Graduation Walk

On Friday, June 8^th at 8:50am the current high school seniors will be walking the halls with their caps and gowns. This will be during our morning meeting, so students can still meet in their hallways, but line the halls once an announcement is made. This should be done within 5-10 minutes, as they are just walking the hallways. 

Feel free to make signs and to cheer! 

Communicating with Clarity

• Please be sure your progress reports are given to Hannah, with student ID's written on them. Direct instructions can be found below this post. June 15th is the deadline.
• Please be sure all pieces of your summer checklist is complete. Last summer, we were missing quite a few supply letters and ran into some hiccups as a result. Please be sure they are in as requested on the checklist.
• We have visitors on June 5th to see IB in action. Awesome! This is a direct reflection of the great work you all do. 
• The staff meeting scheduled for June 5th is cancelled. The end of the year is a crazy time, and I'd prefer you use this time to take an item or two off your to-do list. 

Looking Ahead to the last three weeks

Kids Make a Difference

QUEST students have a voice: this will always be true about our school because of the tireless work that occurs on behalf of kids. Recently, I had some elementary learners share, through opinion writing, the need for a water bottle filler here at QUEST. According to them, these fillers will make us more green, will save us money, and will make us healthier! 

Sold. 

We will be adding two water bottle fillers to our school! 

Goodbye W:

Our w-drive is slowly fading as we move toward Sharepoint. This summer, the QUEST w: will be read only. If there are things you want to be able to manipulate and edit, I would encourage you to move them to a personal drive or a team Sharepoint.

Thanks,
Derek

Reminder

Team,

The post below was shared on May 7, and I am adding it again for your reference. If you need help looking up a student ID in IC and want to learn, Hannah, Kathy, or I can show you how it is done.

Monday, May 7, 2018

Starting at the end of this school year, our progress reports will be able to be accessed by parents in IC through a tool called the backpack in the Parent Portal. This does not change where we fill out progress reports, but the goal is that next year we will not longer print, but rather parents will access them through the portal. For this year, I need you to do the following:

-Print your progress report and send home as you always do.

-When filling them out, add the student ID in a consistent way. Hannah or Kathy can help you in finding their student ID's--please reach out to them if you need help with. See picture below for example of where you would write the student ID in. Note that it is the same font as the QUEST Elementary School

-Save them last name, then first name (example: Warren, Derek). 

-Email them to Hannah, or share your folder where they are with Hannah. She will be sharing this with Tom, who will then be posting them. 

-Please have them to Hannah by June 15th--let me know if this presents an issue for you! 

Next parents will be expected to go onto IC to retrieve them and we will not print them; however, they can still request it. John Miller and I will be working with parents on this process. 

The positive with this is that parents will be able to see each year's report card by going in IC and taking a look. This is great news and a positive step in the right--and green--direction. 

Please let me know if you have any questions as to what you are supposed 

Memorial Day

I hope you each enjoy the long weekend.

Playground Safety

Team,

There are times where we have had way too many classes on the playground at the same time. That becomes a safety issue, unfortunately.

I would respectfully ask that we stick to the times when we put recess in our schedules as much as possible. In the event that you are taking your students out at a different time, please make sure there are not too many classes on the playground--I don't have an exact number as there is no hard rule about this, but I am asking you to be careful with too many at the same time.

Thanks for understanding! The nurse and I greatly appreciate it! :)

Golf

I played in this last year and it was a really great time. Would love to see a team or two from QUEST--please consider. Or, you can always just attend the lunch.

Communicating with Clarity

• We are full-speed-ahead with placement. Please keep in mind that placement letters go out on June 8. Parents should not find out placement ahead of time. 
• The end of the year check-list will be going out next week. Please be sure all items are completed thoroughly, including leaving an electronic copy of your letter to new students. This is helpful in case there is movement over the summer. 
• Make sure all data for assessments is inputted in Edoctrina! 
• Report cards are going to be placed in IC. Be sure to add student ID and then send to Hannah by June 15. 

Looking Ahead

CIA Meeting

Our CIA meeting is next Tuesday. We will be meeting in the library again. We will:

-have a 15 minute presentation from Mike;
-be working with our teams to wrap up our team goal(s) and action plans for the year. Please have any documents you need to discuss and wrap up your team goal.

