Sunday, April 27, 2014

April Comes To An End And May Begins April 28-May 2nd

Happy Spring!

This weekend was just beautiful and I hope that you and your families had an opportunity to spend some quality time together.  As you know the next 7 weeks of school will be extremely busy and attention to detail, and prioritizing will be key for all of us in getting all of our key school assignments completed.  Please remember the virtues of patience and staying calm under fire. This is a busy time and it is very easy to get rattled.  Just breathe and enjoy the last weeks you have with these amazing children.  

Dr. Frazier returns on Monday for 8 half days and then all full days til the end of the year. Our wonderful Mrs. Grace will work the 8 half days so we are covered:)

Security Cameras will be installed anytime now:)

Home Moravian Youth Group in Full Swing with Book Drive!

The youth groups of Home Moravian have made it their mission to collect a book for each student in our school.  They are working very hard.  They would like to deliver the books on May 22nd. Here is a picture of their kids sorting through their first donations!  We are so blessed.


Mr. Walt Schorer chosen as Judy Mountjoy Volunteer of the Year 2014


He and his family will be honored at the District PTA Council Dinner on May 5th, 2014.  The Kindergarten Team surprised him at their Literacy Night last week with cards and pictures.  Home Moravian volunteers served pizza and drinks to the families who came to learn about promoting early literacy. The kindergarten teachers did an excellent job!

Our Honors Dance Club will be performing at the PTA Dinner in front of several hundred people! They will perform a number from the Lion King under the direction of Miss Stevenson.  How wonderful for the students to have this great exposure. They were invited to perform by the District Council PTA President!  Congratulations. They are also performing at MT. Tabor HS Showcase of dancers! WOW!!!!





HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAY BABIES!!!!!       

  • May 1-Dr. Frazier
  • May 7-Alisha Taylor
  • May 14-Abadesa Ochoa
  • May 20-Julissa Knight
  • May 23-Roberto Thimann
  • May 24-Jennifer Kennedy

TEACHER APPRECIATION!!!!

We truly appreciate all of you and want to do something special so we will be providing a "Cook-Out" for you on Friday, May 9th. Mr. Cannon will bring and fire up the grill and we will serve Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, Chips, Pasta Salad, Pickles, Cole Slaw and a dessert.  We will be ready to go during your lunches!  Thank you so much for believing in our students, our school and our vision!  You all are so important to the children in this building. 

My Schedule....

I will be in full swing verifying EVAAS Rosters this week and getting ready for our allotment conference on May 1.  I will be conducting third evaluations and working on summative evaluations.  At the time of your third post conference, you should be prepared to submit all evidence of your PDP. EVERYONE should have their PDP documentation completed in the next two weeks.  All observations should be completed by the end of May.  So you see, now is the time to get that evidence in and documented. After I review EVAAS Roster verification, I will be sending them to instructional teachers to verify information and then they will come back to me again. Do not wait until the last minute, as you recall, last year, there were some glitches. We want to catch them early. We might be able to work in some time for you to work on these a little bit in LTMs.  We will also be working to complete our CNA and SIT Plan.
Every SIT Member needs to be at SIT this Tuesday with all CNA information so we can finalize and get it ready for a vote at our next faculty meeting. John Brasfield and Janet Somers will speak at our next faculty meeting. Everyone should be in attendance.   DO NOT PLAN ANY APPOINTMENTS/IEPS, etc for SIT-April 29th and May 27th or Faculty Meeting on the 13th of April.  I still do not have every teacher's possible retention list. Remember, you were to turn it in and mark no retentions if that applied to you. Get those in asap please. Make sure you let Mrs. Kennedy know if you had students who made honor roll/principal's list and need medals for 3rd quarter. She will get them to you.

Celebrations        

We know we need to celebrate our students and teacher's accomplishments more. I would love to hear your suggestions on things we could do that would be minimal to classroom interruption. We want to infuse this positive vibe throughout the school.  We want and need your feedback. Please send your suggestions to Dr. Frazier.

ART COMES ALIVE IN OUR BUILDING!                                  

Mr. Powelson came back from a Magnet School Regional Meeting where he was able to go into an A+ school in the Western part of our state that he said, "JUST SCREAMED THE ARTS!"  We thought we could do this too. Mrs. Gordon has been working with our students on paper and canvas to create several incredible works of art which will be hung soon. The project continues. These will surely beautify our school and everyone who enters will know what our theme is!  Thank you Mrs. Gordon and student artists!!!!  If anyone else has any great ideas on how we can even take this a step farther, let me know.

CLEAN AND GREEN- 

Ms. Wynn's has been working hard to get all the documentation in order for this week's judging. Thank you Ms. Wynns and to your whole committee.

Week At A Glance!

