Updates -- 30 August 2013

Hello everyone,

Happy Trifecta-Friday (Friday, payday, three-day-weekend). Hope your extra day-off on Monday is especially enjoyable.

To commemorate Labor Day, one member of the workforce to another, I'd like to thank you all, once again, for the labor you do here every day.  Our students are truly fortunate to have you as their teachers.

Goal Setting
We will be working on goal setting for TPEC during CTs this week.  If you're a Group A teacher (classroom teacher with your own classroom-level data) and you intend to work with other Group A teachers, it would be nice for you to have an idea when we meet about who you're going to work with, and maybe even which of the available tools (AIMS, AIMSWEB, 4Sight, etc.) your group intends to use to measure student growth.  If you're a Group B teacher  (special-area teacher without your own classroom-level data) and you intend to collaborate with a group of Group A teachers, it would be great if you knew who and what tools you're going to work with/utilize, too.

All collaborators must collaborate with the same collaborators and use the same tools.

You can check out all of this stuff ahead of time by logging into TPEC, clicking on the Evaluations tab, and then opening up the Preconference box.  From here, you're able to add team members and view measurement tools.

 County Fair
Thanks, Ellen Hobson, for taking the initiative to set up our booth for this weekend's Coconino County Fair!

 NAU Praxis
The future dual-cert preservice student teachers from the university start on Tuesday, 03 Sept.  Many of you will be hosting them in your rooms.  I will provide a list of student/teacher assignments to you as soon as I have it.  Thanks for opening your rooms to these students.

PTO Checks
Many teachers will be receiving supplies-checks from the PTO soon.  These generous gifts have been given to teaching faculty members at Marshall for several years.  It's a kind-hearted, well-intended, supportive gesture on the part of our awesome parent group to help our teachers purchase much-needed supplies.

Nevertheless, we've come within a hair's breadth of losing these gifts altogether due to the contention they've caused in recent years.  Here's what you need to know: I make the final decision about who will receive these checks and in what amount.  If you have a bone to pick about what you have been gifted, or if you are concerned about the fact that you weren't gifted, or if, for any reason, you find yourself concerned about these checks, please bring your complaint, concern, contention to me and not to the membership of the PTO.  If contention/concern persists, and if it continues to be directed at the PTO, I've a hunch that these teacher-gifts will be discontinued in the future.  Thanks.

FUSD Athletic Passes
Your free pass to most FUSD athletic events is available in the front office.  Malinda has them.  If you want one, just ask.

Morning Math
Please remember to dedicate the time period from 8:45-9:15 to Morning Math time.  This is not a request, it really is an expectation.  Please use this time to review previously taught concepts, to work on problem solving exercises, or to begin to introduce new topics.  Rocket Math, Envision Problem Of The Day, etc. are all suitable activities during this time.

Faculty Meeting
We will convene face-to-face at 7:45 on Thursday, 05 September, in the Library for a faculty meeting.  We will discuss our PBS program and receive a quick update on Parenting Arizona.  In the meantime, please remember to:
  • hand out PBS blue tickets at the rate of 2-3 per day
  • praise students who are in compliance with our expectations in common spaces
  • when on recess duty resist the urge to stand still: move-and-scan, move-and-scan
  • remind students, when you send them unescorted to the restrooms during the school day, that they must walk in the halls at all times.

AESOP
Do you know how to use AESOP, the new call-off system?  If you haven't logged in yet, it might be advisable to do so now, just to have a look around so you're familiar with the interface should you have to use it to call off in the middle of the night some night.  If you have questions about how to use the system, please let me know.  If you're having trouble with your log-in, I recommend you contact Chris Grove at the district office (x6013).  He can help you.  Did you know:
  • sick-leave and personal-leave are now identified only as Personal Leave in the AESOP drop-down menus
  • if you take Professional Leave you we must be able to verify which department, grant, or other funding source will be paying for your sub before it will be approved
  • you can still select/deselect and arrange for your own subs in the AESOP system

Paraprofessional (SPED aide) HQ forms
Please get these back to me ASAP.  Thanks!

Request For Student Support
A new Request For Student Support form has been developed by our PBS team.  It's available in the sidebar or via this link.  Please use it when you require additional behavioral assistance with your students.

