Mr. Elkins' Weekly Wrap

Friday, October 14, 2022

Week of 10/10 - 10/14

Hey Panda Family,

We hope you will join us this weekend for our Fall Festival on Saturday from 10:00 - 2:00! Bring your family and friends! You can even take a shot at dunking your favorite principal 😉 We hope to see you there. Have a wonderful weekend!

Here are the Weekly Wrap updates for this week:

New Updates

Staff Meeting: Our October Staff Meeting is this upcoming Tuesday, October 18. Please plan to meet until 4:45. Here is the agenda:

Good News & Duck Winners
AIG Financial
Vote on School Improvement Plan
United Way Kickoff
SEL Professional Development
Suicide & Threat Training
Good of the Order

Open Enrollment Health Benefits (from district): The NC State Health Plan (SHP) is currently gearing up for the 2023 Open Enrollment (OE) period scheduled Monday, October 10, 2022- Friday, October 28, 2022 and WS/FCS Human Resources wants to keep you in the know! We encourage you to TAKE ACTION during this time to remain within your preferred medical benefit coverage option or to elect coverage within the plan. You may also enroll in or make changes to current coverage options within the Ameritas Group Dental Plan benefit, during this segment of Open Enrollment.

Active members and employees planning for NC SHP Open Enrollment can find information on the BlueCross BlueShield NC (BCBSNC) medical plans and locate valuable resources in preparation for the 2023 benefit coverage year at the NC SHP website. Visit this link to learn more.

Remember, if you are currently enrolled in the BCBSNC Enhanced 80/20 or Base 70/30 PPO plan, in order to continue receiving the monthly $60 period credit, you must complete the Tobacco Attestation Wellness Credit task during Open Enrollment in eBenefits [Login Page (hrintouch.com)] (no matter your current active enrollment status) and complete at least one Tobacco Cessation Counseling session, if you are a tobacco user.

Pope Foundation Donation: I have some great news to share! All Kernersville schools have been gifted $15,000 from the Pope family to spend how they best see fit. Our School Improvement Team has already begun to brainstorm ideas, but we would like your input too! We want to think big and strive for something that will benefit all. Here is the link to share your ideas: Pope Foundation $ Survey

Media Updates (from Ms. Epperley): Here are the updates from Ms. Epperley in the Media Center.

Thank you for supporting the book fair and helping us spread the love of reading!

Book Order Survey: Please help us order books for the library that you and your students want to read! Fill out this survey for yourself and again with your class. We will be sending it out on Dojo, too, so encourage your families to participate. Thank you!

Shout-Outs: From Ms. Mabe - Shout out to Ms. Sue for helping clean up a water and milk spill. Thanks Ms. Sue for always helping us teachers and our sweet students.

Important Items from Last Week

PBIS Event (10/28): Our first event is October 28 at specials. Students will participate in three stations for 10 minutes each - BINGO with Ms. Staley, a collaborative art project with Mrs. Mason, and Taekwondo with Master Posey. The cost is 50 Paw Bucks, paid to teachers. Teachers will enter how many students are participating here by 10/21. Teachers will stay to supervise and help students rotate between stations. (Rotation schedule will be sent closer to date.) Students not participating will be with other specialists.

October Drills: See below for specific details about each of our drills for this month.

October Fire Drill: Our Fire drill for the month will be next week.

Earthquake Drill: Our Earthquake drill will be Friday, October 14^th at 10:45. We will walk the staff and students through the procedures over the intercom.

Tornado Drill: Our Tornado drill will be October 20 at 2:10. We will walk the staff and students through the procedures over the intercom.

LETRS 1/2 Day Planning (for all Certified Staff completing LETRS): All Certified Staff that are completing LETRS may sign up with Ms. Pam Mason for a free 1/2 day to work on completing your coursework. You may sign up for one slot between now and the end of December. You may pick either a morning or afternoon session. Please make sure to leave Ms. Mason detailed sub plans. See Ms. Mason's schedule below to look over available dates. You may choose any day that is listed as "LETRS". Please reach out to Ms. Mason to schedule it. I hope this helps!

Pam Mason's Schedule

PBIS Procedures: Here are a few reminders regarding PBIS procedures. Please review these with your class and help us work together to enforce them. Thank you!

