Announcements November 1

Wink's Words

October is over...  What??? 

Hunter at SFA

It seems like the clock is ticking faster the older I get.  I attended my son's first college concert on Tuesday night at SFA, my alma mater.  When I walked in the door, I saw my old voice teacher who is now the Pro-Vost of the university.  We had a great chat as we picked up right where we left off 20 years ago.  I saw former teachers who are still there today.  The only difference was they had just a little more gray.  As I reflected on my former days as a student there, I thought to myself.  Where did all the time go?  It seems like I was just walking into the music building as a freshman music major and in the blink of an eye, my son is standing where I once stood.



Here is my point from a school perspective.  The clock is ticking on our school year and before we know it, Thanksgiving break will be here.  With all the hustle and bustle to follow, we will be ending 2013.  With all of the work that we do, we often forget about the most important thing in our work and that is being thankful for people we work with.  After all, they make our work experience more enjoyable.

Tom the Turkey

So here is my challenge.  November begins tomorrow, and while we won't have Thanksgiving dinner together, we can have a Thanksgiving Turkey together.  On the whiteboard by the mailroom, Tom the Turkey awaits.  He is not quite ready for Thanksgiving break because he doesn't have any Thankful Feathers on him.  My challenge to all of us is to take a moment this month and add some feathers to Tom's plummage.  The feather should tell us a staff member on our campus that you are thankful for and why he or she makes GES the home where we truly have an Exceptional Team with an Exceptional Goal that guarantees Every Student's Exceptional Future Success.  Gobble, Gobble!!!

Upcoming Events

Date	Event	Information
Mon, Nov 4	Lock Down Drill	Please review your crisis manual with your children so we have a successful lock down drill.
Tue, Nov 5	Leadership Meeting	There will be a Leadership Meeting in the Staff Development Room from 4:00-5:00.
Thu, Nov 7	Buckeye Book Club	From 4:00-5:15 in the Library, Ms. Hooton, Ms. Scott, and Ms. Henry’s class girls only.
	Progress Reports	Send progress reports home with all students for all classes.
Fri, Nov 8	Group Pictures and Retakes	Group Pictures will be taken on this day.  If students need retakes, they will be taken during your class picture time. See picture schedule below
	Intervention Meetings	Grades 1-4 will meet with interventionist during teaming time.
Mon, Nov 11	Solution Team          Meetings	Solution Teams will meet from 4:00-5:00 on this day.
Wed, Nov 13	Thanksgiving luncheon	There will be a Thanksgiving luncheon in the gym for parents and students.  ·         Prek and 2nd       10:40-11:25 ·         1st and 3rd           11:30-12:15 ·         Kinder and 4th    12:20-1:05 Adult meals are $4.00 and additional children are $2.25.
Thu, Nov 14	College Day	Staff can wear jeans with their college attire.
	Buckeye Book Club	From 4:00-5:15 in the Library, Ms. Hooton, Ms. Scott, and Ms. Henry’s classes -girls only.
	Fundraiser pick- up	Fundraiser items will be here for pickup. Pick-up will be located in the gym from 4:00-6:00 p.m.  Volunteers are needed to help hand out fundraiser items. Please see Olivia to volunteer.
	Kinder Trip	Kindergarten will go to the Pumpkin Patch.
Fri, Nov 15	E-Train Certificates due	E-train certificates must be completed and turned in to Olivia by this date.
	Pre-K Field Trip	Pre-K will be taking a field trip to the Fire Station.
Tue, Nov 19	Cafeteria Review Day	Cafeteria monitors will be here to monitor our adherence to the Federal Food Laws.
Thu, Nov 21	3rd Grade Book  Club Celebration	Girls only from Ms. Hooton, Ms. Scott, and Ms. Henry’s classes will have a Book Club Celebration from 4:00-5:15 in the Library.
	Kinder Thanksgiving Feast	Kinder will have their traditional Thanksgiving Feast as a part of their instruction.
Fri, Nov 22	Do Nut Fret	Breakfast will be in the Staff Development Room starting at 7:15.
	End of 2nd 6 weeks	Grades must be submitted by 10:00 a.m. Monday, December 2nd.
Mon, Nov 25- Fri, Nov 29	Thanksgiving Break	Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!!

