Staff Weekly Update
September 17th - 21st, 2018
A great reminder above of why what we do is so important. I also thank you all for embracing our Steps to SIEW (aka Second Step) lessons. WAAAY back when I started teaching, I recall hearing a speaker share that schools have two "hidden curriculums," of socializing and time management. Times have changed and now more than ever, our students need thoughtful and intentional learning experiences in socializing with one another. Bravo to all of you for helping our students to build their social-emotional skills in an environment that is safe and also held with high expectations.
Have a great week! In fact, enjoy this last official week of summer. The Autumn Equinox begins this Saturday 9/22.
With much respect,
Connie
Calendar Items
Mon. Sept. 17th
- *Coaching Day w/ Jim McMillan*
- Deputy Todd out all day - Deputy Clint Stewart will be at SGE
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Janelle Drisko at SGE all day
- Melanie Bowlin at SGE - AM only
- Vision Testing - 1st & 3rd
- 8:20 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Knueven
- 9:00 - Parent phone call - Wetzel
- 11:15 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Shaw
- 12:45 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Delp
- 1:15 - Largent in BOY
- 1:30 - Farley in BOY
- *2:30 - 3:30 - Optional Staff Meeting w/ Jim McMillan - Media Center*
- 2:45 - Farley in BOY
- 2:45 - Mtg. re: 4th grader - Largent, Farley, Knueven, Watson
Tues. Sept. 18th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- 8:25 - Largent in BOY
- 8:40 - Farley in BOY
- 9:30 - Leadership Team Mtg - Largent/Farley - ESC
- 9:40 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Brizzolara
- 12:30 - 4th Gr. in Constitution Day w/ Judge Kincaid
- 1:00 - USS Team Mtg - conf. room
- 2:30 - Largent in BOY
- 2:45 - Optional mtg w/ 3rd grade re: NWEA
- 3:00 - Largent in BOY
Wed. Sept. 19th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- Janelle Drisko at SGE all day
- 8:15 - 12:30 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 7:30 - Safety Mtg. w/ Chad Smith - Largent, Farley, Todd, Spillman, Fure
- 9:20 - Largent in BOY
- 9:25 - Farley in BOY
- 9:40 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Lauer-Jones
- 10:10 - Largent in BOY
- 10:55 - Largent in BOY
- 11:00 - Farley in BOY
- 12:45 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Munz
- 2:30 - Optional Staff Mtg: How to Calculate Your CLOs
- 2:40 - Farley in BOY
- 3:30 - Largent/Farley in Weekly Mtg.
Thurs. Sept. 20th
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- 9:40 - Counseling Lesson - Wetzel/Lewis
- 10:15 - 2:00 - Randee Kleeman at SGE
- 10:30 - Elementary Leadership Team mtg - Largent/Farley - ESC
- 1:00 - Test Security Training - Farley - ESC
- 2:00 - Largent in BOY
- 2:45 - ACR for 4th grader - Farley, Watson, Milam - conf. room
- *6:00 - 7:30 - FAMILY WELLNESS NIGHT!*
Fri. Sept. 21st
- AimsWeb: 9/3 - 10/12
- PTO Spirit Day - Tie Dye Wear
- August/September Birthday Treats - Hosted by 2nd Grade
- K-4th RtI PLC Mtgs - Largent/Farley - all day
- 11:15 - 12:15 - RtI Mtg - Largent, Farley, Wetzel, Spillman, Hall, Brandt - conf. room
- 2:45 - Parent mtg. re: 1st gdr - Largent, Farley, Wetzel, Andries, Westin, C.Moore - conf. room
Upcoming Events . . .
