Thursday, January 28, 2021

Week of February 1, 2021

Happy Thursday, sweet ladies.  What a GREAT week spreading and celebrating kindness throughout our lives.  I am reminded, daily, what a blessing it is to be at Lee Elementary with each of YOU!  Hearing you champion each other and your learners, as well as support and love one another communicates what a special group we have.  THANK YOU for being YOU!  THANK YOU for showcasing kindness in your spaces and on Twitter.  Please leave when learners are safely dismissed, tomorrow, and enjoy your weekend.  You are loved!


DID YOU KNOW:
  • we can order amplification systems to assist in your virtual lessons?  Please vote here to let me know if you are or are not interested in having one.
  • I NEED you to get POs in so that we can order for you before our budget deadline?  
  • we will be sending home paper copies of MAP and mClass data to parents in February?  We are #luckyatlee because Samira and the front office are organizing and DOING THIS FOR YOU!  From mailing labels, to running the reports, to stuffing envelopes and getting them sent out on time.  WOW!  We will give you more information in your Team Time this week.

CTE SPIRIT DAYS THIS WEEK
Please encourage learners to participate in our district CTE Spirit Days this week.  This is a new initiative from CISD so have fun with it!  I can't wait to see some full on 80's neon on Monday!!



SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
Please talk up our Spring Book Fair.  Face to Face learners have received catalogs and this link will take our FamiLEEs to our personalized site.  Thanks for your support!



PTO MEETING
I will send an email to you Tuesday morning to send on to parents including our Zoom link for the meeting.  Thank you for sending it on!



COLLEGE SHIRT DAY
Encourage your learners to "dress for success" or wear their college shirts on Wednesday. 



FLEX LEARNING
Wednesday is a time to earn an hour of flex time, if you need it.  Remember you need to accrue 18 hours by April.  This might be a great time to work on your TELPAS Modules during built-in time, visit the #CISDLearns course listing, or to update your Bulb (Samira will be in Y5 if you need support).  Please submit to Strive for approval of your hour before leaving.  All campus submissions have been approved (with the exception of GT-those are approved by the district) up until this point, so you should have an accurate account of your total hours.  


FABULOUS FRIDAYS IN FEBRARY
Your Admin Team wants to communicate how loved you are! We are hosting Fabulous Fridays the whole month of February to show you and can't wait for everyone to join in. 


YEARBOOK PICTURES NEEDED

Designers,

I have given each of you a class portrait page for the yearbook.

  1. Please contact parents that do not have pictures.
  2. Request them to send a picture.
  3. Add the picture to your class folder.
  4. If there are kids that need to be added, please write that down on the page.
  5. Once you have them all turn in the page to me. That way I will know I can work on your page.

 

  1. Email or write your little letter to your learners and email them to me. You can also write it on your portrait page. I think it will be a cute note to your kids.

 

  1. Also if you have any pictures please add them to the other folders. I need designer pictures as house and as grade as well.

 

2020-2021 YEARBOOK PICTURES FOLDER

 

Note: We want parents to turn in pictures by Wednesday, February 3rd. But all of you can turn in your pages by February 7th

 

Please let me know how I can help.



DLC UPDATE

Your Elementary DLCs are excited to be offering Vivitek Pop Up Parties, on February 10th and 23rd during your grade level planning time, designed to help you learn, implement, and deliver instruction using your Vivitek board this spring! Click on the link below to access the Zoom information for your grade level's party! Virtual Zoom not your thing?  Keep an eye out for more opportunities to come! Elementary Vivitek Pop up Parties.



YEARBOOK
Please share yearbook information with your FamiLEEs so that they don't miss out on this memory book.  Order deadline is March 22.



COACH'S CORNER

Students who do not master learning objectives early on often struggle later with instruction. Effective remediation and intervention strategies are essential. Remediation involves reteaching, while intervention is appropriate for students with learning difficulties or special needs.

 

Remediation

Remediation is the effective reteaching of material not previously mastered when it was originally taught. A successful remediation strategy covers any prerequisite concepts or skills needed to understand the current learning objective. Remediation is appropriate for any student that lacks mastery of a given concept. Students who did not learn the material the first time it was taught may simply need reteaching or a fresh approach.

 

Intervention

Many students have difficulty learning because of memory problems, learning difficulties or other challenges. Intervention is used to teach basic skills and problem-solving strategies for students with special needs. Intervention is the proper response to target specific learning disabilities for students with higher needs. Students with problems learning may also need modifications to the lessons and assessments, more time to complete assignments or shortened assignments.



ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Look for reading material for English Learners (ELs) that contains some of these characteristics:

  • Numerous illustrations that help clarify the text

  • Story plots that are action-based

  • Limited text on each page

  • Text that contains repetitive, predictable phrases

  • Text that employs simple sentence structure

  • High-frequency vocabulary and useful words




DATES TO REMEMBER:
Month of February- African American History Month
     National Children Dental Health Month
Week of February 1-5- VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR
     National School Counselor Appreciation Week
February 1- iStation ISIP administered- set goals and review data with learners
     Bright Ribbon's Book Study (3:15)
February 2- Education Foundation t-shirt day
     PTO Meeting (6:00 Virtual)
February 3- College Shirt Day
     Flex Learning (3:15-4:15)
February 4- Data Committee Meeting (3:15)

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Week of January 25, 2021

Happy Thursday!  Wouldn't it be nice if EVERYDAY were PAYDAY?  Well, tomorrow is PAYDAY and you all have earned an extra one, so check your mailboxes before you leave.  ENJOY! 

We cannot tell you enough what a "GOOD JOB" you are doing.  Let this Children's Choir help me tell you.



DID YOU KNOW:

GREAT KINDNESS CHALLENGE
We will start the parade at 8:00 at the cafeteria by lost and found.  Remember to remind learners to stay on the dots and six feet apart.  Also encourage learners to smile and show their drawings to the camera as they walk by the camera that is set up at the start of the ramp to the Media Center.  Once you pass the front office feel free to head back to your learning space.  Please upload your virtual learner images in this Google Folder by noon on Monday so that Admin can construct the "parade video."  Please leave out our 4 learners who do not have disclosure.

Don't forget to pass out the digital Kindness checklists and encourage your famiLEEs to sign up for The Great Kindness Challenge App to be able to participate at home. 




KINDNESS SPIRIT DAYS
We will participate in the following spirit days this week:
  • Mon:  Great Kindness Challenge Kick Off.  Bring your Kindness picture to school.  If you are virtual, send a picture of you holding your sign to your designer. 
  • Tues:  Powered By Kindness.  Wear a super hero t-shirt or costume.
  • Wed:  Dream of Kindness.  Wear your pajamas.
  • Thurs:  Hats off to Kindness.  Wear your favorite hat.
  • Fri:  Kindness NEVER Gets OLD.  Dress like you are 100 years old.

DLC UPDATE

Looking to engage learners in a different way while on Zoom? Try the Remote-Control feature to make your Zoom more interactive! Available anytime you share your screen from a computer, it gives learners the opportunity to interact with your screen by tapping and typing in Zoom.  Try it during reviews, during guided practice activities and more. Learn more here: http://at.bulb.re/NYD



COACH'S CORNER
Promoting social and emotional development for all students in classrooms involves teaching and modeling social and emotional skills, providing opportunities for students to practice and hone those skills, and giving students an opportunity to apply these skills in various situations. Here is a link to a blog that shares 25 ways to integrate social emotional learning in the classroom. Thank you so much for turning in your Room Service Menu and this “Checkin’ in” Google Form.


mCLASS and MAP REPORTS
We will be sending out BOY mClass reports (K-2nd Grade) and MOY MAP progress reports (K-5th) home to parents on February 19th. The district will provide a cover letter to go with the reports to help parents understand the tests and the results. Please do not print or download anything yet. The window closes on February 12th and we need to wait for that to get district norms. Let me know if you have any questions.


YEARBOOK
I have started working on the yearbook with some 5th grade learners. Next week I will start sending it class pages to proof. Of course some pictures are missing. We will seek to get pictures from parents. I have created this folder to collect pictures. Please add pictures to the appropriate folder. If you could kindly forward the following blurb to your parents in your weekly newsletter.


PORTRAITS FOR YEARBOOK (for newsletters)
If you were not able to come to school to get your child’s picture taken for the yearbook, please feel free to send them to your child’s designer. You can have your child stand in front of any plain background (white wall is fine), and take a picture. Please make sure the picture is not blurry. Please use the following picture as an example. Email your child’s picture to their designer by February 3rd, 2021 with your child’s full name and the word portrait in the subject line. Example below:


Subject: Ethan Floyd – Portrait



ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK
Draw and Describe is a great game to strengthen listening skills while having fun on Zoom or in the classroom. Students will draw by following verbal instructions and compare their drawings to an original drawing.



DATES TO REMEMBER:
Jan 25- Great Kindness Challenge Kick Off Parade (8:00)
Jan 26- Cohort A HB3 Training
     Education Foundation t-shirt w/ jeans
Jan 27- Cohort A HB3 Training
     House t-shirt w/ jeans
     Staff Meeting (3:15)
Jan 28- Cohort B HB3 Training
     LEEdership Council Meeting (12:00)
Jan 29- Cohort B HB3 Training
Jan 30- Madie's Birthday