Willard East Elementary

TGIF!!! Please excuse my absence this morning. Thanks for covering doodies for me!

Open House Times -

• 5:00 PTO Chilli supper
• 6:00-7:00 K-2
• 6:30-7:30 3-4

Sept. 26th Schedule -

• 8:00-11:30 K-1 MRI @ Conco building
• 11:30 - Potato Bar
• 12:30 - 3:30 2-3 MRI @ Conco Building
• Art Teachers @ North for collaboration
• PE Teachers @ East for collaboration
• Music Teachers @ Central for collaboration
• Library Teachers @ South for collaboration
• 4th Grade = We will meet at some point to talk about Report Cards, more info later

Potato Bar - $5 if you have signed up. Betty and I will bring deserts but others are welcome to bring deserts too.

Staff Shirt info - If you are still interested in the dress shirt that we have samples of, see me for an order form. These are between $23-$30 depending on what shirt you choose. Many of you signed up for the “bling” shirt and that is okay too. I spoke with Craig at Instant Imprints and we can still come up with something more casual or different if you are interested or we can wait until next year.

Principal Blog - I have been updating the Willard East blog “To The Point” you are welcome to send this link to parents in your email list. DO NOT send a link to my staff blog that I send you every week, please:):):)

Leadership Team Notes/Minutes - This is a link to the minutes from Leadership Team this week. Here is a preview of what you might find if you click on this link………..

• Tutoring discussion
• Open House debate
• Veteran’s Day pre-planning

Update website/blogs - Don’t forget to update your class blog and send a link to your students’ parents. Many of you have your blog set up so all you need to do is post a week in review or upcoming info or dates.

SIT Team Questions - In the workroom you will find a KWL chart regarding SIT Team. It is very important that you submit your questions in advance so we can find the answers by our meeting Wed. Oct. 15. Remember that is a Wed. You may leave early Monday Oct. 13th in order to plan to stay the 15th.

Personal/Professional/Sick Leave - Be sure that you are using the HR portal and NOT the work order system for your leave.

WORD OF THE MONTH - RESPECT - Help me remember to promote this. We all get busy, but these words and lessons are very important. I will do better with your help:):)

Week of Sept. 15

• Monday - Health Screening/United Streaming Training with Janetta
• Tuesday - I will be at a Principal’s meeting during lunch
• Wed. - Admin. Meeting 9:00AM - ???/Midterm/Constitution Day
• Thurs. - Book Fair Preview/School Board Meeting
• Fri.- PAY DAY/4th Gr. MRI/I will be gone this day. Dennis or Angela will be available.

Week of Sept. 22nd

• MAP Info - I will meet with your grade level one day this week, during your planning time, to go over MAP data.
• Monday - Midterms Home/Faculty Meeting
• Tuesday - Open House
• Wednesday - Principal’s meeting 9AM - ????
• Thursday - Tiger Tshirt Day/Class pics/Tiger Pride/School-wide picture at FB field 3:00.
• Friday - Workday (See schedule above)

It has been a wonderful week to return to Willard East! You guys kept things running so smoothly I may have to take the first 6 weeks off every year:):):) That may be a little too much and then you all my decide not to return. Thanks again for all you did to get the year off to a great start.

Put your “reading glasses” on because this is going to be a long memo. If I can communicate in writing it will save “meeting” time.

Today is 2nd Gr. Grandparents Day and Kindy Teddy Bear Picnic. We will have lots of guests in our building!

Constitution Day - I posted the wrong date for this. The correct date is the 17th NOT the 11th.

Bday Breakfast Today!!! - This will be set up on a table in the office this year. So every time you come up here you can have a snack tomorrow:):):)

K-3 Writing Prompt - Please have your students complete the MRI writing prompt within the next 2 weeks. The directions are on page 55 in the manual.

School Messenger - Will be doing a school messenger over the weekend about our early dismissal for the Bike race.

Poster Maker - Even though we no longer have the copy room you can still order posters. Just send these to the “Poster Maker” at the Intermediate School. It may not come back as quickly as in the past but you will get your poster.

Textbook Committee - We need 3 representatives from our building to serve on the Textbook Comm.. This year we will be looking at Writing and Spelling. We will meet the 1st Tuesday of the Month except for Oct. and we will meet Oct. 24th as our first meeting.

Workday Potato Bar 26th - I would be happy to order potato bar from McAlister’s on Sept. 26th for our workday. I know this is an MRI day at Conco but you can return to the building for lunch or eat before you go. If you are interested please sign up with Nikki/Betty. We have to have at least 25 interested in order to make an order. It is a district-wide workday and local eating establishments get pretty busy.

