Dr. Smith's Monday Memo

Good Morning HMS!

I am thrilled at the start we are having to our school year!  I have also been slammed with positive comments and praise about Hixson and our amazing staff.  As my family and I moved to Webster in July, I am learning the depth of the implications (all have been positive) of being completely immersed in our community- everything I do and everywhere I go...ALL children I see (for the most part) will be "ours" at HMS at some point.  Yesterday, I was sitting with my husband watching our 5th grader play in his soccer game and "listening" to the parents all talking about what a great start they had to the year at Hixson and what a great transition their children are making!!  Of course I couldn't help but overhear when positive praise was being put out there for you all from parents at random.  They had no clue who I was (in the sunglasses sweating like nobody's business), so I finally gave myself up and they further shared their delight with what you are doing for their children!  THANK YOU!

Faculty Meeting This Afternoon, 3:30- 4:30 Auditorium

This afternoon's agenda includes:

• 3:30-3:45
• Nuts and bolts- beginning of the year- 2 minutes
• Q/A- open house overview
• Overview of Friday's PD Day
• Let us know in which room your department will meet
• Exit Card
• 3:45-4:30
• Meet with Departments- admin visits

Bio Sheets Needed!

Thank you for turning in your Bio sheets!  If you have not done so, please remember they are due at this time.  Our goal is that we all post them outside of our doors in time for open house for parents, students, and each other to see who we are and what we do!  : )  Mike is coming around to install a frame near your door to hold the bio sheets when we print them.  

If you are a teacher with multiple classrooms, please let Dr. Roberts know which classroom you want your bio sheet outside of.  If you want more than one, one will be framed by a door and one can be laminated outside another classroom where you teach. Thanks!

Training Trackers Due ASAP!  

Please have your required trainings completed and "tracked" by Friday, August 29th.  I forwarded the email again this morning, please delete if you have completed this!

Required Annual Staff Tra~1.pptx‎ (2 MB‎)

Team Meetings with Dr. Smith

Thank you if your team has sent me a meeting day and time for weekly meetings.  If you have not done so, please share with your team and let me know what works.  We are meeting this week as a team- administration and counselors to coordinate team meeting times to ensure effectiveness.  We will keep you updated if there are any changes.

Discipline Refereals

We have circulated what is known as the "old" referral form for use when it is necessary to refer students to the office for discipline.  We are currently looking to adjust this form with a small tweak here or there.  For now, please use the form you have that is one sided.  We will also be scanning and emailing you copies of the referral for your information and tracking purposes.  

We are working on ensuring consistency in discipline procedures.  We have created and are finalizing a "grid" for discipline to lay out a consistent pattern of expectations and consequences.  You will receive a copy of this as well as soon as it is finalized.  

Open House is Wednesday, August 27th, 6:30- 8:15

During our middle school open house, parents will have the opportunity to "live" sample version of your child's daily schedule.  Student schedules will be disseminated for open house through the following methods:

• Parent portal access to SIS.  Parents are able to view and print student schedules via the portal in the SIS system
• Email- the HMS office will use a system within our SIS system to email parents their child's schedule to the email address(es) you have on file with the office
• If you do not have your child's schedule from the email or the parent portal, back up copies of schedules will be available at the main entrance of the school at 6:00 pm before open house begins at 6:30.  We anticipate most parents having the schedule ahead of time, so back up schedule lines should not be too long.  

HMS Open House Schedule:

6:00- lines begin for back up schedules

6:26- Use your child's schedule to navigate your way to his/her 1st hour class

6:30-6:45- 1st hour- you will hear a message from our Superintendent, Dr. Riss and Dr. Smith.  The 

remainder of the 10 minutes will be used for learning all about your child's first hour class.

6:49-6:59- 2nd hour

7:03-7:13- 3rd hour

7:17-7:27- 4th hour

7:31-7:41- 5th hour

7:45- 7:55- 6th hour

7:59- 8:09- 7th hour

8:09-8:15- Wrap-up

Dr. Smith's Schedule this Week:

Monday:

9:30 Admin mtg- HMS

11:00- Facilitator mtg

1:30- Team meeting

3:30- Faculty Meeting

Tuesday:

9- Kelli Watson SSD

11:15- facilitator meeting

6th hr: Dynamic

Wednesday:

9am- Meeting with John Simpson

FIRE DRILL 9:30

6:30- OPEN HOUSE

Thursday:

8:35- Journey

5th Hour- Unity

2:00- off campus appointment

Friday:

PD Day

District PD in the morning

HMS PD in the afternoon 12:00- 3:15

Open House Information

Hixson Open House 2014:

HMS Open House will be on Wednesday, August 27th from 6:30-8:15pm

During our middle school open house, parents will have the opportunity to "live" a sample version of your child's daily schedule.  Student schedules will be disseminated for open house through the following methods:

• Parent portal access to SIS.  Parents are able to view and print student schedules via the portal in the SIS system
• Email- the HMS office will use a system within our SIS system to email parents their child's schedule to the email address(es) you have on file with the office
• If you do not have your child's schedule from the email or the parent portal, back up copies of schedules will be available at the main entrance of the school at 6:00 pm before open house begins at 6:30.  We anticipate most parents having the schedule ahead of time, so back up schedule lines should not be too long.  

