Week of May 3, 2021

What another terrific week at Lee.  It is so hard to believe it is already MAY!   Happy Birthday wishes to our fabulous AP, Leigh Ann.  I'm sure she will enjoy her birthday and Cinco de Mayo with some bottomless bowls of chips and salsa!  Enjoy this week of Teacher Appreciation.  We LOVE and ADORE you beyond words and so does our PTO!

DID YOU KNOW:

• school supplies will be sold ONLINE this year AND delivered to homes?  Here is the flyer to share with parents. 
• that Skylar Hill was born on 4/29?  She is 8 pounds 1 ounce and mom and baby are healthy.  Pictures will be coming soon!

SAGE HILL

Want to know more about the apartment homes next to our school?  There is an open house at Sage Hill tonight.

RUN TO FUND

Whether you are registered or not, there are great ways to participate in the CEF Run to Fund.  Here is a breakdown by day:

• Sat- take a picture of you running using the #RunToFund2021
• Sun- post a pic of you running in Harry Potter attire at #RunToFund2021
• Mon- post a pic of you running in mismatched shoes to #RunToFund2021
• Tues- post a pic running in your Star Wars gear at #RunToFund2021
• Wed- run over to Anamias and post a pic from there to #RunToFund2021
• Thurs- post a pic of you running and a gift card will go to your favorite teacher at #RunToFund2021
• Fri- run with mom and post a picture at #RunToFund2021

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK

Each of you are loved and appreciated so very much.  Our fabulous PTO has planned an extra special week for you.  Please share these plans with your famiLEEs so they can join in on the celebration.

In addition to the wonderful support of your parents and learners, here are some extra treats from our PTO this week:

RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Please share with parents: Make sure you respond to the email that was sent to you in the last two days in order to reserve your spot for the 2021-2022 school year.

COLLEGE SHIRT DAY

Don't forget to wear your favorite college shirt on Wednesday.

SCHOOL LUNCH HERO DAY
Please wear (and encourage your learners to wear) a super hero shirt on Friday.  We will be celebrating School Lunch Hero Day in the cafeteria.  I think we can all agree, Charlene and her team are super heroes!  Please don't forget to show them how much we care!

CISD BOARD WALK

We will be visited by CISD Board Members and Dr. Hunt on Friday, May 7.  Please make sure that you have learner work displayed in your space and that your space is neat and tidy.  We will be all over the campus with our guests. 

PANORAMA SURVEY

Please make sure your complete the Panorama survey that was emailed from Dr. Applegate.  If you are not a classroom educator, or a question doesn't apply to you, please skip that question.  Your staff ID is the number you use in SmartFind and at the copier. 

SPRING CONFERENCES

Thank you for scheduling and hosting your Spring Conferences with parents.  Please keep Admin in the loop with any parent concerns for 2021-2022.

CIP
The 2020-2021 Campus Improvement Plan can be found here. Each quarter this document should be reviewed and updated by our staff.  Leadership, please download the PDF into Noteability, review it, and annotate it with your grade during your next Team Time.  Please forward your annotated copy to Leigh Ann by May 14.

APPLE UPDATE

I participated in an Apple Distinguished Schools Webinar on Wednesday.  The Everyone Can Create Book has NEW chapters:

• A chapter on animated GIFS- these are a great way to show changes over time
• Make Stop-Motion animation- brings an item to life
• Add motion to a photo- use Instant Alpha to add movement to a photo
• Clips has been updated (3.0)
• Updated posters and screen sizes
• A chapter on Special Effects
• Make people teleport and disappear in iMovie using jump cut
• Change colors and looks in Photos app
• Create Green Screen shots in iMovie
• A chapter on Motion Graphics
• Combining shapes and using transitions to animate
• Animate with Magic Move
• A chapter on Recording a Podcast

Also:

• Apple Teacher Portfolio launched last month
• The Apple Teacher Learning Center has been updated
• Apple EDU Leader Chat takes place every Thursday from 6-6:30 PT

COACHES CORNER

ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Storytelling

Storytelling is a valuable teaching method that engages students in the curriculum being taught. Many students will come to us from cultures that continue to maintain a thriving and vital oral tradition and this will allow them to feel comfort in your classroom. It creates interest, relaxation, and opportunities to communicate feelings. Oral vocabulary will also increase the listener’s speaking vocabulary through poetic use of language. Students who are more auditory than visual benefit when the curriculum comes alive through storytelling.

