February 6th

Communication 

Business Meeting Date Change - Mark your calendar, we will have our business meeting on February 23rd as opposed to March 2nd. Dr. Phillips will be speaking to our staff about how to support students that are refugees and/or are new to our county. Our meeting will start at 7:45, we will be using our business meeting on March 2nd to continue our TIPs problem solving based on informal discussion for all teams.

Powerschool reminder:  The expectation is to enter 2-3 assignments per week. This could be a part of your PLT celebration and announcement time (for grade level consistency it would be good to determine which assignments could be recorded).

Report cards go home on Tuesday, February 7th.  Home Connect Letters and Elective report cards should also be included.

PDP/2nd Observations - All Mid Year PDPs should be completed by this week. Daphne and I are in the process of completing 2nd round observations license renewals, comprehensive and standard evaluation staff members (see my evaluations if you are unsure if this is you). Once those are completed we will be completing our abbreviated staff members's 2nd observations.

Elective Rosters:  Double check your rosters to be sure that the students that are attending are actually on your rosters.  If you are noticing a student showing up or not showing up, please let us know.  We appreciate everyone's flexibility and understanding in the changes that occur each quarter.

Critical Thinking 
Continuing Education - NC State has a new M.Ed. in elementary science education that prepares elementary school teachers to become science specialists and, upon graduation, will earn an "add-on" to their teaching license designating this specialization. NC State is the first, and currently the only, university in North Carolina that offers this opportunity in collaboration with the NC State Board of Education.  Please contact Dr. Sarah Carrier (sarah_carrier@ncsu.edu) or Dr. James Minogue (james_minogue@ncsu.edu) with any questions.

Creativity 

Winter Carnival - Reminder that Winter Carnival is Saturday February 11th from 11-3. We would love to have 100% staff participation/attendance. So try your best to make it out and support our PTA.

TEK Clubs:  Just a reminder that the deadline for submitting a proposal for a TEK clubs is February 10th.  Email Duval Fisher ( duval@tailoredenrichmentkids.com )with a paragraph description of your club/what grade level students and materials needed.  Clubs will run on Wednesday's from March 29-May 10.  Based on the number of students enrolled, you can be paid $650+.

Case 21 - Reminder that our Case21 results have been printed out and given to classroom teachers. WE will have item analysis discussions at our PTLs to see what objectives need more attention to support the majority of the students. Be sure to send home the parent letter with the students report cards.

CAM Raleigh:  Fifth grade students artwork created with artist in residence Shannon Newby was on display at CAM Raleigh this past weekend.  Underwood Continuing Strings shared their talents with the visitors Friday night.  Our fifth grade students will also be participating in their docent program starting this February.  If this is something you would like to be interested in supporting, please let us know!

Collaboration 

Discovery ED Group - We will have a group of 7-8 staff members will be working with Libby Galster (Discovery Education Consult) for four days focusing on supporting our School Improvement Plan focused on our two Key Process - Vocabulary and linguistic representation. The team will also be looking at 4cs in the classroom.

Early Release-February 10th preview:  We will be working together to review and evaluate our leveled book room.  Our goal is to have a quality, rigorous selection of texts to utilize for reading instruction.  You input will be valuable as we purchase new texts.  Please bring at least one book to donate for our participation in the Wake Up and Read Program.  More information will be shared at the meeting.

Yearbook photos needed-Yearbook is especially in need of photos from Elective Events, Specials Events, Field Trips, and in-classroom Photos.  Email photos in full original resolution size to Sharon Cole  sharoncole@carolina.rr.com   (Yearbook software requires the original, full resolution image quality which is typically 750KB - 2MB file size)