Sunday, October 25, 2009

Michelle's Messages...

Thinking of all the things I have to do to catch up after what seems like a very long week, part of my to do list is to pass on things I need to share with you, remind you, or ask for input on…


• Thank you again for all of your support over the last couple of weeks during the crazy schedules! The Dock Party was a success and your help was appreciated for supervising at lunch! We got lots of good video on the exciting activities that you planned! The kids had a great time celebrating the completion of their MEAP tests!

• The Pumpkin Decorating Contest will be at our Halloween Assembly, this Thursday, October 29, 2009. One pumpkin per Enrichment class can be submitted. Participation is OPTIONAL. Winners will gain the GOLDEN PUMPKIN AWARD for this school year. Ms. Belleau’s Advisory students from last year are the current reigning champions.

• The Halloween Assembly will be the last hour of the day 10/29/09 and the schedule will be distributed at the beginning of the week.

• Remember the Fright Night is this Thursday night from 6-8, we still need people to sign up to supervise, see the sign-up sheet by the mailboxes. Wear your costume!

• We will try to do some fire drills over the next couple of weeks on days that are not rainy.

• See email from Peggy Voigt regarding the PDD schedule for Friday, October 30, 2009. Be sure to bring what is required for the second half of the day.

• Report cards must be inputted by next Tuesday, 11/3/09 by 8am. All grades should be inputted from the grade book side of the Zangle. You should not submit or post anything from the Teacher Connection side as we are not using our standards until next semester. The grading rubric for “Life Skills Grades” will put in boxes at the beginning of the week. This replaces citizenship grades and will be inputted on the grade book side of Zangle.

We are seeking input on an idea to make TACL a little easier. Chris Morton made a suggestion that coming up with a way to post comments somewhere online rather than handwrite comments on the TACL form might save time when passing the hard copies around. Please post your suggestions below if you can think of a way this could be done to make TACL a more efficient process. Any input would be appreciated!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What is RSS?

Check out the link under YouTube about RSS feeds. Very brief but informational!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Michelle's Message...

Has October really arrived? This month brings a calendar full of events! The MEAP is upon us! Our Town Halls are planned for next week by content areas to provide collaboration opportunities for the departments. More information will follow with dates and times for meetings. The topics of the Town Halls will be MEAP Test Taking Success and PBS highlights. We will make the PowerPoint of our Town Halls available to you to view on the blog as a link.


There are four MEAP testing days, schedules have been distributed for feedback, and there is a link on the blog for you to review prior to administration including directions for proctoring the MEAP. We did better than we ever have on our MEAP tests last year because we positively promoted our kids doing their best.

During the week of October 12, we will have any students who have currently earned an E in any core area complete a TACL form. There is a Team Meeting scheduled for October 14th that can be used to complete this process.

I want to take a moment to congratulate our new department chairs for this year. Estefania Furr will continue as our Special Education Department Chair, Erin Baker is our Mathematics Department Chair, and Amy Watkins is our ELA Department Chair, welcome to the Leadership Team, ladies!

Charlene Korpics did an awesome job coordinating the count day raffles on Wednesday! We appreciate her efforts organizing all of the events. She is now involved in attacking the MEAP inventory, you go girl!

Mike Koebbe has jumped right into our Middle School family! Thank you for taking on our intramural golf program! Our kids will benefit greatly from this experience, way to go, Mike!

Education Week: Report Finds Achievement Gap Continuing to Narrow

Education Week: Report Finds Achievement Gap Continuing to Narrow