The Key Notes

This Week

Monday, November 30:

· Remote Learning Begins

Tuesday, December 1:

· Gratitude Challenge-Week 4 (November 22-28 AND 29 & 30)

Friday, December 4:

· Due: Morning Assembly Presentation-Fletcher (National Human Rights Month)

Birthdays

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

Important Dates

Please view the right side of the blog for important dates in December and January!

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

The admin team would like to gift one free school store voucher to each staff member. You can pick one of the following to wear on Monday: dress down, pajama, crazy hair, sweater/sweatshirt, sneaker, hat, and/or crazy socks. I’m almost positive that I know which voucher 90% of the staff will choose. 😊

Additional Staff

We are excited to announce that we have been approved to hire another dean for a total of 4 deans! This position will be posted soon, and we plan for the new hire to start mid-January. We will keep you posted once we have selected our newest staff member and we have figured out new dean assignments.

Social Emotional Support-The Power of 'I AM'

I wanted to share something personal that I hope will help some of you. This past summer was extremely difficult for me professionally and personally. The deans and I spent the entire summer preparing and planning for the upcoming school year. We would meet for 8 or more hours every day and as soon as we finished a meeting feeling like we made “some” progress, we would receive communication that would change everything that we just did. Can any of you relate? 😊

This didn’t just happen once or twice, but multiple times throughout the summer. It led me to constantly feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and disheartened. I would go home and tell Jason, “I am so overwhelmed because…” or “I am frustrated because….” Since I was so consumed with my negative emotions, it made being a wife and mother difficult. I KNOW the importance of sharing how you truly feel and not suppressing emotions. You all know I believe in being transparent and honest about how I feel (good, bad, and ugly), but I also believe there should be a balance, so we don’t magnify the negative.

Reading the article below helped me to process my range of emotions and find balance when dealing with difficult situations which helped me to become a better mother and wife. The article captures a conversation between Oprah and Pastor Joel Osteen that speaks about the principal of ‘I AM.’ It states that whatever follows the sentence starter, “I am,” will be invited into your life. I love how he states, “It feels like when you understand that whatever follows “I am” is going to eventually find you…” This principle makes me more intentional about finding the good in any situation. This does not mean my positivity is toxic. It’s my positivity that is keeping me from becoming toxic as I continue to manage and oversee all the change that we are experiencing this school year.

Please note that although this conversation mentions God, my desire in sharing this is not connected to religion, instead I hope it inspires or helps someone with the message of I AM.

You can watch the entire 30 minute interview by clicking on the YouTube video at the top of this post, but the first four minutes of the conversation are scribed in the document below with my highlighted notes.

The Power of I AM by embryjd on Scribd

Preparing for Remote Learning

Just a few reminders as we prepare to launch into remote instruction…

1. All students should have their cameras on for the entire synchronous session. We need to know that they are present and engaged in learning. If you have concerns about the background or the living situation of the child, you can have them blur out their backgrounds.

2. Although we are running a schedule similar to a regular school day, some parents may have to make arrangements for childcare that will not permit consistent virtual participation within the school day. Not all our families are fortunate enough to have a family member at home and, in some cases, children will be placed into daycare or with an elderly family member. If you notice a student is not attending regularly, please reach out to the family to offer assistance. Furthermore, you should plan to record your lessons to allow ALL students access to instruction.

3. Morning assembly will continue on its normal schedule. Please continue to submit your presentations to Robyn.

4. Please be sure to communicate your office hours to parents and explain the purpose of office hours.

5. While we are teaching remotely, engaging our students can be challenging. A group of principals were brainstorming ways to engage learners from home and we came up with the following list of ways you can engage your students and check for understanding without just one to one calling on students to respond to questions / provide answers.

· Use dry erase boards or a piece of paper inside a plastic sleeve and have your scholars write out their answer and show you.

· Use hand gestures to physically engage your students (thumbs up, etc.).

· Use manipulatives they can find around the house ... crackers or noodles make great counters, small toys/blocks, etc.

· Take brain breaks! Who doesn't love a "Go Noodle" dance video?!?

· For phonics and the alphabet with younger students - have them do a scavenger hunt and search for something with the proper sound/letter.

· For older students, use online resources like Kahoot to engage your students in meaningful review.

Gratitude Challenge-Week 3

We had 30 staff members participate in the Gratitude Challenge last week. Some of the submission last week had me laughing. If you are participating in our final week-Week 4 (November 22-28 AND November 29-30) of the Gratitude Challenge, please make sure to turn in your gratitude jar to me on Tuesday, December 1. Since we are remote, you can email me your list.

This week I was grateful for…

· November 15: Family Movie Night. Jingle Jangle was a great movie.

· November 16: Deb for just being someone that I know I can always count on to help me solve problems.

· November 17: Liz, Amelia, and Morgan for being so understanding and flexible.

· November 18: Seeing our K-6 teachers preparing our students for remote learning.

· November 19: Deans who allow me to be vulnerable and REAL. Not everyone could handle me being as real as I am with all of you. Thank you for being my safe haven.

· November 20: Not having to finish the blog or phone cast today because I did it on Thursday!

· November 21: Putting up our Christmas decorations a week earlier than normal.