Friday Focus - September 7th, 2018

Tonight is our biggest fundraiser of the year!  I know that it is a tremendous amount of work on everyone's part and I appreciate all you all have done to make it so successful.  Today will be a super long day but it is worth it.  This event alone allows us to have the funding to do so many things for our students that would be impossible otherwise.  Please look over a flyer and be knowledgeable about what is going on where and when.  Going to Disney World always impresses me because EVERYONE that works there seems to know everything about what is going on and they are super helpful.  

By the end of the day today, please have your #observeme info outside your door.  I have included a couple of examples for you to see.  I am excited about us getting started with the September peer observations.  I think we will learn so much from these and be better educators because of it.  

Don't forget to nominate your class for Captain's Crew if they are deserving and put your Student Leader of the Week on the Monday morning slide.  

Keep up the good work teaching, practicing and reinforcing the Essential 55 rules.  I can tell a huge difference - especially with the yes ma'ams and excuse me's.  It makes my heart happy to see our kids practice these good habits.  

We are back to Panther Time and PLC's next week.  Please bring MAP data with you to that meeting.

On Monday, Michelle Bell will be up in the SACC room on the 2nd floor to record each person doing their "I Believe in You" Challenge.  Sometime during the day on Monday, go get your child and take them up there to do your video.  Really think about what you want to say to them - I believe it will be so meaningful to them and may need to be exactly what they need to hear. 

Also - if you are the supervisor of a school-wide leadership job, please meet with your students next week to go over their job responsibilities and make a schedule for them.  

Next Week at a Glance...
Monday - mid-term grades should be posted by the end of the day
SBDM meeting at 4 pm
Wednesday - mid-term reports go home
3 pm - Smack Down PD for 3rd and 4th grade teachers
Thursday - iFamily at 5 pm
Friday - Artful Reading people here to meet with teachers in that cohort

Friday Focus - August 31, 2018

How can time go by so quickly?  Seventeen days behind us - that's a tenth of our school year already gone!  Mid-terms for the first nine weeks this Friday - it is all flying by.  

Hopefully, MAP testing can finish up this week.  I know that the system being down last week caused major disruptions.  Please start looking at that data (I know many of you already have) and what it means to your instruction.  We will discuss next week at PLC's.

Keep doing what you are doing - we have had such a smooth first three weeks of school.  Lunchroom, hallway, gym, and classroom behavior has been so good and every classroom I walk into has great things going on.

This week sometime - please post your #observeme outside of your classroom door.  Remember this should be a focus from your PGP and include guiding questions that you want people to focus their feedback around.  I ask that everyone do a minimum of one 10-15 peer observation during the month of September.  Email the person you observed the feedback you would like to give and cc me in that email.  I hope you learn a lot during these visits and feel that it is a good use of your time.  There are so many good things going on that I think you will enjoy seeing.

Intervention starts full swing this week - use every second of intervention time!  Those kids need those extra services and we can make great progress with them!

21st century begins this week!  

No PLC's or Panther Time this week.  Remind students that their behavior carries over to next week!

Next Week at a Glance....
Tuesday - ELA vertical alignment meetings:  K-2 in am and 3-5 in pm
Independance Day  - if you have parents who are still walking students to the classroom - please let us know.
Wednesday - House Pod meeting - see link so you will know what to do!
Math vertical alignment  - K-2 will start directly after House Pod meetings
Thursday - Social Studies/ Science vertical alignment meetings
Friday - Fall Festival beginning at 4:30

Have a great week!

Friday Focus - August 24, 2018

Everyone loves good news so let's start out with that.  The district is giving every teacher $200 to buy instructional resources to start the year off.  Woohoo!  Think about what you really need and will make student learning better in your classroom.  This money isn't for regular office supplies but materials or resources that you will use to help your students.  Here's what  you do:
1.  Fill out a PAPER PO and submit it to me by next Friday, August 31st.  It will be paid from Title 1 as the funding source.  
2.  Choose a company to buy from that is on the bid list - if you have questions about that  - ask Sonya.  Most places that we normally buy from are on there - Walmart, Amazon, School Speciality, etc. 
3.  Once it has been approved, you will receive the purchase order back so you can place your order!

First round of MAP testing begins this next week.  Please make every effort to encourage and motivate your students to do their very best on this test.  

iFamily

It is time for iFamily once again.  We are excited about changes that we are making to the program to hopefully make it more convenient and helpful to families.  This year 21st Century will be collaborating with us on the programming.  Instead of 7 weeks we will only have 5.  Our hope is this will help people commit to all the nights.  We will begin on Thursday August 30th and end on September 27th.  We will begin each week with a meal for the entire family at 5 pm and should be finished by 6:30.  If it is your week to work, your group should be there at 4:30 to help set up the cafeteria.  You will welcome and mingle with the families during meal time ( and eat too).  At 5:30, all students will go with the teachers for a fun, engaging activity focused on the habit(s) for that night.  Everyone will be back in the cafeteria at 6 for games and closing activities.  We ask everyone to stay and pitch in on the clean-up.  Each teacher will receive two hours planning time for working their night.  I have assigned nights below - if you need to switch a night just let me know.

