TO-KNOW

1. I will be out of the building on Wednesday and Friday. Jill Wolfe is covering for me on Wednesday and Jeff Crowe is covering on Friday. Andrea will be out of the building on Thursday. On Monday, I will be leaving for a meeting at COH at 12:15 and do not expect to be back before 4pm. I will be available by phone or chat if you need me.
2. The deadline to apply for continuing contract is November 1. This document lists the continuing contract eligibility requirements. If you are interested in applying, please see me to discuss further.
3. A reminder that the bucket is now open and will close at 11:59pm on Monday, October 24. Due to the new “electronic vault” used by the District, any changes made after the bucket closes will not be reflected when parents view report cards. This means that having complete and accurate grades entered into ProgressBook by the time the bucket closes is especially important now. To help ensure that everyone has grades entered, we will run a report on Friday morning that shows which students have missing grades. If you have students with missing grades, we will let you know to be sure that you are aware and to ensure there hasn’t been a mistake.

TO-DO

1. A reminder that meeting locations for tomorrow’s in-service day are available here.
   1. For those attending our “Next Steps” meeting in the Library: We will begin promptly at 9:50. Until then, you may work on SDQs (or whatever else you need to work on) at any location of your choice.
   2. Teachers completing SDQs: Here is the link for survey submission. A reminder that we have also cancelled our November faculty meeting to allow extra time to work on SDQs.
2. We will have our Sparky Board 1st quarter party on Tuesday, immediately following announcements until about 9:00am. Two names were randomly selected from each of the completed boards. Please review the list of names and let me know by end of the day Monday if you feel a name should be omitted due to concerns that the student has not been consistently exhibiting positive behaviors. Many thanks to Cyndi for planning a fun Halloween themed party for the students!
3. A friendly reminder to please be sure to check the absence list daily to verify its accuracy and to see if any of your absent students have homework requests. We have had a recent increase in the number of parents who are showing up to pick up homework and we do not have anything for them. If the student does not have any homework to pick up, please let us know so we can call the parent and let them know not to stop in. (Of course, if it is easier for you, you are also welcome to reach out directly to the parent to let them know!)

TO-READ

Mindfulness for Educators

It is that time of the school year cycle when many of us are prone to feeling a little more overwhelmed and stressed. Sound familiar? If so, you are not alone…but we can get through it together! This Education World article offers some practical ideas for how educators can incorporate “mindfulness” activities into our daily lives to help manage the many challenges of our work. Certainly there is no panacea here, but perhaps something will resonate as a useful tip to help recharge during a busy time of year.