Week of December 7th - December 11th

We have a big couple of weeks coming up.  Thanks ahead of time for all of the work you will be doing with and for kids.  This can be a stressful time for all of us, but also a time of joy if we can put the 'big rocks' in the proper order.  Please let me know how I can help!  Here is a quick video and blog about how other teachers are standing for greatness for their students, like all of you.  I hope if gives you a surge of energy as we press ahead.

All School Progress Monitor This Week
Please use the Progress Monitor that is scheduled for this week.  Let us know if you need help.  Please record all of the scored in the spreadsheet on the shared drive by the weekend.

Family Health Clinic
This clinic is being offered to families December 9th from 5-7 at the high school. Just an FYI.

District Food Pantry
Our district food pantry is open and full!  The pantry is open to anyone who may be struggling with food security, including staff who may be financially strapped for a number of reasons.  If you know of a student or family who might need the assistance, please let Anne or Debbie know.  Staff can touch base with me or Brendalyn Love for help.

Christmas Concerts
It would actually be very hard for us to have all the classes in the audience at all of the Christmas Concerts this season. Our audiences are usually very large.  Plus, that's a lot of time out of class.  If you would like to have your class attend a concert for a different grade level, please let me know.  Also, please do not be surprised if families checkout an older or younger sibling to attend with the family.  We usually honor this request and students head back to class as soon as the concert is over.  Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Blue Jeans Friday
Because we will be having Christmas Concerts the final week of school, and we will be having a number of patrons in the building, we will have a Blue Jeans Friday this week.  Additional prizes for those who participate in an ugly sweater competition. We'll do our Spirit Day for kids this Friday as well so they can wear their new gear from the PTO.

Jefferson Christmas Fun
It is a busy time of year, but we still want to celebrate the season together with a little Christmas fun on Friday the 18th from 3:00-3:30 so that we can enjoy some time with our paras. Let us know if you could bring a favorite goodie to share.

Conferences Coming!
The 2nd Week after we are back from break we have Parent Teacher Conferences!  It will be very fast after we get back so we are doing a little pre-planning.  As you know, Anne has been trying out a new online conference scheduler.  It has been very slick!  Families can go to the school web page for the link or call the office if they don't have use of the Internet.  We will use the schedule that is developed by next week and then fill in the gaps for the families we haven't heard from.  We will have conference reminder notes to you early next week so that those can go home before the break.  It will be a busy week so I appreciate you doing this.

More Books for Sharing the Habits
John Flokstra, a trainer for the Leader in Me, recently shared this list of books that share the habits and give students an opportunity to have conversations about the characters and develop their understanding of the habits in their lives.  See a title you'd like to have in your classroom?  Let me know!  Or, suggest a different title that I can share here.  We will start adding these books to our classroom libraries as you request.

Fire and Evacuation Maps
One of the requests of our Fire and Building Safety Report was that we ensure that all Evacuation Maps are oriented to the Building.  Would you double check to make sure that your map is oriented so that if it was read by a substitute that they would be able to head in the right direction and right outside.  Please let me know if you need further help with this.

Food Service Meeting
I recently met with Superintendent Layne and folks from JSD Food Service.  They had a request and a few reminders that they asked me to share.  First, they have had a request from the bus company that snacks not be sent out to the bus lines.  Please make sure your students have eaten their snacks sometime during the school day to help with this.  Also, they have had a number or questions about condiments and other items on the food menu.  The biggest factor in whether or not those are put out for students is calculated o the sodium intake of the entire menu for the day and for the week.  Lastly, the wanted to have teachers remind and encourage students to ask for more fruits and veggies when they are in the line.  Students can always ask for more when they go through the line and they can go back through the line for extra fruits and veggies as well. They were very open to questions and concerns.  If any come up for you or other staff, please let me know and I'll pass them on.

A Quick Legal Reminder

I get reminders forwarded from Dale, but I thought this was a good reminder to all of us that our email is a public record...all of it.  The reminders always help me remember to filter what I share through email.

Idaho Public Records Act

In most cases, email is considered a public record under the Idaho Public Records Act.  Email messages that contain information about a school district's activities, decisions, and policies, as well as those that function as evidence of business transactions, qualify as "public records" of the school district.  Email and other electronic documents that meet this definition must be treated like paper documents for the purpose of the Idaho Public Records Act, including complying with any applicable retention schedules.  Elaine Eberharter-Maki, District Counsel

Informational Writing - Text Structures 
Here are some of the resources and YouTube videos we talked about during all school collaboration last Friday.  And more great ideas from Beth Newingham and Scholastic.

Writing Anchor Charts for Writing
Here's a Google Folder.  We'll keep adding more to it over the year.  Do you have something to share?  Please send it and I'll add it.

Habit #5 - Seek to Understand
Deb's PowerPoint - Thanks Deb.

BoxTops!
Keep up the great work on BoxTops $826.60 so far.

Upcoming Events

Dec. 6th, Dec. 13th - Building Culture Team @3:30

Dec. 9th, 16th - MTSS Meeting @ 3:30

Dec. 8th - BLT @3:30
Dec. 10th - Staff Meeting - Habits #6 and #7
Dec. 11th - Spirit Day
Dec. 16th - 10:30AM - Kinder Concert, 2:30PM - Kinder PM Concert
Dec. 17th - 10:30AM - 2nd Grade Concert, 2:30PM - 1st Grade Concert
Dec. 18th - 10:30AM - 3rd Grade Concert
Dec. 18th - Staff Christmas Fun - 3:00-3:30 PM
Dec. 18th - Tiger Award Luncheon

To Do

• Plan a Dual Immersion Field Trip with your "Crew" - Send 2 possible dates to Angie
• Get your Tiger Awards in by Wednesday, Dec. 16th.