Greatness

Greatness: The quality of being remarkable; exceptionally outstanding. Many strive for it; few obtain it. If greatness were easy to achieve then everyone would arrive there at some point and time. Our goal as a faculty and staff is to achieve greatness for our students. In our opening round of meetings, we discussed the importance of all students learning at high levels. We saw the sobering statistics that reveal what happens to our students in society if they lack proper education. I was joking with one of our faculty members recently and told this person that PVES was "on the edge of greatness". I do not use this term as flippantly as many do. And yes, I truly believe this statement. We will only achieve this greatness if we work together as a team; striving to reach yet the next level higher and always being consistent in the "small things" as we focus on our vision for the future. Remember that our true competition is not other schools in ASD1. The competition is right here inside our school; being relentless in our pursuit to be a better version of ourselves.

And within our walls, greatness thrives...

Take advantage of the opportunities that exist in our media center. Mrs. Fowler is always looking for an opportunity to "create, collaborate, and co-teach" with you. The media center is an excellent resource at our school. 

Whether students are completing a "Mission to the Moon" activity or exploring chemical changes while making pancakes, learning is meant to be fun and interactive. 

Classroom climate and culture is so important. Students need to feel welcomed; yet challenged. 3rd grade students enjoyed meeting and interviewing their reading partners. They also combined reading and writing with quick jots on post-it notes. 

 

The magic our our spinning wheel reached others in the building as cafeteria worker, Mrs. Hyde, and Officer Marter spun the wheel to determine to what house they would belong. Make sure you ask them about this when you see them! 

OLWEUS:

On Monday, we ask that home room teachers begin with lesson 1 in our OLWEUS bullying prevention program. We are a bully-free school and we want our students to know what bullying is, what it is not and what to do when they encounter it. Students should sit in a circle when you engage in this time together. This should be a time of sharing and discussion in a safe environment. We don't mention any specific names and always practice respect when it comes to other students and staff. Please refer to our shared folder for great resources; including the lesson plan for the first six lessons. The first lesson does ask you to show a video and the log-in information can be found on this sheet. Non-homeroom teachers will be assigned a classroom in the near future to assist. Mrs. Tollison and I look forward to observing you in action! 

Live PD:

We do have Live PD this Wednesday, September 11th for some faculty members. Please look over our Live PD agenda for details. Some of you have a mentor meeting at the DO and we ask that you email us to schedule another time for your orientation. 

Class Pictures:

Class pictures are scheduled for Tuesday, September 10th. We will start as early as possible. You will line your students up tallest to shortest and report to the appropriate location listed below. Thanks for getting the word out to parents via SeeSaw. 

• Office side of Media Center: 5th grade will report to this area.
• Strings Room: 4th grade will report to this area. Strings will move to cafeteria. 
• Stage in MP Room: 3rd grade will report to this area. They will enter through door next to lion mural. Curtain will be closed.

Tech PD w/Thomas:

On Friday, September 13th Thomas McAuliff will lead all teachers in Tech PD. Remember, he will do one Friday each month. This will take place during planning times. We will determine a location ASAP. In our first session, we will be discussing what E-Learning days look like in ASD1. We look forward to learning from Thomas this year!

From Melissa Thomas Re: ESOL:

Thank you to everyone that took the time to log into ELLevation, watch the video, and fill out the Google Form. Jeans passes will be placed in boxes Monday. If you have not watched the video and filled out the Google Form, please try to get that done this week. All teachers need to be at least familiar with the software as our number of ELLs is growing!  For those of you who let me know that you could not log in, I am working on getting that fixed and will let you know as soon as it is complete.

Moore's Musings:

Mrs. Tollison and I look forward to scheduling data meeting with you soon. We will close the book on SC-READY from last year and look at MAP from this year. In regard to SLOs, it looks like we were able to pinpoint specific standards for each grade level to use in creating assessments. We will work together and make it through this. You can review our SLO presentation here. ELA teams should pay close attention to the timeline provided. I am still working with our district office to get SCLead working as it should. We still need to sign off on our orientation in SCLead when this is done. 

Mark Your Calendar (MYC):

• Begin using SmartFind express for absences - September 9th 
• OLWEUS Class Meetings - September 9th during PRIDE Time
• Papa John's Dollars for Dough Fundraiser - September 10th and 11th
• 5th Grade Field Trip Meeting - September 10th at 6 P.M.
• Live PD for Some Faculty - September 11th at 3:10 P.M. in media center 
• Tech PD with Thomas - September 13th during planning periods 

*As always, refer to our shared calendar for full list of dates/events. 

Video of the Week: Greatness