Merry Christmas

Just a few reminders....

• Faculty meeting Monday in Krista's room.  Domain chairs should be ready to present their action plan updates.  Please share them with me ahead of time.

• Thursday is the Christmas show.  Teachers should plan to arrive at 6 p.m. to greet the students.

• Friday is the 5-8 breakfast and K-4 Polar Express.  Classroom pickup.  Bring any students left at 12:20 to the office.  No extended day.  All extended day workers should plan to arrive at 1 in the FLC if you are attending the lunch.  Don't forget your left/right gift if you are participating.

• Remember to leave your classrooms and office area clean and neat before you leave on Friday.  I will be around on Thursday to check.  Check your offices in particular.  Everything on the upper shelves should be 18 inches from the ceiling.  Nothing on the floor.  Make sure all students clean out lockers and desks before the holiday.  All desktops should be wiped clean and shelves should be dusted.  When we return start thinking about what you will put on your bulletin boards in the hall for Catholic Schools Week.  

I wish everyone a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and Peace, Love, and Joy for the New Year!!

Come Lord Jesus, Come

The name for the last month of the year means “tenth month.”  The ancient calendar of the Romans began in March which made December the 10th month.  In ancient times, people of northern Europe stopped counting the days during winter.  There wasn’t any farm work to do, so there wasn’t any reason to keep track of time.  They called this free time Yule.  The days of Yule connected the old year to the new.  For Christians, December is a time of waiting.  Advent readies us for this joyful anniversary of Jesus’ birth, but there is more.  It also prepares us for the second coming of Christ.  We do not know when this will come, but we should be on watch (Matt 24:42).  The readings, traditions, and rituals of this liturgical time help Catholics practice the art of joyful anticipation and holy patience.  To more fully prepare for the Messiah, people acknowledge their sins.  Advent offers us the reflection time to see our incompleteness and to ask for his forgiveness.  We pray that when he comes, he may be merciful.  We pray Come Lord Jesus, Come.  

As we continue to improve on infusing Catholic Identity into the curriculum, look for ways to bring the message of Advent into your lessons. Remind students to have holy patience as they struggle to learn a new math concept or wait for their grade on the project they just turned in 5 minutes ago. Tell the story of Yule during calendar time. This week we will wrap up Domain 2. Focus on Elements 4 and 5. The classroom environment is safe. Look at your classroom. Are you maximizing your space for learning. Can the students move around safely. Now is a good time to clean up your clutter before Christmas break. The classroom environment is conducive to learning. Do you always have high expectations? Do students know why they are doing what they are doing? Are you objectives, the essential questions, and academic vocabulary visible on the walls of your classroom? Are all students treated with respect? Do students accept everyone? These are things to be aware as you go through the week.

For the schedule this week, please follow Thursday's schedule for the last two periods on Wednesday. In addition, 5th grade will have music right after lunch on Wednesday. If you have any questions, let me know. Please be sure you have contacted your helpers for the Advent retreat and let they know what they are doing.

Fasten Your Seatbelts

It may not be a bumpy night, but it certainly will be a crazy 3 weeks!!

There is plenty happening over the next three weeks.  The most important things to remember are to keep the students focused on their work, keep the stress level down, and enjoy the season.

Benchmark Check

The week before break got crazy for me and I am behind with benchmark checks.  Therefore, this week I will be checking for Domain 3 Element 1 as I walk through the classrooms and we will continue to focus on Domain 2 Element 2 & 3:

-   A positive classroom culture is created and sustained through clear expectations of conduct and effective classroom management.

-   Classroom routines and procedures for transitions, handling of supplies, including technology, and performance of non-instructional duties are established and occur smoothly with minimal loss of instructional time.

Faculty Meeting

There is a faculty meeting Monday.  We will meet in Krista's room.  Derrick will tell us about the Christmas Show.  I will introduce the next Google unit.  If there is something else that needs to be addressed, please let me know.

Upcoming Events

Santa Shoppe - Week of Dec. 5

Advent Retreat - Dec. 8

Christmas show practice and performance - Dec. 15

Polar Express movie Gr. PK3-5 - Dec. 16

Middle School Christmas Breakfast - Dec. 16 (please let me know your plans)

All School and Parish Christmas Lunch - Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. in the Family Life Center (all are invited to attend)

Classroom Management

This week we will focus on classroom management - Domain 2 Elements 2 and 3.  I will email the rubrics Monday morning.  The two elements are: 

-   A positive classroom culture is created and sustained through clear expectations of conduct and effective classroom management.

