Our Teachers and Staff Make A Difference Every Day! May 4th-8th 2015

HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK DIGGS-LATHAM FACULTY AND STAFF!  

We APPRECIATE our Faculty and Staff!!

 Dr. Frazier and I have a great week planned for you during Teacher Appreciation Week which is May 4th-8th.  We hope that our gestures will show how very much we care about all of you and appreciate all of the effort and dedication you put into your work. We know that we have the hardest working staff in the district. Please know that we know how dedicated and caring you are. You are the BEST!!!!!!

• Monday-Mrs. Cannon will make  home made Cinnamon Coffee Cake and we will have juice as well.
• Tuesday-LUNCH from the new restaurant on Stratford in front of LA Fitness called PDQ.  For Teacher Appreciation, they will provide us with a meal consisting of 3 Chicken tenders, a bag of Chips and a Bottled Water.  They are donating this for us so I hope you will patronize them in the future. I plan to :)
• Wednesday-This will be a "You can wearJeans day!"
• Thursday-Chips and Salsa and Dip Day
• Friday-A Variety of Bagels from Bagel Station in the lounge in the morning:)

 Mrs, Irma Jackson has won a "cube" of bricks from a raffle at Pine Hall Brick and is donating them to us to build a little patio or walk-way out by the garden this summer. Isn't that just wonderful?!

Thank you to everyone who participated in both the Volunteer Breakfast and our Family Fitness Night.  They were both awesome and very well attended. Our volunteers and parents were very complimentary. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

SIT Plan Vote:  Our two SIT Chairs will be putting the final touches on the plan so that we may vote on it. They will be sending the CNA and Plan out to all of you electronically this week and will set up the voting station. When you vote, you will need to sign the cover sheet if you are a SIT Representative. Please take your time to read over both plans.  It is a two year plan and this is the plan we presented to the district review committee a few weeks back with the addition of new testing data, Dibels, etc.... Remember this is a working, living breathing document so it may be revised at any time we as a school see the need. Based on feedback from SIT, we will keep the third goal the same only adding more evidence to support it. 

Committee Sign-Up for next year-

All of the committees for next year are written on the board in room 200. Please sign up for 2 committees.  If there is a committee you see the need for or that we may have forgotten, that is not listed, please see Cheryl or I and we will add it. Youur feedback is important to us. Please sign up for committees by Friday.

PDPs-At this point in time, everyone should have completed their PDP/both electronically or on paper for those of you who do not have electronic pdps.  Make sure that you have signed off on it after your administrator has approved it.

Week at a Glance.....

Monday- Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Tuesday-Faculty Meeting SIOP Training- last modules 7 and 8. (I will present my make-up vocabulary strategies in June so we have time to finish SIOP this month.) District PTA Banquet/Lunch from PDQ.  I need a volunteer, is there anyone that can go over to PDQ on Monday after school and pick up the water and chips ahead of time.  Please let me know. You would just need to bring your school ID. See me if you can do this.  This will speed up the process for our lunch on Tuesday.  Thank you!

Wednesday-3/4 Transition Staff Development 3:30-5.  Wear Jeans Day!

Thursday-Chips/Dip Day

Friday-Bagels

EOG Training for Science-October 11

Band and Orchestra Concert-May 14th and Art Show/Mrs. Gordon

Karma Wilson Event is on May 18th

Dance Recital-May 21@6:30

Field Day 5/22

Memorial Day 5/25

EOG-
5/27-Reading 3-5
5/28 Math 3-5  and 6/2 Science EOG

April Showers Throughout The Week! April 27-May 1

We APPRECIATE our Faculty and Staff!!!

Dr. Frazier and I have a great week planned for you during Teacher Appreciation Week which is May 4th-8th.  We hope that our gestures will show how very much we care about all of you and appreciate all of the effort and dedication you put into your work. 

• Monday-I will make my home made Cinnamon Coffee Cake and we will have juice as well.
• Tuesday-LUNCH from the new restaurant on Stratford in front of LA Fitness called PDQ.  For Teacher Appreciation, they will provide us with a meal consisting of 3 Chicken tenders, a bag of Chips and a Bottled Water.  They are donating this for us so I hope you will patronize them in the future. I plan to:)
• Wednesday-This will be a "You can wear jeans day!"
• Thursday-Chips and Salsa and Dip Day
• Friday-A Variety of Bagels from Bagel Station in the lounge in the morning:)

Upcoming Events:

Book Fair

May 1- Volunteer Breakfast-Dana Caudill Jones-Chair of the WSFC School Board will be our guest speaker. We will have many visitors in the building that morning:)

May 5-Faculty Meeting

May 6-EOG Training

May 11th-Second Dairy O Night. Part of the proceeds come back to our school PTA. Come on out and bring your families!

May 13- Our Honors students have been asked to perform at Wake Forest University at Bridger Field House 2-5.

PDPs-Your EOY PDP should already be submitted to your Administrator:)  Thank you!

KUDOS....Shakila Faqih who hosted the State Power of K Meeting here at Diggs-Latham on Saturday.  There were representatives from DPI and teachers, coaches, from all over the state. It was a very successful meeting. Great Leadership Shakila.

KUDOS....... To Mrs. Farthing and our ALL County Chorus Students. They did an INCREDIBLE JOB and we are very proud of all of them!!!!

KUDOS........To Ms. Batten and Mr. McNeil for creating and executing the 5K Training Program for our Honors Students.  They represented us so well at the WSSU 5K to raise money for scholarships. 14 students participated and they really did "rock it"  I was so very proud of our students and teachers.  They had wonderful attitudes and showed true sportsmanship.  We  had a lot of families out there supporting us and cheering us on! Thank you to Clinard Grants, (of which Ross applied for) for providing the funds for us to participate, and to Fleet Feet who donated 20 pairs of running shoes for our kids. I am just beginning my training for a 5K to be held in June through Fleet Feet's No Boundaries  Program.  So excited.  Will train 2x a week with them and 2x on my own during the week.  Pray for me that I don't break anything:)  Dr. Emory encouraged all of her principals to try to do something for ourselves like running, walking, hiking or any activity that interests you. She said it will balance you out.  I encourage you to try the same thing.  Walking really helps to rid stress and makes you feel great so that you can tackle all of the other things that come your way.

KUDOS......To Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Farthing and Mrs. Morris. Their Honors students participated in Home Moravian's Original play , "HOME". In addition, Zenyth sang, "Deep River".  It was gorgeous. The students sang and played beautifully.  Everyone in the audience was very impressed.  These teachers took on this additional task on a weekend on top of the many other things they have had to do.  All of you repeatedly give up your weekends for our students. Thank you! You all do it for the children so that they may experience community events.  We all thank you for your devotion.

KUDOS.....Miss Prato and Ms. Batten for the very COOL Living Museum. Our Assistant Superintendent, just happened to drop in and was very impressed when students could answer pointed questions about their character.  Well Done Ladies!!

KUDOS....To Mrs. Ochoa and her whole team of teachers, students and parents who did an OUTSTANDING job cleaning, raking, planting, etc... to make our school look beautiful.  It really does look awesome. Her husband even carted in mulch.  They gave up their Saturday as well.

KUDOS....To ALL of our First Grade Teachers  (Ms. Brown, Miss Guevara, Miss Greenlee, and Mrs. Snider) and Mrs. McGregor for hosting Career Day for their First Graders last week.  You might have heard the Fire Siren! They were visited by a nurse, firefighters and the City Manager. Everyone had a great learning experience. Our District Social Studies Program Manager, Andy Kraft was here as well.