The PBIS team voted to maintain the rule that students should walk in mulched area (playground). Please remind students of this and enforce this rule. (Here are our school's playground procedures - also linked on Piney Grove Canvas page).

When students are standing in cafeteria (in line for food, throwing away trash, in line to leave) they should be at voice volume 0 (not talking) regardless of if music is playing or not. Please remind students of this and enforce this rule. The cafeteria staff especially needs our help supervising students as they go through the line to ensure they're not talking in line so orders can be heard.

Classes should use either the 300 hall or cafeteria restrooms during their assigned times. Students going outside of these times should use the 200 hall restrooms.

Print Shop: Please make sure you are utilizing print shop for your large copy needs. This takes just a little bit of pre-planning, but it saves our school lots of money. The turnaround is normally very quick (couple of days). If you need help navigating print shop, or submitting an order, Ms. Owens can help you!

EC PreK Vacancies: Our school is growing! We are adding a new EC PreK Classroom and we need to hire two Instructional Assistants. Both of these positions are full-time. If you know of anyone that may be interested, please share the job posting that is linked here:

https://wsfcs.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=1658

Sub List: Here is the most up-to-date substitute list, Pam Mason's availability, and the direct link to Frontline. Please use these resources to find a sub in case you have to be out. Please reach out to Ms. Owens if you have any questions.

Substitutes

Pam Mason's Schedule

Frontline

Upcoming Dates:

October 15 - PTA Fall Festival from 10:00 - 2:00

October 18 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30

October 19 - ELA Check-In (3rd - 5th)

October 19 - Unity Day (Wear Orange)

October 20 - Science Check-In (5th)

October 20 - Tornado Drill @ 2:10

October 25 - Math Check-In (3rd - 5th)

October 25 - SCC & Wellness Committees meet @ 3:30

October 28 - End of 1st Quarter

October 31 - No School (RS Day)

October 31 - Report Cards due to Ms. True

Friday, October 7, 2022

Week of 10/3 - 10/7

Hey Panda Family,

Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year! People love it for so many reasons: pumpkin spice, leaves changing, cool crisp air, football tailgates, bonfires, hayrides, and the list goes on. The cool thing about fall is you never know exactly when the leaves are going to change colors. Some change earlier than others, but in the end they all show off their amazing colors and beauty. This is just like our students - they all have different beauty inside of them waiting to come out and show itself. Thank you for helping them each day show off all the beautiful colors inside of them, just like our soon to be beautiful fall leaves 🍂 Have a wonderful weekend!

Here are the Weekly Wrap updates for this week:

New Updates

October Drills: See below for specific details about each of our drills for this month.

October Fire Drill: Our Fire drill for the month will be next week.

Earthquake Drill: Our Earthquake drill will be Friday, October 14^th at 10:45. We will walk the staff and students through the procedures over the intercom.

Tornado Drill: Our Tornado drill will be October 20 at 1:45. We will walk the staff and students through the procedures over the intercom.

Pam Mason's Schedule

PBIS Procedures: Here are a few reminders regarding PBIS procedures. Please review these with your class and help us work together to enforce them. Thank you!

The PBIS team voted to maintain the rule that students should walk in mulched area (playground). Please remind students of this and enforce this rule. (Here are our school's playground procedures - also linked on Piney Grove Canvas page).

When students are standing in cafeteria (in line for food, throwing away trash, in line to leave) they should be at voice volume 0 (not talking) regardless of if music is playing or not. Please remind students of this and enforce this rule. The cafeteria staff especially needs our help supervising students as they go through the line to ensure they're not talking in line so orders can be heard.

Classes should use either the 300 hall or cafeteria restrooms during their assigned times. Students going outside of these times should use the 200 hall restrooms.

Staff Flu Shots: Kernersville Pharmacy will be at Piney Grove on Thursday, October 13 from 7:00 - 9:00am to give free flu shots to staff members. This is optional.

