AM Announcements - August 31

AM Announcements
August 31, 2009

1. Today is Day 05.

2. It is the mission of Speas Elementary School to provide its students with the tools necessary to successfully meet the challenges they will face in a diverse world.

3. Calendar items for this week:

Monday: August 31
W-APT Testing begins for all ESL students
LWS - Education Day Committee meeting - 4:00-5:00 - Reichert off-campus

Tuesday: September 01
Joint Principals' Meeting - 7:30-12:00 - Reichert off-campus
School Improvement Team (SIT) meeting - 2:40 - media center

Wednesday: September 02
Quest Atlantis training - 8:00-3:00 - all teachers grades 4-5 and assistants grades 1-2

Thursday: September 03
School Pictures

Friday: September 04
No events at this time

4. Upcoming Calendar Items:
a. 9/07 - Labor Day Holiday - No School
b. 9/08 - Staff Meeting
c. 9/10 - Cub Scout Sign-up Night 7:00 PM
d. 9/15 - Gateway Meeting - 3rd and 5th grade students and parents - 6:00 PM

5. Today we will dismiss on our normal schedule. The first bell at 2:15 will be for K-1 classes to leave from their rooms and go to the buses and the the gym. The second bell at 2:20 will be for 2-5 classes to dismiss. The 2:25 bell is the close of school and we will begin loading car riders at that time. We had some issues last week with students getting on the wrong buses and going places they were not supposed to go. We even had a parent come to the office and tell Ms. Rhodes that her daughter was to be a car rider, only to find out that the daughter wasn't registered here.

6. There will be a school Improvement Team Meeting tomorrow at 2:40 in the media center. All staff members are welcome to attend. If your grade level or group, i.e. specialists, classified, etc., has not chosen a SIT representative, please do so today.

7. Please remind your students that there is no school next Monday. We will also do an Alert Now to be broadcast on Sunday afternoon.

8. The Cub Scouts will conduct short classroom visits on September 09 in the afternoon beginning at 1:00 PM. These will last just a couple of minutes and will invite boys and their parents to the Cub Scout sign-up on Thursday evening, September 10 at 7:00. They are meeting with all 1-5 grade classes between 1:00 and 2:00 so they will have to be brief.

9. Now that the first week is over things should begin to settle into routine. I will be conducting classroom walk though's throughout the course of the week. Ms. Powell and Ms. Marston will join me as soon as the walk-through tool is loaded on their Blackberries.

10. Remember to get with the individual you are doing a peer observation on and schedule when you would like to do it. These should be completed by Tuesday, September 22. Also remember to take some time and do your self-assessment. If you have questions, please feel free to ask. This is new for all of us.

11. Teachers in grades 4-5 and teacher assistants in grades 1-2 will be involved in Quest Atlantis training on Wednesday from 8:00-3:00. We will have subs in for the teachers but not for the teacher assistants. Please plan accordingly.

12. I will be off-campus this afternoon from about 3:40 on at a Leadership Winston-Salem Education Day Committee meeting. I will be off-campus all morning tomorrow at a Joint Principals' meeting. Please see Ms. Powell for administrative assistance.

13. No.
Amy Carter, (President Jimmy Carter's daughter) when asked by a reporter if she had any message for the children of America

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727), Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675

People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure.
Russell Baker (1925 - )

When you're through changing, you're through.
Bruce Barton