Sunday, October 25, 2015

Friday Focus - Week of Oct. 26 - Oct. 30

Fun is in the air!  It should be a busy, but exciting week for kids at Jefferson!  Please come down to the office for a chocolate when you need a small dose of patience.  This is such a fun, but energy filled time for our little ones.

Kids Without Costumes
If you start to feel like one of your students may not have a costume this year, please let Deb or I know.  We have a few connections that might help a kid feel included in our school festivities.

Progress Monitoring on Thursday
For this week, we will cancel interventions on Thursday and use the day for progress monitoring.  We realize you missed a couple of Friday's in a row.  There was a bit of schedule confusion last week. We will work to put the actual schedule on paper and will get you a copy ASAP.

Halloween Safety Presentations
Officer Clayton will be here throughout the week doing Halloween Safety Presentations.  Please make sure to check the Jefferson Elementary Events Calendar if you need to double check a time.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest
If a student brings in a decorated pumpkin, please have them put it on one of the tables in the hallway.  These will be judged later in the week.  A participation prize will be given to each child who participates.

Halloween Celebrations on Friday

  • DARE Concert - 8:30AM in the gym.  Please come to the gym as soon as you have taken attendance.
  • AM Kindergarten Costume Parade @ 10:15AM.  Other classes will watch in the hall outside of their room.  New teachers, please check in with a veteran who can explain how this tradition works.
  • Costumes and Parties after lunch
  • PM Kindergarten-3rd Grade Costume Parade @1:15.  Watch for a map of how this works in your boxes.
Collaboration This Friday

With  your teams

FUN Free Ten Frame Game from Greg Tang
http://www.mathcoachscorner.com/2015/08/19/ten-frame-mania-free-app/

BSU ED Tech Scholarship
BSU is offering $1000 scholarships to teachers who enter their program for a master's in Technology Leadership.  If you are interested there is more information on the whiteboard in the office.

Ready for Kindergarten
We are SO pleased that the Ready for Kindergarten Program will be hosted at Jefferson on Nov. 11th from 6:00-8:30.  This is a super program for the families of toddlers and pre-schoolers.  They get amazing books and resources for attending.  You won't have to do anything, but we would like you to help spread the word.

Upcoming Events

October – T-shirt Sales - PTO
Oct. 26th - Culture Team Meeting @3:30
Oct. 27th - Building Leadership Team @ 3:30
Oct. 28th - Tiger Award Luncheon - All Students - 11:30
Oct. 28th - MTSS Meeting @ 3:30
Oct. 30th - DARE Concert @ 8:30
Oct. 30t - Halloween Costume Parades - K AM 10:15, K-3 1:15, Parties in the afternoon
Nov. 13th – Jefferson Gives Day – Food Bank donations
Nov. 17th – Jefferson Literacy Night & Cookie Dough Pick Up

To Do
  • Turn in Professional Development Goals by Nov.2nd

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Friday Focus - Week of Oct. 19th - Oct. 23rd

Bear and Good News!

A sweet picture of the bear we sent to our first grader who was in the car accident last week.  And great news.  I called St. Al's Friday afternoon to get an update and they couldn't connect me to the room because she had been discharged!  YEAH!  No further information, but hoping to hear from the family this week.







Becky Honored for 'Americanism and Patriotism'
On Saturday night Becky was honored by the local American Legion Auxiliary for the Memorial Day Hero's Program performed by our 3rd Grade Choir students each year.  This was a lovely surprise for Becky and it means a great deal to our local veterans.  Congratulations Becky!






Boss's Day Thank You
Thank you all for the great Starbucks basket, coffee, travel mug, gift card and goodies.  I'm afraid you know me too well!  I am grateful for the chance to work beside each of you!

Walk and Talk Group
In an effort to support staff wellness, the District Office folks are looking for ways to encourage us to walk and make connections,  Every Monday and Wednesday beginning Oct. 19th, folks will be getting together between 4:30 and 6:00 to walk.  They will start at the corner of 3rd and Lincoln (DO) and will make loops.  The cool thing is, you can join at any time and for any length of time.  You can arrive at 4:45 and stay for 30 mins.  Please contact Michelle Keller our school nurse if you have questions.  A flyer is on the counter in the office.  Look for more options (Yoga, Zumba, ect..) coming soon!

