Cancelled Early Outs & Specials

As mentioned, outside of the already scheduled PE classes, there will be no specials scheduled during the next three Wednesdays (14. 21, 28). This will allow us to make up some of the 22 hours of instructional time lost during the late starts/early outs.


If the teacher of the special wants to schedule a class, they will set it up with the teachers.

Already scheduled PE:
April 14: 8:30-9:13 Martinez; 9:17-10:00 Timmerman
April 21: 8:30-9:13 Guinn; 9:17-10:00 Montgomery
April 28: 8:30-9:13 Chelsvig; 9:17-10:00 Linn

<<< sent Tuesday, April 13, 2010 >>>

April 9, 2010

ITBS Week - It appeared students were fully engaged and giving their best effort this week with the assessments!  Please return all completed forms and materials to Ms. Bates as soon as you can.  Teachers should coordinate time and proctors for students that need make-up tests - this can be done in the classroom if the environment is conducive to testing.  Otherwise, please see Jan, Jeannie or I to assist.  Tests due to Jeannie no later than 4 pm on Monday!

Refocus PLC Work - This time of year we can tend to focus on the wrong 'end goal' - the last day of school!  Please continue to focus on the four critical questions both within the classroom and during your PLC meeting times.  I am seeing a lot more "nuts-and-bolts" items on PLC team minutes than expected.  Please use lunch 'meetings' to talk about field trips, track and field day and all those items.  Use your weekly PLC meeting to focus on instruction, formative assessment, classroom data and the "big four" questions.  Thank you in advance for refocusing the work and time.
1.  What is it we want our student to learn?
2.  How will we know if each student learned it?
3.  How will we respond when some students do not learn it?
4.  How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?

Professional Development Changes - We will not be having PD on April 14, 21 and 28 due to making up one snow day. Please take note of this and plan your weekly meetings accordingly. Thank you!

Young Writer’s Conference will be on Wednesday, April 14.  We have 24 students attending from WIS and  Mark & Angie will be supervising the students at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA. They will be leaving from IPS at 7:00 A.M.  Teachers should provide students with the work they will be missing that day as instruction will continue even with so many students out of the building that day.  :) 

Good News Items - We are always looking to add good news items to the school board packet. If something is going on in your classroom, please email Stephanie or I a short article and a picture (if you took one). In addition to the school board packet, I have included good news items on the website when I can!

PTO Carnival - Thank you for stepping up and taking care of business with the upcoming PTO carnival.  I know your plates are full, yet you also realize the importance of being a vital partner in the PTO fundraising.  We have been fortunate to use the funding over the past few years to create 21st Century learning opportunities in our classrooms for students and teachers.  Since you've all jumped on board, in addition to the songs for the kids, maybe I'll karokee one of my favorite 'oldies' that night just for you.  :) 

Happily Retiring....but not quite!  We hope to see everyone on Saturday as we help the Guinn, Martinez and Redd clans celebrate their well deserved retirement!  Just remind them toward the end of the party, that it is only April 10th so they must return to work on Monday. 

Dates to Note...
April 10 - Retirement Party: Guinn, Martinez & Redd (2-4 pm)

April 12 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
April 16 – Comprehensive Portfolios Due for teachers on cycle!! - only received one so far!!
April 17 – Optimist Skating Party
April 26 – K-5 Science Fair (4pm @ IPS); 5th gr. Music Program (7pm @ MS gym)
May 4 – WIS Parent Advisory Mtg (7 pm)
May 7 – 5th Grade Oregon Trail; PTO Carnival (5-8 pm)
May 14 – WIS Track & Field Day (all day @ HS Track)
May 20 – Transition Day
May 21 – 3rd Annual Reading on the Square

April 1, 2010

ITBS Items - If you did not receive a schedule yesterday and will be involved in testing, please see me today.  A few items that were left off the ITBS information are:
- Melissa will spend next week testing students so she will not be following her regular pull-out schedule.  Please note that as you make plans for math and reading instruction next week.  She will communicate additional pull-out time for testing with teachers.
- I did not stress this, but a reminder that students with accommodations cannot have the reading comprehension and vocabulary sub-tests read to them.
- Keep homework to the bare minimum next week.
- We would like the tests back after school on Monday, April 12.  If you know it will be later, please give Jeannie a heads-up as soon as you can.
- If students need 'more focus' during testing time, Jeannie and my office are open for just those occasions. 


