Week Ahead: January 26

A fabulous time was had by all at the Blast! on Friday.  Here’s to another fantastic week!  There is a lot of updates following the calendar – please read to the end 🙂

Monday, Jan. 26
Day 3 BCDA
Happy Birthday Gregor Berger!
1:30-3:00  Admin Mtg

Tuesday, Jan. 27
Day 4 FGHE
10:30-11:30  HOS/MS Principal’s Mtg
1:30-2:30 Admin Team Mtg
3:15  Girls B Team @ SING

Wednesday, Jan. 28
Day 5 CDAB
11:00 SRT Mtg
3:15-4:30 Learning Plan Meeting #3

Thursday, Jan. 29
Day 6 GHEF
12:55-1:35 8th Grade EAL / LS Meeting during Advisory
3:30 Boys B Team v. CIS at SSIS
6:30-8pm HS SSIS Idol, Auditorium

Friday, Jan. 30
Day 7 DABC, HL Schedule
2:20-3:00 Celebration Assembly in Auditorium (report after taking attendance)

Upcoming:
Feb. 3 – MS/HS Track Meet, athletes will be gone from 8am-1pm

Budget Information
Please check you email Monday for information regarding the final approved budget.  Your team leader will also review this information with you to ensure that everyone understand the MS budget, the ordering process, and all related deadlines.  Please express your thanks to the Leadership Team for their thorough analysis of MS needs and determination of how to best meet those needs (and wants) with our 2015 budget.

Celebration Assembly on Friday
From Bonnie:

Assembly Celebration for Quarter 2:
I am seeking videos etc to share at the assembly on Friday. I am hoping to have the program done so I can meet with Robert and Student council to go over this, If you have not already done so, please let me know if you want to contribute and/or if you have any announcements for this celebration.

New Attendance Codes for PowerSchool
To assist with tracking tardies to school, a new code has been entered into PowerSchool.  Please use TM (for Tardy Morning) if a student is tardy to the first block of the day.  This will save Mai Anh a great deal of time as she tracks students who are late to school (which is generally a different issue than if students are late to later blocks during the day).  We have also added a code for In School Suspension (SI) to differentiate it from an Out of School Suspension (S).

Take Note: Calendar Date Change
This has been mentioned before, but I want to make sure all have noticed the change in the March PD date.  Originally scheduled for Friday, March 27th, the PD day has been moved to Monday, March 30th.  Please be sure to note this in the calendars and planning tools you use.

Special Visits Coming
We have several special visitors coming the next few months.  Please add these to your plans:
Feb. 5:  Ralph Fletcher, author – 11:15-12:00 is Grade 7 and 8 (with some of Grade 9); 1-1:35 is Grade 6 (with Grade 5).  This is an add-on to the EARCOS Weekend Workshop.
March 2:  George Hart, mathematics rock star – Mark Crowell is working up this schedule and should have it ready to be published ASAP.  Another cool link related to George Hart is his daughter’s, Vi Hart, YouTube site.  Way cool!
March 12-14: Luka Lesson, slam poet – this schedule is not finished, but there will be opportunities for classes to meet with Luka as well as an all division assembly time for a performance.  Luka will also be performing and working with the MRISA Arts Exchange.

Upcoming SISAC Tournaments
If you have been thinking we have had an increase in SISAC tournaments, you are correct!  Here are the next ones coming up:

• FOOTBALL (Soccer) – on the main fields – starting around 12 noon
  • THURSDAY, February 5 – the MS girls B team will be playing. Schedule of games to come soon.
  • THURSDAY, February 12 – the MS girls A team will be playing. Schedule of games to come soon.

Cool Instruction and Assessment Tip of the Week
Ideas to get quiet students talking in class
Getting quiet students to talk in class can be challenging but is important to improve their learning, middle-grades educator Cossondra George writes in this commentary. She shares seven strategies, such as creating small discussion groups with only quiet students or easing the students into large group talks by asking them simpler questions. Education Week Teacher (tiered subscription model)/CTQ Collaboratory (1/6)