Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Ever feel this way?

It appears as if the rain will not leave us be. I know this is frustrating because recess is impacted. I am a firm believer that students need a mental break from the academic side of things. Recess and lunch are important to students. Please make sure we at least provide an "inside recess" so students get that much needed break. I have been so proud of our teachers during Curriculum Nights. Parents have responded in a very positive way via the feedback they have shared. We will get the results of the feedback to you very soon. In the mean time, please enjoy an abbreviated version of the Powdersville Progress...


Kiss of Death:
Well, I postponed our Fire Drill on Wednesday due to wet and rainy conditions. Thirty minutes after I sent the email, the sun came out and we enjoyed a beautiful day. We have postponed the fire drill until next Wednesday, October 7th. I have heard some great ideas from teachers regarding our emergency drill procedures. We will monitor things closely and make changes as necessary. For related arts teachers, we will use our access to PowerSchool as well as the grade level binders of contact information we house in the office to provide you with contact information in the event of an emergency. There is no need to seek contact information from homeroom teachers. The safety and security of our students is obviously a huge priority so please make sure you have discussed various emergency procedures with your students. Review the ALiCE and fire drill procedures we have discussed and be ever prepared.

New Car Name Plates:
Our first day switching to student names in the car line was a success. We still have parents who are requesting that a copy of the new name plate be created. These are shared in the PVES teacher folder. We are asking that you, the homeroom teacher, print out any additional name plates for students in your class and send those home ASAP. It is imperative that we work hard to get everyone in our car line switched over from car rider numbers to student names. Thanks for your help with this!

AdvancED Committee Chairs:
A huge "thank you" to teacher leaders in our building for serving on district AdvancED committees and chairing our school committees. We will begin work at the school level this month. As I mentioned in our  meeting on Monday, you will be assigned to a school committee. These will be announced soon. This is important work that must be accomplished so your time, attention, and hard work is appreciated! See our school committee chairs below:

Standard 1: Purpose and Direction

co - Deb Fowler and Kelley Golden

Standard 2: Governance and Leadership

Brenna Wilkie

Standard 3: Teaching and Assessing for Learning

co - Melissa Wilcox and Jena Putnam

Standard 4: Resources and Support Systems

co - Melissa Freeman and Tammy Lee

Standard 5: Use Results for Continuous Improvement 

co - Brad Moore and Kelle Martin

Action Plan:

Jill Kallin

*Moore, Tollison, Lee will support each committee throughout the process. 

*Tollison will work with Preisig to collect survey data.

Let's examine a few cool "goings-on" from this past week or so....

Mrs. Kallin's "wobble stools" arrived this week. Congratulations again to her for getting her DonorsChoose project funded. Have you submitted one yet?

As I mentioned earlier, Curriculum Nights have been a hit. It was awesome to see parents and students learning and involved. Better yet was watching students presenting to parents. This is what it is all about...

Our Monday staff development went very well. I appreciate everyone for coming to school ready to learn and work. ELA teachers worked on SLOs and math teachers discussed using math time wisely, including developing math work stations. Guided math anyone? Thanks to Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Tollison for leading! And a huge "thank you" to Mrs. Fowler for setting us straight on the "flex" library schedule. I am excited about the future of our media center and the collaboration that will take place among our faculty as to how we can use our media center and media specialist to improve the product we offer our students. Collaborating, researching, etc. also address the Profile of a SC Graduate that should guide us educators as we plan, instruct, and assess.

While I am on the topic of our media center, let's not forget to mention our Book Fair. Please continue to advertise this in your email blasts, newsletters, websites, etc. Here is a quick before and after glimpse at the transformation our media ceenter undergoes during the Book Fair! 

Before

After

Tammy Lee is making her way to every classroom to hype up our EAFK program. I observed her lesson on our first three "virtues" (respect, responsibility, and tolerance) and it is outstanding. Please do your best to incorporate the EAFK program in your classroom and be prepared to identify students who will recognized in our first knighting ceremony later this month. We also recognized our Citizens of the Month for September on Wednesday. We post their pictures on our website and on the bulletin board outside my office. We will share a video for you to show in your rooms very soon. Thanks for supporting these programs as it makes a huge impact when the teacher "buys in" and works to positively recognize students who show great citizenship. 

