at FHN, the staff commits to:
1. building positive relationships with students and staff members.
2. listening to the concerns of others and by helping to problem solve those issues.
3. helping students to see the relationship between effort and success.
4. being open-minded to new ideas.
5. addressing any inappropriate behavior immediately to help set an expectation of appropriate hallway and classroom behavior.
6. giving clear and consistent expectations for device use and by enforcing them.
7. counting tardies consistently.
SHOUT OUTS!!
--Chris Birch
"Shout out to our CITW trainers on a great day of PD"
--Andy Downs