Each year, I tend to get an earful of gratitude and thankfulness from our parents during these first few days of school and this year was no different. So I want to pass that along to each and everyone of you. You are just getting started and you have already made a significant impact on these families.
First Days Craziness
Experiencing a little chaos and craziness at the start of the year is fairly typical, however I have to say from 30,000 foot perspective the craziness was minimal. Your students are owing the routines and getting into the swing of things in spite of the gaping hole and barbed wire in our playground (you would think this would create some sort of pause, but apparently not). All your combined efforts in the classrooms, hallways, cafeteria and playground really made this happen and special thanks to Lorin for playing such a pivotal role.
Assembly
Thanks for giving up the afternoon time for the first assembly today. Although I tend to get insanely nervous for every first-of-the-year assembly, it felt incredibly comfortable to be there with you today. I look forward to some opportunities to have some goofy and fun moments (somewhere on the level with whip-ney-ney) with all of you in there again this year.
Meeting Schedule 2018-2019
Thank you for taking some time to think about our meeting schedule for the year. Based on all your feedback we are going to move forward with the first option (Tuesday mornings) with a slight modification. The modification will be the first two weeks. We will not do a morning meeting next week. Our first SIW (9/12) will be for design teams. The following Tuesday (9/18) will be an all staff meeting. I will adjust the document accordingly and we’ll get the google calendar updated this coming week. Once again, thanks for your input and patience.
Recess Duty
Friendly reminder; Please remember to be as prompt as possible with your recess duty. We are all here to support each other, but it’s difficult to feel supported when you are alone on the playground with hundreds of kids. Thanks for being there for each other.
Gym Systems
Just in case you are wondering, we will be devoting one or two of our staff meetings to go over the different belles and whistles in the gym. Even if you don’t plan on using any of the following systems, I would appreciate everyone getting a little exposure to the training.
Bleachers
AV system
Movable wall
Fans
Shades
PTO Meeting
As Audrey mentioned last week,the first general PTO meeting is on Tuesday morning at 9:00am. If anyone would like to attend please email me asap so we can work on coverage for you. The most crucial agenda item will be the approval of the budget, but there will be some time devoted to Fall Festival and a few other startup items. The October (9th) meeting will be scheduled after school.
Kinder Quote
The following kinder quote really threw me off balance this week; “Mr. Kissell, smell my mouth.”……Of course, I said, “no thank you”, but she looked a little crushed, so I had to try and change the topic and make her happy again. It was pretty much a hot mess of awkwardness. Can anyone think of a better way to respond to this request?
2018-2019 SIW Call for Proposals!!!
Let’s share the expertise in this building with others!!! Whatever you need from me to make this happen, just let me know.
Here are the District SIW series dates:
- Series 1: October 10, November 14, and December 12
- Series 2: February 13, March 13, April 17
We will not have a District SIW until October 10th.
We hope to offer 20-25 different options for teachers to choose from. The topics for these options will fit into five categories that are considered to be areas of high-leverage instructional focus.
- Cognitively Engaging Tasks
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- Purposeful tasks that are in students’ zone of proximal development that require engagement, higher level thinking, perseverance and creativity.
- Highly Relational Classrooms
- Learning environments in which trust, confidence, risk-taking and communication flourish both amongst teacher and students, and between students.
- High Levels of Collaborative Conversations
- Purposeful conversations, teaching listening and response strategies to engage each and every student by creating a true “community of learners.”
- Clear Differentiation
- All content-area instruction is appropriately scaffolded, so students can demonstrate proficiency in various ways within heterogeneous classes.
- Formative Assessments
- Ongoing monitoring of learning using various formats and multiple measures to inform instructional decisions.
In order to provide choice, your assistance is needed. Teacher expertise is an important part of our district professional learning. If a proposal is accepted, teachers will be compensated for 14 hours at the curriculum rate to prepare and plan for sessions.
Proposals must be submitted by September 14th.
Click here to fill out a proposal!!!
Print Shop Reminders
Please remember to plan ahead whenever possible and use Print Shop as the savings do come back to our school.
Linked below are instructions for using Print Shop:
Click below to see the Highland Staff Calendar.