October 31 (from district): Monday, October 31, will remain an RS Day for schools. We are monitoring the days of missed instruction and planning to use some remote learning days this school year. I am aware that we shared that remote days would not be allowed this school year. However, I want to let everyone know that the General Assembly adopted to keep the option for schools to use up to 5 remote learning days (or up to 30 hours of instruction) that would count toward our overall instructional hours on missed days. We will continue to monitor inclement weather days to ensure our compliance with North Carolina Calendar law.

https://wsfcs.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=1658

Media Updates (from Ms. Epperley): Here are the updates from Ms. Epperley in the Media Center.

Book Fair: Oct 10-15; Open M-F at 7:50 and during the Fall Festival 10-2pm. Come out to vote for Pumpkin Paloosa book character pumpkins. Please send your class pumpkin to the media center before Friday, Oct 14. (Need ideas? See Pintrest 🙂)

Chromebooks and Chargers: All chromebooks and chargers should have been delivered. Please let me know if you still need anything!

Book Order: There is a green suggestion box in the media for you or your students to request titles, topics or series for the library! Watch for a more detailed survey for staff coming soon.

Shout-Outs: Shout-out to our Code Team for a productive and efficient training on the Early Release Day! Thanks for all your hard work!

Important Items from Last Week

Book Fair Pumpkins (from Ms. Lloyd): We are having our Fall Book Fair Oct. 10 - Oct. 14. The Book Fair will be during their Media Class that week. On October 15, we will be having a family event the same time the PTA is having their Fall Festival, 10am - 2pm. We are going to do the same thing that we did last year with Pumpkins. Each homeroom class will bring one Pumpkin decorated as a BOOK CHARACTER to the library during the week of the book fair. On Saturday, Oct. 15th, friends can come to the library and vote for their favorite character. PTA has donated tons of pumpkins and decorated the front entrance. Homeroom teachers may pick any of these pumpkins for FREE to use for their book character. Just pick the one you like the best. There are plenty to choose from!

Thank you and we very much look forward to seeing all your fun creative pumpkins!

I Can Statements: Please make sure to decorate the hallways with your student's work. You can also put your student's work in the main hallways on the corkboard strips. When posting student work, please make sure to include the I Can statement so we know what your student's have been working on! Thanks!

October Drills: We will have fire, earthquake, and tornado drills in October. The tornado and earthquake drills will be announced.

Custodial Issues: Please email Elkins and Gardner if there are custodial issues so we can address them. Thanks for being our extra set of eyes to help keep our building clean!

Substitutes

Pam Mason's Schedule

Frontline

Upcoming Dates:

October 10 - 15 - Book Fair this week

October 10 - PTA Meeting @ 6:30

October 11 - SIT @ 3:30

October 11 - PTA Spirit Night @ Big Burger Spot

October 13 - Flu Shots offered @ PGE from 7:00 - 9:00am (Kernersville Pharmacy)

October 14 - Fire Safety Assemblies (K-2 @ 8:30 & 3-5 @ 9:30)

October 14 - Earthquake Drill @ 10:45

October 15 - PTA Fall Festival from 10:00 - 2:00

October 18 - Staff Meeting @ 3:30

October 19 - ELA Check-In (3rd - 5th)

October 19 - Unity Day (Wear Orange)

October 20 - Science Check-In (5th)

October 20 - Tornado Drill @ 1:45

October 25 - Math Check-In (3rd - 5th)

Friday, September 30, 2022

Week of 9/26 - 9/30

Hey Panda Family,

I hope everyone is staying safe in this wet weather! If you have a couple of minutes this weekend I encourage you to send an email to our Superintendent, Tricia McManus to thank her. Why? Post-pandemic, there is a lot of pressure to keep learning going at all costs. The district could have easily made us go remote learning today, scrambling to send home all Chromebooks and chargers on Thursday afternoon, and plan virtual lessons with very little time (which some counties are doing). Instead, we have a day off to catch our breath and make sure our families and homes are safe, without the extra task of trying to teach remotely for a day. In my opinion, this was a wonderful leadership move on her part. If you would like to email her, it is: ttmcmanus@wsfcs.k12.nc.us. Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

Here are the Weekly Wrap updates for this week:

New Updates

Early Release Day: This upcoming Wednesday, October 5 is an Early Release Day. School will dismiss two hours early at 12:50. We will have Code of Conduct training from 1:30 - 3:30 in the Media Center. Light refreshments will be provided. After our Code PD, we will celebrate Suzi & Sam for their wedding shower. See more Early Release Day info below.

