Core Values

We use our Core Values as a way to achieve our College Readiness Goal. One of the Core Values is to make our school the best choice for parents and students. Have you found a way to form partnerships with your parents? Do they know how they can help their child to succeed?

What are some of the things that you do to involve parents? I would love to share the list with your colleagues.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Franson and Jordan’s homeroom for having four days of perfect daily attendance and spelling the word “here.” Please continue to keep me informed when your homeroom spells a word.

Staff Room

Please remember to clean up after yourself in the staff room. This includes spills on the tables and in the microwave. I’m noticing that there are a lot of coffee stains and spills that NO ONE is cleaning up. Don’t put dishes in the sink, even if you have the mindset that you will wash it later. You will need to wash your dishes before you leave the staff room. Thank you for keeping our work environment nice for everyone to enjoy! 

Shout Outs

Jamie for securing us a reunification location. Thank you for making the safety of Keystone a priority.

Robyn for giving an impromptu parent tour.

Jamie for creating schedules at the last minute for our new 7^th and 8^th grade students.   

Monique, Tully, Steve, Nicolle, Tracy, Kari, and Sloane for welcoming new students with a smile when you had no prior notice.

Melissa for administering WIDA to students in one day. Thank you for coming in on your day off!

Stacey for running a smooth and informative Title 1 Parent meeting.

Jamie and Robyn for taking on additional responsibilities in my absence.

Jen H. for going above and beyond to support our staff with student behavior. I appreciate how you will adjust your schedule to do NUMEROUS observations.  You are amazing!

Tricia for giving me a special treat that put a huge smile on my face!

Brian for allowing the gym to be used during the Title 1 Parent meeting.

This Week

Monday, September 30:

   ·    20s Day for Staff (20^th Day of School)-Wear Your 20s Attire or Regular Attire. This is NOT a jeans day.

Tuesday, October 1:

   ·    Nancy, DSQ, Visiting 10:30-11:30 AM

Wednesday, October 2:

   ·    Purple Club for Middle School Students

   ·    PTO Meeting 4-5 PM in Parent Room

   ·    Count Day

   ·    Field Trip Forms Due

Thursday, October 3:

   ·    $1.00 Jeans with Pink Shirt (Breast Cancer Awareness)-Donations Given to Susan G. Komen Fund

Friday, October 4:

   ·    K-2 SOM Assembly-Please notify Recipient’s Parents in Advance

   ·    Fun Run (During Specials)

   ·    MS Halloween Dance 6-8 PM

   ·    Payday Breakfast-2^nd Grade

Important Dates

Please view the right side of the blog for important dates in 

*If you have an event to add or something has been forgotten, please let me know!  

Classroom Culture Observations

This week, the admin team started doing collaborative observations; all of us observing teachers together. The purpose of the observations is to provide consistency with our expectations and further our development as leaders. Please know that we will try to notify you in advance if the entire admin team is coming into your classroom, but it may not always be possible.

For the remainder of September, we will be observing the Classroom Culture competency from the Framework. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the deans or me if you have any questions about the expectations.

Classroom Culture Form by embryjd on Scribd

School Goals

Next Tuesday’s PLC will be a continuation of August PD supporting our school goal of workshop. Your dean’s newsletters will include a detailed agenda with locations.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Kari and Sloane’s homerooms for having four days of perfect daily attendance and spelling the word “here.”

A Message From Nancy

Please read the messages below from our Director of School Quality (DSQ), Nancy Kouba-aka..My Boss! 😃

Read Aloud pacing

If Read Aloud is taking too long (as it is in most schools!), have teachers cut back on some of the questioning.  i.e. If the skill is conflict, advise them to use the questions pertaining to conflict, specifically. Move faster if students seem to 'get it'.  For at-risk students, choose questions that will have more bang for their buck.  This should take at least a few minutes off the RA lesson.  And, as teachers get more familiar with the structure of Read Aloud, it will get faster by default.

K-2 Picture Perfect books

If you haven’t received your Read Aloud books for science, don’t worry!  NHA has already communicated the Unit 1 books are available via PowerPoint on myNHA.  The Unit 2 books are in process and the hope is they will be ready this week. 

Classroom curtains/blinds

If your teachers have curtains or blinds hung in their door window, please make sure they are tied back/together so there is always clear view into their classroom.  The only time the curtains should be covering their door window is during a lockdown situation/drill.

A Little Fun

As an admin team, we try to balance all the hard work that you do every day with a little fun. Thank you for those who participated in our crazy day last week. September 30 is the 20^th day of school and we are encouraging staff to wear 20s attire. I wanted to inform now, so you can get your outfits together. I already have mine!

Shout Outs

Keystone staff for being flexible and understanding the first week of intervention and workshop implementation. The structure, times, and expectations for workshop and intervention have changed this year. Thank you for adjusting accordingly and realizing that we aren’t looking for perfection, just implementation.

Cindy Chuang, Diane, Julianne, Nicolle, Sloane, Kari, Steve, Tracy, and Tully for stationing yourselves strategically within the hallways when middle school transitions from lunch. It was amazing to see!

Nicole D. for showing care and upholding expectations when communicating with a parent.  

Megan for going above and beyond when completing behavior paperwork so we can provide her student with appropriate support.

Robyn for spending time providing us with additional field trip resources.

Robyn for all the additional time you have spent onboarding our new staff members. 

Jamie for all the extra things that you have done to make sure our new AD has the proper support that he needs.    

Jen D and Sarah Z. for making sure we had a place to hold IEPs.  

Amanda, Samantha, Sheila, Melanie, Richard, Andria, Julie, Nikki, and Michelle for implementing THREE new curricular tools with grace and positivity. The amount of hours you are spending does not go unnoticed.