Spring Carnival - At Tuesday's PTO meeting, it was decided that each grade level would be responsible for one game at the carnival.  The team would 'staff' the game, coordinate parent/student/ community member volunteers to staff it.  The PTO games committee will bring the game and supplies.  Between the four teachers, there should be plenty of help and/or time to get volunteers.  There is also a sign up in the lounge - please take a look!!  Because PTO has done so much for us, I do want to strongly encourage teachers to be a part of the carnival night anyway you can. Helping beforehand is good, but being present that evening would be best. The PTO has a couple more planning meetings before the May 7 Carnival night!


From the "Keep Forgetting to Ask" Department - Are teams planning on doing the spelling bee again this spring?  Discuss and let me know.


AT YOUR LUNCH TODAY...(from last week with no results) Spring Dates - Teams should list all their spring events/dates and turn these in to the office so we have a master schedule.  Spring gets busy so please communicate, communicate, communicate!!


Dates to Note (I will add your dates next week!)
April 1 – CANCELLED 7:15 am mtg for all classroom teachers
April 2 – No School
April 5-8 – ITBS week
April 9 – 5th Grade to Rose Theatre
April 9 – 4th Simply Electrifying Assembly (3rd grade visit)
April 10 - Retirement Party: Guinn, Martinez & Redd (2-4 pm)
April 12 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
April 16 – Comprehensive Portfolios Due for teachers on cycle!!
April 17 – Optimist Skating Party
April 26 – K-5 Science Fair (4pm @ IPS); 5th gr. Music Program (7pm @ MS gym) 
May 4 – WIS Parent Advisory Mtg (7 pm) 
May 7 – 5th Grade Oregon Trail; PTO Carnival (5-8 pm)
May 14 – WIS Track & Field Day (all day @ HS Track) 
May 20 – Transition Day  
May 21 – 3rd Annual Reading on the Square

March 26, 2010

ITBS Schedule - Thank you to Jeannie, Mark, Sue T, and Linda for meeting with me to discuss the ITBS schedule.  Mark and Sue will have items for teams to discuss at lunch today and from your feedback, I will put together a master schedule for ITBS week (April 5-9).   We will have a planning meeting on Wednesday, March 31st at 3:40 pm in Sue T's room. 

ITBS Rewards & Motivation- The student advisory met with me yesterday to brainstorm incentives for ITBS.  They are voting on those today so teams can use the results to decide what incentive they want to tie to reading and math.  I will be coming into classrooms next week (Wed-Thurs) to talk to students about ITBS, why we take them, what they scored before, our overall building scores from previous years and goals for this year.  Schedule your 30 minutes with me as soon as you can! I like the 5th grade's idea about setting goals based upon each classroom raising their scores by 1.0 GE and may look at setting the building goal upon that same concept.  This may be easier for students to understand and be motivated by to improve their scores. 

Saxon Discussion - See last week's FWR...has your team (and with the other grade level) discussed this yet?

Tutoring and Summer School - I have two people who have expressed interest in tutoring.  If you're interested, I'd like to meet with those teachers after school on Monday so we can begin soon.  If you're interested in summer school, please see me soon too.

Spring Dates - Teams should list all their spring events/dates and turn these in to the office so we have a master schedule.  Spring gets busy so please communicate, communicate, communicate!!

Food for Thought - Someone left an article on my desk entitled, "The End of Grade Levels?"  A very interesting read and something to think about as education continues the attempt to make changes to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century.  After reading the article, if you have feedback please click on the "Comment" link below and let us know. 

Dates to Note:
March 29 – 7:40 am mtg w/ Mr. Schmidt
March 30 – PTO Mtg @ IPS (5:30 pm)
March 31 – ITBS Planning Mtg for all involved @ 3:40 pm

April 1 – 7:15 am mtg for all classroom teachers
April 2 – No School
April 5-8 – ITBS week
April 9 – 5th Grade to Rose Theatre
April 9 – 4th Simply Electrifying Assembly (3rd grade visit)
April 12 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
April 16 – Comprehensive Portfolios Due for teachers on cycle!!

Website of the Week

Great interactive website for math, including a great one on fractions and decimals.