The Heart of our Work

Gradebook & Progress Report

Parent communication is critical, and your gradebook (grades 1-4) is now available for parents to view online through the parent portal.  Please enter your grades into the gradebook every week, and if students are failing daily or test grades, students must be given opportunities to retake for a passing grade.  If you have questions about this, please talk with your assistant principal.

Progress reports must go out on Thursday, November 7 for all subjects.  Please make sure that every student receives a progress report for all classes.

Sub Folder Check List

Please check your substitute folders to make sure they have the following:

• 4 or 5 rosters for attendance
• Your daily schedule
• Some activities in case of an emergency absence where you can't plan for the sub.
• End of the day transportation

Intervention Meetings with the Lab - Friday, November 8

We have completed 9 weeks of intervention support for grades 1-4 and now it is time to refocus our interventions.  During teaming times, interventionists will meet with 1st - 4th grade teachers to strengthen the lines of communication as well as the intervention strategies between the lab and the classroom.

Vertical Alignment Teams - Thursday, November 14

Last year, we met after school to align our instruction vertically.  This year, we are utilizing our teaming time to meet with teachers in different grade levels to align our instruction strategies and language.  We will use the same forms that we used last year to align the 1-2 high leverage skills in ELA & math for the month of November.  Here is what your teams need to do prior to the meeting.

• Identify your 1 or 2 high leverage skills from the 6 Week Snapshots on GISD Curriculum Document (Click Here).
• Complete the Vertical Skill Intervention Worksheet

• Before the meeting, complete rows 1, 2, 3 prior to the meeting with your team.
• Identify the skill and agree on what students must be able to do to master the skill.
• Identify 3 common mistakes that student make when initially learning the skill.
• Create interventions that the team could implement to respond when kids fail.
• During the meeting, complete the row with the grade level below or grade level above.
• Get feedback from the grade level that you are meeting with about the interventions.
• Find out what language or strategies are used so that both grades can better align methodologies.

• Report Back to your Grade Level
• Explain what information you gained from meeting with the grade level above and below to ensure that all students learn the high leverage skills.
• Include your ideas in your instruction, small group plans and intervention strategies.

Celebrate our Growth

Mrs. Treadway says...

The Kindergarten team went above and beyond by having a parent meeting during the Great Pumpkin Palooza. The parents appreciated your time and the many things you shared with them to help support our students. Great job, Ladies!!!

The Pre-K teachers have welcomed a new member to their team, Mrs. Christina Mah. I appreciate the way you all came together and supported her in getting her room ready and made sure she was prepared for her students arrival on Monday. Way to work as a team!!!

Mrs. Barnes says...

First and Second grade teams made me so proud with their wonderful pumpkins for the Pumpkin Palooza.  It was so great seeing the kiddos come in so excited to show their parents the class project.  Some of you went over and beyond with the student writing that was displayed connecting with the book.

I would like to say a special Thank You to Niki Wilson.  She puts the nicest comments about our school on her Facebook page.  It is great to see the positives about our school.  Thanks Niki and we are glad you are here.

Mrs. Traylor says...

A huge thank you to both third and fourth grade for your hard work during the pumpkin palooza. The pumpkins in third looked amazing and were very creative. Way to go fourth grade teachers for incorporating your pumpkins into social studies.

Paula Robinson's attitude is contagious. She can even make car duty fun. She is always smiling and greeting parents and kids with a smile.



Mr. Wink says...
Thank you to Mrs. Lopez, Mrs. Watson, Mrs. Troell & Mrs. Bagley for meeting with your ESL parents last week during your conference.  Yeimy Lopez translated as each teacher led different parts of the meeting.  The parents walked away feeling very good about the things that they need to reinforce at home.

Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Smith, Ms. Shanks, Mrs. Ketner, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. White, Ms. Currey & Ms. High did an outstanding job preparing and showcasing our kids' learning at Pumpkin Palooza.  Your student work was amazing, and the parents were blown away by the things our kids are learning in specials.

Great idea to Mrs. Cunningham for her idea to make her G/T classes create the Heart-Work Awards.  What a great idea to have teachers nominate individual students that are going above and beyond in their learning and then recognize them with a student-created certificate.  What gets celebrated gets accelerated!!!