KUDOs...To Katie McGregor, Mrs. Bullin, Mrs. Faqih, Miss White, Mrs. Blasini and Mrs. Bostian and Connie Rogers and Nurse Hall and Ms. Barger, Mrs. Ochoa, Mrs. Wolfe, Ms. Almaguer, Dr. Frazier, Home Moravian Volunteers, Sarah Huddleston, Gwen and Jennifer (translators),  Gloria and Juliet for the planning and executing of a very organized and successful Kindergarten Registration .  Thank you to our wonderful Teaching Assistants who kept things productive and engaging in K and to our office staff who kept things moving in the office. I hope I didn't miss anyone.  I truly enjoyed meeting the children and their families!  We have some very bright students entering Kindergarten.  Our students that were screened did a fabulous job. Mrs. O'Brien, Miss Shoaf, Ms. Beaver and Ms. Smoot are really helping our Pre-K kids to succeed.  Way to Go!  Katie, you left no detail undone, a sign of a good leader:)

KUDOs to our Fifth Grade Teachers who held a Student's Author's Chair last week.  I heard a creative story about "cats".  Sharing Writing is a great idea!

KUDOS to Ms. Perry who has done a phenomenal job as Testing Coordinator. I am very proud of you.  Thank you to everyone who has assisted, been patient and flexible during what seems like continual testing.

KUDOs to Mrs. Sapp for getting 3 more of her transitional students successfully through the assessment. This is a great accomplishment. Several others were very, very close,  Beth is dedicated and determined. Great Job Beth!

KUDOS to all of our STAY teachers who have almost made it through their first year of teaching!!!!

KUDOS to Amanda Gordon as she has been very busy with Art Shows, mentoring, sets, etc.....!

Our Arts students are all preparing now for end of the year concerts and recitals as well as performing at the Volunteer  Breakfast.  Thank you TEAM!

March 23rd-March 27 Happy Spring!

March Updates:

• I have been in contact with Mrs. Asbury throughout the weekend and she has let me know that Emily is stable and seems to be moving in the right direction. She is still on the ventilator so keep sending your positive thoughts and prayers to the family.  I will keep you updated.
• Welcome back to Mr. Schorer, we really missed him.
• IMPORTANT-STAR 3 ITBS Testing will begin on April 13th instead of April 14th.  Please mark your calendars accordingly.  Training Dates will remain the same.  If you have additional questions, please see Mrs. Perry.
• We have been notified by Brad Oliver that he can send us a special "Brass Under the Big Top Circus Show" for grades K-2.  Pre-K is also invited:)  The show will begin at 9:15 in the gym.  Be there and ready to go by 9:10.
• EOQS this week
• District Review of our SIP plan will be Tuesday at 1:00
• SIP meeting 3:00 on 3/24
• District will use the Media Center on 4:00 for District Science Training
• Friday was Steve's last day as Y Director. He is moving to Texas to pursue a new career.
• Our Spring Music Production is this Thursday, March 26th. Dress Rehearsal is 1:00, parent performance is 6:30.
• 3/27 is the end of the quarter.
• SPRING Break begins on Monday, March 30th.

LEP Parent Night Thursday Night was chocked full of important information for parents.  Thank you Mrs. Ochoa, Mrs. Jones and Mr. T.  and the rest of our ESL team for all your hard work in planning and executing this event.

Diggs-Latham Goes To Washington! What a learning-filled Adventure. Thank you Star 3!!!!!!!  We will share more with you later:)

Spring has Sprung!

Getting NBCT information!

Representing Diggs-Latham!

We are at the White House!

Flat Stanley had quite the adventure. Here he is with a Capitol Policeman.  Bet he ever did that before.

Don't you just love Dramatic Play?

These Pre-K students do!

