Busy Week Ahead. . .

I hope all of you had a great end to your week!  I actually took a couple of days off (not a usual I know, but trying to do better with balancing work/life) and enjoyed celebrating Paul's bday in Vegas.  Walked away with a little extra cash which is never to shabby. . .thank you to everyone who helped out while I was out on these days, greatly appreciated!

Please make sure you are also intentionally carving out time for your family, friends and yourself during the year!  It makes a difference!

We do have a busy week ahead for us with lots of planning, lots of books and lots of fun with Special Friend's Day and Fall Family Picnic!  So, hang in there. . .we've got this!  

Week of:  September 18th-22nd, 2017

Book Fair All Week

Goal Setting Meetings Starting

Monday- Jeans Day - any shirt (to kick off the busy week)

3rd Grade Assessment Planning Day - Kristan's Room 

Tuesday - 4th Grade Assessment Planning Day - Kristan's Room

Classroom Management Framework Training - offered at TCE 4:00-5:00pm

Wednesday - 5th Grade Assessment Planning Day - Kristan's Room

TLC Meeting - Virtual Learning (any place, any pace, any time) - See info below

Thursday -  Lock Down/Fire Drill 2:15pm - this one announced since it is our first

Friday - Jeans Day - TCE Grade Level Spirit Shirt 

Special Friends Day - All Day

Fall Family Picnic - 5:30-7:30pm (must attend for an hour during the event)

Important Reminders

Special Friend's Day Schedule

8:30-9:30 - 3rd

9:30-10:30 - 5th

10:30-11:30 - 2nd

11:15-12:15 - Kinder

12:30-1:30 - 4th 

1:30-2:30 - 1st

Assessment Planning Days

Teams you may wear jeans/sweats for your day.  Please bring any data you have gathered for your learners for this year to get us started digging into data!  We will have an agenda to follow and you will have time to plan specific learning groups for differentiating instruction.  Also, you will have time to focus on goal setting for learners as well as we will set our SLO (Student Learning Objective) goals together.  

Book Fair

Please make sure you are finding time for your learners who bring money the time to attend book fair this week.  They can go before or after school (as long as parents know with pick up) and they can go during recess or if you set a specific time for them during the instructional day.  Also, it will be open during Special Friend's Day!

Classroom Management Framework Training

I wanted to give a shout out to Kelly Spears as she will be conducting this training at TCE this week and throughout the semester.  This is a training that is open to anyone in the district, but will be held at TCE (which is great- no travel)!  This training is wonderful for all educators (new to the profession or seasoned) You can attend one or more (just register in Eduphoria).  This is not a requirement, but can help to count toward the additional 6 hours of training you will need to cover the day off on the last day of school at the end of the year.  As well as, it goes toward our campus goals with responsive teaching for those of you just wanting to grow in this area of learning!

TLC Meeting

Instead of meeting in person this Wednesday after school we are going to do a flipped connection.  We will be doing this at times instead of meeting (virtual learning), but please understand that the only way this works is if everyone takes time to truly participate.  It is a requirement, not an option and we will be following up to ensure everyone is participating.  See the curriculum connection within the blog:  Twitter in order to access our first virtual learning collaboration for the year!  

Compliance Training

We are getting closer to the deadline for our compliance trainings. . .Don't forget about finishing up in Schoology, some are due by September 30th!  I am starting to go in each week and check for completion, so scroll back to the past blogs if you need more info on how to access!

Don't Forget to Join PTO and CGA

Scroll back to last week's blog for links!

PTO Grants and Ed Foundation Grants

Scroll back to last week's blog for details and examples!

"Who made you happy this week?"

Shout Out Your Happiness!

Patrick "Muscles" Miller- Thank you for helping me to push a car out of the car loop line. I bet you didn't know that was in your job description. :) -Annelise

Thank you Annelise and Laura for attending the Title I meeting this week for me! Greatly appreciated!! - Angie

Courtney, thank you for sharing the movie makers video! It got my learners super excited for the club :) - Catherine

Tina, Thank you so much for covering my class on Friday while I was in the KTEX room for announcements. I appreciate you taking the time to help me when you are so busy yourself!