4/28-Dr. Frazier returns/FTCC Dental Hygiene
4/29-SIT Mtg.
5/1-Cannon to Alotment Mtg. w/ Mr. Oates
5/1- Ready Schools Teacher Meeting
5/1 -Cannon to UNC Chapel Hill at 3:00 for Sarah Huddleston's Internship Celebration. Sarah will be my Administrative Intern next year. She will work with us on Fridays, we believe. We are so fortunate!
5/2-Miss Taylor Graduates! Congratulations. We are proud of you!
5/2-Volunteer Breakfast- 8:30-9:45. We are asking for all staff members to pitch in and help us by donating a breakfast food item for the breakfast. Our volunteers are treasures and they help all of us so much everyday. Please contact Dr. Madison and his committee to let them know what you will bring.  I will most likely be bringing my Cinnamon Coffee Cake:) I thank you in advance for your generosity.
5/5-PTA Council Dinner-Honoring Mr. Schorer and our Honors Dance Team to Perform!
5/5 VOTING MACHINES DELIVERED
5/6 ELECTION DAY in the Toyota Literacy Room. The public should not be using bathrooms.  Keep your eyes opened that day:) Cannon to Jt. Principal's Meeting
5/8-Family Fitness Night-This is a PTA Family Night. See Ross for your assignments. He has been working hard on this and I know it will be a great success.  The other family nights this year have been spectacular. Remember each grade level needs to have a family curriculum night of some kind besides the ones planned for whole school which were literacy and math.  Many grade levels have exceeded their requird numbers. Way to go!  These nights have been wonderful and well attended for the most part:)
5/9-Teacher Appreciation Cook-out for Lunch
5/13 Faulty Meeting-If you need to be on agenda, let me know asap
5/15-Elem. Principal's Mtg.
5/20 and 5/21 Kindergarten Screening 8.15-12
5/22-Grades 3/4/5 Concert 6:30
5/26-No School
5/27 SIT Mtg.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Oh, What a Beautiful Week....April 14-17th

This will be a very busy week!  Report Cards will be sent home on Tuesday.  We are administering the ITBS Tests this week.  We will have a faculty meeting on Tuesday.  If you need to be on the agenda, please let me know on Monday by noon.

Please keep Mrs. Snider's mom in your thoughts and prayers as she has just gone through a very serious procedure.  The preliminary results have revealed that her lymph nodes were clear.  The family will get all results in a week.  Debora can use lots of smiles and support this week.  Thank you D-L family.


Thursday, April 3, 2014

Welcome Back! April 7-11th, 2014

Baby and Faculty Updates:  

Holland Jane is doing well as is Katie:)  Holland is adorable. Kate is out of her sling but her arm is still healing. Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Farthing and Ms. Faqih are also over the moon with their new grandbabies, who are just precious!   Congratulations to all.  Dr.Frazier is healing slowly but surely.  Her staples are out and she is using a cane instead of a walker.  Keep the prayers coming.  Shakila will be back on Monday. She looks great and is ready to return. Miss Hartman will stay one more day to help us transition .  Thank you Miss Hartman and Mrs. Lewis for all your hard work.

 

Congratulations to Vicky Beaver and Maeretha Hopson

Both Vicky and Maeretha were nominated for Classified Employee of the Year!  They will be honored at a reception honoring all the nominees from the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System. The reception will be held at the Education Building in April.  Of course, we are very proud of all our classified employees.  You all work so very hard for our students and our school.  We appreciate you.  

This Week at a Glance...

  • 4/7 Eric Jenson Presentation-Amanda Stevenson will represent staff
  • Ms. Faqih returns on Monday
  • 4/9 Mr. Powelson to Magnet School Meeting
  • 4/9 District ELA professional development 3:30-5:30 in the gym
  • 4/10 Report Cards due to administrators (k-2Cannon and 3-5Frazier/Grace)
  • 4/10 3rd Grade Parent Night/Miss Guevara Parent Night/Mrs. Ochoa Parent Night
  • 4/12 Saturday-District Pre-K Screening to be held here 8-5
  • 4/14 STAY Banquet-Promise Awards
  • 4/15 3rd grade Field Trip/Faculty Meeting and report cards go home
  • 4/16 Spring Pictures
  • 4/17 Elementary Principal's meeting and Spring LEP Parent Night
  • 4/18 Holiday
  • 4/21 Snow Make-up day
  • 4/23 Secretary's Day-Let kids know in case they want to make cards at home:)
  • 4/24-4th Grade Raleigh Trip
  • 4/29 SIT Meeting
Our next IC Meeting will be a different format.  A team from Central Office made up of Steve Oates, Ken Simington, program managers, etc. will visit classrooms during the day.  This visit is scheduled for the 22nd of April but I have a conflict because of NISL Training so I will keep you posted. 

More to come......

Elements of 21st Century Learning

As we begin a new quarter, I wanted to remind you that 21st Century Skills for students can include many topics.  Some 21st century themes would include:
  1. Global Awareness
  2. Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy
  3. Civic Literacy
  4. Health Literacy
  5. Environmental Literacy
This Evaluation Standard really has to do with your ability to bring the outside world into your classroom. You all have done this so creatively by incorporating it into the standards you already teach.  Teaching children to be organized, problem-solvers,visionaries and creative risk takers are all part of teaching 21st century skills.

Writing-A Core Skill

There is a great article in this month's Educational Leadership magazine entitled: What Writing Is & Isn't by Jeff Anderson.  Here is a synopsis:
Writing Is:
  • A transaction between writers and readers
  • A skill that can be learned
  • An Igniter of Passion and Freedom
  • Writing is connecting to an audience
Writing Isn't:
  • In a kit or program
  • Test Preparation
  • Memorizing parts of speech
  • Separate from Reading
Let me know if this interests you and I will make sure you get a copy of the article. It is interesting.  Writing is a joy to kids when they discover their voice:)

Classroom Management Tips...

As we head into the 4th quarter, it becomes harder and harder to keep students focused and on task.  You have to be creative.  Here are some classroom management techniques you might find helpful.
  1. Set clearly defined standards
  2. Remind students of expectations periodically
  3. Use private signals for reminders
  4. Employ teacher proximity
  5. Include positive reinforcement and incentives
  6. Assign a safe visible place for "cooling down" if a student becomes frustrated
  7. Use signals for transitions in advance
  8. Develop a behavior contract/improvement plan
  9. Use calming down or relaxation techniques
  10. Monitor students closely during transitions

Have A Wonderful Week!