TO-KNOW

1. I hope that you enjoyed the first snow day of the year! In the case of a cold weather day (in which staff report and students stay home), please refer to this plan.
   1. A summary of the cold weather day plan: All teachers will report to home buildings at normal times. At Springmyer, this means that you would have from 8:00 – 11:15 to work on creating blizzard bags. Lunch is from 11:15 – 12:15. From 12:15 – 3:30 we would have professional learning activities (TBA).
2. Springmyer is hosting the January school board meeting this Monday evening, beginning at 6:30pm. You are welcome, but not required, to attend. Many thanks to Sarah, Jen, Lindsay and Kate who will be doing a presentation about their experiences at Teachers College this summer and how it has impacted their own professional growth, as well as their colleagues and students.
3. Our AIMSWeb winter screening day is this Tuesday, January 10. Please refer to Andrea’s email for the schedule.
4. I will be at District Office all day on Wednesday, January 11. I am still waiting to hear who will be covering for me and will update the staff calendar once I know. Andrea will be at District Office on Monday afternoon.

TO-DO

1. Teachers: A reminder that the bucket closes at 11:59pm on Monday, January 9. Please be sure that all grades are entered accurately by this time. Report cards will go live to parents on Wednesday, January 11. On Monday morning, Cyndi will run a report to see if any teachers have missing grades. If you are missing grades, she will follow up with you to be sure that this is intentional.
2. Please start to reach out to parents to schedule conferences for January 24, from 4 – 7pm. These conferences are by invitation for parents of students who are currently struggling (academically, behaviorally, socially, etc.). They could be for parents who attended conferences this fall but would benefit from an additional meeting or for parents who missed conferences and who have students who would benefit from a meeting. Please reach out to parents to schedule these meetings. As you schedule meetings, please add them to this spreadsheet. There is a tab for each grade level/team and there are additional directions on the top of each page. Let me know if you have questions about who to invite or logistics.
3. Our Read-A-Thon begins one week from today!
   1. Please let me know if you know of someone who would be interested in being a corporate sponsor. For as little as $50, corporate sponsors can have their company logo and contact information on every student page. This means that every Springmyer family will see their information plus every person who they reach out to to request support.
   2. Classroom teachers: Please remember to send home the take home sheet and bracelets on Tuesday!
   3. All staff: Please promote the Read-A-Thon with students! We have a few incentives to help inspire them:
      1. If 100% of a class creates a personal webpage by next Tuesday, 1/17, the class will have a pajama day on Friday, 1/20. Students do not need to collect any money to create the webpage. They simply enter in their “secret code.”
      2. The three classes that raise the most money will earn a donut party.
      3. Any student who gets five or more sponsors will have their name put up on our “wall of fame” bulletin board.

TO-READ

3 ‘Simple’ Ideas Every Educator Should Work on in 2017

I found some inspiration in Pete DeWitt’s recent blog post in Education Week and thought that you might too! His post offers a quick refresher on some of the fundamentals of teaching, learning, and listening that make a significant impact on the experiences of our entire school community. Important reminders for us all!