-   Classroom routines and procedures for transitions, handling of supplies, including technology, and performance of non-instructional duties are established and occur smoothly with minimal loss of instructional time.

On Friday I walked through the classrooms and I did see an improvement in the visual of Catholic Identity.  I made note of where crucifixes and and bibles are needed.  Remember to be aware of opportunities to incorporate Catholic values, traditions, and teachings throughout the curriculum.  This week when I walk through the rooms I will be looking for how students are able to connect what they are learning to their faith life.  This will be done by looking at student work displayed in the room, listening to the lessons, and asking students questions (I may interrupt your teaching to do this.)  As we go through the benchmarks it's important to understand that the goal is not to do everything for one week, but to build.  In the end, all the benchmarks should be met on a routine basis.  

This week, look around your classroom.  Are your rules and expectations visible?  Are the Harmony expectations posted?  Can students easily refer to grading and merit program rubrics?  These should all be posted in your room.  Are you following the rules and expectations established at the beginning of the year?  Is it time for a refresher?  Pay attention to how materials are handled.  Are you prepared for your classes with materials before the students arrive?  Are you pulling things out of closets and from shelves as students sit and wait?  Do students help with materials and routines?  They should.  Class time should focus on learning.  Discipline and non-instructional routines should cause only a minimal loss of instruction time.  Finally, remain positive, animated, enthusiastic, and excited about what you are doing.  It is contagious. 

Faculty Meeting

Monday's faculty meeting will focus on Harvest Festival (Jenn and Kelly G), Advent Retreat and Reconciliation (Julianne), Christmas Concert (Derrick), CSW T-shirt and Essay contests (Abbie), Atlas (Charles), CIPA (Linda).  Please plan to attend are there will be a good deal of information disseminated.  

Angels Among Us

Everyone seemed to be in agreement that the Angels event was absolutely amazing.  Everyone I spoke with said this was their favorite.  Who knew our gym could look like that!!  I hope everyone had a good time and I'm anxious to see how we did (even though puppies are evidently more exciting than spending a day with me).  

 

Making connections

Connecting Learning to Our Faith Life

Last week we focused on Catholic Identity in our rooms and in our Unit Plans.  This week focus on how students take what you have included in your unit plan and what they are learning in class, and connect it to their faith life.  Making connections is important.  Everything students learn should be connected.  Connected to prior knowledge, transferred to future learning, and connected to our daily lives through the lens of Catholic morals and values.  Be sure you are giving students the opportunities to make these connections.

Facebook and Marketing the School

Kathleen, Nicki, and Charles have been hard at work creating and adding to our new webpage.  We are also focusing on ways to promote our school as we look toward re-enrollment time.  One of the things we are using is Facebook.  If you have anything exciting happening in your class (which I know happens all the time) take pictures and write up a brief description and send it to Kathleen. She will post it on the school's Facebook page.  

Reminders

Please remember that Thursday will be a full day of school and Friday is a half day for students and a full day for teachers.  Jamie has iReady part 2 beginning at 2 p.m.  Prior to that Charles and I will be introducing the Google for educators certification process.  We both completed it in one intensive day of training.  We are going to spread it out over the school year and the expectation is that all teachers will be certified before the school year ends.

Catholic Identity

As I reflect on the observations I have completed so far, there are two items that consistently stand out as "does not meet" or "partially meets".  The first is Catholic Identity.  Some rooms are infused with Catholic Identity, but there are some rooms that look no different from a classroom in a public school.  This is something we received high marks on when the accreditation team came to visit.  I'm not sure they were feel the same if they came back today.  We also said we would work harder at infusing our Catholic faith into all our lessons.  I rarely see this when I'm in a classroom.  I understand that it can be hard to find the connection in all subjects at all times, but I have seen opportunities that were missed.  It needs to be uppermost in our minds when teaching to make those connections to our faith life.

The second item was connecting the individual lesson to the overall unit.  I have seen some beautiful unit plans on paper, but when doing an individual lesson, it is hard to see how it connects to the big picture of the unit and students also had a hard time explaining the connections.  



