Do Your Best... Don't Stress

First, I want to acknowledge that teaching is one of the absolute most difficult professions. A teacher pours all his or her time and energy into growing students. Keep these truths in mind as you enter one of the toughest stretches of our academic year...

• What you do matters...
• How you treat your students shows how much you care...
• If your students know you care they will work hard to succeed..

One of the things discussed at my Assistant Principal's meeting this week was that stress does not help brain growth and development. We just need to do our best and prepare our students. Keep this mindset and teach your students to do the same. We will all be fine! 

SC Ready Testing Update

We now have more information about our new test, SC Ready. Right now the plan is to discuss this in great detail at our February 9th faculty meeting. The State Department's website has some resources for you to explore before our faculty meeting. All writing teachers should take a look at the rubric for the Text Dependent Analysis item. A paper copy of this will be placed in your box tomorrow for you to review. We will analyze sample TDA items as well as exemplars.  

This link with take you to an overview of the SC Ready Assessment. Scroll down to see types of test items and very helpful resources for the writing component of SC Ready. More information about administration, test design, and scoring will be provided at our meeting. Come prepared to discuss these items and bring questions you may have.  

AdvancED 

We are working on finalizing our AdvancED Accreditation document for our school. Mr. Moore and I would like to say again how thankful we are for the time and effort you all have devoted to this process. It has not been easy and we understand the demands of such an important process. The final report will be submitted to the District Office on Friday, February 5th. Thank you to folks who are taking additional time to work on the narratives for your committee. 

Happenings of PVES 

Great things are always happening around Powdersville Elementary. We have a lot of wonderful opportunities coming up as well. 

Snow Days

We had many of our PVES teachers and students enjoying the winter weather this weekend. Pictures were posted to our social media so be sure to take a look if you missed it. 

Updates to the Library

New furniture has been delivered and looks fabulous. Recently our Clear Touch Board has been set up and teachers attended training. This is an amazing tool so be sure to stop by to play and explore. 

PBL #weBEElearning

Third graders are hard at work during their PBL unit. Follow their learning using #weBEElearning and see all the wonderful things going on in each classroom. 

Upcoming Happenings: 

PVES Talent Show: The talent show is Thursday (1/28) night from 6:00-8:00 P.M. at Powdersville High School. Thank you to the many of you who are serving or participating that night. I hope to see a huge crowd of PVES teachers and staff at the event! Please email Mrs. Turner if you are available to assist with this event. 

TOY Forum: This Friday we have the privilege of hosting our District Teacher of the Year Forum beginning at 8:30. We will have fifth grade ambassadors who will greet our TOY and lead them to Room 102. Mr. Havird will also be joining these folks. Please stress to your students the importance of being on their best behavior in the hallways and moving quietly from related arts classes. 

Spelling Bee: Our school spelling will be on Friday, January 29th at 8:15 in the Multi-purpose Room. We will have many parents and grandparents in our building for this event. Mrs. Golden will send information about where and when to send your class winner. 

Tollison's Tidings

• Access Testing begins for our ESL students on February 9th in Computer Lab 101. They will also be testing on the 10th and 11th. Please encourage students being tested to be present, on time, and to do their best. Thank you in advance for your flexibility with this testing. Also be sure to escort your classes to related arts and pick them up to ensure that the hallways remain quiet for those testing. 
• Class pictures have been rescheduled for Friday, February 19th in the library. 
• Referrals should be completed using the online form. Save this link to your desktop or add to your home screen on your iPad. 
• Clemson junior students will begin their visits to classrooms next week. They will report to their assigned classes and will observe for the first visit. 
• NO iPads should be used at the tutoring table in the morning. We have a good handful of students who are completing homework and requesting assistance each morning. Please encourage your students to seek out the adult on duty for assistance. This is built-in intervention, but we need your help.

Mark Your Calendar

• January 28th Talent Show @ PVHS 6:00-8:00
• January 29th TOY Breakfast 8:30
• January 29th School Spelling Bee 8:15-10:00
• February 2nd Clemson Juniors Visit 8:30-11:30
• February 2nd Technology PD with Preisig in Room 104
• February 8th Reading PD with Kelle Martin (5th Grade 8:00-11:30; 4th Grade 11:30-2:30)
• February 9th ACCESS Testing (ESL)
• February 9th Reading PD with Kelle Martin (3rd Grade 8:00-11:30)
• February 9th Faculty Meeting

With this busy testing session approaching I hope we all can have the confidence that these kids have! 

Snow Days

On a serious note, there is an increasing confidence that we will see some sort of winter weather between Thursday evening and Saturday morning. I will send out notification to you via text message if and when a decision is reached concerning delays or cancellations. The district also attempts to make contact with all employees when winter weather affects our schedule. Furthermore, you can look for a decision to be posted on our ASD1 website and stay tuned to local news channels for announcements as well. The brief period of snow we witnessed today during dismissal was certainly beautiful and it was fun to see our students so excited. In the south, we get a little carried away at the prospect of snow ...

