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!