And a special thanks to our PTSO. They are truly working hard for our school and we need to remember to tell them how much we appreciate them every chance we get. And a huge "thank you" for this...

Moore's Musings:

• iPads should be sent home beginning on Monday, October 5th with all students who have paid the protection plan of $29.00. You should be using the "My Homework" app to communicate assignments with parents. I have been so impressed with the communication we pour out on our school community. Many of you use Remind, websites, blogs, and much more! 
• MAP Testing continues and we hope to finish in the next few weeks. Make sure you can log in to Enrich and the NWEA website to access test scores. You will need this to access data for SLOs as well as when you make instructional decisions for your students. 
• A reminder that ACT Aspire and PASS scores will be sent home on Friday, October 9th. Mrs. Lee and I will meet with teachers for the first 15 minutes of your planning on Thursday, October 8th to discuss the score reports that will be sent home. We want you to be able to tackle questions that may come from parents. We will make this as quick and painless as possible, but we need to meet. 
• Our EAFK joust to kick off the program is scheduled for the morning of Friday, October 9th. The plan for now is to call classes outside for the event beginning around 9:45 A.M. for the event to begin at 10:00 A.M. We plan to use the space outside next to the middle school bus circle. The event should last about 45 minutes or so giving third grade time to get to lunch on time. Please talk to your students about being a good and respectful audience.
• Our ALiCE drill is scheduled for Friday, October 9th in the afternoon. We will send a letter home to parents soon about this event. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• 5th Grade Curriculum Night - Thursday, October 1st.
• Math teachers meet during planning for SLOs - Monday, October 5th in PD Room.
• Final Day of Book Fair - Tuesday, October 6th.
• Technology PD with Mrs. Preisig during planning in PD Room - Tuesday, October 6th. 
• Fire Drill - Wednesday, October 7th at 1:20ish. 
• ACT Aspire Score Report training during planning in PD Room - Thursday, October 8th.
• EAFK Joust - 10-10:45 A.M. - Friday, October 9th
• ALiCE Drill - Afternoon on Friday, October 9th. 
• Next faculty meeting - Tuesday, October 13th. 

Next week's calendar is crazy busy. Thank you for remembering to be present and on time where you are expected. And for that, Friday is definitely a blue jean day. We appreciate you! 

Sail Away From the Safe Harbor

Whether it be "techbook" training, Furman Consortium, or professional development, this week (and this year) has been marked by our ability to "unlearn", attempt new things, and "sail away from the safe harbor" in an effort to improve who we are. I am proud of our faculty and staff for remaining positive in the face of adversity and putting our students first in all we do. You are more than simply educators. You are difference makers. There is no higher calling.

Monday, September 28th:
Monday's staff development day comes at a great time for us. We will have some much needed time to work together without interruption as well as work in our rooms. I hope everyone will come focused and ready to accomplish a great deal! Please feel free to dress casual on Monday. Yes, this includes blue jeans if you so desire. For the morning session, we will provide coffee and water. Please see the schedule below to help you plan your day:

8:30 A.M. (Media Center) - General Meeting with all faculty and staff. Quick discussion re: student health w/ Nurse Jamie and fire drill procedure with Mr. Moore and Mrs. Tollison.

8:45-9:30 A.M. (Media Center) - "Flex" library model. This session will be led by Mrs. Fowler as she works with us to explain what this model looks like in action. Have your laptop with you.

9:30-10:00 A.M. (Media Center) - Group concerns and/or restroom break.

10:00-11:00 A.M. (PD Room - 102) - 3rd Grade SLO Workshop. We will address questions pertaining to SLOs, discuss the documents that need to be completed, and work on a time line for completion. Bring your laptop and any F&P and MAP data you have collected.

10:00-11:30 A.M. (Tate's Room) - 4th/5th Math Teachers Workshop. Please bring your laptop and iPad to this session. We will discuss appropriate use of your math block and work on building a unit of instruction. Look for an email from Mrs. Tollison soon with additional information.

11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. - Lunch. Feel free to bring your lunch and work in your rooms or head out with your crew and enjoy some time away from school.