Anne, Nicole, Julie, Christina, and Lindsay for trying out Kagan strategies in the first few weeks of school. Thank you for being willing to enhance your craft.

Sheila, Samantha, Kari, Jill, Julie, Andria, Monique, and Sloane for getting 100% of your homeroom’s FRL forms turned in!

Kelly for dealing with my craziness with capital letters.

Tabitha for putting together our new lost and found bins.

Jen H. for getting us a new lost and found! 

This Week

Tuesday, September 24:

   ·    PLC Meetings at 4:00

Wednesday, September 25:

   ·    Jorvonna Out of the Building-New Principal PD

Thursday, September 26:

   ·    Jorvonna Out of the Building-New Principal PD

   ·    Fall Picture Day

Friday, September 27:

   ·    Spirit Day-$1.00 Jean Day and 50 cent Popcorn

   ·    6-8 AND Specials SOM Assembly

Attendance Policy

As discussed in our staff meeting, we have a new attendance policy.

Absences (Excused and Unexcused)	Procedure & Notification
0	Notification of Attendance Expectation to All Parents & Guardians
10% of total school days (any point in the school year)	Parent Meeting and Completion of Attendance Corrective Action Plan (A-CAP)
10 days	Parental Responsibility Citation from Sumpter Police*
18 days	Possible Retention for Students Not Making Adequate Academic Growth*

As always, you are a critical part in improving student attendance. Thank you for your positive and proactive efforts.

Parent Communication

     ·      Reach out to families with students who have 2 & 4 absences and “cc” your dean and Jen H. on the communication.

     ·      I am providing you with wording that you can use in your email communication to parents below. Please feel free to “tweak” the email templates to add your personal touch or if you have a unique situation.

Teacher Email to Parents (2 & 4 Absences) by embryjd on Scribd

Perfect Daily Attendance

     ·      Every classroom will try to spell out the word HERE, then PRESENT, and finally ATTENDANCE.

     ·       The class receives a letter each day that all students are present, on time, and with no early dismissals.

     ·      When each of the words are spelled out, the classroom receives a reward that is determined by the teacher; not to exceed 30 mins (jeans day, movie, electronics day, extra recess, etc.)

     ·      First students will spell the word “HERE” on the board (4 days of perfect attendance). Then, the classroom will try to spell out the word PRESENT (7 more days of perfect attendance), and finally ATTENDANCE (10 additional days).     

     ·      If a class spells all three words, they would have had 4+7+10=21 days of perfect attendance.

     ·      Perfect attendance begins on the first day of school. You can back track.

o   Congratulations to Mrs. Kaminski’s class who has already spelled the word “HERE!”

     ·      Don’t forget to include this in your weekly newsletter to parents.

Please make sure to notify me when your class spells out each word, so that I can announce it during Morning Assembly and in my Sunday Night Phone Call.

BIG SHOUT OUT to Cindy Chuang who create a template for each of the words and is willing to share. 

Perfect Attendance Letters by embryjd on Scribd

School Goals-Personalized Instruction

During August PD you generated a list of personalized instruction resources that you used during workshop. Try out one of your peers’ recommendations from the compiled list below.

    ·     Noredink

    ·     Dreambox

    ·     Other Teachers

    ·     Epic.com

    ·     ABCYA.com

    ·     Starfall.com

    ·     NewsELA

    ·     Freckle

    ·     Discovery Simulation

    ·     TpT

    ·     Task Cards

    ·     Book Room

    ·     Readworks

    ·     Kahoot

    ·     No Red Ink

    ·     Common Lit

    ·     Quizlet

    ·     Math Minutes

    ·     Pizzazz

    ·     Prodigy

    ·     Mastery Connect

    ·     Education.com

·     Fresh Reads

Staff Meeting Reminders

·     Please take your time as you familiarize yourself with the expectations of the curricular tools. For example, if you are taking 45-minutes to do a 20-minute Read Aloud, that’s expected this first unit. Please do not feel pressured to rush through any of the content as you master and/or enhance your craft.

·     Please make sure you are documenting level 2 behaviors appropriately with the “why” and surrounding circumstances. Don’t hesitate to speak with your dean during O3s about repeat offenders.

Shout Outs

Melissa H. for making a lot of phone calls to ensure our students receive proper services.

Melissa H. for coming in an additional day to administer the WIDA screener test.   

Cindy Conti for helping me out and greeting students in the morning.

Cindy Conti for assisting with NWEA. Your expertise has been valuable.  

Cindy Chuang for sharing attendance resources with the team.

Stacey for the ridiculous amount of HOURS you have spent with WIDA and EL. You have NO IDEA how grateful I am for you taking on this additional task to help me. You are all types of wonderful!   

Jen D., Sarah Z. and Audrey for sorting through a lot of files and making a lot of phone calls to make sure we provide services appropriately to qualifying students.

Ashley G. for making sure that one of our students received proper accommodations.

Stacey, Ellen, Cindy Conti, Melissa H., Jena, and Sarah M. for all the testing you got completed. I was amazed by your efficiency. WOW!

Michelle and Andria for all the additional support that you have offered your two new team members.  

Christina J. for coming back from jury duty! You were not required to do that, but you saw a need and filled a need. You are amazing!

Melanie and Richard for being great additions to our staff! 

Sarah Z. for assisting middle school with NWEA makeups.

Robyn and Jamie for the extra things that you continue to do to make our school great! I am so appreciative and grateful to have you as deans. You make the difference!

Tracy for recognizing a more efficient way to take attendance school-wide.

Theresa for stepping in and assisting in the office.

Tabitha for going above and beyond with your student. You uphold expectations in a fun way!