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.