News for January 22, 2018-January 26, 2018
Thank you, Rick and Kevin, for all that you do for us each and every day! We are so lucky!
This Week at Brown School
1/22 C Day
Kindness week begins (see below for details)
Midyear NWEA begins
Lear to C.A.C. 9-11:15
Board of Ed meeting 6 p.m. @ Central1/23 D Day
Lockdown Drill- exterior threat 10 :00 a.m.
1/24 E Day
Kristen @ BRESA p.m.
1/25 F day
Birthday Luncheon
Kristen in PD all day
3rd grade to Sarett (a.m.)
Parents as Teachers in gym (a.m.)
Lexia Training 4:15-5:30 Upton Auditorium
*Be sure to take your laptop, training guide, and headphones to Upton with you!
1/26 A Day
Principal's Breakfast #6
Y5/K-5 half-day (p.m. schedule- non-contract p.m.)
P.M. Schedule for 1/2 day:
P.E. 9:12-9:42 Schueneman
9:44-10:14 Smodic
10:16-10:46 Hassenger
10:48-11:18 Nimtz
11:20-11:50 Grimm* adjusted to allow for transition
Coming Up...
1/29 PTO meeting 7-8 p.m. Media Center
1/30 Ann to have lunch with her 5th grade group
Staff/SI meeting 4-4:30 in Media Center
2/1 Foundation Special Fund Requests due
McCool to planetarium
2/2 Principal's Breakfast #7
Maker Day @ Brown (see below for details)
2/5 Week of tech meetings
Pennies for Patients
K release day (all day)
Performing Arts parent meeting 7pm @ Upton
2/6 Performing Arts parent meeting 7pm @ Upton
2/7 Count Day
Late start
DLC @ Central 4:15-5:30
2/9 4th graders to Lansing
2nd grade release day (all day)
Hearing and Vision re-screening
Popcorn day!
2/12 3rd grade release day (all day)
2/13 4th grade release day (all day)
Skate Night 6-8 @ Lakeshore Roller World
2/14 Late start day
Valentine's day parties 2:15-3:30
2:00 all school recess
2/15 5th grade release day (all day)
First grade musical
1st-5th cold lunchers eat in classrooms
Kindness Week
Monday: Kickoff on the news with this video
Every student will get a "Burst of Kindness" notecard to leave behind after performing an act of kindness.
Kindness checklists distributed to students.
Monday/Tuesday: Stephanie and Jen will be in the M.C. during first recess for any students who choose to come down and make "good luck" notes for middle and high school students who are taking finals.
Wednesday: Tech team and student council reps will give out Starbursts in the cross-hall to students as a reminder to share a burst of kindness.
Thursday: Write a kind card for a Caretel resident in the M.C. at last recess
Friday: Dream of Kindness- pajama day
Learing Lexia
Lexia Reading Core5 Training is coming! HOORAY! Please be sure your laptop is powered up for Thursday's after school session in Upton's Auditorium. The 4:15-5:30 training session will be all about getting to know the program and formulating ideas about its use with all of your students. Building-level grade level teams will be developing a common approach toward supporting students in reaching their usage goals.
Our first week experimenting with Lexia shows great promise for it’s use with our students building-wide. Students report liking it and the ease with which staff has been able to get kids started (some without training even!) points to the program’s ease of use.
We can’t wait for you all to get started!
As our initial data in the teacher dashboards is populating, you may notice students’ placement grade level is higher or lower than you anticipated. This is nothing to worry about! It’s very possible that with five key areas of literacy that the program addresses in each level that some kids may have an area or two where they are either excelling at or struggling with that affects the level they have been assigned. The program will provide plenty of opportunity for a student to move along if they meet their minutes each week.
Lexia Leaders
We would love to have classroom teachers identify two students in each class to serve as “Lexia Leaders”. These will be “go to” students who can assist others in getting started or troubleshooting when the teacher is leading guided reading groups. The Title One team and/ our Stephanie's Tech Team will help make sure the identified students have working knowledge of the program basics.
Thursday’s Meeting End Time
The tech meeting originally scheduled for 1/25 was to end at 5:15.
To accommodate the Lexia training, we need a full 1.25 hours. With our 10/3 and 10/14 meeting cancellations we should be fine time wise, per the contract. However, we know it is short notice. If you have a previously scheduled appointment that you must leave early for, we understand - just please let us know in advance.
Maker Day 2018
Kagan Corner
Ready to try a new teambuilder? Give Talking Chips a try! If you would like to have Kristen come in and model, please email her a good date/time for a visit. See page 6.36 of your Kagan Cooperative Learning textbook for more details.
Kudos and Thank You to...
- Morgan for inspiring our health and fitness! We appreciate all of your hard work.
- Kathy for always lending a hand to all who need her.
- Sandy, Kelsey, and Kristi for learning all about Lexia during our webinar.
- Grade level teams for all of your collaborative planning.
- January Social Crew for organizing Custodian's Day.
- Kevin and Rick for being amazing!
- Kelsey for monitoring learning and attendance in the learning lab each day.
- Stephanie, Elizabeth, Sarah and others who got a jump start with Lexia this week in classrooms to help identify some of the logistics we need to be aware of during the implementation.
Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences
Spring conferences are reserved for students who that are performing in the bottom 30% of the grade level, and those for whom you have academic, social, or emotional concerns. Students who have a marked change in performance or attitude should also be considered. The calendar was developed assuming each teacher would conference with approximately half of his/her class. Please document and submit to the office who you are scheduling conferences for this year. Two half days (3/1-3/2) are dedicated for conferencing purposes. However, as in the past, you do not need to conference on those afternoons. Please plan to midyear conferences completed no later than Friday, March 2nd.
Administrative Feedback Surveys
As part of our focus on growth mindset, the administrative team will be soliciting feedback from staff over the next two months. Each member of the admin team will identify 25 people to have his/her survey sent to by Sue Patzer. The survey is anonymous and is meant to help us identify areas of strength and designate areas of growth. While Kristen is in the February group of admin so won’t be sending out any this month, some of you may receive surveys this month from other administrators in the district with whom you’ve worked closely. Although participation is optional, if you receive a survey we’d certainly appreciate your reflective input. Thank you!
Attention 5th Grade Teachers & Initinerants
Performing Arts Recruiting Timeline 2018
Mon. Jan. 22 10:45-11:45 - visit to 5th Grade Music Classes
Tues. Jan. 30 Recruiting Concert @ the HS- 1:15-2:15 PM
ALL 5th graders will leave from their school at 12:45 PM, attend the concert from 1:15-2:15 PM, depart from the HS by 2:30
Wed. Jan. 31 1:30-3:00 p.m. Instrument Petting Zoo - M.C.
February 5th and 6th
Parent Meeting
7 PM at Upton Middle School
PLEASE help us keep the hallways clean! Be sure all boots are arranged neatly in the hall. This is a great job for our students after recesses.
