Self-Care

 Do you feel burned out, unbalanced, and/or stressed? I want to encourage you to practice self-care. Last week, I shared that self-care could help you lead a fulfilling, purposeful, and productive life. There are many types of self-care you should embrace to feel your best in all areas of your life, and it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to be beneficial. If you’re new to the concept of self-care, check out the graphic below.


I’ve selected a few pages from here that define self-care and provide you with four easy steps to creating a personalized self-care plan with templates (see below). 


My self-care plan is focusing on physical, what’s yours? 


Self Care Plan by embryjd on Scribd

Hello, Goodbye!

 


I wanted to let you know that Sheila Montri’s last day at Keystone is next Wednesday, February 3.  Sheila has been a part of the Keystone family for a long time, but she wants to spend more of her time caring for her personal family now.  As many of you know, Sheila drives almost an hour each way for her daily commute.  It is for this reason; she has decided to accept a position closer to her home.  In saving an hour a day in driving it will give her more time to care for the medical needs of her family. While we will miss her, we understand her need to prioritize her family’s health. We appreciate Sheila being transparent and working with the admin team during this entire process. We have known about this for a while but refrained from sharing with the staff because we didn’t want the information to leak to the Kindergarten families until we secured her replacement to ensure a smooth transition for those students (you know I love to have a master plan before I reveal things). We would also like to wish Laura Dean well as she has decided to resign with Sheila to spend more time at home. We appreciate everything that she has done for Keystone the last 8 ½ years.

In saying all that, I would like to welcome Jessica Walczak as our new kindergarten teacher. Jessica has many years of experience as a preschool teacher. Her tentative start date is next Tuesday, February 2. Lisa Heringhausen will become Jessica’s para to assist her in this new role. Thank you, Lisa, for offering your support.

Shout Outs

 


Ellen for sharing resources on promoting a positive school culture.

Cindy Chuang for getting our newest NJHS students inducted in a way that still made it special despite all of the restrictions. 

Angel and Jen for organizing February Friends so quickly and making things fun for our school.  

Deb for coming in on a Sunday night to do a deep cleaning.

Robyn for your steadfast leadership while trying to manage two classrooms and your dean role at the same time. There is no one who could do what you are doing and still maintain a smile. Thank you for being a true example of someone who doesn’t let their circumstances control their emotions and behavior.

Tameka and Jamie for volunteering to sub this week. I love that you are willing to do whatever it takes for our school.

Tameka, Jamie, Robyn, and Stacey for consistently being a true example of leadership. It feels that we keep getting hit with one thing after another, but you never let anything keep you down. You show up every day with a positive attitude and a commitment to our staff, students, and families. I am blessed to be on the same team as you!

Tricia for all the random acts of kindness that you have shown me this week!

Christina for volunteering to cover dismissal twice this week.

Keystone Staff for your diligence in getting MAP testing complete. Special shout out to Sarah D for organizing, tracking, proctoring, and leading this endeavor.

Lisa, Tabitha, and Jeanne for being flexible and willing to do “whatever it takes!”

Megan and Laquanda for being understanding of change.

Jen, Stacey, Jamie, Laquanda, Sheila, Laura, Lisa, and Deb for dealing with bathroom issues all week!

Nikki for making a special delivery to one of our families. Thank you for going above and beyond! 

This Week

 


Monday, February 1:

·    ELA Interim 2 (Feb 1-5)

·    Math Numeracy (Feb 1-5)

Wednesday, February 3:

·    PTO Meeting 4-5 PM

Friday, February 5:

·    IAT Meetings

·    Kim B’s Birthday

·    Payday Breakfast-Interventions

·    DUE: Morning Assembly Presentation-McNulty (President’s Day)

Happy Birthday

 


Kim: February 5

Admin Observation Focus

 

This week for collaborative admin observations, we will continue to focus on students’ explaining their thinking pertaining to their misconceptions or errors and students’ understanding and articulating the learning objective (I can) during workshop lessons.


Please view a resource that Teri uses in her classroom.


Test Corrections Printable by embryjd on Scribd

Core Values-VOP Survey

One of our Core Values is “Make our School the Best Choice for Parents and Students” and our Voice of the Parent (VOP) survey is a way to determine if we are embracing this Core Value. Due to NHA having some technical issues with the 2020 VOP survey, we didn’t get the results until last Tuesday. I am happy to announce that this is our second survey in a row (Spring 2020 and Fall 2020) that we have increased our ratings in EVERY category! It’s nice to see our parents recognize and appreciate all the hard work that we do every day! I will be sharing more specific information at our February staff meeting. 

 


Shout Out

 


Keystone Staff for having your data ready and contributing to valuable discussions during DDI meetings.

Ashley using her unique skill to put a smile on the Board’s face.

Kim B for always being willing to do “whatever” it takes to help out. You are appreciated more than you know by the whole admin team!

Robyn relentless commitment to ensure all students receive a quality education.

Stacey for always asking the difficult questions that make our school better.

Jamie, Robyn, and Stacey for holding down the fort in my absence.

