Friday Focus - Week of Sept. 28th - Oct. 2nd

Sorry!  This is a bit of a Monday Focus.  Thanks for looking a few details over!  Have a great short week!

Moms and Muffins
The PTO will host the annual Moms and Muffins event.  This even will start in the gym at 7:30 with muffins, yogurt and other breakfast items.  An acrostic poem activity will be on the table for families.  After they finish in the gym, families will come to classrooms to read a book.  Please come join the fun!  Grab a muffin and enjoy spending time with moms and kids.  Please also have a book at the students' desks so they are ready to read.

In-service Days - Thursday and Friday
Here's the basics.  Please be flexible in case there are changes.

Thursday Morning - 8:00-11:30 - Teacher Voice Training @ the middle school
Thursday Afternoon - 1:00-3:45 - Milepost Intervention Training and Work Time
Optional Thursday Afternoon - 1:00-3:45 - Autism Training - Lauren will be putting on a great training.  If you would prefer to attend this, please let me know ASAP!

Friday Morning - 8:00-9:00 - Donuts and Bulletin Boards - We will put together the bulletin boards in the main hall first thing in the morning.  Please bring your best ideas, goals and a little creativity.  If you have a Cricket and would be willing to bring it, we would be very appreciative.  I believe Shawn will be bringing hers.
Friday Morning Part 2 - 9:30-11:30 - Lucy Calkin's Writing Units in the library.  We will spend some time unpacking the writing standards and the resources that will support this work.
Friday Afternoon - 1:00-3:45 - Work time.  Continue working on Mileposts or preparing for conferences.

Hearing Screenings
This week (Monday, Sept. 28-Wednesday, Sept. 30) the Speech and Language folks will be conducting hearing screenings for our school.  Please be flexible with this process.  It is very hard to predict when they will be screening your class, but we will ask them to work around specials and intervention as much as possible.

Computer Tables
The company who installed the computer tables in 1st and 2nd grade will be here during the Thursday and Friday October In-service Days (this week) to replace a few of the tops which had dings.  They will remove and replace your computers if they need to replace your table top.  Just a heads up.  You don't need to do anything.  They'll just be in your rooms.

Update on Progress Monitoring
Please check with your MTSS (RtI) Team member for a few minor changes to the Progress Monitoring.  We slightly lessened the load.  You can get specifics from Liz, Tammy, Patti, and Mary.

American Legion Chili Feed
On Saturday, October 17th the American Legion Auxiliary has invited Jefferson Staff to be their guests at their annual Chili Feed.  This group has been very supportive of our Memorial Day Concert in May.  I would love to have at least a few teachers attend with me.  Becky, they specifically requested you.  :-)  Please let me know if you can attend and help us build community relationships.  Family members would also be welcome.

Skype Field Trips
https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype/how-it-works#nav
I thought this was such a cool idea!  I just had to share.  I would have loved doing this in my classroom and it seems like a great opportunity to have kids reading nonfiction for the sake of researching clues.  Let me know if you decide to try this with your class.

Mentor Texts
The idea behind the moniker 'Mentor Text', is that an author can mentor a young writer with the examples and the ideas that they model in their text.  Some books just have such amazing word choice, others have a very clear structure, and the list goes on and on.  Here's a great spot to find just the right book for what your kids are learning.
http://mentortextcentral.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Events

Sept. 29^th – Muffins For Mom
Sept. 30th - Student Loan Forgiveness Seminar @3:30 in the library
Sept. 30th - New Teacher Get Together 7:30AM in the Conference Room

Oct. 6^th & 8^th – Fall Book Fair (Part of Parent Teacher Conferences)

October 8^th – Cookie Dough Kickoff Assembly

October – T-shirt Sales - PTO

Nov. 13^th – Jefferson Gives Day – Food Bank donations

Nov. 17^th – Jefferson Literacy Night & Cookie Dough Pick Up

To Do

• Turn in Management Plans to Angie
• Begin Preparing for Conferences
• Turn in Teacher Artifact Bags and Theme Song