Week of May 4

Thank you for your kindness this week as I have been on the mend.  Hopefully new medications will help me with a weekend recovery.  We are REALLY looking forward to your end of year conferences next week.  It is a FUN chance to have face time with each of you and to BRAG about your AWESOMENESS!!!  Have a fantastic Friday and beautiful weekend!

DID YOU KNOW?

• that our PTO has received their 501c3 and that their profit from the carnival is almost $10,000?!  Thank you for your auction dates!!!
• that we investigating getting new library shelves?  We will keep you posted as this progresses.
• that we have recommended three more teachers for hire and they have signed their contracts?  New staff members so far are: Sanela Pjetrovic (spjetrovic@coppellisd.com), April Reeves (areeves@irvingisd.net), Taylor Osborn (taylor.osborn2@gmail.com), and Amanda Bell (abell2010@outlook.com).  Please take time to reach out to them and welcome them to our famiLEE.  We will continue interviewing for our other vacancies.

“I’ve found that every minute spent in preparation saves ten in execution.”– John Maxwell

PROJECT ACES
Join us in the cafeteria tomorrow morning from 7:45-8:00 for All Children Exercise Simultaneously.  This is a district-wide event.  Thank you, Alicia, for organizing and to Elisa for getting NTA Taekwondo out to our school.  Please tweet to #CISDACES.   We WILL have morning broadcast following the event.


BLUEBONNET CELEBRATION

Don't forget to remind voters about the Bluebonnet Celebration after school on Thursday from 3:05 -4:30.  Invitations were passed out by Courtney on Wednesday.  Please make sure learners have a way home if they are planning to celebrate, and that they are picked up from the cafeteria loop.

MAP TESTING

You all have done an excellent job of loading your classes for testing and setting up quality testing environments for our learners.  I have seen many "post its" and slips with feedback to learners regarding their BOY and EOY scores.  THANK YOU for jumping on board with this so that learners can have purpose for performing their best.  They are excited to brag about themselves and parents have made comments too.  We know they have learned so much this year!!

SUMMATIVE CONFERENCES
If you forgot the time you signed up for, click here.


SUMMER SCHOOL
Thank you for your patience as our district works to transform Summer School.  As soon as we know who will be invited, we will communicate to you so you can inform your parents.


INFORMATION LITERACY REFRESHER
All district employees must complete an update.  Please complete this by Friday, May 29.  You are welcome to work together, as a house, during one of your conference times.  Thank you, Alli and Courtney, for keeping us compliant!


SPRING CONFERENCES
Thank you for coordinating these conferences with your parents.


NATIONAL TEACHER DAY
Tuesday is not only Cinco de Mayo, but it is National Teacher Day.  In celebration, our wonderful PTO will be providing a luncheon for us.  Sorry there won't be any margaritas.  :(


DRAMA PERFORMANCE
Our drama club will perform for the school on Friday.  Please be seated, in the cafe, ready to begin at 8:15.  We WILL NOT be on an assembly schedule.  Specials designers, please go to the cafe at 8:30 to supervise your learners until the performance is completed.

EOY LITERACY IN AWARE

Please remember to follow directions from last week's blog for uploading your data in AWARE.

KINDERGARTEN ROUND UP
We will be hosting two times for Kindergarten Round Up on Thursday.  8:30-9:30 and 11:45-12:45.  During both sessions, parents will meet in the flex space and learners will shadow Kindergarteners. 

"LEE" QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Make good choices today, so you don't have regrets tomorrow."  

"LEE"DERSHIP TIP OF THE WEEK:  During an assembly do not speak and do not look around and try to get the attention of your friends in other classes.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

May 4-5- Central Office in PreK Room

May 5- Cinco de Mayo Luncheon

            TOY Banquet (7:00)

May 6- National Nurse's Day

             Walk at School Wednesday

             Jeans and House Shirt Day

             Staff Mtg. / Caroline's Shower (3:30)

May 7- Kindergarten Round Up (8:30 and 11:45)

             Second Grade Mother's Day Program (2:15)

             Bluebonnet Celebration (3:05-4:30 Flex Space)

May 8- NO Spirit Assembly Schedule 

             Drama Performance (8:15 and 7:00)

             Kindergarten Mother's Day Program (2:00)

May 10- Mother's Day

May 11- 4th Grade Field Trip to Austin

               Guest Principal (McKenna Sweatt)

May 12- 5th Grade STAAR Retest

May 13- Walk at School Wednesday

             Jeans and Red and Black Shirt Day

             Apple Visits Lee (1:00)

             CISD Night at the Ballpark

May 14- Choir/Instrumental Ensemble Performance (6:30)
May 15-  Kindergarten Field Trip to Biodiversity Center

Week of April 27

We survived STAAR testing this week!  Thank you for the excellent job of keeping learners quiet and for the active monitoring and the preparation of our learners.  We know that all of them have tried their best. 

“Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away.”– James B. Stockdale

DID YOU KNOW?

• that there is a rock in the basket of the eco-pond that must stay there?  The rock keeps the basket working if the electricity turns off.  If the rock is not in there, the contents of the basket float back into the eco-pond.  Please let learners know this, so when they are "helping" to clean out the straining basket, that the rock remains. 
• your Mac has built in settings that can assist learners with reading and writing? Check out more information on text to speech and dictation tools for the Mac here. (thanks, Alli!)
• there is optional insurance for your iPad and MacBook?  You don't want to have to pay for damages.  See Diana for details.

EDUPHORIA

Please go into Eduphoria and make sure that you have electronically signed all of your Walkthroughs and Observations.  THANK YOU!

iPADS
Please remember that apps that are downloaded on our campus iPads are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.  We have some "games" that are on devices that we need to ask ourselves about.  Please make sure your learners are downloading apps with your permission only.


YEARBOOKS

The final deadline for yearbook ordering is next Friday, May 1st.  Staff and parents can order on the Balfour website www.balfour.com.  They will need to type in Richard J. Lee Elementary.  The cost is $30.

REMINDERS (you might wonder why this is in the blog again??)
Please continue to review expectations and hold our learners to high standards.  It is an excellent time of the year to remind our learners of the many privileges we have here at Lee.  (Furniture, building, resources, technology)  Just as we remind learners, a friendly reminder to the staff about arriving to school on time, supervising learners at ALL TIMES, transitioning with HALL expectations, not texting during the work day for personal reasons, staying on campus during your conference time, and watching your clocks to dismiss and transition on time.  I'm posting this, again, because we have people not doing these things.  In addition, we just spent $800 on MacBooks with water damage and key damage.  FROM THIS BLOG FORWARD: there is to be NO FOOD OR DRINK near technology.  Water bottles should, AT ALL TIMES, be on the floor.  Snack should be eaten AWAY from technology- including iPads.  Further damage will be at the expense of designers who the technology is checked out to.

SUMMATIVE CONFERENCES
On Sunday, you received an invitation to sign up for your summative conference.  Please make sure you have signed up.  This includes all positions at RJL. You must turn in your summative reflections in Eduphoria by Friday, April 24. That is tomorrow!

EOY LITERACY IN AWARE

At the end of the school year, you should scan and upload into Aware: 

• For every learner: 
  • EOY writing sample 

• For Learners not on grade level, or being monitored for Reading RtI
  • EOY writing sample 
  • EOY DRA (running record / written response)  
  • EOY spelling test 

- Educators should keep BOY/MOY/EOY as part of their personal documentation and anecdotal records for the year, but as long as the scores and and EOY documentation have been scanned and uploaded into Aware, the paperwork can be discarded after the school year has concluded. 

"LEE" QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is NO cure for curiosity." -Ellen Parr

"LEE"DERSHIP TIP OF THE WEEK:  Do not talk with your mouth full.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 25- Dad's Club Golf Tournament
April 28- Rachel S's Birthday
April 29- Jeans and iCreate Shirt
                Amanda's Birthday
                Leadership Meeting (3:30)
April 30- Learn About Lee (8:00)
May 1- Yellow House Field Trip
             Progress Reports Go Home
             Project Aces Day
May 4-5- Central Office in PreK Room
May 6- Jeans and House Shirt Day
             Staff Mtg. / Shower (3:30)
May 7- Kindergarten Round Up (8:30)
             Second Grade Mother's Day Program (2:15)
May 8- Spirit Assembly Schedule
             Drama Performance (8:15 and 7:00)
             Kindergarten Mother's Day Program (2:00)
May 10- Mother's Day

Week of April 20

Thank you for the amazing observations this week!  It was a joy being in so many classrooms to see the learning you are designing for our kiddos.  I will be in more classrooms tomorrow.  You continue to raise the bar and impress!!  SUPER JOB with our class and individual pictures, designers.  You did an excellent job of keeping learners quiet as we transitioned and waited.  We had lots of class orders THANKS TO YOUR HELP!!

“I don’t believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.”– Harold Geneen

DID YOU KNOW?

