January 30, 2017

What's Happening?

It has been amazing to see so many wonderful things that are taking place in your classrooms on a daily basis!  The work you do is so important and needs to be shared.   Please remember our rules for posting:

Ensure the students are not on our no-photo list
The image portrays our students, staff and school in the best possible light
The post represents one of our three core values.

Nuts and Bolts:

All grades MUST be entered by 9:00 AM Wednesday.  Report cards will be printed Wednesday, placed in envelopes Thursday and mailed out on Friday.   Please be sure your grades are updated accurately.

What music do you want to start your day with...enter your songs here.

Mid-Year conferences with administration will be taking place Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week, please be sure you are signed up for a time-slot.  Our focus will be on how the first half of the year has gone, as well as Domain 4.

Please be sure to schedule a meeting or check in with Mark for your SGO's.

All ELA students should have completed their STAR reading, please make sure all your students have taken the assessment.

Dates:

February 1 Grades posted by 9:00AM

February 6                 Faculty Meeting

February 10               Spotlight 9:00 am

February 13               Faculty Meeting

February 22               BOE Meeting 7pm APR

January 23, 2017

Great Things Noticed:

It is wonderful to see so many teachers sharing one moment from their classrooms on a daily basis.  Please be sure to click here to learn about why we are doing this as well as student list of students who can and cannot be photographed.  Let's tell our story!

Nuts and Bolts:

Help make us all smile in the morning by adding some song selections!

Marking period will end on January 25th, and grades must be posted by 9:00AM on February 1st.

• Faculty meeting today will be departmentalized
• Math - STEM Lab
• ELA - APR
• Science - Room 100 - Mrs. Miserulli  -  How are you adjusting to the shifts in NGSS?  What resources have you found helpful?  What resources do you still need?
• Social Studies Room 102 - Charlie Best  -  How are you adjusting to the shifts in curriculum?  What resources have you found helpful?  
• Related Arts - Linda Naimo's Art Room  -  How can you work to connect some of the work students are doing within your classrooms?
• Spanish - Work on new curriculum questions from Mark
• PE - Explore possibilities for new Health Text Book series.

The Super Bowl Competition on February 3rd -- Bring in your own soup or chili dish for others to try. The Steelers and Giants are now out of it so Tim and I have try and win something.

ELA and Social Studies Teachers HERE is a link to a Book Wishlist. If there are books you know you will need for next year, please be sure to add to the list. The PTA has some extra money to help us get some extra books. Not all requests will be granted, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Mid Year SLC Check-ins will be scheduled February 13, 14, 15th. Thank you to our Team Leaders who put together this document to help us all stay on track with the students' progress throughout the year. We will be using an advisory schedule these three days. Your team leaders will be able to discuss this further with you during your team time.

Mid Year Conferences with administration. These meetings will be a check in to see how your year is progressing. If you have any concerns or areas you would like help improving please be ready to bring them to our attention. We will also be discussing teacher performance as it relates to Domain 4.

Dates:

January 23 Faculty Meeting
February 2 8th grade MyNAEP Testing
February 13, 14, 14 SLC Adjusted Schedule -
We will be using an advisory schedule these 3 days.

January 25                  BOE Meeting-7pm in APR  

February 6                  Faculty Meeting
February 10 Spotlight 9:00 AM

February 13               Faculty Meeting

Resources:

Happy 2017!!!

Quotes to Start Your Year:

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”  – Mark Twain

“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.” – Marissa Mayer

“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually’, just do it and correct course along the way.” – Timothy Ferriss

“Someone once said …. ‘Work is the bridge between dreams and reality.’ So just be warned: if you have big dreams be ready for a ton of work.” ~ Jared Leto

“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Vincent van Gogh

“Hard work does not guarantee success, but lack of hard work guarantees that there will be no success.” – Jim Valvano


Nuts & Bolts

Tim and I feel honored to be leaders in a school where there are so many wonderful things taking place in your classrooms.  We would like to provide you with an opportunity to share at least one thing that takes place in your classroom with your team members on Thursday.  It could be a classroom management system, communication with parents, formative assessments, a lesson that hooks students, etc.

Morning Procedures -- As a reminder please be sure to swipe your key fab or card by 8:30 AM, and be in your room ready to teach by 8:40. 

Parent Calendar - Please be sure to update our parent calendar by Friday for before/after school events or any grade level activities that may be taking place.  We will send it out to parents on Friday by 9:00 AM. 

Spotlight -- January 13 -2:30 in APR - All names need to be in by Tuesday 1/10 as Denise will be out and unable to print awards after 1/10.  Agenda click here  Please be sure to have students vote for Teacher and Staff member of the month, the link is:  https://goo.gl/ZnDy9x

2nd Round of observations will be starting shortly.  You will not need to schedule a pre-conference with us as it will be an unannounced observation for 30 minutes.

