Friday, November 30, 2018

"Win"ter ( I know corny!)

I am seeing so many teachers making great use of their WIN time, providing interventions as Instructional Assistants work with the other students, or teachers dividing up students to target instruction in response to the progress monitoring and assessment data. Thank you!

As you are providing interventions for those students who are not meeting benchmarks, please also make sure that you create an official plan within MTSS Explorer, and that you are progress monitoring. If a parent asks or we decide that a student may need to go through the evaluation process that data must be documented in the system. If we do not have it documented, it did not happen when it comes to this process. If you need assistance creating a plan. please ask your grade level case manager.

Interim Reports go home next Friday, December 7th. This is a great time to share specific data with your parents. Whether it be successes or areas of struggle, parents want to support at home. Let them know how they can help.  Tara has updated the resources on the GHE homepage that you can share with parents. Some of you are already sharing that. Hang in there folks! We have some fun days coming up and you are doing great work!




Ms. Gehrett's Goldfish work in teams to critique Ms. Gehrett's journal entry.


You all work so hard. So kiss your brain!





Thank you to Ms. Fulghum and Ms. Rocker for making such an adorable hallway display!


Hall of Fame:

Thank you Ms. Goodman and Ms. Cossa for presenting to our third grade parents about CogAt testing and IOWA testing.

Thank you to first grade for communicating very specific parent information for upcoming units and a parent survey to get feedback on their strengths and areas of improvement! Thanks for being so brave!
Thank you to Coach G for all of your weeks of holding down the fort in the gym without your permanent partner and for helping us hire a new Rock Star who starts Monday!

Welcome Ms. Belinda Williams, our new PE teacher!

Thank you to our teachers who are putting MTSS Explorer to good use! I am seeing lots of good plans in there.

Thank you to Case Managers for helping to support that work.

Thank you to all who have turned in your conference sign in sheets.

Thank you to 4th and 5th grades for your hard work with EL. A shout out to Ms. D'Amico and Ms. Zimmerman whose classes I happened to be in today as they were diving into their complex text on rainforests!

He survived!!!


Reminders:

Monday, December 3rd- Make- up school pictures- Please consult the list that Steve sent out to make sure that none of the kiddos who need  a pic miss it.

Tuesday, December 4th Leadership Team Meeting

Friday December 7th- Interims go home (I know right?!)

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Thankful


I am grateful to work with all of you. During this time of giving thanks, be thankful as I am for all that you have accomplished with your students.  In the coming weeks more test data will be shared. That is important data that informs our planning as we work to meet the academic needs of our students in the classroom and as a school. However, I hope that you are also focusing on all of the non- academic impacts you are having on students every day. Some of your students have anxieties that you are helping them to overcome. In some instances a child coming to school is a big accomplishment. Maybe a child who didn't have friends before, now has a friend or two. These are also things you have a positive impact on everyday. Take pride in that.

Tuesday we will be looking more closely at one of the indicators that we are focusing on through our School Improvement efforts.

Tuesday's schedule will begin at 1:45. Light snacks will be provided. Then we will commence with looking at some data that will illuminate why we are focusing on Family Engagement as one of our indicators. We will review our modes of communication and drill down to the classroom level to complete a school- wide communication plan. We will end with that at 3:00. The rest of the afternoon will be yours to use how you like.
Campus Instructional Assistants can plan to catch up on any work that you have as we will be focused on communication from classroom teachers to parents.

From the Classroom:

Pre- K is thankful !


Not to be outdone by Mommy!







Hall of Fame

Readvolution Day! Thank you to Ms. Ireland for all of your work on this initiative.




Boosterthon Color Dance Party!












Thank you Coach G for sharing your passion and giving the kids this experience!






Students in Ms. Harrington's class working together to research transportation in NC!








Friday, November 9, 2018

You are all teachers of the Year



A very happy Friday to you all!As you know you voted on our finalist for our Teacher of the Year for Green Hope Elementary this past week. 

💞💕💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

Congratulations to Janis Harr!!!

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

You were tasked with selecting someone who embodies these qualities. 

