Week of January 30th - February 3rd

This quote was at one of Emma's piano recitals.  Her piano teacher had it on the wall behind the piano.  I find this quote is one that I think of often because it reminds me that it's me that changes.  We grow stronger.  The "thing" doesn't change.  We get better.  Whatever the hard thing seems to be right now, I hope you find inspiration. Persisting with the tough kid, the new curriculum, or whatever else is in your path, will pay off!  You will be stronger!

Spelling Bee
Thank you to Gaylyn, Nina, Tara, Chris, and Janet for helping with the spelling bee.  Each year I'm always impressed with how many more words the kids are able to spell!  It's such a fun was to help the kids engage with spelling and learning.

100th Day of School
BLT is hoping you'll join us in celebrating the 100th Day of School on Wednesday, February 8th.  Consider dressing up and having some fun with this.  If I can help, I'm glad to put myself in a possible "dress up" situation for a little math fun.

Stuart Little - Idaho Theater for Youth
Please tentatively plan to have your class ready at 1:30PM next Thursday for this performance.  Often times the actors like to seat the classes.  Please don't forget to turn your "nominees" into the office along with the permission slips.  Also, we have room in the other workshops.  Please sell these as best you can.

ACCESS Testing for EL Students
For the next 2-3 weeks, Shawn and her team, and a few others, will be testing out EL students.  This is a big undertaking.  They will be sharing assessment information for your students soon, but this also means that there will be no EL intervention for next couple of weeks.  Your BLT rep will be visiting with you as a team so you can make plans.  Please let me know how I can help.

Laminator
There has been a concern with the laminator.  Please DO NOT change the temp on the laminator.  It is really important to ensure that the laminator stays in working order.  We are looking for someone to fix the small laminator for us, since the former copier guy (Mark) can no longer fix it for us.  If the big one goes down, we may be without one altogether.  :S

Getting Subs -  A Few Guidelines
It's tough when you get sick at the last minute, but here are a few guidelines that will help clarify how to get a sub when this happens.

• 5:00AM - 7:30AM - Call the district sub line.  208-308-7327
• 7:30AM or later - Please call Emily here in our office (or Anne) and they will help use AESOP to locate a sub for the day.

DLI Help

At this point in the year, Mrs. Munk's classroom is Spanish speaking only.  The team requests that you would help us with this by not engaging her in Spanish in her classroom on in front of the class.  Emails are preferred for communications that aren't urgent, but we can also help in the office if you need to get information to Mrs. Munk during the day.  Thanks for supporting DLI in this way.

Theme Song

If was pretty funny how many people thought the song about chocolate was mine!  But, it was not!  It was Crystal's.  I lost my list, so chocolate for everyone that comes by my office!

Here's the new theme song.

"Tomorrow", from Annie!  We could use a little more of this song these snowy days!

A.  Lisa

B. Denise

C. Gaylyn

D. Mary

Week of January 23rd - January 27th

Have any of you heard Anne's stories about jumping snow drifts and getting Big Red through the snow tunnels in the North Country?  I told her the other day that every time she tells us about her morning commute, I picture her driving like Daisy in the Dukes of Hazard!  :-)  I know your commutes have been a bit sketchy the last few weeks.  The snow days are hopefully behind us.  Thanks for the adjustments you've made in your calendars and schedules to accommodate!

Lesson Plans
Please note there is a new schedule on the blog for submitting lesson plans on the right side of the blog.  Toni will be the one checking in with you on this.

Idaho Theater for Youth
This group will be her on Thursday, February 2nd.  Here's the basics of what you need to know.

• There will be an assembly after last recess in the gym that day.
• There will be 3 workshops offered.
• One is for the kids you invite.  It will be from 3:15-4:15.  Please invite the student.  Next week we will have a permission slip for you to send home.
• There will be 2 additional workshops.  One will be at 3:15 and one will be at 4:15.  We have 50 spots, which can be reserved by parents with $2 and a permission slip.  These will go home Monday.  Please help kids turn these into the office ASAP.

IRI and Progress Monitoring
The IRI will take place the week of Feb. 6th.  Please plan on regular, whole class progress monitoring next week.  The progress monitor data sheets will be due next Friday, January 27th.  There will not be a data team the following week.  We will wait until after the IRI.

Tiger Awards
Please complete your Tiger Awards and turn them into the office by Wednesday.  We will attempt to have a Tiger Award Luncheon next Friday.

Staff Meeting
There will be a staff meeting on Monday.  We will be reviewing:

• Emergency Lesson Plans - If you have a folder, please bring it.
• Emergency Evacuation Plans - Please bring your red bag.
• We will also be thinking about the question -
  "How might we better communicate with each other?  Office to Teachers, Teachers to Office, Teachers to Paras, Paras to Teachers, Teachers to Teachers....come with lots of ideas.  We may not spend a lot of time doing more than recording, but we want to consider this BIG question.

