January 13, 2020
A Communication Tool for the Seven Hills Staff
New Year...Perfect Time to Reflect on How YOU are Applying the 7 Habits!
Follow Up From January 7 Professional Learning:
WOW! I was so impressed by the action everyone took on the MOY and CBA data we unpacked yesterday. Lots of “heavy lifting”, thinking, planning, and reflecting. We are a HUGE advantage having all of this data already unpacked and being used on the first day of the 2nd semester! Seven Hills will WIN the WIG game in 2020!
I wanted to follow up on the expectations for finishing the work outlined in the PLC agenda from yesterday and share the plan for PLCs next week. This will help everyone put first things first and be prepared.
- The tasks outlined in the PLC Agenda need to be completed by Monday, January 13. Please use planning time, etc. to synergize with your teammates. If you need ANY help with these tasks, please let me know.
- January 7 PLC Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hMq4Aae_xXEKfK33VyJ_1ke9t7lzfPQu7x4eZFVvZ7U/edit?usp=sharing
- Bring completed glasses to me. Yes, everyone needs to complete this activity and make commitments.
- Hang CBA See-Get-Do reflections on your grade level scoreboard in the PLC Room. Layer them on top of the previous CBA reflection.
- Hang Team WIGs for 3rd Grading period, you can layer this on top of the previous WIG. It will be interesting at the end of the year to reflect on WIG progress. ALSO, hang your Lead Measure Tracker and your Lag Measure Scoreboards
- Bring MOY DRA See-Get-Do reflection tool and Plus Delta to me…Make sure your grade level/team name is on it. These will be posted in the PLC room.
PLCs Next Week: The work completed yesterday and the follow – up in PLCs next week is the 2nd Quarterly Review of the year. This was planned for December, however, we waited until all MOY data was gathered to engage in the review. While Tanya and I were able to pop in and out of each team’s work, we want to talk to each team in detail about what you discovered, what your plan is, and most importantly what support you need to reach your goals and keep commitments for the next quarter. We will use PLCs to begin this work. We may need to schedule additional time. We certainly do not want to feel rushed. Please make sure you are prepared…the team data dives are important, but we will also reflect on the classroom data and answering those reflective questions posed yesterday. I have copied the slide with these questions below.
- Due to a rescheduled Campus Support Meeting with Dr. Griffin and Kim Becan (remember, this was scheduled in November, however I was stung by a scorpion and had to cancel), we will need to be creative in when each team will meet for PLCs next week. I have looked at the ARD schedule for next week, and am proposing the following times/days for meeting in PLCs:
- Monday, January 13: 1st and 5th Grade
- Tuesday, January 14: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grade
- Wednesday, January 15: Kindergarten
The Campus Support Meeting is Tuesday, January 14 at 12:30. The staff supporting this meeting has not changed from the original plan, and we will be sharing the data presented yesterday as well as the celebrations and work completed to date. There are no surprises here. We will be working on a plan to have these staff member’s classes covered for the meeting.
- Kim Blackburn
- Tanya Ledger
- Kelly Bryan
- Molly Argo
- Whitney Beck
- Mackenzie Davidson
- Kelly Allen
In the spirit of being transparent and making sure everyone is clear on the expectations…please let me know what questions you have.
Classroom Points of Pride:
In order to streamline our campus tours, offer our visitors a complete look at the campus and honor your instructional time, we ask that each classroom choose 1-3 points of pride for the classroom to be your focus for any tours or classroom visits. These should be areas of strength for your class, that students can easily talk about when asked. Examples include:
- Habit Huddle
- Respect Agreements
- Classroom Leadership Jobs
- Mission Statements
- Class WIGS and Class Scoreboards
- Student WIG Charts
- LEAD Time
- Leadership Notebooks
- Service Learning Projects
- Celebrations
- Aligning Academics - use of quality tools, student led learning, etc.
This week, please consider your class strengths and complete the card in the slide presentation linked below. EVERY teacher...yes, even interventionists, PE, Art, Music, Etc. has a slide to complete. Simply find the slide with your name to the right and add your points of pride. There is an example pictured above for your reference. Hint...the slides go in order by halls...ish...not necessarily by grade level. Please have this completed by the end of the day on Tuesday, January 21.
January Positive Parent Calls:
We began the school year with the expectation that each teacher would make a positive parent phone call to parents by the end of September. We will begin the second semester with the same proactive approach to making connections to support student achievement. All classroom teachers will make a positive parent phone call for each student by Friday, January 31. Specials teachers will call 15 - 20 parents (please coordinate so that you are not calling the same parents). SPED/Dyslexia/Etc. will call all parents. This is a quick call to share something positive about their child. This is not intended to be a parent conference. If you plan this out, it could be as few as 3-6 calls per week depending on the size of your class. Staff will keep a log to track their calls. Thank you in advance for investing this time into supporting student achievement and building relationships between the home and school.
From the AP:
SAFETY-I want to thank ALL staff for doing such a great job with ensuring our students felt safe during the shelter. I would love to hear any feedback you may have about how we restructured where you would take shelter.
For those who are new to our staff, I will be setting up a training with you on active shooting and what your role is. I will send an email this week.