1:00-2:00 P.M. (PD Room - 102) - 4th/5th SLO Workshop (ELA Only). We will address questions pertaining to SLOs, discuss the documents that need to be completed, and work on a time line for completion. Bring your laptop and any F&P and MAP data you have collected.

1:00-2:30 P.M. (Wilcox's Room) - 3rd Grade Math Teachers Workshop. Please bring your laptop and iPad to this session. We will discuss appropriate use of your math block and work on building a unit of instruction. Look for an email from Mrs. Tollison soon with additional information.

2:00-3:00 P.M. (PD Room - 102) - Related Arts/Specialty Area SLO Workshop. We will address questions pertaining to SLOs, discuss the documents that need to be completed, and work on a time line for completion. Bring any pre-assessment data you have collected.

*All teachers are welcome to leave at 3:00 P.M. if you are prepared for Tuesday.

A Final Note About Our Upcoming Curriculum Nights:
We are genuinely excited about our opportunity to communicate with our parents via curriculum nights. We have advertised these events a great deal including EduLink, Remind, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I hope you will send out a final reminder to parents soon encouraging them to attend! Please refer to my previous email (with attachment) to make sure you are comfortable addressing the required topics with your parents. Parents will expect to learn about homework, assignments like tests and quizzes, how they can help their child study, and iPads.

Make sure our parents know about the white list and that if an App that is not approved is downloaded, it will shut down their child's device. This would be a good time to educate parents on iPad use at home. Parents should know they are in charge. We encourage parents to set limits and have rules pertaining to iPad use at home. Let's promote iPads in a positive light and show them how we are using them to promote collaboration and creativity. If you have any last minute questions about our expectations regarding your Curriculum Night, please let us know ASAP. I appreciate our non-homeroom teachers being willing to assist on these nights. Thanks!

*Please Note: We will begin to send parents to your rooms around 6:15-6:20 so you can begin promptly at 6:30 P.M. You may want to lock your door and our of sight until that time.

iPad Reminders:
Speaking of iPads, please note the following reminders:

• Our tentative date to send iPads home will be October 5th. 
• Please continue to remind parents who still owe $29 for the iPad protection plan. 
• Make certain you have spent ample time discussing rules and expectations with your class concerning the iPads. Devote class time to teaching the digital citizenship curriculum. 
• Make sure students have deleted all items not on the white list. We hope to have all iPads "clear" by some point tomorrow (Thursday). We will then turn on the compliance policy and any iPad with an unapproved app will be locked down. Make sure our students understand this. A huge "thank you" to Mrs. Fowler and Mrs. Preisig for taking on the monumental task of deleting apps and getting iPads prepared. 

MAP Testing Update:

We have been cleared to begin MAP Testing once again tomorrow (Thursday). Our district technology team has provided a new way to test students and Mrs. Young has worked hard to get our computers updated and prepared for testing. We are the guinea pig here so I am hopeful we will test without further interruption. Mrs. Young has placed a new sign-up sheet in the front office so you can sign up for additional testing slots. 

Always Perfecting Our Craft:

We have three teachers attending the first Furman Consortium event on Thursday. This reminded me that I wanted to express to everyone my desire for us to always grow as professional educators. One of the best ways to do this is to attend conferences and workshops. Please take time to review Anderson One Conference Information and consider if you might be interested in attending a conference this year. Check out the Furman Consortium for future PD opportunities as well. Mrs. Tollison and I will discuss a fair and equitable way to choose teachers to attend conferences. We do ask that you be prepared to share your learning with our faculty when you return!

Big Things Poppin':
Let's take quick look at some great things happening at PVES!

Congratulations to Mrs. Kallin! Her Donors Choose project was fully funded ... all $2,163 of it! 25 donors contributed to make this happen. Her project, entitled Teach Me to Wobble, enables her to provide "wobble stools" to her students so they can actively move while being seated. Great job, Mrs. Kallin!


Our science teachers enjoyed training on the new science "techbook" on Monday. I think we found a a great resource through Discovery Education with many assets (inside joke for those in attendance). It was great to see everyone learning!

Tammy Lee presented to us during our faculty meeting and shared an overview of her comprehensive guidance program. We also discussed RTI procedures and paperwork. More than anything, my "take away" from Ms. Lee is that she is here to serve our students. What an incredible resource to have!