It's like this picture.  We created something (great unit plans) but we're really not quite sure what to do with them.  So what's the solution?  Here's my plan.  Each week we will focus on one or two standards.  If there are two, one will be from the planning domain and it will connect to the either classroom environment or instructional strategies.   Some planning standards may repeat. This week we will focus on Catholic Identity.  Domain 1 - Planning: Element 1 and Domain 2 - Classroom Culture and Environment: Element 1.  In each of the standards, I have highlighted the specific things I'm looking for.  


This week, look around your classroom.  If someone were to walk into your room, would they know it's a classroom in a Catholic school?  If something is missing (crucifix, mission statement, etc.), let me know.  I was in one room and there was no crucifix.  I don't know when it disappeared, but it's gone.  Do you have a bible and stand.  One was purchased for every classroom many years ago.  Look in your closets.  Look in another room to see what I'm talking about.  If you need one, ask.  I will say that for the most part the way in which teachers and students interact does reflect Catholic Identity and that's a good thing.  I will also email these Domain pages so you can print them out and keep them in front of you throughout the week.  In the second week I will give a new benchmark to focus on and will do walk thrus specifically looking for the standard from the prior week.  The plan is that by the next formative assessment we will have gone through and looked at each benchmark individually.  

Social Media  

Be sure you have liked our school facebook page and check out our recent posts.  I put up a bunch of pictures from Trunk or Treat.  It was very successful and the DJ was awesome.  I have asked a few teachers to post something this week and I will continue to give out the login credentials so eventually many of us can post to the school page.  We have also started a youtube channel, google business page, and eventually I hope to add twitter.  This is how we will be communicating as we move forward.

Jean Days

I would like to clarify for everyone what a jean day looks like.  Jean day means students may wear jean pants, capris, bermuda shorts with any school shirt - polo, PE, spirit wear, CSW t-shirt, etc.  On some occasions they may ALSO (not instead of) wear halloween, fall, christmas, etc t-shirt.  The students I was concerned about on Friday were those who wore something other than school bottoms or jeans.  I saw leggings (which are banned in school period), fru fru skirts, and other assorted items.  I also saw random free dress tops that were not school items and had nothing to do with halloween. Please be sure to review this for Harvest Festival day and I will put something in tidbits that week.  If you ever have a question, check the handbook.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! 

Quarter 2

The second quarter has already begun but I'm sure this week feels more like the start of a new quarter since much time was spent last week on report cards.  We went through many drafts of the report card which is not unusual for the first quarter.  We should all be experts now in grades and what is needed for report cards.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to read everything.  I try to keep it to a minimum but when directions are given by Charles or myself, the expectation is that everyone is reading and following directions.
Some things to remember about report cards:

• Every student should have comments
• Positive comments are important too
• If the canned comment does not meet your needs, write a narrative
• Any student with a D, F, 1 or 2 must have a comment that explains the grade and how to improve it (I saw 2's with comments saying how wonderful the child is.  There were also A's and 3's with comments that said there was a need for improvement.  Comments must connect to grades.)
• The comment to use for an incomplete is always given to you, don't make up your own

I would also suggest that you help each other proof report cards.  Find a partner and check each other's report cards.  Some are easy - Abbie/Sue, Jill/Kim, Krista/Heather... you get the idea.

Now that your have been through your first quarter, reflect on your grades.  Were there enough assessments?  How can you make adjustments to enough summatives?  

Time is going to fly between now and Christmas break so it is important to keep track of what is going on and making sure your are meeting your curriculum goals.  The second quarter will be over before you know it.  Here's what's happening:

• Oct. 24-26 - Charles is out.  No one is allowed to call in sick.  If you do have to, remember to call me by 5:30 a.m.  813-494-3801
• Oct. 24 - Faculty meeting (sign up for tables at Angels will be available at the meeting).  Observations are in full swing.  Be sure to review the rubrics - There are more rigorous expectations to be considered as "meeting the benchmark".
• Oct. 27 - Linda off campus at Administrator Meeting
• Oct. 28 - Halloween shirt and Jean day, Trunk or Treat, Marvelous Mustang (be sure parents know if their child is receiving the award and that they are invited to attend in the Media Center and join the student for breakfast in the Multi-purpose room)
• Oct. 30 - Fr. Pius arrives from Africa and will be with us in the parish through January
• Nov. 1 - All Saints Day, Mass at 2 p.m.
• Nov 2 - No Mass 
• Nov. 3 - Linda off campus at Administrator Meeting
• Nov. 6 - Parish Picnic at Boggy Bottoms, Mass at 11:30 followed by BBQ
• Nov. 10 - full day of school
• Nov. 11 - half day for students (hurricane make-up day #1) and PD for teachers in the afternoon.  We will follow a half day schedule and students will have all classes.
• Nov. 12 - Angels Among Us 
• Nov. 14 - Faculty Meeting
• Nov. 18 - Harvest Festival, Time capsule item due
• Nov. 21-25 - Thanksgiving Break
• Nov. 28 - Faculty Meeting
• Dec. 2 - Charles and Linda off campus at Administrator Retreat
• Dec. 5-9 - Santa Shop in East Hall
• Dec. 7 - No Mass
• Dec. 8 - Advent retreat and Mass (Julianne is working on a framework for this retreat)
• Dec. 9 - DAR essay due to Linda (Gr. 5 and 8)
• Dec. 12 - Faculty Meeting
• Dec. 15 - Christmas program practice during the day and show at night
• Dec. 16 - Middle School Breakfast, Polar Express (PK-5), Noon dismissal, All school/parish Christmas lunch in FLC
• Dec. 19-30 Christmas Break
• Dec. 26 - Blessing/burial of the Time Capsule at new church

Enjoy the week!!

Riders on the Storm

We were very blessed that we did not experience the wrath of Matthew.  Let us remember those who were not so lucky and pray for lives lost.

Here in Riverview, some of us chose to celebrate the time off together.  It is always fun to spend time outside of school and we all agreed that we need more of those opportunities.  

Marking Period

A few teachers have asked and I did the math and agree.  First quarter right now has 42 days and 2nd quarter has 45.  I'm happy to extend this quarter by two days since not much happens the first week of school and we've had many disruptions.  Therefore, schedule goes like this:

• End of 1st quarter - Oct. 18
• Grades due - Oct. 20 (8 a.m.)
• Report cards released - Oct. 25

This means you will want to have all grades completed over the weekend and just have a few things to grade after Oct. 18.  We will not be sending home paper report cards.  They will be available to view through the portal.  Charles will be sending a checklist this week which will include the comment for incompletes.  I will send home this info to parents in the tidbits.  You can also let them know sooner.  Also let the students know about the change.

I hope you enjoyed the Prof Dev today and I will be sending out a sign up genius for pre-observation conferences.  Look over the rubrics and bring any questions you may have.

2 Weeks To Go...

Can you believe there are only two more weeks left in the first marking period?  I can't.  This is a good time to review your grade books and make sure you will have at least 2-3 summative grades for the quarter in every class you teach.  Charles will be sending out a to do list for checking grade books and when grades are due for report cards.  

Next Monday will be our professional development day at the Bethany Center.  This week is a good time to plan for carpooling.  If you did not register for the event, you will need to see Charles as registration is closed.  

My three days at the Bethany Center were very informative.  It was nice to be in a room full of people having the same struggles I have.  Everyone agreed that being everywhere is the greatest challenge and none of us have mastered bi-locating.  One principal did have a great idea.  He travels with his laptop and answers emails in classrooms.  It allows him the opportunity to see what teachers are doing and still keep up with all the other work.  George will attest to how fast my emails come in.  I have calculated that they arrive at the rate of approximately 1 email every 15 seconds.  It feels like swimming upstream.  So if you see me in your classroom with my chromebook, I'm not doing a formal observation, I'm bi-locating.  Formal observations will begin in the second quarter.  I will send out a sign-up for the first one.

If you have anything you want put into our school newsletter, please be sure to submit by 8 a.m. on Wednesdays.  Send to both Kathleen and me.  Our new format is being well received.  Pictures are welcome too.

One last thing.  There are a number teaches out this week on Thursday and Friday.  If we cancel your special or enlist your assistant, we apologize now.  It's hard to get 5-6 subs in one day.  I am making some adjustments to schedules and will be adding one more person to the second lunch.  This should help with supervision.  It is VERY important that you arrive on time for lunch and for picking up the students at 12:45.  If it helps, and if possible, bring the students 5 minutes earlier for lunch to get them served and seated quickly.  Thank you!

Have a great week!  

Ahoy, me Hearties!

Look here mateys.  I be the Captain of this here ship.  

