Week of May 20, 2019

THANK YOU for another incredible year at our school.  #rjlyear5 was filled with HAPPINESS because of each and every one of you.  Your hard work, dedication, perseverance, and genuine love of children goes unmatched and you are applauded for all that you have contributed to making our school the incredible place that it is!  I hope you will always remember that you are were hand picked to be at Lee because of the gifts and talents that you possess. Sometimes you already knew them, other times we brought them out of you.  The special and unique blessing is that we are each on our own journey, yet we can all reflect back over the last year and see that we are better because of each other.  It is exciting looking forward and dreaming about #rjlyear6!

It will be sad to see some of our famiLEE move along on different paths, however, I feel confident that the bonds and lessons made at Lee will have lasting positive effects on your new adventures. We are super excited to watch some of our Spurs become Coyotes.  Gwen, Kristen, Micha, Leslie, Meredith, Mariah, Kylie, Stephanie, Satish, Rucha, and Karli... we wish you well as you grow new traditions and beginnings in your new building.  WHAT A FUN RIDE YOU WILL HAVE!  Megan, Michelle, Hillary, Carla, and Akta... we wish you nothing less than the best.  All of you mentioned will forever be Lee Spur famiLEE members.  Please keep in touch!  

Enjoy the last couple of days of school.  We know this is the BEST school, with the AWESOMEST staff and learners.  We only get our kiddos 187 days, so make the most of these last 5 1/2 with them! THEY ADORE YOU-  AS DO I!

Want a laugh?  MAYcember Medley should help!

DID YOU KNOW?

• schedules for the last days of school are updated on the Master Schedule document and Faculty calendar?
• that only positive comments are expected on your report cards?  Please ensure this happens for the last nine weeks and that you remember to sign and mark what grade learners will be going into for the next year.  Make a second copy of the signed report card for their permanent folders.
• that lost and found is filled with clothing?  Please remind parents to check lost and found before the last day.  Anything not claimed will be added to our clothing donation bin.
• that I will continue to blog important info over the summer?  I will email you when I do, so you stay informed.
• you can still sign up for summer professional learning?  Attendance this summer counts towards your flex hours for 2019-2020.
• learning is expected to happen until the LAST day at Lee?  I am not in support of videos being watched, unless I am aware, and there is a book study connection.  For example, some appropriately watched Wonder this week, with permission from me.  Learners come home and tell their parents that they "watched videos" at school and it can create a misconception.  In addition, ANY time a video is watched, it is to be previewed in its entirety to avoid inappropriate content.

FIELD DAY
THANKS, again, to Kristi, Aparna, Julie, and Carla for your collaboration and efforts to make this a special day for the children!  Feel free to wear shorts (no workout shorts), the PTO provided t-shirts, and hats (if you like) on Friday.  Shorts should be fingertip length or longer- don't ruin it for others! Please use THIS schedule for FIELD DAY on our Master Schedule.   Here are descriptions of zone events.  We ask that you help your learners label their water bottles (provided by PTO) with their name, grade, and house, BEFORE going outside, so that all bottles get returned to their owners.  Involve the CISD student athletes and parents as much as possible to make the day tons of fun for all.   Thank you, Specials Team and Support Staff, for making sure everyone gets a 55 minute break in your assigned house.

EOY CHECKOUT

Here is a copy of the EOY Check Out Procedure page.  I am giving it to you in digital form so you have live links. Please create a digital copy that you can mark up and send to us, digitally, after we check you out.  Please have everything completed by your house check out time.  We will get the check out schedule to you by next Thursday.


FARMERS MARKET AT LEE
Our Garden Gurus have done an outstanding job this year!  They will be hosting a Farmer's Market during lunch time to sell the items they have grown.  They will also sell before Monday night's Choir performance.  There are potatoes, carrots, herbs, onions, AND MORE!  All proceeds go back to our school garden.  Please help us spread the word!

