Sunday, April 19, 2020

Week of 4/13 - 4/17

Hey Panda Family,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break! Although most of us had not originally planned to spend Spring Break the way we did this past week, my hope is that it was still rewarding and relaxing for you. This past month has really reminded me to be grateful for all the blessings and small things in my life 😊 And to embrace new ways to stay entertained - like letting your 2-year old paint your finger nails! 💅


Lot of updates for this week. Please make sure to read until the end. Thanks! 





Staff Meeting: Virtual Staff Meeting this Friday, April 24 @ 2:00. Will send out a MS Teams link. 

Grading Update Continued (same info from last week's Weekly Wrap): 
  • Teachers may add eLearning work to help improve third quarter grades only, teachers will need to physically change the date of any of the e-assignments to 3/13/2020 for them to count in the calculation for 3rd quarter.  Teachers need to recalculate the grade for 3rd Quarter
    • Any eLearning assignments you don't move to 3rd Quarter will count towards 4th Quarter grades

The 2019-2020 3rd Quarter report cards will be mailed to all students. This will help ensure that families receive the feedback from their child’s work during the 3rd Quarter. In addition to report cards, you will need to send IEP progress reports to your EC students in this mailing. If you have students that are at-risk of failing a grade (based on academic performance during the 1st-3rd quarter), please send home your typical communication with these report cards as well. 


All report cards will be mailed centrally through our district mailroom and postage will be paid from district funds. In order to complete this in a timely manner, please use the timeline below:


April 20 Teachers have grades finalized and provide “Grade Verification Report” to Data Manager


April 22 Data Managers complete grades and print report cards, EC Teachers provide IEP progress reports to Data Manager


April 22-23 Essential staff (Principal, AP, Data Manager, etc) who are able to work in schools to stuff envelopes (#10), label, and prepare mailings practicing social distancing guidelines


Letters are delivered by school staff member to mailroom (lower level of Education Building) for postage by 3 pm 4/23

April 24 
Report cards are mailed


Grading Updates Info Session: The district will be holding optional information sessions to update and answer questions from staff regarding third and fourth quarter grades on Monday, April 20th. Please find the link below for a Microsoft Team Meeting for these optional sessions. You only need to attend one session. 
9:00 am-  Elementary and Middle School Session -Join Microsoft Teams Meeting
1:00 pm- Elementary and Middle School Session- Join Microsoft Teams Meeting 

Report Card Instructions: Please make sure to check the emails sent last week from Ms. True regarding report cards. She has outlined important directions that she needs each homeroom teacher to follow. 


Priority Standards: The district wants all grade levels to focus solely on "Priority Standards" for 4th Quarter eLearning. These standards have been selected by the district as the most important standards for instruction as we prepare students for their next grade. Here is a list of the "Priority Standards" for each grade level in this document.


FLEX Fridays: Beginning this week, there will be “FLEX” Friday each week. During the remainder of this school closure, students will only be assigned academic work Mondays-Thursdays, allowing Fridays to be used as a flexible day to engage in fun, leisure, building/strengthening social-emotional connections, and catching up on previously assigned work and/or connecting with teachers for additional support. See the eLearning Instructional Guidance document for FLEX Friday resource to attach to your PSL page.


Morning Announcement Links:
Monday 4/20 - https://youtu.be/pXyfW3YV1zQ
Tuesday 4/21 - https://youtu.be/RnVlyk85u7Y
Wednesday 4/22 - https://youtu.be/A1T2M7vOmCY
Thursday 4/23 - https://youtu.be/SadHArmhBdU
Friday 4/24 - https://youtu.be/y4KERONn5kk

Virtual SIT Meeting: SIT will meet via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday, April 21 @ 2:00.


Field Trips 2020-2021: As we look ahead to next school year, start talking to your team about field trips. Reach out to organizations to get dates and then let Ms. Gardner know so she can request buses.  Remember, October is a popular month and dates get blocked quickly. Reach out to Ms. Gardner if you have questions. 


Book It! Registration for 2020-2021: Interested in rewarding students for their reading outside of school?  Pizza Hut's Book It! program allows you to do just that.  Set a goal for your students (either a specific number of books or minutes each month) and reward them with a coupon for a free personal pan pizza when they reach their goal.  Their parents help them keep up with the minutes at home.  Your job is to set the goal and give out the rewards!

You can enroll for the online program or the traditional paper program.  You must enroll yourself in the program this year (in the past one person would enroll those interested).  Sign up here: https://www.bookitprogram.com/bookit_enrollment/form/enrollment

Daily Assignments: As discussed, please make sure your PSL page Elearning assignments are broken down into daily requirements (Monday do..., Tuesday do..., etc.). 