Happy Book Fair Week!

Be sure you are up-to-date on the happenings this week.  Quarter Master Charles has supplied you with all the details for Friday's Grandparents event.  I have requested that at least 10 extra seating accommodations be supplied to your cabins for the Grandparents comfort.  It has also been discovered that same Quarter Master has been stirring up the sailors to mutiny and for that he will face the cannons on Wednesday.   See the Quarter Master before he greets Davy Jones if you have any questions or concerns.

Sailing Master Gina has supplied each of you with the instruments to navigate your classes through the Book Fair.  Boatswain Heidi has arranged for all the supplies to arrive and be in order for the event.  Some of the sails and rigging in the ship had to be dismantled as Cabin Boy Allen was called numerous times this weekend when gusts of wind (from the AC vent) set the sails flapping and sounded the alarm (motion detector).  We apologize for the inconvenience but take heart, he did not plunder the sails, just set them aside.  

As you enjoy the week, I will be setting sail for the northern territories of the land known as Lutz where I will be trained in my role as ship's captain.  I will be there with other novices as we ponder the age-old question, "What were we thinking??!!"  

Faculty Meeting

Monday's faculty meeting will take place in the media center.  This will be a training on iReady and how to use the data to guide instruction.  

New Tidbits

I hope you all have taken the time to browse the new look of Tidbits.  Rather than google blogger, we are using Constant Contact.  We are still fine-tuning it but hats off to Kathleen for our new look.  Parents have complimented us on the upgrade.

Week of Christian Service

Today begins the Week of Caring and Christian Service. Please remind students why we are doing this. A good way to start the week is to show the video of St. Teresa's song.

   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ9aV94AVaY

Here is another resource with a brief video of her life. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5611

We kick off the week with Mass at 2 p.m. on Monday.  Please arrive on time.  The last two periods for Monday and Wednesday are switched.  Whatever classes happen at 1p.m. on Wednesday will meet on Monday at 1.  Monday classes for the last two periods will take place the last two periods on Wednesday.  The only exception is 1st grade music.  They will meet first period on Wednesday.  

I have the privilege of joining Julianne and 8th grade this week on their trip to Metropolitan Ministries.  We will be going Thursday morning.  7th grade will be there too on Tuesday with Julianne and Jamie.  

Please take pictures of the events happening this week and share them with Gina, Kathleen, and Nicki.  

Informal Walk-thrus

Charles and I will be around this week doing informal observations.  I will mostly be looking at how your unit plans are being implemented.  The October PD will introduce the new evaluation tool.  Formal observations will begin mid-October.

Pre-K Playground

Stop by and see the progress in the pre-k playground.  Teachers and parents were here on Saturday doing some clean-up and building a St. Francis garden.  Hats off to the clean-up team!!

Have a marvelous week!

Meetings, meetings, meetings

The title of this blog expresses what my life has become.  If you can't find me, that's where I am.  This week there is one (sometimes two) every day.  Monday is the only day that does not have a daytime meeting so if you need me, that would be the best day to catch me.  Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are good too.  Thursday I will be at the Bethany Center all day.  Charles can help with anything you need.

Week of Caring and Christian Service is almost here.  Be sure you are aware of everything that is happening.  Julianne will fill us all in at the faculty meeting.  This will be a very important and jam packed faculty meeting.  Please be sure to attend.

Oct. 10, 2016 Hillsborough Teacher PD Day

If you are a K-8 teacher of any kind - full and part time - (including guidance and resource), please register for the event above at  https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ed5emd2c001733b5&oseq=&c=&ch=
Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email.  Forward that email to Charles so that he can see you are registered.  Do this by Friday.

Thank you all for the continued great job you are doing.  Compliments keep coming in and Mark was very impressed (as was I) by all the things students were able to tell him they are learning.

Have a great week!

Getting Down to Business

Hopefully by now the dust has settled and we are ready to get down to business.  Not too much is happening this week which is a good thing.  We should be focusing on curriculum this week.  The only item on the calendar is picture day on Tuesday.  All students should wear their regular uniform.  If they have PE, check with Coach to see if he wants them to bring the PE uniform to change.  We start with PK3 and Kindergarten.  After that we will not necessarily go in order.  I will work around PE classes and take grades 5-8 before 1-4 if possible so they will be done before their lunch.

