January 29th, 2018

Monday Notes 1.29.18

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

Snow Make-Up Days
More information regarding the "Digital Learning Day" will be coming out after February 8th. Please hold tight until we receive more information. 

CHANGES:
February 16th - SCHOOL DAY
March 9th - Teacher Work Day/Digital Learning Day (Paraprofessionals report)
March 12th - SCHOOL DAY (Paraprofessionals report)
May 29th and 30th - Teacher Work Days

Any questions, please refer to the Fulton County email with dates and information. 

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Fastbridge Schedule

Please remember your Fastbridge time for this week. 

Also, if you have a child that has NOT taken aReading or aMath, please make sure they do so during the make-up slots in the lab or in the classroom. Also, please make sure your student is supervised if you send them to the lab. Thank you!!!!

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Power Up Your REFLEX

ExploreLearning has great online tools for getting going with REFLEX Math.  Laura Chervenak, the VP of professional development for ExploreLearning (host of REFLEX), has provided us with this on-demand webinar to guide you through using the REFLEX platform.  Our link will be available until the end of February.

https://kvgo.com/explorelearning/HighPoint

You should have received a REFLEX Quick Start guide in your mailbox and through email.  Please let Kerstin know if you still need a guide!

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Pop-Up PD

Pop-Up PD will be tomorrow. Please make sure you sign in to any of the following two sessions: 2:55-3:25 and 3:30-4:00

Getting a Grip on Google Classroom: Leveled Library - Both Sessions Open

Please bring a device if you are attending this session. 

Making copies, organizing resources, grading papers are all tasks that are necessary in the classroom. However, it doesn't have to be a grueling task! Using Google Classroom with your students helps you organize your daily routines so all materials are held in one place. Explore with your colleagues how to assign activities, discussion posts and creation projects that will engage your learners in independent blended learning. 

iReady Math Preview: Computer Lab - 3:00-3:30

Come and preview iReady Math, our proposed replacement platform for Redbird Advanced Learning.

Have you tried the new "Activities" in Seesaw?

Learn how to create and share activities with your team/school for digital learning.

Join us and be prepared for a digital learning day in your classroom.  

Sensory Strategies 101: Room #226 - Both Session Open

Learn how to support your students who are struggling with attention and focusing in the classroom!!! 

Epic: Media Center - Both Sessions Open

Learn how to use Epic in the classroom. 

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Recruit Career Day Volunteers

High Point will host our fifth annual career day on Tuesday, March 2nd. We are seeking parent and community volunteers to share information about their careers with High Point students on this day. Volunteers will speak with 1-2 classrooms for 20 minutes each.

Please reach out to friends and family members as well as High Point parents to encourage them to sign up. We need a wide variety of speakers, and there is no job too boring for this event! I can help speakers figure out a way to make their career interesting and child friendly. We are also able to skype in speakers for any out of towners- just be sure to alert me if this is the case. WE WILL NOT BE HAVING LESSON ROTATIONS THIS YEAR, so I would also love to find some speakers that could be fun for a whole grade level to here from for a longer time. Let me know if you know anyone that could be fun and engaging for students!

Please have speakers visit the following link to sign up:

https://goo.gl/forms/IIiKhMCBy09ydrnP2

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PBS Kids Writers Contest

The PBS Kids Writers Contest is open for entries. Check out the great free writing tools for teachers also!

http://www.gpb.org/blogs/education-matters/2018/01/16/gpb-announces-2018-pbs-kids-writers-contest

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KSU Coach

Schedule: I am at High Point this week on T 1/30, Th 2/1 and F 2/2

Highlights: Student voice is an important part of learning. Offering reflection opportunities can help students connect to the curriculum. Have you considered using Seesaw to record students' reflections? Students can review what they read after independent reading times, after using iRead/iReady/Redbird or after visiting the teacher table. To view questions that prompt reflection, checkout the links on this website - 

https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/scaffolding-student-reflections-sample-questions

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Media Center

Media staff will be visiting your room to label your ipads and laptops with your name soon. We just wanted to let you know about this in advance- and hopefully this will help our inventory stay correct when laptops and ipads are shared between rooms.