PDP/FINAL RETENTIONS, etc...Important Information Regarding EOY PDPs.  By now you should have been uploading and completing your final evidences for End of Year PDPs.  I should aso have ALL Retention possibilities sheet. We would like to go over both after your last observation conference and before the summative.  We are well into final observations so do your best to complete your EOY pdps. asap.  Be brief with evidence and straight to the point so that it is easily evident that you completed your PDP. If you still have a family engagement night or parent activity not held yet, upload a copy of the flier as evidence.  If you have questions, please feel free to ask.  I will expect that you are well planned out in regards to completing your PDP. There will be no carry over to next year.  

 Please come out to Thursday's PTA Meeting and Spring Production to support our students and staff. A lot of work goes into these presentations and we need to be there for each other, especially our students. It is important that we as a staff show how important it is that we all support our students and staff:)

Thank You Mrs. Gordon and students for Representing us well at the Art Extravaganza. This takes tons of work, set-up and Take down. also........... CONGRATULATIONS FOR BEING CHOSEN AS A DISTRICT ART TEACHER TO SERVE ON A VERY SPECIAL PANEL AS AN EXPERT!

Congratulations again to Mrs. Batten for orchestrating the first ever for Diggs-Latham Battle of the Books Teams!!!!!!  WooHoo! We are so proud of all of you!  There are pictures on the Parent Blog.  Katie, Sara and Alisha have been doing a wonderful job keeping parents informed. 

 We are in the process of planning Kindergarten Screening. It will be held April 21st.

What A Wonderful American Heart Association Campaign.  Thank you Coach McNeil!!!!!!!!  What A Great Cause!

Happy Spring! March 16th-March 20th

Two Week Blog-February 27-March 7th

Let's Celebrate..........You all are Incredible...

DIGGS-LATHAM ELEMENTARY EARNS "WHOLE SCHOOL GROWTH" STATUS!

As I told you all yesterday, I am proud of all of you for earning $500 incentive bonuses for those who worked full time. Of course, if you worked half time or less, your bonus will be pro-rated. This bonus is earned for teachers and staff who worked last year.  All employees who are here now are working toward earning bonuses for next year which is the last year Star 3 will be in operation. I am sure we are even better than last year so let's keep trying and I know we will make it again!   I put an information sheet in your boxes and you can also go to the Star 3 website under Departments to get more information about the framework of Star 3.  Individual bonuses and grade level bonuses are also a possibility for teachers who have shown student growth.   I would expect those letters to be delivered to me in the next week. If you are fortunate enough to earn Individual bonus, grade level bonus and whole school bonus, you could possibly earn $5000+.  I am so excited for you. My husband asked me last night why I was smiling so much and I told him because I am blessed to have the most hard working, happy, dedicated and devoted to students, teachers in the whole county and we have fun!  We take care of each other and cheer each other on. We have coaches and district personnel who support us and bend over backwards to give us resources we need. I thank you for the shared vision and for not giving up when times get tough.  There is very little whining or gossiping and that shows true professionalism!!!!!!  I feel that we are a "Family" and I hope you feel that way too.  Remember, Dr. Frazier and I are always here if you need us:)

Diggs-Latham Art Displayed at Hanes Mall!!!

We were asked by the American Heart Association to put together an Art Display for a store window (upstairs by the carousel) in Hanes Mall. Mrs. Gordon and her students worked their magic and here is the result.  I am not the best photographer so please excuse the glare.  It is a beautiful display!

Retention Letters: I am forwarding you a great article I read on retention. I will forward it to you with Retention Information.  Now is the time to make initial contact with any parents of children you are considering retention for.  Remember you should have parents sign off that you talked to them about the POSSIBILITY of retention.  You also need to be able to show that you put interventions in place to target the high needs areas.  Keep work samples so that when it is time to make that difficult decision, we will have lots of evidence.  Thank you:)

