May 14, 2010

PTO Carnival Friday was a great success!  Thank you to all your support and work on putting this year's carnival together.  Please be sure to thank any and every parent who was involved with the event - Christy Bennett and Leah Mensen did a wonderful job organizing their team!  It appears nearly $6,100.00 profit was made from the carnival...WOW!!!  Thank you notes should be completed by your students and turned in to the appropriate person. 

Your Individual Teacher Career Development Plan is due by the last day of school. All classroom/Title?SPED teachers  would need to have your Gates and ITBS data compiled (growth spring to spring for ITBS and fall to spring for Gates) before you schedule your meeting with me.  Teachers who do not have an academic focus for their ICDP should have appropriate data available for their conference.  These meetings can be set for the last week of school or on June 1st.  A reminder that I will not be in the building on Saturday, May 29th.  

ELL Teacher Hired - Lauren Finn from Glenwood, IA, will be recommended for a contract to fill the ELL position. She is a spring graduate from Iowa State University and has certification in ESL. Her experiences in ELL programs in Ames and Des Moines will benefit our ELL program in the years to come.  She hopes to visit the district soon to meet many of you.  This hire also means that Sonia will officially be approved to move to 4th grade and we all welcome Mrs. Kunze to the WIS family!


Odd's & End's - (1) If you're in the media center between 10:30-11:30 with a student, class or by yourself, please help us out.  We have 6-9 fifth grade students working independently on sixth grade math.  If the students are not on task, any adult may choose to take the students back to their classroom - classroom teachers will have the students remain in the room to work for a period of time.  (2) If you're at WIS after 5:00 pm and you hear footsteps on the roof of the building, please feel free to call our local police at 623-6500 - it is not Gene up there.  I have talked to a few middle/high school boys who I have caught on the roof after hours and explained we would call the police and I'd push for trespassing and theft as they get on the roof to take the balls that are kicked up there during recess.  Thanks for taking care of the building. 

Smath - An article, Talking SMath, from NSTA was posted in the lounge.  It is a very interesting read and something teams and/or individual teachers may want to try out the last couple weeks or begin in the fall.  It looks like PWIM for math/science.  For more information about SMath, vist Where is the SMath website.
http://communication.sdhc.k12.fl.us/whereistheSMath/

End of Year Checklist will be coming to a mailbox near you soon.  A few items I know you and/or your team will want to get a jumpstart on are...
__ SMART Goal for Reading (teams)
__ SMART Goal for Math (teams)
__ SMART Goal for teachers not on a grade level team
__ Student List of students to separate next year (emailed)
__ Yellow Student Cards filled out
__ Individual Career Development Plan Data
__ Supply/Order forms completed

Reading on the Square - We will take students to Square next Friday.  Fifth graders will begin walking over at 11:20 AM (use your Friday order).  Fourth graders should begin walking over at 11:30 AM.  Students must bring a book with them and we will expect them to find a place at noon and begin reading.  This year, if students are choosing to run around and not read, I'll take volunteers to take kids back to WIS early.  :)

Two weeks and counting...
May 17 – 5th grade spelling bee (1:40 pm)
May 17 – Board Meeting, 6 pm (5th grade proposal presentation)
May 18 – 4th grade spelling bee (12:40 pm)
May 19 – PLC Math Focus (follow this week's format)
May 20 – 3rd Grade Parent Orientation Night (6:30 pm)
May 21 – 3rd Annual Reading on the Square
May 26 – End of Year Picnic @ Fairgrounds
May 27 – Transition Day
May 28 – Assemblies; Last day 1:10 PM dismissal
May 29 – Work day for retiring staff (Mr. Barry not here)
June 1 – Work day/checkout for staff