Virtual Career/Transfer Fair (from HR): We want to ensure our students have the very best district employees to support their growth so we are going to move from an in-person to a virtual career fair!  We will host a virtual career fair for teachers, operations and central office staff on Saturday, April 25, from 10am-2pm. More details to come! 

Retention: Any considerations for retention need to be shared with me and Ms. Gardner. I am seeking guidance from our Instructional Superintendent, Mr. Hall, on how retention will look considering the current circumstances. 

Staff Spotlight: Thank you to Ms. Epperley who is working hard to update our school website! It is looking great :) 

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

IF Updates

iReady webinars are available to help all K-5 teachers learn more about how to use the program during this time.  Check those out here. 

Istation updates: Here is a summary of the new Istation contract that went into affect earlier this month.  I am a member of a listerve that sends out these updates and I am happy to pass along more information if you are interested.  



Upcoming Dates:

April 21 - SIT Meeting @ 2:00 via MS Teams
April 24 - Staff Meeting @ 2:00 via MS Teams
April 25 - Virtual District Career/Transfer Fair 10:00 - 2:00

Thought you and your students may enjoy this. Click the video link below to see a Live Panda Cam from a zoo in China 🐼


Sunday, April 12, 2020

Week of 4/6 - 4/10

Hey Panda Family,

Week 31 & Week 4 Online! Spring Break is here 🌞 We made it! Very short Weekly Wrap, just wanted you to have the essentials. Make sure to get some rest this week, do the things you enjoy, and take time to spend with family or catch up with friends (by phone of course 😊). Proud of you and all the hard work you have put in over the last month! 



Grading Update Continued: 
  • Teachers may add eLearning work to help improve third quarter grades only, teachers will need to physically change the date of any of the e-assignments to 3/13/2020 for them to count in the calculation for 3rd quarter.  Teachers need to recalculate the grade for 3rd Quarter
    • Any eLearning assignments you don't move to 3rd Quarter will count towards 4th Quarter grades

The 2019-2020 3rd Quarter report cards will be mailed to all students. This will help ensure that families receive the feedback from their child’s work during the 3rd Quarter. In addition to report cards, you will need to send IEP progress reports to your EC students in this mailing. If you have students that are at-risk of failing a grade (based on academic performance during the 1st-3rd quarter), please send home your typical communication with these report cards as well. 


All report cards will be mailed centrally through our district mailroom and postage will be paid from district funds. In order to compete this in a timely manner, please use the timeline below:


April 20 Teachers have grades finalized and provide “Grade Verification Report” to Data Manager


April 22 Data Managers complete grades and print report cards, EC Teachers provide IEP progress reports to Data Manager


April 22-23 Essential staff (Principal, AP, Data Manager, etc) who are able to work in schools to stuff envelopes (#10), label, and prepare mailings practicing social distancing guidelines


Letters are delivered by school staff member to mailroom (lower level of Education Building) for postage by 3 pm 4/23

April 24 
Report cards are mailed

Virtual SIT Meeting: SIT will meet via Microsoft Teams on April 21 @ 2:00.

FLEX Fridays: Beginning the week of April 20th, there will be “FLEX” Friday each week. During the remainder of this school closure, students will only be assigned academic work Mondays-Thursdays, allowing Fridays to be used as a flexible day to engage in fun, leisure, building/strengthening social-emotional connections, and catching up on previously assigned work and/or connecting with teachers for additional support. See the eLearning Instructional Guidance document for FLEX Friday resource to attach to your PSL page.

Technology CEUs (from district): All licensed staff need 2 CEUs in Technology to renew their license. With the current use of eLearning we feel that everyone has earned the 2 CEUs for the work they have done preparing, planning, and delivering eLearning. The technology team will work on writing up the documentation, and we will be awarding the 2 CEUs to all licensed employees for their work. 

For staff that are renewing this school year and already have the 2 CEUs, we will hold off on awarding those until July, so they can be applied to the next renewal cycle.

PTA Grade Level Allowances: We emailed out your remaining balance for your PTA Grade Level Allowance. We encourage everyone to take advantage of these financial resources to enhance your classroom. If you have any questions about your balance please email Jamie Phillips, PTA Treasurer.


Daily Assignments: As discussed, please make sure your PSL page Elearning assignments are broken down into daily requirements (Monday do..., Tuesday do..., etc.). 



Virtual Career/Transfer Fair (from HR): We want to ensure our students have the very best district employees to support their growth so we are going to move from an in-person to a virtual career fair!  We will host a virtual career fair for teachers, operations and central office staff on Saturday, April 25, from 10am-2pm. More details to come! 

Retention: Any considerations for retention need to be shared with me and Ms. Gardner. I am seeking guidance from our Instructional Superintendent, Mr. Hall, on how retention will look considering the current circumstances. 

Staff Spotlight: Thank you to Ms. Medley who went out of her way this past week to help a fellow staff member with help on PowerSchool Teacher! We greatly appreciate your leadership. 

