Town Center Tidbits : Spring Break. . .The Joys of Sleeping Late!

I hope all of you are taking a true break and doing something for yourself this week. I'm trying to get my work out of the way now, so I can do just that for the rest of the break! Enjoy this time and try not to think about school!

Week of: March 19th-23rd, 2018

Monday- Jeans Day - Any shirt!
Coaches Meeting - 8:00-10:30 - Kristan's Room

Team Leader Meeting - 3:15 - Kristan's Room

Tuesday - Report Cards Due by 8:00am
STEM Planning Day - Specials Team (Kristan's Room)

Stay Interviews - Location TBD - 10:00am-1:30pm

DEIC Meeting (Campus Reps) - Admin Bldg 4:30

Wednesday - Jeans Day - Any shirt!
Angie Out (CISD Strategic Design)

Vertical Team Meeting - Library

Thursday - Angie Out (CISD Strategic Design)

Coaches Meet with Teams - Conference Times

Friday - Jeans Day - Any shirt!
Texan Town

Therapy Dogs

Angie Possibly Out (CISD Strategic Design and Assessment)

Important Reminders

HR Stay Interviews

In the spring of 2017 the CISD Human Resources & Staff Services Departments conducted a pilot of the “Stay Interviews” program to solicit feedback from staff in an effort to increase staff retention. The primary purpose of the Stay Interviews is to positively influence employee attrition and reduce staff turnover by measuring staff job satisfaction on a continual basis. The idea is to shift the focus from why people are leaving to why they are staying in CISD. We will continue to complete exit reports and review the data we received from these reports, but will add the stay interviews to focus on staff morale and engagement. Stay interviews, an interview in which employees discuss what they like and do not like about their current position, campus and district, can help reduce staff turnover.

TCE has been selected to participate this year. These will start at 10:00 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m.

I will be touching base with the HR group coming in to see how they are wanting us to rotate people in to visit. If you would like to visit with the group and you are not able to come in during this timeframe due to having kiddos, we can work on having Sherri cover you to pop in!

Cultural Celebration Night -

Wednesday, March 28th (5:30-7:00pm)

Since this is our 1st year to try a Cultural Celebration Night, we will do our best to see what cultures we might highlight and then it can grow even more next year. We do have our performers squared away for the gym and a few parents have started signing up for our food station.

Here is the brainstorming link to see what our committee had discussed and feel free to add ideas, etc.

Click here for brainstorming link!

Here is the sign-up that we have going so far for people to bring in their favorite family dish. This can also be something brought in from a restaurant if they don't want to cook! If we could all bring in some kind of a dish from each of our staff, that would also be great! I am going to blast out this info again to parents as well as if K-5 teachers you could make sure and add this to your blogs!

Click here to sign up for traditional dish!

Here is the sign-up for stations, please remember it would be great to have parents helping to lead/support these activities to make it more authentic toward our cultures. I know Kinder and 1st have reached out to some of their Korean families in order to work together on some activities. Once again, three to four staff members per station are fine. Then the gym will have performances which is another area we will need at least one or two staff members. Also, the cafeteria, we will need a few staff members and parents to help with the food. I am attaching a few documents for review:

Click here for link!

TCE Potluck - Monday 26th

We have our next potluck coming up soon! I figured I would go ahead and get our sign up sheet going, as you may have a new spring recipe you want to try!

Click here to sign up!

"Who made you happy this week?"

Shout Out Your Happiness!

Jenna, Thank you for helping our kids get their Google Sites updated and their QR codes created! Such a big help!! –Marly

Star, Thank you for always being so flexible & helpful when I need to buy milk for my coffee in the middle of the day! I appreciate it! –Marly

Specialist Team--WE are so THANKFUL for ALL of you!! You are amazing! We are thrilled for all the help you have offered and supported us with this week during book fair! We love you to pieces!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!! Love--Tina & Erin

Laura--Oh my word Laura! What would I do without you? OUR MUNIS QUEEN!!! Knower of all things from this horrid software! Thank you for always being willing to sit down and help me with the crazy budgets! Also for being willing to make the scary phone calls when I've screwed something up. I owe you forever for your help and support with my least favorite thing...MUNIS. Love—Tina

Thank you to everyone for the great representation of learning for our TCE Open House! It is such a wonderful time for our kiddos to share all of their learning and I appreciate your efforts in getting this evening prepared! - Angie

Erin--You are my person! Through and through. Thank you one million times over for EVERYTHING you do for our library, book fair, PTO, students, the Berumen girls, all of it! You are the best! I have no idea what I would do without you! I wish you the most peaceful Spring Break!---Love Tina

Thank you to our specials team, oatmeal dumpers, 2^nd and 3^rd grade educators, Miss Star and our fabulous cafeteria ladies, our wonderful office team for all of your help in making our spirit rally such a success! One of the best feelings in the world is to know we can create such a fun, positive culture for our kiddos and staff to truly laugh together, celebrate and share their talents! Love y’all, Angie

Angie, Annelise and Kelly---I just love y'all so much! Thank you for all the things! You give me all the heart eyes. Huge shoutout to Angie for going for her dream job! So proud and happy for you! Love Tina

Mary Kennington....we can add scanner wizard to your resume! Wow. Impressive! #BestTEAMLeaderEVER!!!