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TOTY and PEOTY

We are extending the window for nominating a colleague for Teacher and Professional Employee of the Year because we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to have a voice!!! Please click on the link below to nominate someone!!!

https://goo.gl/forms/Cfx3I0ouOs2cbZTR2

Nominations: Ends January 30th

Voting for TOTY and PEOTY: January 31st - February 2nd 

Top Three Finalists Announced: February 2nd 

Observations and Interviews for TOTY: February 5th - 9th 

TOTY and PEOTY Celebration: February 13th 

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eBooks with Book Creator

Our K and 1 classes have been working on e-books in the Media Center. Here are the links to Mrs. Berric  Ms. Cornibe and Ms. Marinos class books.  Be sure to click the sound icon to hear our student voices! All of our class books will be available soon on this webpage: http://hpweblinks.weebly.com/ebooks.html  and we will share on social media and show the books on the news show soon as well!
Mrs. Dennis, METI

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Continuous Learning

The article below talks about getting kids to read more and how we can do a better job of instilling the love of reading. Too often, because of high-stakes testing, we are always asking our students to read for information or to answer a question in group. 

How can we create a better balance between the "aesthetic reading" (reading for pleasure) and the "efferent reading" (reading for information) in our classroom?

Great article!!! 

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/stop-killing-reading/

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

Monday, January 29th
9:30 - Prospective Parent Tour

Tuesday, January 30th

1:50 - Leadership Meeting
2:55 - Pop Up PD

Wednesday, January 31st

Literacy PLC during Specials (Writing and Phonics)

Thursday, February 1st

3rd Grade Field Trip to Botanical Gardens
2:50 pm - PLCs
GA State ESOL Training Rm 123 

Friday, February 2nd 
7:30 am - PTO Board Meeting
Groundhog Day!!

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

Happy birthday to Kerstin Long on the 1st, Rebecca Quist on the 1st, and Mari Park on the 3rd!!!! We hope you all have an amazing birthday!!! 

January 22nd, 2018

Monday Notes 1.22.18

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

Well-Wishes
Please keep Hollye Conway in your thoughts as she was in a snowmobile accident in Colorado while visiting her daughter. She broke her clavicle and hip bone and had to have surgery. She is safely back home and recovering from her surgery now. We will keep you posted on her progress. 

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The Contest

We hope everyone enjoyed "The Contest" and greatly appreciate everyone for bringing their A-game, working collaboratively, showing your team spirit, and spreading kindness around our building! Congratulations to the USA Team who has earned a 1 hour long lunch break provided by the Admin Team! We will be in touch with that team to set up their reward!

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Fastbridge- New Schedule

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KSU Coach

Schedule: I will be at High Point on Tuesday 1/23 and Thursday 1/25

Notes: Snow days getting in the way of your learning? In this day and age, let’s take advantage of technology to implement some digital learning. Tasks, assignments, games and quizzes can be set up on platforms like Seesaw and Google Classroom. Follow @ksuiteach on Twitter for some great virtual learning ideas! 

Highlights: I missed seeing you all this week! We had so many different types of co-planning, co-teaching and meetings scheduled. Please help me reschedule these opportunities by emailing me a new day and time for our work together. Sorry for the inconvenience! 

DON’T FORGET to review my website for updates on technology implementation in your classroom - https://www.smore.com/0j3th 

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2018-2019 Intent Survey

Please take a moment to fill out the "2018-2019 Intent Survey." As you have already heard, employee contracts will come out earlier this year (around Feb. 5th) so there will not be a survey from Fulton County regarding your intent for next year.

