February 24, 2017

One of the many empowering things I walked away from the leadership conference with was the desire we MUST have to make our teaching and learning with students PERSONAL.  I know with 170 or more students, this can be a MAJOR challenge and yet, can be the most important thing we do.  Can you name all of your teachers?  Do you remember that ONE teacher who took a minute or two to ask about your day, life, activities, grades, home life, weekend, etc?  I know you do.  Think about it.  Our students simply want to please us, whether they show it or not.  They want affirmation and for us to care.  Can you spare 2 minutes each day to get to know 4 different students each week?  Think about how empowering that would be for our kids! Sometimes, we can be the ONLY positive that they have that day.  Let's BE that positive for them!

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE for 7 Easy tips for building relationships.  Yes, the title says it's regarding EL students AND this applies to ALL OF OUR STUDENTS!!

It's exciting to see many teachers in FSUSD tweeting what's going on in each other's classrooms!  We LOVE to share what's going on at GVMS on Instagram, Twitter AND our Facebook page!  It's so fun!

Many teachers are posting what's going on in their classrooms AND they are encouraging other teachers to join in and get on TWITTER and share their classroom successes! When we all (everyone at GVMS) feel the need to get others on board, we are in a GREAT PLACE!  The best thing about sharing is that it breaks down the walls between our classes, departments, grade levels, and opening up the PROBABILITY for ALL OF US to take risks, try something new, and be creative to reach ALL of our students!!

I know that not everyone is on Twitter, and it goes deeper than that.  Look at the pic above.  More and more of our staff are reaching out and sharing other ways to collaborate ideas, share practices, laugh, hug, and encourage each other!  There are more and more of our teachers inviting other teachers into our classrooms to share feedback and help everyone grow!

I cannot seem to stress this enough:  We are GOING to become a 1:1 device school (yes, we are working on faster Internet as well!)!  Therefore, PLEASE take a few minutes out of your day to CLICK HERE enter to win a COMPLETE set of Chrome Books for your class.  It is Due MARCH 31, so don't waste time!!

PTC is working to see if they can cover the ENTIRE cost of the projects (along with the matching efforts of Google.org) for those that have put them on Donor's Choose.  We are using funds from the Spring Fling!

We have been taking care of the storage for all of the ones that we are getting from Donor's Choose and covering the licensing cost for all of these.  DO IT!  It's SO easy!!

Did you know?  We are at about 75% to becoming a 1:1 device school so that we can check out devices to students!  C'mon peeps!  Do a Donor's Choose! SUPER easy!!

Did you know?  The growth on our student's MAP RIT scores can indicate how they are going to perform on the SBAC in April!  We are going to ROCK the SBAC!!  Yay!

Did you know?  We have 15 projects going on Donor's Choose right now to SUPPORT student learning!  Make one too!

Did you know?  That while sometimes it's VERY challenging to focus on the positive, it IS there.  Just look a little harder and we can ALL see the positive!  Yep.  That is our school!  Isn't it a GREAT time to be a Viking!!

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS!

• SUPER shout out to all for helping with Science Fair judging and the Academic Olympics!  Much appreciated!
• SUPER awesome shout out to Sue, Allison, Tamia, Katherine, Tom, Kristy, and Tom for participating in PODs!  We know it was AH-MAZING!  We ARE doing these by ourselves next year and subs will be reserved for each member in the departments to do this as a team, without outside help!
• SUPER shout out to Kristy for organizing and leading all of the charge on the student iPad use!
• SUPER shout out to Christine and Elizabeth for all they handled while I was away!
• SUPER shout out to Jamie, Mimi/Rosa, Sue, Lynn, Alex, Elizabeth, Dustin, Cristina, Julie, Heather T, Allison, Barb, Ken, Kristy M., Katherine, Michele R., David O., Lacey, and Christen for already writing GNRs!
• We have had 168 Good News Referrals for FEBRUARY (maybe more but I haven't had the chance to check!) !!!!!!  Keep them coming!  **We had 26 referrals in February so far... =( 
• What to nominate a fellow SUPER HERO to be recognized at our next faculty meeting?  Click HERE!!  

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

*February 28- PBIS Training, Collab Meetings, RHS Registration
*March 1- District Choir Festival @ 7:00
*March 7- Faculty Meeting in Library
*March 8- NAEP Testing for 50 8th graders
*March 8- 6th Grade Orientation @ 5:30
*March 9- Student of the Year Board Meeting
*March 14- Open Forum with Superintendent after school!
*March 17- LAST DAY TO SUBMIT PTC RECEIPTS!!
*March 29- Dine and Donate at Mary's Pizza Shack

*April 24-May 12- Block Schedule for CAASPP test!

*May 23- Nightmare on Puberty Street Assembly- Assembly schedule!