The Key Notes : August 2024

Family Connections

Family connections for new students are due this Friday, September 6, and family connections for returning students are due Friday, September 13.

We are asking that you have an actual conversation with 100% of your families. This can be accomplished with two attempts. If you are unable to reach a family by phone, send them a follow-up email to schedule another time to talk. Please make a copy and complete this sheet when making these phone calls. You will bring the sheet to your O3 the week of September 16 to discuss with your dean.

I am asking that everyone please complete this task with integrity. Please do not mark that you spoke to a family if you did not. Instead, you can show the follow-up email to your dean which lets us know that the family was unresponsive to both your attempts (the phone call AND email).

Thank you for taking the time to make connections and build relationships with our families. This supports several Core Values and our attrition goal.

Social Media Posts

The connection between home and school is critical for academic success. One way that we can strengthen those partnerships is to use our social media platforms to invite families into our classrooms. Every classroom teacher is responsible for capturing one creative lesson or activity from their classroom.

Please make sure that you email me 2-3 pictures along with a small blurb (2-3 sentences) of the activity/lesson by the deadline below. I will share them on our social media pages—Facebook & Instagram. Thank you for your contribution to our enrollment and attrition.

Grade Level	Deadline
Y5/Kinder	September 30
1^st	October 31
2^nd	November 22
3^rd	December 20
4^th	January 31
5^th	February 28
6^th	March 21
7^th	April 30
8^th	May 30

Leadership Observations

Starting next week, the leadership team will be 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.

We will try to notify you in advance if the entire leadership team is coming into your classroom, but it may not always be possible.

We will be observing the Classroom Culture competency from the Framework until September 13.

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.

C&I Visit

Our math and ELA specialists from NHA’s Curriculum & Instruction (C &I) team, along with our DSQ, Senior DSQ and School Leadership Development partner are coming to visit our school on Wednesday, September 4 from 8:30-2:45.

The purpose of their visit is to determine how they can support teachers and deans with the following instructional practices:

Classroom Routines & Procedures
Instructional fidelity (using the tool, incorporating the lesson components, and following the lesson plan)

· Student instructional engagement (students participating in discussion, taking an active role in learning, etc.)

· Students being able to articulate and explain the learning objective (I Can).

We have notified those teachers who will be observed, however, if you see them around our school, please give them a warm Keystone welcome.

30 Hour PD

As you know, we provide our new teachers with less than 3 years of experience, an additional 30 hours of professional development throughout the school year. To provide this PD, we utilized all our substitutes on those days. Consequently, we cannot approve time off on the following days due to all subs being utilized: October 24 and January 16. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if this causes an issue.

Affirmations

Lisa for all of the decorations you provided for August PD and New Family Dinner. You made our western theme come alive.

Ellen, Cindy, Andria, and Jane for your flexibility and perseverance with benchmark testing.

Stacey Ramirez for being my companion really late into the night to make sure the front office was ready for the first day of school.

Nicole for coming in and providing creative attendance rewards and keeping staff on track with attendance.

Robyn, Stacey Reed, Stacey Ramirez, Stefanie, and Alex for making A LOT of enrollment phone calls.

Jwain and Jen H for jumping into your roles and getting things done.

Jeanne, Nicole, Kim J, and Jen H for supporting the leadership team with a student concern. Your quick response helped to resolve the problem

Theresa, Kim B, Lisa, and Sandy for volunteering to stay during dismissal to ensure the safety of our students.

Courtney for always being willing to help in many different capacities.

Tracy and Diane for getting things together for MOYA.

Jen H for spending a lot of time supporting new colleagues.

Teri for finding out important information regarding math instruction.

Danielle for supporting colleagues during the absence.

Steve for the sweet treat on the first day of school.

Kathleen for assisting me with the power outage.

Alex for making me feel seen and sane.

Brandy for going above and beyond to make sure all needs are met.

Gary for always giving me a kind smile and hello.

Jane for showing kindness towards my children.

Mark for greeting me first and making sure I heard you!

Kim B for providing me an affirmation via text. Thanks for the encouragement.

This Week

Monday, September 2:

· No School-Labor Day

· Flo’s Birthday

Tuesday, September 3:

· SLT Meeting 3:50-4:20 PM

Wednesday, September 4:

· C&I Visit

Thursday, September 5:

· September 5: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Hispanic-Latino Heritage)-Caruso

Friday, September 6:

· September 6: GL Intervention Meetings

· September 6: Leadership Catalog Due

· September 6: Payday Breakfast-2^nd Grade

· September 6: New Family Connections Due

Happy Birthday

Fl0: September 2

Important Dates

September 9-27: K-8 Fall NWEA

September 10: Staff Meeting

September 10: Staff Meeting Snacks-Interventions

September 11: Dress Down $1 and Hat $1

September 12: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Constitution Day)-Cheng

September 13: Family Connections Due

September 13: Title 1 Parent Meeting 8:15

September 13: Last Day of Mum Fundraiser

September 16: Extra Dismissal Schedule Submitted to Dean

September 16-20: 1-2 Fall Math Numeracy

September 16: Extra Prep Begins

September 18: Rachel’s Birthday

September 18: Fall Picture Day

September 18: SpEd Open House

September 19: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Hispanic-Latino Month)-Phetteplace

September 20: Social Contract Posted

September 20: Substitute Binder Due

September 20: Payday Breakfast-Intervention

September 20: Education Benefit Form & School-Parent Compact Due

September 23: Mum Delivery

September 23: Jorvonna Out of the Building-Robyn Acting Principal

September 24: PLC Meetings

September 25: Education Benefits & Parent-Student Compact Dress Down Day

September 26: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Global Diversity Awareness Month)-Brown

September 27: Spirit Day $1.00 and Popcorn $1.00

September 30: Y5/Kinder Social Media Post Due to Jorvonna

October 1: Field Trip Location & Date Submitted to Jorvonna

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

ABCDE Goals-Chronic Absenteeism

As I mentioned during August PD, we are focusing on the C (Chronic Absenteeism) and D (Development) of the ABCDE goals. You are a critical component of us achieving our first goal-- to decrease our total number of student absences by 3% from 8,406 in the 2023-24 SY to 8,154 in the 2024-25 SY.