Donuts for Dads
Dads and Donuts is next Friday morning.  Early is better for parking.  :-)  Please also have something ready for students to read to their dads at their desks when they finish their donuts in the gym.  It's a great chance to build relationships.

Read Like a Tiger Celebration
We will be celebrating the students who met their goal at the Varsity Basketball Game on Friday, January 27th at the high school gym.  Please plan on joining us.  Your badge gets you into the game free.

Harrison Elementary Leadership Day
If you are a new staff member, and would like to see a Leader in Me School, please let me know and we'll send you to the Harrison Elementary Leadership Day on Feb. 9th.  We need to sign up ASAP.  Please let me know.

Instructional Rounds
Next month is our 2nd set of Instructional Rounds.  These are primarily intended to be with your professional goal groups, but if you have an independent goal, you can join any group.  Please let me know if your group is planning to take advantage of this opportunity or not.

Writing Instruction Building English Proficiency
This is a quick article, but it spoke to the targes many of you have already identified in your professional goals.

Spelling Bee
Next week, on Wednesday, January 25th, the 2nd and 3rd Grade will be having their spelling bee to determine who will go to the regional bee.  Thank you to kinder and Mrs. Perry for flexing.

Barnes and Noble
Please make sure to let me know if you can be at the Barnes and Noble Fundraiser on Feb. 11th.  We have a few plans to make.

Theme Song
And the theme song from Imagine Dragons belonged to....Liz Elison!  Congratulations to Nicole and Crystal for their correct guesses.

This week's theme song is Chocolate, by Soul Control  Who does it belong to?
A. Crystal Winter
B. Angie Brulotte
C. Anne Jackson
D. Tawna Huttanus

Week of January 16th - January20th

Lots of details for the upcoming weeks.  Here we go!

Longer Fridays will Bring a Few Changes
Since we are going longer on Fridays until Spring Break, that will affect a few things.

• We will do a temporary 2:00-2:15 recess break on Fridays.  We will have the paras help us cover this recess.  This is a little later recess so that we do not need to interrupt our current intervention and specials schedules.
• We are working on a change for our 7 Habits trainings.  Two had been scheduled for collaboration in February and March.  We are looking at offering a Monday or Friday after school workshop with an option to leave 30 mins. early that Friday. Stay tuned more details to come.
• Lori Johnston has been sharing about the Journey's Instructional Routines.  She will be making plans with grade level teams to meet at individual times.

IRI Will Likely Be Changing
Because of the snow days, we will likely push the IRI back a couple of weeks.  We want to ensure that kids have the best full week instruction.  We are coordinating with Horizon and have not firmed up final plans.  I will get you more details this week.

Emergency Sub Plans
Don't sweat this just yet.  We were going to talk about this at our staff meeting to ensure all of our new staff are comfortable with what should be included.  We will do this at the next staff meeting on 1/23.

Primary Math Assessment Update
The PMA is going well!  Thanks to the Misty, Emily and Nikki who are also making mental notes beyond just the assessment.  They are noticing lots of great stuff about our kids!  We will keep pushing this week and see how far we get.  We have confirmed that the trainers will be here on February 8th.  They will do 90 min. sessions with each grade level.  We will get more details to you in the next couple of weeks about schedule and classroom coverages.

De-Escalation Training
The De-escalation Training has been really insightful for those of who have been able to attend so far.  We have a 2nd round of trainings happening on the 18th.  We do plan to get the rest of our staff trained in the next month.

PTO Movie Night
On Friday, January 20th the PTO will host a Family Movie Night at 6:00PM.  This is not a fundraiser.  Instead it is an opportunity to connect with our families and enjoy a winter evening.  You are not required to attend, but it would be great to have you there if you are able.  Popcorn and water will be provided.

Dads and Donuts
It's almost time.  Dads and Donuts will be Friday, January 27th.  Our PTO has great treats planned.  Mark your calendars.  Notes to go home as reminders, but Anne also put it in our newsletter.

Read Like a Tiger!
Tuesday is the last day for 2nd and 3rd graders to turn in their goal sheets for their Read Like a Tiger T-Shirt.  On January 27th, at the halftime of the varsity game, they will honor the kids who met their goal and give out awards to the top readers.  Please plan to join us at the game if you can.  Your school badge gets you into the game.

Idaho Theater for Youth - After School Workshop Nominations
On Thursday, February 2nd, the Idaho Theater for Youth will be here for an assembly and 3 after school workshops.  We will be sending a flyer home soon so that families can reserve a spot for their child, but first, I would like each teacher to nominate at least one student to attend at their invitation. Please choose one child from your class to attend, ask their family (make sure they are aware that there will be no bus after the workshop), and then let us know in the office.  We will need to have these names by Wednesday, January 24th to hold the spots.  Specialists, you are also welcome to invite a student, please just double check with the classroom teacher first.

