Updates -- 29 Jan.

Hello everyone. Hope your weekend went well. Sorry for the belatedness of this post; I had to skeedaddle down to Phoenix midday on Friday, so I haven't been able to get the Blue Note done until now. Apologies...

Promethean Bus
By the look of things many of you, along with a few of our parents, were able to get aboard the ActiveClassroom RV last week. And by the sound of things, all of you who did have gained a new appreciation and excitement for what these tools can do in our classrooms. I think that's great! Thanks for taking the time. FYI: Promethean has several upcoming online webinars that you can participate in free-of-charge. Visit their website to sign up.

Fire Drill Feedback
Last week's Fire Drill went super well, I think! Everyone was out of the building in short order. And it's great to see all those green cards when y'all have all your kids accounted for. We had a few doors left open, and a few lights left on as well. Technically both of these things are no-nos. But all-in-all I'd rate our most recent drill a success. Thanks for taking this drill, and all building-alarms, seriously.

PTO Meeting 01 Feb 2012
As you probably already know, you're invited to attend the PTO meeting this Wednesday evening at 6:30 in the library. Barbara Hickman will be in attendance to discuss the future course of Marshall Magnet School. In her invitation to PTO members last week, PTO President Karen Haubensak outlined Wednesday evening's agenda as follows:

"Barbara Hickman is coming to our meeting and is going to explain how a principal search works, the timing of a principal search, guide us through common questions asked of a potential candidate, and discuss John Coe in his current position and the possible appointment of him as the Marshall principal. Our school is in a unique situation with Mr. Coe and it will be beneficial for us to attend to hear how the process will go moving forward."

Please consider attending if you'd like to be a part of this public discussion. If, however, you would prefer to make your opinion regarding Marshall's future known more privately, you are encourage to call or email Ms. Hickman directly.

Calendar
NO RTI ALL WEEK

• Wednesday, 01 Feb.
• Coe @ Elementary Admin. Mtg. 9:00-12:00 -- Ballard has the helm
• Joint Councils (Site & Science) Mtg. 5:00-6:30
• PTO Mtg. 6:30-7:30
• Thursday, 02 Feb.
• MEMS Band @ FMS Gym, 1:00-1:30
• Townsend & Hurley to Nordic Center
• Friday, 03 Feb.
• Two-hour Professional Development Mtg. 1:00-3:00 in the Library: PARCC Assessment; Common Core Standards; new teacher-principal evaluations

Updates: 20 Jan

Hello everyone.  Happy pay day!

Right off the bat, let's all wish Mrs. Lemoyne's and Mrs. Taylor's Co-op classes the best of luck in what we hope is a successful entry into the Arizona Diamondback's National Anthem contest.  If they're selected as the winning class, they all get to attend a game in Phoenix together for free!  Kudos, likewise, to Shaddy for editing it all together so well!  To view their contest entry, play the video below:



Calendar

• Tuesday, 24 Jan.
• Promethean ActivClassroom Bus on-site, 9:00-4:00 across the street; come as you are, whenever you can; stay as long as you like
• Fifth Grade Middle School Counselors visit, 9:00 in the Gym
• Wednesday, 25 Jan.
• Bianco and Paulsen to Flagstaff Nordic Center
• Thursday, 26 Jan.
• Fire Drill, 10:00
• Lemoyne to Flagstaff Nordic Center
• Friday, 27 Jan.
• Java By The Gym
• Coe, Ballard, Thompson, Kindergarten teachers @ Reggio Conference, all day - Novak and Reasor have the helm; John Albert on-call for emergencies

Red Rock State Park

I received some information about fieldtrip opportunities at  Red Rock State Park the other day.  Rather than make a lot of copies of their materials, they included a CD with a presentation on it.  I've put it online for you to flip through if you're interested in seeing what they have to offer.  You'll need Powerpoint to view it; most of you should have that installed already.  Download the presentation using this link.

Please acknowledge:
Have a great weekend!

Updates - 13 Jan.

Happy Friday!

Happy three-day weekend!

Probably a little snow, come Sunday.  More after that, too, I think, later in the week if the Pacific jetstream cooperates... Gotta wait and see.

Calendar

• Monday, 16 Jan.
• No School, MLK Day
• Tuesday, 17 Jan.
• PBS initiative begins: Fairness
• NAU Praxis students begin
• Wednesday, 18 Jan.
• Spelling Bee in the Gym, 9:40
• Thursday, 19 Jan.
• No third grade Dance classes

Science Fair Dates
The Science Fair will be set up on Monday, 13 Feb. beginning at 9:00AM.  Judging will take place beginning at 3:30PM that same day.  Classes will eat sack lunch in their classrooms that day and the Gym will be otherwise unavailable all day.

Classes will sign up to walk through the Science Fair on Tuesday, 14 Feb. during the school day.  Classes will eat sack lunch in their classrooms that day and the Gym will be otherwise unavailable all day.

Classes will sign up to walk through the Science Fair on Tuesday, 15 Feb. during the school day.  Classes will eat sack lunch in their classrooms that day and the Gym will be otherwise unavailable all day. The Science Fair Family Night Open House will take place on 15 Feb. from 5:30-7:00PM.

The Science Fair will be dismantled from 8:00-10:00AM on 16 Feb. and the Gym will be unavailable during that time.  However, all slasses will eat lunch as-usual in the Cafegymatorium.

