Week 34 - Classified Employee Appreciation Week!

Great Things We Noticed:

• Smooth sailing and hard work on the CAASPP assessment!  Thank you 3,4,5 and 6 grade teachers and your students for all of your hard work!  
• Mrs. Lantz's window that honors her 6th graders - stop by and see it!   
• Honoring our "Portrait of a Graduate Award of Excellence" recipient Dayanara Montoya from Mr. Carrasco's class!
• 1st Grade Mother's Day Tea - What a joy to have all those family members come to celebrate with our 1st graders!
• Ms. Tavaglione staying on as our 2nd grade teacher!  
• Hiring Rhonda Tilton for our 4th grade position - she is currently the Hearts Coordinator at Monroe!
• 59 parents participating in our PIQE classes!
• A great lunch and breakfast prepared for our AWESOME staff!
• You made Irene feel so special on Friday!  Thank you for your kindness and support! 

 

 

 

Nuts and Bolts:

• Clarissa shared a set of Kindness Lessons at the last Leadership Meeting - this is the perfect time of year to implement some of these lessons.  See your team leader or Clarissa for more information. 
• Please be out to your lines in the morning, recess and lunch as soon as possible.  Reinforce and reteach how to line up and why it is important - even to our upper grades.  
• When out at recess practice ACTIVE supervision - move and interrupt large group of students.
• For attendance parties watch for emails from Clarissa - Keep up the promotion of great attendance!
• CAASPP:  
• Math starts on Tuesday at 9:00 (CAT one day one, PT on day two)
• Let's push attendance hard on Monday - We need all the students here!  
• Leadership Team:  Dave Horton will be here on MONDAY at 3:00 in the library to discuss next steps.  This information will inform our goals for next year and our focus for Shared Leadership.  Please come if you are able! 
• Wednesday is at Team Meeting - (staff meeting is the 23rd)  - you should be analyzing your common assessments and continuing you PLC work.  
• RUSD Opportunities from our Arts Partners Newsletter This is a new newsletter created to share the many offerings from our Arts Partners available to RUSD teachers and students. Check out the May edition here. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please subscribe here.
• Message for our 1st grade team: 
• Thank you staff for opening your first grade classes to our Riverside Fire Department so students could learn about water safety through the entertaining Stewie the Duck book. This is an important project and we are fortunate that it was implemented in RUSD, to help keep our children safe. All sites have been visited and if classrooms were missed, they will be rescheduled. In addition, Riverside Fire Department is sending a Stewie the Duck book to every elementary campus library and every first grade teacher for the classroom library. Thank you Dave Hernandez, Riverside Firefighter!
• Advanced Phonics: Instructional Services will provide a review course in the Advanced Phonics Intervention for any teachers who have been previously trained. 
•  The course will be held on Tuesday, June 19 from 8:00am-3:00pm at University Heights Middle School in Room 410. Teachers should bring their Green Linguistics Guide to the training. Participants will review and practice the following: · All Instructional Routines · Placement Criteria · Progress Monitoring Guidelines · Lesson design/pacing suggestions 
• This voluntary training will be on a timecard at the staff development rate. Interested teachers must enroll on the PD hub under the Intervention tab as enrollment is limited. For further information, teachers may contact Andy Stetkevich, Staff Development Specialist
• Clarissa and I will both be out on Friday, May 18th - Carol will be Admin Designee - PLEASE only send emergencies and serious behavior to the office.  Everything else can wait until Monday.  

FOCUS:

The end of the school year is here!  The next 5 weeks will be exciting and stressful, they will test our paitence and attitudes, there is so much to do and to get accomplished before our students leave us!  I understand the stress and Clarissa and I are here to help and support you through the next weeks. If something is bothering you or your workload becomes overwhelming - come and see us, we are here to support you!  

• Remember to be mindful of your own level of stress and the energy you are putting out into your classroom.  The students feed off of this energy - and they will give it right back to you.  
• Keep routines and procedures the same (as much as possible) - this will help your students maintain their focus.
• Be extra patient and extra kind to students, collegues and staff.
• Keep up on your obligations and commitments - try not to procrastinate ( I am the worst at this!)
• Here are some items to work on and complete before the end of the school year:
• Classrooms:  Please make sure that you properly store all materials to avoid any damage during deep cleaning.  Boxes and personal items must be properly stored in your storage closets or rolling cabinets.  Take home anything you did not use this school year.  This is the perfect time to clear all clutter, if you have any.  Remember - some of our classrooms will be used for summer school (more information coming).  
•  Cums: Please feel free to begin to work on cums- they are time consuming.  To give our office staff enough time to check all cums, you must complete them by June 12^th.  Let Paulina (New Irene)  know when your cums are done.  
•   Moving:   There are only a few clearing out classrooms.   If you are moving, start packing now, but please leave your boards for last.  If you are not moving, do not clear your bulletin boards before June 4^th.  Students will disengage and discipline issues will rise if your room is cleared too soon.  All electronic hardware changes must go through Lisa.  You may take your computer laptop because this item has been assigned to you, not your classroom. 
•  Report Cards:  Report cards are due for review on Friday, June 1^st.  Let me know if you need more time.