This Week

Sunday, October 1:

     ·      Workshop Lesson Plans Due

Monday, October 2:

     ·      MOYA Kickoff-MS Students MOYA shirt and jeans

     ·      Falak’s Birthday

     ·      Field Trip Form Due

     Tuesday, October 3:

     ·      Emily’s Birthday

     ·     SLT Meeting 3:50-4:20

      Embrace Our Differences-Mismatched Day $1.00 (anti-bullying)

Wednesday, October 4:

     ·      Count Day-FREE Dress Down Day

     ·      Perfect Prize Attendance Redemption

Thursday, October 5:

     ·      Purple Club

Friday, October 6:

     ·      Progress Reports

     ·      Payday Breakfast-7 & 8 Grade

     ·      Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Indigenous Peoples’ Day)-Caruso

     ·      September Perfect Attendance Dress Down Day

·      Leadership Committee Agenda Due to Robyn 

ABCDE Goals-Behavior

We set a goal of entering one positive behavior per student every trimester. With progress reports due on Friday, we are half-way through Trimester 1, and I hope that you have provided at least half of your students with a positive behavior in MyNHA. The purpose of this initiative is to support a positive classroom culture; decrease attrition; and strengthen communication between home and school.

This can only be done if the positive behaviors are genuine. If you try to enter all the behaviors in the last week of the trimester, it takes away from the authenticity. If you haven’t started, I strongly encourage you to start on Monday.

A huge shout out to my top 10 staff members who have the most positive behaviors entered into MyNHA.

Leadership Committee Agenda

Please make sure you take time to meet with your leadership committee and complete this agenda. Leadership committee agendas are due to Robyn on October 6.

Teaching Observations

Every classroom that I observed in August/September was a model of positive classroom culture. I continue to be amazed by all the systems and structures you have in place to ensure you have a classroom environment that is built on care and respect. 

For the month of October, our leadership observations will be focusing on the Teaching competency. Please review the “look fors” in this document to provide you with some insight on what we are looking for when we observe you in action. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions regarding the expectations.

Progress Reports

Parents will be viewing their child’s progress report on the Parent Portal this Friday. As a part of our Green School initiative, we will not be printing progress reports. Make sure that you have a true representation of their child’s academic progress by having enough grades entered. This is easily accomplished by entering the minimum requirement consistently as a grade level.

Affirmations

 

Stacey Ramirez for taking care of me while I was sick. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.   

Stacey Reed for always getting me something. You seem to make every week brighter.

Robyn for making time to help me with fluency and my PLC meeting. I appreciate you taking the time to make me more knowledgeable.

Tracy for the wonderful surprise that you left in my mailbox. You know me so well.    

Tameka for purchasing me lunch this week. It was exactly what I needed!

Amanda for going above and beyond to make my morning special. I am amazed that you took the time to look up information to make it personal.    

Stephanie for making two trips to ensure that Friday is special for staff.  

Andria for taking time to test a student. I love that I can count on you to provide me with valuable data that helps me make an informed decision. I also appreciate your collaboration in making these decisions.

Flo and Megan for trying to find the best placement for your students.

Stacey Ramirez for going out of your way to make sure we look our best on Friday. Thank you for going to a location while I was sick.

Flo for creating the ribbons for the fluency board.

Tracy and Diane for organizing MOYA. Your efforts make our middle school better.  

Danielle, Falak, Jessica W, and Cayla for organizing our anti-bullying month. Thank you for making this important topic relevant.

Tracy and Steve for handling logistics with the chairs outside. You are always willing to take the lead and problem solve. Thank you.

Tracy, Melissa, Steve, and Eric for assisting outside with the chairs. I greatly appreciate you!

Eric for staying here all day so that our band could perform! 

Stacey Ramirez and Stefanie for helping me get everything ready for our reception. You are always willing to go above and beyond to make Keystone great!

Andria, Ellen, and Cindy for covering 4th grade for the leadership team. We called you at the last minute and you didn't hesitate to support us even though you had to sacrifice a lot. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Nikki for completing the Numeracy assessment for a co-worker. Your "team" mindset is greatly appreciated. 

Happy Birthday

Falak: October 2

Emily: October 3

Nikki: October 7

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

Important Dates

 

October 10: Monique’s Birthday

October 10: Staff Meeting

October 10: Staff Meeting Snacks-2^nd Grade

October 11: Keep bullying in the past and dress up from a different era-FREE

October 12: GL Intervention Meetings

October 13: ½ Day of School

October 16: Jorvonna Out of the Office-Bay Mills PD-Stacey Acting Principal

October 17: Jorvonna Out of the Office-Bay Mills PD-Tameka Acting Principal

October 18: Unity Day for Anti-bullying-wear orange for FREE

October 19: Family Learning Night

October 20: Spirit Day and Popcorn $1 each

October 20: IAT Meetings (K-3)

October 20: Payday Breakfast-Sped & EL

October 20: Trunk or Treat 5:30-7:30 PM

October 20: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Bullying Prevention Month)-Robinson

October 24: Flu Shots 9-11AM

October 24: PLC (Wing) Meetings

October 25: Kim J’s Birthday

October 26: Fall Fundraiser Celebration

October 27: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (American Indian Heritage Month)-Patton

October 27: Regional PD-No School

October 30-November 3: Science Interim 1 (Grades 3-4, 6-8)

October 30-November 3: ELA & Math Interim 1

October 30: Be a Hero Against Bullying-wear superhero costume (no masks)-FREE

October 31: Parent-Student Compact Due

October 31: 1^st Grade Social Media Post Due

Communication

Thank you to everyone for utilizing our new communication tool—School Connect. Our parents are appreciative of how well we keep them informed. 

