I don't know about y'all, but I am having a hard time believing we are in our last week of September! However, it is a nice feeling having the fall season back with football as well as some of my tv favorites!! Law and Order SVU being one of my personal favs. . .
We are going to keep going with our busy schedules this week and rolling on into October, so make sure and check your calendars regularly to keep up with the happenings on campus and in the district!
Week of September 26th-30th, 2016
Goal Setting All Week
Monday- Kinder Grade Assessment Day - Kristan's Room
Site-Based Meeting Cancelled
Kelly Spears Out (AM and PM)
Tuesday - 1st Grade Assessment Day - Kristan's Room
Angie Out (AM and PM) - will be there briefly in the morning to start 1st grade assessment day
Wednesday - Jeans Day! (with any College, football or Coppell shirt)
2nd Grade Assessment Day - Kristan's Room
Coppell Homecoming Parade
Thursday - Have a Terrific Thursday!
Kelly Out (AM)
Texan Town
TCE Potluck Luncheon
Important Reminders and Updates!
Rescheduling Site-Based Meeting
We are going to be rescheduling our first site-based meeting for later next month due to our Campus Improvement Plan being approved at the board meeting Monday night. More info to come on that date soon!
1st TCE Potluck for the Year!
Our first potluck will be this Friday! So, be thinking about bringing out some of those fabulous fall recipes you may have so we can enjoy some yummy treats as a staff in the lounge!
Coppell Homecoming Parade
The homecoming parade will be this Wednesday! For the last few years we have had a few of our kids from TCE meet up with our PTO and Bret and I have been there. If you would like to ride/walk, and we really would like to have some extra people this year, please let us know! Just holler and we can give more details!
Super Teacher
Please note that there are only three (3) opportunities to win a SuperTeacher award this year. The nomination form is aligned to the Educator Evaluation and the scoring rubric is the Educator Evaluation instrument. Deadline for the first round is October 14. The cutoff dates for the final two opportunities are February 3 and April 14. If you aren't aware about what the Super Teacher award is, your team leader can fill you in! Please try to nominate someone on our TCE team, so we can recognize the amazing learning happening!
Book Study
Just a quick reminder that we are working on reading our 1st Book study of the year, The Innovator's Mindset. I need you to have read to the first page of Part III, through page 119 by Wednesday, October 19th.
Parent - Teacher Conferences
We will be discussing parent teacher conferences this week at faculty meeting. I had visited with team leaders about finding ways that we could do a flipped video experience for parents before they come to the conference that just reviews briefly the purpose of the conference, what you will be discussing and specific assessments that you will be briefing them on about their kiddos. This would help cover some of the overview material that you have to discuss and give them a chance to come with questions they may have, etc.
Be thinking about how and what you might want to add to a quick screencast (or other tool) to help our parents before they come to the conference. Then please touch base with me if you are having trouble thinking of what might be good to showcase, etc. I am good with us having a K-1, 2-3 and 4-5 or if you all would like to make something more specific for each grade level that would work, as long as it is helping to support our communication goals with making the learning process more transparent for our parents.
Bullying Video
There is one more compliance video training that the district has just added. It is our bullying overview training and is located in the compliance video courses in Schoology.
Here is the access code you will need:
Log into Schoology; select "Compliance Trainings 2016-17" for the campus and input the access code for the campus.
This needs to be completed by October 14th per the district.
Join the Coppell Gifted Association
Candace sent out an email about CGA and I wanted to follow up in my blog! It is that time of year again to take advantage of the free membership to CGA for all educators! I went and joined the other day and it takes less than 5 minutes! You can join until October 12th.
The Coppell Gifted Association is a group facilitated by parent and community members to help support the gifted learners and all educators in Coppell. They run summer and winter camps for the gifted learners and provide scholarships to teachers to attend trainings. As a member you will be able to receive free admission to CGA speaker events, receive CGA members only communications, and be eligible to receive CGA scholarship opportunities for approved training. One of those is the TAGT conference, which is actually being held in Dallas this year! For more info on CGA or the TAGT conference touch base with Candace!
From the Desk of BS
From the Desk of BS….Volume 5: Why Data?
The NFL combine is an event where teams spend countless
hours and resources scouting and interviewing the perfect candidate for their
teams. Some of the picks work out, some
don’t. Some are no-brainer picks, future
Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning graduated in 1998 from the University of Tennessee
where he set many records. He was the first overall pick and has since won 2
Super Bowls. A rival, and another future
Hall-of-Famer, Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round and the 199th
pick in the draft. He was not nearly as
touted as Manning, went to the University of Michigan where he was a backup
quarterback for two years and only started one. He has gone on to win 4 super
bowls and play in 2, a record for any quarterback in the NFL.
Why didn’t another team, earlier in the draft, pick Tom
Brady. He wasn’t a standout in college,
but the New England Patriots had collected enough data and did enough research
to know, that with the right system, he would be successful.
The past few weeks we have been completing beginning of the
year assessments and collecting our “scouting reports” on our learners to have
a “game plan” on how to address their needs this year. Below you will find a couple of articles
addressing how we can use data, and a fun video that talks about some other
notable draft picks that were picked up later in the draft and had pretty good
careers all because the data that was collected, was used correctly:
Thanks again, and let’s just hope the late round pick by the
Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott (picked 135th overall in this year’s draft),
can deliver like Brady has for years.
BS
Shout Outs!
