Wednesday, March 9
BOCES weekly bulletin - now on the web
20 week course - failing letter
We just took the letter that was shared a few days ago and made a new one for 20 week courses. Feel free to add to it if needed. Thanks to all those people who took advantage of the first letter we shared. This will enhance the communication process. Remember - these letters are in the forms / parent letters folder.
B-ball send off tomorrow:
Let's have everyone out by the gym entrance near the offices by 2:10 (start releasing at 2:05)/ If there are any issues, please let me know. We'll give 'em a great send off!
Safety folder
Please take a look inside the new "safety" folder that I put inside of the staff share folder. There isn't much in this folder so far, but I want to get anything related to building safety in here. As I accumulate more docs, I'll get them in there.
Guys and Dolls
Remember that Guys and Dolls is this week. I am totally impressed with the level of planning and student dedication to this wonderful production. Yours truly will light up the stage for a few numbers (thank the Lord no more than a few).
HS News:
I'd like to get another edition out in the next week. Please send any story material to me or Missy Butler.
Microsoft Bing in the Classroom
Resources from Scholastic:
Getting ready for the new SAT, STEM resources, Bringing Coding to Life, more
Newest ASCD online PD courses
Friday, March 4
BOCES weekly bulletin - now on the web
BOCES Tribune - Student News for March
Annie Williams Appleby is on the front cover.
Nominate a HS senior
Please consider give me some name(s) of kids you would like to nominate for the award linked above. Let's celebrate our best SS students.
Free ASCD Webinar on disrupting poverty This takes place on March 17th.
March Madness - Message from Felicia Woodard:
Advisors:
As you know, we did not have Snowcoming this year and Student Government planned for a March Madness instead. With that said, March Madness is creeping up on us quickly!! March Madness will be during our short week in March, March 13th-17th. There is less going on with March Madness than there was with Homecoming, but Student Government still has a few different plans!
1. DRESS UP DAYS
There will be dress up days for the Week. We tried to combine Spring, Music in Our Schools Month, St. Patty’s Day, and Sports into the Dress Up days (side note…we will not be using this as a competition, just for fun!):
- Monday – Favorite Sport’s Day!
- Tuesday – Flower Power
- Wednesday – Favorite Band/Artist
- Thursday – GREEN DAY (For St. Patty’s Day!)
2. Penny Collection Competition
Each class will collect pennies for a Charity Organization! The rules are as follows:
a. Each advisor will be given a Collection Jar to keep in their room
b. Each class should add PENNIES to their OWN Collection Jar
c. Sabotage the other classes by adding NON-PENNY COINS into the jars of the other classes
The Jars will be in the rooms of the following Advisors:
12th Grade – Chad Eastman
11th Grade – Cindy Brewer
10th Grade – Mike Putnam
9th Grade – Kate Remick
d. The class with the largest amount of Pennies (after non-penny reductions) will receive a PIZZA PARTY!
e. The winning class will also choose which Charity the donations will go to
3. Flower Gram
Student Government will sell Spring Flower Grams during lunches March 7th – 11th!
Flower delivery will happen on Wednesday, March 16th during Homeroom.
Buy a Spring Flower for your friend!
- Daisies: $2.25
- Tulips: $3.60
- Iris: $2.80
4. Sports Trivia
Each day there will be a new Sports Trivia Question read over the announcements. Students can submit their answers to either myself in Room 208 or Lisa Chalifoux, in the Special Ed. Suite by the end of the day. Each day there will be 1 winner and that person will receive a prize!
5. Faculty Dodgeball Game
Student Government will also host a Faculty Dodgeball Game on Wednesday, March 16th at 7PM.
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR REGISTRATION FORMS SOON!
If you have ANY questions, email me (fwoodard@southseneca.org). There will be more emails to come as we get closer to the week!
Action research project from Ithaca principal:
Colleagues,
My name is Dan Breiman and I'm the Principal of Belle Sherman Elementary in the Ithaca City School District. I'm in the preliminary stages of investigating/conducting an action research project about classroom-based professional development (peer observation) for doctoral dissertation @ Seton Hall University. As I'm in the preliminary stages my study has not currently been approved by IRB. Here are the specifics:
WHAT
Participatory Action Research Project about peer observation as a form of professional development.
6 week study
Researcher will recruit interested participants, run information sessions, conduct study
Teachers will be paired in 4 teams of 2 that include pairing of experienced teachers with newer teachers
Peer observation cycle will include three phases: Pre-observation meeting, Observation, Post-observation meeting
Participants will engage in weekly 20-minute observations throughout the 6-week cycle
Peer observation pairs will collaboratively plan a standards based lesson with defined learning targets
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Opportunity to work in collaborative teams to share and improve instructional practice
Reduce teacher isolation
Contribute new knowledge about job-embedded professional development
Positively impact school climate
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Please contact danilejbreiman@gmail.com or (607) 379-2370 if you are interested in participation or would like to learn more about this project
Thank you,
--
Daniel J. Breiman
Belle Sherman Elementary
Ithaca City School District
Principal
Monday, Feb. 22
RTIm tutorial - Please watch:
I just got a program called Camtasia Studio that allows me to make some tutorial videos. My first attempt is a short tutorial on entering a student note into RTIm Direct. This will be a great way to get basic info (not the full IST referral) into the program. I'm hoping this gets us all on the right track for getting info into one central location. Please watch the tutorial by clicking this link. I believe this will reduce some confusion on where to enter info in an efficient way.
