Saturday, June 27, 2015

Week of June 22

Happy last Friday in June.  It is hard to believe we are already this far into summer "break."  For some of you...you haven't had a break yet with trainings and professional learning.  Today is the first day I am OFF from coming into school, yet here I blog.  I believe it is safe to say...we all have a LOVE of this RJL place.  I head out of town on Sunday to Cabo and if you have tried to email me....well.....you will be proud of me- my auto replies are set.  I will be doing my best to disconnect until I see some of you on July 7.

Until then... let me update you on what has happened since school has been out.

Chantel and Todd were trained on new RTI district procedures that we will go over during back to school training.  We hosted Tapping Out with Tiles phonics training with K-2 designers.  We also hosted a full day of Apple Training that reviewed Challenge Based Learning and oriented us to iBooks.  Many of you have attended Balanced Literacy training in the district.  Our very own, Lauren, was a showstopper presenter.   Thank you to those that attended.  Jillian and Kylie attended training with Lucy Calkins.  They will share their learning during district and campus training this year.  Sam has attended Formative Assessment and Global Classrooms training, and Jessica is at an Art Workshop today.  Samira, Todd, Priscilla, and Courtney M. attending Lead4ward Training that we will share about at our first Leadership Meeting.  Not to forget...we have many of you (Samira, Layne, and Taylor) curating math curriculum and doing other work for our district.  THANK YOU!!  I'm sure there are more of you!!  Please let me know if you are left off.   We have an amazing building full of learners and we cannot wait to learn from each of you as you grow this summer.

With the help of Courtney, we got all of our new hires that have Coppell ISD email their MacBooks and most of them their iPads.  (Shelley- I have your MacBook ready when you get in town).  We all remember what it was like being thrown into the Mac world- they are blessed- they have the summer to get oriented.   Here are some resources for ANY of us to use as we grow in our Apple knowledge.   Scroll down to page 11 to find Apple Learning Series Offerings and that live link will take you to the iTunes store.  There are self-paced courses to help you gain skills you are interested in.  If you participate in any of these, or any other summer training.  Please submit your hours in Euphoria for flex credit.

We received word that we have been nominated as an Apple Distinguished Campus.  What does this mean?  Well check this out to learn more.  This is an amazing honor considering they are making an exception for our nomination year one of operation.  Typically schools must be open 2-3 years before they can be recognized.  This nomination is the result of a hugely successful visit from Apple on May 13.  Apple reps were HIGHLY IMPRESSED with the practices they witness with CBL, technology integration and leadership.  Thank you, designers, for BEING YOURSELVES, but also showcasing your greatness!  The result of this visit is our design meeting on July 7.  EVERYONE is invited to attend and learn more, as well as contribute to the creation of our story through iBooks.  Jodi Dienhamer will join us and share her expertise, as well.  Our book is due August 31.

We also found out that the board has approved a pilot that RJL, CMSN, and NewTech@Coppell High will be participating in.  Apple and IBM are partnering in an educational innovation that will easily bring resources for learners to our designers.  As I learn more, I will keep you informed.  

As I will frequently remind you...each of you has been hand picked for our school.  Much work has gone into finding just the right people and in placing you in just the right spot.  We have spent the last few weeks finding additional famiLEE members as we added another first and fourth grade section.  We also found and ESL facilitator that will, most likely, be at Lee full time.  This is great news as our ESL population grows.  Please welcome the following through email or text so that they can begin making connections and feel at home.  

ESL Facilitator:  Claudia Rios cjriosmundo@gmail.com (214) 476-5990
Third Grade: Jess Smith jess_smith2@hotmail.com (817) 874-2398
First Grade: Jacque Johnson jacquejohnson152@gmail.com (469) 438-4697

Our houses will look like this:




So you can see... it has been a busy couple of weeks.  Before we know it July will be here.  Todd and I are back to work on July 21. We will spend July 21 and 22 at the North Texas Regional Consortium Conference.  We are looking forward to attending Roxann's Digital Books Workshop while there.  

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO COMPLETE THESE THREE SURVEYS:
Returning and new staff,  tell us all about yourself.  We will use this information to help with surprises throughout the new school year. 

 Complete this brief survey so that Chantel, Todd, and Angela can better serve you this next school year.  We are already addressing concerns brought to our attention.

Click here for the Googleform, to share insight for new Lee staff members.  

NEW HIRES:



DATES TO REMEMBER
June 27- Viana's Birthday
July 13- Cassie's Birthday
July 26- Nicole's Birthday
July 31- Wendy's Birthday
August 3-4- Balanced Literacy Training  (Sanela and )
August 3-7- New Teacher Orientation
August 18-21- RJL Back to School Training
August 20- Meet the Designer Night (5:30-7:00)

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