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate

March 12, 2010

Spring Break & Grades - Although the weather outside does not indicate spring, a needed break has arrived. Please find the time to reconnect with family and friends and get the needed rest you deserve. We will come back to 10 weeks of instruction which we all know will fly by us in a blink of an eye!  For teachers, Friday is individual PD and you may leave anytime after 2:30 pm. A reminder that grades are due, Tuesday, March 23rd. We will send grades home on Thursday, March 25th.

Saxon – Nita mentioned to me that the number of Saxon lessons remaining is less than the number of days left this school year. Next Wednesday’s PLC time may be a great time to map out math instruction for the last quarter. With ITBS two weeks after break, teams may want to map out Lesson days, testing days, and determine if there are days prior to ITBS week that teachers could focus on skills students have stuggled with so far this school year. The teams may come up with some building wide activities to mix students up too. Please consider days such as Track & Field day when you plan. This would be a great activity to do as a full team (or at least be in the same room so you can hear each other’s thinking) so Mark & Michelle will determine where the PLC meeting will begin on March 24th!

ITBS Week is April 5th-9th!! As always, this week sneaks up on us! Below is some useful information about the week. If I am missing something, please let me know.

* Scheduling * - Jeannie, Mark, Melissa, 5th grade teacher (??) and I will meet on Thursday, March 25, at 3:30 pm in the media center to plan a building ITBS schedule. We have had too many conflicts in prior years so this team will review the schedules to ensure it works for everyone.

* Incentives * - I will be meeting with the student advisory students on March 25th during lunch to brainstorm incentives for reaching their individual goals and the goals set by the state for reading and math. If your team has ideas they want on the list of possibilities, get those to me prior to that Thursday. Also, spending time this prior to then to brainstorm as a class would be great!!

* Goal Setting * - The week prior to ITBS, I will spend 30 minutes with every class going over the data (both grade level and individual students). We will talk about goal setting and if time does not permit during the session, students will take their scores back to the room to set the goals. We will collect those goals from the teachers so they can be entered.


DATES TO NOTE...
March 13-21 Spring Break!
March 22 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
March 23 – Barry absent; Bates is go-to person
March 25 – Bates, Haufle, Schafer, Barry & ?? schedule ITBS (3:30)
March 30 – PTO Mtg @ IPS (5:30 pm)
April 1 – No School
April 5-8 – ITBS week
April 9 – 5th Grade to Rose Theatre
April 9 – 4th Simply Electrifying Assembly (3rd grade visit)
April 12 – Board Mtg (6:00 pm)
April 16 – Comprehensive Portfolios Due for teachers on cycle!!

Website of the Week

I have sent this one out before, but worth looking at during your
PLC time next week. You can locate the skill your students are

lacking and the site lists vocabulary, resources and instructional

strategies to use. Questions – see me.

http://www.integratingstandards.com/index.html

March 5, 2010

Wireless Lab Sweepstakes - Any staff member can enter DAILY for a chance to win one of three grand prize packages including a 21st Century Classroom and a $5000 digital media grant from Discovery Education. Plus, over 20 additional technology prizes!  The first time you submit your entry takes 5 minutes - after that, it only takes entering your email.  Put this website in as your homepage until May 3!!  http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com/wawl/index.cfm 


The Power of Touch - An article from the NY Times indicates a helpful touch can go a long way.  The evidence that such messages can lead to clear, almost immediate changes in how people think and behave is accumulating fast. Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not, studies have found.


The Media Center will be closed for book checkout March 10, 11 & 12. Please make arrangements with Jan for all checkouts on Mon and Tues if possible. Katherine will be available for emergency checkout but ask Mr. Barry first as she is workin one-on-one with a 4th grade student. The 6th grade math students should plan on working in the classrooms those three days.  Students may use the lab with teacher supervision and please make sure the lab is shut down for break.


Technology Update - Mr. Deter informed our Admin-Cabinet team of a couple upcoming items to note.  First, we will be updating our media management system over Spring Break.  Training will involve media specialist and media paras.  Infinite Campus will be our new student management system (replacing School Master) and Bob will be working on a training schedule – the who, when & what – as we transition to the new system in 2010-11.


PTO is having a Carnival Meeting on March 9th at 5:30 at Inman Primary! If you can think of anyone else who would want to help with the Carnival - let them know about the meeting or let me know! Thank you in advance for all of your help (from Mrs. Maynes)!