While you do not need to complete this survey, we do ask that you fill out High Point's Intent Survey to let us know if you would like to change positions next year or any other information that we need to know for next year. Please complete the survey by Feb. 2nd. Thank you!!!

https://goo.gl/forms/pZtdzz2K4AfDsR273

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Building Open Saturday

Ms. Hess will be opening the building this Saturday (27th) from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm if you are in need of extra time to get things done. 

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TOTY and PEOTY

It's that time again where we celebrate each other and nominate colleagues for their amazing work with students and in our school!! Please take two minutes to nominate someone for Teacher of the Year and Professional Employee of the Year for 2018-2019.

All nominations are due by Friday, January 26th at 2:00 pm.  

https://goo.gl/forms/DzwNG4L0SxdN4Boz2

Nominations: January 22nd - January 26th 

Voting for TOTY and PEOTY: January 29th - February 2nd 

Top Three Finalists Announced: February 2nd 

Observations and Interviews for TOTY: February 5th - 9th 

TOTY and PEOTY Celebration: February 13th 

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

Monday, January 22nd
iReady Suppport for 4th, 5th, and Support Staff

Tuesday, January 23rd

1:50 - Leadership Meeting

Wednesday, January 24th

Guided Reading PLC during Specials
SIOP Cohort 

Thursday, January 25th

2:50 pm - PLCs
GA State ESOL Training Rm 123 

Friday, January 26th
7:30 am - SGC Meeting 

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

Happy birthday to Julie Ellis and Hollye Conway on the 25th!!!! We hope you both have an amazing birthday!!! (We miss you Hollye!!!) 

January 15th, 2018

Monday Notes 1.15.17

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

Condolences
Our sincerest condolences go out to Edna Henry for the loss of her mother last week. We will keep Edna and her entire family in our thoughts as she goes through this difficult time.  

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Condolences

Our sincerest condolences go out to Harry Spratlin for the loss of his sister Friday. We will keep Harry and his entire family in our thoughts and prayers! 

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The Contest

We hope everyone is enjoying the "Contest" so far!!! Bring your team spirit this afternoon to the faculty meeting!!! We have 4 more challenges to complete so gather together by teams. The winning team and the GRAND PRIZE will be announced immediately afterwards!  

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TKES
We will begin our walkthroughs for FULL employees this month. We will only be assessing standard #8 - Academically Challenging Environment during this walkthrough. 

We will also begin our formative observations for FLEX employees. We will complete these full 30 minute observations beginning now til March. After the observation, all 10 standards will be rated. Additional artifacts can be provided to support any ratings. FLEX employees will be notified one week prior to the observation.

Conferences after the walkthroughs and formatives can be requested but will not be required. Please reach out to Pitchford or DiBartolo with any questions!! 

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Recess

Please remember that recess can not be taken away for discipline or academic reasons. The Board just updated the Fulton County Board Policy on Recess to include this verbiage. 

If you have any questions or want alternative ideas to taking away recess, please reach out to someone on the PBIS team or DiBartolo. 

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PBIS
PBIS Data November and December 2017

  
Notice that the total incidents went down from November to December.  We know HPES students “Practice good manners” and here’s the proof! 

Remember a disruptive student wants attention, so be aware of these common causes of disruptive behavior and make sure your response matches the stimulus. Feelings of inadequacy lead to overreaction. Second, feelings of anger lead to bullying. Third, feelings of conceit lead to showoff behavior. Listening and openly communicating are the best ways to begin helping a disruptive student. For best results make sure you respond to the student’s underlying feelings. Don’t forget, all students need to be reminded of what behaviors are acceptable and not acceptable. 

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KSU Coach

Schedule: I will be at High Point this week on T 1/16 ,Th 1/18 and F 1/19.

Highlights: When thinking about using Seesaw, don't focus so much on the program...BUT think about what you already have planned and see where Seesaw can fit in at. Try writing your lessons first then step back and replace an activity with posting to Seesaw. 

