The Key Notes : March 2019

March 8 PD

We want to solicit your feedback regarding our March 8 PD. As we begin to plan future PDs, we want to use your feedback to design professional development that meets your needs as educators and supports our school goals. Please answer the three questions below. Thank you for your time.

Core Value

One of our Core Values is “Take ownership for the success of our students.” With PSAT and M-STEP beginning the Tuesday we return for break, please communicate to parents your specific testing dates and strongly encourage them to bring their children to school on time.

It is imperative that we model a positive attitude about testing. Parents and students look to us as educational role models and reflect our attitude regarding academic assessments.

In addition, please be flexible during testing with changes in the master schedule and last-minute decisions that may impact your classroom.

Lastly, these assessments are a reflection on our entire school. So, even if you are a teacher whose students do not take the test, how can you show support and encourage those who do?

Thank you for being a team that does whatever it takes to improve our school.

Moral Focus

Compassion is our Moral Focus virtue this month. Teachers are known for being amongst the most compassionate of professional workers. Being compassionate brings many benefits not only to those on the receiving end of the compassion, but also to the person who is compassionate. However, teachers are prone to compassion fatigue, a condition that affects up to 40% of teachers.

Teachers start to feel resentful rather than resourceful, detached rather than delighted, and exhausted rather than excited. If you have reached this point, you may need to actively work to redevelop COMPASSION in your life. Here are a couple of strategies to try:

Intentional Compassion
– First, direct compassion to someone you like. ‘Practice’ using compassion first toward someone you have good feelings
toward: a good friend, helpful coworker, or co-operative student.
– Next, be compassionate with someone a bit more neutral: the cashier at the grocery store, a neighbor you don’t know
well, or a coworker you don’t see often.
– Then, take it up a notch by directing compassion toward someone you have trouble with: a student that has behavioral challenges
challenges, a parent that is difficult, or a coworker that you usually avoid.
– Finally, turn your compassion to all those in your life

Acts of Kindness:

Another way to develop compassion is to do five different random acts of kindness all in one day. The effort and impact of doing these all in one day can be life-changing. A few suggestions for acts of kindness include:

– Write a note or card
– Bake cookies for someone
– Give a compliment
– Take a meal to someone in need
– Donate food or money to a local homeless shelter.
– Pay for the order of the person behind you in the drive-thru or checkout line.
– Do a chore that is usually your spouse or child’s responsibility

(Amy Curletto, Stanfield District)

As with anything we want to teach our students, we must model what we want them to develop. Take some time this month to model and talk about COMPASSION with your colleagues and students.

Shout Out

All Keystone staff for your positivity during our Driveline staff meeting. I love being a part of a team that continues to make selfless decisions for the good of our school.

Andrew for a successful Wellness Day!

Tabitha and Robyn for assisting Stephanie in the office during Diann’s absence.

Deb for passing her food inspection. Her feedback from the auditor was “I wish everyone of these was this easy.”

Jamie, Andrea, and Robyn for the countless hours you spent during, before, and AFTER school inputting data into our Driveline system!

This Week

Monday, April 1-Friday, April 5

· No school-Spring Break

Monday, April 8:

· Perfect Attendance Assembly

Tuesday, April 9:

· Staff Meeting

· Staff Meeting Snacks-5^th grade

· 8^th Grade taking PSAT

Wednesday, April 10:

· PTO Meeting 4:00 in the Parent Room

Thursday, April 11:

· Purple Club

· Board Meeting 6:00 PM

Friday, April 12:

· Ellen Poole’s Birthday

· SOM Assembly Y5s-2 AND 3-5

· 3 & 4 Grade Spelling Bee 1:00 PM in Gym

· Reading Month Casual Day (students who met their reading requirements)

Happy Birthday

Ellen: April 12

Classroom Framework-Planning

As we continue our discussion around planning, please utilize NHA’s resources on the Curriculum app. These resources will save you lots of time in the planning process. NHA has Playbooks for ELA instruction for all grades.

In addition, they have Playbooks for middle school math, called “Week at a Glance.”

The Playbooks are completed lesson plans that are scripted out and they include writing prompts. I would encourage you to see if you could include some, if not all the components in your lesson plans. This could save you A LOT of time and give you new instruction ideas!

3 Unit 6 Week 5 Lesson Plan Playbook by embryjd on Scribd