MOOVELOUS MONDAY
Don't worry about lunch on Monday.  The office will be providing you lunch from Chick-Fil-A.

TALENT SHOW
Please come down when called (7:45ish) on Monday morning.  We will have the broadcast crew live on the stage before our Talent Show begins.  We will have an alternate schedule on Monday.  Please remind parents so there are not any lunch mix ups.  THANK YOU, Yellow House and Melinda, for all of your hard work and preparations for this event for the school!

STAFF MEETING

Please join us in Red House for Michelle's 27 Years in Heaven Celebration.  We will follow her recognition by acknowledging service award recipients.

END OF YEAR TECHNOLOGY CHECK-IN
Please read the Lee End of Year Technology Checklist that explains how and when we will check in/out devices and presentation station carts.  Dates and info are also on the staff calendar.  In addition, if you need help with wiping devices (Dr. Applegate's email), please see Kasey.


5TH GRADE GRADUATION

Want to see our fifth grade graduation on Wednesday afternoon?  Tune in to watch via our YouTube Live channel from morning broadcast.  Thank you, Kasey, for setting this up for us.  Remember to eat lunches in your space this day and that there is an alternate schedule.  Please inform parents.  LEEdeership Council members who wear their shirts will help with walking our guests to the cafeteria if they wear their LEEdership shirts. 

SPIRIT RALLY

Please notify your parents if their child is getting an award at Thursday's Spirit Rally.  They may want to come and watch them be honored.  Learners will get awards from Leedership Council, Citizens of the Year, Spelling Bee, Yearbook Cover, Math Olympiad, Red and Black, Art, PE, Music, Library, STEAM, Enrichment, and more.  We will start at 8:00 and conclude about 9:30.

YEARBOOKS
We will host yearbook signing, from 10:00-11:00, after Thursday's Spirit Rally.  PLEASE ONLY SEND LEARNERS WITH YEARBOOKS around the building at this time.  Memory sheets and homemade signature books can be signed in your houses.  This prioritizes learners who have the purchased books from PTO.

LAST DAY LUNCHES
Please let the cafeteria know on this form what your learners will need for lunch on the last day. All learners should eat before we release on Thursday.

FIFTH GRADE FAREWELL PARADE
We host a FINAL WALK for 5th graders on the last day of school.  Early release is 12:15, so at 12:00 we will ask that you line a path with learners (starting in the cafeteria) around the first floor so that our fifth graders can be recognized by their school.  Bring your Kleenex! They walk the building two times followed by all of us assisting with dismissal duty on the last day.

REPORTS IN TEACHER ACCESS CENTER

Please help Kathy Creek by cleaning out your reports in Teacher Access Center as outlined in her email on Monday.

STORAGE ROOMS
Thank you for organizing and getting done with your inventory of your storage spaces.  Please create a digital copy that you can mark up and send to us, digitally, as we check your house out. Please pull your Probots, BeeBots, and Blue Bots out of your house storage closets.  Team leaders email Melinda how many you are sending down to the Media Center and have learners bring these to the Media Center before the last day of school.  They need barcoded and we will return to your house storage during the summer.

REMINDER FROM LEIGH ANN
Just a reminder that the Pearson site will wipe their records in early June.  If you need your TELPAS certificate, please go into the Pearson site and retrieve it before they clear all the information out.  The link is:  https://tx.scoring.pearsonassessments.com/scoring/signIn


REMINDER FROM THE NURSE
Please send to parents: Please pick up any medication or medical supplies your student has in the clinic on or before Thursday, May 23.  Medication must be picked up by a parent.  All medications not picked up will be thrown away.

• No medication, including EpiPens and inhalers, will automatically be sent home with students at the end of the year
• Parents must pick up medication.  If parents are not able to pick up medications, please contact Ameira Olayan at aolayan@coppellisd.com
• All medications will be discarded if not picked up by the end of the day on May 23rd.