Gary Hogg and Two Days of Writing
Gary Hogg, a semi-local author and presenter will be back at Jefferson on Monday, November 23rd.  He will performing for an assembly and then doing grade level writing workshops throughout the day.  The Building Leadership Team also talked about making this Monday and Tuesday (short week before Thanksgiving) a fun couple of days with a focus on writing!  We will cancel interventions for those two days and will ask Jorma, Shawn, Chris, Becky, Misty, Emily and I (sshhh, don't tell them I haven't talked to them yet) to be possible quest readers and writers in your rooms.  Put it on your calendar and stay tuned for more details.  http://garyhoggbooks.com/

Jefferson Motto
Over the last year the Building Leadership and Culture Teams worked to create a new motto for Jefferson.  We interviewed staff, parents and business leaders for words they wanted to describe our students when they are grown.  We came up with this Wordle...

From the Wordle staff developed possible mottos.  To ensure everyone had a voice in the final selection we used Light Voting to narrow the choices down to 3 which were all within 1 vote.  After much discussion at BLT, the team felt that of the 3 choices, there was one that best fit what we are trying to communicate to families, the community and ourselves about what we are trying to accomplish at Jefferson.  So, after much time and discussion, we will be working with the motto...

"Cultivating successful students through the wonder of learning."

We'll talk about this more in the upcoming year.

Family Literacy Night
A Note from Emily Merritt:  
We’re gearing up for Family Literacy Night on Tuesday, November 17th. Our theme is “Curl Up with a Classic”. There are a few things I need from you. If you haven’t sent me your favorite childhood classic book, please send me an email with the title and author. I’m coming up with a fun activity for that night.

I need volunteers for who would like to be in charge of an activity for Literacy Night. Usually you choose between helping with Literacy Night in the Fall or STEM Night in the Spring. I’d like to have a meeting on Thursday, October 22nd to figure out who would like to help and discuss ideas!

Those that choose to help with Literacy Night, I would like you to be thinking about a classic book that you can base an activity on that will be held that night in your room. I’ve attached a link with ideas or you could definitely come up with your own ideas! We’ll discuss these at our meeting.

Chelsea had a great idea that we would like to incorporate for our Family Reading Week (which is held the week of Literacy Night). Each class and teacher chooses a favorite children’s book and they decorate the outside of their door to represent their book. The class can help as much as possible and we’d like these done and decorated by Friday November 13th. Then we will have some sort of voting that can be done the night of Literacy Night (when the kids bring their parents) and the class that wins the best decorated door will win a prize!


We are planning that since the theme is “Curl Up with a Classic” that this will be a PJ night, so get your most awesome pajamas ready for that evening!

Thank you Emily for taking the lead on this!

Problems with AESOP
If you every find yourself home sick, and for strange and unexplained reasons, you are unable to log on to AESOP through Skyweb, please make sure so call Tammy Cooley at (cellphone) 208-308-7327.  This is a district number that you can call or text anytime to request a sub if you are having trouble with the technology.  Please make sure to do this to ensure that you have a sub.

Halloween Details  

On Friday, October 30th we have a very busy day at Jefferson.  Here are the basics.  More details will be coming.  Notes will be sent out to families this week.  Here are the basics:
8:30 - DARE Concert in the Gym
10:15 - AM Kindergarten Halloween Parade
Parties and costumes after lunch
1:15 - K-3 Halloween Parade

Parents will be reminded: No Gore, No Weapons, No Masks

I do encourage grade level teams to come up with their own themes and costumes.  Join in the fun!

Collaboration with Melisa
Collaboration this Friday will be lead by Melisa.  She will be reviewing the Charlotte Danielson Model for evaluation, our school focus on engagement (selected last spring) and how to write your professional goals.  Because attendance court will be held in the library, we will be holding collaboration in a different location.  Stay tuned for that detail.

Reading A-Z
Reading A-Z has now expired.  Please let me know ASAP if your intervention team plans to continue using this program.

Leader in Me Habit #1 -  Be Proactive Activity
Some of you asked for cards that were on the table at the staff meeting.  Here is the link.  A black line master is on the whiteboard in the office.
http://theteachingthief.blogspot.com/2011/09/habit-1-being-proactive-with-freebie.html

Leader in Me Credit Option
If you would like to sign up for the 1 credit class for the Leader in Me, please link here at anytime.

City Construction on Fillmore
Staring Monday, November 2nd, the City of Jerome will be closing North Fillmore between 2nd and 3rd for a sewer improvement project.  Please plan accordingly if this impacts your direct route to school.  This detour will last for approximately 3 weeks.

Staff Meetings on October 22nd and 29th
We rarely have so many staff meetings in a row, but these are good ones.  This week, we have a guest from Imagine Learning.  Lori Piccolo will be sharing a TON of free resources staff can use with ALL kids, not just those logging in to the program.  On the 29th, there will be a short staff meeting with Beth Mower.  Beth is a PTO mom and local realtor.  She is a member of the Jerome School District Education Foundation.  She will be sharing about the foundation and their plans for the future.  This will likely include information on their vision for small teacher grants.

