Sunday Night Memo, 8/26/18

August 26, 2018

Superintendent’s Team Visit

On Tuesday, 8/28, Dr. Simpson and his team will be visiting our building beginning at 9:45am.  Please note that there may be about 6-7 people walking through the building and in your classrooms. 

NWEA

This year, 7^th graders at Hixson will participate in the district’s new assessment, NWEA.  All 7^th grade core teachers will meet on August 29^thduring 1^st hour team to talk about the assessment and training for teachers.  Kris Denbow will lead the meeting and training and answer any questions.  The meeting will be in the library.  Please meet promptly at 8:30am.

District Committees

The following committees are looking for building representation:

·       Equity in Education Committee

o   Meets 6x per year, 5:30-7:30pm (9/11, 10/30, 12/11, 1/29, 3/5, 4/16)

·       Curriculum Coordinating Council

o   Meets 4x per year, 5:30-7pm on Mondays

·       Wellness Committee

o   Meets monthly from 6-7:30pm on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday

 If you are interested, please send me an email and let me know.  I’ll forward your name onto central office.

August 31^stPD Day

Here is our schedule for this Friday. 

8:00-8:30am     HR Roadshow in the Auditorium

8:30am-11:00am    Dyslexia training in Cafeteria

11:00pm-12:00pm     LUNCH on your own

12:00pm-3:00pm     CLT/Department Team Building

WGSD Foundation Update

The WGSDF will be available for a Q & A session regarding the entire grant application process September 5^th from 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm at the Service Center.  This is a great opportunity for teachers to talk to the Grant Committee about any ideas they have, provide feedback, offer suggestions, or brainstorm ideas. 

In addition, as a reminder, Preliminary Grant Applications are due on October 1^st.  All information regarding the Grant Application process can be found on our website at www.wgsdfoundation.org

Outs This Week

Sarah, Grace and MaryBeth will be out for LACE training this Thursday.

Have a great week!

With gratitude,
Grace

Sunday Night Memo, 8/19/18

August 19, 2018

Our First Week
Thank you for an amazing first week!  What a great start to our year and it was noticed.  I got several notes from our parents sharing that their kids came home excited about the Hixson Hour activities.  They enjoyed getting to know each of you guys in a fun way and were eager to share about it.  A special shout out to our 1st Week of School Committee!  We appreciate all the work you guys did behind the scenes from creating the schedule to organizing each day's activities to getting all the supplies needed for each day.  It was a family effort and it came together in the most awesome way! 

NWEA Testing
NWEA testing has reached Hixson and will start with 7th grade.  Starting this year, all 7th grade students will be assessed.  Hope and I will be talking with 7th grade team leaders and elective department leaders about what the testing will look like and how often we will be asked to assess our kids.  Stay tuned for more details as we work out the schedule and training about administering the test with Tim Brown.

Cafeteria Lunch Addition
Starting Monday, the cafeteria will be offering a salad bar option for lunch everyday.  It will be placed in the same line as the deli bar.

Upcoming Meetings and Reminders
PLC Meetings will begin on August 30th.  All our other meetings will begin in September.  Please make sure to update your calendars for our Monday meetings.

On August 31st, the HR department will start off our day with their HR Roadshow at 8am in the auditorium.  This is your opportunity to learn about HR updates and ask any questions you may have for the HR Dept.  Our Dyslexia training will begin at 8:30am and will go until 11:30am.  Please remember that all websites must be in compliance by this date.  Also, please make sure all your safe school trainings are completed by then.

Thank you to all the folks who have been putting in PD days in AESOP.  Please make sure they are all inputted by August 31st.

OUTS This Week
OC will be out on Thursday and Friday.

Grace will be out on Thursday and Friday.

Aimee and Mike will be out on Thursday for the DLT Meeting.



Have a restful evening and see you in the morning.

With gratitude,
Grace

Monday Night Memo, 8/13/18

August 13, 2018

Good Evening Everyone,

I hope this last night before the first day of our new year finds you resting up and relaxing (if that’s even possible).  Like last year, I will send out weekly communication through the blog on Sundays.  I will also send it out in an all school email too.

There are a lot of changes rolling into our landscape this year.  I’m excited to enter this second year with each of you and the endless possibilities we will help cultivate for our kids.  With change comes some messes and we will navigate all of them together.  In the end, it will be glorious for our kids, school and community.  I read a tweet last night from Dr. Fields, Steger/Givens principal, and it resonated with me.  He tweeted: “Do me a favor when discussing what’s “best” for students:  challenge my thinking; I will offer you the same courtesy.  A conversation without such a norm is a missed opportunity to help educators and students grow.”  I echo his words and hope we can grow together in this norm as we learn to navigate as a PLC.  The door is always open and it has been exciting to watch and learn from the teacher leadership that is growing in our building.  I look forward to our continued conversations and dreams for kids.

Have a great first day!

With gratitude,
Grace

Cell Phones

Just to clarify that in the hallways, students can hold their phones in their hands.  If kids are on them, ask them to get off and share a conversation with them.  If it’s a persistent problem, then let your grade level principal know.  Hallway duty is a great time to get to know kids while monitoring for safety.  We don’t want you to feel like you have to follow after kids and miss opportunities to connect with them.  They will make mistakes, we will help them learn how to be responsible.

In your classrooms, follow the new revised plan that we talked about at our back to school meeting.  In regards to headphones/earbuds, kids can walk with one in their ear and one out.

All of this can be discussed at our next SLT meeting if we feel this is a problem.

PLC/CLT Meetings

We will begin rolling out the CLT meetings the 3^rdweek of school, August 29^th.  This will give you a couple of weeks to settle into the new year, get to know your kids and give you a minute to breathe. 

On CLT Wednesdays, content area teachers will have their CLT meetings in the afternoon.  You will flip your team and personal plan time on those days in order to be able to meet as a CLT.  This is done for the teachers that teach both 7^th and 8^th grade classes.

Webpages

Just a reminder that Tim Brown will be in our building next Tuesday and Thursday to work on webpages with anyone who wants support.  He will also come to Hixson on Friday by appointment.  All teacher and team webpages must be updated by August 31^st. 

Safe Schools Training

Please remember to complete the Safe Schools Training before August 31^st.

Student Planners

The planners have arrived and team leaders have been contacted by grade level principals.  All students will be given a paper planner this year.

First Week of School Schedule

Thank you to the committee for all their planning as we work to establish new Hixson traditions.  We appreciate all your work creating the schedule, planning and suggesting the ideas and batching up all the supplies for the door decorating contest.

Thank you

Open House was awesome and well received!  We got some helpful feedback to make next year even better.  Thanks to our teacher leadership for suggesting the idea to SLT. 

7^th grade Mixer

The first social is this Friday from 6:30-8:30pm. Come see 7^thgraders at their first mixer!

Outs this Week

None!