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 1- CEF Run to Fund

     Hannah B's Birthday

Week of May 3-7- Teacher Appreciation Week

May 3- Cowboy Chicken boxed lunches from IBC

May 4- HB3 Cohort A Day

     PTO Mtg. (Virtual 6:00PM)

May 5- HB3 Cohort A Day

     Leigh Ann's Birthday

     College Shirt Day

May 6- HB3 Cohort B Day

     Data Committee Mtg. (3:15)

May 7- HB3 Cohort B Day

     School Lunch Hero Day

     CISD School Board Walk

Week of April 26, 2021

Thank you for continuing to demonstrate flexibility this week.  With virtual learners coming up for STAAR testing, subs not filling jobs, and Schoology glitching...you continue to do what you do best, which is SHINE!  🌞  We recognize that it is overwhelming at times, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Enjoy the weekend and leave as soon as all of our learners are safely dismissed on FriYAY. 

DID YOU KNOW:

• that only 2 Red and Black Superstars were highlighted this 9 weeks from the Coppell Education Foundation?  Congratulations to Jessica and Kourtney.  Others nominated were: Brittany, Brooklyn, Josephine, Kim, Layne, and Madison.  Way to go!  
• we will only accept learners switching from Virtual to F2F until May 1?  After May 1, they will need to honor their commitment.  Please communicate this to your parents.  If you are advocating for learners to come in F2F, then please make that happen this week.
• that you can create a Canva Education account?  Use this link to learn more!
  https://www.canva.com/education/
• Angela's S'more is updated?  Check it out, here.
• Ayesha's S'more is updated?  Check it out, here.
• On Tuesday, May 4, starting at 7am ET, every donation to a project on Donors Choose will be matched 50% thanks to SONIC Drive-In, while funds last. This means that a $20 donation will become a $30 donation, a $100 donation will become a $150 donation, and so on.  Whether you need books for your students, a new coding kit, or something else entirely, now is a great time to create a project on DonorsChoose.

HOME DEPOT BUCKETS

Did you receive a Home Depot bucket in your space Thursday, afterschool?  So...these are part of a safety and security project that Ameira has been working on.  These are to be used in case of emergency during an actual lockdown.  Please keep all items inside and store them under the counter in your space.  They must stay in your space. (Did anyone say summer project: make curtain to cover said "toilet" under my counter? 😜)

EARTHFEST

Want to join Lee Elementary and other Coppell ISD schools and businesses on Saturday?  The annual Coppell EarthFest will be at the Biodiversity Center.  Thank you to Priscilla, Keiko, and Mrs. Maki for all of their efforts to help Lee prepare for this event!

DLC UPDATE

Whether you are observing life cycles, hosting a debate, or connecting to the community for a special event, live streaming video provides learners and our community with different perspectives with which to see our classrooms and the world.  While there are many tools out there that can be used to set up a live feed, this article will discuss some simple steps to using your @g.coppellisd.com YouTube account.

COACHES CORNER

ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Content Area Literacy

If students are not thinking about what they read, they are not really reading. Content Area Literacy focuses on providing explicit instruction in supporting struggling readers with helpful strategies to make sense of their academic reading. Below are 2 strategies good readers use.

Asking Questions: When learning new information struggling readers can keep these questions in mind to stay focused. 

• I wonder why…

• What does _____ mean?

• I am confused because…

• Why is ______ important?

Visualizing: Readers who visualize while they read form pictures or movies in their minds to organize what they read. 

