September 23, 2016

The Buzzness

Calendar 26        Staff Development Day - See PD info below 29        K Field Trip to Chile’s Orchard (Davis and Spradlin Classes going             9:40 am-1:00 pm) 30        K Field Trip to Chile’s Orchard (Campbell, Whitlock, McCartney             Classes going 9:40 am-1:00 pm)             Spirit Day- All grades wear your favorite team’s jersey or hat             PALS 1-3 Window closes October        3           Kindness in Chalk 7:00-7:30 am              PALS K window opens 5          Team Leaders 2:45 7           Lockdown Drill TBD 11         State of the School Address 5:30 11         PTO meeting 6p.m. 13         Fall student pictures 14         End fundraiser/Bee Bop/ BES Spirit Day

Monday’s  PD Day We will start at Meriwether Lewis Elementary 8:15 Arrival - Light breakfast 8:30 Begin Responsive Classroom Session 11:30 End of RC Session - Lunch on your own 1 - 2:30p.m. Illuminate Training - Library Teams not attending the training, make a copy of this form, complete and share back with Nancy or Jason: https://docs.google.com/a/k12albemarle.org/document/d/1oiSaYiE_JtOQzo55684xM4vnrlEWnAA5XXJu5og7kZ4/edit?usp=sharing

New ACAC Pick Up in the Afternoon ACAC is addressing the needs of our community by offering after-school care services for our parents. Service will begin this Tuesday. An ACPS bus has been chartered for this pick-up service and will be lined up in the front our current fleet of buses in the afternoons. Bee on the lookout for new transportation plans for families that will use this option.

Need a day or half-day out of School? Remember to do Aesop and a Green Form; EVEN IF YOU DON’T NEED A SUB! We will study how to be more efficient with this process. In the meantime, follow this process.

Jason Out! Reminder that after Monday, I will not be in the building again until the following Monday Oct 3rd. I will be available by email however. I will miss everyone. My heart will be buzzing for you. ‘Promise not to bring anything back to put on your already full plates!

Social Committee Support The Social Committee helps show our support for fellow staff members and school families.  We send in memory donations, send cards of encouragement, send celebration flowers and collect a one time a year fee.   WE NEED 2 to 3 staff members that would like to help make this happen for our Bville family.

Brownsville’s 50th November 16th Several former Brownsvillians are planning to attend our reception on Nov. 16.  Ann Norford, Art Stow, Susan Wilson.  We will have light refreshments and give tours of the school.

Class photo that Bethany Robinson has--Paula White, who now teaches at Crozet--is the teacher.

September 16, 2016

The Buzzness

Calendar Sept 19- Fundraiser Kick-Off  (Official letter goes home) Sept. 19- Early Fall BEE classes begin Sept 20 - 5th Grade to Monticello Sept 20 - Healthy Snack Day - Petite Peaches Sept 21 - United Way Day of Caring - volunteers here working on landscaping Sept 21 - Bus Evacuations Sept  22 - Bus Evacuations Sept. 23- Movie Night 6:30-8:30 Sept. 25- PTO Grounds Beautification Sept. 26- No school - a.m. Responsive Classroom PD, TBD - p.m. School Based PD Sept 29 - Chiles Orchard - Spradlin/Davis Sept 30 - Team Spirit Day - Where your favorite team shirt, jersey or hat Sept. 30 - Chiles Orchard - Whitlock/McCartney/Campbell Sept 30 - PALS 1-3 Assessment Window Closes

Great quote from this week: Inspired by the book, The Book Whisperer, Wendy Davis says “Reading can change your life”.

Turn your phones up! One of the common issues that we’ve heard about from other schools is the ringer volume. By default, the new phones have a ringer that is harder to hear in noisy environments. You may want to either turn the volume up on the default ringer (press the + key while not on a call) or change to a different ringtone. To change ringtones, press the settings button (looks like a gear ), then choose ringtones from the menu. You may either press 2 to select it, or use the arrows and large button in the middle of the phone. The ringtone labeled Chirp1 is the old default ringtone and seems to be audible even in noisy environments. Or feel free to pick whatever you’d like. The manual can be found here. Feel free to skip around in that and get an idea of how things may be different. For the most part, these phones behave exactly like the others. The transitions have been easy, but if you have any questions, feel free to call the service desk or put in a ticket and we’ll help out in any way we can. .

Digging Deeper Presentations Grade Level teams members will present one or two of their Digging Deeper presentations in the next few weeks during PLC meetings. Bee prepared to present the student that you have been working on.

Submit dates for TPA Goal Setting It looks like we will not make the September 30th goal setting deadline for everyone. Do not worry about that. If you have not submitted 3 potential dates and times to your appraising administrator, please do ASAP. You can find your appraising administrator in the Staff handbook, saved in Handbook folder on  Faculty Share.

Fire Marshall’s Jason and Terry want to make sure you are  safe!