Upcoming Events

October – T-shirt Sales - PTO
Oct. 19th - Leader in Me Class #1 - Library, 3:30
Oct. 21st - MTSS Meeting
Oct. 22nd  - 2nd Grade Fieldtrip to Boise
Oct. 22nd  - Staff Meeting, Lori Piccolo, Library, 3:30
Oct. 23rd - Fat Friday &  Jefferson Spirit Day
Oct. 23rd - Tiger Award Luncheon - All Students - 11:30
Oct. 23rd - All Staff Collaboration with Melisa on professional goals
Weekend - One final push on the cookie dough sales
Oct. 30th - DARE Concert 8:30
Oct. 30t - Halloween Costume Parades - K AM 10:15, K-3 1:15, Parties in the afternoon
Nov. 13th – Jefferson Gives Day – Food Bank donations
Nov. 17th – Jefferson Literacy Night & Cookie Dough Pick Up

To Do
  • Turn in Professional Development Goals by Nov.2nd

Monday, October 12, 2015

Friday Focus Week of Oct. 12 - Oct. 16

Thank you for conferences.  You are all amazing at the way you encouraged, set goals, and shared concerns with great care.  YEAH to the 1st year teachers for not just getting through conferences, but rocking them!  I appreciate you all very much.

Now..for a few details you may just need this week....

Picture Day
Tomorrow is picture day!  Dorian will be setting up at 6:45AM to be ready for staff pictures at 7:30AM.  You will also get your new school ID.

Otis Spunkmeyer Fundraiser
Please encourage your students to participate in the cookie dough fundraiser.  This was a great resource for us last year.  It helps ensure assemblies, field trips and also some great resources we couldn't otherwise have access to.  Also, please feel free to share this with your own friends and family.  This is a great product and if they purchase online, it will be shipped directly to them.  Thanks for your support with this!

www.clubschoicefundraising.com  Code: JEFF64

School-wide Progress Monitor
We are doing the reading progress monitors for every student this week.  Please complete these by Friday, Oct. 16th.  If you need a little time over the weekend to put the data into the spreadsheet on the Commons drive, please just let me know.  You DO NOT have to do the CORE Phonics assessment or the MCOMP this time.  Thanks for the data you are collecting.  It will be tremendously important to the MTSS (RtI) Team.

Every Kid Deserves a Refrigerator
When I was a kids, the place to put school work that reflected great effort was the refrigerator.  It hung there with a magnet for friends and family to see until the next piece of learning arrived.  In our office, we have a spot like that.  The clips over the chairs are to celebrate kid's successes.  This doesn't have to be perfect work by any means.  Just send a student down with their writing, art work, or other learning and we'll praise them up and down and then post the work for all to see.

Janitorial Supplies
Tara and Michael are doing a great job keeping up with Jefferson, which is no small task with this old girl.  If you find that a paper towel dispenser has run out, or you have some other need, please make sure to send Tara tara.sears@jeromeschools.org a quick email.  She and Michael are Johnny-on-the-Spot when they know something has run out.

Conference Numbers
Please don't forget to send me your conference numbers.  I need to turn these in to Dale.  Go ahead and send me what you have currently and then send me an update if you are able to get a few follow ups.  And thank you for the calls and extra meetings you are making to ensure parents are on our team!

Congratulations Jorma!
Check out the books he got off of a small grant! (Please let me know when you put in for grants for your classroom so we can celebrate...and know who to borrow books from.)





Leadership Teams
At Jefferson we have 3 leadership teams: Building Leadership, Culture Team, MTSS (RtI).  Each team has their own purpose, but the primary job is communicate the work of the committee to you as a staff and to bring your thoughts and ideas to the committee.  You will notice a bit of overlap in membership.  This is purposeful to help ensure that the committee work is coordinated.  Please see the purpose of the committees and who will be representing Jefferson this year.

The focus of the Building Leadership Team is to support the principal and faculty with strategic planning, goal setting, and resource support.  The team will represent the grade levels in communicating to the team and back out to the teachers.  The representatives are:  Jorma Fletcher, Shawn Silva, Lisa Henderson, Patti Jeffery, Melisa Bennett, Gaylyn Hall.

The MTSS (RtI) Team will provide school-wide data review, goal setting and monitoring as well as problem-solving and resource support to staff when a student is referred because of a lack of growth with tier 1 & 2 interventions.  Jefferson will be represented by:  Chelsey Clixby, Valerie Whitby, Jorma Fletcher, Shawn Silva, Chelsey Clixby, Valerie Whitby, Liz Elison, Tammy Munk, Patti Jeffery, Mary Kinney, Deb Suhr.