• I picture ________ in my head because…

• When I was reading ________, I saw…

• I visualize…

• The movie in my head was …

LEE LIFE PRINCIPLE:

Resiliency- recovering from or adjusting easily to misfortune or change

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP:

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

LEE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

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

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 26- Brittany's Birthday

     Progress Report Grades Due

April 27- Education Foundation Shirt w/ Jeans

     Bus Driver Appreciation Day

     Send Home Progress Reports

April 28- Leadership Meeting (Pavillion)

April 30- Kathy's Birthday

     Flex Hours Due

May 1- Hannah B's Birthday

     CEF Fun to Fund Begins

Week of April 19, 2021

WOW!  It is hard to believe we are almost halfway through the last nine weeks of the school year.  We have enjoyed our Summative meetings and having the chance to have dedicated time with each and every staff member.  We should be able to have ALL of these done by the end of the week. We enjoy the opportunity to brag on you and celebrate the growth we have seen in ALL.  I'm feeling VERY #luckyatlee for each of you.

Can we just say WHOOT WHOOT to a couple of staff members?  KUDOS to Taylor for continuing to lead and publish Lee Live with our broadcast crew.  I look forward to each edition and the clever ideas the children are coming up with.  Thanks for all of your extra work and keeping us informed, Taylor!  SHOUT OUT to Brooklyn who noticed someone "strange" in our building and walked them down and asked for identification.  It was a district employee here to check on STAAR security and her badge was not visible.  Way to go, Brooklyn!  YAY to Leigh Ann, our 4th grade team, and support staff for navigating face to face learners as we had our second round of STAAR testing.  There are MANY moving parts and everyone stepped up in BIG WAYS.  Thank you, team!  Lastly, thank you to the flexibility of all of the staff members who covered classes or picked up extra learners during our sub shortages this week.  I recognize the kinks this puts in your schedules and the pain point of last minute changes.  THANK YOU for your problem solving and willingness to help out.  We are truly #BetterTogether at Lee Elementary!  

DID YOU KNOW:

• sweet Alli is home keeping Skylar safe inside?  Please pray for both of their safety and wellness.  We will share pictures of Skylar when she arrives.  We welcome back Omi Chung who will be back with our FamiLEE for the rest of the year!  
• that a see-through compost container is set up in each house from Keiko?  Could you please encourage learners to check it?  They can take pictures, check the temperature, and (no joke) smell it.  They can add their observations here. 
• Tuesday is another waiver day for K-2?  4th Grade STAAR Writing is on this day.  K-2 and 4th F2F, please remind your parents in their newsletters to keep learners home.
• the technology team will be on campus on Friday to scan and inventory the Viviteks, projectors, MacBook carts, shared MacBooks, and any other technology that is not checked out to a teacher or learner?  They will try to be as minimally interruptive as possible.  Please make sure all shared MacBooks are in the house cart when they come through.
• there will be a big change next year to teacher webpages? Educators will not have a personal webpage on the campus website moving forward.  If there is any information you need to save from your current pages, you will want to back that up soon. These pages will be inactive on the website after school ends and will be completely deleted in the fall. 

PTO

PTO is looking for parents to fill open Board positions.  Please share this link with parents to share their interest. 

PTO GRANT SUBMISSIONS

The grant window is open for you to apply for up to $700 for your classroom.  Please fill out this form for consideration by THURSDAY.  Grant awards will be announced by May 6.  Need ideas?  Think about items you can't get through school funds, like items from IKEA and other "unapproved" vendors. 

DLC UPDATE

Are you looking to learn more amazing ways to use your classroom Vivitek board, and earn some Flex Credit in the process?  The DLC course “Vivitek Visionaries” is still open in Schoology. https://schoology.coppellisd.com/course/1685049624/materials?f=385172848

COACHES CORNER

ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Collective Belonging

Increase your learners’ sense of community and self worth by structuring the beginning and ending of the day with circle time. Time taken for circle time won’t hurt your academic schedule because you will be setting a trust foundation for students to attend to their studies with comfort. This is a moment for students to feel seen, heard,  understood, connected to others, and given respect from you and their classmates. 

