BESTeam Tidbits
July 23, 2017
Celebrations!
- Thank you Al, Ashley, Carolyn, Cathy, Corrie, Heather, Jeanette, Jennifer, Kate, Lauren, Tracey, and Wendy for taking part in interviews on Friday! Your insight and input is invaluable! Thank you for working together to find amazing candidates to be part of the BEST staff!
- Six of our amazing PTA parents spent the weekend in Houston learning and getting amazing ideas for our school! We are so lucky to have such a supportive PTA!
Learning Institute
Wednesday, August 9
- All instructional staff, except for PK (PK will be meeting at BES), will attend #GCLI17 together at CHHS.
- Using the Sched app sent in your email, you select the learning that will help you and your students grow.
- We will meet at Bransford and ride a school bus to and from CHHS. This will help with traffic and parking at CHHS.
- Bring your lunch or dine at one of the food trucks that will be at CHHS.
Thursday, August 10
- All instructional staff, except for PK (BCES), will attend #GCLI17 at CES.
- Please make arrangements with your friends to carpool to help with parking as all elementary will be in attendance.
- Lunch will be on your own (sorry, no food trucks!).
Both days afford many choices for course offerings, however, there are a few required courses.
ALL certified teachers: (Thursday)
Behavior, BIP, Data Collection
Specially Designed Instruction/Documenting Accommodations and Modifications
Understanding the ARD Process
All newly hired teachers:
All Induction Strand Sessions which pertain to your teaching assignment (Thursday)
Ethics (Wednesday)
All Instructional Paraprofessionals: The Role of Paraprofessionals in Special Education (Wednesday)
All K-2 teachers (regular ed and special ed): Jumpstart in Phonological Awareness (Wednesday & Thursday)
All 5-8th grade teachers: DyKnow (Thursday)
- All K-8 teachers (highly recommended - not required): Nearpod (Wednesday & Thursday)
These are going to be two great days of learning and growing with our Bransford teammates as well as colleagues from across the district! Let Jamie, Tonya, or Cathy know if you have any questions!
To do...
- Shed: See the info about learning institutes above. Take a few minutes to register for the classes you would like to take. Let Jamie, Tonya, or Cathy know if you have any questions. Thank you!
- 2017-2018 Staff Shirt: I am meeting with our t-shirt rep on Friday, so send your ideas before then. Please add ideas to this sheet. Thank you in advance for sharing your ideas!
- PTA Needs Assessment Survey: In planning for the PTA budget for the 2017-2018 school year, please take a moment to share your thoughts on the needs of Bransford. Thank you in advance for your input! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeF55vpFCjfUWuDg5fUw0Rcof1es4zZ8GiCCDcr_l_Q1ftpSw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Campus Open?
That being said, I know some of you would like to get in your rooms and get stuff organized, arranged, and put away sooner rather than later. The building will be accessible with your badges during the times listed below in week at a glance.
If you choose to work in your room, please consider the following:
- Our floors have been waxed, so do not drag things down the halls.
- Thank you for not putting furniture in the hallway. If you have furniture that you are not wanting, please put a note on it and leave it in your classroom. Send Denise an email, copying me, letting her know that you have furniture to be removed.
- Please remove your trash each time you leave campus. You may either put it outside in the dumpster or bring it home.
- There is no air on in the building, so bring a fan! I apologize for this inconvenience. I will let you know when air is officially back on.
- We have lots of crawling friends in the building. Again, I apologize. It must be a result of a dark, empty place.
Thank you for your desire to get in your rooms! Our Texans are lucky to have each of you in their lives!
Three Terrific Texan Tweets
FYI
- The transfer window for students will be open from 8 a.m. July 24 and close 4 p.m. July 28. See this link for more information: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/2763
- The Tonya, Cathy, Abbey, Denise, and Shelly return on August 1st. Until then, Jamie is the only person official back. Don't hesitate to email or text with any questions, ideas, or concerns.
- A schedule for our two weeks together will be in next week's Smore. Stay tuned!
FLEX Learning
Thank you for working on FLEX Learning over the summer. Visiting the following link from the district website (http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/3804), you will see the requirements, understand why Flex is important to our profession, and get access to the site. Once you get to the actual Flex site, find the tab that represents your job so you know which modules to complete.
If you begin working on the Flex requirements right away you may run into a couple of "coming soon" notes on certain modules. Those are currently being updated and will be ready to go very soon. The due date for completing Flex requirements is October 9, 2017.
Week at a Glance
Jamie is officially back this week, but at meeting almost all week. See below for specifics.
Monday
Jamie training PDEC 8:00 to 4:00
Jamie at PTA meeting 4:15
Building accessible 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Tuesday
Jamie training PDEC 8:00 to 4:00
Jamie on campus from 4:15 to 6:00
Building accessible from 7:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday
Jamie training PDEC 8:00 to 4:00
Jamie on campus from 4:15 to 6:00 (meeting at 4:15)
Building accessible from 7:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Thursday
Jamie at training a.m.
Jamie on campus from 1:00 to 5:15
Building accessible 1:00 to 5:15
Friday
Building closed
Jamie Halliburton
Email: jamie.halliburton@gcisd.net
Phone: 806-441-6518
Twitter: @BESHalliburton
2017-2018 Information
Staffing Updates
- Art: Scott Hughes took a middle school teaching position. Al, Ashley, Carolyn, Cathy, Corrie, Heather, Jennifer, Kate, and Lauren along with six students and four parents interviewed candidates on Friday. We are doing follow up interviews this week. Stay tuned!
- 1st Grade: Patti Harness has resigned due to her husband's job. This is a big loss for our first grade team. The team, along with Wendy, interviewed candidates on Friday. We will be recommending a candidate to HR. Stay tuned for details!
- 4th Grade: Welcome Megan Harris to the BES staff!
- Grade-Level Teachers: We are watching numbers for first grade and pre-k. Decisions on adding classes will come later in July.
- Back to School Fair, Saturday, August 5, 2017. If you are interested in volunteering, please use this link to sign up: BTSF Volunteer Sign Up or if you would like more information, please contact Emberly Hill at emberly.hill@gcisd.net.