Week 5

Great Things I Noticed:

• The collaboration, team building, open mindedness and learning that occured at the Excellence through Equity Conference! 
• Mrs. McVey leading the way on The International Day of Peace - I loved seeing all the pinwheels and hearing the discussions about what Peace means for our community and world!
• Music lessons starting in 4th grade and our Special Education Classes! 
• Student of the Month Assemblies
• Pizza Lunch Attendance Rewards for Mrs. Montgomery and Mr. Comeaux's classes - great job!
• Growth Mindset in Mrs. Larson's class
• Ms. Nichols student led and behavior focused Preamble 
• Your Leadership Team doing hard work focused our purpose at our Shared Leadership Team Meeting

  

Nuts and Bolts:

• October 4 is a BIG Day!  
• 100% Attendance - Please TALK THIS UP!!  Encourage, Cajole, Bribe, Reward your students to GET TO SCHOOL on Wednesday.  
• Coffee with the Principals: 8:00-9:00 - Parents and Community members are welcome to come and join Clarissa and I for coffee and good conversation! Stop by if you have time and grab a cup to go! 
• Walk to School Day!  Encourage your students to walk to school on Wednesday
• Kinder Teachers find the link for the Parent Booklet for Math here - I can send out to all Kinder Parents, just let me know when
• If you are interested in joining the "Character Counts" committee - Please let Clarissa know
• Looking for supplemental lessons for Art to Go?  Go to riversideartmuseum.org - click on education - Art to Go - Supplemental Lessons
• Anyone interested in attending a two-day training at the Ron Clark Academy (tentative!) please send me an email with your preference 1.  January 25-26, Travel on 24 and 27 OR 2. March 8-9, Travel on 7 and 10.  Ron Clark Academy is in Atlanta, Ga - I would be paying for registration and hotel - you would pick up the plane ticket.  
• Want to learn more about The Ron Clark Academy?  Look here and here
• Miles of Smiles will be October 5 and 6 (MPR) - schedule coming soon - remember to be flexible on those days -thank you! 
• Next week is fall pictures - October 12

Friday Focus:

I thought I would share some thoughts from our Excellence through Equity Conference.  These are just some brief take-away's that I found to be powerful.  The main idea that I think we all walked away with was the idea that to truly ensure equity for our students, we have to build strong relationships with our students.  We have to take the time to know them as people and appreciate the lives they lead outside our classrooms.

I challenge you to learn at least three things about each one of your students that have nothing to do with school.  Demonstrate to your students your desire to know them as individuals and that you are willing to learn about and teach the skills that transcend the content areas.

"Courageous conversations lead to courageous actions" - Dr. Judy White
"Rejection can be redirection"  - Tavis Smiley
"My 2nd grade teacher was first person that gave me any reason to believe I was as gifted and talented as anybody in my class.” - Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley talked about what he believes leads to success:
1.  Quit Quitting
2.  Be Prepared (If you don't know the answer today, make sure you have it tomorrow)
3.  There is room at the top for the best (keep striving, be resilient)
4.  It takes courage to love

And for the leader in all of us: 
"You can't lead unless you love - You can't save unless you serve"

It is about relationships, high expectations and rigor.  Tavis Smiley also mentioned the "soft bigotry of low expectations" and Ron Clark reminded all of us that maintaining high expectations and "fussing" at our students is just as important as supporting them socially and emotionally.  

As we enter into "evaluation season" and Clarissa and I do walk through's and observations,  remember that when students think and speak about teachers that have impacted their lives they don't talk about their excellent lesson plans, or how they organized their attendance.  They remember the impact that teacher had on them personally, how they were intentional in building a relationship that mattered and changed their lives.  

Upcoming Events

Duty Schedule – Week of October 2, 2017         

9:50 – 10:10 Recess

Big Yard – Masi / Sheffield / Wilbur

Kinder Yard – Lasak / Little

10:15 – 10:35 Recess

Big Yard – Luna / Montgomery / Nichols

Kinder Yard – Ramirez / Ebie

10:40 – 10:58 Recess

Big Yard – Comeaux / Harris / McVey

After-School – Blue Cross Walk

Wakefield

Lounge Duty – Week of October 2, 2017

B. Brown / Barnett / Esteva / Montgomery

Birthdays this week…

Sara Gallegos – 10/2

Racquel Schnakenberg – 10/7

Patty Kaplan – 10/8

10/2 - 6:00 School Board Meeting 

10/3 - 3:15 PTA Meeting 

10/4 - 8:00 Coffee with the Principals

                   Walk to School Day

                    100% Attendance

10/5 - Miles of Smiles

10/6 - Miles of Smiles

10/6 and 10/9 Carrie out