Weekly Update

Happy New Year!  

We are so excited about the great teaching and learning that will occur during our second semester.  We will refocus by evaluating the impact the pandemic has had on student learning and well-being, evaluate our specific data, develop plans to continue to close learning gaps, and focus on high impact teaching strategies to help us achieve our vision.  

Steven Covey, Author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" coined the phrase:

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!

Our MAIN THING is our vision and we will be more strategic than ever before as we move past the challenges due to the pandemic and the impact it has had on our students.

Our collaboration meetings and faculty meetings will be hyperfocused for the remainder of the year and communicated well in advance.  We will alternate Wedneday collaboration meetings where every other week is PD/analysis of data and the opposite week is grade level lesson planning.  We will also alternate Thursday afternoons where we will have a faculty meeting (for certified staff) the first Thursday of the month and we will continue to participate in district PD the 3rd Thursday of the month.  The second and fourth Thursdays will be used for grade level lesson planning.

It is imperative that all certified staff attend these meetings.  We will ask classified staff to cover afternoon duty on our monthly faculty meeting day so we can begin promptly at 2:15.  We will be covering important information, so we will offer a monthly make-up session for certified staff that cannot attend a faculty meeting or PD/Data Meeting session.  Please do not schedule parent Zoom conferences or IEP meetings on these days.  A typical month is reflected below.

You are the key to us working toward the achievement of our vision.  Please let us know how we can support you.  You are so appreciated and we are here to partner with you on whatever you need!

A Week (January 5-7)

Tuesday - Required Training

1) All Teachers on the Evaluation Cycle this Year and Assistant Principals - will attend required training at the Board from 7:45 - 8:15.  You will learn about the new state teacher evaluation tool.  This tool will be used for your 2nd formal evaluation this year.

2) All K-3 Teachers - will attend state required dyslexia training at the Board.   

Kindergarten/1st grade teachers will attend the 8:30-11:00 session.

2nd/3rd Grade Teachers (both reading & math) will attend the 12:00-3:00 session.

All special education teachers who services students in grade K, 1, 2, or 3 should also attend this training (please pick session above based on where most of your students fall).

3) 4th/5th Grade Classroom Teachers will meet with PES Admin at 1:30 in the PES Media Center.

Team Member of the Month

Please use the link below to vote for our Team Members of the Month for December.  This is for demonstrating the PACE character trait of Service.  Voting will close Thursday afternoon, and our Team Members of the month will be announced Friday morning.  

TEAM MEMBER OF THE MONTH NOMINATION FORM

Wednesday - January 5th

Students will return to school.  There will be required grade level collaboration on Wednesday.

Thursday - January 6th

We will have a faculty meeting for all certified staff in our media center.  At this meeting we will discuss the impact the pandemic has had on teaching and learning, assess where we are, and review ten high impact teaching strategies as a focus for the 2nd semester.  We will begin promptly at 2:15.  We will ask classified staff to cover car line Thursday afternoon.  Teachers closest to the library, please bring your chair.

AimsWeb Reading Testing Plan

We will begin AimsWeb Reading Testing January 5th.  Teachers in grades 2-5, please make arrangements to administer this assessment. This should be completed by the end of January, so please start early to allow for any student absences.  Interventionists will be administering ORF for 2nd & 3rd grade students.  Our district testing team will be administering AimsWeb Reading to our Kindergarten and 1st grade students.

 January 5^th – January 7^th – Interventionists will be assessing ORF for 2^nd and 3^rd grade.

 January 6^th – January 12^th – Paine 1^st Grade with Testing Team

 January 26^th – February 3^rd – Paine Kindergarten with Testing Team

 The week of February 7^th will be used for makeups if necessary.  

Special Education Teachers:  Please work with testing teachers to ensure your students receive any accommodations outlined in the IEP.  

Family News

Please continue to keep Mary Rountree in your thoughts and prayers.  The visitation for her father, Tommy Rountree, will be on Thursday, January 6th at Lemley Funeral Home from 10am to 11am.  A celebration of life will follow at 11:00 am.  

Please continue to keep Hannah Puryear's mother in your thoughts and prayers.

Special prayers for each of you as we embark on a new year!

2nd Semester Calendar

A snapshot of our tentative PD and collaborative planning calendar for the remainder of the year is posted below.  We have also included other school events.  Please use this to help you plan meetings, etc.  We will provide updated versions to the calendar when there are revisions.

Happy New Year!  Prayers for many blessings for each of you in 2022!