May 30, Buzzness

The Buzzness 

Calendar May 30           4th Camp Albemarle rain date Fiddner Foreman Sullivan 31           K  Author Share: 9:30 McCart/Campb,  11am Sprad/Whit, 1pm Davis June               1             SOL - 5th Science                1st Grade Author Share  12:45 – 1:30 pm                Faculty Meeting 2:45 Library Student Progress Celebration 2             Field Day   (Rain date: June 7) 5             5th Grade Trip to Lake Monacan  9:30 am -2:00 pm  (Rain date: June 6)                Fire Drill 8:15 (watching 2nd grade evacuation) 6             Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast Conference Room 8-10:00 am                PTO meeting 6pm 7             Team Leaders 2:45 8             MUD: Moving Up Day Ceremony for 5th Grade 9:30 am                Faculty Celebration 2:45 Library 9             Last day of school.  Early release at 11:30 am.   Parent Portal reopens.       26-30     Kindergarten Camp 9:00-11:30 am June 26 -July 14 Summer School

Field Day Schedule The weather looks to be dry leading up to field day and hopefully any rain will hold off until Saturday. Bees, let your team leader know if you foresee an issue with this schedule. We can adjust it as needed. This was adopted from last year. Field day - Friday June 2nd Grades K-2     9-11am Grades 3-5     12-2pm Lunch All classes, except 1st grade, will eat in their classrooms on Tuesday, Field Day. Here’s the schedule for getting lunch from the cafeteria: 11:00 – 3rd Grade 11:15 – 4th Grade 11:30 – 5th Grade 11:50 – 2nd Grade 12:05 and other regular times per class – 1st Grade 12:35 – Kindergarten Teams coordinate plans for transition.

New Power Teacher Pro Roll Out - Trainers needed Mark Leach and the Student Information Support Team have been piloting a new Power Teacher Pro version, within our division, this year and they are ready to train a Brownsville Team of teachers for a 2017 -18 school year implementation. If you are interested, let Jason know and he will get a summer date to you as soon as possible.

  

No Teacher Desk Challenge Go on and google it...the benefits of more space in your classroom for students are clear. Will you take the challenge? Do you know someone who already has?

 

Tech that’s Leaving the Building Here is a message from Chris: Please have staff backup any data if needed from these machines before leaving for the summer. Recycling White MacBooks Silver iMacs (I have a laptop I’ll be updating with Windows 10 can use at Circ Desk Anne) Chubby Lenovos (x131e) (the 4th grade Chubbys are to be replaced for next year) EDEP (Afterschool) Dell Desktop in office (I have a laptop I’ll be updating with Windows 10 for this office) Thank you – Chris

 

Last Day of School Schedule Bee on the lookout for a last day of school schedule.We are currently accepting suggestions. When asked if we have a half-day schedule on file, Freda said, “We haven’t had one in a long time”.  We will definitely start having students who ordered a lunch, to go get them around 10:30am. We are anticipating about 30 students.

May 19, 2018 Buzzness

The Buzzness

Calendar 23           1st Grade Music Performance  6:00 pm / 1:25pm 2nd attends 25           Kindergarten Music Performance  6:00 pm / 1:25pm 3rd attends                Admin / Grade level class roster Meetings 29           Memorial Day Holiday - No school for students or students 30           4th Camp Albemarle rain date Fiddner Foreman Sullivan 31           K  Author Share: 9:30 McCart/Campb,  11am Sprad/Whit, 1pm Davis June               1              1st Grade Author Share  12:45 – 1:30 pm                 Faculty Meeting 2:45 Library Student Progress Celebration 2              Field Day    (Rain date: June 7) 5              5th Grade Trip to Lake Monacan  9:30 am -2:00 pm  (Rain date: June 6)                 Fire Drill 8:15 (watching 2nd grade evacuation) 6              Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast Conference Room 8-10:00 am                 PTO meeting 6pm 7             Team Leaders 2:45 8              MUD: Moving Up Day Ceremony for 5th Grade 9:30 am                 Faculty Celebration 2:45 Library 9              Last day of school.  Early release at 11:30 am.   Parent Portal reopens.                 26-30     Kindergarten Camp 9:00-11:30 am June 26 -July 14 Summer School

Ms. Alexander After taking this year off as our PALS instructor, we heard from Linda Alexander last week and received the news that she will not be returning next year. If you would like to wish her well, you may contact her at: linalexa1001@gmail.com We will definitely invite her back for our end of year celebrations.

Our last 2:45 Thursday’s to meet Thursday May 25 - Grade Level Team Meeting: Teacher Roster Assignments     2:45pm 1st and 2nd     3:10pm 3rd and 4th     3:40pm 5th           ( Bee diligent to only use these 20 minutes given to think about next         year’s kids. This year’s kids need you these next 3 weeks ) Thursday June 1 - School Improvement Assessment     Mountain Climber progress completion     SIP Strategies Assessment     Student Progress Celebration Thursday June 8 - End of Year Faculty Celebration 2:45 - 3:30     Service awards     PD Achievements     Welcomes     Farewells

End of Year Activities As we begin to wrap up the year, keep in mind that the more engaged students are in the activities we plan the better, it also keeps us more watchful as we enjoy participating with students as well. Structured fun - Whether it is indoor or out, provide parameters that keep students focused on a task. Free choice for too long can lead students to get bored and begin to think of unsafe behaviors. Movies - Reminder that you need admin permission to show full length films. Films should be reviewed for content, have strong connections to content,and with parent notifications for PG movies that explain tricky scenes in the movies. Common Sense Media is a good source of for classroom movie appropriateness. Here is an excerpt of this policy. We will be sure to update the staff handbook to reflect these requirements. Resources used by students under the guidance of teachers to extend, expand, and supplement basal materials constitute an integral part of the instructional program.  Resources selected for instructional use must relate directly to the established essential understandings,knowledge and skills of the Curriculum Framework content area in which they are used. Professional staff, to include teachers and library/media specialists, must carefully review materials prior to use and exercise a high degree of professional judgment in their selection and use of learning resources, to ensure that the use of such resources serves to both support and complement the basic instructional objectives within the specific subject areas and classrooms.