Free tutoring! I am so happy to see students seeking (and receiving) tutoring/homework help in the cafeteria each morning. Please discuss this opportunity with your students and make sure they know this resource is available!

Ms. Lockaby Offers Homework Help

I am also excited to see our students actively listening to an adult read to them each morning in the MP Room. I think this offers our students a way to stay current on some of the best children's literature out there and encourages them to read. 

Mrs. Martin Reads to Students

Moore's Musings:

• Just a friendly reminder that rain is in the forecast. If you have duty outside, you know you will eventually run into a bad weather day. We do have umbrellas in the front office. It wouldn't hurt to bring a change of shoes, your own umbrella just in case, and a rain jacket on those days. Be prepared! 
• Thanks to Mrs. Tollison for working so hard to secure subs each week. She does a fabulous job with this. As we discussed in our faculty meeting, please update your preferred sub list ASAP. If you have any questions, please let Mrs. Tollison know. 
• Our plan is to have new car rider name tags (with student name and color coded) ready to send home to parents on Tuesday, September 29th. It is our hope that using car rider names will speed up our dismissal time by 7-10 minutes. Thanks for your help with this! 

Mark Your Calendar:

• Thursday, September 24th - 3rd Grade Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00 P.M.
• Friday, September 25th - Book Fair Begins! Spread the word and support Mrs. Fowler!
• Friday, September 25th - "Gold/Yellow-out" to support the fight against childhood cancer. Bring $1.00 for Relay for Life and wear gold or yellow. Make sure our students know this!
• Monday, September 28th - No school for students. We have a PD day. 
• Tuesday, September 29th - 4th Grade Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00 P.M.
• Wednesday, September 30th - Fire Drill at 1:30 P.M. (weather permitting) 
• Wednesday, September 30th - RTI Meetings after school (email Tammy Lee if you want on the agenda)
• Thursday, October 1st - 5th Grade Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00 P.M. 

Yes, Friday is a blue jean day!

SLO and Steady Wins the Race

Thanks to everyone for working hard through this first month of school. I especially want to thank you all for remaining positive in the face of some very challenging circumstances. The ability to take on a challenge and meet it head on is what separates our staff from others. Keep pushing forward in our pursuit to be the best!

Our Future Teachers:

Thanks to the MANY of you who are hosting students from Clemson University and Anderson University this semester and/or next. We will have a building full of future educators this year! I very much value an opportunity to host these students because I know that they are learning from the best. It also gives us a "heads up" in the event that we may want to hire one or more of them one day (for example: Ms. Ginny Jordan). Please let Mrs. Tollison and I know if you have a university student who needs to be on our "radar" ...

Student Discipline:

The student behavior referral is now online. Please do not fill out a "blue card" and send a student to the office. When you complete the referral, we receive an email and will call the student to our office as soon as available to do so. You can refer back to our teacher handbook for more information. We will dedicate some time in our next meeting to discuss parent communication and referrals. However, please make sure you are contacting parents consistently. If a student is nearing the referral level, you need to make a phone call or have the parent come in as a means to get the parent on "our side" and let them know the behavior has reached a significant level. The online referral can be found by clicking here. Please add this link to your favorites or make a book mark on your iPad. 

SLOs:

Don't worry. We have not forgotten! We will spend some time during our staff development day on Monday, September 28th discussing SLOs and offering assistance with each grade level and area. In the mean time, make sure you are collecting your data via MAP, F&P, and benchmark testing. It would be wise to review the documents in our shared Google Drive folder. Remember, this is a learning year so we have some flexibility. We want the data we collect to be accurate and useful for you to make wise instructional decisions more than anything. Update: MAP Testing has been suspended for the remainder of the week. Perhaps they will delay our SLO due dates as well. We will keep you posted. 

September 28th:

Speaking of September 28th, we will be meeting in the morning at 8:30 A.M. to discuss "flex" library schedule. As mentioned above, we will also work with groups on SLOs. The remainder of your day is for you to work in your rooms. We know this is valuable time for you and we will offer as much of the day for this as possible.

Great Things Going on at PVES:
I know we have great things happening in our building each and every day, but let's focus on a few areas today!