Communicating with Clarity

• Just a reminder, on the consult day placement will occur at the following times: 12:30 primary, and 1:30 elementary. K already did the work ahead of time.
• We are in the process of hiring for our 5-6 position and the UPK position. Our second day of interviews is next Tuesday, so a decision will be made at some point next week and will go to the following board meeting. Once it is set in stone you can expect me to reach out to all of you to let you know as I know this impacts our placement process.
• Andrea will be in charge on May 22nd all day--day 2 of interviews. 
• If you did a tech. incentive, don't forget to schedule a meeting with me to finalize it. If you do not do that, you do not get paid! Yikes! 
• We will have an unannounced lockdown next week. Please review expectations with your students. 
• We have some evacuation drills to complete. Expect to start them in the near future as well! It has been a while since we have had one, so please review with the kids.
• Science performance testing is on the 23rd and the 24th--the lab will be closed! Sorry for the inconvenience. 
• Don't forget about the change in progress reports. Scroll through the blog for specifics, but these are due to Hannah on the 15th of June.

Room Movement

Team,

Below you will find the classroom movement for next year, as well as current openings that we are in the process of filling. This is not an official staff roster--that will be updated over the summer when things are finalized in special education and what not.

Those of you who are switching teammates or classrooms, it is now safe to communicate to kids and parents if you wish.

Looking Ahead

Timely Reflection

We are in the final stretch: a season when it is easy to focus on all we have to do and forget that we still have one more lesson to teach, one more child to impact, and one more colleague to support. As we navigate this busy time of year, let's not forget to keep first things first. For example:

• Standing in the hall as our learners arrive--we started that way, but it remains one of the more important things we do and an initial assessment of our students as they walk in.
• Making time for that positive phone call home--it is common to do these at the start of the year, but imagine if we all called our students' parents at the end?
• Sharing one more read aloud with your class.
• Making time to laugh with colleagues. Fun is not an event, rather, it is a mindset in which we get to choose.

We will forever be busy--it's the norm in our country, but living mindfully requires us to stop, notice, and appreciate all we do and the gift in each day. 

I stumbled across this blog post from a leader in another state and thought I would share--it provided me with timely perspective. Let's finish this year on our most positive foot yet. 

Sunday, January 15, 2017

A Pencil... a Phone Call... and a Mom's Tears

It was a phone call that I will not soon forget.

This year I set a goal of making 100 positive phone calls home by the 100th day of school. I asked my teachers to let me know when they had a student they wanted to brag on. Last week, a teacher emailed me about a student she was proud of. This particular student was always coming to class unprepared. The teacher and student had a "heart to heart" conversation, and since then, the student has been bringing her pencil to class everyday.  I know that coming to class prepared is a big deal, and it can certainly be aggravating to a teacher always to be loaning pencils. Our students after all, need to be responsible. But I'll admit, I was a bit reluctant to call mom about something as petty as bringing a pencil to class.

I called the student down to my office to give her a high five, and despite my misgivings, I called mom. I told her how proud her daughter's teacher was of her for bringing a pencil every day.  The mom started crying. Through her tears, she said, "My daughter struggles in school. Thank you so much for telling me this." I had to end the conversation quickly because I didn't want to start crying in front of our sixth grader.  I hung up the phone, and the student's eyes were wet too. I could tell she was proud.

So this pencil was not petty; it was huge.

This phone call reinforced two important lessons for me:

First, teachers have tremendous power to brighten a student's day.  And through a quick phone call to a parent, they can bring some sunshine into their life as well.  Do not leave compliments left unsaid. When we're proud of our kids, we should tell them. When they're making progress, we should encourage them.  They will remember our kind words longer than they will remember our lesson.  We are not just offering our students an education; we are offering them hope.

And second, when we struggle with students, there is a good chance that parents experience those same struggles. There are parents who are nervous every time they put their kids on the bus; they experience a little bit of anxiety every time they drop their students off at school. They are wondering... 

"Will he get in trouble again today?"

"Will anyone sit with her at lunch?"

"Will the kids mess with him in the hallway?

"Will she forget her pencil again?"

