Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Oh, what a busy day it will be.  Great News!  Cheryl Frazier will be coming back 1/2 days in the am beginning Wednesday, March 7th until March 9th.  She will then start back full time the following Monday.  We miss her and are thrilled she is coming back. That being said, Mr. Gale has done an outstanding job in her absence.  He has a great sense of humor and has bonded with some of the children. He has been a great asset to our team.  He has a new grandaughter to be born in April and he can't wait to get that baby in his hands as she is already in his heart! We surely appreciate everything he has done for us.

Gloria and I will be attending a mandatory district meeting in Greensboro tomorrow morning from 9-12.  There will be a SIT meeting in the afternoon at 3:15.  Cassandra will fill in for me. You will have a chance to look at the results from our star 3 data meeting, as well as other items on the agenda.  I know we will have some rich conversation about how we are moving along as a staff.  Don't forget that the Hispanic Arts Initiative Performance for grades 3-5 will be from 1:15-2:15 on Wednesday afternoon. Students may sit on the floor.

Found this in my travels and I thought it would give you a chuckle:)  Have a great day.


1923 Elementary School Teacher Requirements
1. Teacher is not to get married. This contract becomes null and void if teacher marries.
2. Teacher is not to keep the company of men.
3. Teacher must be home between the hours of 8 P.M. and 6 A.M. unless in attendance at a school function.
4. Teacher may not loiter downtown in ice cream parlors.
5. Teacher may not leave town at any time without permission of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
6. Teacher is not to smoke cigarettes or drink wine, beer or whiskey.
7. Teacher may not ride in a carriage with any man except her brother or father.
8. Teacher is not to dress in bright colors.
9. Teacher may not dye her hair.
10. Teacher will not wear dresses more than two inches above the ankle.
11. Teacher is to wear at least two petticoats.
12. Teacher is to bring a bucket to school to clean and scrub the building every week.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Here is some important information from our State Board;

Severe Weather Awareness Week - Severe Weather Awareness Week is scheduled for March 4-10. The statewide Tornado Drill will take place on Wednesday, March 7, at 9:30 a.m. At that time the National Weather Service will issue a Required Weekly Test over the NOAA weather radio system. This will serve as a signal for school administrators to begin their tornado drill. The drill will conclude when participants complete their drill activities. No all-clear message will be issued. If this time is not convenient for your school’s instructional program, you may schedule your school’s drill on another day close to March 7.

  

Mark Your Calendars for the 2012 Teacher Working Conditions Survey - The 2012 Teacher Working Conditions Survey is set for March 26-April 20. In 2010, over 105,000 licensed educators completed the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey! Districts and schools can use the data collected through the survey for continuous school improvement and professional development planning. All school-based licensed educators and administrators are strongly encouraged to complete the survey. Anonymous access codes will be distributed via the same process as in previous years to the NCAE association representative in each school. The survey also may be accessed online at www.ncteachingconditions.org. The Help Desk will be available to answer all your questions via phone, IM or email during that week. If you have lost or have not received an access code, the help desk will be available to assist. We will publish the help desk number prior to the survey release date. For more information, please contact Lynne Johnson at lynne.johnson@dpi.nc.gov or Eliz Colbert at eliz.colbert@dpi.nc.gov.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Happy Friday! We do have quite a few subs in the building so please assist when needed:)  We will have the Awards Assembly this afternoon at 1:15. Please have students wear their lanyards.  We will be adding new medals to their lanyards today.  The shed in the back of the school is no longer with us.   It has found a new home, thanks to Ms. Beaver.  It will get a makeover.  Thank you all so much for all you do to make Diggs-Latham a very special place for students to learn and teachers to bond. I appreciate your dedication.  Tonite is the All County Chorus Production.  I am so proud of Mrs. Farthing and her 3 students.  They will be awesome. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Good Morning Faculty and Staff, Happy Thursday.  Today we will have a presentation for our kindergarten students at 10:15.  They will be treated to "Fun with Fiddles".  Ms. Studevent and Mrs. Binkley will accompany our school's 5th grade Humanitarian Award winner to the banquet at Embassy Suites this evening.  Tomorrow night will be the district's All County Chorus production at West Forsyth HS.  Ms. Farthing and her students have worked very hard to get ready.  Mrs. Faqih will host the "Power of K" conference here on Saturday.  We are expecting over 30 teachers from around the state for this event.  Don't forget that we will have our Awards Assembly tomorrow afternoon as well.  Oh, what a very busy week.