End of Year Library Message: While all student library books aren’t due until next Friday, we are hoping to print overdue notices later today. Please send down to the library any lingering books in your classroom collection baskets. Thanks! Anne Squared

Last Day School Lunch We will serve school on the last day of school beginning at 10:30. Grade Level Teams will send students to the cafeteria if they want a bagged lunch in the usual grade level order, with admin facilitating. Eating will be done in classrooms. Teachers get ready! Families will begin sending you notes or emails about whether they want their student to receive a bag lunch. A message will go out this Monday and Tuesday to remind parents. Paper notices will go to families that have requested. Teachers, bee sure to check with families they may not attend to this message. Gwen, our cafeteria manager, needs orders by Friday May 26. No worries, she will order extras. Team Leaders have to eat the leftovers.

End of Year Check Out Attached is a DRAFT end of year check off sheet. If you see anything missing or you think it needs an adjustment, let us know. Anne, Jason and Nancy are working with Chris Kierwa to develop a tech turn in plan. We will get that out as soon as possible.

Investigations Update Much is going on, but we are still feeling the excitement about investigations. Currently we have at least 1 Kit for each grade level in case you need to take a look. We will bee sure to have a kit for each teacher before school starts next year. Keep an eye out for a survey to help us figure what we need to order to make sure classrooms have all the materials they will need for full implementation. If you want to start looking at what is suggested, find your grade level kit, look at the first 5 or so pages for the list of manipulatives. Your math vertical team member can help with this. Analisa Herring Anne Whitlock Erica McLaughlin Kristen Hunter Victoria Chernauskas Nancy Fiddner Karen Morris

May 5, 2017 Buzzness

The Buzzness 

Calendar 8thru  June 8 SOL Test Window in grades 3rd-5th                             11      SOL G3 Reading Section 1            Kindergarten Orientation 3:00-4:15 pm 12      SOL G3 Reading Section 2           1st Grade Trip to Frontier Culture Museum 9:15-1:30           4th Gr Meteorologist visit 10am- 11:35 Innovation Lng 16      SOL G3 Math Section 1 17      SOL G3 Math Section 2 18      SOL G5 Reading 19      SOL G4 Reading           2nd Grade trip to Grand Caverns 9:15 am-1:45 pm           3rd Grade trip to Frontier Culture Museum 9:15 am – 1:30           Parent Portal closes at 8:00 am

 

Spring 2017 SOL Test Dates Date Test Thursday, May 11 G3 Reading, Section 1 Friday, May 12 G3 Reading, Section 2 Tuesday, May 16 G3 Math, Section 1 Wednesday, May 17 G3 Math, Section 2 Thursday, May 18 G5 Reading Friday, May 19 G4 Reading Tuesday, May 23 G5 Math, Section 1 Wednesday, May 24 G5 Math, Section 2 Wednesday, May 24 G4 Math, Section 1 Thursday, May 25 G4 Math, Section 2 Friday, May 26 G5 Virginia Studies Thursday, June 1 G5 Science Make-ups and retakes will be on-going, scheduled as needed, between May 11 and June 8.

Staffing Update After so many year Ms. Marianne Barbour will be taking on a new role at Albemarle High School as there data manager. She was not able to come in today due to the weather, but she will share a personal message when she returns. Many of you know about the recent adventures of Mr. Jeff Balnave and here is his news: Dear BES community, I have accepted a position teaching grade 5 at the American School of Dubai for next school year.  My wife and I will be moving this summer, and staying for two years (possibly more). I want to thank every single person I have met and worked with at Brownsville.  It’s a special school with extraordinary staff members, amazing students, and supportive parents.  I will miss this place, and you people next year, without a doubt.  Please know that you have each inspired me in your own way, and I will look back fondly on my experiences.  We’ll stay in touch. Sincerely, Jeff Balnave

Math Investigations 3 Thanks to all the members of the Math Vertical Team that put together an outstanding plan for full K-5 implementation of the new Investigations 3. So far, their effort and energy has creating a feeling of excitement about a schoolwide approach to math instructions. Here is a link to the implementation summary. https://docs.google.com/a/k12albemarle.org/document/d/17bPbCo-LBaexdIFTNRUKLwTm2KIiL6ymLNecORFznS8/edit?usp=sharing Members of the team are: Anne Whitlock, Erica McLaughlin, Kristen Hunter, Victoria Chernauskas, Nancy Fiddner, Karen Morris, Analisa Herring and our wonderful instructional coaches.

Mountain Climbers Updated Bee sure to have your Mountain Climber’s progress updated by the June 1st Faculty Meeting.

One of our Bees, Austin Germani In remembering the life of Austin Germani, a gift from the was made in his honor to the Austin Germani Memorial Fund, to make therapy dogs for those in need.