There are some students for whom school is not a good experience, and parents share in that struggle with their child. They experience it through the silence in the car, through the constant "stomach aches" in the morning, and sometimes through the very real tears.  These students need our attention, they need our patience, and they need our love.  Educators make a difference for students every day, and as it turns out... they make a difference for parents too.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the QUEST moms out there.

Communicating w/ Clarity

• We will be doing placement on the half day--as always. A schedule will be coming out, but if your level has a specified time you would like to get cranking, please just reach out. 
• Just a reminder that progress reports need to be filled out and sent to Hannah by June 15th. Deadlines are scary, but we have to get them in so that we can have them placed on IC. You will still print a copy as normal--please see my previous post for more details, and, as always, let me know if you have any concerns or questions.
• Moving up day has been posted? How fun! 
• You make a difference.
• We will have a lock-down drill this month (May). Please be sure you are ready to roll and that all sub plans are using the template I shared.  Be prepared for evacuation drills as well. 

Teacher Appreciation Week Closure

I hope that you all felt appreciated by students and parents this week. Our work is hard, but it is made easier together. Thank you for all you do.

Climate/Culture Survey

The Climate/Culture survey will be live until Monday. We'd love to have your feedback--please use the link below if interested in taking it.

CLICK HERE

Looking Ahead

Moving Up Day

Hello team,

Moving Up Day will be held on Friday, June 15th from 9:30-10:00.

Mark your calendars!

RtI Nugget

Our work with RtI is not a one and done adventure. Not at all. Tomorrow we will wrap up our CIA time on the topic, but this journey will continue next year. Our goal for next year will be unpacked tomorrow, but to summarize it is all about the basement--that is, the foundation of RtI: great Tier 1 instruction that stems from Professional Learning Community practices. More to come, but the questions below should drive all or our inquiries as teams.

Sarah Carbonaro = Friend of Education

Tomorrow night there is a BOE meeting. At this meeting, Sarah Carbonaro will be recognized as our Friend of Education for this year. Her name was brought forward by several individuals, all expressing an appreciation for her work in classrooms, The Joy Shop, and Lunch with a Loved One. After the BOE meeting, please join me in thanking Sarah for all she does for QUEST.

Communicating with Clarity

• It is officially fire drill season. Just a reminder to make sure your class knows their responsibility with evacuation drills, and be sure that anytime you are out you have the template that was created included in your sub plans. 
• Did you read about the progress report changes? This impacts our current procedures, so please read carefully and let me know if you have any questions. 
• Our CIA is NOT in the BOE room tomorrow. Location will be shared later, but the slideshow that we worked on for RtI can be found on the Google Classroom.
• Summer dates are listed via the link below. Let me know if you have any questions.
• The end-of-year checklist will be coming out very soon. Please be sure all parts are complete. Last year we had very few people share their summer letters--this year we need 100% of all classrooms to turn them in so that we are prepared for any summer movement. 
• Lunch with a Loved One had to be flexible this year because of our stage being closed. We are using the back of the aud., the hallway, and the UPK classroom in the afternoon. 

A Look Ahead

Starting at the end of this school year, our progress reports will be able to be accessed by parents in IC through a tool called the backpack in the Parent Portal. This does not change where we fill out progress reports, but the goal is that next year we will no longer print, but rather parents will access them through the portal. For this year, I need you to do the following:

-Print your progress report and send home as you always do.

-When filling them out, add the student ID in a consistent way. Hannah or Kathy can help you in finding their student ID's--please reach out to them if you need help with. See picture below for example of where you would write the student ID in. Note that it is the same font as the QUEST Elementary School

-Save them last name, then first name (example: Warren, Derek). 

-Email them to Hannah, or share your folder where they are with Hannah. She will be sharing this with Tom, who will then be posting them. 

-Please have them to Hannah by June 15th--let me know if this presents an issue for you! 

Next year, parents will be expected to go onto IC to retrieve them and we will not print them; however, they can still request it. John Miller and I will be working with parents on this process. 

The positive with this is that parents will be able to see each year's report card by going in IC and taking a look. This is great news and a positive step in the right--and green--direction. 

Please let me know if you have any questions as to what you are supposed 

SUMMER SAVE THE DATES

Looking to plan ahead? Check out the save the date below with important summer dates.

CLICK HERE