Updates - 26 April 2013

Click to enlarge

Hello everyone,

Friday-payday!  My favorite.

Random Acts
A gentle reminder from the RAK Committee: "baskets for the RAK [Big Event] Dinner are due next week.  Any questions, please ask Melissa or Jen."

Evacuation Plan
In a recent email ["lockdown drill debrief"], we reviewed our evacuation plan along with our current lockdown procedures.  Our evacuation plan is still somewhat nebulous and, doubtless, needs to be drilled some time soon.  But, for the time being, here's what we should do in the event we call for a lockdown due to a threat-from-within and therefore all exterior doors are locked and disabled preventing your reentry into the building:  You, along with any students left outside, should immediately evacuate to the region south of the ball-fields on the Flagstaff High School campus.  Without keycards to FHS you will be unable to gain entry to their building, making our old plan to evacuate to the FHS dome impossible.  Nevertheless, these parking lots, and the common area south of the track/football field, should be able to accommodate all of us if needed, while keeping us out of a line-of-sight of most of our building.  We will drill this process one of these days, but for the time being, please keep this evacuation plan in mind should you ever find yourselves locked out when a lockdown has been called.  Feel free to enlarge and print a copy of this map and include it, along with everything else, in your red folder.

Calendar
2013-2014 grade-level placements in CTs all week

• Wednesday, 01 May
• Site & Science Councils in the Library 5:30
• PTO in the Library, 6:30
• Thursday, 02 May
• PTO Teacher Appreciation Breakfast in the Library, 7:30
• Heritage Square Dance & Violin Performances, 12:00

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Updates - 19 April 2013

Hello everyone,

'Tis Friday, once again!  Alas. I think we should refer to this as The Week That Was A Week-and-a-half Long.  

Did you know?

• We will dismiss on our regular early-release schedule on Thursday, 30 May, the last day of school.
• There will be a Teacher Work Day on Friday, 31 May.
• There will be a 301 Day for teachers on Wednesday, 07 Aug.
• The first day of work for teachers in August will be Thursday, 08 Aug.
• There will be a Faculty Meeting and Teacher Work Day on Friday, 09 Aug.
• The first day of school will be Monday, 12 Aug.

Classified Job Descriptions

If you received a "job description overview" packet from me recently, please return your reviewed, revised employee job descriptions to my inbox by this Monday, 22 April. Thanks!

ELA Phase II Move On When Reading training

FYI: At some point in the near future I foresee that we will all likely be required to attend both Phase I and Phase II trainings to help us implement the Common Core State Standards.  Many of you have already begun this process.  Well done!  I have a list in my office of the Phase I trainings with which you have been credited, please stop by to look at the list if you're curious about where you stand.  

With that in mind, if you've complete your Phase I English Language Arts training, and if you teach in grades K-3, Coconino County teacher-trainer Cheryl Mango-Paget writes:

"I wanted to let everyone know that we have a unique opportunity to host a Move on When Reading Training this summer.  Move on When Reading Training prepares K-3 educators to implement ARS.15-701 (see details below). 

ARS§15-701 §15-701 Move on When Reading  Beginning in the school year 2013-2014, Arizona will implement an innovative new policy that will create multiple opportunities for 3^rd grade students to master reading at the grade level. Students who score Falls Far Below on the AIMS reading test may be retained in the 3^rd grade to meet the rigorous reading standards set forth in the Arizona English Language Arts Standards. 

This training will be open to K-3 teachers, instructional coaches, sped teachers and reading specialists. Teachers who complete this training may be eligible to do the TOT training for Move ON When Reading.  This will save districts money because they will establish their own internal trainers. Teachers who attend Move on When Reading training are NOT required to attend TOT training."

Sustainable Economic Development Initiative (SEDI) Awards

All teachers in Coconino County are eligible to apply for awards of up to $1000.00 through SEDI.  More information about the application process and the Initiative is available on their website, www.sedinaz.org.

Calendar

• Wednesday, 24 April
• Coe at District Office meetings 9:00-12:00
• Spring Carnival 6:00-7:00
• Thursday, 25 April
• Native American Family Math/Science Night 6:00-7:30
• Friday, 26 April
• Band & Choir students on fieldtrip, all day
• Earth Day activities, all day
• 2-hour Professional Development seminar: SEI teaching strategies with Perkins & Ingols , 1:00-3:00

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Updates - 12 April 2013

Hello everyone,

Happy Yuri's Night! Be safe this evening as you celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the first launching of a human into space.

Weatherbug!
Our new Weatherbug weather station, a component of our ongoing, burgeoning Science Lab construction project (have you seen the new cabinetry?), has been installed on our rooftop and it's data tables and current readings are now available to you and your students online 24-7.  It's a fantastic device, able to provide our students with innumerable opportunities to study and compile real data, and I hope you're able to find neat, innovative ways to use it.

