Sunday Shoutout - December 30th, 2018

Panther Mystery

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Christmas break and is looking forward to the New Year!  We will start the New Year back at school with the Panther Mystery.  Here is just a little recap of what is going to happen - on Monday - we will share a video on Facebook of our Panther mascot being kidnapped and encouraging kids to hurry and get back to school on Wednesday to help us solve the Panther Mystery.  When you see the video on Facebook - please share it.  Then fast forward to Wednesday morning at assembly.  We will probably show the video again to those who may not have seen it but then reveal that the Panther has been returned but locked up in a cage.  The keys are hidden around the school and the students will have to work during the day to find them.  As the classroom teacher - you need to have a way for students to find their key(you hide it where you want) - you decide how that will be. (Your keys that you will need to hide will be placed in your mailbox on Monday.)   Then about 1:45 on Wednesday afternoon - we will have everyone come back to the gym with their keys and unleash the Panther!  Hopefully this will get kids excited about coming back to school!

Next Week at a Glance...

Wednesday - post 2nd nine weeks grades today

Thursday - Report cards go home

                    1:45 - Spring Panther Time planning meeting (for staff                      who teach Panther Time)

Friday - Lunch trip for students who met their attendance goal

Looking forward to the spring semester!

Friday Focus - December 7, 2018

STAR Scores - Round 3

	Oct Scores	Dec 2018 Scores	Dec 2017 scores
Kindergarten	79%	81%	88%
1st grade	66%	61%	63%
2nd grade	91%	81%	88%
3rd grade	88%	82%	75%
4th grade	61%	56%	64%
5th grade	83%	82%	73%
Avg	78%	74%	75%

Questions to Consider:

1.  What attributes to the success that your grade level is having regarding these STAR scores?

2.  What areas of weakness or concern do you have regarding the reading level of students?

3.  In 5/6 grade levels, the percentages went down slightly from the October testing.  We know that part of this can be because it is a moving target.  Our goal for our students keeps increasing.  What can we do to ensure that our students stay up with that moving target?

4.  Is the data we are collecting for STAR scores consistent with other sources of data like MAP, CPA, Core, etc?

5.  We are at the half-way point of our school year.  What needs to change to improve instruction and learning for the remainder of the year?

We will discuss the scores and questions next week at PLC's.  Please bring a device or hard copy of your STAR scores next week.  Also - please put your STAR scores into your data tracker as soon as  you can.  

Hours for next week:

Monday	8-2	Classes will come during special class
Tuesday	7-12	Open hours
Wednesday	12-3	Open hours
Thursday	8-2	Classes will come during special class

All items are $2.  Please send remind to parents about the store!

We will have a Christmas Potluck on Thursday during lunch time.  The school will be providing baked ham.  Staff can sign-up to bring side dishes and desserts.  I will put a sign-up in Ms. Sonya's office.  

*Please make sure you have your Teach Like a Pirate book for SLED days.  Also remind students of their SLED packets and how that works.  

*Core and SNAP needs to be done before we leave for Christmas break and data entered into data tracker.  

Micah will be pulling students next week to test for the Sonday system and will try to work around homeroom schedules.  

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday - Vocabulary Party

Tuesday - Hat Day $1

                 -WIG celebration - cookies will be ready to pick up in                        the cafeteria.  Give those who met their goal a cookie                        and some extra free time.  

                - Kona Ice  - Schedule Change****

                             12:00 - 2nd grade

                             12:20 - kindergarten

                             12:40 - 1st grade

                               1:00 - 3rd grade

                               1:30 - 4th grade 

                               2:00 - 5th grade

                               2:30 - Little Panthers

       *Kona Ice will be in cafeteria

Wednesday - AR Movie reward at LWM - please have students                            clean up before they leave

Thursday - House Meeting

                              BAFA performance at 5 pm in the gym

Friday - 3rd grade Grinch performance at 10 - all invited

             -1:00 5th grade International Buffet

             -1:00 Kindergarten program for parents

             -3:00 Deck the Halls in the gym

Five more days - make them great!

Sunday Shout Out - December 2, 2018

Sunday Shout Out it is when the Friday Focus doesn't get done on Friday!   

Ten days to go and our year will be half over!  It will be a busy couple of weeks but a lot of fun for our kids.  Hang in there!

I just want to say how proud I am of our students and all of you all.  I am amazed at all the accomplishments they are making.  We have students becoming Super Readers, blowing vocabulary out of the water, zooming through Lexia and Math Whizz and the list goes on.  Our students only do this because you all have high expectations for them and continue to push them daily to set goals for themselves.  Keep up the good work.  

STAR testing this week.  Remember to have conversations with the students about their goal to be on grade level or make .6 year's growth since their August score.  We will have celebrations next week for those meeting their goal - free time and chocolate chip cookies!

Lower grades are also completing the second round of Core and SNAP testing.  This testing is time consuming but gives us valuable information about how students are progressing.  

Also - if you do not do your peer observation for November - remember to do it sometime during the next couple of weeks.  Only one required for both November and December.

Next Week at a Glance
Monday - 
Tuesday - 5th grade Nursing Home trip at 1
Kitty Carter - insurance rep will be here in the afternoon
Ketones Mixer in Lisa's office at 3
Wednesday - 
Thursday - Fire Drill 
Ron Clark Academy visit for Mandy, Paige, Kayla and Sarah
Friday - Deadline for 100 Vocabulary points
4th grade Nursing Home trip at 1
RCA trip
Jr. Beta Christmas Dance

Have a great week!