**Don't forget Seesaw offers many resources online! Check out this link, https://web.seesaw.me/professional-development, for a schedule to PD in your PJ's - maybe this could a topic for a PLC one day?**

Notes: Do you have a new IB unit approaching? Need help gathering resources? Interested in planning a project? Let me know specifically what skills and standards you have so I can help you gather ideas!

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Parent/Teacher Conferences

Please remember that every teacher should attempt to conduct another parent/teacher conference in February. This is a perfect time to discuss Fastbridge scores, how students are progressing, what parents need to work on at home, behavior, getting ready for Milestones if applicable, etc.... 
Please make sure that you are keeping track of your conferences. 

Half of the day on the 20th of February (RFF day) will be given to staff to hold parent/teacher conferences. We will give a specific schedule to everyone in the next 2 weeks. Please hold off scheduling conferences on this day until you receive the schedule in order to avoid conflicts.Thanks!!!

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Media Center

Please send Mrs. Dennis your Epic! class code or let her know if you need her to set up your class for you. We will have pop-up PD about Epic on Jan. 30th.

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Continuous Learning

It's a new year. This article is a teacher's reflection on 2018 and always having a chance for "do-overs"...... Great, quick read! 

http://tnteachertalk.com/2018/do-oversmulligans/

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

Monday, January 15th
MLK Holiday!

Tuesday, January 16th

2:50 pm - Faculty Meeting

Wednesday, January 17th

Math PLC during Specials

Thursday, January 18th

2:50 pm - PLCs

Friday, January 19th
1:00 pm - Ridgeview Band/Orchestra/Chorus with 5th grade

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

Happy birthday to Leigha Jones on the 20th!!!! We hope you have an amazing birthday!!! 

January 8th, 2018

Monday Notes 1.8.17

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

Happy New Year!!!!

We hope each and every one of you had a relaxing and joyful holiday break! We are very excited to welcome you back and wish you a very happy new year!! Here is to 2018!!!

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Condolences
Our sincerest condolences go out to Latissa Southerland for the loss of her father over the holiday break. Please keep Latissa and her family in your thoughts during this difficult time. 

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The Contest

The administrative team wanted to find a way to thank all of you for your hard work and to show you how much we appreciate each of you. We’ve decided to hold a unique contest to find a group who possesses creativity and shows the best team skills. We also have a really great TOP SECRET PRIZE (trust me… it’s worth it!) picked out for the winning team as our way of expressing thanks. 

We are calling it “The Contest." It’s scheduled to start this week and you will soon receive more information regarding the team to which you are assigned. The best team will be the one that is the most creative, most daring, and most enthusiastic….so bring your game faces!

Please look out for an email announcement this week from an “@lookingforpat” address! This will kick off a week long team competition! Please be sure to read these emails for all the details and information!

To start us off, here is a puzzle:  “H.P.E.S.I.T.B!!!” Email Wooden with your guess if you can figure out what that stands for!!

We hope everyone has fun!  

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Congratulations!
Congratulations to Mariana Mendoza on the birth of her grandson over the holiday break! Reyan Emanuel was born 7 lb 3 oz and baby and mom are healthy! Congratulations to Mariana. 

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Let's Celebrate!!!
The following teachers moved 100% of their students to a higher  
F and P reading level: 

Todd
Pereira
Bradshaw
Sapp
Jones
Milazzo

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Fastbridge Testing 

Please make sure you are bringing your class on time to the computer lab for Fastbridge Testing! We will be using the data to discuss student growth once we are finished so please make sure your students are taking this screener seriously and trying their best!!!!

 The schedule is below! 

Comprehension Efficiency 3rd-5th - Every student in Tier I should have taken the Comp Efficiency 2x in November and 2x in December. We will take it 2 more times in February but not in January!!!! We will let you know when to give it again!!! Thank you for your help with this!!!

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National Championship
Whether you cheer for UGA or Alabama, the National Championship game tonight is going to be a great one!!! We appreciate you all for dragging yourselves in tomorrow morning and teaching like you went to bed at 8:00!! You are all rockstars!! 