Kim B, Laura, Tabitha, Jeanne for stepping in and subbing when needed this week.

Jamie and Robyn for subbing in classrooms.

Deb and Stefanie for assisting with identifying room numbers.

Teri for sharing best practice resources.

Jen H for always being our inspector and handling squeamish situations with a positive attitude. I don’t know how you do it!

Tameka for stepping in and volunteering to take on additional tasks to help out as needed.  

This Week

 


Monday, January 25:

·    Sloane’s Birthday

Tuesday, January 26:

·    PLC Meetings 4-5 PM

Friday, January 29:

·    Spirit Day $1.00

·    DUE: Morning Assembly Presentation-Poulin (Black History Month)

Happy Birthday

 


Sloane: January 25

 

There is a special gift in the mailboxes of all the people who celebrate their birthdays in February.

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!  

Admin Observation Focus

 As we discussed in our staff meeting, it’s important that students receive an opportunity to reflect and correct their misconceptions. I think this article does a great job explaining the importance. It states,

Most people would agree that we learn a lot from our mistakes. In the same vein, teachers can learn a great deal from their students’ mistakes, or more precisely, their students’ misconceptions as they are learning a particular topic. Misconceptions are a normal part of learning and are not something to be avoided with the hope that students will eventually adopt the correct ideas naturally once they are exposed to them through typical forms of classroom instruction. Students come to school with a wide variety of ideas and non-scientific beliefs based on their everyday experiences in the world, which affect the way they make sense of and interpret the concepts that their teachers present to them.”

This week for collaborative admin observations, our focus will be on students’ explaining their thinking pertaining to their misconceptions or errors during workshop. This can be done through teacher questioning similar to below.

  •       “I noticed that you (selected B for your answer) OR (wrote that as your answer for your constructed response). Can you go back into the text to show me where you found that to be the answer?”          
  •       “What made you select B?”                                                                                
  •       “Could any of the other possible answers be correct? If so, which one and why?”
  •       “I love how you were able to restate the question and make it a statement. Let’s dig a little further into your examples and evidence to find more supporting evidence for your answer.” ·   
  •       What other evidence could you add to your constructed response?”


We look forward to seeing you in action so we can continue to share best practices!

Gradebook Consistency

 


Parents will be viewing their child’s progress report on the Parent Portal this Friday. Please continue the conversation from our staff meeting with your team regarding gradebook consistency. The admin team will be reviewing the Jamboard responses and discussing next steps in your weekly PLC meetings.

Masks

 


We have placed another NHA mask in each staff member’s mailbox. Please remember that staff are expected to wear their mask at all times, unless they are alone or eating. Even if you are 6 feet apart, you should still be wearing a mask.

Social Distancing

 


In an effort to limit and contain exposure in the event that a staff member were to test positive for COVID, we expect all staff to remain 6 feet apart at all times, including lunch and various meetings. If you are unable to maintain proper social distancing, you will need to find another location or meet virtually. Thank you for keeping each other healthy!

Shout Outs

 


Stacey for always taking initiative. I appreciate all your help with the staff meeting.    

Jamie for making a personal delivery for a family in need.  

Deb for always spoiling me. You have no idea how grateful I was to walk into my office on Tuesday morning and seeing everything put away. WOW!

Stephanie for volunteering to cover my morning arrival spot. Thank you for seeing a need, filling a need.

Steve, Jena, Sloane, Tully, Tracy, and Kari for understanding and increasing your synchronous sessions for your virtual students. No matter what we ask of you, you get it done. Thank you!

Stephanie for gathering a lot of documentation for me in such a quick turnaround.

Gary for working so hard to help me find the missing key.

Stephanie for taking down the thankful decorations in the office.

Jessica and Jenaca for putting up a Black History Month bulletin board. It looks amazing!

Teri,, Sheila and Kari for sharing a best practice! Your knowledge and resources will be beneficial to so many.

This Week

 


Monday, January 18:

   ·    No School-Martin L. King Jr.  

Friday, January 22:

   ·    Progress Reports  

   ·    Pay Friday Breakfast-6th Grade

Saturday, January 23:

   ·    Brian’s Birthday

Happy Birthday

 


Brian: January 23

Lunch Anyone?


 Our wonderful Board will be providing the staff with lunch on Tuesday from Boneheads BBQ. In addition, they will be staying for all three lunch periods to give everyone a holiday gift

Welcome to the Team

We have two new team members-Tifanie Goodman and Crista Long. Tifanie is our new intervention para tentatively scheduled to start on Wednesday. Tifanie comes with several years of experience working with students in a school (para) and non-school (behavior technician) environment. Crista Long is our new recess/lunch aide tentatively scheduled to start on Monday. Crista is a parent at Keystone with kids in Y5s, Kinder, 5th, and 7th.

Please find some time next week to welcome our newest team members.


Lastly, today will be Morgan’s last day. She has accepted a job outside of the school setting. We wish her well. 

Admin Observations

 


During admin collaboration observations this week, we will continue observing workshop, but our focus is on students’ understanding and articulating the learning objective (I can) for the workshop lesson.