The first step is to continue implementing our classroom attendance initiatives outlined on page 6 of our Staff Reference Guide.

“In an effort to decrease our absences, classroom teachers will write their daily percentage present outside their door by 8:15 AM to receive a raffle ticket. Raffle tickets will be placed in the clear box on the counter in the copy room and pulled during assembly to earn a prize.

Additionally, 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 an award that is determined by the teacher; not to exceed 30 minutes a day. Please communicate with your dean and Jorvonna the type of award and when it will happen. Perfect attendance begins the first day of school. Please include your progress in your weekly newsletters.”

Furthermore, engage our families by creating an “attendance” section in your weekly newsletter highlighting your classroom progress. For example, you could say, “Families, we had no tardies, absences, nor early dismissals for two days this week earning us the “H” and “E” from the word “HERE.” Once we spell the complete word, students will earn a celebration. Please help us achieve this goal by avoiding absences, tardies and early dismissals when possible. Thank you for your partnership.” Kudos to Mrs. Shroff who did an exceptional job of this last year! This might be a contributing factor as to why she was able to have the most perfect attendance days last school year.

Lastly, don’t forget that you are responsible for contacting families once students have reached 2 & 4 absences. You can find sample communications in the 2024-24 Teacher Document folder in the Attendance folder on the U-Drive. Please don’t forget to ‘cc” Nicole Gozalka, our Attendance Liaison. She will be tracking communications.

Coffee Truck Thursday

Our PTO would like to welcome you back by providing a coffee truck this Thursday for everyone for FREE!

Core Values-BWC

One of our Core Values is “Behave with Care.” We want everyone to focus on building positive relationships with students and classroom routines/procedures during the first few weeks of school.

One way to build positive relationships with your students is to greet your students. We expect all teachers to greet their students at the door every morning starting at 7:40. This will assist with safety by monitoring our students in the hallways. But most importantly, it helps you to gauge your students’ moods so you can be proactive instead of reactive.

Please position yourself in a way that you can still see inside your classroom and have a Do Now posted to avoid unwanted behaviors from occurring within the classroom.

Technology

As you know, we believe in the “whole” child and want to provide our students with the opportunity to socially interact. The majority of their day is spent listening and learning, so whenever it’s possible (lunch, recess, engagement strategies during lessons, etc.) we want them to use their social skills. Therefore, students are not allowed on technology (Chromebooks, movies, etc.) during lunch or dismissal. Students can have the option of technology during indoor recess, but it should be an option among other things, not the only choice.

Affirmations

Keystone Staff for your participation, engagement, and enthusiasm during August PD. I’m always proud to be a part of the Keystone team!

Alex, Robyn, and Stacey Reed thank you for everything! I am beyond thankful for all the things that you have done to help us prepare for this upcoming school year. No can imagine the number of hours, days, and effort it takes to plan and prepare for the upcoming school year because you all make it look so easy. I would truly be lost without you. Thank you for always being willing to do whatever, whenever!

Stacey Ramirez for taking care of our staff t-shirts.

Teri, Andria, Robyn, Stacey Reed, and Alex for creating content and leading sessions during August PD. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise.

Stacey Ramirez for handling all enrollment situations. You go beyond what’s asked.

Brandy, Gary, Jeanne, Monique, and Gary for making our school clean and ready for the first day of school.

Stefanie for all your support all six of our enrollment events this summer (Belleville Fireworks, Lake Fest, Painting with the Principal, New Family Dinner, Barnyard Bash, & Family Fun Night). You do so much to ensure we have full enrollment.

Stephanie for ALL the things that you have done this summer to make sure that our August PD went smoothly. From food, purchase orders, and errands –our PD would not be successful without you.

Stacey Ramirez for always going above and beyond to help me with so many things. You do a lot of behind-the-scenes things that no one even knows. My vision and your creativity are unmatched. We do great things together!

Sarah, Teri, Emma, Steve, Robyn, Stacey Reed, Stacey Ramirez, Stefanie and Alex for spending an evening with our new families. I appreciate you volunteering time during the summer to support our enrollment efforts.

Mandy, Kim B, Megan, Jessica, Flo, Theresa, Lisa, Sandy, Stefanie, Stacey Ramirez, and Alex for welcoming our new Y5s and Kinder families during the Barnyard Bash. I appreciate you volunteering time during the summer to support our enrollment efforts.

This Week

Monday, August 26:

· First Day of School

· PTO Boo Hoo/Yahoo Parent Breakfast

· Y5-8 ORF Benchmark 1 (8/27-9/4)

Thursday, August 29:

· Andria’s Birthday

· Morning Assembly

· Staff Reference Guide Acknowledgement Form Due

· Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Schoolwide Procedures)-Kaminski

Friday, August 30:

· No School-Labor Day Weekend

Happy Birthday

Andria: August 29

Happy BELATED Birthday

Jen S: July 1

Teri: July 8

Josie: July 10

Stacey Reed: July 12

Mark: July 22

Linsey: July 28

Jeanne: August 1

Sydney: August 8

Cindy: August 10

Jwain: August 12

Diane: August 14

Nicole: August 14

Stephanie: August 17

Lori: August 17

Tracy: August 20

Christina: August 25

There is a special gift in the mailboxes of all the people who celebrate their birthdays in July, August & September.