Week 26: 02/25/13 – 03/01/13

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 25th:
Crazy/Mismatched Socks Day!
ISAT Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 205)
Project Unify Basketball Game @ LMS 4:00pm

Tuesday, February 26th:
NO STUDENT ATTENDANCE: Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, February 27th:
Green Eggs & Ham Day! Wear Green!
Report Cards Sent Home
PreK Field Trip to Chicago Kids Company
Delta Dental Assemblies @ 9:00am & 10:10am <–click for schedule
Dr. Seuss Photo Booth Common Plan
Dr. Seuss Food Preparation in cafe 2:30pm-4:30pm

Thursday, February 28th:
Hat Day!
Happy Birthday Alicia Villanueva 🙂

Multiage Young Authors @ 10:15am (Room 101/109)
Multiage Young Authors @ 1:20pm (Room 103/107)
Dr. Seuss Night 6:00pm-7:30pm *Hope to see you all there!*

Friday, March 1st:
Dress in Kubbie Gear!
Happy Birthday Tami Ericksen 🙂

Spirit Assembly (Caring)

(03/02) Happy Birthday Bonnie Bricker 🙂
(03/03) Happy Birthday Natalie Barcas 🙂 

Week 25: 02/18/13 – 02/22/13

I hope you all enjoyed your 3-day weekend! Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 18th
NO SCHOOL: President’s Day
Happy Birthday Nikki Culberson 🙂 

Tuesday, February 19th
PATS Field Trip to Shed Aquarium
Talent Show Tryouts *during the day*

Wednesday, February 20th
2nd Grade Field Trip to PF Changs (Room 104/105)
1:45pm/3:00pm IL 5 Essentials: Common Plan in cafeteria *certified staff only*
         Please bring a laptop
Board Meeting @ 7:00pm

Thursday, February 21st
2nd Grade Field Trip to PF Changs (106/115)
1st Grade/Multiage Field Trip to Museum
Celebrations Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 104)
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm
Kindergarten Roundup Meeting @ 6:00pm

Friday, February 22nd
5 by Friday

Week 24: 02/11/13 – 02/15/13

I’ve been to a lot of meetings. Most of them great: well run, followed an agenda, gave authentic opportunities for interaction and discussion, had an agreed upon end point, and left off with plans for future action. Other meetings haven’t been so efficient: aimless, dominated by a few speakers, provided littler chance for dialogue & gave excessive amounts of information that could have easily been communicated via email for people to read at their leisure.

As a result, I’d like to make a commitment to our staff to change faculty meetings so that they’re more engaging and provide an outlet for the whole staff to collaborate together. Ultimately, faculty meetings should be meaningful and worthwhile.

Communication is key! There is still much value in disseminating information, but I’d like to shift our mindset so that this information can be read rather than taking the time to announce items to the whole staff at a faculty meeting. I’ve created a Google Form for F.M.I. (Faculty Meeting Info) that the staff can contribute to prior to the meetings. I plan gather any info submitted via the form, add it to the bottom of the faculty meeting agenda and distribute it to you electronically the day before each faculty meeting, for people to read on their own time.

I Stand For…. must continue 🙂 Having a sense of community when coming to staff meetings is essential! 🙂

Another practice that will continue is having the staff pass along good practices & new ideas that they are trying in classrooms. Let’s continue to share our best practices with one another to make learning experiences for our students at Kennedy rich and purposeful.

Also, I want to make sure that we have extensive blocks of time (in addition to our common plan time each Wednesday) for us to reflect upon student achievement and improve our practices in teaching, learning, engagement and assessment. With the alignment to Common Core State Standards being a time-intensive initiative, we will spend many of our future faculty meetings working collaboratively.

Ultimately, it is our goal to make faculty meetings a more productive & engaging environment for all of us!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 11th:
Cycle 4 Assessments
Yearbook collages due! *See email from Kristen S. w/directions, if needed*

Tuesday, February 12th:
February Buddy Event
Faculty Meeting  @ 2:30pm & 3:30pm <–click for agenda
PEP Event @ 6:00pm (LMS)

Wednesday, February 13th:
SLBC to Jewel
SEL Activities: 2nd Grade & 7th Grade Buddies at Kennedy @ 11:00am
Common Core Common Plan (continuing our work in the cafeteria from day before)

Thursday, February 14th:
1st-3rd Grade to LMS for Washington Musical @ 9:00am

Friday, February 15th:
End of Trimester 2
Happy Birthday Agnes Niewinski 🙂
*Please remember to submit parent/teacher conference schedules to the office by Fri!

(02/17) Happy Birthday Mike Deany 🙂
(02/18) NO SCHOOL

Week 23: 02/04/13 – 02/08/13

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 4th:
Happy Birthday Anne Weinthaler 🙂
Pennies for Patients Begins! 

Tuesday, February 5th:
Buddy Committee Meeting @ 7:20am (Room 109)

Wednesday, February 6th:
AM PreK going to Washington for SEL Buddy Activity (@ 9:20am)
Happy Birthday Dina Natale 🙂 

Thursday, February 7th:
Earthquake Drill @ 10:15am <–click for safety actions
Celebrations Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 104)
McDonald’s McTeacher Night 3pm-7pm <–click to sign up!
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm
District RTI Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm

Friday, February 8th:
Kindergarten Field Trip to Disney on Ice
PM PreK SEL Buddy Activity with 3rd Grade (@ 1:20pm)

(02/09) Happy Birthday Myra Gilio 🙂 

This has been circulating Twitter & my Google Reader feed….Thanks to Molly for passing it along:

A Pep Talk