April 19-23

Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom by Alan November from Brian Mull on Vimeo.

We may want to consider using this video to recruit students for the middle school band. - Jonathan have you scheduled a time to meet with students?

February 1-5

January 19 - 22

Congratulations to Angela and the Future City Team Members! They won second place this year! Way to Go!

Please keep Dione and her family in your prayers. Her grandmother passed on Friday. The service will be held on Tuesday, January 19th at 11:00 a.m. at Fellowship Presbyterian Church on Meridian Street.

December 14 - December 18

An Illustration of the IB Profile Trait "Caring"

December 7 - December 11

November 30 - December 4

November 16-20

Did you Know 4.0?

November 9-13

November 2-6

September 28 - October 2

Are we engaging our students with technology?

Please remember to click on the ARI Information tab. Kay has posted some great relevant reading supplementary material.

Upcoming Activities:

• Monday, Sept. 28 - Progress monitoring due to Kay
• Tuesday, Sept. 29 - 2nd grade to Burritt Museum; National Junior Honor Society Induction @ 6:00 in media center
• Wednesday, Sept. 30 - EDUCATEAlabama Orientation @ 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m; I am offering the orientation twice, so feel free to attend the morning session. If you attend the morning session, you don't have to attend the afternoon session; I will send a reminder e-mail, if you by chance don't remember if you are on the evaluation cycle this year.
• As I was thinking about this idea, I thought how nice it would be to have a general faculty meeting in the A.M. instead of a Wednesday afternoon. What do you think? We would just have to make sure the students are supervised, but it shouldn't be difficult to secure parent volunteers.
• Thursday, Oct. 1 - No special activities
• Friday, Oct. 2 - 3rd grade to Cathedral Caverns
• Oct. 5 - 9 - FALL BREAK!!

Have a great Fall break,
Tammy

September 14-18

Please remember to post your responses to the book study. Deadline: November 24, 2009. Participation in the book study is a requirement for the certified staff. I have really enjoyed reading the reflections posted thus far. Thanks to everyone who have shared your thoughts and ideas. I plan to submit the paperwork for CEUs the afternoon of Nov. 24th.

The morning tutorial with Successmaker will begin by Wednesday morning. I will e-mail you a list of students who have been extended an invitation to participate.

Make sure your lesson plan reflects at least one technology integration activity per week. This provides for some varied instruction, instead of just the traditional paper/pencil, workbook, worksheet activity. For those of you who have Promethean boards, please e-mail me for some great web sites to integrate into your lesson. I surfed upon a cool one for interactive maps.

Please have lesson plans available on your desk and easily accessible. I will begin reviewing these this week by visiting your classroom and leaving feedback. Also, please be mindful that lesson plans should be submitted each Friday at 3:30 p.m.

I would also like to pilot the WiiMote in two classrooms. Please let me know if you are interested. This is an inexpensive way to create an interactive whiteboard and the students are totally amazed as well as engaged in your lessons.

Upcoming Weekly Events:

Sept. 15 - PTA/Open House at 6:00 p.m.; Please have student work displayed in the classroom as well as in the hallway. Not only should work be displayed on this occasion, but all during the school year. Bulletin boards should be updated on a regular basis. We will meet in the gym for a short business meeting and then move to the classrooms.

Sept. 16-17 Razzle Dazzle Writing Workshop at Alabama A&M University; Faculty Meeting - IB Professional Development followed by EDUCATEAlabama Orientation for those who are on the evaluation cycle this year.

Sept. 18 - Flu Shot from 10:30 - 11:30; Fall Pictures - Students may wear casual dress without paying $1.00; 1st Grade to Burritt Museum

Have a great week,

Tammy

September 8-12

I hope everyone had a great, long weekend! It came at the perfect time for me, considering my frustrations with the middle school schedules. Scheduling is a nightmare! But I hope all schedules have been finalized. I appreciate you being flexible as we move forward with this redesigned schedule. Please re-check your classroom rolls on STI to make sure that all students are included and not double scheduled in multiple sections of the same content area.

Please keep Shelby and his family in your prayers. His mother passed away Sunday afternoon. His parents were involved in a car accident early Sunday morning/afternoon. Shelby is traveling to Mississippi to be with family and make funeral arrangements. He will keep us informed of any additional news.

Upcoming Activities:

Sept. 8-11 - ThinkLink Administration; Please return answer documents to Jill by Monday, September 14th.

Sept. 9 - School Leadership Meeting from 2-3 in conference room; Review 2009-2010 CIP that will be submitted; Meeting with teachers on EDUCATEAlabama evaluation cycle @ 3:30 in media center.

Sept. 10 - Data Meetings with K-5 during PE times; Will discuss baseline test results, DIBELS, fresh reads, and any other pertinent information

Sept. 12 - Robotics Competition at Calhoun College; Band students will also attend.

Sept. 15 - PTA/Open House at 6:00 p.m.; Please have student work displayed in the classroom as well as in the hallway. Not only should work be displayed on this occasion, but all during the school year. Bulletin boards should be updated on a regular basis.

Sept. 18 - Flu Shot from 10:30 - 11:30; Fall Pictures - Students may wear casual dress without paying $1.00.

Sept. 21-23- 5th graders to Camp McDowell

Sept. 24 - Classroom Performance System follow-up training from 1:30 - 3:30. Please let me know if you would like to attend so I can arrange for coverage of your class.