The Building Culture Team will be focused on the overall culture of the school for students and staff.  They will lead the charge in communicating about the Leader in Me processes, schoolwide expectations and other cultural needs.  The team is:  Sara Sauer, Aleasa Herman, Kayleigh Witkowski, Deb Suhr, Denise Baugh, Chris Perry


A Great Article on Sight Words from Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/making-sense-words-that-dont-kelli-sandman-hurley

Upcoming Events

October – T-shirt Sales - PTO
October 12th - Building Culture Team @ 3:30PM
October 13th - Individual Student Pictures - Staff beginning at 7:30AM
October 13th - Building Leadership Team @ 3:30PM
October 15th - Staff Meeting @ 3:30PM in the library
October 16th - MTSS Upload all day
October 16th - Fire Prevention Assemblies
October 16th - All Staff Collaboration @ 2:30 in the library
Nov. 13th – Jefferson Gives Day – Food Bank donations
Nov. 17th – Jefferson Literacy Night & Cookie Dough Pick Up

To Do
  • Turn in Management Plans to Angie
  • Turn in Teacher Artifact Bags and Theme Song





Sunday, October 4, 2015

Friday Focus - Week of Oct. 5-8

Thank you so much for your participation, energy and questions over Thursday and Friday.  I left feeling so blessed to have you as a staff!  Your dedication and willingness to learn on behalf of our students is awesome!  As I read your exit tickets I could see lots of new ideas and lots of questions.  One common question was "Where will writing fit in my schedule?"  This is a great question and one that you will spend your profession learning to balance.  As we spend more time with these new materials, I hope it becomes more clear for all of us.  I do still here Cristianne Lane's advice, "When they become better writers, their reading improves too."  Both reading and writing are so intertwined.  Please continue to ask this question  and others of yourselves and colleagues as we begin unpacking the standards and these writing resources.

This is a very busy week!  Here are a few details to keep you in the loop.



Parent Teacher Conferences
Tuesday and Thursday are parent teacher conferences. Here are a few things to remember.

  • Dinner will be provided for teachers and other helpers beginning at 4:30 in the teachers lounge. 
  • Contract time is until 8:00PM for everyone.
  • Friday is off for everyone because of these evening hours.
  • Remember to smile, work on positives and team building with the family and share 2-3 things you think they can realistically do to help you at home.
  • Lations in Action (LIA) students will be available in the lounge to help with translation.  Just call the lounge extension to request help.
  • Let Angie, Shawn or Jorma know if you will need our help at a conference.
  • Remember - Be an 'eye-smiler'!! Students and families recognize care and sincerity even in tough discussions and even if they don't react the way you would hope.

“I was glad my father was an eye-smiler. It meant he never gave me a fake smile because it's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself. A mouth-smile is different. You can fake a mouth-smile any time you want, simply by moving your lips. I've also learned that a real mouth-smile always has an eye-smile to go with it. So watch out, I say, when someone smiles at you but his eyes stay the same. It's sure to be a phony.”


Lations in Action
We are very fortunate to have the help of an association from Jerome High School called Latinos in Action.  This group of kids is truly amazing.  They support our translation needs through conferences each year.  They are very professional and they sign confidentiality contracts to show an understanding that what is shared between you and families is private.  They will be available in the Staff Lounge if you are to need help.  Please welcome them to Jefferson and help them feel at home and appreciated.

Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough Fundraiser
This Thursday begins the cookie dough fundraiser.  Please plan to send packets home Thursday.  This was very successful last year and we are hoping for the same support from our families and the community in the next few weeks.  Please talk this up, but encourage kids to only sell to family and friends.  We do not want them selling in their neighborhoods unless they are with a parent.  Also, this year there will be an online option for purchase that will be delivered directly to customers.  Please consider sharing this on social media and with your own family and friends.

A Great Resource for Mentor Text and Writing Lesson Ideas
This one was started by the North Nevada Writing Project.  A great one to get notifications from.
http://writinglesson.ning.com/m/blogpost?id=3025388%3ABlogPost%3A182049

Project Learning Tree Workshop Coming Soon
Project Learning Tree is offering a workshop for teachers on Nov. 6-7th in Twin Falls called "Focus on Literature with WILD, WET & PLT."  If you are interested in more information, you can make a copy of the flyer hanging on the whiteboard in the office.

Upcoming Events
Oct. 6th & 8th - Parent Teacher Conferences
Oct. 6th & 8th – Fall Book Fair (Part of Parent Teacher Conferences)
October 8th – Cookie Dough Kickoff - No Assembly
October – T-shirt Sales - PTO
October 13th - Individual Student Pictures
Nov. 13th – Jefferson Gives Day – Food Bank donations


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

To Do
  • Turn in Management Plans to Angie
  • Turn in Teacher Artifact Bags and Theme Song