I looked through Unit Plans this weekend and I do want to commend everyone for incorporating faith values into your unit plans.  I noticed that in the unit plans I did look at.  However, some unit plans are considerably sparse... some pretty empty...  By now you should have your curriculum mapped out for the year for most classes you teach.  This can be adjusted as you go, but it gives you a framework to ensure that all power standards are covered.  I will focus on specific areas each week.  This week I am focusing on ELA and will meet with teachers individually and in groups to discuss best practices for unit planning.  Next week I will focus on Math.  Remember you MUST have your lessons for the week posted each Monday by 8 a.m.  At the very least I should see this for all classes.  It is difficult to teach well when you do not have a plan.  Also keep in mind that you should have your summative assessment created before you start making lesson plans.  

I'm sure everyone rocks this week, but I saw something on the Middle School calendar that made me sooooo happy I wanted to share with everyone.  One of the difficulties we had last year in our move to Standards Based Grading was having enough assessments at the end of the quarter.  I looked at my calendar today and I saw all sorts of assessments planned for middle school this week.  Go Middle School teachers!!!  Remember units do not have to be long.  Break them up and have 2-3 summative assessments.  Don't wait and find yourself with one summative at the end of the quarter.  That is not a good picture of how a student is truly performing.

Enough said.  Keep spreading the love.  I have had many parents share how happy they are with our message of love and they see it in all your classrooms.  This has been an amazing start and I pray we keep it going.  Have a fantastic week.  

Only Love

I have been thinking about our retreat and how interesting it was that our presenter talked about virtues.  One virtue that came up time and time again was love.  Love was how we started our week together on Wednesday during pre-planning and also one of the things we ended with.  I would like this to be our main theme this year.... Love.  At our first faculty meeting in Sept. we will decide as a group what other virtues we will focus on, but I think we can all agree that Love is a great place to start.  Let us all show love in everything we do and when parents come to grumble, don't react.... don't get defensive.... don't say something you can't take back.... but instead.....  Kill them with kindness...   ONLY LOVE!

I would like to inform parents about after school activities available to the students.  If you moderate a club that meets outside the school day, please write up a description for this week's tidbits.  Include the following:

• Name of the club/activity
• Brief description
• Days/times you meet
• Location
• Start date
• Moderator(s) name
• Grades that can apply/join
• Cost if applicable

If you are ready for students to sign up, you may also send a flyer to go home with sign-up info.  If you are not ready to begin, indicate when students will be able to sign up.  

Week two and here we go.  It's going to be a busy one.  

Monday

• Faculty prayer in the center hall at 7:30 a.m.
• Unit plans and back to school info due by 8 a.m.
• All school mass at 2 p.m. in FLC
• Faculty meeting at 3:30 in Krista's room (iReady with Jamie then time to prepare for Tuesday night)

Tuesday

• PTCO meeting at 5:30 in FLC
• Back to school night in classrooms begins at 6:30 - all teachers should be present

Wednesday

• Club activity descriptions due to Linda by 8 a.m.
• Since there is no mass today, Charles will look at the schedules and help K-5 adjust where possible moving Monday p.m. classes to Wednesday.  I will work with Middle School.  

Thursday and Friday

• Nothing I can think of right now :)

AT the PTCO meeting Tuesday night, I will be talking about where we are with curriculum, the move to SBG, and construction progress.  I will also address how I feel about Facebook, gossip, and negativity.  And I'm sure you all know how I feel by now.  I have already seen and addressed our first facebook nasty.  I will continue to confront anyone who brings a dark cloud and I will kill them with kindness.

Have a great week and I will be in and out of classrooms to see what wonderful and amazing things you are all doing.  

Welcome Back!

Buddha was right.  I thought I had time to get everything accomplished this summer, but here we are, the final countdown, and there still seems like so much to do.  I'm sure the Buddha was talking about something much more important than painting, cleaning, and setting up classrooms and when we realize that, it helps put everything into perspective.  While we go through our days, always remember what is really important.  

Everyone's classroom is looking great and I enjoyed seeing all the smiling faces this week.  My hope is that we all keep smiling this year.  

Some reminders about this week:

• Wednesday - everyone arrives at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast in the Break Room
• Thursday - picture day at 12:30 p.m.  Dress for that Kodak moment
• Friday - all day retreat in the Family Life Center

Keep checking your emails.  Charles and I will be sending out a good deal of information this week.