MEMORIAL DAY CARDS
Don't forget to bring down your class cards for Memorial Day by the end of the day on Thursday.  We will deliver them to the DFW National Cemetery on Saturday, May 25 at 9:00 a.m.  This is a rewarding experience, so feel free to join in.  Please put each card in a gallon sized ziploc bag.  Don't worry, we will add the rocks for you, at the cemetery.  Designers, PLEASE resend this invitation and map home, to your class, so that their parents have information about the event.  It is open for ANY to attend.

LEE LIFE PRINCIPLE:

Humor- comical or amusing quality; ability to see or show the funny or amusing side of things.

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP:

Your ability to make people laugh can help others feel comfortable and relieve tense situations.

LEE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge

DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 20- Satish's Birthday
     Grades Due (8:00)

     Talent Show (8:00-10:00)
     Farmer's Market (Lunchtime and 5:45pm)
     Special Delivery (11:45-12:15 Front Car Loop)
     Choir Concert (6:30 Cafe)
May 21- NRH20 Performance
     Learner Led Conferences for Howard, Greer, Patel, Khan, and Godinez (2:00-03:00)
May 22- House Shirt and Jeans
     Lunch in Houses
     5th Grade Graduation (1:00-3:00 Cafe/Gym)
     Ponytail Club Hair Cutting (3:15-3:30)
     Michelle's 27 Years of Heaven (3:30-4:00)
     Staff Meeting (4:00-5:00)
May 23- Last Day of School
     Spirit Assembly (8:00-9:30)
     Yearbook Signing (10:00-11:00)
     Lunches in Houses
     Farewell Walk (12:00-12:15)
     Early Dismissal (12:15)
May 25- Deliver Memorial Letters to DFW National Cemetery (9:00am)

Week of May 13, 2019

Have an incredible weekend, sweet ladies.  I hope you have felt kindness and appreciation from our PTO and FamiLEEs.  You are such a talented and dedicated bunch and are loved very much!

We would love to give a warm welcome to Diana Elguea.  She will help us finish the year in Blue 2.  Thank you Diana, for jumping in during a hectic time of the year!

Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to all of you.  Whether you have children of your own, or not, you mother the children in our school.  Thank you for all you do for them and the love you provide them each and every day they are at school.

Here are some ADORABLE pictures of Akta's sweet baby girl to share with you.  She texted them to me yesterday.   It is amazing how much our FamiLEE has grown (and continues to grow) these first five years!

Speaking of growing.  We have recommended a few more staff members for hire this week.  To begin with we will be adding a second ESL position on campus.  Claudia and Dee will be joined by Julia Pena after she is approved by the board.  We also recommended Meredith Blaney for a classroom vacancy (read below).  Laura Jennings will also be joining our staff.   Laura and Meredith will be stopping by on Friday, at 12:30, to see learning in action.  At this time, all of our known vacancies have been filled.  This means we can begin finalizing our staff assignments for next school year.  My goal is to be able to share this information with you in my next blog.


DID YOU KNOW:

• that this short video that Kasey shared about a month ago gives you some AWESOME ideas of ways to use Apple Classroom?  Thanks, Kasey!
• our Lee Compost Crew video shared during an Apple Distinguished Schools Twitter chat has over 4000 views? Keep using the ADS hashtag when you tweet, Designers, and THANKS, Keiko!
• there is a schedule for the K-2 Author Visit for today?  It is on the second tab in our Master Schedule.  Thanks, Megan, for creating it. 

CREATION STATION

Thank you to those of you that shared your ideas for our added Specials position.  Please cheer on Stephanie Shannon as she embarks on a new journey, at Lee, as a Specials Designer.  She has some very clever ideas that she will implement in her new role next school year!  Stay tuned!

PONYTAIL CLUB

Are you interested in making a difference by donating your hair? If so, please sign up here, before Monday, to join the club! Hair must be 8” or longer. Your ponytail will be donated to Hair we Share to create a wig for someone with medical hair loss.

