Core Values-Behave With Care

 

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 from 7:40-8:00 AM. 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. 

Behavior Goal

 

As I mentioned during August PD, we are not starting anything new for the A, C, or E of the ABCDE goals. Instead, we will continue to strengthen our effective initiatives. You are a critical component of us achieving our “B” goal to decrease our total number of student behavior counts by 3% from 2,416 (24-25 SY) to 2,344 (25-26 SY).

To achieve this goal, it’s important that you start the year off strong with classroom management. As we begin a new school year, remember this: the first days set the tone for the entire year. Classroom management is not about strict control—it’s about creating the structure, consistency, and safety that allow students to thrive.

When you start strong, you give your students the gift of clarity. They know what’s expected, they feel secure, and they understand that your classroom is a place where learning matters. This foundation builds trust, minimizes disruptions, and maximizes time for the joyful, engaging teaching you love to do.

It’s always easier to ease up later than to tighten expectations after the fact. By investing the time now to establish routines, model expectations, and hold students accountable, you’re laying the groundwork for a year filled with growth, respect, and success. Please use our 3 Most Common Behavior cheat sheet as a resource for starting strong! Don't forget about Jeremiah. :) 

Family Contacts

 

Family connections for new students are due Friday, September 5, and family connections for returning students is due Friday, September 12. 

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 download and complete this sheet when making these phone calls. You will bring the sheet to your O3 the week of September 15 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.

Attendance Matters

 

You received an email from Jessica Sandner announcing NHA’s attendance campaign called Strive for 5. In addition, we will continue our own attendance initiatives. The first step is to be prepared for Classroom Perfect Attendance and 94% Daily Attendance on the first day of school. You can read about all our attendance initiatives HERE. 

Lastly, it is important that you engage your families by providing weekly updates in your classroom newsletters. Please feel free to create an “attendance” section where you highlight 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.”

I will be communicating all our attendance initiatives to families in my September 1^st Sunday Night Email.

Technology

 

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.

Classroom Framework

 

With the new Classroom Framework and our schoolwide behavior goal, we want to make sure that we are providing you with support. 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 19.  

Please review the new framework 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.

Coffee Truck

 

Our wonderful PTO will be providing us with a coffee truck on Thursday. Please go outside to the playground between 7-9 AM to get a hot beverage. If you don’t have prep before 9AM, please make sure you get here early enough to get your beverage before 7:40. We don’t have anyone who can “deliver” beverages to classrooms.  

New Teacher Document

 

As we continue to welcome new teachers into our Keystone family, we want to make sure they feel fully supported from day one. To help with this, we are creating this document that outlines basic directions and important “how-to’s” for navigating everyday school routines and procedures such as recording assembly presentations, EdCite, Go Guardian, etc.

This resource will serve as a quick reference guide, so our new colleagues don’t feel overwhelmed trying to figure out the little things on their own. From understanding daily operations to locating key resources, the goal is to provide clarity and confidence as they settle into their roles.

Thank you for helping us foster a culture where every teacher—new or veteran—feels supported, valued, and set up for success. Together, we make Keystone a place where everyone can thrive.

Big shout out to Alex Roberts for creating it!

Vending Machine

The PTO would love your feedback on what you’d like to see in the parent room vending machine! Please take a moment to complete this form and share your suggestions. 

Affirmations

 

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

Steve for taking my music selections and making them accessible. In addition, thanks for being our tech guru!

Tameka, Robyn, Sally, 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 one 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!

Jen Horner for taking care of our staff t-shirts.

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

Stefanie for all your support at all five of our enrollment events this summer (Animal Show, Magic Show, 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. I am always so grateful.  

Tracy, Falak, Christina Robyn, Stacey Reed, Stacey Ramirez, Sally, Stefanie and Tameka 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, Lisa, Stefanie, Stacey Ramirez, and Sally 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 25:

    · First Day of School

    · PTO Boo Hoo/Yahoo Parent Breakfast

    · Y5-8 ORF Benchmark 1 (8/26-9/3)

Thursday, August 28:

    · Morning Assembly

    · Coffee Truck from PTO 7-9 AM

    · Staff Reference Guide Acknowledgement Form Due

    · Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Schoolwide Procedures)-Caruso

Friday, August 29:

    · Andria’s Birthday

    · No School-Labor Day Weekend

Happy Birthday

 

Andria: August 29

Happy Belated Birthday

 

Jen R: July 1

Teri: July 8

Stacey Reed: July 12

Mark: July 22

Linsey: July 28

Cindy: August 10

Diane: August 14

Stephanie: 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.

Important Dates

 

September 1: No School-Labor Day

September 2: Flo’s Birthday

September 3: Grade Level Events Submitted to Jorvonna

September 3: SLT Meeting 3:50 (Diane’s Room)

September 3: GL Intervention Meetings

September 4: C&I Full Day Visit

September 4: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Hispanic-Latino Heritage: What & Why)-Good-Lang

September 5: Payday Breakfast-Interventions

September 5: New Family Connections Due

September 5: Leadership Catalog Due

September 8-28: Fall Fundraiser

September 8-26: K-8 Fall NWEA

September 9: Staff Meeting

September 9: Staff Meeting Snacks-Interventions

September 11: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Constitution Day)-Kaminski

September 12: Family Connections Due

September 12: Coffee & Pastries Fall Parent Meeting for Federal and State Programs 8:15

September 12: Y5s-5^th Grade Skate Party 3:30-6:30

September 15: Taylor’s Birthday

September 12: Extra Dismissal Schedule Submitted to Dean

September 15-19: 1-2 Fall Math Numeracy

September 16: Extra Prep Begins

September 17: Fall Picture Day

September 17: SpEd Open House

September 17: Education Benefit Form & School-Parent Compact Due

September 18: Rachel’s Birthday

September 18: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Hispanic-Latino Month: Who & How)-Robinson

September 19: Social Contract Posted

September 19: Substitute Binder Due

September 19: Payday Breakfast-2^nd Grade

September 19: Middle School Skate Party 3:30-6:30 PM

September 22: Education Benefits & Parent-Student Compact Dress Down Day

September 23: PLC Meetings 

September 25: Morning Assembly Presentation Due (Global Diversity Awareness Month)-Khafagi

September 26: Y5/Kinder Social Media Post Due to Jorvonna

September 26: Spirit Day $1.00 and Popcorn $1.00

September 29: Sally’s Birthday

September 29: Jorvonna Out of the Building (Bay Mills)-Robyn Acting Principal

September 30: Jorvonna Out of the Building (Bay Mills)-Stacey Acting Principal

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!