It is critical that students understand what they are learning and why they are learning it. This can be accomplished easily. In the beginning of your small group lesson, make a statement similar to this, “Today, we are going to review improper fractions. On Friday’s unit assessment, I noticed you were really close to getting the correct answers and I want to help you master this skill. Who can tell me what we will be learning about today and why?”

Progress Reports

 


Parents will be viewing their child’s progress report on the Parent Portal on January 22. As a part of our Green School initiative, we will not be printing progress reports. Please make sure that you have a true representation of their child’s academic progress by having enough grades entered and that you have collaborated with your grade level for consistency.

Digital Platforms

 


In-person teachers should continue to use digital platforms in their classrooms. Please create a lesson each day utilizing one. This will keep students familiar with the platforms in case we have to go remote again unexpectedly. Please continue to have students take their Chromebooks home every day.

Staff Meeting

 January 12 Staff Meeting Agenda

1.   Icebreaker

2. Good News

3. Best Practice Share Out

4. Gradebook Expectations

5. Interim 1 Results  

6. Safety Protocol Review

7. Q & A

8. Launch

 

*You will be attending the meeting from your classroom using the Google Code: KeystoneStaffMeetings in the calendar invite. Starting at 3:45, please go to the staff lounge to sign in, gather the documents that we will be discussing, and grab some snacks.

*Meeting begins promptly at 4:00.

Shout Outs

 


Mandy, Stacey, Ellen, Cindy Chuang, and Tracy for giving the most High Fives from each of your team.   

Robyn for opening the building on Sunday so that our teachers can be prepared for the upcoming week.

Ashley H. for organizing half day subs.  

Jamie for handling a new behavior situation like a boss. 

Stacey for making sure we have an update lunch schedule. 

Deb for working so hard to make sure the transfer of offices goes smoothly.  

This Week

Monday, January 11:

   ·    In-Person Instruction Resumes

Tuesday, January 12:

   ·    Staff Meeting 4-5 PM

   ·    Staff Meeting Snacks-SpEd

Friday, January 15:

   ·    DUE: Morning Assembly Presentation-Grifka (Chinese New Year)

   ·    Grade level meetings with interventions

   ·    Jorvonna Out of the Building-Personal 

New Dean Assignments

 


We are so excited to have Tameka as our new dean. The new dean assignments below will be effective Monday, February 1:

Robyn: Dean of Young 5s-2nd Grade (including paras)

Tameka: Dean of 3rd-5th Grade, Lunch/Recess Aides

Jamie: Dean of Middle School and Specials

Stacey: Dean of Special Education, Interventions, and EL (including paras)

Admin Observations

 

This week we will continue focusing on workshop for our admin collaborative observations. These observations provide us an opportunity to support you in achieving our second 100 Day Sprint (school goal)-To increase the overall number of students proficient from Interims 1 to 2 by 5% in all subjects through personalized instruction (workshop).” Let’s continue to use our Data Dig process to structure our approach to personalize instruction. More time will be spent on this process in our DDI meetings this month.

Benchmark Testing

 


Benchmark testing (Y5-3 AimswebPlus, 4-6 DIBELS) will begin for virtual students on Friday January 8 and in person students on January 11.  Intervention staff will conduct all benchmark testing for grades Y5-6 and won’t be following their typical service schedule.  All 7th and 8th graders will need to have their regular progress monitoring conducted at this point in the year. Please encourage students to continue reading as you have.  We really want to see students showing growth from the beginning of the year. The intervention team will provide more communication as it approaches.  Your flexibility and support, as always, are appreciated!

Shout Outs



Keystone Staff for standing out in the SNOW and COLD greeting our families during our Winter Wonderland. Despite the weather, everyone had a smile on their faces. It was the perfect end to 2020! 

Keystone Staff for attending our optional Mingle and Jingle. You have no idea how happy you make the admin team when we get to spend time with you and it’s NOT related to work. 

Jen H for taking the lead to make sure we truly had a winter wonderland. I love that you took the initiative with setup and decorations.  

Jeanne, Deb, Tabitha, and Ashley H for going home and coming back to school with additional decorations.  

Nicole and Christina for my tasty Christmas gift. It was so nice receiving a special delivery.

Jamie for running around the school as the gingerbread man. Thanks for continuing the kindergarten tradition, even when we are not in school.

Jen H for all your hard work in notifying over 40 families regarding their child’s attendance and possible retention.

Tracy for making the staff dessert during our Winter Wonderland event. 

Ashley H for your relentless pursuit of Chromebooks. I greatly appreciate all the communication and time invested.  

This Week

 


Sunday, January 3:

   ·    Mandy’s Birthday

Monday, January 4:

   ·    Remote Learning Resumes

Wednesday, January 6:

   ·    Virtual PTO Meeting 4-5 PM

https://meet.google.com/mnh-btzf-nmc

Friday, January 8:

   ·    DUE: Morning Assembly Presentation-Jordan (Martin L. King Jr. Day)

   ·    Virtual Benchmark Testing