MM Week of August 29, 2016

MONDAY MEMO

Week of August 29, 2016

Another great week ahead of us!!!

I know this is 2 pages – but please read it!!!!

Monday, 8/29                    HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANA MITCHELL

7:30 Principals meet

Principal talks (SSD students join whichever group/time fits their schedule)

Team WI – 1st hour cafeteria

Team PH – 7^th hour cafeteria

Tuesday, 8/30

Principal talks -

Team OA – 1^st hour cafeteria

Team OR – 7^th hour cafeteria

Wednesday, 8/31

Pam to team meetings – 9:29 Monoceros; 10:22 Phoenix

Principal talks -

Team SE – 1^st hour cafeteria

Team MO – 7^th hour cafeteria

Thursday, 9/1­

ENVELOPES WITH STUDENT NAMES FOR PRINCIPAL'S ADVISORY NEED TO BE TURNED IN TO PAM

(See below)

Pam to team meetings – 9:29 Andromeda; 10:22 Orion

3:45 Parent Advisory – first meeting – dress code discussion

REMINDER:  Please do not approach a student about their attire.  Send (email) your concerns to me and I'll follow up.

Friday, 9/2

NO STUDENTS – PD ALL DAY

8:00 potluck breakfast, 8:30 – 11:30 Innovation hour, 11:30 -12:30 lunch on your own, 12:30-1:00 Innovation Hour debrief, 1:00-1:30 Social media, 1:30 – 2:30 Intervention compass, 2:30 – 3:30 tie on your own (classroom or team)

Saturday, 9/3                     HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIA PANGELINAN

NOTES:

Pam will meet with 7^th grade teams after Labor Day.   Pam will meet with Elective teachers the following week. 

Principal's Advisory – Students interested will need to put their name on a piece of paper and place it in the envelope.  Please turn those envelopes in to Pam on Thursday 9/1.  Student names will be drawn – 1 per team – plus 1 alternate per team.  Thank you for your help with this. 

Please fill out the(anonymous) Innovation Hour survey before the end of Monday (August 29th)

Here is the link:

Click Here

We will use the data to design the specifics for the Sep 2 PD.

Please hold your bike riders and walkers until 3:25 – we have many students on the front porch waiting for someone to walk/ride with at the end of the day.   We hope to tweak our dismissal procedures sometime in the future –   but with your help, we have seen a much safer dismissal these first 2 weeks. 

We must move the copy machine back into the library.  It is not an ideal place because of library instruction, the noise level, etc.   Yet, every other copy machine plan we came up with was not approved.  Gail knows the importance of keeping the copy machine, but we must be respectful of the happenings in the library.  Please do not use the copy machine when she is teaching or having other activities in there.  It is not a place to gather, nor to have conversations.  I appreciate Gail's willingness to make this work for the school.  Please be courteous and help Gail keep the library a great place for teaching and learning. 

Remember … parent volunteers must complete a volunteer form to be in the school and work with children.  Parents who volunteer for field trips must have a screening done and the cost is $11.00.  Include that in the cost of your field trips.  It takes 2 weeks to have the screening processed so keep that in mind when asking for volunteers.  Also – if your volunteers cannot attend a field trip, you cannot ask another parent in the last minute.  All field trip volunteers must have a screening completed. 

Conferences and times for October are: Tuesday, 10/11 4:00-8:00, Wednesday, 10/12 1-3:30, Thursday, 10/13 4:00-8:00.  Friday, 10/14 Off.  Kathy Edwards and Adrienne Collins have changed all Hixson/District calendars to reflect that change. 

Dr. Vogt put together wonderful SLO directions, time lines, etc.  She and I will be attending another training session on Monday regarding SLOs.   We will continue to provide you with support

Social Media and Media exclusion – Please use only professional accounts when posting if you include your families on the posts.  No personal accounts. If you are using social media in your classroom, please read the document linked below.

https://docs.google.com/a/wgcloud.org/document/d/1Z9h8WqL5Op7NMFj_pQLXVTNksFFxDun-fXbPzvysgcI/edit?usp=sharing

Media exclusion – please check before you put anything out.   Be careful about what you post and what you allow your families to see.  Kathy has emailed the media exclusion list, it has been added it to the faculty briefcase, and you may also find it in SIS by clicking on the "Student User-Defined Data" button (icon is the boy in blue shirt in front of a filing cabinet). If there is a "yes" next to MediaX, you may not post the student's picture. If the parents have asked for no posting, no picture of their child should be posted. This includes the back of the student's head and editing the picture to blur out the student's face.

We are looking for a staff representative for the WGSD Foundation – This is more of a contact person role and of course you'd be welcome at their meetings.  Dr. Simpson believes we can be more visible and involved with this group since they give our district lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

One last thing…. Honest

                We are flipping the a.m. dismissal from gym & auditorium – 8:25 8tth grade students, 8:28 7^th grade students.  7^th grade students may use the center stairway if the one near the gym backs up. 

The end!

Ahhhhhhh – we're coming to a long weekend….enjoy!

MM Aug. 22nd Try Again

MONDAY MEMO

Week of August 22, 2016

STUDENT COMPUTERS WILL GO OUT THIS WEEK!

Thank you Tech Department!

Monday, 8/22

No a.m. Hixson Principals meeting

3:30 PLC – Meet in the café – Team building activity and time to work in teams on SLO

7:00 BOE meeting - CO

 

Tuesday, 8/23

 

Wednesday, 8/24

9:30 Fire Drill

 

Thursday, 8/25

a.m. Principal's meetings – PBIS, Adv. Club, DLT at SC

 

Friday, 8/26

 

NOTES:

Did you know ….  Jennifer Shaughnessy received tenure this year!!!