STAAR TESTING

Please view the master schedule for scheduling on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Let parents know about adjusted times for our grade level schedules on these days.  (we are still adding names in the schedule so it may change before Monday morning).  We will visit testing environments at 9:00, on Friday, to check for Reading, Math, and Science items that need covered or taken down.

Please put this information in your weekly newsletter: 

All 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students across the state of Texas will be participating in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.   Please see the testing schedule below:

• Monday, May 13th:  3rd Grade Math; 4th Grade Math
• Tuesday, May 14th:  3rd Grade Reading; 4th Grade Reading
• Wednesday, May 15th:  5th Grade Science

Please make note of these important dates!  Due to the need for a secure test environment, visitors  may not go beyond the office on these days.  There will be no volunteers for recess duty, helping teachers, helping in the library, helping in the office or tutoring students.  In addition, there will be no visitors allowed during lunch.  Please keep in mind that there are alternate lunch times on testing days.

FIELD DAY

Feel free to wear shorts (no workout shorts), the PTO provided t-shirts, and hats (if you like) on Friday.  Shorts should be fingertip length or longer- don't ruin it for others!  Please use the following schedule provided by PTO.   They have also provided these descriptions of zone events.  We ask that you help your learners label their water bottles (provided by PTO) with their name, grade, and house BEFORE going outside so that all bottles get returned to their owners.  Involve the CISD student athletes and parents as much as possible to make the day tons of fun for ALL.   Thank you to Kristi, Aparna, Julie, and Carla for your collaboration and efforts to make this a special day for the children!  Please re-share the sign up genius links emailed to you on Wednesday.

NOTE FROM LEIGH ANN
Thank you for all your hard work with your learners this year in RTI.  We have seen lots of growth from all of our learners.  As we wrap up the end of the year, please write up a summary for each of your learners who are in RTI.  Please state their EOY data, strategies that you have found to work well with them, and any other useful information for next year's designer.  After you have written this up, please make sure to put in the Google doc on the RTI Quick Glance and paste an additional copy in Aware.  If you need help with where to put this in Aware, please let Leigh Ann know.  Once, this has been completed, please complete this Google Form.


MEMORIAL DAY CARDS
Don't forget to have your class start their work on creating cards for Memorial Day by Thursday, May 23.  We will take them to the DFW National Cemetery on Saturday, May 25 at 9:00 a.m.  Please put each card in a gallon sized ziploc bag.  Don't worry, we will add the rocks for you, at the cemetery.  Designers, PLEASE send this invitation and map home so that parents have information about the event.  If any of you want to join us, you are more than welcome to attend.  It is a HEART-WARMING experience!

APEX FUNDS
We have your Apex Fun Run teacher 10% totals.  Please save receipts for all purchases and turn them in to Shanna for reimbursement once you have spent the total amount.  You will want to use a tax exempt form, as we will not reimburse for tax incurred.  You may use any vendor of your choice for these purchases and items purchased must be used for Lee learners on items that will remain at Lee. If you are purchasing a piece of furniture, it must be approved by Chantel, first.  Please make sure you thank PTO for giving over $3000 back to our staff!

TAKE CARE OF YOU

What are some ways to combat stress during the hectic end of the year?  Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus, suggests these strategies:

LEE LIFE PRINCIPLE:

Responsibility- making the right choice to be reliable and dependable

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP:

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.

LEE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you.  Never excuse yourself." -Henry Ward Beecher

DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 10- K-2 Author Visit
May 13- 3/4 STAAR Test (Math)
     5th STAAR Retest
     Kinder Zoo Field Trip
May 14- 3/4 STAAR Test (Reading)
     5th STAAR Retest
May 15- School Shirt with Jeans
     5th STAAR Test (Science)
     Leadership Meeting (3:30-5:00 Art Room)
May 16- Talent Show Rehearsal
     Kindergarten Zoo (2:00 Cafe)
     Stephanie's Shower (3:30)
May 17- Field Day
May 18- Micha's Birthday (8:00-10:00 Cafe)

Week of May 6, 2019

What another terrific week at Lee.  We had a super Yellow House music performance and a bridal shower for Karli.  Our 4th graders had a safe and memorable trip to Austin.  We also got a chance to meet our incoming Kindergartners. Thank you to those of you that stayed and helped with Round Up.  It was a packed house!  Please leave as soon as the children are safely dismissed today.  There have been so many late nights and it is time to start your weekend.  ENOY Cinco de Mayo on Sunday!