• that your Mac has a program called Image Capture that can help you transfer images and video from an iPad quickly and easily?  Take a look at this quick video to learn more! (Thank you, Alli)
• there is a free trial of emaze to help you with digital presentations for learners?
• that we are trying to get the MAP window opened sooner so K-2 learners could take MAP while 3-5 learners are taking STAAR?  You won't have to fight for computers and the building will already be testing.  We will keep you posted.
• that Social Spurs will provide Mrs. George a gift for Librarian Appreciation Week?  Since she was at TLA all week, we will give it to her on Monday.  Feel free to have your learners create cards for her, too.  Wouldn't it be fun to have her return to a bunch on her desk?
• Chantel, Todd, and Angela will be walking around after school on Friday to check for your STAAR testing environments and coverings?  You only need to cover reading and math strategies or work.  YAY!  

FAMI"LEE" CARNIVAL
It looks like we might get lucky with weather for our carnival.  THANK YOU, in advance, for your attendance.  I can't wait to hear how much your auction dates raise for our school!  YOU are the BEST!  If we have to cancel due to rain, we will notify you as quickly as possible.


STAAR
Please view the PPT and watch MODULE 1 on Active Monitoring.  Once you have viewed the PPT, please initial on the supplemental PPT training sheet in Angela's office and turn in Module 1 Active Monitoring certificates to her.  If you are testing, you may wear jeans and sneakers with a school shirt.


YEARBOOKS

The final deadline for yearbook ordering is May 1st.  Staff and parents can order on the Balfour website www.balfour.com  and type in Richard J. Lee Elementary.  The cost is now $30.

WASTE FREE LUNCH @ LEE
We will participate in Waste Free Lunch Day in celebration of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22.  To learn more check out this resource and video.  I have purchased Spirit Sticks to be handed out to each learner that contributes to a waste free lunch that day.  In addition, we will have compostable silverware purchased from the Child Nutrition Department.  Special thanks to Elisa for getting our compost bin started.

REMINDERS
Please continue to review expectations and hold our learners to high standards.  It is an excellent time of the year to remind our learners of the many privileges we have here at Lee.  (Furniture, building, resources, technology)  Just as we remind learners, a friendly reminder to the staff about arriving to school on time, supervising learners at ALL TIMES, transitioning with HALL expectations, not texting during the work day for personal reasons, staying on campus during your conference time, and watching your clocks to dismiss and transition on time.  Please see me if you have questions about ANY of these requests.  


DISPLAYS OF LEARNING
Open House was a month ago.  That means your displays of learning should be switched out by now. Please do not leave work up over a month unless it is an interactive bulletin board.  Just like we move the furniture we should move the work on our walls.  With Dr. Waldrip coming on Thursday, we should be extra mindful of our spaces, walls, and evidence of learning.  THANK YOU!


FIELD TRIPS
Houses and grade levels have done an excellent job the end of this year filling out the necessary paperwork to go on these trips and fund them appropriately.  THANK YOU for your efforts, we notice- and so does our bank account!


4/5 AUTHOR VISIT

Thank you, Courtney, for arranging such an exciting author visit.  I love that our learners had the experience of learning more about the Soman Chinani and his contributions to our world.


BUSSES
Please help make sure that your learners get on their bus before the busses depart.  The busses will depart by 3:13 so it is imperative that you WALK YOUR LEARNERS OUT on time.  Also, remind parents in your weekly communication that if they have a K-2 learner they are to meet them at the bus stop or they will not be allowed off the bus. 

HAPPY CALLS
Did you make them last week?  If not....please do!  Our parent satisfaction survey will be going out and one way to keep parents happy is to brag about their learners.


SPRING CONFERENCES
Have you started scheduling these?  If not....please do!


SUMMATIVE CONFERENCES
You will be getting an invitation to sign up for your summative conference.  You must turn in your summative reflections in Eduphoria by this Friday (April 24.)

"LEE" QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious and curiosity leads us down new paths.” -Walt Disney

"LEE"DERSHIP TIP OF THE WEEK:  Whether we are in school or in public, if someone drops something, pick it up and hand it back to them.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 17- FamiLEE Carnival (5:30-8:00)
April 20- STAAR Testing 
April 21- STAAR Testing
                Kinder Afternoon Field Trip
April 22- STAAR Testing
                Waste Free Lunch Day
                First Grade Field Trip
                Fed Ex Day (3:30-4:30)
April 23- Dr. Waldrip Visits Lee (9:00)
April 24- Summatives are Due
                Volunteer Luncheon (11:00-12:00) 
                Growth and Development Video (2:00)
April 25- Dad's Club Golf Tournament
April 28- Rachel S's Birthday
April 29- Amanda's Birthday
                Leadership Meeting (3:30)
April 30- Learn About Lee (8:00)
May 1- Yellow House Field Trip
             Progress Reports Go Home
             Project Aces Day

