Friday Focus - November, 30, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*I noticed so many staff welcoming students back to school Monday morning after break...it felt like a family reunion. Our kids were so happy to see you!
*Students reviewing sample student writing to see what they could notice to use in their own writing, with the teacher helping to point out what they could use in their writing too.
*During Guidance with Ganser, students were brainstorming ideas for giving compliments and challenged to give compliments to someone else.
*Several staff members pitching in and helping in many different areas--classrooms, hallways, lunchroom, recess to help cover in others' absences.  Your teamwork is incredible!!!
*A Christmas elf put the tree up before I even remembered to try to find which closet it was in. Thank you!
*Our Family Fun Math Night committee put together an incredible night for our families to see that practicing math can be fun. Thank you Ms. B, Mrs. O'Toole, Ms. Zemlicka and Mrs. Fobes! For our first time to have this event--it was a HUGE success and we will definitely be doing this again and looking for staff to represent different grade levels.


Events Next Week:
Monday - New Teachers Meeting 3:15
-I will be out of the building in the afternoon

Tuesday - I will announce students of the month in the morning

Wednesday - I will be out of the building most of the day (I'm taking our Tech Ninjas to present at a conference)
3:10 Elementary staff meeting

Thursday - it is already mid-Quarter!!! Time to send home progress reports to keep parents informed.


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Wednesday's staff meeting agenda includes an update from the PBIS committee and PLTW information to prepare us for our Dec 10 PD day.
• We are currently short staffed in our evening custodial crew, so please be understanding if some things get missed. This is a great opportunity to make sure students are helping to keep their classroom they way they want to live in it at the end of the day (i.e. picking up scraps off the floor, cleaning up after any messes, etc.)
• The latest book from ASCD, called Engage the Brain just came in my mailbox and I know I won't have the chance to read it for quite a while (I have a large to-read stack that I'm working on first.). Here's more about this book: http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Engage-the-Brain.aspx  Let me know if you would like to borrow this. :)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!

*Can Learning Social Skills in School Pay Off Beyond the Classroom?