HMS Open House Schedule:

6:00- lines begin for back up schedules

6:26- Use your child's schedule to navigate your way to his/her 1st hour class

6:30-6:45- 1st hour- you will hear a message from our Superintendent, Dr. Riss and Dr. Smith.  The 

remainder of the 10 minutes will be used for learning all about your child's first hour class.

6:49-6:59- 2nd hour

7:03-7:13- 3rd hour

7:17-7:27- 4th hour

7:31-7:41- 5th hour

7:45- 7:55- 6th hour

7:59- 8:09- 7th hour

8:09-8:15- Wrap-up

 Special Open House Notes:

• If your child's schedule has PE/Discovery listed, please report to PE and not Discovery.  Your child's team teachers will be able to give you a brief overview of Discovery time.
• If your child has GEMS listed on his/her schedule, please report to GEMS in the cafeteria, before Open House begins. Stephanie Gavin will talk about 7th grade curriculum from 6:00-6:15 and 8th grade curriculum from 6:15 until 6:25.  
• IF your child is in GFA, please make sure to visit with Mrs. Riggle

Dr. Smith's Weekly Memo

Happy first full week of school!  My usual method of weekly communication to staff will be the Learning Network Blog, "Monday Memo."  This blog should appear in your Outlook email and Google Plus as well each Monday.  Please look for it beginning next week!

We continue to have a positive beginning of the school year, thanks to you and your work with students- THANK YOU!

Congratulations teachers and staff!  There are so many effective and engaging practices happening in our HMS classrooms and throughout the building.  We have seen in depth mathematics discussions and debates, great team building, reinforcing the scientific method through mystery, high level thinking and comparing in social studies, differentiated reading utilizing strategies proficient readers use, meaningful and relevant in-depth conversations in gifted, enthusiasm and goal focused learning in our electives, student enthusiasm for reading in the library, good relationship building in the halls and cafeteria, and everyone coming together as TEAM HMS to make each day a positive experience of growth for students!  Thank you all!

Thank you to our Team Reps for a great start to our Team Rep monthly meetings on Monday.  Great suggestions were made to improve the referral form, and we talked technology, weekly times for teams to meet with me, and consistency in discipline procedures/becoming more consistent in all we do.  More details to follow...  Thank you to Sherri for allowing us to meet in 118. : )

Meeting Schedules:  Faculty meetings are the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month.  The first meeting each month will be dedicated to PD as we work toward growth in learning.  The second meeting each month will be dedicated to working in departments (PLCs).  Since department time is not built into the schedule, and the week is packed with our Monday meetings and activities, it is critical that we utilize this 2nd Monday for time for you to collaborate as departments.  I have let our coordinators know this schedule so they can work with you during this time as well.  We will discuss further procedures and expectations for this department time...

Monday August 25th will be dedicated to a few beginning of the year nuts and bolts: open house on the 27th, PD day on the 29th, Discovery review, discipline, etc.  Remaining meeting time will be for departments to touch base. 

Faculty Meetings:
Will be the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, however, September is a little different due to Labor Day:

9/8- Faculty meeting- PD
9/15- Team Rep meeting
9/22- Faculty meeting- PLC (Department meetings)
9/29- Department chair meeting
10/6- regularly scheduled Department chair meeting cancelled 

Please be looking for student MAP scores to be coming to you with our parent letter.  We will be distributing the score sheets and letters by team before the end of the week.  Score reports are being sorted into teams now...

Technology/ Communication:
Please continue to check Outlook mail throughout the day as always. In addition, please challenge yourself (whatever your level of understanding) to check, utilize, and communicate through Google Plus.  Remember, novices and apprentices in technology...I am on this journey with you!  For those of you who are experts in your use of Google Tools and technology, continue to explore, apply, and create!

Dr. Smith's Meeting Schedule This Week:

Monday and Tuesday: several meetings on campus

Today: 1:00 pm meeting with Tim Brown, district coordinator for instructional tech.  1:30 meeting with PTO

8/21- 8am meeting with Linda Holliday at Epworth, 9am District leadership team meeting at Epworth, after school meeting in building

8/22- 8:45 PTO Parent-Principal Coffee, Annex, 10:30 meeting with Teacher , afternoon- HMS Admin team meeting 

Thank you for all you do and for making our school an amazing place for our kids.

Have a fantastic day!