Week of April 13

What a super week!  By the end of Friday, I will have visited with fifteen applicants for our open positions.  I have five more interviews scheduled for next week.  So far THREE applicants stand out and I am recommending Sanela Pjetrovic for an in district transfer.  Once her transfer is official, I will communicate to you so you can welcome her to our famiLEE.  I will continue to keep you posted as we interview.  I recognize that the changes of next year cause imaginations to run wild, but I encourage you to ENJOY THIS TIME TOGETHER.  We will be taken care of!!

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

DID YOU KNOW?

• that each house has a set of 24 Rekenreks that were delivered to your storage rooms last Friday?
• that some of our very own Lee Spur Designers will be presenting at this summer's Balanced Literacy training?  Sign up by June 1st through Eduphoria if you are interested. 
• about the Student Film Festival at the White House?  This year's topic: The Impact of Giving Back.  Maybe we can have some submissions next year? 

FAMI"LEE" CARNIVAL
If you are invested in being dunked at the carnival, please sign up in the teacher's lounge.  Otherwise, Todd will be in there ALL NIGHT LONG!  THANK YOU for the personal time you will share with our learners on Friday night.  Cross your fingers for beautiful weather!


LEADERSHIP MEETINGS
Please send your LEEdership Council members to the PreK room on Monday at 8:30.  Please also remind them to wear their council t-shirt when you send home your parent communication.


4/5 AUTHOR VISIT

Tuesday's author presentation will begin promptly at 8:00 in the cafe.  Please move to the cafe right after morning broadcast.  The presentation will last about an hour.  After the presentation, we will ask questions and deliver the autographed books learners purchased.  If learners didn't get a chance to purchase a book ahead of time, they can buy one at this time.  They must have cash in order to purchase.  

PICTURE DAY
Please be here on time for our Staff picture on Thursday morning at 7:10.  We will meet in the cafeteria.  We want EVERYONE to be included, so please allow for morning traffic and be on time!!


STAAR
Please view the PPT and watch MODULE 1 on Active Monitoring.  Once you have viewed the PPT, please initial on the supplemental PPT training sheet in Angela's office and turn in Module 1 Active Monitoring certificates to her.


COPPELL EARTH FEST
We are SO EXCITED that our learners in Red House will work our booth on Saturday.  THANK  YOU for designing a CBL unit that will have them share their knowledge with the world in an authentic way.  Way to go Red House!  You are welcome to come out to Coppell Town Hall from 9:00-1:00 Saturday.


HAPPY CALLS
Have you taken the time lately to make happy phone calls to your learners?  Remember doing these the first weeks of school?  It is probably a good time to think about another round of these.  It is a great way to keep that rapport with parents because SPRING FEVER is here!


GARDENS @ LEE
You have all done an incredible job of working in the garden beds these last two weeks.  Thank you for locking everything up and taking care of our supplies.  Please remember to clearly mark what is planted so that we can all learn from what grows.  What a great place to take your learners out to make scientific drawings of the cycle of these plantings in their science notebooks.  


FIELD TRIPS
Some of you are planning end of year field trips.  Remember to use this document in planning and determining pricing.  I must sign off on this before you send information home to parents.  You also must remember to inform the cafeteria of your trip so that they can order accordingly.  THANK YOU!


"LEE" QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  "A man with a great curiosity will never get bored even if he lives millions (of) years." - author unknown

"LEE"DERSHIP TIP OF THE WEEK:  Whenever you are offered food, never take more than your fair share.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 11- Coppell EarthFest
April 13- National Librarian's Appreciation Week
                LEEdership Council Meeting (8:30)
April 14- Suzanne's Birthday
                4/5 Author Visit (8:00-(9:00)
                PTO Meeting (6:30)
April 15- Walk AT School Wednesday
                College Shirt Day
                5th Grade Spinal Screening
                Staff Meeting (3:30)
April 16- Staff Picture (7:10)
                Class and Individual Picture Day
April 17- FamiLEE Carnival (5:30-8:00)
April 20- STAAR Testing 
April 21- STAAR Testing
April 22- STAAR Testing
                Waste Free Lunch Day
April 23- Dr. Waldrip Visits Lee
April 24- Summatives are Due
                Volunteer Luncheon (11:00-12:00) 
                Growth and Development Video (2:00)
April 25- Dad's Club Golf Tournament

Week of April 6

Once again, when I was engaging with people this week, I heard from more than one person how AWESOME the staff a Lee is.  I couldn't agree more!  We are entering the home stretch, friends.  Remind yourself daily to do more of what makes you happy and enjoy this time with your kiddos.

