Week of 11/11 - 11/15

Hey Panda Family,

Week 12 sure was swell! We can check it off 😀 

Staff Meeting: Staff Meeting this Tuesday, November 19 @ 3:30. We have a full agenda (Suicide Prevention PD, United Way, SIOP Presentation, and vote on SIP). Please plan on staying until 4:30. Tutoring information session will be held immediately after the staff meeting for those individuals interested. It should not last more than 15 minutes. 

Healthcare Open Enrollment: Only 2 days left! Everyone should have received an email from the district regarding Healthcare Open Enrollment. It is open until November 19. Please make sure you complete this. 

Part-time Reading Interventionist: The individual we hired for our part-time Reading Interventionist position abruptly resigned this past week. Please reach out if you know an interested individual. The position is 20 hours per week, it is a district trained position, and has scripted instruction. 

Winter Parties: If you are planning a winter party for your class please schedule it for the last week before winter break (week of December 16). Make sure to keep the focus of the parties more winter themed (snowmen, candy canes, etc.) than holiday themed; unless you plan to highlight a variety a winter holidays. We want to avoid highlighting one holiday over another. 

Paw Form Data Collection: The PBIS Team needs to collect data about the reasons we sent Parent Communication Forms (PAW Forms) home during the first quarter. The data will be analyzed and used to plan professional development based on our most high frequented area(s). The link below will take you to the tool.  Please complete by Monday, November 25. Thanks. 

https://forms.gle/C9speSB4Nzp1gS3n9

Paw Store Schedule: Paw Store begins this Friday, November 22. Please see the email sent out by Ms. Gardner for your class' time slot. 

Class Science Fair Project: Just a reminder all classrooms should complete a science fair project as a modeling activity for students. Projects are due on December 3rd, the same day student projects are due.  Only K-2 classroom projects will be entered in the Science Fair for judging, but all K-2 and 3-5 classroom projects will be on display in the Science Lab.  Remember that pictures should not include faces and names should not be on the front of the board. (You can write your name on the back left at the top.) Board headings are Question, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedure, Data, Results, and Conclusion. Notes, research, bibliography, and special thanks should be in a folder and on display. Contact Bonnie Adams if you have other questions.

Staff Holiday Social: Staff Holiday Social will be on December 13th at 6:30 pm at "Liberty Brewery and Grill” formally known as Liberty Steakhouse, located at 914 Mall Loop Rd, High Point, NC. This event will be for staff and their spouse/significant other. Staff Members meal only will be paid for courtesy of SCC. Drinks will not be covered, but can be purchased separately (sodas, tea must also be purchased). Spouse or significant other attending with you will also order from the Set Menu. No payment needs to be made until that night. Please see the email from Ms. Mabe with more information. If you can attend please complete this RSVP - https://forms.gle/EN5yDB2BbjtTvGA79 

Fire Marshall: Thank you for moving items away from your back door so we are in compliance.  If you have not yet, please do so by Friday, November 22.  Let Gardner know when it is complete. 

Tutoring for Pay: We will have an information meeting for all staff interested in tutoring for pay after the staff meeting on Tuesday, November 19. 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. https://forms.gle/XDUEXnTuNS5kmhpZ6

Staff Spotlight: Shout out to our wonderful 5th grade for supporting our Dancing Classrooms program this year! The kids did awesome at their performance. Congratulations to all our Go Far runners that participated in the 5K! Thank you to Ms. Mason, Ms. Fox, Ms. Musten, Ms. Rinfrette, Ms. Berrier, and Ms. Vaden for your leadership with this after-school program.

Teacher Tuesday Spotlight: Our school Facebook page is highlighting a teacher each week! Our spotlight this past week was Ms. Fox. 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.

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

When you get a new student… they will need to be added to all of the programs we have.  Here is a rundown of how and when that should happen:

• I am able to add them to Education Galaxy!  If I forget, I always appreciate a gentle reminder. 

• Your student should automatically update in Istation and i-Ready after being added to PowerSchool.  If they have not appeared after 7 days, you need to put in a tech ticket OR email me to put in a tech ticket.  Unfortunately, I cannot add students to these programs.  They are supposed to automatically update, but if they don’t, that is when we need to put in a ticket. 

Contacts in ECATS: Don’t forget to log your parent contacts into ECATS.  There is a little bit different process to do this compared to the old system.  I am happy to show you.  We especially need all contacts added for students who have SSPs (formerly PEPs) or who are going through IST.  You can add them as the contacts or made, or do several at a time.  Just make sure you do it at some point J . 

MOY windows: Mark your calendars!  Istation MOY will be the entire month of January.  This will be the baseline that is used to calculate K-2 EVAAS for the year.  i-Ready’s MOY window will run from January 20^th to February 14^th. I always recommend that you plan to administer the assessments at the beginning of the window so as to prevent someone missing the window due to illness, etc. 

Upcoming Dates:

November 18 - 22 - PTA Holiday Market
November 18 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30
November 19 - Elkins @ Principals Meeting
November 19 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30 (Tutoring information meeting afterwards)
November 20 - Dental Screening (PreK, Kindergarten, 3rd, & 5th only)
November 21 - Gardner @ AP Meeting 8-11, Elkins @ Principals Meeting 12-3
November 22 - Square 1 Art Order Deadline
November 27 - 29 - No School/Thanksgiving break
December 3 - PBIS & Wellness Committee Meetings @ 3:30
December 6 - PTA Breakfast cart
December 6 - EFHS Holiday Program @ 8:40 (all grades)
December 10 - SIT @ 3:30
December 11 - Early Release Day
December 12 - MTSS Team Training 8:30 - 3:30
December 12 - Winter Music Performance 9:30 (dress rehearsal for school) & 6:30 (evening show)
December 12 - FCAE Meeting @ 3:30
December 13 - Staff Holiday Social @ 6:30 - Liberty Brewery and Grill

Enjoy this funny Thanksgiving cartoon for any of our little ones that may be tracing their hand for a Thanksgiving activity :) Feel free to share any fun Thanksgiving jokes that I can incorporate into announcements in the comments section below!