Date	Habit Focus	Staff
8-30	Habit 1	1st grade/Special Class teachers
9-6	Habits 2 and 3	2nd grade/Kindergarten
9-13	Habits 4 and 5	3rd grade/Special Education teachers
9-20	Habits 6 and 7	4th grade/Intervention teachers
9-27	Carnival for kids/Guest Speaker for Parents/ Prizes	5th grade

Reminders...

• Turn your House Point sheet into Kelli on Monday morning.  She only needs the bottom portion with the total points for each house.  You keep the portion with individual points on there so we can reference back if we need to.
• Your classroom mission statement along with classroom leadership jobs should be posted in or right outside your classroom by next Friday.
• Show on the Road is due next Friday as well.
• Please continue working on  your assigned jobs for the Fall Festival.  We are only 2 weeks away.  Contact those on your list for the silent auction!
• PGPs need to be completed by next Friday.  Use this form, make a copy of it, name the copy Your Name PGP (Lisa Perdue PGP) and share with me.   
• PLCs next week will be our first RTI meetings for the year.  Please bring all relevant data (Core, STAR, SNAP, etc) to the meeting so we can analyze as we make those decisions.  Also - special education and intervention teachers will need to come to PLCs of all grade levels you work with!

Next Week at a Glance....

Monday - 

Tuesday - Experienced SBDM member training at CCHS at 3:30

Wednesday - CCES Literacy Team will meet at 3 pm in Lisa's office

Thursday - 

Friday - PGP, $200 PO and Show on the Road all due

Class Mission Statement and Class Leadership Jobs posted

Friday Focus - August 17th, 2018

We watched one of these videos on Opening Day at the high school of where staff selected a student and told them how they believed in them.  At CCES, we are going to call this the "I Believe in You" Challenge.  I am challenging all adults who work here to select one student you believe in and think about what you want to tell them about why they were selected.  On Monday, August 27th, you can go get this student on your planning (or another time for those who don't have a planning) and we will have a location set up and someone there to video.  You can select any student - any grade.  When you decide who your student will be - put their name here so a student doesn't get selected more than once.  I think this can be very powerful for some of our students!

Certified Evaluation and Professional Growth
I am attaching the CEP here for you to look over.  I am also including an evaluation schedule for the year.  Remember - everyone receives some form of observation every year.  If  you have questions about the evaulation process, please let me know.  We will discuss next week at PLC's.  Also - I am attaching a form here that you need to complete once you have reviewed the CEP and the evaluation schedule.  Please click here and fill out the form.  

Also it is the time of the year when we fill out our Professional Growth Plans.    Please take time to really think about what you can do this year to help you grow and become a better teacher.  Does your instruction need to be more rigorous?  Do you feel like you need to improve on aligning your activities to the standards?  Do you struggle knowing how to formatively assess your students and then adjust instruction?  Is classroom climate an area of needed growth?  I don't want our PGPs to be just another document we fill out for compliance.  Take time to think about how you want to grow as a teacher this year.  Make a copy of the PGP form from above, fill out and share with me by August 30th.  

Our classrooms are filled with good teaching.  I see it everyday.  Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.  I believe that some of the best professional learning we can have can take place from sharing with each other.  Beginning in September, we are going to begin an initiative called #observeme.  Everyone will post outside their classroom door an instructional area that they are working to make better.  I am going to ask each teacher to spend  a few minutes of their planning one day a month to go observe someone else.  The #observeme info posted outside the door will let them know specifically what that teacher is working to improve on and how they can give them truly helpful feedback.  So - for now - as you think about your PGP - how will this play into #observeme?    

Reminders
Please put your House Point totals in Ms. Kelli's mailbox by Monday mornings. 

Monday morning we will recognize the Leaders of the Week from this week.  Hopefully you sent the certificate home with them today.  Please add their name to the Monday slide on the morning announcement slideshow.  They will get their picture made at assembly and come to the office to pick out a prize from the treasure box.

Please also add  your homeroom's name to the Monday slide if you would like to nominate them for Captain's Crew for good assembly behavior. 

Panther Time and PLC's begin next week - each teacher needs to come to PLC one day next week.

Next Week at a Glance... 
Tuesday - TransAmerican reps will be here to talk to teachers/staff during the day
3:15 21st Century meeting in the cafeteria
Wednesday - 3:00 Action Team meeting in the cafeteria
Thursday- Modern Woodmen reps here to talk to teachers/staff during the day
Friday - AR Summer Celebration at 1:00

August 10, 2018

Yesterday was undoubtedly the smoothest first day I have ever experienced.  Thanks to all of you for making that happen.  

What is your One Word for the year?  Mine is JOY and I want all of you to keep me accountable to that word.  If you see me and I need a reminder about what attitude I need to choose - give me one.  We can hold each other up and make each other better.