“Hard days are the best because that’s when champions are made. If you push through the hard days, then you can get through anything.”– Gabby Douglas

“What I like most about change is that it’s a synonym for ‘hope.’ If you are taking a risk, what you are really saying is, ‘I believe in tomorrow and I will be part of it.'” – Linda Ellerbee

DID YOU KNOW?

• the the RJL Walk for Wishes team raised $530 for children with life threatening medical conditions?  THANK YOU, Layne, for spearheading a team, and thank you to Elisa and Megan for participating!
• that we will have an additional diagnostician helping April Dyke with our caseload?  If you attend an ARD and Stephanie O'Dell is the diagnostician, please welcome her to the famiLEE. She will be helping April the remainder of the year.
• that leaving your lights on in your spaces, design studios, and workrooms when you are not in there could keep us from being Net Zero this year?  Please help make a conscious effort to turn these off when you leave or see them on in the building.  Please monitor your flat panels, too!

FAMI"LEE" CARNIVAL
Remember LEEdership Council will be pre selling entrance tickets, at the end of lunch, next week.  Please advertise this in your newsletters!  Also, please make sure to start advertising and talking up your auction dates with your learners.  This will help ensure we raise top dollar for your valuable time!


LEADERSHIP MEETINGS
Please remember to go back and share our meeting notes and information with the members of your house and team that were not in attendance.  There were a great deal of decisions made and we want to keep everyone in the loop!  I was overwhelmed with the attendance at our latest meeting.  Your time, expertise, ideas, and talents are GREATLY APPRECIATED!  I will begin interviews next week and will keep you posted as I find "perfect fits" for Lee.


STAAR 
Thank you, all of you, for keeping our building a secure testing site on Monday and Tuesday.  It takes all of us working together!  Angela, THANK YOU for your organization so that everything ran so smoothly.  4th and 5th grade designers, thank you, for the miles you wore into our carpets!  Thank you to Roxann, Renee, Ayesha, Alicia, Diana, Veronica, Julie, Courtney, and David for helping with our small groups and bathroom monitoring.  We had excellent active monitoring at Lee!


COPPELL EARTH FEST
We are SO EXCITED that our learners in Red House will work our booth on Saturday.  THANK  YOU for designing a CBL unit that will have them share their knowledge with the world in an authentic way.  Way to go Red House!


WASTE FREE LUNCH @ LEE
We will participate in Waste Free Lunch Day in celebration of Earth Day on April 22.  To learn more check out this resource and video.  I have purchased Spirit Sticks to be handed out to each learner that contributes to a waste free lunch that day.  In addition, we will have compostable silverware purchased from the Child Nutrition Department.  Special thanks to Elisa for getting our compost bin started.


SUMMER SCHOOL
Are you interested in teaching summer school in Coppell ISD?  One of our Assistant Principals, Patricia Badillo will be the administrator and she sent this link to apply for those interested.


BOOK CLUBS
Please let me know if you are utilizing Roxann's Digital Book Club with your learners.  I would LOVE to see it in action and hear their feedback.  In case you forget, here is the introduction to digital book clubs, The Princess in Black, and The Templeton Twins Have an Idea.  THANK YOU, Roxann, for your hard work and vision with this innovative project.

 

"LEE" QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” - Oprah Winfrey

"LEE"DERSHIP TIP OF THE WEEK:  After we eat, we will clean up after ourselves. This includes cleaning off the tables and making sure we haven’t left any trash on the floor or around the eating area. It is important to be responsible for your trash no matter where you are and to be sure not to litter.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 5- Stacey's Birthday
April 6-April 10- LEEdership Council Pre Sells FamiLEE Carnival Tickets
April 8- Megan's Birthday
              Walk AT School Wednesday
              Jeans and Red and Black Attack Shirt Day
              Curriculum Meetings (3:30)
April 11- Coppell EarthFest
                Dad's Club Golf Tournament
April 13- National Librarian's Appreciation Week
                LEEdership Council Meeting (8:30)
April 14- Suzanne's Birthday
                4/5 Author Visit (8:00-(9:00)
                PTO Meeting (6:30)
April 15- Walk AT School Wednesday
                College Shirt Day
                5th Grade Spinal Screening
                Staff Meeting (3:30)
April 16- Class and Individual Picture Day
April 17- FamiLEE Carnival (5:30-8:00)