Faculty meetings tomorrow:
Let's do something a little different tomorrow.
Tech committee meeting - Rob H's room. Open to anyone, not just committee members
Various department meetings (6-12 science, ELA, SS, etc.)
Math: meet in Mike P's room
Science: meet in Chad's room
ELA & reading - meet in Kim D's room
SS - meet in Heather's room
LOTE - Karen's room
Tech - John G's room
Art - Fran's room
PE - one of your offices
Talk about sharing of info, curriculum, what admin can do to help, etc. Share notes with Tim
Please make sure at least one person from each department goes to the tech committee meeting. Rob will be discussing things like email for students and other topics. If your whole group wants to go, that's fine.
Special ed - meeting with Sue and Stacey (Sue setting up location)
Did I miss anyone?
Please enter where you will be on this survey link.
Free ASCD Webinar on Using Discussion to Inspire Writing
BRAVE THE SHAVE with Nick Lane! Fundraiser for childhood cancer.
Last call for HS newsletter stuff: This is going to press on Tuesday. Please get me any info you'd like to share.
A Go Fund Me page was set up by Jennifer Cook-Oberbeck, one of our parents whose house was recently nearly destroyed in a fire: https://www.gofundme.com/amxuj8p4
Wednesday, Feb. 17
Purchasing Reminder from Naomi:
Purchasing will be cut off effective March 15th. There are several departments with pre-planned purchases like music that purchase until the end of the year. Those purchases will be honored. Naomi will pre-order the DCMO supply purchases so that staff can receive these before June 15th. In addition, all BOCES purchases are cut off unless you have received prior approval. This includes Arts & Ed.
Conference registration reminder:
BOCES Bulletin Feb. 16 Some great looking opportunities this week.
Transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act:
Please see the linked memo here from Assistant Commissioner Ira Schwartz regarding the orderly transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Office of Assessment February "E-Blast"
ASCD MyTeachSource: Feature on interactive learning
Tutor Pace - SAT and ACT practice:
The email below says that this is free, which is nice. If someone tries this, please let me know if it's a sampling of questions. I haven't logged into this yet.
My name is Karen Trijullo and I work for Tutor Pace, Inc. My Company recently launched a new diagnostic tool that covers both SAT and ACT tests for students to practice for SAT and ACT tests before appearing for their exam. It’s a most comprehensive and powerful tool to find out students strengths and weaknesses which actually help teachers and students to know where the students are struggling. It’s FREE forever for students and teachers.
I have included the diagnostic tool link below which covers both SAT and ACT practice tests. http://www.tutorpace.com/practice-tests
From: Seneca Community Players Publicity
Note: I can't find the email address for this person. I'm thinking that Tina or Chad might know her.
Date: 02/15/2016 01:24PM
Subject: Seneca Community Players
Hello!
I am a board member with the Seneca Community Players, a community theatre group that serves Seneca County and the surrounding area. We have planned a big fundraising event for May 13th where we will be auctioning off all the roles for our musical production of Willy Wonka. We are targeting 5th graders and up. Anyone can secure any role, if they are the highest bidder. But, the reason I am contacting you is that we will be having a press release party on Thursday, April 21st and Peter Ostrum (the original Charlie in the Willy Wonka movie) has agreed to come and help us promote our fundraising event. I would love to get the 4 Seneca County Schools to incorporate a way that 1 or 2 students could possibly "Win A Golden Ticket" and ask Peter a question during our Q & A portion of the event. Whether it is a random drawing that the students with positive behavior can win if you do PBIS in the schools or maybe a short essay contest or however you would like to run it.
I am also emailing the superintendents of the other 3 districts. Please let me know if this is something you would consider doing and if you have any other ideas.
Thank You!
Susie Cornett
Auction Theatre Chairperson
Purchasing will be cut off effective March 15th. There are several departments with pre-planned purchases like music that purchase until the end of the year. Those purchases will be honored. Naomi will pre-order the DCMO supply purchases so that staff can receive these before June 15th. In addition, all BOCES purchases are cut off unless you have received prior approval. This includes Arts & Ed.
Conference registration reminder:
When you enter a workshop in MLP, all relevant
materials like registration forms, brochures, etc must be scanned into
MLP as it states. If the scans are not available to the business office, Sue Albro spends a lot of
time trying to retrieve this info from staff in order to register or pay
registrations. Some staff may not be trained on this process, so if you need help, please let me know.
