Week of August 14, 2017

Can you believe it?  We are one more week away from our 850 sweet kiddos filling the building.  I hope you are as excited as I am!!  

I want to take time to thank some of you for helping to remind us how LUCKY we are at Lee. (I apologize if I have left any of you off.)  Let's start with our front office... Shanna has been working NONSTOP to enroll all new learners in our area of CISD.  Deepa has helped to verify ALL of the new learners moving to our school.  Lastly, we brought Candace in a bit early, too, to help with records requests and other tasks.  All of these ladies continue to greet visitors and staff members with a smile and helpful spirit, even when they are interrupted.  Can we get a power clap for these ladies?!

Thank you to our Kindergarten Designers, Jacque, and Courtney for coming in for two days to assess our incoming Kindergarteners and for class list creation.   This is still their summer break, yet they are working for the good of our entire school in order to put learners in balanced classrooms that will help ALL of us as they grow through Lee.  WOW!  THANK YOU, ladies!

Muchos Gracias to Sam and Taylor O. as they hosted Broadcast Camp this week.  They brought back learners who will be in middle school so they could mentor and teach others about the TriCaster system.  Even though they make it look easy, this is not an easy task!  Our learners went to WFAA studio in Dallas to learn more about ways to enhance our morning broadcast.  Because of these ladies, our morning broadcast will begin DAY ONE of school with a fresh new look!  WAY TO GO!  We appreciate you!

Your fearless Leadership Team spent a full day (well...minus a succulent workshop) working through a great deal of information.  They helped to update their mission as a group and we designed collective commitments.  We worked on updating Curriculum Night presentations and to weigh out the pros and cons of a master schedule change for this year.  (Stay tuned as a final decision is being made.)  Each of us also identified our top five leadership strengths and how we can use them this coming year.  This group's dedication and their efforts to bring ALL of our houses and teams together is massively inspiring.  THANK YOU for CULTIVATING KINDNESS this school year!  Thank you for being the communicators you are!  Thank you for leadership!

KUDOS to those of you that worked on curriculum writing this summer!  The fruit of your labor will be enjoyed by the entire district.  Curriculum directors bragged, endlessly, on Lee participants.

THANK YOU to our gals who attended Common Formative Assessment Training and PLC Training with Ashley and I this summer.  May, Samira, Kristina, Megan Schlosstein, Taylor H. will help us with leading learning on these topics.  

We appreciate Layne, Megan, Jacque, and Kylie for planning our CBL update training during Back to School Training.  We are excited to offer differentiated support from these experts in CBL.  THIS GROUP IS AMAZING!!

Shout outs to all of you that have put time in getting systems in place before we come back.  I know even if you weren't up here in person, you were working electronically, meeting for dinners, attending ARDS, orienting teammates, and MORE.  Please know that your efforts do not go unnoticed and are what help make this the BEST SCHOOL ON THE PLANET!

Lastly, can I get an AMEN for the blessing of an INCREDIBLE Admin Team?  Not a minute goes by that I am not reminded about the power of teamwork, collaboration, and servant leadership when I am with Angela, Ashley, and Leigh Ann.  There is NO DOUBT in my mind that we are all #luckyatlee to work together.  I can only imagine how our school and staff will benefit from this fierce foursome!  

THIS WEEK

You probably have a great deal of questions about this week.  Ashley, myself, and staff members have been designing learning experiences for you for next week.  It is our intent to deliver professional learning that mimics how you teach in your spaces.  You should expect to be engaged, moving around, and working on meaningful tasks.  Here is what you need to know about next week.  

1. You can wear shorts and jeans (be comfortable!)  Monday is team building and that usually means getting in your car to do "something."  
2. Snacks will be provided each day.  Bring your own drinks.
3. We will start promptly at 8:00 and conclude by 4:00.
4. Monday we will be in the cafeteria.  If you do not want to sit in the wooden chairs, feel free to roll down your design studio chairs or bring bean bags down.  
5. On Monday, please sit as a house (including your support folks) with the corresponding duct tape in the center of your table.
6. Lunch will be on your own each day.
7. Agendas will be shared daily.
8. You will have FUN and some time to design!
9. Here is the In-Service schedule for Wednesday.  

CLASS LISTS

Class lists are already populated in Pentamation, so that you can email your parents on Wednesday.   Please work together, as a house, to comprise a welcoming email to send out on Tuesday afternoon at 3:45.  We want to be consistent, and send these at the same time, so that the office is not bombarded with phone calls.  In your email, please include a Google form to capture info so that you do not have to have all of your parents complete it at Meet the Designer Night.  PTO has requested you add a yes/no question on your form that asks if parents may be contacted by the PTO.  Also include the Volunteer Background Check link so that ALL parents can get approved to engage at school.  A sample blurb was provided to your leadership team on Thursday. 

MEET THE DESIGNER NIGHT

Please plan to be at this event from 5:30-7:00 on Thursday night (except time clock employees).  Your space DOES NOT have to be completely ready for this event!  Stage it the best you can and remember that your space will come to life once the learners arrive and create work.  We will give you our 2017-2018 campus shirts to wear on this day and to our event.  We will take a staff picture on Thursday and these shirts will help parents to identify staff members in the building.  I am fine with you wearing shorts or jeans with your new shirt for MTD.  Designers, if you have a PTO board member's learner, or a staff member's child in your class...they will come to your space at 5:15, to meet you, so that they can participate in Meet the Designer Night.  Thank you for your flexibility with these parents.  

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

PTO and volunteers will be delivering school supplies to your spaces on Friday.  If there is a specific place you want these stacked in your space, please put up a sign in an easy to see place.  THANK YOU for tweeting out about ordering school supplies.  We all know you want as many kits as possible.

CONVOCATION

Please carpool over to Irving Bible Church on Friday.  We will sit together as a school and you need to wear your black Convocation t-shirt.  

KEEP AFLOAT

In an attempt to lighten your load, we have been strategically sprinkling out "to-do's" though the last couple of blog posts.  I want you to be kind to yourself this school year, so it will help if you get some of these tasks done, now, so you can focus on relationships and lesson design the first couple weeks of school.  Here are some items you can hopefully check off:

• Watch compliance training videos
• Complete Faculty Favorites Form
• Visit and review the Faculty Website
• Update your campus website (new hires, ask a teammate for help, please)
• Read the updated Lee Staff Handbook (more updates as of today highlighted in yellow)
• Request keys from Ashley

SOLAR ECLIPSE ON FIRST DAY

Please review this resource Stephanie R created for you to help with Monday's special event.  We will discuss more about this during in-service training this week.


LEE STAFF CALENDAR
All important events are uploaded to a shared Lee Staff Calendar.  New hires will want to add the  staff calendar to your phones and MacBooks.  Here are links to help you:
HTML Link                                         
ICS Link 

CURRICULUM COURIER (last week)

CISD CURRICULUM COURIER in schoology (Access Code: XD7F9-WSDFH)

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Aug. 12:  Stephanie R's Birthday

Aug. 14:  Campus Professional Learning (8:00-4:00)

Aug. 15:  Campus Professional Learning (8:00-4:00)

Aug. 16:  District Professional Learning (info above)

Aug. 17:  Campus Professional Learning (8:00-4:00)

                Meet the Designer Night (5:30-7:00)

Aug. 18:  Campus Professional Learning

Aug. 20:  You will not sleep because tomorrow is...

Aug. 21:  The First Day of School!!!!