Week of May 2

OUR GUIDING PURPOSE: We empower learners to positively impact the world by designing learning experiences that promote relationships, risk taking, and collaboration in a flexible environment.

What YOU are doing to do to LIVE out this VISION at Lee?  

DID YOU KNOW?

• we ordered a dash and dot robot for each house, an Ozobot class kit for the school, and imagination playground small blue block desktop building sets?  More ways to make learning FUN and to use this last month of school
• if you are interested in continuing to learn about Schoology, the DLCs will be offering a self-paced course this summer called Schoology Poolside?  Keep and eye out for more information about summer professional learning coming soon.  Can't wait for summer?  Alli would be happy to help you get started!

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK SCOOP

I hope you feel celebrated and LOVED this next week.  Our office, PTO, and Dad's Club have some sweet gestures planned to thank you for ALL that you do!  We will kick the week off with a delicious breakfast for our entire staff from Chick-Fil-A on Monday.  We will do our best to have it set up in the teacher's lounge, by 7:15, so that those who have a morning duty can enjoy too.  Tuesday, we will have a salty and sweet Crave popcorn bar set up for you.  Wednesday afternoon, PTO will provide snocones at the end of the day and there is NO STAFF MEETING.  Thursday morning, our Dad's Club will be making breakfast for you, and on Friday, PTO will provide lunch from On the Border.     ENJOY!  

During this part of the school year it is easy to forget how #luckyatlee we truly are.  I would like to reshare something I shared with our Leadership Team this summer.  May it carry you through the remainder of this school year, motivate you to be a marigold to someone, and encourage you to CRUSH SOME WALNUTS:

This year will test you more intensely than just about anything you’ve done. It will deplete your energy.  It may bring you to tears and make you question your talents and skills.  But all these tests, if you approach them the right way, will leave you better and stronger than you are today.

Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good.  Still, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of all that is ahead of you this year.  The fact is, a great deal of those tips won’t work very well if you fail to follow this one essential rule:

Surround yourself with good people.

By finding the positive, supportive, energetic educators in our school and sticking close to them, you can improve your job satisfaction more than with any other strategy. Your chances of excelling in this field will skyrocket.  Just like a young seedling growing in a garden, thriving depends largely on who you plant yourself next to.

The Marigold Effect

Many experienced gardeners follow a concept called companion planting: placing certain vegetables and plants near each other to improve growth for one or both plants.  For example, rose growers plant garlic near their roses because it repels bugs and prevents fungal diseases.  Among companion plants, the marigold is one of the best: It protects a wide variety of plants from pests and harmful weeds.  If you plant a marigold beside most any garden vegetable, that vegetable will grow big and strong and healthy, protected and encouraged by its marigold.

Marigolds exist in our school– encouraging, supporting and nurturing those around them.  When you find a marigold in our school and stay close to them, you will grow.  Find more than one and you will positively thrive.  

At Lee, designers will be fortunate to be planted close to marigolds.  You can identify them by the way they genuinely welcome you to school each day, or by the way their offers to help sound sincere.  Perhaps it is just by how you feel when you’re with them:  Are you calmer, more hopeful?  Excited to get started on a teaching task? Comfortable asking questions, even the foolish ones?  If you feel good around this person, chances are they have some marigold qualities.

Once you’ve identified your marigolds, make an effort to spend time with them. Having a hard day? Go to your marigolds.  Not understanding how to operate the grade reporting system?  Go to your marigolds.  Confused by something the principal said at the staff meeting? Marigolds.  They may be on the other side of the building, out of your house or grade, or otherwise less convenient to reach than others.  Make the effort to find your marigolds.  It’s worth the trouble.

Beware of Walnut Trees

While seeking out your marigolds, you’ll need to take note of walnut trees.  Successful gardeners avoid planting vegetables anywhere near walnut trees, which give off a toxic substance that can inhibit growth, wilt, and ultimately kill nearby vegetable plants.  Sadly, sometimes, walnut trees will be around.  They may not seem dangerous at first.  In fact, some may appear to be good teachers – happy, social, well-organized.  But here are some signs that you should keep your distance: Their take on school or the learners is negative.  Their take on campus administration is negative.  Being around them makes you feel insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, or embarrassed.

WALNUT TREES ARE POISON. Avoid them whenever you can. If you don’t, they will start to infect you.  Doing this may be a challenge.  Touching base with your marigolds will help flush out the toxins that build up from contact with walnut trees.  Perhaps having enough marigolds around a walnut tree can deaden the roots and weaken the tree.  This year is going to be filled with hard work, challenge, and growth.  Communicate with others in a helpful manner and remember why you are part of this incredible profession.  As a valued member of our our leadership team, we challenge you to be a marigold.  Plant seeds around our school and contribute to building a campus culture of positivity, happiness, connectivity, and success.   

-Adapted from Cult of Pedagogy 2015  http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/marigold/

"LEE"DERSHIP QUALITY OF THE WEEK
Resiliency- recovering from or adjusting easily to misfortune or change.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit." -Napoleon

LESSON IN "LEE"DERSHIP

Accept that you are going to make mistakes.  Learn from them and move on.

DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 2-May 6:  Staff Appreciation Week
May 2:  EOY Summatives
May 3:  1st Grade Field Trip (Arboretum)
              Red and Black Shirt w/ Jeans
May 4:  Alan's Birthday
              College Shirt w/ Jeans

              Walk at School Wednesday
              Learning By Doing Chpt 10 Due
              EOY Summatives
              NO Staff Mtg. 
May 5:  Spur Savings
              LEEdership Council (8:15 Cafe)
              Kindergarten Round Up (9:30-10:30)
              Tour (1:00)
May 6: Project ACES Day
            PTO Luncheon
            Due Date for 3-5 Math Schoology Course
            EOY Summatives