SLC - Please be sure to continue having students complete reflection sheet when a summative assessment is given.  We will be pulling these assessments into our SLC's in April and we want to make sure you and the students have enough assessments to choose from when they sit down with their parents.  

New Year Tips & Best Practices in Classroom Management
https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2016/12/31/the-best-of-smart-classroom-management-2016/

BIS Teacher Created Resources: Here are 2 self-assessment resources created by our very own staff!

Phillips Chart

Student Self Assessment Rubric


Dates:

January 9th  - Faculty Meeting 
January 9th - Girls Basketball Press Release
January 13 - Spotlight 2:30 in APR - All names need to be in by Tuesday 1/10 as Denise will be out and unable to print awards after 1/10.
January 16 -   Boys Basketball Press Release
January 23   - Faculty Meeting
January 23 -  7th Grade Press Release
January 30 -  8th Grade Press Release

November 28th, 2016

Great Things Noticed:

Thank you to everyone who brought in food for the food pantry at St. Michaels.  It was a fun competition to benefit those in need.  Huge thank you to Ms. Hooker for setting it up with the PEER Leaders!

Last year we discussed ways to improve parent communication and many people discussed the possibility of sending out a newsletter but weren't sure how to do it or what to include.  Sometimes seeing one allows us the opportunity to see how it can be done.  The 5th grade recently sent out their November Newsletter and it was great.  They included information, pictures, and even recourses for parents to help their students at home.  Great work!

Nuts and Bolts:

Help us start our day on the right food by making some song selections!

There is a saying that the walls and halls of a school speak to what the school is like.  I am always amazed at the pride students take when they see their art-work displayed from Mrs. Naimo's class.  As we are approaching a change in bulletin boards please try your best to place great student work on display, and please remember to check your schedules for bulletin boards.

Also please be sure to consult the press-release schedule.  When you are submitting a Press - Release please be sure to send it us first so we can see it and then pass it along to Gerri for publication.

12 Days of Christmas is coming...be sure to check out what each day has to offer!

Advisory:  In our meeting with Team Leaders it was brought up that the advisory programs have not had a chance to bond as well as we would have liked because we were preparing for SLC's.  In order to allow for a chance to make this happen we will be having a Winter Wonderland competition.  Please see go to the Google Classroom Advisory page for more details.

Holiday Breakfast -- On December 16th we will be having a Holiday Breakfast and EVERYONE is welcome in the Teacher's Room to enjoy in the festivities.  Instead of having a certain team responsible for the breakfast we will be doing it pot-luck style.  Click here to sign up to bring to bring a holiday treat and make sure we don't have 12 people bringing in the same thing.

Second will be on Jan 20th before school.

Third will be the Super Bowl Competition on February 3rd -- Bring in your own soup or chili dish for others to try.

Grading -- As a school we have many different types of grading systems, and even within grade levels we have different grading systems.  Next year we are looking to have one type of grading system either points or percents.  As you meet in teams please make this a topic that is covered, as we will be looking for teacher input as to which system we will be moving towards next year.

Dates:

November 28      Faculty Meeting -- Departmental

December 5                 Faculty Meeting

December 9                 7th-8th Grade Dance

December 12               Faculty Meeting

December 13               Holiday Concert
December 16 Staff Breakfast
December 23               Winter Wonderland Assembly in APR-- 12:30 -- 


Tips:

The Best Books for Middle School According to My Students

November 14, 2016

Great Things Noticed:

SLC’s were a success!  All last week we saw students arriving who felt all different emotions from nervous, to excited, to apprehensive, but when they left after their conference was over they all seemed proud for being able to present their portfolios to their parents.  Thank you for all the work you put into these conferences!  We have all been working since the summer to make this a positive experience, and at least from the parent’s perspective it was successful.  Check out the results of our survey HERE.  If you haven’t already please be sure to fill out the teacher survey so we learn how the experience was for teachers.  

Nuts and Bolts:

• We removed the bells at the beginning and end of the day, but please remember to say the Pledge of Allegiance in your classroom on a daily basis.  

• Tuesday is Advisory, but we would like to learn from our students how they felt about the conferences.  During our Advisory time we would like students to meet with their Advisory Leader in the room you were practicing in to hear from the students how they think the program went.  We will be putting in a survey into Google Classroom that we would like all students to take.  We would also like you to help lead a discussion to learn what they thought was positive about the experience and what they would like to see changed or altered for the spring time.  

• Wednesday Grades are due, please be sure to have them posted by 3 PM.  This year we have changed the comments to match the Great Student Rubric.  If you have questions about how this works please see Tim or me.

