Week of August 15

Can you believe it?  We are one more week away from our sweet kiddos filling the building.  I hope you are as excited as I am!!  We are happy to share that "as of 6:00 Thursday Night" we have a complete FamiLEE of staff members.  We added a whopping 19 staff members this year with transfers, the addition of new positions, and people moving along.  Every corner of our building is impacted with the addition of new people in their house or program, including our front office.  Please take time to welcome our newest hires, Hannah Watts (Blue Kinder- 214-680-8081) and Jayca Bounkhong (Enrichment Designer- 469-744-9906), to our famiLEE.  They are going to fit right in!

#LUCKYATLEE

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 some of you off.)  Let's start with our front office... Shanna and Deepa have been working NONSTOP to enroll and verify ALL of the new learners moving to our area.   Both 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 Stacey's children 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, girls!

Muchos Gracias to Sam, Melinda, and Alli as they hosted our first 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!  Sam arranged for a REAL newsperson and cameraperson to coach our learners.  Melinda jumped right in and we couldn't be any more excited.  Because of these ladies, our morning broadcast will begin DAY ONE of school!  WAY TO GO!  We appreciate you!

Your fearless Leadership Team spent a full day (well...minus an Escape Room visit) working through a great deal of information.  They helped to update our 2016-2017 Campus Improvement Plan and Curriculum Night presentations.  This group's dedication and their efforts to bring ALL of our houses and teams together is massively inspiring.  THANK YOU for bringing UNITY and JOY to each of our journeys!  Thank you for being the communicators you are!  Thank you for leadership!

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 and Ashley.  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 trio!  

NEXT WEEK

You probably have a great deal of questions about next 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!)
2. Snacks will be provided each day.  Bring your own drinks.
3. We will start at 8:00 and conclude at 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. Lunch will be on your own each day.
6. Agendas will be shared daily.
7. You will have FUN!

CLASS LISTS

The office is working to have up to the minute lists ready for you.  They should be 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 right before District Staff Development begins on Wednesday.  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.   

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

PTO will be delivering school supplies to your spaces on Wednesday.  If there is a specific place you want these stacked in your space, please put up a sign in an easy to see place.  

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 2016-2017 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 in your class...they will come to your space at 5:15, to meet you, so that they can work a table at our front entrance during the event.  Thank you for your flexibility with these volunteer parents.  

KEEP AFLOAT

In an attempt to lighten your load, we have been strategically sprinkling out "to-do's" though the last three blog posts.  I want you to enjoy your journey 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: 

Have you linked your g.coppellisd.com account with our Outlook account yet?  If not, you may be missing some emails.  Check out the faculty website under Technology for HOW TO directions.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Aug. 12:  Stephanie R's Birthday

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

Aug. 16:  Campus Professional Learning (8:00-4:00)

Aug. 17:  District Professional Learning (info coming from district)

Aug. 18:  Campus Professional Learning (8:00-4:00)

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

Aug. 19:  Campus Professional Learning

Aug. 21:  You will not sleep because tomorrow is...

Aug. 22:  The First Day of School!!!!

Welcome Back for #RJLYEAR3

Welcome back for another incredible year at Lee.  It has been a BUSY summer in the office as we have been hiring the best and most amazing additions to our school.  A special thank you to our Leadership Team for screening applications in the Spring, and to Courtney, Samira, Nick, Layne, and Ashley for their MANY hours as we find candidates that match our RJL educator profile.  To date we have hired 11 new famiLEE members and still need to find the perfect fourth grade teacher for Yellow House.  We have our eyes set on a gal from Arkansas and are waiting for her to pass the ESL test so we can move forward with a complete famiLEE.  We will keep you posted!  Here is our latest staff roster.  Lastly, please welcome Gabriella McCord when you meet her.  She will be Taylor's long term sub as she stays home with baby Kasen.

NEW HIRE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Our new hires are required to attend Induction Week.  Here is the schedule of events.  I look forward to seeing you at the Chamber Breakfast.  This is a FUN event, to kick of the week, where you get to win prizes from Coppell community business partners.  Professional dress on this day.

CAMPUS BOOK STUDY

During this year's Convocation, CISD will host George Couros as our guest speaker.  We will study his book Innovator's Mindset this year.  For those of you that want a jump start on reading the book, we have copies in the front office.  The book is yours to write in and make notes.  It is a quick and enjoyable read! 

APPLE/IBM APP UPDATE

Samira, Sam, Priscilla, and I had the privilege to be on the IBM campus, in Austin, last week.  We not only got a preview of the app (A-MAZ-ING) but also gave input on future components of the app.  It is going to be EXCITING being the only elementary campus putting this app into practice this school year.  I truly believe it is going to make the day in the life of a teacher more streamlined and benefit the learners.  Unfortunately, I got an email today that our August 8 and 9 training will be postponed.  The district will, instead, offer a series of trainings during the school year.  I apologize for the inconvenience this causes, and will keep you posted as information comes my way.  This means the gift of time on August 8 and 9 now.  ENJOY!!   Leadership Team...we will see you on the 9th.

MASTER SCHEDULE

Thank you to Courtney for working on next year's master schedule as part of her Summer internship hours.  She shared the schedule out for feedback at the beginning of summer and, for now, we will move forward with it.  Please know that the goal of our master schedule is to always keep in mind:

1. Large teachable blocks of time
2. Avoiding Red and Green houses in their space during lunch periods (as much as possible)
3. Keeping recess before lunch

FACULTY WEBSITE

Our faculty website is updated (thank you Sam for helping me with this task!) and ready as a resource for ALL.  It is meant to be a "one stop shop" for you, so if there is something we need to add, please email me and I will add it on there.  For those of you that want to get ahead and start reading the Lee Campus Handbook, it is posted, and updated.  It is required this is read and signed of by September 16.  Updates after 7/19/16 are highlighted in yellow.  The district is going to send me the LATEST Learning Framework.  Once I have that, I will update the link.

FACULTY FAVORITES

Please take a chance to fill out this Google Form that includes information about you and your favorites.  This is a tool the office, PTO, and staff uses to treat you and get to know you better.

OPPORTUNITY

If you are interested in partnering with Jodi Dienhammer to create a book similar to the ones her middle schooler's made, she is looking for interested individuals.  You can email her or tweet her.

YOU ASK AND THE DISTRICT DELIVERS

We have asked for compliance videos early so that they do not need to be completed during the school year.  You can get these done, NOW, in the comfort of your home.  Here is how:

• Log into Schoology
• Select "Compliance Trainings 2016-17" for Lee and enter the access code: W2TRS-2B7FM
• Once you complete the course, take the quiz.  It will record in Schoology and we can monitor your participation
• All 3 must be completed by September 30, 2016

DON'T FORGET TO JOIN IN #LEESUMMERSELFIECHALLENGE

DATES TO REMEMBER:

July 31:  Wendy's Birthday

Aug. 2-5:  New Hire Induction

Aug. 9:  Leadership Meeting

Aug. 10-11:  Kindergarten Assessment Days

Aug. 11:  Residency Verification Day

Aug. 15-19:  Back to School Professional Learning

Aug. 22:  First Day of School