Friday Focus - September 28, 2012

• Team Leader Day is next Wednesday.   
  
• SAC and PTA meetings are next Thursday.  
• Super Citizens' names are due to Mrs. Chelton next Friday.  Please ensure that your students have a speech and/or picture ready to present.  We had a few students this past Tuesday who were not prepared.  
• Just a heads-up that data chats will be the week of October 8th. 
  

Quote of the Week - "Choose a job you love, & you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius
I personally love coming to work each day.  Do you wake up every day loving coming to Floranada?  If not, why not?  And how can you change your current mindset and/or situation?  Life is too short and time is the only commodity that we have that can never be replaced.  This life is your one shot at being happy, so determine what makes you happy and go for it. 

"Oh, the Places We'll Go"

High Expectations, Achievement, Excellence

Friday Focus - September 21, 2012

• A follow-up to reading students writing samples:
• Each team should be using the same scoring rubric.  It is much easier to find clarity when there is consistency. 
  
• Please submit scored writing samples from now on.  We need to see how you are scoring and students' progress. 
  
• The next date for submission will be the week of October 8.  
  
• Quick synopsis on next week's schedule:
  
• Child study is next Monday.
• Team Leader meeting on Monday afternoon at 2:15 in my office.
• Birthday table and Super Citizen's Ceremony next Tuesday.
• No school next Wednesday.
• Early release is next Thursday.  Make sure you have the schedule.  It is on the CAB Conference if you can't find the email I sent.   
• Student Council Speeches and election are next Thursday.  
• Picture Day is next Friday.
• Interim reports go home next Friday.

Quote of the Week - "No living being wishes to suffer; we all want to be happy." - Khyentse Rinpoche.  

Friday Focus - September 14, 2012

• No school on Monday!
• To summarize what I spoke about at Monday's faculty meeting regarding data chats:
• We will be asking the same questions that a parent would – how is each child doing (present level of performance), how do you know this (formative assessment), and what are you doing with this information (plan of action)?
• Every teacher must have some kind of data collection binder/database.  This must be brought to the data chat.
• You must bring multiple sources of data so that we can get a clear picture of each student.
  
• Please be sure to monitor your students' iStation usage.  Tier 3 students must be on every day.

• Please have your students use the restroom before coming to the cafeteria.  It is difficult for the cafeteria monitors to maintain order in the cafeteria when students are getting up and down to use the restroom.
  
• Falcon Express articles are due to Mrs. Olstein on Tuesday.  It is mandatory that each team submit a short paragraph about their team.  We were missing a few teams last month. 

Quote of the Week - I think one month into the school year is a good time to have you reflect on your relationships with your students.  I hope that your connection with your students will allow for tremendous learning the remainder of the school year.  Something to think about - "In a great teacher's classroom, every student feels like the favorite." - Todd Whitaker

High Expectations, Achievement, Excellence

"Oh, the Places We'll Go"

Friday Focus - September 7, 2012

• Data chats continue on Monday and Tuesday next week.  Please refer to the schedule that I emailed to you and that is also posted to our CAB Conference. 
• There will be a faculty meeting on Monday afternoon.  We will discuss Design Question 1 of Marzano and, in particular, rubrics and scales.  
• Please view this video -  Clear Lesson Objectives  I think that this is a clear way to make objectives and/or goals easier for students to understand.  What do you think?
• At this point, all classrooms should have a classroom inventory sheet displayed that is reflective of the items in your classroom.  These sheets should be signed and dated and inspected by team leaders.  You can discard any old inventory sheets. 

Quote of the Week - "Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year." - Franklin P. Adams.  Right now is a great moment; today is a great day.

High Expectations, Achievement, Excellence

"Oh, the Places We'll Go"