Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Great Start To A New Year!

We had a pretty smooth start yesterday with only a few bumps in the road! Thank you for your attention to details. Some Reflections after yesterday:

• There were a lot of wonderful things happening yesterday to set the tone for the year.
• I saw a lot of smiles:)
• Make sure you know precisely how the child is getting to and from school, if not notify the office first thing in the morning.
• Never let another person take a child home unless you have a note or a verbal verification from parent(even if it is a relative).
• Keep a clipboard of names or come up with some kind of organization so you know who you put on the bus or took to car riders.  We are responsible for the children and where they are from the time they leave the classrooms til they are safely on the right bus or in their family car.
• Thank you for pitching in during lunch.  We were done on time. We have a work order to put clocks in the cafeteria.
• Make sure to get your attendance in first thing.
• Today, the Group N-Z will be attending Kindergarten.
• We need all hands on deck in the morning and afternoon for this week, so if you do not have a duty, please be sure to help us out with directing students, parents, etc...
• Be sure to wear your name badge, ID.
• Supervise playground carefully, we had a few mishaps yesterday.

HAVE A GREAT SECOND DAY!

A Brand New Year at Diggs-Latham

Congratulations to Diggs-Latham! On Saturday, Ms. Frazier, Ms. Studevent and myself accompanied close to 30 children to the Dash for Cash Fun Run at the Trinity Center downtown.  Several parents joined us as well. This event was to raise money for the Trinity Center.  The cost for registration was $20.00 per child.  Green Street Church so graciously raised the money to pay for 40 of our students to participate.  The "Y" donated a bus and a driver to get us there and back. Thank you "Y". Other schools that participated were North Hills, Petree, Summit, Bolton, Forsyth Country Day, Our Lady of Mercy and more.  After the Fun Run, and grilled hot dogs, the children were shuttled downtown to be treated to a Dash Baseball Game.  It was a great time and a lot of work!  Mrs. Studevent and Ms. Frazier gave up their Saturday to do something wonderful for our school.  I am most appreciative. I also thank Mrs. Martinez for translating.  We have been working on putting this together and notifying parents since July.  Long story short, cash prizes were given out for the top three schools that had the most registrants.  3rd place school won $500, 2nd place school won $800. and DIGGS-LATHAM ELEMENTARY won first prize, $1200. DOLLARS!!!!  We are so excited and so are the children who participated.  GO TIGERS!!!!!!

First Day of School!  As we begin the first day of school, I know you all are filled with wonder and hope as to what this new year will bring.  The children are excited about coming to school.  We want that motivation and enthusiasm to last the whole year. 

Your rooms look great!  Thank you for taking the time to make them student-centered, resourceful and informative.

Reading the Morning Memo and emails is an expectation for all staff.  This keeps you connected to our daily operations, schedule changes, good news, etc..  It expected that you all are followers of the blog. I will keep track of followers through blogspot.  If you need help becoming a follower, see Ms. Pullen, I am sure she can help.

You all received the link to HR to take a look at and familiarize yourself with Evaluation Documents at our first meeting.  I will add additional evaluation documents to the shared folder that will give you more information.  I will go over the Evaluation Process in two different trainings.  You can take your choice of which one to attend.  The training dates are September 4th or September 5 from 3:10-4:10.  We will meet in the computer lab.  All certified staff must attend one of these sessions.  If there is an interest, I will hold additional sessions to help you write your PDPs.  I will hold an evaluation meeting for classified employees on Sept. 10th from 3-3:30 in Room 200.

Have you given any thought to your school PDP Goals for the year? The PDP process should be a meaningful process in which you reflect on your practice and choose goals that will truly help you grow.  Plan out your goals, you will need two.  You do not need to have a school goal.  You should continuously be reflecting on and working on the completion of these goals all year long.  Remember, your goal is to improve in a specific and measurable way.

Thank you so much for all your hard work!

It's the Last Day of School! 6/07/12

Good Morning!

All 3rd/4th/5th grade teachers, please let Mrs. Kennedy know if you have your report cards complete.  She needs to know by 9 this morning.  You do have until Monday but we need to get a head start on those that are complete.

Mrs. Dobson will call a Grade Chair Meeting to discuss creation of classlists.  She will notify you when that meeting will be.

I will be calling you by grade levels to discuss retentions.

The Awards Ceremonies today were beautiful.  Thank you for all your hard work.

5th Grade Celebration will be this morning with a reception to follow at the amphitheater.

Do your best to keep the students actively engaged in meaningful work today.

YOU MADE IT!!!!!!!!   I AM SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Happy Wednesday!  I hope everyone had a great time at Field Day.  It was fun, well organized and enjoyed by all!
Today is k-4th Grade Awards Day at 9:30. We will start calling as early as 9:00. The Pre-K Awards Celebration will be this afternoon i the gym at 1:00.  Refreshments for families will follow in Room 200.    
Last day to remind students about library books and overdue lunch $.