TCE Family, Each day I am impressed by the dedication you have for yourselves to grow as educators, the love that you have for one another, our learners and our families and the way no matter how stressful of a day that you all can make me smile with your positive outlooks and craziness that is TCE! I am so proud to get the opportunity to lead a campus that continues to amaze me each day with the new ways you find to make connections for your kiddos! Thank you for all that you do and for making me love what I do even more even after 20 years in education! Without your dedication TCE would not be where it is today! #tcefamfabulous - Angie (p.s.-thank you for the shout out below, greatly appreciated)
Kim Becker - Our Giant Dot's look
Wonderful!!! Thank you so much for
making all of us a Giant Dot to go with Kinder Dot Day Pictures! So sweet of
you! We really appreciate!!!! Love, Lorri, Lauren, and Katy
Mary,
Thank you so much for the work that you do
with our sweet MLI kiddos each and every day. It is clear how much they love
you and are excited to go up and see you each day. We appreciate you!
Thank you Lisa Hansen for your willingness
to listen and encourage. Your kindness is such a vital support!
Angie, you embody so many qualities of an
effective principal. However, you really shine in building a vision, using
data, and monitoring curriculum & instruction. You have found the perfect balance in taking
risks, but not being too risky....thank you for always being willing to try new
things and for having a mindset to keep trying until improvement is the end
result. We may complain at times, but at the end of the day and with a little
perspective, we come to realize that the grass is always green beneath the
"silver and green...[because] we are Town Center Texans!"
Leigh Ann thank you for setting up ipads
for our ELLs/newcomers! You are awesome
and I appreciate you. So glad you are at TCE
Lisa Hansen
Tina, Thank you so much for helping me fix my
email! You have been so helpful since I've gotten back! You're the best!
Katy M.
Lori Vincenzo, you're such an amazing
teacher! I love getting to plan with you. Every activity is so creative and
differentiated for our learners! I'm
blessed to have you in my life!!! Julie
TCE family, Thank y'all so much for being so sweet to
me as I returned from maternity leave! Y'all have all made the transition so
much better! Love y'all!
Katy M.
Kelly, you're such an awesome teacher and
friend! You are such a hard worker and
giver. Your countless hours of behind the scene technology things you have done
for me and our team are greatly appreciated. I just love you! Julie
Marie, I just adore your sweet spirit and
calmness. You're always so positive and encouraging! Love you! Julie
Morning and afternoon duty cover peeps, It has been such a great start to the year
and we have to give some props to everyone and all of their help covering
duties in the morning and in the afternoon for arrival and dismissal. Our Texans love seeing their teachers out
front, back, in the gym, and in the cafeteria to help supervise and greet them
first thing in the morning!
The simple gesture of a high five, hug,
hello, or good morning, so glad you are here, first thing in the morning just
might make the day brighter for some them!
It makes such a difference for them to hear that positivity right off
the bat and know that they are always welcome at TCE! As Hitch would say, "Begin every day as
if it were on purpose." You have
definitely shown that you have a purpose and a passion for learning and serving
together as a family at TCE. - BS
Thank you Casey Wagner for going above and beyond helping out with Texan Town and Texan Treats! We appreciate your dedication to help our whole school whenever the need arises!
Sherri, Thank you for being our "popcorn of all popcorn poppers" for Texan Town! We appreciate you for always helping everyone get their snacks on those Texan Town days!
Kristan, thank you for helping me with my
learner and giving me great ideas on what I need! You're the best :) -
Catherine
To all the 4th and 5th educators and
learners: THANK YOU for making roll-out
day a success! Everyone was prepared,
flexible with your schedule and the learners were very polite and patient when
things got a little slow! Thank you!!!
Thank you to Lori Brehm for brightening
our Friday mornings! It helps to get
through Friday knowing she is so sweet!
Tina, Thank you so much for the impromptu
"book drive by!" My learners
loved Frankencrayon and talked about it the rest of the day! You are the BEST!
Kristan, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for
being Drew's Special Friend! You have a
heart of gold and always go above and beyond to make others feel special. I love you!
Candace, Thank you so much for always meeting with
me to help plan EXCITING activities for my learners in science. I look forward to planning with you the rest
of the year!
Casey
Lauren!
Thank you SO much for all your help with kinder this year...I'm so
"happy at you" for making my transition back into the classroom so
amazing :0) Love you and our awesome
team!
Thanks Candace and Becky for helping my
friend make a song for his maps project!
5th Grade Teachers - Thank you so much for
sending us your sweet kids for special friend’s day! All of the students who
came down to be a buddy were wonderful!
Our kids felt so special and your kids had the best manners and showed
such patience and kindness! THANK YOU!!
- Love Kindergarten
Thank you Kristin for being a special
friend to one of my learners until his mom came. It was fun having you in our
classroom and hanging out with our learners!!! Love , Beth
Curriculum Ideas/Resources
Here are some short reference videos for reminders about Thinking Maps when using them as tools for learning. One thing the video doesn't display is the frame of reference. This is actually a critical piece of the thinking map that helps one to remember how they have learned or gained the information. You draw a large square around the border of the thinking map and add this info.
Here are just a few examples of some thinking maps that might help kick start some ideas of how you may want to use thinking maps or how you already are using these tools!
Final Quotes for the Week
I was thinking about the importance of time this weekend. Sometimes we never seem to have enough of it. Here are a few thoughts to ponder as you go through the year in trying to balance your professional and personal lives. The first one is my favorite.
