Week of 10/7 - 10/11

Hey Panda Family,

Week 7 was wild! But we keep at it with a smile! 

Chromebooks: I guess Old McDonald had a Chromebook on his farm 😂 But seriously - I am going to get sappy for a second, but I couldn't have been more proud of how everyone has handled the crazy Chromebook news and shuffling this week. This was not ideal by any means, but everyone has been so understanding and cooperative. I hope to have some answers soon on when our replacement computers will be coming in, but until then continue to work as a family to share and make lemonade with these lemons. 

PowerSchool Learning Page: Thank you to everyone who has shared their PSL page with Ms. Gardner and me. Also, please make sure you message your parents to let them know how to access your page. If you haven't shared your page with us or your parents, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. To add us as a co-teacher click on Manage Class, Edit Roster, Teachers tab, then add us as a Teacher. If you need help sharing your page with your parents or us, please don't hesitate to reach out to Ms. Medley or one of your grade level teammates for help. 

Staff Meeting: Our next staff meeting is this Tuesday, October 15 at 3:30. We will meet in the gym due to the book fair. 

Kay Pridgen Memorial: Anyone that would like to donate money towards the memorial bookshelf for Mrs. Pridgen please pay Mrs. Brookshire by this upcoming Friday, October 18. 

Tutoring for Pay: Below is the link to an interest survey to determine how many staff members would like to have the opportunity to tutor students in grades 3-5 beginning in January through the end of the year (Reading and/or Math). Please complete only if you are interested. The pay is $26 per hour before taxes for certified staff, and $18 per hour before taxes for classified staff. This links with some of our SIT initiatives/goals. We will have a meeting this fall for all interested individuals. https://forms.gle/XDUEXnTuNS5kmhpZ6

Personal Social Media Pages (message from the district to all schools): Was asked to relay this from Brent Campbell - The Communications Team is still seeing pictures of students on individual/private pages. Remember, unless you have individual permission from a student's parent, you should not be putting student images on any personal pages or pages that are set up using private email accounts. Student images are only cleared for use on school pages or school associated pages that are managed by a school employee, using the employee's professional email as the account manager.

DLC Coaching (from Jerry Yale): I need you to do a few things for me...

1. Please update your goals/ action steps on your DLC PDP Goal Sheet. You should find this if you search for DLC in your Google Drive. Please be sure you are using the 2019-20 document. 
2. Schedule a time to meet with me on this calendar. I will be back out Oct. 16 but not again until January.
3. If you don't get a chance to meet with me please follow the steps on this page to document work for tech actions or tech credits.

Breast Cancer Awareness: In honor of breast cancer awareness month, a representative from Mary Kay will be in the staff workroom this Wednesday, October 16 to hand out free pink goodies and treats. This is to raise awareness and as a thank you for all you do each and every day. 

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, October 25. When you have completed your positive log sheet please turn it in to my box. 

Drills: This month, we will have both Tornado and Earthquake drills along with our monthly fire drill.  Please practice both new drills with your students next week. The Tornado & Earthquake drill will take place right after announcements on Monday, October 21.   

Staff Spotlight: Congratulations again to Ms. Vaden & Ms. Gant for winning the Innovative Teaching Grant. Also, Ms. Rinfrette got her "Learning Through Creating!" project funded through Donor's Choose. Awesome job! And a big Thank You to Ms. Grubbs for presenting a wonderful PD session for us on Differentiation this past Wednesday. 

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. Harman. Check it out! 

Field Trip Calendar: Our Master Field Trip calendar is filling up fast! Remember, each grade level is allowed 4 trips per year or 1 per quarter.  Try to avoid Fridays.  All trips requests for the year should be in to Gardner before Winter break.  See the FT calendar across from Gardner’s office for open dates.

Field Trips for Gardner & Elkins: Thank you to those grade levels that have already let us know which field trip you would like for us to attend with you this year. Remember, we both want to attend at least one field trip with each grade level this year. If you haven't already, please have a grade level representative reach out to schedule this. 

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

Hierarchy of skills in Istation: Several of you asked about the order of skills as related to Istation.  Here is hierarchy:

• Listening comprehension 
• Phonemic awareness
• Letter knowledge
• Alphabetic decoding 
• Spelling/phonics
• Reading comprehension 
• Text fluency 

Collecting data: As you are collecting data for progress monitoring a Supplemental Support Plan (formerly PEP) or IST, please use this form.  This will help as we collect data succinctly, and will help make things easier to analyze.  Thank you!

IReady and Istation deadlines updates: Given the Chromebook recall, the deadline for IReady has been changed.  IReady diagnostics should be completed by 10/25/19.  Istation ORF (for 2^nd and 3^rd grades only) should still be completed by 10/31/19.  I have a plan for how we will work on ORF.  I will be communicating that with you in the days to come. 

Upcoming Dates:
October 14-18 - Book Fair
October 14 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
October 15 - Elkins @ Principal's Meeting all day
October 15 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30 in gym
October 16 - Jerry Yale @ PGE
October 18 - Science NC Check-In
October 18 - Read to Achieve Test
October 21 - Tornado & Earthquake drill @ 8:30

October 22 - Math NC Check-In
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
October 28 - Teacher Workday (Reserved for Schools)
October 29 - Teacher Workday (Reserved for Central Office)
November 1 - Duke Energy Program @ 1:15 & 2:00
November 1 - Report Cards due
November 4 - Testing team meeting @ 3:30
November 5 - Picture Make-up day
November 5 - PBIS & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30
November 7 - I-Ready PD from 3:30 - 5:00 (3rd-5th grades only)
November 8 - Report cards go home

The fair is in town! In the comments section below, tell us your favorite fair food :) Have a great weekend!