Guest Readers & Speech Contest - Thank you to Jan for organizing the celebrity readers for every classroom and for helping get the speech contest set up.  I appreciate the classroom teachers and Ms. Bates for taking the time to watch the speeches.  Please congratulate all seven students and wish Christian Horn good luck at the district contest.  I do hope this continues!


Thank you - After meeting with many of you yesterday after school, I want to hit on some things I feel I left unsaid or did not emphasize well enough.  My departure this summer does not change your mission and work.  As you continue living as professional learning communities (whether formal or informal), your hard work as an individual, within teams and as a building will continue to lead everyone in the right direction. This is the advantage of working as PLCs. The leadership you provide for each other and your students is vital in continuing the success we have experienced.  I said it before, yesterday and will continue to state it - you are a wonderful group of professionals who work smart and hard to respond to the critical needs of all students...and staff.  :)  I do appreciate your kind words and encouragement yesterday, but do know that I will continue to support our work and mission throughout the rest of this school year.  That will not change. 

As always - see me if you have questions, concerns or comments. 

Dates to Note...
March 8 - Barry @ Equity Workshop (Halverson AEA 13)
March 8 - School Board Mtg @ Webster (6 pm)
March 11 - SAT (3:25 pm)
March 12 - 2 hr early out (Indv PLC)
March 13-21 Spring Break!
March 26 - Jeannie, I, Melissa, and one team member schedule ITBS (TBA)
April 5-8 - ITBS week

Worth repeating even though it is below...

http://arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - Great free site from link below!!

http://blog.4teachers.org/ - great resources, links and help for teachers!

February 26, 2010

End of Quarter - The high school is still deciding about whether to move the end of the 3rd quarter and I hope to hear early next week.  As of today, the end of 3rd quarter is still March 10.

Focus on Essentials - With the weather-related loss of over 20 hours, teams and teachers need to revisit the essential learning outcomes and ensure the focus stays on those identified items.  Also, looking for ways to tie science and social studies content within your literacy block becomes even more important.  Continue working within your team to brainstorm ideas and help each other with this task.

Observations - There are just a few left to do!  Schedule your only/final one soon!! Spring Break is near.

Parent-Teacher Conferences - We had four classrooms with 100% attendance and 95% attendance rate overall!  We also had 81% of our students attend conferences which is an increase from the fall conferences.  Please let me know when you've made up the "missing" conferences on your roster.

Smoking Kills Lessons - Jean Nelson, “the Tobacco Lady,” will be with us next week to present her stories, data and information to our students. Jeannie has set the schedule as follows:
4th Grade:
- Same schedule as usual; location, MC
5th Grade:
- Monday: Linn and Timmerman, same schedule as usual; location MC
- Friday: Braymen and Montgomery, new day, time, and place (MC)

Celebrity Readers for Read Across America Day on March 2 have been set by Jan (thanks Jan!!). The readers will probably stay 15-20 minutes or however long it takes to read their books. You might ask them to tell a little about themselves, their profession and why reading is so important.

4th grade is 11:00 am except for 4-4 which is 11:30 am
** 4-2 Al Nelson - RO artist
** 4-3 Pat Nelson - retired RO teacher
** 4-4 John Blomstedt - YMCA
** 4-5 Terry Schmidt - Supt.
5th grade is 8:45 am
** 5-1 Fred Pilecki - First United Methodist Church minister
** 5-2 Joni Ernst - Mont. Co. Auditor
** 5-4 Dawn LeRette - Nelson Boylan LeRette Funeral Home
** 5-5 Marilyn Dietz - KCSI

Dates to Note
March 3 - WIS Students to see Cinderella (8:45-10:50 am)
March 3 - 2 hr early out - Bldg PLC; 5th Grade Speech Contest
March 4 - WIS Parent Advisory Mtg (7pm)
March 8 - YES Mentoring Tip Night @ Pizza Ranch! (5-7 pm)
March 8 - School Board Mtg @ Webster (6 pm)
March 11 - SAT (3:25 pm)
March 12 - 2 hr early out (Indv PLC)
March 13-21  Spring Break!

Website of the Week

http://arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - Great free site from link below!!
http://blog.4teachers.org/ - great resources, links and help for teachers!