Sept. 24th - 28th - College Go Week! (read below for more details)
Wed. Sept. 26th - PTO's JOG-A-THON
Wed. Oct. 3rd - Parent-Teacher Conferences from 2:30 - 3:30
Thurs. Oct. 4th
- E-DAY for all elementary students
- 11:10 - 7:00 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
- PTO provides lunch for staff
Tues. Oct. 9th - End of Quarter 1
Oct. 15th - 19th - Fall Break
Oct. 24th - 2nd Annual International Fair (*new date* - changed from 10/25 to now 10/24)
Oct. 31st - Nov. 2nd - Scholastic Book Fair
Nov. 2nd - Dads & Donuts
Nov. 5th - 9th - PTO Food Drive
Nov. 9th - Veterans Day Program
Nov. 9th - PTO Mother/Son Event
Nov. 16th - KDG's Thanksgiving Sing
Nov. 21st - 23rd - Thanksgiving Break
FRIENDLY REMINDER . . . PRINT AND PAPER USAGE
Each month's end, an email lands in my mailbox that shares the SGE print usage, and breaks it down by each individual staff member. (Yes - I know the number of color, grayscale and duplexed pages you copy.) I usually scan these to get a sense of what our demand is and what impact this has financially and environmentally.
As I look over the numbers from January - May, our average landed about 73,500 printed pages/month, which is a number I've always thought could be lower. Higher enrollment, beginning of the year communication/demands, and classroom setup are going to require a bit more prep and paper at the beginning of the year. I understand. To view details of our last five months, I've posted further information below.
I hope you all know me well enough to know that I don't want to throw unnecessary barriers in the way of your work, nor do I want to micro-manage the volume of paper each person is using or how many trips you make to the copier. None of us have time for that. This is about student learning, engagement, and responsible stewardship. Some paper is necessary, yet can we work together to find ways to reduce the volume of paper we are copying and consuming?
Additional note: (UPDATED 9/16/18)
- At this time, we are OUT of color toner for our color printer. WE RAN OUT IN APPROXIMATELY 6 WEEKS.
- PTO has budgeted $1,000 for this 18-19 SY to purchase color toner for our school. $500 gets school board approved in the Fall & another $500 will get school board approved in the Spring.
- At this rate, we will not have enough toner funds to last the entire year. Often, I will find full page prints off the color copier but they are black and white, or I will find a color copy packet of 15-20 pages printed off in color but never claimed.
Thanks for your assistance and cooperation.
College Go Week September 24th-28th
Let’s kick off College Go Week by wearing college attire and jeans on Monday, September 24th! Students will be joining us for our college spirit day by wearing t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, or pins of their favorite college. Families will be informed in the Friday Newsletters so you are welcome to give them a reminder as well! You are encouraged to display your college pennants or signs proudly outside or within your classroom. Each morning on the announcements, an Indiana college will be featured with shout outs to staff and a trivia question of the day!
Important Announcements & Reminders
Principal's Office Has Started!
- For those of you new to SGE, "Principal's Office" is a way to dispell the stigma that going to see the principal (Mrs. Largent or Mrs. Farley) is bad. Instead, we *want* students to come to the principal's office for great behaviors and/or any great success (no matter how small or big) that your students have achieved.
- Principal's Office Forms can be found in our Stonegate Staff Drive. It's on the main page of our Stonegate Staff files and it's titled: PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE FORM
- Send these forms down anytime and as soon as Martha or I am available, we will call your students to come to see one or both of us. Thanks!
PTC Schedules
- Just a friendly reminder that as your PT-Conference schedule gets finalized, please update your form in our Stonegate Staff Files.
- Deadline is Friday 9/28.
- Office team will be printing out these forms after school on this date in order to look over what conferences we will need to attend and to ensure that we can be there to support you.
Professional Development Requests
- If you would like to attend any type of professional development, please click here. Next week, this message will be moved to the "Links to Work Orders and *NEW* Google Form Links" section below and it will remain there for the rest of this year for easy access.
Please Join Our REMIND Group
- SGE (staff only) has an all-staff Remind text messaging group called: 18-19 SGE (all staff).
- To simply *receive-only* the text messages, please text the number 81010 and in your "message line" type in the code: @k29hfe.
- If you'd like to be able to text back and forth w/ me via REMIND, please download the app or create an online account.
- As a friendly reminder, please do not share this code with non-SGE staff members.
Above & Beyond Nomination Form
- On our ZCS website, any ZCS staff and/or community member can nominate the work of any ZCS employee that has done extraordinary work. If you've experienced professional support that is above & beyond, feel free to recognize them through this nomination! Please click here to nominate.