8.15.2014 Daily Announcements

The daily announcements can be found on HixsonTube, under the Daily announcement playlist.  Each day the new announcement video can also be found on our Google+ Community. The video announcements replace the audio announcements we did in years past. The link to submit an announcement is located at the top of the HMS Learning Network Blog.

Once after school activities begin, "This Week at Hixson" show will return to be played on Fridays.

Let's meet at 2:00pm today to take our group picture. 

We will meet in the front of the office (by the ramp)

When you come down start organizing yourselves, taller toward the teal fabric wall, shorter toward the front :)

Friday August 8th: HMS PD Opportunities

• 8:00-9:30:  Report to District level PD, WGHS cafeteria
• 10-11:00: Differentiated and Tiered Google PD for all teachers
• 11:00-12:00- Lunch on your own
• 12:00-3:15: Work in classrooms/time to prepare 

Learning opportunities

Novice - With some support, I can do some of this on my own	Google 101:  I've signed in...now what	Sign in, create, share a document, find a shared document and a little bit more...	Room 122
Apprentice  - I can do most of the skills on my own Proficient - I can completely and accurately do this on my own with success	3 2 1 Google... CLASSROOMS	Take a look at Google Classroom, join a class and learn what Google Classroom has to offer	room 118
Expert- I know more than I was taught and  I am applying this in other areas of my life	Google Think Tank	Participants will collaborate via a Google Doc to share and demo their favorite Google Chrome extensions and Omni Bar tricks! They will begin in groups and then branch off to share out with the larger group.	Room 107

Based on interest, HMS Tech Committee Members will be available to repeat sessions at future dates.

Welcome Back! Opening Week Memo and Schedule:

It is hard to believe we are headed into August already, can't wait to see you! 

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."         

—Henry Ford

The best and most true description of my July as the principal of HMS can be summed up in the quote above.  We have not even officially started our school year and the amount of dedicated staff and community members coming together to make opening our year a success has been so positively overwhelming!

Let's talk about our opening week!

Monday, August 4th:

• New teacher orientation, 7:45.  Principal introductions take place at 8:15

• Dr. S's Schedule:
• New teacher orientation
• PBIS meeting at 9:30 with John M. Thomas
• HMS Admin Team meeting 10:30
• Possible parent meeting in the afternoon
• Afternoon painting and opening day prep
• 5:00 Board-Administrator meeting, then meeting with Dr. Riss

Tuesday, August 5th:

• HMS New Teacher PD, led by Sherri Evans

• Dr. S's Schedule:
• New teacher agenda
• Lunch and meeting with district administrators at Epworth
• Possible interview day for office receptionist

Wednesday, August 6th- WGSD District Opening Day, please wear your WGSD district shirts, pick up your shirt at HMS if you have not done so:

• 8-10 Opening day festivities for all WGSD staff in Roberts Gym at the WGHS
• 10:15-3:15- Work in classrooms/time to prepare :) 

• Dr. S's Schedule:
• opening day agenda
• possible receptionist interviews
• painting
• admin. prep work for opening school/orientation 
• walkthroughs to greet and help staff

Thursday, August 7th Building Planned Activities 8:00-3:00:

• 8:00-8:30- settle in, please see Kathy in the office to pick up your HIXSON opening kickoff T-shirt 14-15!  All staff- please wear your Hixson T-shirt on Friday, August 8th, we will take a group picture :)

• 8:30- Meet in the auditorium: Welcome Back/layout of the day/nuts and bolts messages.  9:30-11:20- all staff rotate through PD sessions
• 9:30-10:00- PD Rotation #1
• 10:10-10:40- PD Rotation #2
• 10:50-11:20- PD Rotation #3
• 11:30-12:15- Honey-Baked Ham Lunch Provided!  :)
• 12:15-3:00- Work in classrooms/time to prepare :) 

Times	Room 118	Annex	Library
9:00-9:30	7th Grade	Electives (Self guided discussion around 1:1 in electives and highlight of Google Classrooms)	8th Grade
9:40-10:10	8th Grade	7th Grade	Electives
10:20-10:50	Electives	8th Grade	7th Grade

• Dr. S's Schedule:
• Building activities schedule
• admin. prep work for opening school/orientation 
• walkthroughs to greet and help staff
• Parent Meeting

Friday, August 8th  Parent and Student Orientation Day for office staff and administrators- PLEASE WEAR YOUR HMS T-SHIRTS!

• 8:00-11:00:  Report to District level PD, WGHS cafeteria
• 11:00-12:00: Lunch on your own
• 12:15-1:15: Differentiated and Tiered Google PD for all teachers
• 1:15-3:15: Work in classrooms/time to prepare :) 

• Dr. S's Schedule:
• Registration
• walkthroughs to greet and help staff
• Google PD :)
• admin. prep work for opening school/orientation