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


Upcoming Dates:


April 13 - 17 - Spring Break
April 21 - SIT Meeting @ 2:00 via MS Teams
April 25 - Virtual District Career/Transfer Fair 10:00 - 2:00

Look what some of our Pandas have created! Watch their wonderful newscasts below. I think we may be on to something for next school year :) Enjoy! 







Sunday, April 5, 2020

Week of 3/30 - 4/3

Hey Panda Family,

Week 30 & Week 3 Online! One more week before Spring Break 🙌😎 We can make it!


School-Wide Communication Program: Next school year we are looking to move towards using a uniform school-wide communication program (Dojo, Bloomz, Remind, etc.) Teachers, please click on the link below to let us know which program you are currently using.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tv3kfWihrQ7Yb9P_xLR_Z_pMHVhiTw5-xYp3og_HUI4/edit?usp=sharing 

Morning Announcements: Here is the link to Morning Announcements for Monday, April 6. Please add to your PSL page or Google Classroom. https://youtu.be/kq_PIRsIyZ8


Grading Update: 3rd Quarter Grades ended on March 13. Any grades entered after March 13 will roll over into 4th Quarter Grades. 
    • Students will have until April 11 to submit missing assignments for 3rd Quarter work (please let students know)
    • 3rd Quarter grades will be posted for parents to review online on April 24
      • Instructional Superintendents are working to determine how K-2 SBG report cards will look, or if anything needs to be adjusted 
    • More information to come in regards to finalizing these "online report cards"
    • Will focus on priority standards for eLearning and grading for 4th Quarter - more info to come
Panda Counselor: Here is a website that Ms. Ceglowski has created with some good resources for families during this time. Please share with your parents :) 
https://sites.google.com/wsfcs.k12.nc.us/thepandacounselor/parent-resources-during-covid19

PTA Grade Level Allowances: We emailed out your remaining balance for your PTA Grade Level Allowance. We encourage everyone to take advantage of these financial resources to enhance your classroom. If you have any questions about your balance please email Jamie Phillips, PTA Treasurer.

Daily Assignments: As discussed, please make sure your PSL page Elearning assignments are broken down into daily requirements (Monday do..., Tuesday do..., etc.). 


Work From Home logs: All certified & classified staff should email your WFH log to Ms. Willis by the end of the day on Monday. Contact Mr. Elkins with any questions. 


Field Trips 2020-2021: As we look ahead to next school year, start talking to your team about field trips. Reach out to organizations to get dates and then let Ms. Gardner know so she can request buses.  Remember, October is a popular month and dates get blocked quickly. Reach out to Ms. Gardner if you have questions. 


Positive Phone Calls: At the beginning of the year, we ask everyone to make positive parent contacts. This may be a good time, if you are not already, to make a positive student phone call. I challenge you to make a couple each day so your students can hear your voice and you can pass along some encouragement! I know they would be so excited to hear from you :)



Virtual Career/Transfer Fair (from HR): We want to ensure our students have the very best district employees to support their growth so we are going to move from an in-person to a virtual career fair!  We will host a virtual career fair for teachers, operations and central office staff on Saturday, April 25, from 10am-2pm. More details to come! 

Retention: Any considerations for retention need to be shared with me and Ms. Gardner. I am seeking guidance from our Instructional Superintendent, Mr. Hall, on how retention will look considering the current circumstances. 

Staff Spotlight: We had a 100% completion rate for our Teacher Working Conditions Survey! Great job! And thank you to Ms. Ball for overseeing this operation. 

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


IF Updates


PLT/Grade Level Meetings Next Week: We will be holding grade level meetings this week.  Here is the form that we would like you to fill out prior to your meeting.  Please fill it out so that we can prepare to quickly answer your questions.  Here is the schedule: 

Monday at 12:00- 4th grade 
Monday at 2:00- 1st grade  
Tuesday at 9:30 Specialists 
Tuesday at 2:00- 2nd grade 
Wednesday at 11:15 kindergarten (including IAs) 
Wednesday at 12:30 3rd grade
Wednesday at 2:00- 5th grade 
Jayne will send out a MS Teams link before the meeting.  Feel free to join a few minutes early so we can chat! 


K-3 teachers: Don't forget to register for this Istation webinar: 

Part 2: April 7th 3:00 to 4:00
Please register for WSFCS - Driving Instruction with Istation's Reports and Resources! (Session 2) on Apr 7, 2020 3:00 PM EDT at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4439656834656947213


Upcoming Dates:

April 10 - Holiday (Good Friday)
April 11 - Last day for students to submit missing assignments for 3rd Quarter
April 13 - 17 - Spring Break
April 25 - Virtual District Career/Transfer Fair 10:00 - 2:00

Here is another good laugh. Thanks for sharing Ms. Laws 🤣