Week 5 and we are still alive! 🙌
Instructional Assistants: Effective immediately, all Teacher Assistants will now serve under the role of Instructional Assistants. After working with our MTSS team and Mr. Hall, it is our goal to be as intentional as we can be with how we utilize our support staff. With this change in mindset, we plan to look at expanding the role of our Instructional Assistants in some areas, to best serve a wide range of students.
PD after school October 3: Don’t forget that we will have PD after school this Thursday, October 3 at 3:30 (certified teachers only). We will meet in the media center. This PD will focus on the new PBIS program "Punctual Pandas" and updating/creating Powerschool Learning Teacher pages.
I-Ready Training (3rd-5th only): All 3rd-5th grade teachers - please make sure you check your email for the I-Ready training locations and dates for next week. All 3rd-5th teachers need to attend a session.
Schedules: Please post a detailed time schedule of your day outside your classroom by this Monday, September 30. Make sure you have the allotted 90 minute time blocks for Reading and Math.
Panorama Survey: Make sure you take the staff Panorama survey. The access code is 494staff. Click on this link: https://surveys.panoramaed.com/winstonsalem/login
Spirit Wear: PTA Spirit Wear is online this year. Check out the store to get you some new Panda gear! Here is the link: https://machinegungraphics.com/piney_grove/shop/home
Lamination Machine: Friendly reminder that the lamination machine is to only be used by specific office staff. This past week we found the machine on one morning when we opened the building. This can create a fire hazard, and not to mention the machine can only be operated with a specific key. If you need something laminated please leave it for Ms. Murray or Ms. Landreth.
SECU Retirement Planning: This Thursday, October 3 representatives from the State Employees Credit Union will be on campus to provide guidance and resources to help you plan for retirement. It is never to early to begin planning. I highly encourage everyone to sign up. You may sign up even if you are not a SECU member. I have sent an email with the information. Here is the link to sign up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G53bHbfb7SMTxGs1lowMvlDS8pxDqI93yJBgWMJauDg/edit?usp=sharing
3rd and Goal Literacy Program: I know I'm biased (Lol) but check out this neat literacy program and videos produced by the Carolina Panthers: https://www.panthers.com/news/3rd-and-goal
Positive Contact: Please make sure you are making those positive parent contacts. It could be a phone call, text, Dojo message, or in-person contact. Fill that bucket :) Each teacher should make a positive contact for each student and complete their log sheet by the end of the quarter.
Positive Contact: Please make sure you are making those positive parent contacts. It could be a phone call, text, Dojo message, or in-person contact. Fill that bucket :) Each teacher should make a positive contact for each student and complete their log sheet by the end of the quarter.
PTA Membership: We encourage you to join PTA. It is only $5 and they do so much for our school. Including the funds for each classroom. Membership forms are in the front office.
Staff Spotlight: Check out the district article that was published about our new outdoor learning spaces: https://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=1&ModuleInstanceID=12708&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=265384&PageID=1
Thank you so much to Mrs. Mason and all her hard work on our school family tree. It is beautiful! Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week (thanks for organizing this Ms. Jones)! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Rempe. Check it out!
Field Trip Calendar: There’s a master field trip calendar list on the closet door across from Gardner’s office. This is for your information when planning trips. Please do not write on the calendar. This will allow grade levels to see what days already have trips so you avoid those dates.
Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.
Lesson Plans: Friendly reminder that Lesson Plans should be posted to the PowerSchool Wiki the first day of each week by 8:00am.
IF Updates
Istation updates: We will finish the testing window on Monday! Please ensure that ALL students have tested. If a child was absent, you are welcome to test him/her, or you can let me know so I that I can help. We have gotten many children made up, and are happy to continue to help with that. We need to work together as a team to make sure that all students have completed the assessment so that we are compliant with state law.
Instructional Assistance: If a child needs help with interventions for a Supplemental Support Plan (SPP-previously PEP), then please let me know. I will need to know the child’s name, the intervention to perform, and the time that it would NOT work for the intervention to be performed. We may have to get creative with the schedule in order to fit everyone in. I am happy to get you help!
Headphones: If I left a pair of headphones in your classroom during testing, please put those back in my box. I am missing a few but I am sure they will find their way home soon with your help.
