November 18, 2016

PLEASE take advantage of this and PROMOTE it to all of your families!!!  
ONE DAY ONLY!  Check out the official rules for what to do but here's the deal:  All day on November 29th, every time donors support a classroom on this site, they'll be entered to receive one of fifty $5,000 DonordChoose.org gift card to support classroom projects!  THAT'S NOT ALL!!  The teachers that donors support will ALSO be entered in a separate drawing to receive one of fifty DonorChoose.org gift cards!!
C'mon and get out there are PROMOTE #GivingTuesday and get those project funded!!!

During our recent PBIS Workshop, we realized that using the "check in-check out" idea was BRILLIANT to greet students at the door before starting class!  It makes them KNOW that you care, you are saying hi, noticing the look on their face and more.  Take ONE minute before class starts to just be by your door as our kids walk in to notice them.  Just notice and say WELCOME to class!  It's going to be a great day!! 

We will have a rally schedule on December 15th (more coming) to recognize grades and attendance.  Please note that awards are as follows and will include prizes, certificates, and raffles!!

3.0-3.4 Honorable Mention

3.5-3.9 Honor Roll

4.0 Principal's Honor Roll

We still continue to struggle with after school yard duty.  Please program this into your phone or ensure that you have coverage if you need it.  We really need the eyes and ears up front, in the amphitheater, and at the bike rack area when students are dismissed.

While Hour of Code is coming December 5-11, MANY of our classes are already coding on a daily, if not weekly, basis!  This is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn programming skills and more!  Sign your class up HERE and check out all of the different options for students!!

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

• SUPER shout out to Dalal for arranging the MAP Chrome Book sharing schedule for December testing!
• SUPER shout out to Jason, Dave F., and Carol for jumping to share Chrome Books with Sue, Paula and Allison!  Love the love!
• SUPER shout out to our PBIS Team (Lynn, Sue, Josiah, Carla, Dalal, Elizabeth, and Sandy) for coming up with more ways and ideas to support our students!
• SUPER shout out to Jamie (5th/6th period PE Team Member) for ALREADY writing Good News Referrals!  YAY!
• SUPER shout out to ROSA, MIMI, TRACY, ALISA, DALAL, JAMIE, KAREN/ANNETTE, KEN, ELIZABETH, CRISTINA, ALEX, TAMIA, DAVE F., DON, LYNN, KATHERINE, JASON, LORRAINE, PECKHAM, JULIE, HEATHER P., CHRISTEN, SANDY, ALLISON, CAROL, ROCHELLE, BARB AND ME =) for writing GOOD NEWS REFERRALS! We have had 135for NOVEMBER! Keep them coming!  Can't wait to see how POSITIVE and FABULOUS December is!!! **We have had 16 referrals in NOVEMBER sent to the office mostly for disruption/defiance =) and see the graphs for more info!
• What to nominate a fellow SUPER HERO to be recognized at our next faculty meeting?  Click HERE!!  PLEASE!!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

*November 21-25- EMAIL FREE Thanksgiving Break!

*November 29- Department Meetings
*November 30- Site Council in library
*December 1- Basketball @ Grange
*December 5, 8, 9- PODs for English/History
*Decemeber 6- Faculty Meeting in Library
*December 7- Evaluat'd Training for Probs in library
*December 7- Winter Concert (day and night)
*December 8- Basketball here versus BGW

*December 15- RALLY SCHEDULE (coming soon) for Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance!
*December 15- STAFF Holiday Celebration at Cast Iron AFTER SCHOOL!!

November 10, 2016

Has anyone perfected this?  If so, can you share with us please?  I, personally, am terrible at this.  Teachers, or anyone in education for that matter, struggle to balance work and everything else and YOU MATTER! Check out THIS ARTICLE for some interesting insight and ideas on how to make this happen...

So, there is a lot of discussion around teacher talk!  Let's work on being DONE with all of the teacher talk!  Do we have your attention?  The research is startling:  teachers ask between 200-300 questions a day (are you tired yet??), whereas most students as 2. OMG. TWO?  And those questions are typically for clarification purposes.

Most teachers, in general, dominate the classroom talk speaking anywhere between 60-70% of the time!  That's a LOT of work for all teachers!

Take a minute to read THIS ARTICLE (and sign up for her blog posts as they are awesome) to evaluate where you are and what you can do to get kids talking MORE academically and you talking less!

As an educator and a parent myself, having parent meetings can lead to better understanding between both parties.  All parents want their kids to feel safe, be happy and learn when they come to GVMS.  This is SO important and why we want to make them feel welcome and a part of our team when making decisions, especially when it comes to their kids.  While I know we don't have parent/student conferences again until February, take a moment to reach out to them to ask if there are any changes at home that may be affecting their student at school, or something positive that you have noticed about them when they are at GVMS.  This can be life changing!  

We have had a few people ask for subs for half or full day to visit others or collaborate (yay!) and we are HAPPY to help make this happen!  Just let us know that you are interested so we can ensure that a sub will be reserved! We currently have 1 more reserved for November 17th so FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!