Brooke- Thank you so much for helping me update my google page. You are always so patient and understanding. Thank you for being part of our TCE Family!

Candace, thank you for letting my learners borrow the Ozobots and for giving us an amazing idea! My kids loved it SO much!! - Catherine

Candace, thank you for always listening and brainstorming grants with me! I appreciate you not thinking I am totally crazy! (even though we all know I can be) – Angie

Shout out to Lisa, Dianne, and Rachel for going on a scavenger hunt with me around the school to look for my car keys last week! Double shout out to Rachel for finding them! I appreciate y'all!!

Office staff- thank you for holding down the fort while I was out last week! It is so great to know I can count on all of you!! Much love!! – Angie

Tina, thank you for all of your help with making dot day such a success! You are AMAZING!!

Mary, you are the most awesome Specials Team Leader! You do your thing in a timely manner and are so organized, it's scary! Thanks for keeping all of us on task!

Big thanks to Rachel, Kim, and Casey for coming by during Tonal Texan auditions to be an extra set of eyes and ears! Also, thank you Coach Erickson for holding down the fort with 2nd grade while I delivered envelopes to the friends who made it! Team work makes the dream work! –Patrick

Casey, thank you for being such a wonderful leader for Texan Treats! Our first, Texan Town was a huge success😊

Anne, Patty, Lisa: for such an awesome job transitioning our new kindergarteners to TCE! --Pam, OT

Thank you to Kristan for her enormous help with my tshirt spreadsheet and thank you to Sherri, Sue, Paula and Savita for getting them sorted and to classrooms! A worthy cause, TCE raised $3,000!!!

Kelly, Lori and Julie, I just adore you three so much! I love teaching with you three and love doing life with you.  Marie 

Kristan, Thank you for helping with my class. You are the best! Marie 

TCE Fam- Thank You so much for celebrating Dot Day with our learners this week! I appreciate all of your time and energy to give our learners so many opportunities to share how they will make their mark in the world. ❤Tina

Erin--You have been so amazing this year. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you and all of the ways you are supporting our library! There is absolutely no way I could have gotten through this week without you! Thank you for being so incredibly generous with your time and energy for the sake of our learners and educators! ❤Tina

Mary--I love so many things about you, but what I love most is that you ALWAYS put our learners first! Thank you for always being willing and open to new experiences and such a great teammate. So glad to have you as our team lead! –Tina

Wags--Thank you for helping organize Texan Town again this year! We appreciate you!--Tina

September Birthdays

Sue Kane - 5th

Martha Cruz - 20th

Dianne Johnston- 24th

Curriculum Connection - Twitter

One of our goals for our professional learning community this year is to truly create a professional learning network that incorporates all of our staff, but also extends beyond the walls of TCE to other educators, leaders in education, etc. around the world.  

During our TLC (teacher learning community) meetings throughout the year (one Wednesday every month), we will vary following topics:  professional learning networks, responsive teaching and cultural awareness

We are going to start our book study soon which will help guide our journey for professional learning networks, but I wanted to send out a link to start brainstorming and learning about Twitter (in case you are like me and still find yourself not fully aware of all that Twitter can offer and do for you. . .)

Instead of meeting this week for our TLC (Teacher Learning Community), we are going to have a quick flipped learning and sharing experience.  

Due date:  Friday, September 29th

I would like for you to view the link below and then post on the following padlet your answers to the following:

1.  Something you learned or a connection you made from the   link:  A Teacher's Guide to Twitter

2.  How you have used/or want to use Twitter to connect to others before

3.  People in education you follow 

Here is the link to an article that has great insight into all that is Twitter for educators!

A Teacher's Guide to Twitter

Add your info here on this Padlet link!

I will also put these links within our Schoology folder under TLC.  

Final Quotes for the Week

As we think about Special Friend's Day at school, you might want to reflect on your friends who have made a difference in your life.  

What a great week to reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while and drop them a quick message, call or card to let them know you appreciate their friendship. .  .