Patrick--You do amazing things with our kids! Congratulations on another fantastic set of programs!

Candace, thanks for your help with the first second-grade breakout! The kids had a blast and you calmed our breakout fears. Thanks! -Katie and Beth

Wagner- Thank you so much for making every Friday donut day! You save our sanity (but not our bellies, lol), and we thank you for that!! Love, Meredith

Kristan, thank you so much for sharing your nuggets of wisdom with me! You work miracles! –Rachel

Lisa, you work so hard! We really appreciate you. -C Hall

Morgan, thank you and your precious 4th graders so much for helping my first graders with our book fair preview selections! You are the very best! Court

Lisa, Thank you for spending time with me on accommodations. Your dedication to your craft shows, and I appreciate you! Love, Meredith

Meredith- thank you SO much for having your fifth graders come help our first graders out with their google sites! You are the best! We just adore our fifth grade buddies! <3 first grade

A special thank you to Sherri for being my Spinal Screening helper. I appreciated it so much!! Sue

HUGE shout out to Star for being the oatmeal maker EXTRAORDINAIRE and to your crew for making it so fun!! It was great!! From the office staff

Lisa Hansen thank you for not dropping the oatmeal bucket on my head and trying to protect me from the dropping cups. lol.

Lisa, Thank you for taking Claire and Drew to the book fair! You are the BEST! Casey

Beth, Thank you for letting Sassy the hamster 🐹 vacation at your house over the break! Casey

Kasey, Meredith, Marie and Marly thanks for taking pics and videos of Dax and sharing them with me! I would have missed that without you guys. :)

Specials teachers thanks for a great K/1 performance. That was a lot of work and coordination! Annelise

Laura, thanks for the protective gear! Annelise

Angie, thanks for making me smile with your sassy dance moves! Annelise

Sherri, Thank you for covering my class last week so I could take my kiddos to the doctor! I know their teachers appreciate it😁 Casey

Laura, You are the Sky Ranch expert! Thank you for helping us record and collect funds!! 5th Grade Team

Tina THANK YOU for for your friendship and your kind generosity! You are the best and he made my day! Lisa

Tina and Erin, Wow what a great bookfair! No one sees how much work actually goes into setting the bookfair up, you all did an amazing job! Thank you both for all you do. Lisa

Casey, Thanks for always thinking of others! 5th grade team and C-hall team are so lucky to have you, thanks for brightening me day! Lisa

TCE teachers, Thank you for working so hard to collect and organize your TELPAS writing samples. I know how much work goes into coordinating with your teammates, selecting appropriate prompts, and (the dreaded absence ) keeping up with the kids when they’re absent to complete the samples. Thankful to work with y’all! Lisa

Patrick, Mike, Annelise and Angie, thank you for being such great team players and allowing oatmeal to be gently poured/dumped on you! The gym was rocking with excitement! What a great way to end the week! #TCCspaday Lisa

Patrick, the spirit rally program was awesome! You are amazing and the kids love you! It warms my heart to see the interest you take in all students! The more I get to know you the more I learn! Thank you for all you do! Lisa

Thank you to all of our book fair helpers this week! Tina and Erin, once again you did such a wonderful job with establishing the set up, flow and procedures! All of our other educators, specialists and coaches who stepped in to help during Open House and for passing out donuts during the week were greatly appreciated! Thank you for your efforts! - Angie

Thank you Beth for being so helpful with art work and monitoring behavior while preparing for the kinder and 1st grade program. The headbands for the 1st graders were perfect and the signs for kinder were awesome! I’m so lucky to have you as a team member!

Thank you Mrs. Torti for coming in and helping with 1st grade while rehearsing for the program. We got so much done after your fabulous ticket spiel. It takes a village! 😝

Incredible job to Julie Fidler on all your work with Jump Rope for Heart. Handling money that elementary kids throw your way with such ease and organization is impressive. Also, thanks for always having sunscreen ready and looking out for others during Move and Groove. 😀

Nice job Coach Erickson on cultivating the talent we have at TCE with Jump Rope for Heart. The kids did a great job!

Big thanks to Dr. Applegate for reminding us all to not take life too seriously. Your dance moves are on point. I am sad that I only got one year with you as principal but I’m very proud of you. Thanks for being a leader and educator that we can all learn from and look up to. You are going to do wonderful things in your new role.