Continue teaching expectations and procedures.  PRACTICE THOSE until the students have them. I have  seen this these past two days - THANK YOU!

Beginning next week - start collecting house points in the sheet.  Kelli will collect those at the end of the week.  

Also we will not have Panther Time or PLC's this week.  We will begin those on August 20th BUT remember - students are working next week to earn their Panther Time for the week of the 20th!

STAR, Core and SNAP testing continues next week.  We have extra help assigned to the lower grade levels.  Let's work diligently to get this complete.  

GRADE LEVELS - PLEASE SEND ME YOUR LIST OF PANTHER TIME ACTIVITIES YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE OFFERED BY MONDAY MORNING.  

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday- first day of Morning Assembly.  We will sit where we sat last year (Mandy and Nancy - ask your grade level folks to show you).
-AR goal period begins
-SBDM meeting at 4 pm

Tuesday  - Kona Ice truck will be here.  I have fixed a schedule for grade levels to go out.  I don't think there is anyway we can get everyone out there and through the line just during recess time.  Let's try the schedule below and if it is too big of a disruption to instruction - you all let me know and we will make changes.
      1130 - 2nd grade (special class teachers will              take)
      1200 - 1st grade
      1230 - Kindergarten (special class will take)
        100- 3rd grade
        130 - 4th grade
        200 - 5th grade
        230 - Little Panthers

Wednesday - HOUSE COLOR DAY  All students (except k) should wear their house color for the day.  There shirt from last year is fine or they can just wear a shirt of that color.  Same thing for staff.
1:45 - House Meeting in gym for K and New student reveal
3:00 - Leadership Team meeting in Lisa's office

Thursday - Gretchen with Eden Layne Boutique will be here all day with truck so teachers/staff can go out and shop.  More details soon about sales and drawings. 

Friday - 1:00 AR Summer Reading Celebration - We will need help from non-homeroom teachers that afternoon.   

The Last Friday Focus of the Year

We have almost made it!  Three more days and we will wrap this year up.  

Just a reminder that student supervision is key these last few days.  We will spend a lot of time outside and doing fun activities.  Remember to circulate and know what students are doing.  Students need structured activities during this time too - not just free play.  Large amounts of unstructured time leads to behavior problems.

You are invited to the kindergarten and 5th grade graduations on Monday at 5 and Tuesday at 6.  We would like for all staff to be at the 5th grade graduation if they can be.  

Reminder to teachers to have students make posters for the Senior Walk on Tuesday.

Check with Valerie or myself on planning and PD hours.  

Retention Sheets - please fill this out for your grade level.  

Next Week at a Glance...
Monday - House Olympics Day
                                 SBDM Meeting at 4 pm
                Kindergarten Graduation - 5 pm
Tuesday -  8:00 Senior Walk
                 Schedule for the Day
                                   5th grade graduation - 6 pm
                 2 pm - Mr. Irby Dedication
Wednesday - Last Day of School
                      5th grade Picnic

Friday Focus - May 4, 2018

It's finally here.  The week ahead is draining on everyone - students and staff alike.  Us keeping a positive attitude makes all the difference for our students.  It is important that students don't feel pressured or worried about the test.  Emphasize that this is their opportunity for them to show what they know and let all their hard work finally pay off.

Kindergarten thru 2nd grade teachers - please be very conscious about noise levels in the hall during testing.  Several students will be testing on the first floor.  Also - the library will be closed during testing times.  

There will not be special class on Monday thru Thursday of next week.  I know this is not easy.  We will try to send people around to give you breaks.  You can also divide students up to take outside during recess time and give people a few minutes then as well.  

I will need each grade level to add their supply list to this form before the last day of school.  This needs to be a very specific and well thought out list about what each grade really needs and will use.  If it is an item that needs to be high quality, let us know.  I want you guys to have what you need.  But we also need to be careful of being items that we don't use.  

I am going go ahead and share the tentative PD plan for the coming school year.  There are still some PD's up in the air dealing with grant requirements.  I want to go ahead and share though so you can get some dates on your calendars.  

We are also changing both the name and charge of our Lighthouse Team next year.  We feel that changing it to the School Leadership Team is more suiting to what we want that team to do.  Being a LIM or Lighthouse School is no longer a separate thing that we do - it is part of who we are.  We also want this Leadership Team to not only make decisions about LIM activities but school activities overall. With all that being said - let me know if you are willing to serve on the Leadership Team for the 2018-19 school year! We try to only meet once per month but the work of this team is very important.  

Next Week at a Glance...

-Monday - 7:40 KPREP parade  
-Tuesday - 12:30  Girls Bathroom Challenge Movie & -Popcorn in gym
-Wednesday - Miss Kentucky speaks to all students at 1:30 in the gym
3:00 Staff meeting/Ms Rhonda's celebration
-Thursday 3:00 Secret Sailor Reveal in library - everyone bring a finger food to share
-Friday - 11 am I Survived the KPREP Party at the Park