Discovery Center Coming to Jefferson
We thought we had missed our opportunity because the first week that the Discovery Center was coming to the Magic Valley filled up almost instantly.  Because of the high interest, they decided to add another week.  We were accepted to receive 2 free science shows thanks to the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation!  The Discovery Center will be here on Thursday, February 16th.  They will be doing two shows.  Next week we'll give you an assigned time.

Barnes and Noble Fundraiser
This year, we missed the Christmas Shopping rush for our Barnes and Noble Fundraiser, but we are going to hit the Valentine's Day sales.  Our morning at Barnes and Noble will be Saturday, February 11th.  We may be able to offer a table and gift wrapping, but it was suggested that we are likely to have a bigger draw if we would have a theme and guest readers.  Anyone have inspiration?  Anyone who helps out with time and reading will have a share of the fundraising for books in their classroom.  Please let me know if you would like to be on the schedule.

Theme Songs
Congratulations to Tammy Munk and Gaylyn Hall for correctly guess that "Walking on Sunshine" was Deb Suhr's Theme Song!  Prizes are coming your way!

Here's your new song:  "Warrior," by Imagine Dragons

A. Melisa Bennett

B. Crystal Winter

C. Liz Elison

D. Tawna Huttanus

Just email your response.

Week of January 9th - January 13th

Well, that was quite the beginning to the new semester!  I'm from snow country, but I don't think I've ever seen it snow "up" before!  A big shout out to the District Maintenance Crew for their efforts at getting Jefferson dug out!                                                                                                                                             I hope your break was relaxing and restful!  You deserved every minute of the vacation! The next few weeks will be busy.  Here are a few notes about upcoming events.

Staff Meeting Monday, January 9th
We'll take a little bit of time to review our Emergency Plans.  Please bring your red bag to the meeting.

Emergency Sub Plans
A couple of years ago we had everyone turn in their Emergency Sub Plans to the Office.  This didn't actually work that well.  Last year we asked you to have them in an obvious location in your room, or where a colleague would know where to find them.  This isn't perfect, but worked a little better.  In the next couple of weeks, Toni and/or I will be by to have you share your folder with us.  We will also take a few minutes to visit about this at our staff meeting.

Primary Math Assessment January 9th - 20th
Beginning Monday we will be administering the PMA to all K-2 kids at Jefferson.  This will take 2 weeks.  We will have 3 subs here helping with interventions.  Please be aware of this.  We have tried to plan so that interventions with specific programs can still function.  If there are any questions or problems, please let me know.

Jump Rope for Heart
The fundraiser is set to kick-off Friday with an assembly at 1:15.  We'll keep you posted with any possible changes based on the snow days.  The fundraiser will go through Feb. 3rd.  Chris is handling the details.

De-Escalation Training
Rick Webb who runs Jerome Academy and is a certified trainer will be holding a De-Escalation Training for staff on Jan. 11-12, and Jan. 18.  We will have a handful of people out each day from K-1.  In early Feb. we hope to get the rest of the staff trained.  The training will focus on recognizing when a student is starting into a cycle and what we can do to be proactive to prevent them.  Please double check if you've forgotten which day you will attend.  Also, please make sure to put in for a sub on the day you are attending.

PTO Movie Night
On Friday, January 20th the PTO will host a Family Movie Night at 6:00PM.  This is not a fundraiser.  Instead it is an opportunity to connect with our families and enjoy a winter evening.  You are not required to attend, but it would be great to have you there if you are able.  Popcorn and water will be provided.

Idaho Theater for Youth - After School Workshop Nominations
On Thursday, February 2nd, the Idaho Theater for Youth will be here for an assembly and 3 after school workshops.  We will be sending a flyer home soon so that families can reserve a spot for their child, but first, I would like each teacher to nominate at least one student to attend at their invitation.  Please choose one child from your class to attend, ask their family (make sure they are aware that there will be no bus after the workshop), and then let us know in the office.  We will need to have these names by Wednesday, January 24th to hold the spots.  Specialists, you are also welcome to invite a student, please just double check with the classroom teacher first.

Theme Songs
I was reminded recently that I did not finish the theme songs for all staff at the staff meetings last year!  Yikes!  I did find a few more, so I thought we might add a little fun to the blog.  I'll post a song here.  If you will email me your guess, on Friday I will draw a name from all of the correct anwers.  I'm sure there will be wonderful prizes!  

Here's the first one...
Which staff member's favorite song is "Walking on Sunshine?"
1- Deb Suhr
2-Mary Kinney
3-Shawn Silva
4- Gaylyn Hall



The Power of Movement in the Classroom
Two articles that are worth reading and considering.

Letting kids move in class isn’t a break from learning. It IS learning. - The Washington Post

21 Awesome Ways to Get Your Students Moving During Learning Center Time - WeAreTeachers