Safety Checklists - The safety checklists that you filled out are for informational purposes only. John and I are working our way through these and will let you know if something in your room needs attention.

New “Flip Chart” - Please make sure your new flip chart is posted by your door with your name on it so that it can be erased if needed. We will go over these at our next Faculty Meeting.

Lesson Plans - I will get these back to you with comments if needed. Please do not fret over them.

SIT Team - Due to a Career Ladder meeting we were not able to meet this week so we will meet the 11th at 3:15 in the conference room.

PLAN AHEAD - Monday October 13th you will be able to leave right after the students BECAUSE we will stay until 4:30 on Wednesday the 15th for SIT Team training. This is an unusual date but the only date this is available.

Google Calendar - I have not forgotten about changing the size of the google calendar on the blog. As I have tried to change it I have deleted it a few times. I am waiting for some technical assistance::):) You can view the whole calendar if you log into google and go to your calendars.

Staff Shirt Order - Look for an email about this today.

Copies - Since this is the first year we have been solely responsible for our copies we have some kinks to work out. You are more than welcome to use the office copy machine when the workroom copier is not working or too busy and you are in a hurry. Please do not send parents to the office to make lots of copies. The reason for this is that there are confidential things going on and being discussed and it is not the place for a parent to be stationed for a long amount of time. Please have a back up plan for your parent volunteers if copying isn’t an option.

Leadership Team Agenda: (subject to change)

• Open House Debate
• MAP Results
• School Improvement Plan
• Tutoring Discussion

Upcoming Events -

• Monday = Early out Leadership Team
• Tuesday = K MRI AM/1:45 Dismissal/Open computer lab for help with your blogs/website
• Wed. = PDP Conferences
• Thursday = PDP Conference/SIT Team
• Friday = Individual Picture day
• Sat. = Building Open 9-4

Week of Sept. 15

• Monday - Health Screening/United Streaming Training with Janetta
• Tuesday - I will be at a Principal’s meeting during lunch
• Wed. - Admin. Meeting 9:00AM - ???/Midterm/Constitution Day
• Thurs. - SIT Team/School Board Meeting
• Fri.- PAY DAY/4th Gr. MRI

Good morning! Welcome Back!

Early Dismissal letter - PLEASE make sure the early dismissal letters go home TODAY! Nikki will put these in your box before lunch.

Picture badges - The picture badges have arrived from Lifetouch however there are no lanyards or way to wear them. I will work on that this week so you can have your beautiful picture to where every day:)

Career Ladder - Signed Career Ladder documents are in your mailboxes. Please check and see if you need to make changes or include more info.

PDP Plans - Everyone must have Professional Development Plan on file. I put a copy of the one you did last year in your mailbox.

• 1 year plans - If you created a one year plan last year you need to create another one for this year.
• 2 year plans - You can keep this plan but we will review it.
• If you changed grade levels or positions you need a new plan.
• There is a sign-up sheet on the BB outside my office for you to meet with me to go over your plan next week.
• New teachers - We will work on yours together at our conference to go over these. Just sign up for a slot.
• Plan ideas - This year your choices are: Technology/Website/Blog development, Writing workshop, Reading/Writing Work Station Development, Guided Reading

Grade level meetings - Below is a schedule of times I would like to meet with your grade level, informally. This is a time for you to get me up to speed with what is going on with your grade level or to ask any clarifying questions that have come to mind since the beginning of the year. These will be held in the conference room.

• Kindergarten = Today @ 2:30
• 1st Grade = Monday Sept. 8 @ 1:30
• 2nd Grade = Tuesday Sept. 9 @ 11:00
• 3rd Grade = Thursday Sept. 4 @ 9:00
• 4th Grade = Friday Sept. 5 @ 10:00

TGIF AND a 3 day weekend ahead! Hopefully you can enjoy your weekend and be outside. I remember how exhausting the first couple weeks of school can be so Labor Day weekend is always just in the nick of time. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy the past couple of months with my family. Even though it is going to be hard to be away from my family I look forward to getting back into the swing of things with all of you. I will see you on Tuesday!

THANK YOU DENNIS! Please be sure to thank Dennis for all he has done for us the past 6 weeks. If it were not for him filling in for me I am sure that my time would not have been as relaxed. I appreciate everything he has done for me and you.

Reminders and Updates:

Smarter Adults internet training - If you have not completed the online training you need to do so ASAP. As of yesterday there were 21 training sessions completed out of approximately 50 that need to be completed. Your email is your ID and 1234 is the password.