PBIS is sponsoring Panda spirit day. Wear your favorite Panda gear
Specials and lunch schedule linked HERE
No recess
We will begin dismissal at 12:50
PD CODE - media center from 1:30-3:30 - bring your laptops

Check-In Training: All 3rd - 5th grade teachers will attend Check-In training on Wednesday, October 5^th during specials. We will meet in the PLT room.

IA's and EC (not speech) should attend one of the sessions
Ms. Guffey & Ms. Pereda should also attend one of the sessions

PBIS Incentives Links: Here are the links to the PBIS Incentives so you have them to discuss and budget with your class. Thank you to PBIS for all your hard work planning and organizing these events!

Paw Bucks Incentives Presentation

PBIS Incentives List

Twin Day (10 Paw Bucks): Twin Friday - students can pay $10 Paw bucks to dress up with someone as twins. Teachers keep the paw bucks. No names need to be submitted to the team.

MTSS/Tier 2 Planning (from Ms. Balint): Each grade level will meet in the PLT room on October 3rd during specials. During our meeting, we will be creating/updating Tier 2 plans. If a new plan needs to be created please bring the following pieces:

Teacher referral to MTSS folders should include:

work samples relating to specific concern
exit tickets relating to specific concern
weekly assessments relating to specific concern
DIBELS report
i-Ready reports
PAST
Core Phonics Survey
Number knowledge

Make sure to communicate with parents about the academic concern before presenting the concern to the MTSS team.

If you have a student in Tier 3, referral, or a Tier 3 plan needs to be created- let me know in our meeting, so we can set-up a meeting. Thank you!

Thank you and we very much look forward to seeing all your fun creative pumpkins!

October Drills: We will have fire, earthquake, and tornado drills in October. The tornado and earthquake drills will be announced.

Custodial Issues: Please email Elkins and Gardner if there are custodial issues so we can address them. Thanks for being our extra set of eyes to help keep our building clean!

Guidance Updates (from Ms. Ceglowski): Here are the updates from Ms. Ceglowski.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. There are so many great activities and resources from PACER in the link below. On October 19, we will all wear Orange for Unity Day. I am very happy to come to any classroom to give a mini-lesson on bully prevention. Just let me know!
https://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/

Media Updates (from Ms. Epperley): Here are the updates from Ms. Epperley in the Media Center.

Charging Stations: I am loaning a key to each grade level rep to open the top of your charger stations. You can pull out all the round cords and let me know how many new flat ones you will need in this form. Feel free to keep an extra round one for yourself and turn in the rest to us. If you need help with your station, consider having a student tech helper do it, or let us know and we will try to get around.

HP Silver Dot Chromebook Swap: On Tuesday afternoon, please send all HP Silver Dot Chromebooks to the media center. The district is picking them up on Wednesday and bringing new ones to swap out. If any of your students absolutely need a day user until they get their new one, send them Wednesday morning to check one out. (Hopefully, it will all be accomplished by the end of the day:)

Shout-Outs: Shoutout to Ms. Laughlin for getting her Donor's Choose project, "A Meaningful Start to Our Day", funded!

Important Items from Last Week

Ms. Jones National Board Project (from Ms. Jones): As part of my National Boards renewal, I'm coordinating ready-made, at-home family learning experiences for all Piney Grove students. As a school/PTA, we were able to fund 450 copies of the book The Mouse and the Motorcycle so we can send home one with EVERY family to read aloud together as our first activity which will be the basis for the later activities. We'd also LOVE to have copies of the book in Spanish to send home with our dozens of families who speak Spanish at home. This Donors Choose project would fund that part of the effort. So far, my only donation is from Mr. Vorborker :) so if you'd consider sharing it with your own friends and family and/or the parents of your students, I'd greatly appreciate it!

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/libros-para-familias-books-for-familie/6836336/

Wedding Shower: Please join us for a Wedding Shower for Suzi and Samuel on Wednesday, October 5 after our Early Release PD. Here is their registry link: https://www.zola.com/wedding/samandsuzi/registry

Substitutes

Pam Mason's Schedule

Frontline