Congratulations- As Kevin announced earlier this year, Valerie Sims has retired and has been working back for us to date. Well, it’s with mixed emotions that I announce Valerie has decided that she is going to really retire and her last day with Buckingham will be Friday, March 19. It goes without saying that Valerie will be hard to replace. She has been at Buckingham a VERY long time and is part of the fabric of the school. Buckingham won’t be the same without Valerie, but we are happy that she is doing what she wants to do and making a decision that is best for her. I know I can speak for all when I say, “Thank you,” to Valerie for everything she has given to Buckingham students, staff and parents.
STEM Challenge- Don’t forget next week’s STEM challenge. Thanks to the STEM team for planning and prep. Here is the All School STEM Challenge for February. We know everyone’s plates are very full and wanted to make this as easy as possible for staff. It is up to you how you would like to push the STEM Challenge out to students- it can be done in the classroom or independently at home. For the challenge there are 2 videos to watch (a read aloud and a video chat I had with my sister-in-law who is a biologist), then the kids get to design and build an animal’s winter home. They can do this using any supplies, so you shouldn’t need to provide or send anything home. The plan was to push or do this activity with students next Wednesday, February 24th. However, if this doesn’t work for you or your team, you can adjust as needed.
Thank you for your continued support with the STEM Challenges! We know the kids really enjoy them and it has been a fun way build community and get kids excited about STEM. If you have any questions please let me know!
Google Classrom (3-5: Thanks Jessi for putting this part together!): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vC-_J7cD2FjZqAS8xbQOmqIkGTKmhftWeJm5r252lU4/edit?usp=sharing
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah….- That was my imitation of my staff meeting yesterday. Sorry for so much sit and get. It is not best practice, but sometimes necessary. Thank you for being patient and understanding. I’m hopeful that we will have some future staff meetings where we are all together and it’s not me doing all the talking.
Picture Day- Picture day will be March 8 and 9. We will be getting you new envelopes that remove the composite option and we will have online ordering information as well. On the 8th we will do Kinder, 1st, 4th and, 5th and on the 9th we will do 2nd, 3rd, and the other half of 4th and 5th. With the early start, we will do staff pictures on the first morning and we can do staff throughout the day as well.
Staff Info Sheet- There are lots of new faces at Buckingham this year, especially in the last month or so. Of all the years to add new staff, I can’t think of a tougher one to integrate everyone into our community. If you are so inclined, take a few minutes in the next couple weeks to share a little bit about yourself with the rest of the Buckingham family. This will help oldies get to know the newbies and the newbies get to know the oldies. Turn into Laci or me if/when you get it complete.
Conferences- As of this writing, conferences are a go on the scheduled dates of Wednesday, April 14 through Friday, April 16. Looks like we will do a 12 hour Wednesday, a 12 hour Thursday and have Friday off. If you would like to do some Friday time instead of the two long days, come and talk to me and we will do our best to figure something out for you. As of this writing, conferences will be virtual. More info re: scheduling, etc. to come.
The preceding message is subject to change abruptly and frequently before or after any decisions/ actions are taken on our part.
Drills- Gary’s ‘get me get off drill probation’ schedule.
Buckingham Alumni- It’s always nice to hear positive stories about kids that have gone through Buckingham. Alaric Hartsock is not only my college roommate’s son, he is a Buckingham alumni. Alaric’s Buckingham training is being put to good use as evidenced this article and by his recently earned internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a leading center for scientific discovery in chemistry, data analytics, earth science, technological innovation, energy resiliency and national security (sounds kinda like STEM). Awesome to see kids doing well. I know there are many stories highlighting the achievements of our former students and it’s great to take a minute and be proud of our students, current and former.
Well, I think that is it for now. Thanks for a great week. Enjoy your weekend!
Upcoming Events
February 23- Fire Drill- 10:00 AM (students with 10:05 recess will stay out for recess at the end of the drill- so start getting coats on early)
February 23- ICCL- 2:30 (ish)- Library
February 24- STEM Challenge Day
February 24- SIW- Teacher Choice
February 24- EBISS- 5th Grade- 1:00 PM