Calendar
  • Monday, 02 Sept.
  • Wednesday, 04 Sept.
    • PTO Meeting in the Library, 6:30 PM
  • Thursday, 05 Sept.
    • Faculty Meeting in the Library, 7:45 AM
  • Friday, 06 Sept.
    • iPad training for fifth grade teachers, 1:00

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Updates -- 23 August 2013

Hello everyone,

Happy Friday!

I thought Open House went great last night!  I'm grateful to you for being here (not that you really had a choice, I know), for being on time, for staying throughout, and for having such bright smiles and such great attitudes all evening long.

I really do love these opportunities to show y'all off.  And, I'm here to tell you, having spoken to about a thousand people last night, that our parents are, really with only the rarest of exceptions, totally, thoroughly, completely stoked on all of you, on Marshall Magnet School, and on the new school year.  So, well done, all y'all.  And thanks!

Expect More
If, as I did, you grew up in the Valley watching The Wallace and Ladmo Show in the morning, I think you'll find this video both nostalgic and compelling.  If you didn't grow up around here, I have a hunch you'll still "get the joke" and that you'll find yourself hoping, like me, that more of the "informed electorate" are able to hear the message of this video, too.



Stress
I noted in The Blue Note last week that I believe we're off to a good start around here, the best one yet during my time in this office (not taking the credit, just making the observation).  And I continue to believe that.  Nevertheless, we've encountered our share of stress-points in our second week as we've begun to get into the nuts-and-bolts of the school year.

Please remember:
  • Beginning of the year stress is pretty darn normal given your new-class, new-challenges, new procedures, and potentially, for some, your new-assignment.
  • Beginning of the year stress should not be taken to indicate that we, as a school community, will not to all that we can to alleviate your stress, as we are able, or that your stress points today will forever be stressful... sometimes, as we acclimate to new systems and people, stress abates organically, all on its own.  Sometimes we're able to do something about it.  Sometimes we just need to step back, take a breath, and let everything settle.
  • When you're feeling stressed out and looking for someone to talk to, you should make every reasonable effort to convey your stress level to others using kind words and rational actions... venting is good; seeking collegial advice, even better; angry ad hominems are not so good.  Be nice.  Be patient.  Remember: you're among friends.
PBS
We're off to a great start with our Positive Behavior Support program this year.  Thanks to Dawn Edwards, PBS specialist, for providing reminders and materials about the various components of our program to all of our classroom teachers this week.  Likewise, thanks to our teachers for reviewing each of these components with your classes.  We're still in "the honeymoon" but, nevertheless, as far as behaviors go, we're off to a really nice start as far as I'm concerned.

Please, continue to hand out PBS tickets, at the rate of 2 or 3 a day.

If you desire additional information and resources regarding Tier 1 PBS, please have a look at this website.

Custodial
It's been suggested that, in order to help our excellent Pinnacle custodial personnel get through our building efficiently each night, our classroom teachers would be kind to consider doing the following:
  • Crank closed your windows at the end of the day (this is also a security concern)
  • Place your trashcans in the hallway next to your classroom door
  • Have students pick up large pieces of trash from the floor as they prepare to leave at day's end
  • Have students place chairs atop desks before leaving at dismissal
If you will do these simple things, I am confident it will enable our custodians to do a even more superior job maintaining our building.  Thanks for your consideration.

Committees
Yeah...  Still need to get around to emailing each group to encourage you to establish a time and agenda for your initial meeting.  But for the time being, here's the low-down on membership sing-ups:
  • PTO: Bull, Reasor, Hulls, Shaw
  • RAK: Bull, Ingols, Hadden, Shaw, Perkins
  • Academic: White, Ingols, Hadden Macias, Grant
  • Parent Involvement: Paulsen, Ronn
  • Safety: Luxton, Reasor, Pavich, Ballard
  • Tech: Coates, Heck, McA, Hulls, Kasch, Price, Bianco, Stern
  • PBS: Alonso-Paez, White, Connell, Pagel, Luxton, Ronn, Pavich, Perkins, Hobson, Stern, Shaw
  • Social: Pagel, Burgoon
  • Science: Grimmett, Arnold, Reasor, Ingols, Paulsen, Thompson, Fisher, Kohl, Kasch, Price
  • Site: Alonso-Paez, Koenig, McFall, Housholder, Macias
  • Green: Arnold, Thompson, Fisher, Kohl, Burgoon
Remember: if you do more than one AM or PM duty per week you need only sign up for one committee.  If you haven't signed up for a committee or two yet, please do so ASAP.  At this time you can just email me directly with your committee choice rather than using the online sign-up form.

