Follow up to ZOOM Grade Level Meetings

Teachers,
It was so good to see all of your faces during our ZOOM grade level meetings yesterday!  We have no doubt that the online learning experience for our students will be successful, and this is mainly because of each of you!  Your flexibility, dedication, and passion for our students is recognized and appreciated!  Listed below are some of the notes we reviewed during our meetings.

Remember, if you have any issues related to curriculum/lesson design and need additional support, please reach out to our academic coaches (Kelly McGough, Jenni Peters, and Monica Bramlet).  If you have any technology issues as you are preparing your lessons (i.e., how to embed a video on your slide, use of Google Classroom, etc.)  reach out to one of our Lead Technology Teachers (Susan Brandon or Janet Benson).  They can ZOOM with you to step you through it.  Also, please reach out to Lisa, Donna, or Mary for anything you need.  We are all in this together...and it is going to be great!

Family News

Please continue to keep Susan Brandon's mother, father, and the entire family in your thoughts and prayers.  Her mother is in the hospital awaiting surgery on her lung, and her dad is not allowed to stay with her due to the current situation. 

Family News

Please remember the following in your thougths and prayers:

• Buffy Bland's father, Robert Peters, was diagnosed with Parkinson's on Thursday.  The medications seem to be helping, but doctors are working on making adjustments.  He is currently in assisted living and no vistors are allowed at this time.
• Rachelle Taylor - Please continue to lift her up and pray for effectiveness of treatments, minimal side effects, and no progression of the disease.
• Ford Bertram (Lisa Lothspeich's grandson) - Please continue to pray for Ford as he battles Leukemia.  He is still in the hospital with a blood clot in his right lung, kidney issues, and fever.
• For our TCS leaders, faculty & staff, students, and families as we navigate through this trying time.    

Important Closure Information & Reminders

Paine Faculty and Staff,
We hope you are all doing well and making the best of these circumstances.  The following list contains some important information and a few reminders:

• Remember, do not attempt to use your key card to enter the building; no one will be allowed entry.  This is in an attempt to keep our building sanitized.  If there is an emergency situation please contact an administrator.
• Important information about recorded read-alouds:  We just learned that it is a copyright violation (from a publisher standpoint) for us to video ourselves reading a book aloud and placing the video on a public sight (i.e., Facebook, email, etc.) unless we have written permission from the publisher .  If you record a read aloud, it can only be offered through Google Classroom (which is considered a "closed" space).  Remember, at this time viewing those videos would be strictly optional for students.  
• There is NO Classroom to Cloud or eLearning at this time.  We cannot require any assignments, quizzes, provide instruction on new content, etc. during this state of emergency.  It is okay to offer OPTIONAL activities/games to practices skills already taught (but this is not required).  
• Please only communicate with your parents through school email (no texting them).  Also, please remember to stay in contact without overwhelming parents with numerous daily emails.  
• You can stay connected with TCS faculty and staff through the TCS padlet:   https://padlet.com/mandilogan/3mrr3282o6rq
• Please look for additional information from TCS via email on 3/31.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.  Our Paine Family is here for each one of you.  If you need anything, please let us know.  We look forward to all of us being back together again soon!!!

Family News

Dear Paine Faculty and Staff,

I want you to know that I am thinking of each one of you, and praying for you and your families during this crazy time.  The circumstances are scary, but I hope this time is a blessing to refresh and rejuvenate all of us, providing us with rest and valuable family time!  Please stay in contact with your precious students/families during the closure, providing some standards based optional activities for those who are interested.  I will be communicating with you via the blog and email.  If you need anything, please let me know.  You are the best and I am so thankful for each one of you!

Lisa

AR Tests

Some of you may be getting questions about completion of AR tests at home during the closure.  AR testing will not be completed at home.  Please see the information below from our Curriculum & Instruction Department to help you respond to any questions.  

We will follow the same guidelines that I sent to you in an earlier email about “not requiring any tests, quizzes, work from students while we are under a state of emergency”. Programs like Dreambox that can be accessed at home and used for PRACTICE are fine….because we are not requiring that and it isn’t tied to a grade. We want students to continue to read while at home. I would encourage them to make notes, summarize, and discuss their readings from AR books with parents so that they will be ready to take AR tests when they return to school. I would even say utilizing these notes while taking the test at school would be appropriate. What a great time for our students to practice some of these skills that we teach them to do with their reading!  

This link has some great question stems to help students in comprehension.  These would be great conversation starters for parents when reading at home with students and they are aligned to standards.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/meghan-everette/17-18/Parent-Question-Stems-for-ELA/

Family News

Congratulations to Kathi Wilks and her family!  Roman Henry Wilks was born on March 9th.  He is 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long.  He is precious!

Please continue to keep Susan Brandon's mother in your thoughts and prayers!

Weekly News

A Week

Class(es) of the Week: Camara & Darnell  (5th)
Please send a group of students to the office each day by 7:55 (with a post-it containing their first names)

PACE Character Trait:  Forgiveness

Paine Power Word:  Purpose

Please utilize PowerPoint (from link on blog) to teacher Power Word.

Duty Schedule: Please refer to your duty schedule for this week to ensure all students are supervised. 

Wednesday Collaboration Schedule for March

• March 11th - Collaboration on North Side
• March 18th -Collaboration Room 

Thursday Afternoon Schedule for January

• March 12th - Precept Teams, Leadership Team
• February 18th - To be Announced

Paine Kindness Precepts this Week

M:  Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud. - Mya Angelou

T:   We rise by lifting others. - Robert Ingersoll

W:  Throw kindness around like confetti. - Kid President

T:   One kind word can change someone's entire day. - Unknown

F:   Kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give. - Unknown

Dr. Suess Mad Scientist STREAM Night on Thursday, March 5th

Shout out to Paine Faculty, Staff, and PTO for our incredible Dr. Suess Mad Scientist STREAM Night on Thursday, March 5th.  The turnout exceeded all expectations.  From the greeters in the front lobby, to individuals serving pizza in the lunchroom, to the bookfair experience, to the 19 session offerings of engaging STEM activities...this night was truly one for the books.  A special thank you to Amy Ramer for your leadership and to all the faculty, staff, and PTO who worked so hard to make this night a huge success! 

AEA Visit - Thursday

AEA will visit our school on Thursday, March 5th.  They plan to bring lunch for teachers (Collaboration Room).