Week of October 7, 2019

THANK YOU ALL FOR ANOTHER AMAZING WEEK AT LEE!  Thank you to Social Spurs for the gift cards for our custodians and to the staff that made Israel feel so celebrated.  He told me he had the BEST DAY!  I appreciate all that attended the lengthy PTO meeting and/or helped learners with their presentations.  Your responses to our first three Essential Truths have been thoughtful and I hope they give you the chance to remind yourself WHY you teach and WHY you are at Lee.  Thank you to all of you that hosted visitors in your spaces this week.  I recognize the intrusion and also the intentional planning that many of you do to leave the best impression with our guests.  Please know how VERY PROUD you make me.  Our visitors went on and on about how engaged our learners are, how willing they are to talk about the learning they are a part of, and were so impressed by all that they saw.  My favorite question at the end of the tour to our group of 20 was...can you tell there are 12 new staff members and 5 out on maternity?  Their wide eyes assured me that they could not even tell.  That is how amazing each of you are!  I know that where we are is a famiLEE effort that comes from supporting and loving one another.  When I think of our theme "Attitude of Gratitude," I have such gratefulness for each and every person in our building and for the part you play in making each and every day the BEST for our learners and each other.  I wish you the most FABULOUS FRIDAY and hope you will leave as soon as learners are safely gone on Friday.

DID YOU KNOW:

• there is a template to use with learners for Bulb this year? If your learner was at Lee last year the only change is the STEAM collection is now called Create and Design. Learners will need to change the title of their STEAM folder to Create and Design.  If learners are new to CISD they will need to copy the whole template. If learners came from another campus they will need to just add the Create and Design page to their specials collection.   See your DLC if you have any questions or need any help.
• that Aparna is going to help Keiko with Garden Gurus and Compost Crew?  THANK YOU, Aparna, for helping to support our outdoor learning!
• that Kindergarten is partnering with Keiko and will be planting a flower garden next to our garden plots?
• that our garden beds are going to be rebuilt, so in the meantime, learners will grow in fabric containers?  How cool is THAT?!  Did you see our compost delivery?
• that dongles and Apple Pencils are in from CISD!  If you are a new hire and technology has not given you your own Pencil or Dongle, I need to know immediately.  Please text me what you have not received before your lunch on Friday.  

BULLYING AWARENESS
October is National Bullying Prevention Month.  CISD is asking that all staff and students wear a blue shirt, on Monday, in observance of National Bullying Awareness Day. Thanks for your participation!   You are welcome to wear jeans with your blue shirt.

TEAM TIME FOR 2ND 9 WEEKS
Don't forget to show your learners this video and have them complete the Google Forms, emailed by Jessica, so that Specials has time to get the new class lists organized.  Thank you, Specialists for ALL of your hard work designing new Team Time sessions for the children!

CAREER PARADE
Please join us as we cheer on Kindergarten during their Career Parade at 8:00 on Wednesday morning.  Please seat learners along the walls and halls so that they may be cheered on by their school.

SPIRIT ASSEMBLY
For those new to Lee, this is our 9 week celebration as a school.  We will host morning broadcast in the gym and sit by house.  We will call you down at 7:50 so we can start promptly at 8:00.  We run an adjusted schedule this day, so review the Spirit Rally and Music Program Schedule Tab on the Master Schedule.


SESSION 2 COOKING CLUB
Please share with parents: The second session of Lee Cooking Club is open for learners who want to join, after school, on Tuesdays. 

FLU SHOTS
Dr Swaldi's office will be at Lee on Tuesday, Oct 15, from 1:00pm-1:45pm to administer flu shots. Ameira has the insurance forms for those that have insurance with CISD. Bring a copy of your driver's license and Insurance card (front and back) to the flu shot clinic. Otherwise it is $40 cash or check. 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Please share that parents:  Mark your calendars, our dance is less than a month away!

PTO MEMBERSHIP TOOLKIT
Please share with your parents:  Parents, thank you for being members of our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).  Please take a moment to check your PTO Membership Toolkit settings.  We want to be mindful to protect your privacy, so if you have not adjusted your settings, you will want to review your Directory and Publish Preferences settings to ensure that unwanted personal information is not viewable to members.


CAMPUS iBOOK
Please share with your parents:  Did you know that there is a new book about our school in the iTunes library?  You can download it, for free, here.

CISD FOCUSED WALKTHROUGH

All staff should have received at least one walkthrough in Domain 3.1:  Environment.  Starting this week, we will give feedback on Domain 3 Dimension 2:  Student Behavior.  We will be looking for evidence of praise and positivity as management strategies.  We will listen for encouragement of learners and how you monitor and respond to learners while teaching and learning.  Learners should manage themselves with minimal teacher redirection.  We should see evidence in your space of class respect agreements and view high expectations for ALL. 

OCTOBER IS DYSLEXIA AWARENESS MONTH
Each week, this month, Melissa will share videos and information to build our awareness of dyslexia.  You can also follow her on Twitter to see what learners do in their MLI class.  This short clip information on dyslexia.  Also, did you know...Apple has several helpful assistive technology tools for your learners with dyslexia to use on their iPad? Click here for Apple's guide to Accessibility.  Below is a list of options in accessibility that could be helpful:

• Speech- speak selections and Speak Screens
• Highlight content
• Dictation (Click microphone and enable)
• Reader view on Safari
• Color Filter / Invert colors
• Predictive Keyboard
• OH AND MELISSA IS HAVING A BABY!

ESL FOR THE WEEK
The National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE) at the University of Connecticut is excited to share 15 tips for identifying gifted EL students.  The tips are based on research findings from visiting schools that have a record of successfully identifying EL students for their gifted programs.  

DATES TO REMEMBER:
National Fire Prevention Week
Oct 7- Wear Blue Monday
Oct 8- Mentor/Mentee Onboarding Meeting (wear your shirts and jeans) (3:35 Layne's Room)
Oct 9- College Shirt Day
     Kinder Career Parade (8:00)
     Staff Meeting- (3:30-5:00 May's space) ALL STAFF ATTENDS- there is required content
Oct 10- Spurs Savings (before school Cafe)
Oct 11- Kristina's Birthday
     Aisha's Birthday
     Conference Day   
Oct 12- Shanna's Birthday

RED RIBBON WEEK IS TWO WEEKS AWAY!