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Georgia Personnel Survey

The Georgia School Personnel Survey (GSPS) is the state required survey to determine our overall Climate Star Rating on CCRPI. ALL staff is required to take this survey! 

So far we have 41 staff members who have taken the survey. 

We have 103 staff members so if you have not taken the survey, please do so this week!!!!! We need 75% of all staff to take this survey which means we have to have AT LEAST 73 staff members to take this survey!!! Thank you for taking a moment to do this!!!

http://gshs.gadoe.org/personnel

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Retention

1. Students who are being considered for retention should at a minimum be in tier 2 and on their way to tier 3.  You will need to continue working with Mr. Madej to ensure that you are collecting the appropriate data to move students to tier 3.

2. Conference with parents at least twice before the end of January. You may choose to complete a retention conference form during that conference. If you are scheduled for an RTI/SST meeting for this student and the parent is notified at that time, that can count as a conference. A face to face conference is preferred but a phone conference is also acceptable. If you use the conference form, please provide a copy to Mr. Madej.

3. The notification letter indicating possible retention should be sent home in January, signed and returned to you by January 19th. This is not the 1st time the parent should be hearing that their child is not passing. Contact the parent and inform them the letter is coming home. Grades and the tier process should reflect this information. Please provide a copy of the signed letter to Mr. Madej .

4. Please submit the Retention Checklist and the Retention Notification letter to Mr. Madej by January 26, 2018. 

5. Final decisions concerning retention will be made in April or May. ***Remember that we will only have the preliminary results of the GA Milestones so it is imperative that if you plan to retain a student they are demonstrating extreme deficiencies in grades 3 or 5. Students will not be considered for retention solely based off GA Milestone scores. 
If students scored a Level 1 in Reading or Math on GA Milestones last year, you may want to add them to the retention list as a precaution unless they are making incredible progress. Once we receive the official criteria for promotion, we will send it to you. 

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Drills

We will be conducting the following drills this week to make sure our students understand what to do in the event of an emergency. Please make sure you know exactly what to do for each drill: 

- Hard Lockdown

-Soft Lockdown

- Severe Weather Drill

- Evacuation Drill (aka: Fire Drill) 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mr. DiBartolo. 

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KSU Coach

Schedule: I will be at High Point for the teacher workday on 1/4. I will be back in school when students return on 1/9 and 1/11.

Notes: I hope you had a great holiday! Welcome back! Let's start the new year off right - want to try a new tool or new idea, let me know! Let's co-plan together on the work day (1/4).

Highlights: Thank you for a great first semester! I look forward to all that 2018 will bring with using technology and devices in the best ways to support your classroom and your students.

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Continuous Learning

Below is a note written by one of our students. He wasn't turning in homework assignments and was having increased frustration. His teacher asked him to write an explanation of why he couldn’t get his work turned in. 

While I realize that the "online" issue mainly pertains to upper grades, I hope this example sparks some reflection in all of us for 2018. What are we asking our students to do? Is it reasonable? What challenges do they face at home? What barriers are they up against? How can we understand their situation more in order to help them be successful?

While our high expectations should remain constant, it is imperative that we take the time to talk to our students and give them a chance to explain their situation so that we can help them succeed.

This child's teacher took the time to understand the current situation and help him work through it. Every child has a story to tell. Are we listening?

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

Monday, January 8th
Fastbridge Testing Starts!

Tuesday, January 9th

2:50 pm - NKOB and Para PLC Meetings
4th and 5th - Guided Reading PLC during Specials

Wednesday, January 10th

College Spirit Wear for Students and Staff
K-5 Guided Reading PLC during Specials

Thursday, January 11th

9:30 am - Gail Dean Community Meeting
2:50 pm - PLCs

Friday, January 12th
7:45 am - PTO Board Meeting

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

Happy birthday to Margaret Abernethy on the 14th!!! We hope you have an amazing birthday!!!