MONDAY MEMO
Shawnee Trail Elementary, February 8, 2016
SHAWNEE TRAIL MISSION: Why do we exist? What is our fundamental purpose?
- To create a safe, nurturing and inclusive environment, to inspire ALL students to become passionate, lifelong learners.
- To make meaningful and enjoyable connections as we educate the whole child academically, emotionally, and socially.
At Shawnee Trail we believe ALL Means ALL:
- ALL students will learn at their highest levels.
- ALL decisions are based on what is best for students and are aligned with the mission of our school.
- ALL, students and teachers, learn by doing and building on our own strengths and the strengths of others.
Collective Commitments:
Cultivate a collaborative culture of continuous improvement:
- Read all resources before collaborative learning meetings.
- Be prepared to share, listen and participate in all group discussions.
Foster a save supportive and trusting environment:
- Start on time.
- Be engaged 100% of the time. (Leave unnecessary distractions behind and focus wholly on the tasks at hand.)
- Collaborate and contribute equally and meaningfully
Practice all of these collective commitments by asking, “How did we do? Are we holding ourselves accountable for the team’s norms?”
- Be willing to apologize or confront with passion and purpose when a team member fails to honor the commitments.
Celebrate success large and small.
CELEBRATIONS AND SHOUT-OUTS!
Shawnee Trail is the BEST!
- SHOUT OUT to K, 1, and 2 students charted great gains in students' reading levels at SST!
- SHOUT OUT to Leah for examining her schedule and making changes to meet student needs.
- SHOUT OUT to Heather and Shannon for all of their work in creating an great Feb. 15 professional learning day.
- SHOUT OUT to all teams in making learning walks happen!
- SHOUT OUT to 3rd and 5th grade for volunteering to share their learning at the staff meetings.
- SHOUT OUT to 5th grade for delivering an awesome learning opportunity at the staff meeting!
- SHOUT OUT our new cafeteria supervisor, Bernard Washington, and his crew! We couldn't do it without you! We are so happy to have Mr. Washington join our ST family!
- Cristy sends a SHOUT OUT to kinder for making her day with the precious 100 year olds!
- Nurse Larson is sending a SHOUT OUT to Kelly Straub for being so brave!
- Jessica sends a SHOUT OUT to Jennifer Morris for being such a huge support to the 4th grade team.!
Kris has a SHOUT OUT to 2nd grade! All means all! They are so helpful with our second grade friends on the playground and at lunch. Always there to lend a helping hand when needed! Thank you!
T'Neise has a SHOUT OUT for her team. "I would like to shoutout my team for continual commitment to "the process" of learning and growing. We keep each other accountable, and I couldn't ask for a better support system!"
Kelly has a SHOUT OUT: "To Pam L, Gloria, Kris, Pam T, Nicole and Marla for maintaining their sense of humor when things get a little rocky! Best tribe ever!"
SHOUT OUT to Shaheen for taking such care in preparing the Chrome Books for the staff.
Tricia Beck has a SHOUT OUT for Gale for wearing so many different hats so gracefully!
SHOUT OUT to third grade for charting amazing student progress, having all data uploaded, and a plan in place for all struggling students.
Ms. Todd wants to send Kim a SHOUT OUT for turning them on to the Epic! app. It's giving her struggling readers some independence during reading time and they are loving it!
Professional Learning
"I'm Not a Math Person"
Mathematical abilities can be nurtured and enhanced. Parents and educators can take steps to help students develop a growth mindset. Heller recommends the following:
- Create opportunities for cooperative learning.
- Give students the chance to productively struggle.
- Encourage participation even the student doesn't have the right answer yet.
- Re-envision math as a language.
Here the link to the full article:
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/01/becoming-math-person
Meaningful Discussion/Academic Discourse
SMART GOAL: Increase student’s advanced academic performance by 5% on campus based CFAs by improving meaningful peer conversations (academic discourse).
STRATEGY: Teacher will teach mini lessons, demonstrate, and provide practice using sentence stems and conversations structures. (Seravallo, Lone STAAR Problem Solving, Kagan Structures and Exemplars)
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: Administrative walk-throughs and campus CFAs will be used to measure progress.
Staff Meetings 3:20-4:20
February 17th
Focus will be on students written response to math problem solving and mathematical thinking. 3rd Grade has volunteered to share their learning on academic discourse.!
DON'T FORGET
- Sign your team up to present Academic Discourse at a staff meeting. The presentations only have to be 20 minutes, a mini lesson. :-)
February Character Trait Focus is OPTIMISM
Optimism is being hopeful about future outcomes combined with the agency to shape that future.
Being optimistic doesn't mean you don't get upset when bad things happen—it's normal to get upset! But the optimist recognizes that most bad things are temporary and looks for opportunities to change circumstances for the better through new efforts or strategies.
This isn’t your traditional “glass half full” optimism (which some might call blind positivity) because optimistic people seek to directly connect their own power and actions to the future they want. For example, after getting a bad grade on an exam, an optimistic student believes that studying harder or differently will earn her a better grade on the next one. Another critical part of optimism is not “catastrophizing” a situation. For example, when a friend doesn't want to play that day, the optimistic kid imagines that his friend is having a bad day, not that no one wants to be his friend.
Observing Optimism
Demonstrating optimism could involve:
- Believing that effort will improve your future
- When bad things happen, thinking about what you could do to avoid similar bad outcomes in the future
- Staying motivated, even when things don’t go well
February Reminders:
Online Basic Training for New Raters is Due 2/15/16
February is Black History Month
February is Dental Health Month
Tuesday, Feb. 9
- Instructional Team Leader Meeting @ 7:10
- Choir Practice (2:50-3:30)
Thursday, Feb. 11
- Olweus Committee Meeting in Rm. 405 (3:15-4:15)
- Campus Improvement Team Meeting in Library (3:30-4:00)
Friday, Feb. 12
- GMST
- Valentine's Day Parties (2:00-2:50)
February Birthdays
Tricia Beck 2/6
Jodi Timbs 2/8
Amy Christian 2/14
Lindsie Petty 2/15
Tara Webb 2/20
Cristi Closs 2/25
Shawnee Trail Elementary
Email: schaeffp@friscoisd.org
Website: http://schools.friscoisd.org/ES/shawnee-trail/site/home
Location: 10701 Preston Vineyard Drive, Frisco, TX, United States
Phone: (469) 633-2500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShawneeTrailElm
Twitter: @shawneetrailelm