Promethean Boards

Click to print

We will soon be ordering several interactive Promethean Boards for classrooms that currently lack them with funds from the 2011 Marshall PTO Mustang Gallop.  In order to ensure that these new Boards, and all of the Boards we currently have installed, are used to their maximum potential, we have planned for several upcoming professional development/training opportunities.

Your first opportunity to get to know what your Promethean Board can do for you and your students will take place on 24 Jan. in the parking lot across the street when the 36-foot-long Promethean ActiveClassroom RV shows up from 9:00AM-4:00PM.  Please print yourself a ticket (or use the one in your mailbox) and simply show up at the AdtivClassroom Rv's door when it's convenient for you, and they'll take care of the rest.

Please acknowledge:

Positive Behavior Support initiative

Your Positive Behavior Support (PBS) committee has been hard at work for the past several weeks designing a new PBS initiative to implement within our school community. In order to encourage several key behaviors, the new initiative has been intentionally designed to yield maximum positive results among the student body, while requiring minimal teacher-time from each of you.  The initiative has several key components, and, in addition to this blog-post, you should find everything you need to help you understand and implement the program in your mailbox in the very near future.  We hope you will spend a few moments, before the program begins in earnest next Tuesday, January 17, looking everything over.

TRRFC Program

The TRRFC acronym stands for Trust, Respect, Responsible, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.  The TRRFC program is designed to promote immediate positive behavior support schoolwide.  Each month or so we will have a targeted character trait to emphasize throughout the school which will also be featured on posters and bulletin boards around the building.  Students who are "caught" demonstrating the trait-of-the-month will receive a Positive Behavior Support Coupon.  Any staff member may give a student a PBS Coupon at any time, whenever the appropriate character trait is observed.  Additional PBS Coupons are available in the workroom.

Students who receive at least 30 PBS Coupons before the monthly deadline will receive a certificate (suitable for framing) and a wristband at an all-school assembly in order to recognize their positive behavior in the presence of their peers.

Fairness
The character trait fairness will theme the first month of our new PBS initiative.

• January 17: Teachers may begin distributing PBS Coupons to students "caught" demonstrating fairness.  
• February 24: Teachers will submit the names of students who have collected at least 30 Coupons to Mr. Coe.  
• March 2: An assembly to recognize these students will take place in the Gym.

Positive Playground, Hallway, and Bathroom behaviors

The PBS committee has also been working on identifying and outlining a set of expected behaviors for Marshall School's playgrounds, hallways, and bathrooms.  Using this list as a guide, it is the committee's goal to have all faculty and staff consistently reinforce these desired behaviors.  Please review them with your students.

• Playground:
• Climbing Wall: 
• Always continue moving with 3 points of contact. 
• Avoid sitting and sliding down the bars. 
• Climb down carefully and avoid jumping off.
• Spinnies: 
• Only have 3 little kids and 2 big kids on a 1 time. 
• Each turn should be only 30 revolutions and then switch. 
• Make sure feet are in contact with the plate at all times. 
• Avoid jumping off, swinging out and sitting on the top.
• Swings:      
• Always sit on your bottom only. 
• Swing back and forth only. 
• Avoid jumping off, swinging sideways, or twisting the chain. 
• Avoid swinging too high. 
• Slide:      
• Slide down one at a time. 
• Always slide down on your bottom. 
• Avoid climbing up the slide. 
• Areas to Avoid:      
• bushes underneath any windows 
• garden area, aka Hamra Hollow
• Hallways:       
• Always have silent voices. 
• Always keep to the right. 
• Always keep body parts of the walls. 
• Always have single file lines. 
• Bathrooms:       
• Always have quiet voices 
• Do your business and leave immediately. 
• Avoid hanging from stalls
• No playing with the water or soap

Updates - 09 Jan

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the late Blue Note.  It's been a long weekend...

New Duties
First-grade duty begins this week.  Please remember to be in-position by 8:15 and to cover the playgrounds first (two people, please), the hallway and cafeteria second, and the bus drop-off area third.

Science Night
Science Fair Help Night Open House is tomorrow, Tuesday, 10 Jan.  Kasch and Paulsen would love to have you there to help our students and their families get a head-start on their science fair projects.  The event will take place in the Library, from 5:30 until 7:00PM.  Please let them know if you're able to attend to help out. Thanks!

Bees
The Geography Bee will take place on Wednesday morning, 11 Jan. in the Gym (thanks, Jan!).  It will begin at 9:40 and should be done well in advance of our first lunch time.

The Spelling Bee will take place next week on Wednesday morning 18 Jan. in the Gym (thanks again, Jan!).  It will likewise begin at 9:40 and hopefully reach its conclusion well in advance of our first lunch time.

Common Assessments Conference
I will be out of the building tomorrow and Wednesday, 10-11 Jan. to attend the Building Common Assessments conference at Christensen.  Ballard, as always, has the helm.

MLK Day
Classes will not be in session next Monday, 16 Jan. in recognition of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Welcome Back

Happy new year!  Hope your vacation was restful and filled with lots of wonderful times with family and friends.

On the calendar this week:

Wednesday, January 4

• PBS Committee meeting, 7:45
• Coe at elementary admins meeting, 9:00-12:00 -- Ballard has the helm
• Site Council: POSTPONED until Feb. 1
• PTO: POSTPONED until Feb. 1

Thursday, January 5

• Faculty Meeting in the Library, 8:00