Penny Sales Tax:
Have you noticed the monitors in the front lobby, cafeteria and media center? The new portable amplification system in the media center? How about our new Clear Touch interactive board? These items were purchased using the first round of penny sales tax money available to our district. This money is specifically earmarked for technology and equipment. Next up will be our Art, Music, and P.E. programs receiving some money to upgrade equipment and make new purchases to enhance our classrooms. We will also receive money to significantly upgrade our presentation system in the multi-purpose room. We will keep you updated on our progress in terms of spending these monies, but it is certainly nice to be able to use the penny sales tax money to better the product we offer to our students!

Talent Show:
Thanks to the many of you who assisted Mrs. Turner in the tryouts that took place for our upcoming Talent Show. We were able to select many talented students to perform. I am also appreciative of the many teachers and staff who will be opening our Talent Show with a little dance number. You will not want to miss that! A reminder that our Talent Show is held on Thursday, January 28th beginning at 6:00 PM at Powdersville High School. Some of you will be dancing that night. Some of you will be serving that night. And some of you will simply be there to support us. Thanks for that!

PRIDE:
We have always prided ourselves in having the best behaved students and have received many compliments about our students from visitors in our building. Some of you have approached me and mentioned that our hallway behavior is not up to standard. I agree. Please help us in dedicating some time and effort into making sure our students understand the pride we take in walking in the "third block" quietly at all times. Feel free to ask your class to practice and hold them accountable for their hallway behavior. It certainly helps when the teacher is present with the class and sets the tone for her students. Thanks for your help with this!

Guidance Corner:
I wanted to mention a few important announcements that impact your classrooms related to Tammy Lee and guidance. First of all, Tammy sent an email out today about our EAFK virtues for the third nine weeks. They are perseverance and discipline. With a crucial stretch of learning now underway, I can think of no better virtues to discuss and highlight with our students. Tammy will visit your classes to spend some time discussing these virtues. She will also need to speak to your class about sexual abuse prevention through Erin's Law. Bless her for taking this on! Finally, we will have our next RTI meeting on Wednesday, January 27th beginning at 2:45 P.M. If you need to be on the agenda, email Tammy as soon as possible.


Now, let's take a look at some coolness happening at PVES...

Early Act First Knight ceremonies were special events and make a huge impression on students and parents alike. I want to compliment all of our teachers for the thoughtful comments you prepared about your students. As I told parents in attendance, we all want our students to do well academically and athletically, but being recognized for showing compassion and tolerance is a big deal. These virtues will serve our students well in life. A special "thank you" to Randy Thompson, Stacey Turner, Lindsay Nix, Michelle Young, Deb Fowler, Kelle Martin, Tammy Lee, Melissa Tollison, Patty Ellison and Lisa Booth for their hard working in preparing for our knighting ceremonies. From setting up the stage to mailing out letters and preparing parent brochures, this group is dedicated to making our EAFK program a special event!

Our 5th graders have been reading... a lot! And last week we celebrated with our second badge ceremony. Over 200 badges were earned by our 5th grade readers. I was proud of our students for showing such an interest in reading and more proud of our teachers for making reading a priority. Students were proudly wearing their badges after the ceremony and that was wonderful to see.

Jessica Preisig led our latest Digital Playground event this past Tuesday and it was all about wonderings. We enjoyed popcorn was we discussed "wonder walls" in classrooms and other wonderings our teachers wanted to share. It was great to see such a large crowd of teachers dedicated to this activity and, more importantly, dedicated to collaborating with their peers. This is when true change and growth occurs. I hope we will have our biggest crowd yet at our next Digital Playground event!

And last, but not least, for this week is our third grade team. If you haven't heard of PBL (Problem-Based Learning) then get used to the term. It's real world learning centered on solving a problem. It can involve many curricular areas and take weeks of planning and instruction to complete. In my humble opinion, it's a direction we need to consider heading if we are serious about preparing our students for college and career. We are excited about our third grade PBL that we "kicked off" in style with a guest speaker who posed the problem to our students: How can we create a healthy honey bee hive? I am trusting third grade with documenting their journey and sharing their successes with us. Be on the lookout for hashtag #webeelearning and stay tuned for more!

Moore's Musings:

• Our faculty picture will be taken on Monday, January 25th at 3:15 at the lion mural. Please wear your blue school shirt (and blue jeans) on this day. 
• Mr. Havird and our district teachers of the year will be in our building on Friday morning. We are proud to host them in room 102.

Mark Your Calendar:

• January 21st: Talent Show Rehearsal #1 in the MP Room from 2:35-5:00 P.M. (meet in music room first)
• January 22nd: Class Pictures in the morning. We will start with grade 5. Thanks in advance for being flexible. 
• January 25th: Staff picture at 3:15 P.M.
• January 26th: AdvancED Committee 5 Meeting from 8:00-11:30 A.M. in PD Room.
• January 26th: Talent Show Final Rehearsal at PVHS from 2:35-5:00 P.M.
• January 28th: PVES Talent Show at PVHS from 6:00-8:00 P.M.
• January 29th: PVES Spelling Bee held in MP Room from 8:15-10:00 A.M. 