One thing that I want everyone to be mindful of is the number of communications that you send. It’s a best practice to only send your newsletter and possibly one other post per week. Parents shouldn’t be receiving 3 or more communications a week because it can be overwhelming, especially if they have more than one student. That's why I decided to start sending out the safety drill post myself. :) 

I do understand that there may be some weeks when you have to send more than 2 posts, that's understandable. But it should be the exception, not the norm.  

Thank you for ensuring our communications are clear and concise! 

 

Assessment Reflection Questions

The leadership team greatly appreciates your feedback! We utilized your feedback here and selected our three assessment reflection questions.

We look forward to you responding to these questions on your upcoming assessments. Thank you for your collaboration and insight in responding to data! We will be providing you with an update regarding tracking growth at our staff meeting.

ABCDE Goals-Attendance

 

Congratulations to Amanda’s class for spelling the word HERE.

I wonder who will be the first class to spell the word, PRESENT?

I appreciate everyone for creating a classroom community that supports our attendance goal.

Flu Shots

 

On October 24 we will be offering the flu shot to all staff for free in the staff lounge. We wanted to give you a month’s notice so you can plan ahead. 

Student Dress Down Days

 

When students earn a dress down day for completing forms, perfect attendance, and other rewards it is for those students only, not staff, because those students did something to earn it! This is similar to when we have staff dress down days in which students aren’t allowed to participate. Staff can participate in schoolwide dress down days that are offered to everyone (spirit day, $1.00 dress down, etc.).

Please feel free to wear one of your dress down or jean passes on student earned dress down days. If you have any questions, please reach out to a leadership team member.

Affirmations

Jen D for cleaning the staff lounge. Thank you!  

Stacey Reed for capturing the staff’s feedback at the staff meeting.

Robyn for supporting me with a student behavior.

Jen H for ALWAYS being available and offering EVERYONE assistance with student behavior. We would be lost without you!   

Jeanne and Stacey Ramirez for getting the popcorn and nachos together for the staff.

Kayla for assisting me with 15-minute O3s.   

Holly, Dennis, Stacey Reed, Jen S, and Rachel for hosting our Special Education Open House. It was great to see everyone working together for the success of our students.

Robyn, Tameka, and Stacey Reed for taking on additional responsibilities and roles in the absence of a colleague. You truly are working a full-time AND part-time job at the moment. I know you are exhausted. Thank you for showing up every day with a positive attitude and a whatever it takes mindset. No words can adequately express my appreciation for you! Just know I do…from the bottom of my heart!

Crystal for staying late to communicate with a family.

Breanna for my sweet treat. Thank you.

Robyn for lunch this week. That was unexpected surprise that was right on time!

Stacey Reed for my tea. You always know when I need it.

Josie and Amy for starting a new club at Keystone. I am excited for the first issue of the newspaper.

Teri for being proactive with field trips. 

This Week

 

Monday, September 25:

· Ashley’s Birthday

Tuesday: September 26:

· PLC Meetings

Friday, September 29:

· Spirit Day and Popcorn $1 each

· Y5 & Kinder Social Media Post Due to Jorvonna

· Keystone 20 Year Anniversary 1:45-2:30 PM

Happy Birthday

 

Ashley: September 25

Important Dates

 

October 2: Field Trip Form Due

October 2: MOYA Kickoff

October 2: Falak’s Birthday

October 3: Emily’s Birthday

October 3: SLT Meeting 3:50-4:20

October 4: Count Day

October 4: Perfect Attendance Redemption

October 5: Purple Club

October 6: Progress Reports

October 6: Payday Breakfast-7 & 8 Grade

October 6: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Indigenous Peoples’ Day)-Caruso

October 6: Leadership Committee

October 7: Nikki’s Birthday

October 10: Monique’s Birthday

October 10: Staff Meeting

October 10: Staff Meeting Snacks-2^nd Grade

October 12: GL Intervention Meetings

October 13: ½ Day of School

October 19: Family Learning Night

October 20: Spirit Day and Popcorn $1 each

October 20: IAT Meetings (K-3)

October 20: Payday Breakfast-Sped & EL

October 20: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Bullying Prevention Month)-Robinson

October 24: Flu Shots 9-11AM

October 24: PLC (Wing) Meetings

October 25: Kim J’s Birthday

October 26: Fall Fundraiser Celebration

October 27: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (American Indian Heritage Month)-Patton

October 27: Regional PD-No School

October 30-November 3: Science Interim 1 (Grades 3-4, 6-8)

October 30-November 3: ELA & Math Interim 1

October 31: Parent-Student Compact Due

October 31: 1st Grade Social Media Post Due to Jorvonna

 

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

Greeting at Keystone

 

As Robyn discussed in our staff meeting, we are expecting greetings to occur at the following times:

    1.   Mornings

    2.   Transitions to different classes (4-8 grade, specials, etc.)

    3.   After recess

    4.   Classroom visitors

When greeting, staff should:

1.   Say the student's name.

2.   Make eye contact.

3.   Use a friendly nonverbal greeting, such as a handshake, high five, or thumbs-up.

4.   Give a few words of encouragement.

5.   Ask how their morning/day is going.

I know this seems obvious, but we have some staff that are just standing in their doorway talking to colleagues instead of greeting each individual student.

Classroom Visitors

When a visitor knocks on your classroom door, you should have one student greeter assigned to answer the door. This should be a student who sits near the door. For safety, please teach your students that they are required to get your permission before opening your locked door. The student will greet the visitor by saying, “Welcome to our class. We are currently working on (subject area). You may sit here.” This should only take the student greeter less than a minute to avoid interrupting the learning.

Subject areas:

K-2 students can just identify the subject area (math, reading, science, writing, social studies, etc.). Where our 3-8 students should be able to identify the specific content (multiplying factions, identifying the theme in a story, etc.).

See below for a video on a proper greeting.