• ELA Teachers we would like to have students complete the next round of STAR assessments by Wednesday of this week.  They can take the assessment Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

• Wednesday is Parent Visitation Day.  We can’t wait for the parents to see the innovative and exciting lessons you have waiting for the students.  We will arrange for chairs to be placed in your rooms so the parents have a place to sit. 

• Food Drive Challenge! The Peer Leaders will be collecting non-perishable food items next week during lunch in the All Purpose room-place your food items in the correct box by grade level. The grade level to collect the most food items will receive a special treat!! Stay tuned for hints on what that may be.  Food collected starting on Monday, November 14th to Friday, November 18th

• Attention All 6-7 and 8th grade girls interested in joining the Rams Cheerleading Squad for 2016-2017 season. Forms are available outside of Mrs. Smith’s room 105. Please take a form quickly as all necessary paper-work is due by November 18th. I look forward to an exciting season cheering on our fabulous girls and boys basketball team.

• Support the 2017 6th Grade Trip to Frost Valley- clean out your closets and donate clothing, shoes, belts, and toys! Donations accepted now till November 16th – drop off at the main entrance!

• Newspapers are still needed for the Art Room.  If you have newspapers that you could bring in please send them to Linda, she could definitely use them.  

Dates:

November 14           Faculty Meeting

November 16           BOE Meeting
November 18 Spotlight 2:30PM in APR --Link is active

November 23 Early Dismissal

November 24-25     School Closed

November 28           Faculty Meeting

Tips:

What is gamification, and can I try it in my classroom?  Watch this brief video to learn what it is about.

October 17, 2016

 

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. -- e.e. cummings






Great Things Noticed:

Nuts and Bolts:

Our Swipe Station is now fully operational.  Please make sure you are signing in and out using this station as it will replace the book we previously used.  As a reminder teachers need to be signed in by 8:32 and can sign out 3:40 or later.

Thank you to all of you who helped out and/or walked for the Hudson Farm Charity Hike!  Over $16, 000 was raised for our school district!!!

Picture day will be on Thursday of this week.  In the past we have called students down alphabetically to take photographs and it has caused a disruption to our school day.  This year we are going to have students report to Open Space during their Gym or Spanish time period that day.  Teachers we are asking you to please remind students in homeroom that they will report to Open Space instead of their Gym or Spanish time on Thursday, and they will need to bring their picture money with them.

Monday October 31st, is Halloween.  Please remind students they will not be allowed to show up in their Halloween Costumes.   Students will put on their Halloween costumes during their recess period.  This means students will need to bring their costumes with them to lunch on Halloween and they will transform into character in Open Space.  There are no clown costumes of any kind that will be allowed.  During periods 15-16 students will vote in that class period for the costume that is their favorite.  Teachers please let your team leaders know who the finalists are in your grade level as they will be calling the student names.  During periods 17-18 we will call grade levels down to the APR where we will be holding our contest.

Teachers every year the students have LOVED seeing you dress up and in costume and we hope you are able to participate and gear up in your costume after lunch.  There will be a staff competition in the APR as well with some prizes.

Upcoming Events:

October 19 Board Meeting 7:00 PM
                   Parent OutReach 7:00 PM
                   Flu Shots-2:45- 3:45 BIS

October 20 Picture Day During Spanish and Gym

October 24 Faculty Meeting

October 31 Halloween Assembly Periods 17- 18

October 10, 2016

Great Things Noticed:

We would like to thank you for the work you put into today's in-service program both in the morning and the afternoon.  I am excited about our student-led conferences and the work the students will be able to share with their parents.  Tonight we have a parent meeting to describe the process for parents, and Tim and I have been coming into lunches to discuss this shift as well.  

Nuts & Bolts:

We will have police officers in today during lunches to talk about the "creepy clowns" that have been posted on social media.  According to the police there have been no confirmed reports of "creepy clowns" in Byram, and police will come in today to help keep students calm, let they know they are safe, and talk about best practices to stay safe in any situation.  We will be sending out an email today to inform parents that we did have the police in to talk to students.

During periods 9-12 if a student is having difficulty with a locker please call the main office so we can have someone help the student instead of calling Harold.  During this time Harold has his lunch and we would like him to enjoy it.

Dates:

October 10               Staff in Service

October 11              Advisory Starts

                                 Parents -- SLC Meeting-7pm

October 15               SGO's Due
Hudson Farm Hike

October 19               Board Meeting

October 24              Faculty Meeting


Tech Tip:

Mentimeter.com was the website we used for cloud sourcing ideas at the start of the meeting on Monday. Feel free to use it with your class, however be aware that it is anonymous and student will be able to write what they please.