Upcoming Dates:
September 30 - CogAt Window Opens
September 30 - Istation Window Closes
October 1 - PBIS & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30
October 3 - SECU Retirement planning (sign-up for time slot)
October 3 - 4th Grade Field Trip to Heritage Theater
October 3 - Staff PD after-school @ 3:30
October 4 - Big Sweep from 3:00 - 5:00
October 8 - Vision Screening (1st, 3rd, & 5th grades only)
October 8 - SIT @ 3:30
October 9 - Early Release Day
October 10 - FCAE Meeting in Ms. Ball's room @ 3:30
October 11 - PTA Breakfast cart
October 14-18 - Book Fair
October 14 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
October 15 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting from 8-12
October 15 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30
October 18 - Science NC Check-In
October 18 - Read to Achieve Test
October 22 - Math NC Check-In
October 22 - SCC & Media Committees meet @ 3:30
October 22 - SCC & Media Committees meet @ 3:30
October 23 - ELA NC Check-In (4th & 5th only)
October 25 - Positive Parent Log Sheet due to Elkins
October 25 - End of the 1st Quarter
In the comments section below, please share any fond memories you have of Ms. Kay Pridgen. Vickie is going to collect them and make a memorial page for her in our yearbook :)
Have a great weekend!
Have a great weekend!
The first time I met Ms. Pridgen she told me she used to work at Speas. I said "When?!?" Come to find out she taught Kindergarten right beside the room I attended Kindergarten at Speas. She could have been my very first teacher :)
ReplyDeleteI dont have a specific memory or anything. What I remember is how nice and kind she was when I first started here. When I saw her, I would ask how she was doing with everything, and she was always in high spirits about everything. I never saw her upset or anything. She was a very kind woman and will be missed truly.
ReplyDeleteI just absolutely loved her smiling face when she taught kinder next to Mrs. Holbrook. Our Eric was in Mrs. Walker's kinder class and the warmth of walking down that hall was incredible!! Leaving a first born off into a brand new school (not to mention state) was really hard. Mrs. Pridgen's classroom was the first one I would see every morning. She was amazing!!
ReplyDeleteKay Pridgen was a very classy and caring angel on Earth. There are several hilarious stories she shared with me. She would cry through laughter about how her little students would mispronounce words -usually at the most in opportune times! She “ran the good race”, and was certainly welcomed at the pearly gates hearing what she spent her life trying to accomplish: “Well done, thy good and faithful servant. Well done!”
ReplyDeleteI remember Kay and Betty singing and baking special curriculum treats for the little ones. Kay always had a smile on definitely gave our school all of herself! She will be missed!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Kay well, but from what I saw of her and heard, she was a true Panda, heart and soul.
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking "Kay would like this" when getting dressed for school. She was a fashionista in her own right. She noticed everything and loved to share a compliment. She loved to share a story about family and loved them fiercely. She was the best kind of person.
ReplyDeleteKay poured her heart and soul into every student she worked with. When I worked as a PRT, Kay and I shared a room. She came in early to work with students before the bell. She stayed late to work with kids who had been out sick or needed extra. She loved every child and wanted to see them grow and be successful. She will be dearly missed.
ReplyDeleteKay was one of the most welcoming souls we had a PGE. I remember when I was hired, and she couldn't believe that I was the same person who used to come to see my mom, who worked here years earlier. She had a kindness about her that made a new teacher feel calm... not a normal feeling for me during those first years. She offered any help at any time. I loved seeing her smile. There was no stranger in our building. Her positivity was contagious.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pridgen was part of the wonderful group of teachers that welcomed me here to teach at PG and onto their grade level. Patiently, they guided me and taught me about this new school system I found myself in and where my 3 children were beginning school. Her classroom was an extension of the love she had for her "babies", as she called them. Every time I walked in there, I felt relaxed and inspired at the same time. Mrs. Pridgen was everything a teacher should be to and for a child...surrounded by love and a love for learning. And how lucky was I to then teach reading alongside her a few years later. I love you, Mrs. Pridgen and we will miss you. Thank you for everything you meant to me and this school.
ReplyDeleteKay Pridgen was one of a kind. She had a loving heart that blanketed her students, her school, her family, and her friends. When you sat down with her, she loved to talk about all of those things and share some of her favorite memories. I loved Kay as a coworker, a role model, and a friend. We shared a love of Science, and it was always so exciting to visit her room to see the hands-on learning that her students were engaged in. Kay had her students paint on a market fish to see the actual scale patterns as they pressed it on paper. She helped her students understand their bodies by observing changes in chicken bones, and she did not miss the opportunity to teach her students about the seasons of an apple tree. Kay's students always adopted a special tree on the nature trail, and they watched and studied the tree throughout the year. Her love for teaching Science to her students did not go unnoticed. One year, a group of students in Science Club selected her to be honored as Piney Grove's Science Teacher of the Year, and they planted an evergreen magnolia tree for her. She was so proud of that tree and the honor given to her by the students. It still stands next to our playground, and new plans are in the works for adding some of her favorite things next to the tree. I miss seeing her smiles and listening to her animal stories, but a part of her will always be with me, the many others that she touched, and with Piney Grove Elementary.
ReplyDelete