May 23rd, 2016

High Point News

Week of: May 23rd, 2016

*****************NEWS****************

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Lunch On Us Thursday!!!

We know how crazy this week will be so please come to the media center this Thursday to pick up a boxed lunch from Jason's Deli!!! You will have your choice of turkey, ham, or chicken salad sandwiches. Each sandwich will come with a bag of chips, a pickle spear, and a cookie!!!! We hope this brings a little happiness to the last day of school!!! 

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Last Week of School!

As you already know, we only have 4 more days left of school. 

With only 1 day of post-planning, most of you will have your students help with packing and organizing materials. While we understand this has to happen, please make sure that you have your procedures, rules, and expectations still in place to prevent behaviors or accidental incidents!! Our students' safety and emotional well-being is the utmost priority this week!!!

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Field Day

A huge thank you to Benita Bearden and the fitness council committee for pulling off a VERY successful field day!!! The students had an amazing time!!!

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EOY Parties This Week

There will be end of year parties next week on the field outside. Please make sure to monitor your students and give each grade level space to have their celebration. The dates and times are as follows: 

May 23rd - 3rd grade 9:00-11:00

                     4th grade 12:30-2:00

May 24th - 1st grade 10:00-11:20

                     Kindergarten 12:30-1:30

May 25th - 2nd grade  12:30-2:00
                     PreK 1:00-2:00 (carpool area)

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5th Grade Annual Walk

5th grade will be having their completion ceremony Wednesday at 8:00 am. Immediately following the ceremony, our 5th graders will walk around the school in order for all the other grade levels to clap for them and cheer them on as they get ready for middle school! 

The "walk" will begin on the 2nd grade hallway, will pass by 3rd and 1st grade, down the steps to PreK and 3rd grade, up through the office and media center, down the K ramp, through the 4th grade hallway, and will end on their hallway. 

We will make an announcement to let all grade levels know when to come out of the classrooms and cheer on our 5th graders.  

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Winners of the Attendance Initiative

Congratulations to Ms. Foster's 4th grade class for having the least amount of tardies and absences from April 11th until May 19th!!! Ms. Foster's class will be having a pizza party with cake this Wednesday to celebrate!!

Students who won the individual Kindle Fires for having zero absences are: 

PreK - Brooklyn Wride

K - Raphael Pagani

1st - Caliel White

2nd - Keylani Jimenez

3rd - Leslie Aranda

4th - Jolette Aguirre

5th - Aiden Schumann

These students will receive their Kindle Fire this Wednesday along with the pizza and cake party! The announcement will be made this morning on WPAW so please congratulate them AFTER the announcement has been made. Thank you!!! 

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Pizza Certificates

Pizza Crosta donated a number of free kids pizza certificates to our school. Homeroom teachers are receiving 1-2 of these certificates to award to students making the most progress in their reading this year.  We also awarded them to the top 5 AR point-earning students in grades 1 through 5.   The restaurant is anxious to partner with our school and these certificates are a great way to celebrate our reading progress.  

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Post-Planning Day

We currently have parents signed up to help move boxes as well as pack items during the one post-planning day. As of right now, there are 4 helpers from 8:00-10:00, 7 helpers from 10:00-12:00, and 4 helpers from 12:00-2:00. These helpers will go to 1st, 3rd, and special education teachers first since they are moving classrooms. If you are moving classrooms, please think of tasks that you will need help with on this day. We want the parents' time used wisely! 

If you are not moving classrooms, please check in with your colleagues to see how you can help. We need to make sure we are supporting each other on this day to get our classroom ready for the summer. 

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Work Calendar for August

Please click on the link below for the proposed work calendar for ALL employees next year. FYI... ALL staff members (teachers and paraprofessionals) will begin their first work day on August 2nd. 

https://employees.fultonschools.org/HumanResources/Documents/Work%20Calendars/FY17%20Draft%20WorkDay%20Calendars.pdf

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End of Year Checklist Sign Off for Title I Math Materials

Kerstin will be available in the front office area after dismissal from 2:30-3:00 Monday-Thursday of this week to sign off on teachers who have returned their Title I materials, books, and Do the Math kits.

She will be collecting math materials ONLY from teachers who are leaving High Point.  She will be starting Monday at 10:00 am and continuing through the week.

If you are staying with us next year, please store you Title I materials in your classrooms.

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******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******

Monday, May 23rd  
8:30 - 1st Grade Awards in Cafeteria 
3rd and 4th grade EOY Party

Tuesday, May 24th   

Elections Held in Gym
K and 1st grade EOY Party

Wednesday, May 25th 

8:00 - 5th Grade Completion Ceremony
PreK and 2nd grade EOY Party

Thursday, May 26th 

Pick up lunch in media center - Jason's Deli
1:00 - 5th Grade Ice Cream Social
Last Day of School!!!!

Friday, May 27th

Post-Planning

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

Happy birthday to Staci Arnold on the 27th!!! We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Also, we would like to recognize our staff members with summer birthdays!!! They are: 

Anita Collins	June 1st
Gray Griffith	June 14th
Megan Eigel	June 14th
Clara C. Spears	June 2nd
Rhodope Fears	June 2nd
Liza Rogers	June 30th
Emily Rhoades	June 3rd
Lindsey O'Daniels	July 12th
Haley Foster	July 1st
Mariana Mendoza	July 1st
Laura Jannausch	July 23rd
Rachael Jones	July 29th
Jose Espinoza	July 2nd
Amanda Reich	July 3rd
Yoneiby Pierre	July 6th
Elizabeth Barnes	July 6th

May 16th, 2016

High Point News

Week of: May 16th, 2016

*****************NEWS****************

Condolences

Our sincerest condolences go out to Elizabeth Barnes for the loss of her sister. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. 

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GA Milestones Results

While we are still waiting on the 3rd grade paper/pencil test results, we have received the preliminary online test results for 3rd and 5th grade. We are currently working on receiving and analyzing the results from 4th grade and will share them as soon as we can. 

The results from 3rd and 5th prove that with dedication, passion, and grit, we can accomplish anything together. We are very proud of not only our students but our amazing staff for helping our students do their best on the test!!!! 

While you shouldn't necessarily compare the test results from year to year or from grade level to grade level because the students and test complexities vary, the information we receive from them is still good to understand. Here is the breakdown so far: 

READING
3rd grade 2015 - 71% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4
3rd grade 2016 - 83% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4

5th grade 2015 - 72% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4
5th grade 2016 - 79% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4

MATH
5th grade 2015 - 75% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4
5th grade 2016 - 84% scored at a Level 2,3, or 4

We will be sharing the specific data with the grade levels and dissecting the data more in order to give you a better picture of how our students are progressing! 

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Textbook Inventory

This week, on Thursday, Hess will come to your classroom to inventory all of the textbooks in your classroom. This includes Journeys textbooks (all volumes), health, science, and social studies.

See below for the date and time that she will be coming to your room.  Have your students help you get everything ready prior to me coming in.

The textbooks should be opened up to the barcodes(inside the books), ready to go, so that she can just come in and scan!!!!

Thursday, May 19th Field Day

Mitchler – 8:30 Todd – 8:40 Pereira – 8:50 Cornibe-9:00 Churchwell-9:10 Negrin- 9:20 Collins-9:30 Noel/Gersten-9:40 Owens-9:50 Arnold-10:00 McClleland-10:10 O’Daniels- 10:30 Calhoun-10:40 Foster-10:50 Jannausch/Frapp-11:00 Lassiter-11:15 Silverman-11:25 Nobles-11:35 Simon-11:45 Griffin/Jones-11:55

Please let Hess know if there is a conflict with any of these times.  

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End of the Year Permanent Records Clarifications

·     Each grade level is assigned a time on either May 25^th or May 26th to add transcripts, attendance report and the ALREADY signed report cards.

·     Ms. Fears will give you everything that you need to sign and add to PRs prior to your designated date and time.  

·     Each teacher will NOT need to come to “clean out” their PRs prior to their assigned date/time.

·     Fears will be giving each homeroom teacher(that day) a spread sheet that you will use to check off the documents in that PR. This should only take a minute or two per student.

·     There is no need to come get your PRs prior to your assigned day and time.  

·     It is important to come to the CONFERENCE ROOM at your assigned day and time so you can get your PRs done and your end of year closing sheet signed off.

*******WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Spears' class this week and the remainder of next week. 

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******

Monday, May 16th  
3rd Grade Collegial Planning

Tuesday, May 17th   

4th Grade Collegial
8:00 - Everybody Wins Celebration
K and 1st Grade Move-Up Day
3:30 - Staff End of Year Party!!!!

Wednesday, May 18th 

SIOP Training - #1518
4th Grade Move-Up Day
IB PLCs during Specials

Thursday, May 19th 

FIELD DAY!!!!
2:50 - PLCs

Friday, May 20th

1st Grade Collegial Planning
5th Grade Picnic at Ridgeview
Prek, 2nd and 3rd Grade Move-Up Day
Student of the Week Certificate

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

Happy birthday to Lori Simon on the 19th!!! We hope you have a wonderful birthday! 

May 9th, 2016

High Point News

Week of: May 9th, 2016

*****************NEWS****************

Condolences

Our sincerest condolences go out to Judy Berger for the loss of her father. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. 

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"May" We Offer You Breakfast?

It's the month of May and the administration team will be delivering breakfast to you this Friday!!! In partnership with Chick-fil-A, we will be offering chicken biscuits, egg biscuits, sausage biscuits, plain biscuits, fruit, and coffee!!! 

We will be making our way around the whole building Friday morning beginning at 7:15! We promise to find everyone, even if you are on duty! However, if we miss you, please send a note or email to the front office!!!

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Building Open Saturday
The school building will be open THIS Saturday from 9:30 am - 2:00 p.m if you would like to take advantage! Sheri Hess will be opening the school for everyone.  

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Atlanta Braves  

Come and watch your Atlanta Braves play one last time at Turner Field this season before they move into their new stadium in 2017.

There will be a representative from Strictly Events here on behalf of the ATLANTA BRAVES. He will be in the building Tuesday, May 10 at the end of the day from 2:00pm – 3:30pm outside the Media Center.

He will be selling Braves ticket packs at a huge discount. The packs include (4) $48 ticket vouchers for only $40 per pack. (Breaks down to $10 per ticket) They sell the vouchers in sets of four so 4,8,12, etc. If you buy multiple tickets, you may use them at different times. You do not have to use all your tickets at one game, but you may if you choose to do so. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE YOUR GAMES NOW. These tickets are good for 71 designated home games this year. You can redeem them at the gate the night of the game or at the box office as far in advance as you choose to secure your seats. Tickets can be used for The Club Pavilion (formally known as the Lexus Level), the Terrace View, Outfield or Upper Box based on availability. Father's Day, Birthdays, Groups... they make great gift ideas! 

Cash, check, credit & debit cards will be accepted. 

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Camp PAWS Feedback

How can we help our kids??

Please fill out this very, very short survey to help us figure out what standards we can focus on during camp PAWS to make it most impactful going into next year. The link below will take you to a brief survey asking you to share where your students struggle most. We thank you for your input!

http://goo.gl/forms/v1eES3PrdA

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End of Year Party!!

Don't forget that we will have our End-of-the-Year Staff Celebration on May 17th from 3:00-5:30 to celebrate the end of the year, our staff members who won't be returning to High Point, as well as our retirees!! The sign up sheet is posted in the mail room. Please save this date on your calendar!! There is no cost to anyone!!! 
We hope to see everyone there!!!

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PKES for Classified Employees

All classified employees - Please make sure your self-assessment has been completed so that Alexander and Pitchford can complete your summative PKES evaluation. The summative evaluations will be completed over the next two weeks. Each classified employee will receive an email notifying them of the completed evaluation. If you would like to meet regarding the evaluation, please see Alexander or Pitchford. 

Thank you!!

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Career Lesson Make-Up

We have around 30 students that need to make-up career lessons with me due to being absent on career day or enrolling after. Remember, we need 100% completion to get our CCRPI points! I will be calling down students this week to do the make-up lessons. They is not the full lessons, so I will only have them for about 20 minutes. Thank you in advance for being flexible and allowing these students to meet with me for a short time!

- Rachel Salmons

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What I've been thinking about...

This is a wonderful article about redesigning our classrooms. A recent study that was just published stated that the set up and look of a classroom could negatively or positively impact a child's learning by 25%! As we are closing out the year, let's think about our classrooms and what our kids need in order to have the best learning environment possible!! Do we need to have things that we have always had? What can we change? 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flexible-seating-student-centered-classroom-kayla-delzer?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=050416%20enews%20tchrappre%20gm&utm_content=&utm_term=top1&spMailingID=14387978&spUserID=MTY4MDM4Mjc2MjA3S0&spJobID=780214745&spReportId=NzgwMjE0NzQ1S0

*******WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Spears' class this week.

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******

Monday, May 9th  
PreK Collegial Planning

Tuesday, May 10th   

2nd Grade Collegial
4th Grade Field Trip
2:00 pm - Braves Promo
3:30 - Leadership Celebration off campus

Wednesday, May 11th 

Kindergarten Collegial
5th Grade Field Trip 
8:00 - Title I Meeting

Thursday, May 12th 

11:00 - 5th Grade Collegial Planning
3:00 - New Student Round-Up
2:50 - PLCs

Friday, May 13th

Breakfast Sponsored by Admin
1:15 - Oratorical Celebration
Student of the Week Certificate

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

There are no birthdays to celebrate this week. 

May 2nd, 2016

High Point News

Week of: May 2nd, 2016

*****************NEWS****************

Senator Hill

Senator Hill was so impressed by everything going on in our school. Because testing was still in progress, we were only able to go into a few classrooms but he was very pleased with what he saw. He was also able to speak to a few staff members and get their opinion about educational issues happening at the state level. Thank you to everyone for welcoming him and creating an amazing learning environment to show off!!!

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Learning Tuesday Canceled

Learning Tuesday will be canceled this week. We know teachers have tons of things to get done such as entering grades, working on the supply list for next year, working on your green sheet, entering Easy RTI updates and entering ESOL Monitoring Notes. 

The administration will be here to support you if you have any questions or need support. 

Thanks!!

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STEMgineers Compete in Cheetah Cup

Our very own HP STEMgineers had an Adventure on Saturday and competed in the 7th Annual Creek View Elementary Cheetah Cup, which is a Math Olympiad Tournament for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. HPES had two teams of five students each who competed in an individual challenge as well as a team challenge. Although they did not place, a great time was had by all. The HPES students represented our school well. 

A huge thank you to Kerstin Long for writing the grant to fund the STEMgineers and the cost of the competition. We would also like to thank Lindsey O'Daniels and Brian Madej who helped prepare students for the competition and chaperoned the event. We couldn't have done any of this without you!!!

Way to go STEMgineers!!!

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Instructional Rounds

We are scheduled to have our last round of Instructional Rounds tomorrow. The Central Learning Community team will be here again to observe in classrooms and give feedback towards Rigor and Relevance. They will be here only from about 8:00-10:00. If you would like any feedback from their quick observation, please see the admin who was with them at the time. Thanks!!!

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Attendance and Tardy Report and Initiative 

As you can see by the chart above, our absences have increased over the last month or so. High Point Elementary will be implementing a school-wide attendance initiative. The program is a school wide initiative to promote students on-time arrival, daily attendance and readiness to learn. The goal is to decrease the tardy rate and unexcused absences. 

Absenteeism and tardiness can have a direct effect on a child’s school performance. As you know, students that are absent from school miss important instruction and academic work. 

We will be raffling off a kindle fire (1 per grade level) for all students without any UNEXCUSED ABSENCES or TARDIES. 

We will also have a grade level party for the grade with the best Attendance Record. 

The initiative for both events will start April 11th and will end May 19th.

Questions or concerns, please see Vaneisa Hutchins. 

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Acing Math (One Deck At A Time!)

A Collection of Math Games

 With end-of-school-year days fast approaching, we are looking for fun ways our kids can continue to practice important math skills.  If you have a deck of cards handy, I have a 70 page resource of full of math card games you can teach your kids to play.

Look in Math Coach Folder LONG, Acing Math (One Deck at a Time!) and deal out a great math review!

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What I've been thinking about...

"As the end of the year approaches, we don’t need another article about all the difficulties and obstacles teachers face today. Awareness is great, and all teachers wish the general public had a better understanding of what we do each day, but what we all need now is a pep talk.

We want to finish strong and remember all the good things about our job, in the midst of a time where many feel exhausted and under appreciated."

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/11-reasons-teaching-is-the-best_b_9795086.html?section=women&

******VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE******

Ms. Eigel engaged her students in personal reflection through the lens of the learner profiles! Students wrote descriptions of themselves using real life evidence to support their claim! Then she took their picture in front of the new learner profile boards in carpool line! 

*******WRITERS' GALLERY**********

The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Wright's class this week.

The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Spears' class next week. 

******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******

Monday, May 2nd  
9:30 am - Prospective Parent Tour

Tuesday, May 3rd   

Instructional Rounds
2nd Grade Field Trip
4th Grade #Changetheworld Presentation - Cafeteria

Wednesday, May 4th 

Kindergarten Registration

IB PLCs during Specials

2:50 - PBIS Meeting

Thursday, May 5th 

Grade Level Newsletter Goes Home
Kindergarten Registration
11:00 - 5th Grade Cinco de Mayo Celebration
1:30 - ETT for 1st Grade
2:50 - PLCs

Friday, May 6th

College Spirit Wear

7:30 - SGC Meeting in #1518

8:00 - Kindergarten Musical
8:30 - 5th Grade Orientation at Ridgeview

Student of the Week Certificate

******BIRTHDAYS! ****************

Happy birthday to Michelle Nobles and Benita Bearden on the 5th! We hope you both have a wonderful birthday!!!