Promise Awards

It is that time of year where we choose a first year teacher who shows "promise".  I think all of our first year teachers show promise.  They are all outstanding teachers.  This is a difficult task and that is why I would like you to help me with it. We can only choose one to send on to the district level to be recognized as our school representative at the Spring STAY Banquet.  Whomever we choose will have to answer some essay questions and I will as well.  The STAY Banquet is usually in April.  Our first year candidates eligible for a Promise Award are:  Cymbre White, Caroline Bostian, Lisette Prato, Hafida Boutkhili, Megan Shoaf, Zenyth Thomas and Taylor Mathis. I think I remembered everyone.  All will be recognized for completing the STAY program.  I am proud of them all.  I am going to put a ballot on Survey monkey and will send the link to you through email.  As you reflect on what you know about these candidates, choose a candidate that has promise in the areas of student achievement, teacher leadership, motivation, great attitude, building relationships with students and families as well as the community.  I realize this is difficult as you may not know all the candidates, but do your best. Talk with them if you wish:) to give you an idea of what they are all about.  If you could complete this by MONDAY at 3:30, I would appreciate it.  It should just take you a couple of minutes.  The candidate with the most votes will be our representative. Only vote once please.  The candidates can vote.

 Family Affairs:

• Please keep Mr. Schorer in your prayers today as he is having a knee replacement.  If you wanted to send a card, let us know and we will get the address for you. 
• Please keep Miss Greenlee's family in your prayers as her dad lost his brother unexpectedly yesterday. Safe travels to her parents who went out of state to be with the family.
• Continue to keep Mrs. Gilliam in your prayers as she continues to recover.
• Please keep Mrs. Asbury's granddaughter in your prayers as she too continues to recover.  This is the strongest little girl I know. She has truly been through a lot.
• Nurse Hall's son has been a little under the weather so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
• Flynn, Mrs. Wolfe's grandson is doing well:)  He is a cutie!!!!
• My happy, energetic, curious, sometimes naughty, puppy, Molly is keeping me busy!!!!

And she looks so innocent!  Don't let that cute face fool you, she has the puppy "crazies" every night around 6:30.  But, I sure do love her!

 Mark your Calendars:

• Our SIT meeting for today will have to be rescheduled.
• 2/27-Black History Celebration/District Committee her to review our SIP/ACCESS team here as well/CC meeting off campus
• 3/3 Cannon to UNC Chapel Hill to present to MSA students on Community Engagement and Teacher Leadership
• 3/3 Tornado drill this week. Practice with your students please:)
• 3/7 Cannon to present with Principal Trish Gainey to the Explorers Program. Topic: Maintaining Strong Community Relationships
• 3/10 Faculty Meeting
• 3/11 Early Release Day
• 312-3/13 Conference on Teaching and Learning (Cannon and Teachers)
• 3/13 Newsletters due
• 3/19 Spring LEP Parent Night
• 3/19 Sarah Huddleston will be using Room 200 on the 19 and 20th 7-3:30
• 3/19 as of now 3rd grade EOQ rdg.
• 3/20 as of now 3rd grade EOQ math
• 3/23 Grade 4-5 Reading EOQ
• 3/24 Grade 4-5 Math EOQ
• 3/25 Science EOQ
• Science Program Manager Benika will use the Media Center for Training after school at 4:00
• 3/26 Spring Production 1:00 dress rehearsal/6:30 Parent Performance
• 3/27 End of 3rd quarter

STAY TUNED..........

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK!! I have missed you all!!

February 9th-13th, 2015

I am so happy to be back.  I truly appreciated the flowers and cards galore.  You really cheered me up and helped me to recover. Thank you all for doing your part to help. A very special Thank you to Dr. Frazier, Gloria, Katie, Connie, Sarah, Alisha, Barbie, Jennifer, Gwen, Krystal, and Ana  for making my absence go so smooth.  Thank you to all of our coaches as well. We are a TEAM.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe on the birth of their new Grandson, Flynn. He is just beautiful!!!!! Flynn arrived on February 4th at 11:45 am weighing 9 lbs. 2 ounces. WOW!!! What a Blessing:)

Speaking of BABIES, We have a new puppy....Meet "Molly"

We Re-Homed her from a family that has four kids under the age of five.  Need I say more? Anyway, she has found a great home with us and she will receive endless love!