Topics for Circle Time:

• Share their challenges (concerns or fears)

• Scariest or happiest night dreams 

• Marshmallow Roast -  One child at a time shares something they like about a peer.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 20- STAAR Waiver Day (K-2 Virtual Learning Day)

     STAAR Testing 4th Grade Writing

April 21- Administrative Professionals Day

     Kristina's Baby Shower (3:15-3:45)

     Staff Meeting (3:45-4:45 Virtual)

April 22- Earth Day

April 24- Earth Fest (Coppell Nature Park 11:00-1:00)

Week of April 12, 2021

This week, I am reminding myself that being an educator is the BEST profession in the world and Lee Elementary is the BEST place to be!  Why do I feel this way?  Because of EACH OF YOU!!  Starting end of year goal setting conferences this week has truly reminded me of my WHY.  The creative ways that you have showcased your year of growth in your Bulb portfolios is super impressive.  Our children and famiLEEs are blessed to have YOU as their educational partner!  I can't wait to continue with more conferences this next week.  Have a great weekend!

Today is #lovemyschool day.  Show Lee Elementary why you love your school, on Twitter.

DID YOU KNOW:

• PTO will be providing lunch from Texas Roadhouse for Teacher Appreciation Week?  Please fill out this form , by Wednesday, so that they can plan accordingly.
• Tuesday is another waiver day for K-2?  4th Grade STAAR Writing is on this day.  Please remind your parents to keep their learners home.

PTO GRANT SUBMISSIONS

The grant window is open for you to apply for up to $700 for your classroom.  Please fill out this form for consideration by April 22.  Grant awards will be announced by May 6.

PTO BOARD POSITIONS FOR 2021-2022

PTO is looking for parents to fill a few more open Board positions.  Please share this link with parents to share their interest. 

#IHeartCISD CAMPAIGN
CISD has launched an "I Heart CISD Campaign." If you would like to share why you love our district or our campus, please share your thoughts on this google form or on Twitter with #IHeartCISD.

COPPELL EDUCATION FOUNDATION

COACHES CORNER

You might never remember the most powerful conversation you have with a student… but that student will.

ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Cooperative Learning Strategies

Use cooperative learning strategies. Lecture style teaching excludes ELLs from the learning in a classroom. We don’t want to relegate ELLs to the fringes of the classroom doing a separate lesson with a classroom aide or ESL teacher. Working in small groups is especially beneficial to ELLs who have an authentic reason to use academic vocabulary and real reasons to discuss key concepts. ELLs benefit from cooperative learning structures. Give students a job in a group. Monitor that they are participating.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 12- Meredith's Birthday

April 13- Waiver Day K-2 for 4th STAAR Writing

     HB3 Cohort A Training
April 14- Suzanne's Birthday

     HB3 Cohort A Training

     Flex Learning Day (3:15 - 4:15)

April 15- HB3 Cohort B Training

     LEEdership Lunch Date on Zoom @12:00

April 16- Carley's Birthday

     HB3 Cohort B Training

Week of April 5, 2021

You made it!  Enjoy the long weekend and beautiful Spring weather.   

DID YOU KNOW:

• that learners will get to take their iPad home during the summer to continue with digital learning on iStation, Dreambox, and other programs?  
• audits from the district level will continue to evaluate if staff are wearing their badges and closing doors?  Please let's work at 100% compliance.
• we need interested people to help on our interview team?  If you are interested in participating on this team, please email LAH so that we can go through CISD Interview Team Training (required each year).  
• Natalie has her S'more updated?
• that your flex hours are due by April 30?  It is required that you either completed the TCU Trauma course or the Trauma Informed Care course. Please check to make sure you have it posted in your Strive PL account.  There is time after school on 4/7 and 4/14 to get this done if you have not, already completed it.
• we have ordered two student rocking chairs (2 small for K-2 classes and 2 larger for 3-5) for every classroom for next school year.  These are not part of our storm damage replacements.  If you have ideas of furniture you would like for those funds, please email them to CK so we can find approved vendors.

STAAR TESTING

Remember that we have 4th grade F2F learners taking the Writing test on Tuesday.  K-2 learners will be remote for this waiver day.  

PTO MEETING

You will get an email on Tuesday morning to send on to parents including our Zoom link for the meeting.  Thank you for sending it on!  Please remind parents in your newsletters that there is a meeting this Tuesday at 6:00.  Last month's participation was down.