DID YOU KNOW:

• for the next year, Texas second graders will learn how to write cursive letters and third graders will learn how to write complete words and answers in cursive writing.  The new learning standards reflect the growing science that backs the benefits of handwriting.
• that an IC shared this timely post (I know it is May, but it still applies) with Jacque?  Please take time to reflect with it. It is such a GREAT reminder during this busy season of the school year.

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  Our fabulous PTO has planned a wonderful week of celebration for you!  Their theme is GRATITUDE- be thankful, appreciate, and return kindness.

• Monday- "Thankful"- tell your designer how thankful you are by writing a sweet note or making a special card
• Tuesday- "Designer Survival Kit"- Bring in highlighters, pens, pencils, notepads, or stationary for your designer
• Wednesday- Thank you for making my learning day sweet"- bring in something sweet for your designer
• Thursday- "You make us BLOOM all Day"- bring your designer's favorite flower  
• Friday- "Pamper your designer day" - Bring in a special surprise gift of your choice

PTO MEETING

Our final PTO Meeting for the year is on Tuesday, so please make sure you have children ready to give a final share out with our Board.  There will be a dessert potluck, so feel free to bring a dessert and enjoy some sweet treats.  You will get to meet our new Board President at this event.

HAPPY CALLS

I know you are in full swing of end of year conferences, but it is the perfect time to end the year on a good note.  Take some time and make a happy call to each of your learners.  It will pay off for you as much as it will them, trust me!

(this means learners will need a book from home or your class library for STAAR)

COPPELL EDUCATION FOUNDATION FUN RUN

We really need your encouragement to spread the word to our parents about the Run to Fund that is on Saturday, May 11, at Andy Brown East Park.  We only have 4 famiLEEs registered to participate.  Thanks for helping to spread the word.

CISD SUMMER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Dates: Thursday, May 30, and Friday, May 31
Focus: Digital Learning
Location: Coppell Middle School West
Click Here to view schedule and sign up

Dates: Wednesday, July 17, and Thursday, July 18
Focus: Social Emotional Learning
Location: Coppell Middle School West
Click Here to view schedule and sign up

LEE LIFE PRINCIPLE:

Humility- being humble, not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP:

If you win or excel at something, do not brag.

LEE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

DATES TO REMEMBER:
May 5- Leigh Ann's Birthday
Week of May 6-10- Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6- RTI Meetings
     Talent Show Auditions (after school)
     MiCocina Spirit Night
     Keeping Kids Safe, Happy and Healthy in the Digital World (5:00 pm A120)
May 7- Education Foundation Shirt and Jeans
     Teacher Appreciation Breakfast from Dad's Club (Cafe-7:00am)
     PTO Meeting (Cafe 7:00)
May 8- Convocation Shirt and Jeans
     IBC Luncheon for Staff (Lunch)
     Allen and Greer Fiesta (3:30-4:00)
     Staff Meeting (4:00-5:00)
May 9- Last Spurs Savings
     Samosas and Sweets from a Lee family
     Talent Show Auditions (after school)
May 10- Books Due to Library
     LEEdership Meeting (Cafe- 8:00)
     LEEdership Lemonade Sale (Recess Time)
     Teacher Appreciation Lunch from PTO (Texas Roadhouse)
     K/1/2 Author Visit (2:00)
May 11- CISD Ed Foundation Run to Fund (Starts 7:00 am)