Friday Focus - Thanksgiving Edition

     To say I am thankful and blessed is an understatement.  The kindness you all have shown me during the past week has been unbelievable.  The texts, calls, visits, the beautiful throw, all the food, the money, and the prayers - it was all so nice and appreciated.  I have said it before - but you all are the best people are on earth to work with. I love you all!

   Three weeks until Christmas break - that is unreal.  Hopefully this will be a relatively calm week and you can accomplish a lot of teaching and learning during these 15 days.  Keep up the good work.

PLC's this week - bring a student list with you to the meeting.  We have a new intervention system to discuss to help our struggling readers.  

Next Week at a Glance...

Monday - Student Shadowing for Mandy, Kassie and Angela
Tuesday - KONA Ice Truck - same schedule as last time
Wednesday - 3:00 Action Team meeting
Thursday - Student Shadowing for Lisa
Friday - 3rd grade Field Trip
               Black Friday sale at Panther Emporium in library

Have a great week!

     

Friday Focus - November 9, 2018

It's finally here!  We have 64 students who will be attending our trip to Sevierville next week to the Wilderness.  This is an awesome reward for students who have worked to have perfect attendance or great performance on the KPREP last spring! The students are very excited about this trip! This is a reward trip for our students so they are not responsible for work while they are gone.  It is their reward for working so hard the rest of the time. 

During the next few weeks, we are going to work to increase our attendance rate.  We are down this year compared to this time last year.  We are going to start a school-wide attendance incentive that you will hear about next week during PLC's.  We are also targeting our chronically absent students (those who have missed 10 percent of the year - either excused or unexcused) to improve their attendance.  For those who reach their individual attendance goal - they will be treated with a reward in December.

We still need a couple of Christmas trees for houses if you have one to donate. 

We will stay on the afternoon of Monday the 19th to decorate the house trees and get them ready for the house meeting on the 20th.  Any staff member who wants to stay and help us put up the trees - house points are up for grabs!

Ms. Angela needs volunteers for Panther Emporium if you want to help and want a good discount for your Christmas shopping!

*PLC's and Panther Time next week.

Next Week at a Glance...
Monday - Wilderness trip 
               -Mid-term ends
Tuesday - Wilderness trip
Wednesday - 4th/5th grade Guest Speaker in the gym at                            7:45
                      *Student Shadowing - Sarah, Nancy, Dana Duvall and Andrea

Thursday - K, 1st, and 2nd grade  - Grimm's Tales by                               Campbellsville University - 1 pm  in gym

                   -Midterm grades need to be posted today

Friday - Mid-term grades go home

            -Holiday pictures

            -Thanksgiving Potluck for staff (sign-up in Sonya's                  house)

Friday Focus - November 2nd, 2018

It's hard to believe that November is here!  This school year is flying by.  This week will hopefully be pretty calm - not a lot on the calendar this week. 

We will not be having PLC's this week but we will have Panther Time.  Homeroom teachers - hopefully you can use this extra time and it will give you a little breather this week.

Also - Panther Time for 4th grade on Tuesday will be moved to Wednesday - we will double up that day and do both 3rd and 4th grades.

We need Christmas trees if you have one to donate.  Each house is going to have a Christmas tree to decorate.  Grace Union has one they are going to donate and Kelli has one.  We need four more.  Please let me know if you have one.  We also need lights and other decorations if you have some to donate.  We are planning on putting these up on November 20th. 

This Week at a Glance...

Monday - Math PD for 2nd - 5th grade math teachers from 11 until 2:30

Tuesday - No School

Wednesday - 3:00 Leadership Team meeting

Friday - Student Shadowing for select teachers

Friday Focus - October 26, 2018

I hope you had the chance to look over the STAR scores that I posted earlier in the week.  They are very encouraging!

EllRay Jakes has been so much fun and I think everyone involved has been pleased.  We are really thinking about doing another book again in the spring - one that we could get for $1 through the Scholastic monthly orders.  If you see one that you think would be good - let me know.  Please watch those dollar deals from Scholastic!  

Next week we will do our 1st nine weeks awards during morning assembly.  Here is the schedule:

Tuesday 10/30 - Kindergarten/1st grade Perfect Attendance

Thursday 11/1 - 2nd/3rd grade Perfect Attendance

Friday 11/2 - 4th/5th grade Perfect Attendance

Monday 11/5 - 4th/5th grade Honor Roll

House meeting on Halloween Day - we will do breakfast meetings that morning and be finished by 8:30.  That afternoon - we will have Halloween special snack.  We will not be inviting parents.  Also - no costumes - we will be wearing house shirts on this day.

This month we are spotlighting Loyalty.  Here is the slideshow and activities for our pod meetings.  

Also remember to do your #observeme observation this month and share the feedback. 

-We will be having our six week RTI meetings during PLC next week.  Please bring data to those meetings.  Also - RTI teachers - please attend the meetings of those grade levels you work with or send the info with the homeroom teachers.  

Book Fair next week!  

No 21st Century next Wednesday and Thursday!

Next Week at a Glance...

Tuesday - KONA ICE TRUCK HERE! 

  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 - Pod meetings in am, special snack in pm

                     -3:00 School Literacy Team meeting

Thursday - Picture Retakes

Friday -Annie Ruby's for lunch

             -Costume Dance 5-7