COLLEGE SHIRT DAY

PTO GRANT SUBMISSIONS

The grant window is open for you to apply for up to $700 for your classroom.  Please fill out this form for consideration by April 22.  Grant awards will be announced by May 6.

PTO NEEDS PARENTS FOR 2021-2022

PTO is looking for parents to fill open Board positions.  Please share this link with parents to share their interest. 

#LOVEMYSCHOOLDAY
This initiative was designed to encourage teachers, principals and staff to use the power of social media to share with the world the positive and wonderful things that exist in their school.  On this day, please take time to tell the world what you love about Lee on twitter using this hashtag and the #IheartCISD hashtag!

#IHeartCISD CAMPAIGN
Add to your newsletters:  CISD has launched an "I Heart CISD Campaign"! If you would like to share why you love our district or our campus, please share your thoughts on this google form. 

SPRING CONFERENCES

You will want to begin planning for your Spring Conferences starting now.  Please give due diligence to make contact with all parents to review their learner's data and goal setting.  Keep documentation of parents who do/do not attend conferences.  During your time together, I would encourage you to listen for in case a parent would like to make a change in house for the 2021-2022 school year, wants specialized testing, is considering retention.  Please write these requests down and EMAIL them to Chantel and Leigh Ann.  This makes sure that we have a second layer of accountability as we transition to the next school year.  In addition, remind parents that we DO NOT take requests for house colors or designers and we do our best to have siblings in the same house, but cannot always guarantee it.  We do our very BEST to keep as many learners in their house when we loop up, but we sometimes have to move learners when balancing our building each year.  Parents WILL be notified by campus administration before Meet the Designer Night, if their learner is being moved.  Please ask me if you have any questions!!!  

DLC UPDATE

Updates Available 

There are updates for iOS and the iWork Applications (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) on both your iPad and MacBook. There is also an update for the Bulb app that includes more publishing options and a few other changes. You and your learners can go to Manager to update the apps and in settings to update your iOS. Remember to do iOS updates at the end of the day, updates can take up to 45 minutes and you will not be able to use your devices while they update. 

Upgrading the software on your Vivitek board using the "NT Settings" App

If you are experiencing issues updating your Vivitek board using the “NovoUpgrade” app, this Bulb page has a video that will walk you through using the “NT Settings” app to update your board (look at the bottom of the Bulb page for the video). The "NT Settings" app is a more reliable way to update, and check to see if a board has the current software. 

https://www.bulbapp.com/u/updating-the-software-on-your-vivitek-novotouch-board

COACHES CORNER

Thank you so much for your effort and flexibility with the yearbook. We had enough pictures and our sales have gone up to 204 as of Thursday morning. I appreciate all that you do for our learners and peers. I came across this video on YouTube and thought you might enjoy it. Check out the bottom right square when the kids come up and enjoy your long weekend.

ESL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK

Key Concepts

Determine key concepts for the unit and define language and content objects for each lesson. Teachers write the key concept for a unit of study in student-friendly language and post it in the room. New learning should be tied to this concept. Additionally, teachers should begin each lesson by writing a content objective on the board. At the end of the lesson, students should be asked if the objective was met. Classroom teachers also need to set language objectives for the ELLs in their class. A language objective might be to learn new vocabulary, find the nouns in a lesson, or apply a grammar rule.

LEE LIFE PRINCIPLE:

Curiosity- the eager desire to learn, to explore, to investigate

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP:

Learn and inquire about things that interest you.

LEE QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"The future belongs to the curious. The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it, and turn it inside out." -Anonymous

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 2- NO SCHOOL

April 5- NO SCHOOL

April 6- Ed Foundation Shirt and Jeans

     STAAR Writing Day (4th Grade In Person)  Remote K-2

     Librarian Appreciation Day

     Assistant Principal Appreciation Day

     Bright Ribbons Book Study (after school)

     PTO Meeting (6:00 Zoom)

April 7- College Shirt Day

April 8- Megan's Birthday

     Data Meeting (3:15-4:15)

April 9- #lovemyschoolday