The Skipwith Communicator
Week of 9/29/14
Quote of the Week: “When you are joyful, when you say yes to life and have fun and project positivity all around you, you become a sun in the center of every constellation, and people want to be near you.”―Shannon L. Alder
Please click on the link below to see a short video on having a positive attitude.
Next Week: Upcoming Events/Calendar: 9/29
Weekly Highlights: 3rd MAP testing, Dr. McQueen visit,faculty Mtg, RTI Mtg, United Way Campaign, SCA speeches and voting
Google calendar:
The Near Future at a Glance: SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER
Monthly Highlights:Grade level meetings, Faculty Meetings scheduled, School pictures, RTI mtg,United Way, fire prevention week, SCA speeches and installation assembly, fundraiser, ½ day Math mtg, interims, PTA international night, school lunch week, Staff Dev. day, K PALS testing, Flu shots, theatre IV, PE success week, and Halloween
Weekly Crew News:
Picture Day:Please make sure you send home the picture day reminders that are in your mailboxes on Monday!
Fire Drills: We will have monthly fire drills beginning in the month of October.
TalentEd: Be sure to complete the ALL steps on TalentEdincluding the planning form
and be prepared to complete your planning form (growth measures) using the website and school wide CSIP plan. Dates will be set to meet with either Kaye or Todd to review your progress and plans for the year.
Weekly Crew News:
Morning Meeting;I hope you enjoyed the faculty meeting and presentation from the two Chamberlayne teachers this past week. Please share the books that we purchased for each grade level and begin holding your Morning Meetings on Tuesdays and Thursday starting this week. I also gave each grade level leader the book “the Power of Words”. Please share those with your team and skim through them to get more ideas. Please DO NOT write in or lose these books because we have borrowed them from other schools and we need to return them in December. The books have been checked out to each grade level leader. Please get them back to Jill by Dec 1 so we can send them back. After reading and using the book if you feel it would be a good resource to have at Skipwith let me know and we will see if we can order some.
Math Coach: As you know each grade level will be working withTheresa Okes throughout the year. Please see the school calendar for your scheduled grade level planning day and bring your planning books and any data you have to the meetings. You will work with the math coach to develop Tier I differentiated lesson plans using the pacing guide and the SOL objectives to help plan and implement Tier I instruction for your classrooms.
Testing:Please print all PALS and MAP data to add to your data notebook. This data should be used to develop groups for Tier I instruction and help you to plan your weekly lessons.
Bookroom:The bookroom is full of wonderful resources for you and your students. We shared them with each grade level at our meetings on Thursday. Please be sure to use these resources to differentiate your reading lessons and focus on grade level instruction, and assessment questions. Kim Lewis and Tabitha Williams have been using the red book bags and pointed out the running records that are with each story and said they are super. Thanks for sharing ladies!
Also when you sign out a bag of books and if it does not have an index card in it would you please add one to it so we can keep track of the materials better. Also, if you make any activities or assessments for these book please make an extra copy and place it in the bag for others to use.
Level I and II Infraction Forms:
Please review the new forms and utilize them for your classroom management and documentation of behavior. To move to a level II infraction it must be very clear. If you are in question feel free to ask, however, most of the issues should be handled within the classroom. Unless it is a major infraction Kaye and I should not be the first person the parents hear from. Many behaviors can be handled by talking with the students or the whole class and parent/teacher communication to develop a positive team effort. Remember to stay positive and communicate with parents to develop a team effort in helping to change the student’s action and progress!
LAMP Report: LIBRARY, ART, MUSIC, PE teachers will start reports in Oct.
NEXT WEEK!
Technology Report/Computer Contact Report:
Do not block out a year of reserving the COW. Reserve the COW monthly as you plan.
Crew Members of the week:
DATA, DATA, DATA…As you know we are to collect data on almost everything we do these days which can be a good thing if we use it to help change or create new ways to improve. The annex team, led by Mr. Jones, has taken data collection to a new level. They have had much trouble with the new copier with multiple jams. Yes, they did report it, yes, they did complain (HAHAHA) BUT, most importantly, they began to tally the number of times a day or copying job that it jammed on them. This was awesome because we will be able to show the maintenance person the sheer number of times it is happening and hopefully get some solution to this very stressful problem with data collection!
Fire, Fire, Fire!!!!!Great job with the September fire drills. Hats off to everyone for focusing on the safety and necessary steps to training all students, teachers, and other guests the importance of the drills, speed, accountability, and team work. We have cleared the building, reported in, and accounted for all 500 people in 5 minutes or less.
Library Restaurant:Jill had a fantastic lesson this week with a few classes. She set up a book restaurant with table clothes, flowers, placemats, and menus. The students’ assignment was to look through three books on their plate and review the genre and select a book that looked “tasty”. They also were asked to recommend the books. The students were super excited and did a great job with the lesson. Awesome work, Jill! You made real life connections with the students and turned what could be a boring topic into something the kids couldn’t wait to do. Love the creativity.
Other Announcements/Celebrations: Please let me know if you have any family or individual celebrations you would like to share with us.
October HAPPY BIRTHDAYS: Remember to” BRAKE” and wish these folks a happy birthday!Jennifer Frisch 10/03,Ashley Williams 10/4, Cindy Bryant 10/4, Stephanie Chisum 10/18, Karen Sorrel 10/22, Erin Ervin 10/27