       Is an expert in his or her field who implements culturally responsive practices so students of all backgrounds and abilities achieve academic excellence;
      Engages with colleagues, students, families and community members to create a school culture of respect and success;
      Integrates core values, beliefs and other components of our our Strategic Plan into daily instruction; and
      Expresses themselves in an engaging and articulate way.

As I have been through classrooms I have seen teachers building relationships by letting students share their points of view and share things about themselves. You learned about and celebrated Diwali alongside your students and colleagues being culturally responsive. 

I have seen you engage with peers in IEP meetings and PLTs about what will work best for a particular child. I have seen you reach out to Angie or your Intervention team case manager or CCR teachers, and conference with parents to galvanize support for students and ensure good outcomes. All of this creates a school culture of respect and success.

You are having students talk about their learning, work together to create products that show their learning, and exercise critical thinking embodying the values of our Strategic Plan. 

And you are all engaging and articulate people.






Remember WCPSS Core value #1

"Every student is uniquely capable and deserves to be challenged and engaged in relevant, rigorous, and meaningful learning each day."






Mrs. Hampton's class creates biome boards!










Hall of Fame


Thank you to all of you for your flexibility with a changing Boosterthon and your enthusiasm for the program!

Thank you to the talented Mrs. Driggers for her beautiful Diwali board. 


Thank you to Mrs. Rohila for presenting on Diwali for students and bringing in cake for the staff!Happy Diwali!




Thank you Ms. Small for having a great impact on our students!



Reminders: 

No all staff meeting on Tuesday November 13th!

NC Check-ins November 13th, 14th, and 15th for 4rd 4th and 5th grade


Boosterthon !!!


Ms. Crabtree and her special friend.💗💗

















Friday, November 2, 2018

Lions, and Tigers, and cats, and pigs and cookies and TOYs Oh My!

This week you braved a packed faculty meeting, classroom visits from Boosterthon, and lunch in the classroom with kids in costumes on a Halloween which was once a workday. You rocked it once again! Thank you for managing it all so well.  

This is the time of year where life can become increasingly stressful. As the holidays approach, we sometimes have competing personal and professional priorities. It is really important to plan ahead taking time for yourself. During these times, it is also important to remember why we do what we do.
Please consider...

WCPSS Strategic Plan Core Value #1
"Every student is uniquely capable and deserves to be challenged and engaged in relevant, rigorous, and meaningful learning each day."

This is the student who doesn't yet seem to have the building blocks to the castle you are asking them to construct. This is the student who wants to talk about everything except what you are asking them to talk about. This is the student who, by their own calculation, already knows it all. This is the student whose parent is asking you for every accommodation under the sun, and blowing up your email on a daily basis.

Every student, every day is a tall order. As administrators, our job is to make sure that we support you in doing this. We are here to help you troubleshoot student issues. We are sharing information from meetings to help you feel more informed. We are visiting classrooms and celebrating what we are seeing. Our doors are always open!

Hall of Fame:

  • Thank you to third grade for planning such engaging standards- based science rotations on Halloween to engage students.
  • Thank you to Janis Harr for all of her help with Gradebook. 
  • Thank you to all of you for bearing with the refresh next week!
  • Thank you to CIAs and office staff for helping out with lunch duties. Reminder - wash hands- people are dropping like flies!
  • Thank you to Ms. Ireland for training staff on MTSS Explorer!
  • Congratulations Mrs. Crabtree. Mrs. Harr, and Ms. Patterson- our finalists for GHE Teacher of the year. Look for a form this weekend. So we can select our finalist!

Reminders :

Monday 
  • First Day of Internet Refresh (no internet)
Tuesday- 
  • 2 hour delay (A time to exercise your right to vote!)
  • Leadership Meeting (10:00 am)
Friday -
  • Boosterthon Fun Run
November 9th - Report Cards

If you would like to meet this rock star dancer, he can be found in Mrs. Buckley's class!





 


Loving our Storybook Characters!










Third graders have fun and ghoulish science rotations. Taught by Sneetches on Beaches !









Ms. Sprague's class reminds us to stay healthy and germ free!





Students in Ms. Arbour's class film a book talk.



Ms. Perez's classes learn and teach about soil





Pics from the Gym- Climbing to new heights!



Thanks to Coach G for letting me sub PE!
My next career will be line judge
I think I remember being able to do this. 😄
                                       
Climbing high