 

Please check the doors and windows of the classroom you teach in and note if there is some visibility to the classroom.  This is for your safety.  I can help you look at the room entry to make sure that there is a way to see you and your students at all times.  For example: take a look at the window in the Principal's doorway – it doesn't need to be any bigger than that.  This comes right on the heels of the "Safe Schools" training.  So – for intruder safety – you will only have this small opening and if we would need to "hide" we'd move away from doors and windows anyway.  Questions – see me. 

 

IDEA REPS – Thank you Rob Rambach and Katie Kraushaar for volunteering to represent Hixson!

 

COMING SOON – PRINCIPAL'S ADVISORY … Student Representatives from each team will meet with me one hour/once a week to discuss school relate issues and work toward solutions they'll have a voice in making.  I'll get out a separate email on the volunteering/selecting process next week.

 

We've been getting some great feedback on our "Can't Stop the Music Video" – such as: "Those Middle School teachers can move!"  Thank you again Aimee for coordinating this effort!

 

Also – thank you for your work in preparing for Open House – I received so many compliments about the wonderful teachers and how grateful they are to have their students with you!

 

Our Stacey Hill is going on full time medical leave.  She bravely tried to work half days and it was too much for her.  She must take it easy and take care of herself.  I know we all wish her well.  

On that note – we have hired Mebbie Landsness as a sub Stacey.  She will start on Tuesday, 8/23.  Mebbie is certified 5^th – 8^th grade Math and Chemistry.  Welcome Mebbie!

 

Last week I mentioned personal goals through the iObservation process.  I have access now and checked on where we are in the process.  New teachers have begun and need to finish their inventory (this will help you figure out your goals).  We all need 3 goals 2 from Domain 1 and 1 from any other Domain.  Yes – you can carry over your goals from last year.  The easiest way is to cut and paste a new document into iObservation.  I cannot see your goals until you give me access and then I can review, offer suggestions and approve them.  Please try to get your goals written, or revised and ready to go prior to September 6^th.   If you need help I will gladly work on your goals with you, help with the tech process, etc.  Although I'm a bit rusty, I think I can relearn this process rather quickly. 

 

Congratulations Randy and Sherri Rachal for approval on their Long Term Learning application entitled Democracy (student choice) in the Social Studies Classroom.  And congratulations to Jason Heisel (and colleagues) for receiving approval for #wgsdchat.

 

I'm looking forward to another great week with this fabulous staff!  Thank you for all you do!  Pam

 

Week of August 22

M M Week of August 22nd

MM error

With Dr. Vogt's help, I just revisited the District calendar and new teachers are not scheduled to work tomorrow.  Sorry for any confusion this may have caused you. 

Pam

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HIXSON/Monday Memo

WHAH!

Week of August 15, 2016

 

Saturday, 8/13  Back to School BBQ – Ivory Crockett Park – 11:00-1:00

 

Monday, 8/15

New teacher workday

Optional workday for others

 

Tuesday, 8/16                    FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS!

NOTE…Second hour video broadcast – please be ready to project the video.

Happy Birthday Cliff Downey

 

Wednesday, 8/17

Happy Birthday Vinnie Raimando

 

Thursday, 8/18

6:30 – 8:00 Hixson Open House

Basically – Parents/guardians will follow their child’s schedule and visit your room for about 10 minutes.  A more specific schedule will follow. 

 

Friday, 8/18

Hixson Music Fund raiser begins

 

NOTES: Please help with dismissal and follow the procedures as we discussed.  We are going to work very hard to clear the building and send our students on their way home in a timely manner!

 

Dr. Robert is sending out a new supervision schedule.  Please follow the schedule and provide the support and supervision that our students need. 

 

Please look in the Faculty Briefcase for updated information and please read the “Hixson Staff Information”.  This will give you specific information on our procedures, etc.  This information will be changed and updated as needed.

 

Please let me know if you want to include anything in our Weekly Calendar/Monday Message.

 

We will take a staff picture retake – we’ll work that out in the near future when everyone is available. Thanks

 

 

FYI from the WGPD - There has been a noticeable increase in thefts from vehicles in many of our neighborhoods.  We recognize it is no consolation but increased thefts are not unique to Webster Groves.  Every inner-ring suburb in St. Louis County is experiencing a substantial increase in thefts from vehicles.  The large majority of these involve thefts from unlocked and unattended vehicles.   Although there are no ironclad methods to guarantee prevention, there are several things residents can, and should do to help combat thefts from vehicles and auto thefts…

When unattended, remove all valuables (especially weapons) from a vehicle and ensure that it is locked.  Do not leave a key inside the vehicle.

Immediately report suspicious persons or activity to the police (911). 

Always be aware of your surroundings and never confront someone who is suspicious or actively involved in a theft – again, immediately contact the police (911).

If you have worked with Dr. Smith on your Personal Goals for this year, please send me an email.  If you are working on your goals, let me know how and if I can help.  I’d like to have all of our individual personal goals in place prior to September 1^st if possible. 

 

Thank you Dr. Vogt for coordinating the staff video.  It really is great.  We will be posting the video on our website this weekend. 

 

Thank you for all you’ve done and will do to prepare for the student’s return.  I know that your hard work will make a difference to the students and all of us at Hixson. 

 

A thought… One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

                                                                                                                 Malala Yousafzai