Email address book - As per Bob’s email yesterday you need to make sure to create mailing lists in your email address book for the various groups of staff that you email regularly. Once you set these up you will only have to update them annually as staff changes. Let me know if you need help setting this up and I would be happy to help you.

PTO Meeting - Each month I type up PTO notes. If you can think of anything I need to include please let me know.

Lesson Plans - If you did not turn in your lesson plans last week please do so today. Betty is keeping a file for me.

Money, Money, Money - That probably caught your eye! Each classroom teacher and Geoff and Nancy have $100 to go toward buying supplies for your classroom library. This money was raised last year at the East Extravaganza. This money can be used for books and/or organization supplies for your classroom library. You need to get a PO from Betty and turn in all receipts to Betty for PTO bookkeeping.

SIT Team - I noticed Amanda was still looking for an upper and lower grade teacher to serve on SIT team. Apparently you are not beating down her door to accept this challenge. Even though this team meets frequently we can try to accommodate your needs.

Textbook Comm. - You may notice on the google calendar that I have included Textbook Committee meetings. Elementary Admin. will meet next week to get on the same page. Then we will ask for volunteers to serve on this committee. I think we are looking at spelling and writing this year but I am not sure. We will meet the 1st Tuesdays of the month after school.

Staff Shirts - This year we are going to go with a little more professional looking shirt if you would like. These shirts you will be able to wear all the years to come. We have some sample shirts that you can try on for size. These shirts will have the whispy Willard “W” and Willard Tigers on it if you would like one. I will also be getting a green dress shirt with this year’s theme on the pocket again if you would like one of those. These will be a little more expensive if you choose to purchase one. We will wear our Tiger Tshirts on Fridays this year. Let me know if you want me to check into the option of sweatshirts or long sleeve tshirts for teachers.

Websites/Blogs - Please remember to use your websites and blogs to your advantage. Update regularly and send links to parents often.

McTeacher Night/Homecoming Tailgate - Last year we did not have our Homecoming Tailgate party due to McTeacher Night falling close to the same date. Well this year we are back on! Mark your calendar for Oct. 10. More info to come at a later date. This year we will host the Spring McTeacher night sometime in March. Willard North will host the fall McTeacher night.

Orchard Hills Elementary update - Recently I drove by the new elementary school location. I could tell from the road that two wings of the school foundation had been poured and some interior hall walls were going up!

Upcoming Events:

• Tuesday = I will return full time.
• Wednesday = Admin meeting 9AM - ????
• Thursday = American Fidelity Rep available/Career Ladder Meeting at WC/SIT Team/PTO
• Friday = American Fidelity Rep Available (EVERYONE must sign off with one of the reps on one of these dates.)

Week of Sept. 8:

• Monday = Early out Leadership Team
• Tuesday = Tour de MO Bike race through town (More info to come)
• Wed. =
• Thursday = Constitution Day
• Friday = Individual Picture day
• Sat. = Building Open 9-4

You survived the 1st week of school! I know you are exhausted so please try to rest and enjoy your weekend. Here is some info for the upcoming week:

Copy machines - As much as the workroom copier has been out of service so far and as much as I anticipate this to be the case, I have asked Bob to install the driver for the office copier on the server for you to load. The workroom copier will always be your default copier but you can select to copy to the office when that copier is broken down. I hope this is helpful to you. Below are the directions on how to activate and use the office copier….

RESTART YOUR COMPUTER

1.  Make sure you are logged into novell and have access to
the f:/ drive.

2   Double click the file called setup WE Office copier.

3.  You will see a black screen or two flash on your monitor
and the drive is loaded.  It will not be the default
printer, but will be an option for you to choose when you
are ready to print a document.

Parent Pick-up Signs - Please send Nikki a list of your students who are parent pick-up. Even if they are only picked up one or two days a week we need to make them a sign for their car window. The new car signs are not in yet but we hope they are in soon and we will get these filled out and to you as soon as we can.

Fire/Tornado Drills - Dennis will have drills next week. We will wait until I return to do the intruder drill.

Lesson Plans - Please give Betty a copy of your lesson plans for next week. I will pick these up over the weekend in order to give you feedback when I return after Labor Day.

Classroom blogs/websites - Today would be a great day to post to your blog. You can review the 1st week of school, remind parents to turn in all forms, inform them of upcoming events next week, etc. Then send them a link to your blog through email the same way I send you one each week. You will be their hero!

Have a great day!!!