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Updates -- 16 August 2013

Hello everyone,

Raise your hand if you're exhausted.

What a week.  Starting on Monday is hard.

All in all, though, I'd rate this week pretty highly; it could have been a lot more complicated than it was... but it wasn't.  From my perspective most things went pretty much okay from day-one... intake, dismissal, transportation, lunches, recesses, enrollments, classes, behaviors, staff... just about all of it fell into place pretty smoothly from the moment we opened our doors on Monday morning... thanks to all of you!  I really appreciate your tenacity, commitment-to-the-cause, and willingness to go with the flow.  Because of you, we're through our first week with but a few minor ripples.  Thanks!

Sign-ups, duties, pledges, and paperwork
Thanks, as well, for signing-up for committees.  I am still in the process of going through all the lists and sending emails to each committee encouraging the membership to establish a time for a first-meeting.  I'd hoped to have that done by this point in the week, but it's going to have to wait another day or so.  Thanks for your patience.

Otherwise, I've got everyone's HQ and Professional Expectations forms back.  Thanks!  Still waiting for a few of you to enter your Emergency Contact info and your Classroom Management plans.

Thanks, also, for getting your recess schedules to me as soon as possible.

Next week, please remember to have your parents and students complete a School Compact form.  Open House (Thursday, 22 Aug.) is a great time to get some of these done.  Don't forget: you need to sign them too.  Please bind them together with a paperclip when you've got them all done and drop them in the basket next to my office door. Thanks.

I'm sorry if my 8:15 morning reminders have bothered some of you.  It was not my intent to call you out for not being on duty, but rather it was my hope merely to remind you of it.  Thanks for being attentive to these important responsibilities.

TPEC Rubric Meetings
As our first somewhat informal CT meetings next week, we'll get together as teams without the RTI Specialists (they're baseline testing) in the Science Lab to discuss the new TPEC rubric and the Science Lab schedule.  Our teams will meet on the following dates and times:
  • Tuesday, 20 Aug.
    • 9:10 Fourth Grade
  • Wednesday, 21 Aug.
    • 1:05 Second Grade
    • 3:45 Fifth Grade
  • Thursday, 22 Aug.
    • 9:10 Third Grade
    • 10:10 SEI
    • 1:05 First Grade
  • Friday, 23 Aug
    • 1:00 Kinder
    • 2:00 Specials
Dietrich Sauer will meet with us on Friday afternoon, 23 August, for about 20 minutes in the Library to review the TPEC evaluation tool, too.

Big Brothers / Big Sisters
Laurel Clossey, BBBS Program Coordinator writes:

"Greetings Marshall Staff and Faculty! We are excited to be partnering with Marshall Elementary School once again for our School-Based Mentoring Program through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff.

 Our program mission is “To foster positive youth development by providing weekly support within the school environment through one-to-one relationships with adult mentors” Students in 1st through 5th grades are matched with a Big Brother or Big Sister with similar personality and interests. This is a friend and positive role model that can share communication, help with homework, build self-esteem, have fun, and enjoy new experiences together. Child safety has always been our agencies number one priority for many years. 

  The School-Based Mentoring group at Marshall school meets once a week for two hours. Every Monday 3:20-5:20pm, beginning on September 9th. We have a staff-person that is a facilitator at each mentoring session who chooses an activity and helps the matches. There are group arts and crafts or sports activities, and always one-on-one time for “Littles” and “Bigs” to connect and grow their friendship. Students come to us mainly by teacher or counselor referrals. These referral forms are simple and will be found in the Big Brother Big Sister box in the mailroom at Marshall. I will pick any referral, contact the parent/guardian and conduct a parent interview as well as a child interview and work on finding a “Big,” or a Mentor for the child that will be a great fit together. 

 We are looking for kids referred to the program that may have different needs not being met at home or school, or who have different risk factors. Also students who will have fairly steady attendance for the program, whose family is supportive of their child getting a mentor, and who have a genuine interest in the program. We do not match children that do not want a Big Brother or Big Sister. 