Sept. 25 - Water Quality Field Experience Sept. 29 - 2nd Grade to Burritt Museum

Wishing you a great week,
Tammy

August 31 - September 4

I think it's been a great three weeks! Although, it feels like we've been back in session a bit longer. Below are the weekly reminders: Teachers, please remember to send me your weekly classroom schedule via e-mail. This information has to be copied and shared with the district office. I forwarded the template to you several weeks ago. Thanks to those of you who forwarded this information and followed directions by denoting the time for team meeting on your schedule. I truly appreciate your promptness. Final Due Date: August 31, 2009 ***If you have made any modications to your schedule, please send me the revised copy. Resource teachers, please send me the grade level and time that you work with struggling students. Also, I have this feeling that additional resource teachers may have to assist with some type of intervention this year. The data that I've reviewed seems to indicate that we have a lot of work to do this year! Please do not respond with it's not in my job description or my coordinator says that I have to work 100% with certain students. It will take all of us working as a team to meet our goals! Professional Leave - I believe wholeheartedly that high-quality professional development is critical in developing high-quality teachers. In spite of the budget cuts, I still am constantly searching and seeking funding sources to cover the expense incurred with attending a professional development activity. However, regarding funds for substitutes-there are no funds available. Therefore, I will be soliciting the assistance of parent volunteers. Although, there may be times, more than you might like, when everyone (including administration) will have to step up to the plate and assist with supervising students. As I review the master schedule and individual schedules, many middle school teachers and resource teachers have a lot of "planning" time on A and/or B day. Please be flexible when you are called upon to assist. I really appreciate your cooperation. Book Study - Don't forget to post your collaborative response for Chapter 1 of our book study. I will be submitting an in-service proposal for Continuing Education Units(CEUs) for 15 hours. I will print off the responses as well have you sign a log as evidence of your participation. This method of professional development is so easy and convenient. I have enjoyed reading your responses. Recertification requirements have recently changed for administrators. We have to earn Professional Learning Units (PLUs). I understand there are plans to revise the teacher recertification process. Just a heads up! Also, Chapter 2 discussion topic has been posted. Please visit the discussion tab on our wiki. Attendance at Wednesday Meetings - Please remember that it is critical that everyone is present at all scheduled IB, Grade Level, Vertical/Horizontal Team Meeting, and Faculty Meetings. If you are unable to attend due to an unavoidable/unplanned reason, please send me an e-mail stating why you won't be in attendance. We are working really hard to gain IB authorization and everyone needs to be an active participant. Consultants will be present on our campus this semester and I want to ensure that we can accurately report that everyone is playing a part in making this happen. Nancy and Susan will be forwarding the attendance roster to me after the meetings. Fundraising Ideas - I have arranged for two fundraisers to generate monies this year-Coupon Books and Liberty Legacy; Additional information is forthcoming. Ten schools were selected to participate in the Liberty Legacy fundraiser. You may have read in the newspaper several weeks ago about the generous donation given to the WWII Honor Flight project. The gentlemen who was responsible for that donation is the CEO of the Liberty Legacy fundraiser. PTA also has some fundraisers planned. Can you think of some other ideas to get funds directly for your grade level or department? The teachers at my daughter's school are selling donuts in the morning car line. What do you think about this idea? State Monies/Allocations - The last I heard is that we will not be receiving any monies from the state department. There was a district-wide budget committee a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, I will receive more specifics in the next couple of weeks of the outcome of that meeting. I know that we all spend personal funds on classroom supplies. One teacher suggested last week that maybe it would be a good idea to be able to purchase classroom supplies at a reduced rate from Office Depot. It would mean that the office would order the supplies on-line and you would reimburse with a personal check. Please note that this is a suggestion. It would be a significant savings. HEA Membership - I encourage you to join and get involved in our professional organizations- HEA, AEA, and NEA. We still need two additional members to serve as building representatives. Judy and Janet sent me an e-mail indicating that they are willing to serve in this capacity. As a matter of fact, I think they attended the August meeting. You may think that being a member is not beneficial; however, the benefits are plentiful, including protected insurance, retirement, salaries, liability, your job, etc. Please see a building representative for more information. I think our school almost has a 100% membership rate . I predict that major changes (not positive) are coming down the pipeline when Dr. Hubbert and Dr. Reed both retire, which probably will happen sooner than we think. Please consider becoming a member! Upcoming Activities: Sept. 1 - Secondary Principal's Meeting at ASFL; Please make sure your students are quiet in the hallway. We will be meeting in the media center; Please have grades updated for the progress reports by 12:00 today. Sept. 2 - Progress reports will go home today; Faculty meeting @ 3:30 in media center Sept. 9 - School Leadership Meeting from 2-3 in conference room; Review 2009-2010 CIP that will be submitted; Meeting with teachers on EDUCATEAlabama evaluation cycle @ 3:30 in media center. Sept. 10 - Data Meetings with K-5 during PE times; Will discuss baseline test results, DIBELS, fresh reads, and any other pertinent information Sept. 12 - Robotics Competition at Calhoun College; Band students will also attend. Sept. 15 - PTA/Open House at 6:00 p.m.; Please have student work displayed in the classroom as well as in the hallway. Not only should work be displayed on this occasion, but all during the school year. Bulletin boards should be updated on a regular basis. Sept. 18 - Flu Shot from 10:30 - 11:30; Fall Pictures - Students may wear casual dress without paying $1.00. Sept. 21-23- 5th graders to Camp McDowell Sept. 24 - Classroom Performance System follow-up training from 1:30 - 3:30. Please let me know if you would like to attend so I can arrange for coverage of your class. Sept. 25 - Water Quality Field Experience Sept. 29 - 2nd Grade to Burritt Museum Wishing you a great week, Tammy