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)