  Please take a moment to refer any students you may have that could use a special mentor. Also, feel free to contact me with any additional questions, ideas, or concerns!

 Sincerely, Laurel Clohessy School-Based Mentoring Program Coordinator –Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff"

Open House Night
We're on this Thursday evening, 22 August, for our annual Open House Night.  Here's the schedule:
5:00 -- Doors open; flyers will be distributed at the door; folks will sign-in, visit classrooms, and sign up for PTO and Councils in the entryway
5:10 -- Announcement: "Parents, please join us in the Gym for a quick 15-minute informational meeting about Marshall School.  You have an opportunity to attend this meeting now or at 6:00."
5:15-5:30 --   I will welcome them and give a quick run-down of a few things including pick-up, drop-off, parking, Tax Credit, and Title 1.
5:30 --Parents dismissed from Gym; folks will visit classrooms.

6:00 -- Announcement: "Announcement: "Parents, please join us in the Gym for a quick 15-minute informational meeting about Marshall School now."
6:00-6:15 --  will welcome them and give a quick run-down of a few things including pick-up, drop-off, parking, Tax Credit, and Title 1.
6:15 -- Parents dismissed from Gym.
6:15-7:00 -- Folks will visit classrooms
7:00 -- Announcement: "Thanks for coming to our Open House this evening.  We hope you had a great time and that we see you back at Marshall on a regular basis.  Don't forget to visit us online to keep up with all that's going on around here.  You'll find us on Facebook or at marshallelementary.blogspot.com.  Good night."

Morning Math
After you've completed your Pledge Of Allegiance and Moment Of Silence each morning, please commit to dedicating the time-period from 8:45 until about 9:15 to Morning Math.  As I've visited your classrooms this week I've observed several teachers already beginning to build this time as a routine. Thanks!  I am confident that this additional commitment to teaching discrete math skills and problem solving strategies will be of great benefit to our students.

We are in the process of ordering support materials for Math review at each grade level.  Likewise, it's recommended that you look at the Problem Of The Day components of your Envision Math materials as a resource for this morning time.  Rocket Math materials are also a great review/reinforcement and these resources have already been copied and filed for your use in the Teacher Workroom.

As you're teaching Math, whether in your daily Math-block time or during Morning Math, remember to focus on the Common Core State Standards For Mathematical Practice:


Calendar
  • Monday, 19 Aug.
    • AIMSWEB Baseline testing begins (all week)
    • Coe at Admin, 1:00-4:00 -- Reasor has the helm
  • Tuesday, 20 Aug.
    • PBS Committee meeting, 8:15 in the Library
  • Wednesday, 21 Aug.
    • Coe at Elementary Admin, 7:30-11:00
  • Friday, 23 Aug.
    • Faculty Meeting (Title 1 and TPEC), 1:30-2:15
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Updates -- 09 Aug 2013

Hello everyone,

Well, here we go!  Our students will be back with us on Monday.  Wow!  Kinda hard to imagine...  I'm sure you're excited, and nervous, and scrambling to get all your last-minute things done.

Thanks for hanging-in through everything, all the looong, hot meetings, seemingly endless setup, and the inevitable, yet always somehow still unexpected chaos that must always occur the week before school starts.

Nevertheless, I hope you're able to get on top of things and find a few moments to relax over the weekend.

Just a few quick things today, for the good of the order:

Please turn in (if you haven't done so already):
Please complete (if you haven't done so already):
On the first day of school, please:
  • complete a roster of your students indicating how they get home; please include bus route number
  • send home all those important forms, especially Free-and-Reduced Lunch
Please don't forget:
  • kindergartners will eat lunch at 10:30 and dismiss at 11:30 on Monday, 12 Aug.
  • everyone else is on our typical schedule Monday through Friday
  • FACTS will henceforth be located in the portable classrooms
  • PBS coupons! Please begin passing out a few each day beginning day-one
    • We'll have an assembly in the Gym to kick-off PBS on Friday, 16 Aug.
      • K-2 at 9:00
      • 3-5 at 9:30
Please review:
Last of all:
  • We could still use just one more individual on the Thursday morning big-kids playground.  Remember: if you take an additional duty you need sign-up for only one committee obligation.  Not a bad deal, really.  Please let me know if you're willing.
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