You can access the Marshall School Online Weather Center, which features current conditions, regional meteorological tables and local forecasts, as well as a live HD camera image of the Peaks from our rooftop, via this link.

You can access a quick, up-to-the-second table of current Marshall School weather conditions online via this link.

Those poplars will get trimmed soon.

If you click on the "station graph" link on the Online Weather Center page you can select a wide variety of variables to produce interesting graphs of our recent conditions. The "monthly obs" and "daily obs" links will also lead you to some great real-world data tables, though at the moment, because our station is only a few days old, these tables are still in the process of populating data.  Finally, selecting "enlarge" below the live image, will not only give you a bigger picture of the peaks to look at, but will allow you to toggle backward in time by the hour, day, or month.

Tentative 2013-2014 Assignments
I'm hoping that the few minor changes that we will need to make to our staffing assignments and classrooms for next year won't be too upsetting to y'all.  If you're to be directly effected by the minor changes I've needed to make, I've already spoken with you and I appreciate your willingness to help me make the a few necessary adjustments to who/what/where you will be teaching next year.

Otherwise, if I haven't dropped in to talk with you about these things recently, chances are things will more-or-less be business-as-usual for you and your current program/assignment next year.

Of course, I must stipulate: all that I am about to share with you is entirely tentative and dependent on actual enrollments, unforeseen vacancies, and sundry other administrative needs/concerns which may or may not arise as we end the year and work through the summer months.  Basically, what I'm saying is this: I hope that this will be the plan for next year.  I expect it to be the plan for next year.  But, well, it might-could change, and if it needs to change I will change it 'cause that's my job.

Tentative 2013-2014 Staff Assignments
Tentative 2013-2014 Classroom Assignments

iPad Cart Wranglers
The district continues to roll-out the iPad carts to additional grade levels.  At Marshall, we need three more coaches/cart-wranglers at kindergarten, fourth grade, and fifth grade.  It would be great to have a few volunteers.  If you're interested, please let me know.

TPEC Evaluators
Mr. McAllister would like you to know that, "the TPEC team is looking for evaluation evaluators.  Commitment dates are May 1-3, May 6 (afternoon), May 8, May 10 (elementary only). Talk with McAllister or Macias if you would like to help with this project."

AIMS & SAT10
Thanks for indulging me this morning and allowing me to have a quick talk with your students about our upcoming "game day" and all that.  Thanks, as well, for abiding by all the protocols and procedures that Page outlined for us at our faculty meeting this week.  This testing business is a serious business, indeed.  I appreciate your singular focus, emphasis on excellence, and spotless integrity as we endure the next week.

Just a reminder:  your tests must be picked up and turned in to my office every day during the testing week.

Blogger Bug

wifi icon

I've noticed on occasion, when connected to the wifi network at Marshall using my MacBook, that sometimes, if I've put my machine to sleep and then reawakened it a short time later by closing and opening the top, that the sidebar links on the Blue Note blog disappear.  I can't explain why this happens, but the simple fix is to restart your computer, or if you don't want to do that, you can navigate to the little wifi icon on your top-bar and turn the Airport off and then on again.  This fixes the bug, too.

Calendar

• Monday, 15 April
• AIMS testing
• Coe @Admin Council 1:00-4:00
• Tuesday, 16 April
• AIMS/SAT10 testing
• Wednesday, 17 April
• AIMS/SAT10 testing
• Thursday, 18 April
• AIMS testing
• Friday, 19 April
• AIMS make-up testing
• Kindergarten Family Night 5:30-6:30

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Updates - 05 April 2013

Hello everyone,

Well.  That was a week.  Doncha think?

Pretty sure Marshall's not the only school in town that felt a little like this dude this week.  I hear tell there was the impression that the wheels had come off in other places, too.

Thanks for hanging in there, despite the bumps in the road.

Lockdown Drill
There will be a lockdown drill at some point during the week next week.   It is very likely that its timing will inconvenience some of you or come at an awkward time for your class.  This is by design.  Please review our lockdown procedures, talk with your students about lockdowns again, and (always) be prepared.

Pre-AIMS "Game-day" Pep Talk
I'd like to meet with all the third, fourth, and fifth grade students in the Gym at 9:00 AM on Friday morning, 12 April, to talk with them about AIMS.  You may recall, I did this last year, too.  Thanks for your indulgence; it makes me feel better to have this talk with our students before they sit for testing.

Calendar

• Monday, 08 April
• Coe @ Move On When Reading mtg., 7:45-9:00
• Coe @ AIMS to PARCC mtg., 3:30-4:45
• Wednesday, 10 April
• Coe @ Elementary Admin mtg., 7:30-10:30
• Thursday, 11 April
• Faculty Meeting in the Library, 7:45
• Friday, 12 April
• Coe's pre-AIMS Game-day Pep Talk in the Gym, 9:00 (gr. 3-5)

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