I want to take a moment and recognize Coach Thompson for his efforts. I appreciate his enthusiasm and positive attitude. I can tell he has gone above and beyond to make a difference at our school. He is the first person to help teachers handle a difficult student. He has been such a help with the car line in the afternoon. And more importantly, his students simply LOVE physical education. I had a chance to visit his class today and there is no doubt why students love his class. He obviously cares for his students and wants them to be successful. Today, students in PE were playing a game to teach spatial awareness and awareness of one's surroundings in relation to activity and competition. Thanks for your leadership, Coach!

Speaking of making a difference, let's recognize Ms. Marino in our TMD class. She has quite a challenging group with an extremely wide range of needs. She pours her heart and soul into her job and it shows. Her assistants, Rita and Carlie, do the same. If you have never spent some time in the TMD room, you really need to find a way to make that happen. Connect with Ms. Marino and find a way to get your class involved with hers. I appreciate their ability to struggle, persevere, and make the best of any situation. Great job, ladies!

Our first installment of Digital Playground was a huge success. Thanks to Mrs. Preisig for organizing these events. A special thanks to Mrs. Wayne, Mrs. Tollison, Ms. Wilkie, and Ms. Wilcox for leading us. It was fun to learn about creation apps and how to incorporate them in the classroom in a very informal setting. Adding food to the mix doesn't hurt! At one point, I looked up and saw over 20 of our teachers volunteering their precious time to get better at their craft. That's pretty special! I am already excited about our next playground event!

Our PTSO board continues to make a push to improve our membership numbers. We have also seen a rise in the number of parents who are assisting us in the work room. It's great to have an active and supportive PTSO. Two of our board members actually subbed in our building today! Also, make sure you have joined our PTSO. Many of you have plenty of PTSO and Boosterthon money left to spend. Check out who leads our class competition for membership in each grade level. I know you ladies are competitive so let's get our parents to join! 

3rd Grade PTSO

4th Grade PTSO

5th Grade PTSO

Moore's Musings:

• Next Friday, September 25th, staff and students can bring $1.00 (or more) and wear gold or yellow. Thats right...we will have a "gold out" next Friday. Why? To support Relay for Life and the Childhood Cancer Project. Check out the following website for additional information: http://goldinseptember.com/. 
• Remember that our EAFK program is still going strong. Ms. Lee is working with students and classes and using this program to guide some of her discussions. As a reminder, the virtues for this nine week period are respect, responsibility, and perseverance. Please make every effort to include these virtues in your newsletters/emails and in your conversations with students. 
• Congratulations to our new "elected" teacher representatives on our School Improvement Council (SIC). Thanks to Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Tate, Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Wayne for being willing to serve our school in this important role. 
• Please make every effort to get absences in AESOP as soon as possible. The district has many subs tied up due to AdvancED meetings, trainings, etc. The sooner we can get an absence approved and in the computer to locate a sub, the better. It would also be wise to update your top 5/favorite subs. Mrs. Tollison will send out some names of suggested subs in the near future. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• Science "techbook" training is coming up on Monday, September 21st. 3rd grade science teachers will meet in the PD Room from 8:15-11:15 A.M. 4th and 5th grade science teachers will meet in the PD Room from 11:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M. Remember that we are providing a boxed Chic-Fil-A lunch for you that day. 
• Faculty Meeting on Tuesday, September 22nd at 3:15 P.M. in the PD Room. Topic: Guidance and RTI. 
• The Book Fair will be open from 9/25 - 10/6. Please get the word out to students and parents and support Mrs. Fowler and our media center. Mrs. Fowler will provide a book fair "sneak peek" on 9/24 after school. I am hopeful there will be pie in our future!
• "Gold/Yellow-out" on Friday, September 25th. Bring $1.00. 
• Professional Development Day - Monday, September 28th beginning at 8:30 A.M. 
• Curriculum Nights: 3rd - 9/24, 4th - 9/29, 5th -10/1. Times for each event are 6:30-8:00 P.M. Book Fair will be open at 6:00-6:30 P.M. and again from 8:00-8:30 P.M. 
• Fire Drill - Wednesday, September 30th. 

Have a great rest of the week and keep getting better. I am proud to work with you! 