From the CIT:
Our new year has started off with many new students, so if you need help with finding reading levels on them, please let me know--I would love to help!
Assessments this week;
Kinder:
Jan. 8-24 KMath.MOY 19-20
1st Grade:
Jan. 8-24 1Math.MOY 19-20
2nd Grade: 2Math.MOY 19-20
5th Grade:
Jan. 13-17 5.ELA.4.Grammar
From the Librarian:
This is A week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12YyxQLcg83SMeiLeayduQZrVVEmCL-ruWW08I4UywlE/edit?usp=sharing
UBC campus competition is Friday, January 17 at 1:30 in the gym.
Book Fair will be delivered this Thursday and opens January 24-30. (slight change from earlier info)
If you need Reader’s Theater scripts there is one for each Bluebonnet Book. Go to this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Lv1xPC9akhwxtlRsvyDWVvoqejqHjCc
If you would like one for past Bluebonnet titles, let me know and I’ll try to find them for you.
In the very back closet, in the library, we have book sets for book clubs. The books are mostly fiction but some non-fiction as well. Please utilize them at your convenience. Feel free to come in any time and see what we have in there.
We also have 500,000,000 felt shapes that were donated a few years ago. If you have any need for felt shapes, help yourself!
From the Intervention Team:
If you have a gold LLI kit, please return it to the middle tables in Markham’s room so the interventionists can inventory the kits.
The New red and gold LLI Kits are ready to go!!!! Rupa has made copies of each lesson for the kits. The process is very time consuming, so please give her a shout out. Next, she will number the books and write the number on the envelope to help keep track.
These resources are very expensive,so let’s do our best to take care of the materials. Please take note of the new check-out procedures.
Habit Huddle Connection:
Habit 2 Connection:
Focus time and energy on things that can be controlled. Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty--successes that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.
"People are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren't getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope with all of their might."
DR. STEPHEN R. COVEY
Habit 2 is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It's about connecting again with your own uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself.
This week is a GREAT opportunity to review campus wide leader expectations with students...Are we practicing Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind in the cafeteria? hallways? restrooms? on the playground?
Reminders and Announcements:
- Building Access: Do ALL students know how to get in the building using the doorbell system? Make sure you have reviewed this the first week back. You have new students. Please do not assume they know.
- Leaving Campus: Make sure you sign out using the Google Form any time you leave campus during the day or before your contract time. This is a safety measure. Also, please make sure you have cleared leaving early with an administrator before you leave.
Recess Monitoring: Staff on duty at recess MUST actively monitor all areas of the playground. One staff member needs to be monitoring the field and another needs to be monitoring the playground and blacktop. The best places to stand are down by the backstop, between the chickens and the backstop, and at the top of the hill on the backside of the playground. If you have three staff members, the third staff member can stand on the blacktop side of the playground. Thank you for your active monitoring to ensure student safety.
Employee Absences: Policy is attached to email:
Staff wanting to request a personal day need to submit that request in the Outlook Calendar linked in the Google Classroom. Simply entering the absence in Edugence is not sufficient. If there is no availability to enter an absence on the date you are wanting to request personal leave, then you will not be able to take the personal leave. The calendar is set up in such a way that we are in accordance with policy...for example, no requests may be made on days before and after a holiday, only a % of staff may be out on personal leave on one given day, etc.
Please understand that given the change in policy, not all requests will be approved. The details for the policy are outlined below. One thing I want to point out is that Monday and Tuesday professional learning days. I also want to point out that when multiple requests from one team or the entire grade level are made, personal leave requests may not be granted. My expectation is that staff be aware of the policy and mindful when making personal leave requests.
Many of you are doing an excellent job of securing your Guest Educators well in advance of your leave. This is appreciated not only by myself and the office team who work to fill positions and find coverage when GEs don’t show up, but also your team. Make sure you check with Marina if you are looking for a sub in advance. She may have new preferred names to share with you. Remember, all staff MUST have their emergency sub plans prepared. Be mindful when asking your team to prepare plans for you. We all know that emergencies and unexpected absences come up. And, I feel confident that everyone is willing to support their teammates in the event they have to be out unexpectedly. That being said, a note of appreciation, Sonic drink, and candy as tokens of appreciation go a long way with your peers.
Our sub fill rate is very low. We do not have the extra, available staff to cover absences. Thank you in advance for reviewing the policy, securing GEs in advance of planned absences, and preparing plans.
Save the Date:
Note: All of the Friday events are typed on Saturday in the campus calendar for January. Please adjust your calendars accordingly. My apologies for the typo.
Monday, January 13:
- PLCs: 1st and 5th Grades
- ILT Meeting, 3:15
- PLCs: 2, 4 and 3 grades
- Campus Support Meeting at 12:30
- Action Teams OR LHT Meeting (More Information ASAP)
Wednesday, January 15:
- Staff may wear jeans with a school shirt as fundraising incentive reward
- PLCs: Kindergarten
- Accountability Teams Meeting, 3:15
Thursday, January 16:
- Kim and Tanya off Campus in the morning for NISL Meeting
- Vertical Teams/Professional Learning; 3:15
Friday, January 17:
- Leader Rally
- UBC Challenge at 1:30
Happy Birthday to You:
Tara Heady 1/15
ARod 1/17