RTI, SpEd, Grade Level Team Thursday Reminder that this Thursday’s RTI/SpEd Meeting schedule is such: 2:45 - 3:20 Lynn/SpEd with 2nd Grade Kristi/SpEd with 3rd Grade 3:25 - 4:00 Lynn/Sped with 4th Grade Kristi/Sped with 5th Grade

September 9, 2016

The Buzz-ness

Calendar Sept 12 - Writer’s Eye 5th Grade Sept. 13 - Lockdown Drill - time 10AM Sept 13- K-2 Back to School Night 6:00/ PTO address Sept 15 - International Dot Day Sept 15 - Faculty Meeting - Responsive classroom and Accelerated Learning Plans Sept 19- Fundraiser Kick-Off  (Official letter goes home) Sept. 19- Early Fall BEE classes begin Sept 20 - 5th Grade to Monticello Sept 21 - Bus Evacuations Sept  22 - Bus Evacuations Sept. 23- Movie Night 6:30-8:30

Ms. Gillette getting ready to win the Charlottesville Women's 4 Miler. Ms. McLaughlin was also an enthusiastic runner at the event. Many of our BEE families were participants as well.

Teacher Performance Appraisal Hello Bee Colony, It’s time to schedule your goal setting meeting. Once again we will use TalentEd as a tool to share and document much of the process. Though the TPA process is unchanged, TalentEd will look a little different. Rather than a long list of tasks, this year you will see one form in your folder that we will use for the whole year. We will complete the various sections of the form throughout the year. Click here for more information about TalentEd Perform. Please complete these steps: 1.            Complete the TPA Teacher Self-Assessment. This is a Google Doc so you must be logged in to your ACPS Google account to access it. It is View Only. So either make a copy or download a Word version so you can type in/edit the document. This does not go in TalentEd Perform. 2.            Consider your self-assessment and our SIP plan to draft two goals – one Professional Learning Goal and one Student Academic Progress Goal. Complete the associated parts of the form in your TalentEd account. Do not choose "Save Complete", instead choose "Save Progress". In this way it is a working document that we share and can be edited/revised. 3.            Schedule a meeting with your administrator to discuss and finalize your goal. Please allow 20-30 minutes for this meeting which needs to occur before September 30th. Send your appraising administrator, 2 or 3 days and times you are available to meet. Do not try to schedule a meeting through TalentEd. If needed, use the Staff Handbook to find your appraising administrator. 4.            Consider making your SAP goal around the student your have chosen to focus on this year.  In next week’s faculty meeting you will be developing an Accelerated Learning Plan for your student. This plan could be submitted as your goal.

New Content Advisory Team members We would like to thank the following Bee’s for leading the way as new Content Advisory Team members. Christa Livermon, Language Arts, Victoria Chernauskas, Math and Shannon Horridge, Fine Arts. CAT members work with our division’s instructional leadership and our Lead Instructional Coaches to review and disseminate curricular resources and updates.

5th Grade Music Fun!

New PALS Instructor Introducing Brett Stone as our new PALS instructor this year. Brett is a Bee Parent and has been a reading specialist in northern Virginia schools. We are excited to get this program going with such a talented educator.

Reminder: Bee sure to share your Mining for Gold presentations with Nancy, Teresa or Jason, by Monday September 19. We plan to have little more time to work on these during next Thursday’s Faculty Meeting.

RC Corner Check out the items in this week’s Responsive Classroom Newsletter Energizers! You know it instinctively, you see it every day in your classroom, and brain research supports it: Children learn better when we give them mental and physical breaks from intensive instruction. Just two or three playful minutes of moving, breathing deeply, laughing together, and singing or chanting relaxes children’s bodies and clears their minds for more learning.  (Continue article here)

September 2, 2016

The Buzz-ness                       September 2, 2016

"New format that I am trying to figure out. I'm a lifelong learner!"

Calendar Sept           Mon 5           Schools and offices will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday                      Tues  6            PALS Window opens for  Grades 1st - 3rd                                           Weds 7             Early Fall BEE Program Registration begins                                            Fire Drill 10a.m.                                            Team Leaders 2:45                  Thurs 8            Faculty Meeting 2:45                              Fri 9            Lockdown Drill  time TBD in Team Leaders                                          Mon  12          Writer’s Eye Field Trip for 5th Grades                                          Tues   13           K-2 Back to School Night 6:00 - 7:30  (6-6:40, 6:50-7:30)                                        Gifted Services Information Session in Library 5:30-5:55 pm                                                       Lockdown Drill time TBD in Team Leaders

                                                                                                     

Mr. McCleery and I at Parent Council this week

Fund Drive at the Hive If you didn’t already know, our PTO is starting a new annual giving campaign called the Fund Drive at the Hive. This objective is to make fundraising a bit more simple than the events that have happened in the past. The will be a kick-off event for this and will conclude with our BEE BOP Spirit Day.

                                                                
              

Ideas for Morning Meeting Messages March 04, 2011                 Question: I often struggle to write the Morning Meeting message because my imagination runs dry. What suggestions can you offer that might help me come up with fresh and interesting messages? Answer: This is a common problem when teachers focus too much on being imaginative or entertaining when writing Morning Meeting messages. Remember that the message is not meant to be a work of art or a brilliant sound bite. It’s meant to be a functional note that is relevant to the day and that engages your students in literacy practice. Check out the link below for some suggested best practices: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/ideas-for-morning-meeting-messages

#OurBESt50 When using Twitter, Facebook or Instagram…here at BES, bee sure to use the #hashtag “OurBESt50” to document this historic year.

Rafael Friedenberg, 3rd Balnave, at a Snoop Dog Concert in Richmond this Summer

Schools Capital Improvement Bond Referendum Remember, as a government employee, you cannot encourage others to vote either way for the referendum. You can let folks know the facts. Check out our division’s site that has everything need to know. http://www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=br