Arts Council Fundraiser

Amanda Gordon is doing a wonderful job as our Arts Council Representative for the 2015 Campaign.  She needs all of our support to make it a success.  The campaign will run through the first week of March so please do your part to help the Arts Council.  There are lots of prizes! Every little bit helps:)

WEAR ORANGE ON FRIDAY!

Retention Information-It is that Time to be thinking about possible retentions. Look for an email from me with clarifications and sample letters. Please make sure you read the email as even if you do not foresee any retentions there is a form you will need to turn in to me.  You need to conference with parents and have them sign off on possibility sheet.

February Will Be Filled With Collaboration, the Building of Relationships, Utilizing Data and Celebrations Including Black History Month 2/2-2/6

February 2nd to February 6th, 2015

As usual, this will be a very busy week. We begin Monday with 3rd graders testing. Vision Screening is on Tuesday as are our Instructional Walks which will begin at 1:00 sharp.  You will be notified below if a team will be observing you.  There may be additional classes added but this is where we are as of now. We had to be very creative in scheduling as we wanted to have as many grade levels/programs, etc... visited as was possible. You all are awesome. We would have liked the teams to see you all but they are only here for one hour and the observations last 10 minutes. There are classes in specials, recess, etc...1:00 is definitely a challenge but I know that we will be able to shine. There will be five teams who will visit three classrooms each. The visits will last 10 minutes and the team will meet to debrief and then go on to the next observation.   The teams are made up of Assistant Superintendents, Content Coaches, Star 3, ELA,Title I, Our Curriculum Coordinators and Administrators/Teacher Guide from our School and other district personnel. As I mentioned in the blog last week.  Please make sure all Bulletin Boards inside and outside of your rooms are complete, relevant and up to date. Have your current student work posted as well as your "I Can" and "EQ" statements. Each Grade Chair, specialist chair, etc... do a quick hallway check to make sure everything is up to date and there are no empty boards. If relevant, standards should be on board.  Thank you:)  If you are on the Observation list, pop in to see me tomorrow so I can give you additional information.

Learning Walk Teams: 

Team 1-Bullin/L. Wright/Sapp -   (Cannon, V. Simington, Hartman,Squire)

Team 2-White/Rice/Bersch-   (McGregor, S. Studies coach, Costello, Hoskins, Leslie Baldwin)

Team 3-C. Bostian/Stevenson/Friel-(Frazier, Amy Nail, Benika Thompson, PLT Coach, ELA Coach

Team 4-A. Wright/G. Jones/L. Greenlee-Gloria,Kenneth Simington, Andy Kraft, Shawn

Team 5-Faqih/Snider/Ochoa-Amanda G, Steve Oates, David Sisk, ESL, Connie or Wayne Foster, Science Coach

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARILYN GILLIAM, AMANDA STEVENSON and JACKIE PULLEN

Family Affairs- I am scheduled for my surgery on Wednesday Morning. I will be out of commission for about a week, hopefully less. Dr. Frazier can reach me and you can email me or text if you have a problem. I will start reading emails as soon as I am up to it. I will listen to the doctor's orders and do my best to heal after the surgery.  I have all observations finished but two and will finish those on Monday., so most of you should have or will have your post observation. Please be sure that you have signed off on your post conference once completed:)  All peers have been given rights to enter peer evaluations. They should all be done by  Wednesday at the latest.

CONGRATULATIONS to another GRANT AWARD WINNER!!!!!  Julie Magness wrote and secured a Math Fluency Grant to obtain software that will help students learn their Math Facts!  Way to go Julie!  

LAST WEEK's and emails from me were chocked full of important dates and upcoming events. Please make sure you reread them, check your calendars so that you are up to spped on all that is happening.  Also, please respond, only needs to be a sentence or two to my post at the end of this blog. Thank you!