Spirit Week 2018

   

 

Who's In?

We're In!

We're In. 

We're In. 

             Yes, yes All In!

It's Spirit Week AND.... It's Book Fair Week AND... Friday is Grandparents day!  Who's In?  You will need to be in order to survive the week.  Keep in mind that somewhere in between we still need to keep teaching.  Speaking of teaching, here are some things you need to be thinking about.  We have 5 weeks left to the trimester.  You are required to have 4 summatives for each class.  That means you should have two already and one more in the near future.  If you do not, you need to be thinking about how you are going to meet that requirement.  The other thing to think about is you are required to post grades within two days after the assignment/assessment is turned in.  You should also be posting one ATL a week.  Are you keeping up with these requirements?  If not, you are not giving your students a fair assessment of their abilities and mastery of the content.  Also, if you are not posting grades in a timely manner you are not giving appropriate feedback.  Don't wait until Oct. 26 and then panic and give 5 assessments in one week.  That's not fair either.  Planning is necessary.

Here are some reminders for the week:

Bookfair creatures - I'm not sure what you supposed to do with them.  There was mixed communication.  Someone may come to get them and if not just leave them hanging by your classroom.  I will say this... This was SUPER AWESOME bookfair decorating.  Everyone in the main building was ALL IN!!  Angel's Wing promises to catch up and I know theirs will be awesome too.  And how about that castle and dragon?!!  And oh my goodness the ENTS!!  I didn't know Ms. Carol and Maria could be soooo scary!  I love ALL the decorations.  A special kudos to the volunteers who decorated outside rooms 4 and 6.  And great work Charles for coming up with a great master plan for how the book fair would be set up this year.  

Mass - No Mass on Wednesday.  Instead, we will have Mass on Friday.  Please refer to Gina's prior email for how that will work and just be flexible and patient on that day.  

Friday we will have PD.  Carmen and Kelly will be with Gina getting trained on Wit and Wisdom.  All other teachers (K-8, Encore, Jamie, and Alton) will be with me in the media center starting at 1 p.m. to learn more about BrainPop.  If there are assistants who normally work on Friday until 3, please check with Gina and Karen Biase to see if we need help with anything if you want to work the full day.  I know we still have a cabinet full of Iowa's that need shredding.

Here's what was in Tidbits as an additional reminder for this week.  I added some notes:

Monday October 1st- Mustang Monday

- Students will dress in mustang colors and show their Mustang pride

- Free dress rules apply (That means NO face paint, makeup, etc. - I'm ok if they have big school color things in their hair.)

Tuesday October 2nd - Tacky Tuesday

- Students will wear a "tacky" themed outfit

- Free dress rules apply (They may break the rules here and wear tacky jewelry and accessories)
- Doughnuts with dad for initials A-L in the east hallway from 7:00-8:00 am (For those of you who are new, this is just a guideline so that everyone doesn't show up on the same day.  When necessary, dads may come on the day that works best.) 

Wednesday October 3rd- Whimsical Wednesday

- Dress as your Favorite Fairy Tale Character

- Free dress rules apply (Again, rules can be broken and appropriate accessories are ok.)
- Doughnuts with dad for initials M-Z in the east hallway from 7:00-8:00 am

Thursday October 4th- Team Thursday

- College gameday, staff and students will come representing their favorite college team

- Free dress rules apply
- This will also be family night in the media center (will last from 3:00-5:30 p.m.) and NJHS will be hosting this event with games and activities

Friday October 5th- Faithful Friday/ Grandparents Day

- Today is a day to appreciate our grandparents and go to Mass

- School uniform for everyone to show our respect to God and His faithfulness to us
- Will be a half-day
1. Grandparents can come to school and check in between 7:45-8:15 and go to their grandchild's classroom. They can check in at two locations: the front entrance by the office or in the breezeway by the Angel's Wing.
2. Grandparents who come late can go directly to mass and check in after mass on the way back to the school then proceed to their grandchild's classroom. We will have a table set up as they enter the breezeway from the church.
3. Grades 5-8 with grandparents who wish to visit the bookfair will proceed directly to the bookfair after mass and stop to pick up siblings along the way. We are hoping they will be finished and back to the Angel's Wing by 10:00 AM and will then have their breakfast.
4. All other classes will go to their classrooms for their breakfast after mass. We suggest giving them time to eat and socialize then having the students ready to perform a song or a poem or something for the grandparents until about 10 AM

