Short Week

Report Cards are DONE! Let's shout it from the mountain tops!!! Good work, team!!! Even though we still have parent/teacher conferences on the horizon, I pray you are able to rest a bit and refuel at the CEA convention.

Staff Photo on Thursday, October 26
Students will have their retake photos taken between 10:30-11:30 on Thursday, October 26. I will come over the PA when the photography tells us they are ready for the kids. Students will be invited to bring their form and old picture packet to the music room for the photo. Please plan, if you are able, to meet in the front entry way at 12:05 for our staff photo. We'll do a quick attendance check and then say cheese. It shouldn't take long.

Yellow Card Notice
Would you please copy and paste this into your class blogs? This will help parents understand our new yellow card system in case they receive the email from me and the yellow card in the backpack.

I am so grateful to serve as principal at South Side. Part of what I promise to do, as you have entrusted your young one to our hands for the school hours, is to give my very best efforts to ensure each child's safety while at school. There are 241 beautiful children who call South Side their home away from home. It is critical that every single one of these precious children flourish in their time here with us.

Our team and I have been noting that children have been playing well on the playground, but the reminders we give of playground rules seem to be taken by a few children as suggestions rather than reinforcement of the safety rules. As you know from training up a young one at home, verbal reminders sometimes do not carry the accountability necessary to motivate behavioral change. Born out of love for each child and a desire for all of our children to play together safely, we are instituting a little accountability measure for playground behavior. 

If a child plays in a manner that is unsafe and is not in compliance with playground rules, he/she will be asked to complete what we call a "yellow card". During the completion of this card, children will talk about what happened at recess with me or with Mrs. Meiste. This conversation will be marked with grace and truth, with redemption and love. One copy of the yellow card will stay at school. The other copy will be placed by the child in his/her backpack. The "yellow card" is meant only to inform you, the parents, that there was action on the playground that was deemed as unsafe. Will you please reinforce for your little one that we expect all children to play respectfully and responsibly? I believe it is most effective for our children when home and school are able to work together with consistency to help encourage and reinforce positive living in community. 

Thank you for partnering together with us! We love your little one! 

CEA

Let's plan, please, to meet over the lunch hour at CEA to talk about implementation of classroom behavior systems. We are still waiting for the STAR posters and flags, but we can start to talk about this at the classroom level even though we don't have the full-school roll out ready. Our goal over the lunch hour meeting will be to help teachers who need a more concrete tool in their classroom decide on the tool they would like and how to implement. We will also talk about adding a brief behavior mini-lesson to our morning routines to reinforce and practice behavior expectations with a common language. Let's meet in the cafeteria at 11:45 and pick a good spot to eat and talk. 

Our Presentation

I will pass along any further details or changes I receive regarding our talk about Reformation Day at the K-2 level if/when they become available. I will hook my computer up to the projector so our photos display as you talk about your session (feel free to edit these photos if you have some of your own!). Let's plan to meet in the auxiliary gym just before 2:10. Thank you for your adventurous spirit and willingness to share these lessons with others. 

Collaboration Days

Are coming up. Please take a peek at this document for your times and what materials to bring. 

Staff Meeting

Our next staff meeting will be November 9. This is the date we will unpack, summarize and talk about applying The Differentiated Classroom. Please be prepared to discuss the material on the 9th as well as during our PD on Wednesday, November 22.

PD

Speaking of that...our PD on Wednesday, November 22 will take place in the morning only. Breakfast will be served from 8:00-8:30. We will wrap up by noon. This meeting is for K-12 classroom/encore teachers only. We will get further instructions as they are available.