Wednesday, February 21, 2012

Mrs. Gordon would like for you to remember that the Arts Council Funds Campaign is still going on.  As you all know the Arts are so important to us all.  We have gifted Arts teachers and students.  Let's support the Arts.  Please see Amanda if you have questions about the on-line donation system. 

Thank you everyone for getting your Awards Day recipients lists in.  Please remember to have students wear their lanyards from the last Awards Day if they earned them. We will be adding medals!

Read Across America Day is fast approaching.  We will have readers in the morning as the Black History Celebration is in the afternoon.  I know this has not typically been done but we will make it work due to our day.  I appreciate your flexibility:)  Hopitality will also do lunch that day.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Good Morning!  Welcome Back.  I hope that everyone had a terrific training yesterday. We will have a Star 3 Meeting this afternoon. Remember to keep alert to any strangers in or around the building.  Reminder that Mrs. Uhrig should have your Awards Day recipients by now.  Also, have all students who won an award for Honor Roll or Principal's List to bring their lanyards to Friday's Celebration. If they earned another medal, we will clip it on to their lanyard.  Thanks for all you do! 

February 18, 2012

Happy Saturday!  Our Saturday Academy students and teachers are busily working away as I write this. I wanted to give you some information from Bud Harrelson concerning Monday's training.  I hope that everyone has an enjoyable and productive day.

Day 3 of CCES professional development is fast approaching. Again, here is some information that will make everyone's experience more positive.
Unless we have discussed it, teachers should attend the same session they participated in on October 31 & January 23 . This is imperative due to our space constraints.

Encourage Car-pooling
Most of our training locations will have 450 participants. While we have chosen locations with large parking lots to accommodate this number of people, participants may want to consider car-pooling in order to reduce the amount of traffic.

Lunch
We have a plan to stagger dismissal for lunch so that 450 people are not leaving for lunch at once. However, with the amount of traffic that will be created and only an hour allotted for the lunch break, participants may want to consider bringing their own lunch. Just a suggestion.

Start and End Times
While most sessions begin at 8:30, not all of them do. Please refer to the professional development spreadsheet for the correct start times. The March professional development offerings spreadsheet is attached.

PRTS
Unfortunately we are still not able to accommodate your requests to send PRTs to the CCES RC day training. Please do not send them. The elementary ELA sessions are over capacity already.

Principals, APs and CCs
Principals, APs, and CCs are welcomed to attend the CCES sessions on the RC days. The ELA and math sessions are beyond capacity. If you choose to attend an RC day session, please consider attending science and social studies (we have lots of flexibility here).

Pre-Kindergarten Teachers
Pre-Kindergarten teachers will meet at the Special Services Center again.

Locations
Elementary Reading / Language Arts - Clemmons Middle
Elementary Math - Meadowlark Middle
Elementary Science - Sherwood Forest Elementary
Elementary Social Studies - Kimmel Farm Elementary
Pre-Kindergarten - Special Services Center (aka: Old Diggs)
Secondary English / Language Arts - Reagan High
Secondary Math - North High
Secondary Science - Mt. Tabor High
Secondary Social Studies - Parkland High
All Health/PE - Mineral Springs Middle
All CTE - Atkins High
All Foreign / World Language - Education Building
All ESL - East Forstyh Middle
All Visual and Performing Arts - Reynolds High
All Information and Technology - Morgan Elementary
All Media Assistants - Education Building

Registration
Please ensure that your faculty has registered for the appropriate session by 4:30 on Friday, February 17. Remember that some of the sessions in the professional development applied to all three days and some require participants to register for each day separately.

Sessions for teachers that do not fit into the categories outlined in the CCES deployment plan
Teachers who will not be attending CCES sessions on the February 20 RC day because they do not fit into the categories outlined in the CCES deployment plan may choose from the following sessions.
1) Academic Interventions for Struggling Students Part 2- Glenn High Media Center (This session will have different content covered from the October 31 and January 23 RC Days, so if a teacher wanted to learn more about interventions they may want to attend this session)
2) Content Area Literacy Strategies - Middle Fork Media Center
3) Differentiating the Classroom for Success - Philo Media Center
4) CCES:Culturally Responsive Pedagogy K-12 - Administrative Center, Room 384
5) CCES: Information/Technology-K12 - Morgan Elementary

If you have questions, please email me.

Regards,

Bud Bud Harrelson
Program Manager
School Improvement