 HAVE A GREAT WEEK!  GO MUSTANGS.  GO MUSTANGS.  GO, GO, GO MUSTANGS! 

CareFest 2018

This is the week we give to our community.  Julianne has communicated everything we need.  Please be sure to encourage your students to give.  Also happening this week is Marvelous Mustang on Friday and Friday is a jean day.  Please be sure to go over the jean day rules and remind those who have continued to be out of uniform that they may not participate. 

Tomorrow (Monday), Alton and I will be at the Bethany Center all day learning about the impact of mental on school safety.  As you know, most school violence is not random and there are things to look for that may help us be better prepared.  I'm hoping we come back with good information to share. 

Monday PLC groups will be busy.  Gina already sent the email out for the ELA group.  The Math in Focus webinar will take place in the office conference room at 2:15 pm.  We need to start early as our presenter must be done by 4.  Here's the plan:

• We will have classroom pickup.  Melissa, please be sure the flag is out
• Amy has a prep.  Julianne, please take 6th grade back to homeroom and supervise pack-up and dismissal
• Melissa, please cover 4th grade science, pack-up, and dismissal.  Arrive in 4th grade by 2:10
• Karen Bambach will take 2B math for Galy starting at 2:10 and then stay for pack-up and dismissal (Coverage for Elaine is not needed)
• Jamie will take 1A science for Maria and then stay for pack-up and dismissal.  Please arrive by 2:10 pm
• Sammee is with KA in technology and will bring them back and stay with them for pack-up and dismissal.
• Susana will go to the MIF webinar and Sue will go to the ELA meeting.  Please share info with each other.

The Family Faith Festival is coming soon.  Almost a month away.  Here's my offer.  Check out the schedule for the festival then pick a time and place to meet with your class.  Tell them to wear their All In t-shirts.  Have someone take a picture of you with your students.  The teacher who has the picture with the greatest percentage of her students in the photo with their t-shirts on will win a free ticket to Angels Among us and the class will win a pizza party.  It's a win for everyone!  I know that not all teachers will have the opportunity to participate as you don't have a homeroom, but get creative.  Work with another teacher, take the free ticket and split the cost of another ticket.  Jennifer and Katie will need help as they are in Orlando at a conference with me Saturday morning and we'll be zooming back to Tampa that day.  They may need a stand-in for the photo.  

Be sure you have all signed up for tickets.  Everyone is expected to be there.  I'm looking forward to seeing Jeremy Camp!   https://familyfaithfest.org/

 One of today’s biggest and most popular contemporary Christian artists is coming to Tampa to headline a free, faith concert event at Tampa’s Al Lopez Park.  Jeremy Camp will perform at the Diocese of St. Petersburg’s Family Faith Fest at 2 pm

Let's Get Those Brains Popping!

Gina and I jumped into the world of BrainPOP this weekend.  It was called a Leadership Summit which was actually a confusing name.  I assumed it was for administrators since I received it.  Having attended, I wish more of you could have been there with us to learn about and feel the excitement for BrainPOP.  I will keep an eye out for more opportunities like this and if you really get excited about it, you can talk to me about becoming a Certified BrainPOP Educator at FETC in January.  All teacher accounts have been created and I believe Gina has given you the logon credentials.  She can also help you create your classes and assign students.  To get started, and to learn more about BrainPOP if you haven't used it before, go to the BrainPOP Educators website at https://educators.brainpop.com  Because we have a school site subscription, you can take advantage of the mixed quizzes and everything it has to offer including Newsela.  I will do some training at our next half day PD.  In the meantime, there are plenty of screencast videos to get you started on the Educators website.  Here is one you should all watch to help you set up your classes https://educators.brainpop.com/video/brainpop-setting-class/

Dear Tim and Moby:

What would prevent teachers from using BrainPOP with their students? 