Thank you for already completing the nomination form for Student of the Month for Trustworthiness for December!  It's due next Friday so there is a fast turn around!  Please remember not to pick more than the current month and please do not choose a student that has already been chosen from another staff member.  Thank you to Dalal, Kevin, Allison, Julie, Sue, Heather, Carol, Elizabeth, Annette/Karen for already submitting your name!

While Hour of Code is coming December 5-11, MANY of our classes are already coding on a daily, if not weekly, basis!  This is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn programming skills and more!  Sign your class up HERE and check out all of the different options for students!!

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

• SUPER shout out to those that have already reached out OR sent up GOOD NEWS REFERRALS, especially to those that have NEVER written them before!! We have already had 44 for NOVEMBER (some are from the end of October that just got awarded!)!!  Keep them coming!  Can't wait to see how POSITIVE and FABULOUS this month IS!!! **We have only had 16 referrals in NOVEMBER sent to the office mostly for disruption/defiance =)
• What to nominate a fellow SUPER HERO to be recognized at our next faculty meeting?  Click HERE!!  PLEASE!!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

*November 15, 16- DOK/Academic Training in our library!
*November 16- PBIS Training at SCOE!
*November 18- PTC Meeting in Library!
*November 21-25- EMAIL FREE Thanksgiving Break!
*November 29- Department Meetings
*December 15- RALLY SCHEDULE (coming soon) for Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance!

November 4, 2016

#thirtydaysofthankfulness and #thirtydaysofthankful is something that we are doing daily on our Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page, as well as, sending to our parents and families!  I truly encourage you to JUMP ON BOARD and post, Tweet, say, share, shout, or write something you are thankful for each day.  Help take a moment to stop and give thanks.  It truly puts things into perspective!

In addition to participating in #thirydaysofthankfulness, check out THIS ARTICLE about trying something new in your classroom for 30 days and what that means for your students!

We have had a few people ask for subs for half or full day to visit others or collaborate (yay!) and we are HAPPY to help make this happen!  Just let us know that you are interested so we can ensure that a sub will be reserved! We currently have 2 more reserved for November 17th so FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!

Thank you for those who are remembering to show up for your assigned yard duty.  We are having MANY issues and many areas are being left unsupervised, especially after school. PLEASE show up so that students are supervised and we don't have to search for you!  Thank you!

While Hour of Code is coming December 5-11, MANY of our classes are already coding on a daily, if not weekly, basis!  This is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn programming skills and more!  Sign your class up HERE and check out all of the different options for students!!

We will be updated all ARs (Administrative Regulations) and BPs (Board Policies) in the Google Drive that was shared with all at the beginning of the year.  HERE it is again (link or cut and paste): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B80v0QmB4OPhR0wtN3U3Ry1RRzA 

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

• SUPER shout out to Alisa for working with kids to teach and then performing Thriller!  It was awesome!
• SUPER shout out to Kristy for taking on the new Family Life training for our district!
• SUPER shout out to Mimi, Rosa, Heather, Alex, Tamia, Dave F., Lynn, Sandy, Allison, Carol, Rochelle, Karen and Annette for writing Good News Referrals already to count for the month of November!
• SUPER shout out to Ric for keeping up with all of the messes around here!
• SUPER shout out to Rosa, Mimi, Aida and Kristy for the organizing, the clothing orders taken care of, the safety of our students taken care of and more!!
• SUPER shout out to our office organizers for always having the answer and for our meeting today!
• SUPER shout out Sue for sending an email invite to come into her class and for Lynn, Katherine, Allison, Paula, and Tamia for going to watch what was being taught!  Would LOVE to see everyone do this!
• SUPER shout out to Kevin and Sarj for helping us clean up after the last day of Challenge Day!
• SUPER shout out to Dalal, Heather, and Alex for creating a slide show to share their learning from CUE and then being willing to share with everyone!
• SUPER shout out to those that have already reached out OR sent up GOOD NEWS REFERRALS, especially to those that have NEVER written them before!! We have already had written 38 for NOVEMBER (some are from the end of October that just got awarded!)!!  Keep them coming!  Can't wait to see how POSITIVE and FABULOUS this month IS!!! **We have only had 66 referrals to date sent to the office for a variety of reasons =)
• What to nominate a fellow SUPER HERO to be recognized at our next faculty meeting?  Click HERE!!  PLEASE!!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

*November 7- Kris Corey here in morning! 
*November 8- Leadership Meeting!
*November 8- High School Fair at FHS!
*November 9- Chipotle Dine and Donate 4-9 PM!
*November 11- No school for Veteran's Day!
*November 15, 16- DOK/Academic Training in our library!
*November 16- PBIS Training at SCOE!
*November 18- PTC Meeting in Library!
*November 21-25- Thanksgiving Break!
*November 29- Department Meetings
*December 15- RALLY SCHEDULE (coming soon) for Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance!