High Point News
Week of: September 19th, 2016
*****************NEWS****************
RFF Day and Parent/Teacher Conferences
Our first RFF and Professional Learning Day is quickly approaching. In order for you to prepare, we would like to remind you of the following:
October 7th - High Point Elementary's RFF Day (ALL Staff Report; No Students)
October 7th - High Point Elementary's RFF Day (ALL Staff Report; No Students)
- 1/2 am - Assistant IB Training and Parent/Teacher Conferences (this is time for teachers to hold conferences with parents and review assessments such as STAR, GKIDS, Math Assessments, and F&P data)
- 1/2 pm - IB Work
October 10th - No School
October 11th - Fulton County Professional Learning Day
- 1/2 am - IB Work
- 1/2 pm - Conference day
Ms. Mendoza and Ms. Bass will be available on these days to interpret so please reach out if interpretations are needed.
Please also help us communicate to parents about their children not attending school on these days. The YMCA is unable to offer child care on this day so we want to make sure parents and staff plan accordingly.
Please also help us communicate to parents about their children not attending school on these days. The YMCA is unable to offer child care on this day so we want to make sure parents and staff plan accordingly.
Media Center News:
We have Tumblebooks online
e-books! The password has changed- see below.
These e-books can be read at home or at school, and there are many Spanish
language titles.
To log on go to our account, please visit www.tumblebooklibrary.com
Username: hpes
Password:
read
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The Media Center Check Out Schedule is below...
If you cannot come at your scheduled time,
please send the students with the Golden Ticket hall passes (one pass per student)
when it is convenient for you. Please do not send groups of
students with the Golden Tickets. If you need to send a group, please discuss
that with Mrs. Dennis in advance and send a reminder note with the group
explaining the purpose of the visit.
ALL Kindergarten classes or any special needs situations - we need one adult to please stay for the entire time slot and help supervise the students. Thank you!
Week A:
Weeks beginning
Sept. 12,
26
Oct. 10, 24 Nov. 7, 28
Dec. 12
Jan. 9, 23
Feb. 6,20
March 6,
20
April 10,
24
May 8
All
library books due May 17.
Closed for inventory May 15-26. |
Week B:
Weeks beginning
Sept. 19
Oct.
3,17, 31
Nov. 14
Dec. 5, 19
Jan. 16,
30
Feb. 13,
27
March 13,
27
April 17
May 1
All
library books due May 17.
Closed for inventory May 15-26. |
| Monday: 8:25-8:55 Hawkins (5th) 12:30-1:00 Rhoades (2nd) 9:00-9:30 Calhoun (4th) 10:00-10:30 Abernethy (K) 12:30-1:00 Bradshaw (2nd) 8:00-8:30 Cornibe (1st) 12:30-1:00 Evans (2nd) 1:30-2:00 Silverman (5th) 12:30-1:00 Quist (2nd) 1:40-2:10 Owens (4th) 8:00-8:30 Todd (1st) 9:15-9:45 Strafford (4th) 12:30-1:00 Rogers (2nd) 1:45-2:15 Milazzo (3rd) |
Monday: 8:45-9:15 Ittig (5th) 12:45-1:15 Marinos (K) 1:45-2:15 Collins (3rd) 8:00-8:30 Pereira (1st) 9:30-10:00 May (5th) 9:15-9:45 Nobles (5th) 12:15-12:45 Ellis (2nd) 12:45-1:15 Spears (K) 8:00-8:30 Churchwell (1st) 8:30-9:00 Johnston (4th) 1:45-2:15 Schafer (3rd) 8:30-9:00 Nagler (K) 10:00-10:30 Gopal (K) 1:15-1:45 Negrin (1st) |
Restrooms
Please assist Derick and Harry with making sure our soaps and toilet paper dispensers are full by notifying the front office immediately when you notice low amounts of either. Our new toilet paper dispensers are unable to hold two rolls unless the first one is small enough which prevents us from replenishing them each night.
It's our top priority to make sure we have soap to fight against germs as well as toilet paper for staff and students. We appreciate your help with this!!
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Translations and Interpretations
We have been working with Title I and are pleased to announce that Vilma Bass will be made 100% Title I Parent Liaison in order to assist more with parent meetings, conferences, and translations. We will fill the part-time ESOL para as soon as possible.
The following are each Parent Liaison's responsibilities:
Mendoza
– In charge of interpretations and translations for SST meetings, translating grade level newsletters, and interpretations for
PreK-2nd grade and ESOL
Bass
– Translating the school Newsletter, front office interpretations and translations, website updates for Title I,
and interpretations for 3rd-5th grade and special areas
They will work closely together to make sure you get the assistance needed in order to communicate with parents who speak another language.
Tutoring Sessions for 1st-5th Grade
We are pleased to announce that we will be offering "tutoring" sessions for 1st - 5th graders beginning October 3rd and going through the end of March.
We will be discussing more details of this program with Leadership Team this Tuesday (which students can attend and the purpose of each session) but need teachers to teach the classes. Some of the details are below:
- Offered Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30-3:30
- One 1st grade class of 15 students
- One class of 15 students for each grade 2nd-5th with TWO teachers in each class (total of 8 teachers)
- $28 an hour
- Beginning October 3rd - March 29th = 38 days
- You don't have to work every Monday or Wednesday but are in charge of securing your own sub when absent
- No lesson plans required
If you are interested in teaching, please reach out to Pitchford and state your grade level preference.
Parking Space
Congratulations to Lindsey Hayes for receiving a Buddy Brag from a colleague and ultimately the TOTY Parking Space in the front for the next two weeks!!
Thank you to everyone who turned in a Buddy Brag and took the time to "brag" on someone else!!!!
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TKES and PKES
Certified Staff - Please make sure you complete the online orientation/familiarization and the self-assessment in the TKES platform. We will be communicating regarding goals and plan implementation later this week.
If you would like to have a one-on-one pre-conference, please email Pitchford or Alexander to set up a time. Otherwise, the staff meeting on August 30th regarding TKES will count as your pre-conference.
The focus for the Walkthrough #1 is Positive Learning Environment and Instructional Strategies.
Classified Staff - Please go into PKES and create your 2 SMART goals for review. This has to be completed prior to the 30th of September.
For more information regarding TKES or PKES, please visit the Fulton County portal: https://employees.fultonschools.org/HumanResources/pm/Pages/default.aspx
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Let's Move Award!A HUGE thank you to Benita Bearden for writing the application for the "Let's Move" award.
First Lady Michelle Obama has honored three Fulton schools, High Point being one of them, with the “Let’s Move!” award. This award is one of the nation’s top physical education and physical activity distinctions for K-12 schools. To get the award, a school must have met significant benchmarks in five areas: physical education, physical activity before and after school, physical activity during school, staff involvement, and family and community engagement. A total of 544 schools from 41 states and Washington D.C. were named.
We are very excited to have this award and appreciate Benita for taking the initiative to apply for this award for our school!!!
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What I've been thinking about...
This article in Education Weekly was powerful and really spoke to me. I have pasted it below so that you would not have to register to Education Weekly just to read it.
The powerful statement in this article for you to ponder: "You have to be what you want to see."
Grit, Growth Mindsets, and Technology
We need teachers who are a little bit crazy. And brave. And gritty. Dr. Angela Duckworth's work on grit and Dr. Carol Dweck's work on growth mindsets have received rapt attention from educational leaders and policy makers. Educators are considering how we can teach our students grit by saying the right things, asking the right questions, or giving them feedback using the right phrases.
I think it is much simpler than that.
In a world where students will constantly be faced with learning new tools and overcoming challenges, the best teachers are often the ones who model what it is like to try new technologies in class. They are willing to stand in front of a group of students and, sometimes, fail. And, sometimes, succeed. Either way, they can model growth for their students through these experiences.
When I was student teaching, my student teaching supervisor said to me, "You have to be what you want to see." That was his first lesson to me and one that has stuck with me throughout my career. If we want students with a growth mindset who show grit, we have to model it for them. When we use new technologies and try innovative tools or ideas in class, we have the opportunity to model three important things.
1- We are braveThe teachers who use technology are usually the bravest teachers in school. In today's world, we have to model the willingness to take a chance and try new things. We can't settle for old lesson plans just because that is always how we have always done it. Teachers who try new things understand things will go wrong (and they will) but they model persistence and resilience through those experiences. Modeling a "no fear" approach to learning is critical for students in a world where things are changing rapidly. Teachers who use tech attack life and teaching by pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. If we want students who adapt in life and continue to push themselves, we have to model it. That is bravery.
2- The key to grit is how we respondWe all have the colleague who tries something new with technology but tosses it down, sighs loudly, and gets frustrated when it does not work perfectly. When we respond to challenges this way, we are giving permission to our students to act the same way when they struggle in math or when they do not understand how to conjugate a verb. We are telling them it is okay to toss the homework down and give up.
We all know that using technology in class will sometimes go wrong. The most powerful lesson we can teach our students about grit and growth is not about the technology itself, but about how respond when things do not go right. It is looking at your class, smiling, and saying, "Well, that did not work; let's try that again tomorrow."
3- There are multiple ways to solve a problemWhen it does not go the way we expect, we also have the opportunity to find "work-arounds" that solve the problem. Maybe that app did not have the feature you though it did... but you found a different one that a student suggested. Maybe that tool did not support everyone on-line at the same time... but you paired students up and found it actually worked better as a group activity. Maybe the mobile devices were reaaaalllllly slow that day... so you had them sketch everything out on paper first.
By saying, "Well, that did not work; let's try something else instead," you are acknowledging the failure but not accepting it. The point is that there is ALWAYS a solution...finding it requires persistence and resilience. And those are the characteristics we want to see in our kids.
Be Brave. Be Bold. Be Gritty. Use Technology
As has often been said, using technology is a mindset, not a skillset. It is a willingness to go outside your comfort zone and try something anyway. We ask students to do this every single day in class- learn something new, go outside what they know, stretch themselves mentally. But we also have to model that behavior. Grit is something that cannot be taught through a phrase or a comment or a question. Having a growth mindset has to be modeled. Using technology is one great way to show students that when we are brave and try new things, sometimes we are going to fail. And when things go wrong, we can bounce back up, show some grit, find another solution, and succeed anyway. Remember, we have to be what we want to see.
******VISUALS OF BEST PRACTICE*******
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In Ms. Johnston's class, students created a self-contained water
cycle simulation in a baggie! They are displayed in her windows and
students can watch the water cycle actually in process. One student said,
"I like how I can see what is happening. It is so much better than a
picture in a book!"
Also in Ms. Johnston's class, students were working on main idea
using the mentor text The
Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. They were writing poems
about themselves and others and used the attributes of the Learner Profile as
descriptors.
*******WRITERS' GALLERY**********
The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Hawkin's class this week.
The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Jannausch/Frappier's class next week.
The pledge and writers' gallery will be hosted by Ms. Jannausch/Frappier's class next week.
******CALENDAR OF EVENTS*******
Monday, Septmber 19th
Tuesday, September 20th
1:30 - Leadership Meeting
3:00 - PBIS Committee Meeting
Wednesday, September 21st
IB PLCs with Roberts3:00 - PBIS Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 22nd
1:30 - ETT for 2nd Grade
2:50 - PLCs
2:50 - PLCs
Friday, September 23rd
ESOL Monitoring Notes Due
ESOL Monitoring Notes Due
******BIRTHDAYS! ****************
Happy birthday to Mary Katherine Stahura on the 21st! We hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!!
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