ALiCE in iPad-land

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Labor Day is a holiday designed to honor contributions that workers have made to the "strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country." Certainly, our staff at PVES has contributed long hours to make our school an incredible place for our students to learn and grow. We thank you for that!

ALiCE Training:
Thank you for your attention during our ALiCE training this week. Mrs. Tollison and I were so encouraged by the meaningful conversations that took place during the session. Please continue to think through "what if" scenarios and never be afraid to ask questions or discuss concerns with us. You are required to make time to appropriately discuss ALiCE with your students and detail emergency plans with them as well. Preparedness is the key. Students should know to listen carefully to your instructions/directions and act accordingly. We will have our ALiCE drill on Friday, October 9th. With that in mind, we did receive a few questions on our Parking Lot so here are our official responses to those questions:

1.) Will we send a letter home to parents about this? 

Yes, later this month we will send home a letter explaining to parents what ALiCE is and also informing them of our drill on October 9th. You can still begin discussions with your students         prior to the letter being sent to parents. Please do not notify parents and students of our drill until we send the letter home.

2.) We need a gate near the end of the 5th grade hallway. That playground is a fatal funnel. 

I agree. I have sent Mr. Binnicker an email detailing this concern. I will keep you posted. 

3.) Could we tell kids to wait until we get outside to run?

The reality of the situation if that if indeed we ever have an intruder event, it will be a very         chaotic scene. We won't be lining our students up and exiting the building in the third block quietly. Students will need to run if that means ensuring their safety. For our drill, we want to be as careful as possible while getting through to our students that this is important and meaningful practice in the event that we ever (God forbid) have to endure such an event. We don't want students intentionally making the drill more difficult by behaving in an intentionally silly or harmful way, but they need to have a sense of urgency to exit quickly. You know your students so I will let you be the judge of how quickly they need to walk/run to exit the building (if this is the right move).

4.) How do we let someone know where we are and what we are doing? Call 911? Text?

This is a very good question. Your first duty is to the students and to yourself. Calling 911 is never a terrible idea, but keep in mind that this will have more than likely already taken place in an event such as this. If you eventually evacuate the building, your goal is to eventually make it to the reunification point. At that point, we will work on locating missing individuals, contacting families, etc. If you are still on lockdown, you would want to wait for emergency or school personnel to notify you that it is okay to leave the room. If there is time, if it is safe, and if it is appropriate, you can text/call school administration and/or fellow teachers to give them information. My school cell phone number is 864-634-4767.

5.) During fire drills we need a way to make sure all students are accounted for. 

This is very true and we have thought about this. The first thought is to provide a green and red piece of paper for each classroom. These can be placed with the class roll and parent contact information you should take with you for any drills (or the real thing). Teachers would hold up the green paper if they have everyone accounted for and the red card if someone is missing. Give us an opportunity to sort out the details and we will report back with our official procedure. 

*Please make sure your doors are locked. Please use our lock strips.

iPad Reminders:
As we discussed in our meeting, please use the form Mrs. Fowler shared with you in the event that an iPad needs to be worked on. Do not send students with their iPads to the media center. Simply drop the form off in the container on Mrs. Fowler's circulation desk and the first available person who can address the issue will do so.

Also, please make sure students download apps from the PVES App Catalog only and not the regular App Store. If an app needs to be added to our white list because it does not appear in the current white list, please email the name of that app to Mrs. Fowler so she can make this happen.

We will turn on our compliance policy on Monday, September 14th at 8:00 A.M. Students who have apps that are not on our approved white list will be emailed a warning. I will also receive an email. Please make sure your students are aware of this and encourage them to delete those apps that are not on the white list. You can also let them know that if they do not do so, their iPad will be locked beginning Tuesday, September 15th.

Finally, please make sure you have devoted some class time to cover digital citizenship and proper use of the iPad. In a previous blog, I provided the link where these materials can be accessed. Watch this video for one example of the WRONG way to use an iPad. Click Here for Video.

More to Celebrate!
*Congratulations to Ms. Wilkie! One of her Donors Choose projects was fully funded. Mrs. Putnam had a project funded last year. Mrs. Kallin has submitted a project as well. This is a great way to receive materials for your classroom. Check with one of these ladies if you are interested in submitting a project to be funded by outside donors.