Video of the Week: My Favorite Talent Show Skit

Back At It

As quickly as Christmas Break arrived it had ended and here we are back at it once again. I don't have to tell you that we now enter a crucial stretch in the school year where we need our students to be focused and make tremendous gains. I was very impressed this week as I walked the hallways to see our students engaged and learning. We didn't waste any time! I want to challenge everyone to remember the word you chose as "your word" at the beginning of the school year. I challenged our office staff to do the same in preparation for the second half of the year.

 I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers over the last two weeks. Rainbow and I received many texts, phone calls, emails, etc. after Grayson was born and it simply meant the world to us. Grayson gave us a scare, but he is a healthy and happy little boy.

We will have a somewhat abbreviated blog this week. I would refer you to our last blog from before the break for pertinent information. Additionally, we will be "flipping" our next faculty meeting meaning we will provide a video recording with important information that will be emailed to you early next week. Let's run through some important information and reminders:

SLO Mid-Conference Meetings:

Earlier this week, I emailed everyone a link to a sign-up genius so all certified staff could sign up for a time to meet with Mrs. Tollison and me regarding SLOs. You can also access the online sign-up here. 

As it pertains to the SLO mid-conference, please do not panic. This is simply a meeting to check on student progress. In very few cases, will we actually alter a student's goal. To do so, there must be a preponderance of evidence. The purpose of the meeting is to:

1. Review student progress

2. Additional support- discuss what is needed for students not making progress and for teachers 

3. Adjust SLO- only based on significant information 

While we all want each and every student to meet growth targets, we also know this is very often not the case. In order for you to receive a rating of PROFICIENT, 70-89% of your class needs to meet their growth targets. Also, don't forget that we will take an "average" of MAP and F&P for reading and an "average" of MAP and benchmark for math. This will also help. 

Our Next EAFK Ceremony:

Our next EAFK ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, January 14th. We will recognize students who embody the virtues of honesty and compassion. You should have already submitted to Mrs. Booth the names of your students who will be recognized. We will follow the schedule below:

3rd grade:  12:05-12:45

4th grade:  12:50-1:30

5th grade:  1:35-2:20

*Please email or call parents to confirm they received the letter sent by the front office. These letters were sent via mail today (Wednesday). 

Testing Update:

We will obviously meet several times to provide the latest testing information to you. As you already know, 4th and 5th grade students will take SCPASS for Social Studies and Science. All students grades 3, 4, and 5 will take SCREADY ELA-Writing, ELA-Reading, Mathematics. 5th grade will be tested online for SCREADY but will paper and pencil test for SCPASS. We also now have a testing calendar. (5th grade teachers, we will meet with you as a group to propose an online testing calendar)

SCREADY:

ELA Writing (Paper-Based) - April 26th

ELA Reading (Paper-Based) - April 27th

Mathematics (Paper-Based) - April 28th 

*Online testing window for all is April 19th-May 6th. 

*Make-up testing through May 6th 

SCPASS:

Science - May 11th

Social Studies - May 12th 

*Make-up testing through May 19th

*3rd grade does not test SCPASS

AESOP:

• All faculty and staff members are expected to enter in absences through the AESOP system starting today, January 4th. 
• It is imperative that you enter these absences in accurately since this will be used to track days, pay, and substitutes. 
• Remember that you must use Annual Days first (option A). 
• Select the appropriate type of day (half day of full day).
• The system defaults to needing a sub. If you do not need a sub or do not typically get a sub, please change this to "No" substitute required. 
• Patty will continue to place the absence forms in your box for the remainder of this school year. 
• All employee login information is attached. This document is also in our PVES 2015-2016 Teacher folder. 

 Aesop Login Information.pdf  

End of 2nd Nine Week Period:

• All grades are due by 8:00 AM on Tuesday, January 19th.
• Grade Verifications will be printed first thing in the morning on Tuesday, January 19th. Please carefully review these verifications and make necessary changes before grades are stored. It is a difficult process to make changes to grades once they have been stored. 
• Grades will be stored in the morning on Wednesday, January 20th. 
• Report Cards will be printed and placed in your box on Wednesday, January 20th. 
• Send report cards home with students on Thursday, January 21st.  

Friday, January 15th:

This day is marked as a staff development day. As I mentioned in an email sent to faculty and staff, we will send out a more detailed schedule of events after my principal's meeting this week. It is our intent to provide ample time to work in your classrooms and with one another. As you know, the following Monday, January 18th is MLK Day and we are out of school that day!

iCoach January Session with Preisig:

Thank you for your participation during our January iCoach session with Mrs. Preisig. Please be reminded that you need to complete the activity by the end of this week to be registered for the drawing. You need to complete the activity by the end of the month to receive credit. Don't hesitate to email Mrs. Preisig with any instructional technology questions or concerns!

In summary, please make sure you are constantly checking your calendar so you are aware of the MANY events taking place in our school. Thank you to everyone for striving to be the best. As Jane Harrison likes to put it, we strive for perfection but settle for excellence. This excellence is achieved because of your dedication and hard work. It does not go unnoticed. Whether you are celebrating a Clemson birth in the national championship game or simply making it to the end of the week, Friday is certainly a blue jean day! 

Video of the Week:

What Makes a Great Teacher?