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Good Morning! Happy Field Day!  The weather is supposed to be gorgeous today so Field Day should be great.  I thank Coach and all of you that have assisted him for all of the preparations involved.  I know it will be a memorable day for the children. Unfortunately, I have a Joint Principal's Meeting today followed by a Budget Meeting and will miss it. I am so disappointed.  Reminder that there is a SIT mtg. this afternoon at 3:15 in the Media Center.  All testing is complete, Hooray!

We have a very large amount of Library Books still not returned.  Please stress to the children the importance of getting them turned in tomorrow. They will have to pay fines for books not turned in.

After a rocky start (bus but no driver), the 5th grade skating trip turned out to be a fun experience for all of the kids.  They loved it.  It was the first time on skates for the majority of them.  It will be a memorable experience for them. 

Have a wonderful day!

Monday, June 4th, 2012

Good Morning and Happy Monday. We have 4 very busy days ahead of us. We are still conducting make-ups. Please remember to keep things as structured and as on point academically as you possibly can.  Children should absolutely not be watching videos unless they have been  approved by office.  So far, we have only received one request from 4th grade. Be extra alert at recess and transition times. I am sure the children will be excited this week. We are required to perform a June Fire Drill.  We will hold the drill this afternoon at 1:05.  Please be sure to be in your rooms at that time. I wanted to give you the time because I know your schedules are busy and I respect your time.  We tried to hold it as close to the end of the day as we could.

• Jennifer will be at a Lead Secretary's Mtg. from 8-2
• Fifth graders will be on their skating reward trip from 11-2 Mrs. Dobson will accompany them and I will pop over for a bit.
• Mrs. Sumner's class and Mrs. Baccari's classes will have their wax museums:) in the cafeteria at 1:45
• Gloria will be back today! We missed her.
• Thanks to Danielle for taking testing over in Gloria's absence.  You did a great job. Thanks as well to her great team.
• The Arts Team did a fabulous job with Thursday night's concert.  The kids were awesome.
• The Pre-K teachers held a transition to K mtg. for their parents and it was very well organized and attended.

BE thinking about what Star 3 Positions you want to have implemented next year.  Let your SIT Chair know so they can bring the info. to Tuesday's mtg.  The positions will pay about $2000. for the year. WOW!  Also, we will vote in officers at SIT, Mrs. Faqih will get the bylaws out to you for a refresher in the rules.

FIELD DAY is tomorrow:) K-2 AM/3-5PM  Coach has been very busy planning this event.  I know it will be a great success.

This weekend, I had a few minutes to reflect on our first year together and I couldn't be any more prouder of our students and you all for a job well done.  We have overcome a lot of obstacles and climbed a lot of mountains.  I thank you for your trust in me and all of the encouragement you have given me.  We are truly a team. Thank you.  I think I will be able to exhale on Friday.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Happy Friday!  Testing continues.  Thanks again Danielle and the team for doing a great job. We appreciate you all.

PLEASE TURN IN ALL TESTING BOOKLETS, Manuals, etc. to Danielle this morning.
RTI Surveys should be completed already.  Make sure they are done by noon.  Thank you:)
We are having a celebration lunch next Friday (11:30) to celebrate retirements and generally the end of a very busy school year.  More information to come.  ALL Hospitality committee members are going to have to pitch in and help Mrs. Hayes with the planning.  See her today.

• Our school is part of the West Salem Garden Tour which will be held on June 9th from 10-4.  Ms. Irma Jackson has asked us for volunteers to take shifts as people tour our community garden.  She has someone for the 10:00-12 slot but needs two more volunteers for the 12-2 and 2-4 slots.  The volunteer would just represent our school and answer any questions people might have.  If you are interested in helping, please let Ms. Frazier know so she can contact Ms. Jackson.  thank you for considering this.
• We are going to be on the news!  A public relations firm that worked with us on the Carson-Dellosa photo shoot called to ask if Tryla would be interested in being filmed talking as a parent and a teacher about "summer slide".  She and her son did a great job.  The segment should air on Channel 14 today.  Also, the segment that Brooke and I filmed for channel 2 has been airing.  Unfortunately, I live right over the line in Davidson County and haven't seen it.  If anyone sees it, let us know how we did.
• Diggs-Latham is now officially on the map thanks to all the great things you all do everyday from art exibits to dance shows, concerts, technology projects, service projects, volunteering, great teaching and on and on.  Thank you.
• It's Diggs-Latham Night at the Dash tonite.  I hope to see you there.
• Remind students to return overdue library books and clean up unpaid lunch balances. 
• WAY to GO Arts Team for a great performance last night.  The students shined!    We appreciate all your hard work.