*We have more teachers blogging about the great things happening in their classrooms! Check out Mrs. Ashmore's Third Grade Thoughts and Mrs. Thomas's Times. These are awesome!

*We are blowing up Twitter! Thanks to the MANY of you who post pictures and thoughts on your class Twitter feeds. This is an excellent way connect with our school community and beyond. Our twitter feed has already caught the attention of the district office and school board! Mrs. Kallin has a class facebook page that looks wonderful. I am proud that we are at a place that we can engage our school community, near and far, through social media. Just think, a few short years ago Twitter was blocked in ASD1.

*We are about to kickstart Mentor Anderson in our building. Ms. Lee emailed everyone about our next training and breakfast to be held at our school at 7:30 A.M. on Monday, September 21st. We need more mentors so please let us know if you know of anyone that you can recommend. Speaking of Ms. Lee, we are so thankful for her hard work. She is everywhere in our building, from morning duty to afternoon duty, and is committed to helping our children who need that extra care and concern during the day.

*Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Merritt, and Mrs. Redmon have huge caseloads this year. Mrs. Freeman, for example, has given herself a 15 minute lunch break this year. Mrs. Redmon is working with students at all three schools in our area. Still, they are doing such a fabulous job serving our students!

Moore's Musings:
MAP testing continues this week. Please make sure you have signed up for additional testing sessions. We have to have all students tested by October 3rd and most of you will want the data well before that date for your SLOs. Fourth and fifth grade teachers, consider splitting this responsibility with your partner teacher so that the ELA teacher signs up for a session and the Math teacher signs up for a session. Help Mrs. Young with signing students in and out of MAP when they visit the lab for related arts.

Speaking of SLOs, we will be sending out information about our next steps with SLOs. Basically, we will be meeting several times in the next 3 weeks to get everyone where they need to be in order to turn in the necessary documents in October.

The AdvancED accreditation process will begin sooner than later with some of you already assigned to district committees. I will go ahead and tell everyone now that this process is involved and will require time and effort from everyone to successfully complete. This process is vital to the direction of our school and district. Stay tuned...

Thanks for reading to our students during arrival each morning. I can think of way to spend those few minutes than engaged in reading!

Speaking of arrival time, don't forget that we have specific teachers on duty each morning who serve as a "tutor" in the cafeteria. Students can be pulled to work on homework, study math facts, etc. This is a great resource and part of the intervention we offer at PVES.

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):
Be sure to check our shared calendar daily as you are responsible for being aware of the information posted on it.

• ESOL Meetings during planning on Thursday, September 10th.
• International Reading Day on Friday, September 11th. 
• AirWatch Compliance Policy turned on Monday, September 14th at 8:00 A.M.
• Digital Playground (not required) on Tuesday, September 15th at 3:15 P.M. in PD Room.
• 3rd grade and Marino fall pictures on Wednesday, September 16th (morning).
• 4th/5th grade fall pictures on Thursday, September 17th (morning). 
• F&P Leveling due to Martin on Friday, September 18th.
• Mentor Anderson Training at 7:30 A.M. on Monday, September 21st. 
• Science "techbook" training for grade 3 on Monday, September 21st from 8:15-11:15 A.M. (lunch provided)
• Science "techbook" training for grades 4 and 5 on Monday, September 21st from 11:30-2:30 P.M. (lunch provided)
• Faculty meeting on September 22nd - Major Topic: Guidance "Training"

And if you have read his entire blog, then I am sure Friday feels like ...

MAP and Mayhem

It's been yet another busy week on the ranch, but I continue to be amazed at the many positive "happenings" each and every day at PVES. You are an incredible faculty and staff! We have received so many supportive comments from parents and community members about our school. You all deserve this recognition and should be proud. 

MAP Testing Fun!

It's that time of year! MAP testing begins Tuesday, September 8th. As we have done in past years, your class will test in the computer lab during their scheduled computer lab related arts time. Teachers are expected to remain in the class to help Mrs. Young log students into MAP. Please also plan to arrive a few minutes early to assist Mrs. Young with logging students out. Whether or not you stay for the duration of MAP testing during your planning is your choice.