From - A Friend

Dear Friend:

They probably don't know where to start.  Here's a suggestion.  Ask them to choose a topic they are working on, like sound.  Then watch the movie.  (Every topic comes with a movie.)  Then they should choose one thing to focus on.  Maybe it's "Make a Map" which is concept or mind mapping.  Or maybe they want to do "Make a Movie" or just some activities.  When starting with BrainPOP, they should stick with one item for each topic until they are really comfortable with it.  If they scroll down, then can also find lesson plans associated with the topic.  For example, sound has a lesson plan called "Create your own string instrument."  How exciting would that be?!!  And for the younger students, don't forget to check out BrainPOP Junior where they will meet my friend Annie.  There are all kinds of games and activities for students of all ages to play.  My favorite is Guts and Bolts where you build a human one system at a time.  Making the blood flow through the heart is kinda tricky. Good luck! - Tim & Moby

Gina will be out Monday morning learning about the role of Assistant Principal.  She will also be out Friday morning learning about our MIS program CE Tracker.  By mid-October we will have all the PD we have done since August loaded on CE Tracker for you.  Have a good week.  

  

Americans Never Quit

On September 14, 2001, George W. Bush proclaimed Sept. 11 be established as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the victims of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.  It is now known as Patriot Day.  Please observe a moment of silence (at 8:46 a.m. if you can) to honor and remember those who were injured or killed that day.  

Thank you to those who helped with and attended the ministry fair.  It was a great turnout by parishioners and an opportunity to see all the ministries alive and active in our community.  

I am changing the location for Monday's faculty meeting.  We will meet in the media center so we can take advantage of our new TVs for our IXL webinar.  We will begin promptly at 3:30 and it will last 1 hour.  Who should attend?  All teachers K-8 who use IXL.  That would be all math and ELA teachers and Jamie S.  The rest do not need to stay unless you want to learn more about IXL.

The Knights of Columbus soccer challenge takes place Wednesday during your class's recess.  Those students who sent in or bring in the signed parent form will go to the soccer field after lunch.  The knights will be there to help.  It may take longer than your recess and the knights will escort the students back to class when they are done. Reminder that Thursday is the first day for band.  You should have received a schedule by now.   

Gina and I will both be out on Friday.  I will be attending a meeting in Tampa and will be available by text.  Alton and Jamie can help with student meltdowns.  Julianne can help with emergencies.  Text maintenance if you are in need of toilet paper.  Friday night Gina and I are heading to Clearwater for a BrainPop Summit.  I have purchased a school license for BrainPop that became available to us on Friday.  Gina will be setting us up with accounts and sharing that info with you this week.  You can begin exploring and using BrainPop right away, but know that I will be doing an in-service on Oct. 5 during our half-day PD.  We will have full access to everything BrainPop has to offer.  

Lastly, I would like to talk about Angels Among Us.  For those of you who are new to St. Stephen, this is our annual Gala Auction which this year will be held on Nov. 10 in the FLC.  You should have each received an invitation to the event.  Those of you who are not new will know that in years past the school paid for the employee ticket to the event.  What you may not know is the history behind this and why we bought your ticket.  In the past, if you accepted the school-paid ticket, it was with the understanding that you would "work" at least 30 minutes during the event.  Teachers were also required to offer an auction item which required their time outside regular school hours.  We no longer required teachers to offer an auction item and over the years the "work" requirement became difficult to manage.  Angels now has enough parent volunteers that we do not need employees to volunteer their time during the event.  Therefore, we hope you will attend the evening and support the school, but you will need to purchase a ticket.  This way there is no obligation but to come and have a great time.  

Have a fabulous week!