Leaving EARLY afterschool and you've gotten permission from Connie/Martha . . .
- If this is the case for you, please help us by always emailing the entire office team to let them know you've gotten permission and also leave your cell # in the email message, in case we need to contact you.
- Who is the "office team?" Connie, Martha, Angie, Jen, Jessica, Hailey
LINKS TO WORK ORDERS & *NEW* GOOGLE FORM LINKS
Technology Work Orders - Reminder from Dan Layton:
- Click here to access this link.
- It is always extremely helpful if you can submit actual technology work orders for any help you need. Please refrain from picking up the phone or emailing a question.
Marquis Work Orders:
Did your trash not get picked up? Does it seem the carpet didn't get vacuumed? Please help Angie & Jen out by filling out the Marquis work order on your own. Thanks!
1. Go to the Zionsville web site
2. Click on Teachers/Staff tab
3. Scroll down about halfway
4. Look for: Custodial Work Orders by Building
5. Click on Stonegate
Click here to access the Teachers/Staff tab
18-19 PTO Wish List - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Click the NEW LINK HERE to access this Office 365 Form
Personal Business Leave Request - NEW GOOGLE FORM LINK!
- Please click the NEW LINK HERE to access this form and then don't forget to SAVE this page under your "favorites."
- Finally, as a friendly reminder of our ZCS Personal Business Leave + good information to know for our newest staff, I have copied/pasted the email about personal days sent by Becky Coffman on 5/8/16. This is per our CBA - Collective Bargaining Agreement
- A. Amount – Each employee shall be entitled to be absent from work three (3) days each school year for the transaction of personal business or the conduct of personal or civic affairs. Such leaves may be used in whole or half day increments. Requests for personal business leave should be made 48 hours in advance in writing to the building principal. In cases of emergency or other similar unforeseen circumstance, requests may be made orally to both the substitute coordinator and the building principal.
- B. Employees are discouraged from using personal business leave on staff development days or to extend a school vacation. If used on a staff development day then the employee remains totally responsible for securing the learning lost from their being absent during that activity.
- C. Accumulation – If an employee does not use all of the personal business leave in a given school year, the remaining personal business leave shall be accumulated for use in later school year, except that no more than a total of two (2) days may be accumulated from earlier school years for use as personal business leave, so that the maximum total personal business leave available in any one school year is three (3) days earned during the school year and up to two (2) days accumulated from earlier school years or a total of five (5) days.
- D. Conversion to Sick Leave – Any unused personal business leave not accumulated for use in later years as personal business leave shall be added to the employee’s accumulated sick leave.
STRONG IN EVERY WAY: FIVE TRAITS OF SUCCESS
OUR 2018-2019 DISTRICT ACADEMIC PRIORITIES
TWO GREAT BOOKS WRITTEN BY OUR FORMER COUNSELOR, LISA COX!
- The title of the book originated when Lisa wrote song lyrics to convey a message she was teaching as a school counselor. She felt that students need to learn to enjoy the process of striving for a goal and not be defeated by mistakes.
- The setting of the book is one full day in the life of Lorisa, the main character. The story takes you through her day at home and at school as she models for children a positive attitude as she makes some mistakes and experiences successes, too.
Grit, Not Grits by Lisa Cox
- Do you have what it takes to endure a tough situation and not give up? Do you have grit? What is grit? How does one explain this intangible quality to children? Grit, Not Grits shares one day in the lives of two friends. Sam, who has Cerebral Palsy, is a role model to Leo who is learning about grit. A baseball theme and humor are used to explain this important trait to children. After understanding the meaning of grit, Leo is motivated to do what we hope all children learn to do in their lives -- reach out and include someone. Leo and Sam are bound together by one word. No, not grits like oatmeal; they find a superpower deep inside that makes them want to try. Grit, Not Grits
- Marcie Cates (mother to Bella & Lizzie Cates - 3rd/Brizzolara) is also a contributor to this book!
BOTH are wonderful, child-friendly, and can be found on Amazon.com.