November 3, 2017 Buzzness

The Buzzness

Calendar Nov                3            5th Grade Nano Day 8:30 - 10:30AM Cafeteria                        6-7         Staff Development/Conferences.                        6             Making Connections - No School                        7             Voting Day - No School                          6             Report Cards to Admin. Nov. 6AM                        9             Report Card Corrections Due                        9             Faculty Meeting 2:45 Library - SBIT / RTI/ SpEd                        10           Student Make-up Pictures.  Portal Opens                        10           PALS K Data Due                        13           Fire Drill 9:10a.m.                        13           Report Cards Sent Home                        13-17    CoGAT 4th Grade                        13- Dec 1  Grade Level Watchlist Discussions                                   14          Teacher Assistant Meeting 10AM                        16          PM- RTI / SpEd Team Meeting and 2nd Grade PBased

Making Connections UPDATE It seems that the automated email reminder system has not implemented the 3-day ahead reminder program as we anticipated. As a result, you have not been able to print your tickets as requested this morning. A work around for this is to go to your My enrollments page and print your enrollment confirmations. You may also display your enrollment on your phone at the door of your session on Monday  and that will serve as your ticket as well. Thank you

Thursday, November 9th Faculty Meeting Preview https://goo.gl/forms/oB8Of4ekDUMszWRv2 Please complete the following google form to help set up for our November faculty meeting. Let Admin folks know if you have any questions.

Mr. Graves’ bus change to 179 Mr. Graves’ bus, formerly 109, will bee 179 starting Wednesday November 8.

New Recertification Requirements Bee sure to find Dr. Clare Keiser’s email, ckeiser2@albemarle.org  and titled, “VA Teaching License Information”, to get an update on new recertification requirements.

Student / Helpers Arrival to School Remind all students and families that walk-in arrivals will not be able to enter the building until 7:45. 7:45 includes Henley Helpers. If you have Helpers that you would like before that time, provide them a note or a pass so that folks manning the door will know to let them go. Safety patrols will be allowed in at 7:40.

Henley Collaboration Opportunity Amber Schwalm, Life Skills teacher at Henley, is seeking an interested teacher to partner with her class for their healthy eating/healthy snack curriculum. She has 25 students in her class who will learn about nutrition and food preparation. She would like her students to transfer their learning by preparing a healthy snack and informational materials or a brief presentation for a class of younger students (ideally 2nd grade or younger). If this is successful and if you are interested, it could lead to further partner opportunities. Please let Nancy McCullen know if you are interested and I will connect you and Amber.

Opportunity To Share with Your Students’ Families Dear All, Please advertise the following to interested families: Broadus Wood will be hosting the next Girls’ Geek Day on Saturday, November 11th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  This event is free, but registration is required at the following link: https://ggdnov1117.eventbrite.com.  The event is open to girls of all ages, but 3rd grade and younger will need a parent to attend. If families have any questions, please invite them to visit the website http://www.tech-girls.org/girls-geek-day.html. Thank you, Hope Hamblin

Another Cool Opportunity As a school we are committed to incorporating p-based learning because engaging students with  concrete content and solving hands-on, real-world problems is a great motivator. Plus, embedding content standards in p-based activities ensures transfer of learning. Often we think real-world problems are lofty and out of reach for young children. Sometimes we need to think more small scale and local. So, here’s one “problem” at Brownsville that’s ripe for p-based learning… the lost and found. The guiding questions are endless. Here are just a few: 1.      How much clothing is lost at BES? What is the value for all items? How much does lost items cost the average family per year? How much is “found”? 2.      How can we reduce the number of items that end up in the lost and found? 3.      How can we make sure that more lost and found items get back to their owners? 4.      What happens to items that never get “found”? The math (adding, subtracting, money, ratios, percentage, graphing/data), language arts (writing), social studies (civics/citizenship) and science (waste, recycling) connections are abundant. The possibilities are endless. Are you intrigued? Are you interested in having your class help identify and solve a problem related to the lost and found? If so, let Sara Hankins, parent volunteer who helps with the lost and found, know your plans. You can contact her via email at: shankins@k12albemarle.org.

Books Available for Classroom Libraries We received a collection of books from Yancey Elementary that are available for teachers. The books are located on the yellow “Free Books” cart inside the library. Some of the books came from the Yancey Library collection – if you select any of these for your classroom collection, be sure to black out the barcodes on the front, back and/or insides of the books. All levels of books are available. This will help us avoid any BES library confusion. There is also a collection of Big Books that are up for grabs in a box beside the cart. Please come and select books by next Friday, November 10th. Thanks!