We are also requesting that each homeroom teacher sign up for two additional times to use the enrichment lab (101) to MAP test. We have a three week window in which to test all students so it will be necessary for all teachers to sign up for these additional slots. Mrs. Tollison and I will assist with helping your class get signed in for these sessions. Obviously, you will need to remain with your class during these sessions. A sign-up sheet has been placed in the front office near where Mrs. Booth sits.

Remember that we will all be using MAP data as part of Expanded ADEPT (SLOs). We want our students to do their best and give us an accurate measure of what they know. Your expertise in the classroom will make all the difference throughout the year and we WILL see growth. 

If you are reading this blog carefully, feel free to wear jeans on Friday and support your favorite high school, college, or pro team. It's football season!

Celebrate!

Let's take a quick moment and talk about some of the awesome things happening in our school. First of all, we started PVES Patrols this week in the morning. We have a great group of dedicated students helping us in the car line. I am proud of them!

Mrs. Tollison and I had an opportunity to visit science lab this week. Mrs. Clary makes science fun and has already provided a great deal of assistance for our math/science teachers. This week, students made "goo" and discussed properties of liquids and solids. Keep up the good work, Mrs. Clary!

Congratulations to our Tuesday duty group. They set our record for best time this week. Our car line in the afternoon continues to improve. We continue to monitor the car line and discuss potential changes that could make things a little better. Stay tuned.

Mrs. Preisig's first Transform Session went very well. She is an excellent support for our instructional technology needs. I also enjoyed the three words you all chose to define your year. Well done! Don't forget to sign up for these sessions in PD Express. We will also be offering more technology fun in the way of our Digital Playground sessions after school. The first one will be held on Tuesday, September 15th at 3:15 P.M. Note Ms. Lockaby's enthusiasm and my balding head. 

Ms. Wilcox and Ms. Wilkie are blogging away. Check out Ms. Wilcox's Take a Chance on Learning and Ms. Wilkie's Fourth Grade with Ms. Wilkie. I was so impressed to see that they are updating class blogs this year. Such a wonderful idea and great way to connect with parents/community while documenting learning. Great job, ladies! 

Moore's Musings

• Please make sure you have joined our PTSO. Our PTSO board is wonderful this year and very supportive of our teachers. Also, please encourage your parents to join PTSO in your newsletters and email blasts. Rumor has it they are interested in purchasing a Keurig for the teacher work room...
• The penny sales tax money is continues to pour in and our district staff is working with schools to spend it equitably and wisely. A small portion of the money will be used to purchase new laptops for some of you who have older models. Check your email soon to access a list of teachers who will be receiving an upgrade!
• Thank you for wearing your name badges each day and for greeting students in the hallways and at the door. It makes such a positive impact! 
• Thank you for watching WTLP and getting your students engaged in doing so. Mrs. Thomas and Ms. Jordan are doing a wonderful job with this program. 
• We have finally arranged for some science "techbook" training. This training will take place at our school in the PD Room on Monday, September 21st. Third grade teachers will be trained that morning from 8:15-11:15 A.M. 4th and 5th grade math/science teachers will be trained from 11:30-2:30 P.M. that day. Mrs. Tollison is working on securing substitutes for these teachers. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC)

• Monday, September 7th is Labor Day. There is NO SCHOOL this day.
• Tuesday, September 8th - Faculty Meeting at 3:15 P.M. in the PD Room. Topic: ALiCE Training. 
• Thursday, September 10th - ESOL meetings with Melissa Thomas during planning periods. Please plan to attend whether you have an ESOL child or not. 
• Friday, September 11th - We celebrate International Reading Day. Mrs. Martin has provided some details and you should be signing up for Moore, Tollison, Fowler, or Martin to read to your class that day. Sign up here.

Looking Ahead

We will be working hard to establish our School Improvement Council (SIC) and prepare committees for the district and school AdvancED Accreditation process. This process is involved but vital the vision and direction of our school district and school. 

Please note that curriculum nights have been scheduled for each grade level and appear on our shared calendar. We will be providing some direction, but this will be a great opportunity to communicate some important information with our parents that will serve us well throughout the school year. Be thinking about what your grade level wants to communicate and how we can make this night as interactive and fun as possible. 

Everyone have a great end of the week and an even better long weekend!