BOCES Bulletin Feb. 16 Some great looking opportunities this week.
Transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act:
Please see the linked memo here from Assistant Commissioner Ira Schwartz regarding the orderly transition from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Office of Assessment February "E-Blast"
ASCD MyTeachSource: Feature on interactive learning
Tutor Pace - SAT and ACT practice:
The email below says that this is free, which is nice. If someone tries this, please let me know if it's a sampling of questions. I haven't logged into this yet.
My name is Karen Trijullo and I work for Tutor Pace, Inc. My Company recently launched a new diagnostic tool that covers both SAT and ACT tests for students to practice for SAT and ACT tests before appearing for their exam. It’s a most comprehensive and powerful tool to find out students strengths and weaknesses which actually help teachers and students to know where the students are struggling. It’s FREE forever for students and teachers.
I have included the diagnostic tool link below which covers both SAT and ACT practice tests. http://www.tutorpace.com/practice-tests
From: Seneca Community Players Publicity
Note: I can't find the email address for this person. I'm thinking that Tina or Chad might know her.
Date: 02/15/2016 01:24PM
Subject: Seneca Community Players
Hello!
I am a board member with the Seneca Community Players, a community theatre group that serves Seneca County and the surrounding area. We have planned a big fundraising event for May 13th where we will be auctioning off all the roles for our musical production of Willy Wonka. We are targeting 5th graders and up. Anyone can secure any role, if they are the highest bidder. But, the reason I am contacting you is that we will be having a press release party on Thursday, April 21st and Peter Ostrum (the original Charlie in the Willy Wonka movie) has agreed to come and help us promote our fundraising event. I would love to get the 4 Seneca County Schools to incorporate a way that 1 or 2 students could possibly "Win A Golden Ticket" and ask Peter a question during our Q & A portion of the event. Whether it is a random drawing that the students with positive behavior can win if you do PBIS in the schools or maybe a short essay contest or however you would like to run it.
I am also emailing the superintendents of the other 3 districts. Please let me know if this is something you would consider doing and if you have any other ideas.
Thank You!
Susie Cornett
Auction Theatre Chairperson
Wednesday, Feb. 10
Anyone interested in flexing your schedule?
I could really use some help in the morning as students come in the building. We need a permanent presence out there in case of any problems. I try to be out there along with Cathy and Missy, but sometimes we are not in for various meetings and such. If anyone would be interested in arriving at 7:15, I would work an arrangement with you with that as your duty, and allow you to leave earlier with the exception of faculty meeting days. Please let me know if you're interested if it might work with your schedule.
Keeping Up With Labs:
I forwarded Ann's message to everyone yesterday concerning labs and keeping on kids to get caught up. PLEASE check the restrictions list on a regular basis, especially if you monitor a learning lab. Thanks.
BOCES News February 9:
There are some nice opportunities in this week's news.
Extending the Digital Reach
I received a link to this report I thought you might find interesting. Click the title.
Master Schedule:
I just made new sheets for each day. Those particular sheets are organized by name. This should help people get to things easier.
Jared Campbell May 2nd:
Jared will be returning for a performance for both schools on May 2nd, the day we return from break. More details to come. I'll probably run the 1 hour delay schedule.
BOCES Weekly Bulletin from last week.
BOCES Dignity Act Newsletter
I could really use some help in the morning as students come in the building. We need a permanent presence out there in case of any problems. I try to be out there along with Cathy and Missy, but sometimes we are not in for various meetings and such. If anyone would be interested in arriving at 7:15, I would work an arrangement with you with that as your duty, and allow you to leave earlier with the exception of faculty meeting days. Please let me know if you're interested if it might work with your schedule.
Keeping Up With Labs:
I forwarded Ann's message to everyone yesterday concerning labs and keeping on kids to get caught up. PLEASE check the restrictions list on a regular basis, especially if you monitor a learning lab. Thanks.
BOCES News February 9:
There are some nice opportunities in this week's news.
Extending the Digital Reach
I received a link to this report I thought you might find interesting. Click the title.
Master Schedule:
I just made new sheets for each day. Those particular sheets are organized by name. This should help people get to things easier.
Jared Campbell May 2nd:
Jared will be returning for a performance for both schools on May 2nd, the day we return from break. More details to come. I'll probably run the 1 hour delay schedule.
BOCES Weekly Bulletin from last week.
BOCES Dignity Act Newsletter
Monday, Feb. 1
Links file
I've started a links file that will hopefully hold a bunch of valuable links as time passes. If you would like to help with building this into a valuable file, please let me know and I'll give you edit rights.
Free books from Ayn Rand Institute Click on the title for this opportunity.
New and improved library schedule:
The library schedule is in the staff share / schedules folder. You can take a look at available times and let Jody Gale know if you'd like a spot reserved. Click the title to see the file. Thanks.
Turning off P board during homeroom is recommended:
Are you putting announcements up on your Promethean boards? The reason I ask is this: While in a recent meeting, a student mentioned that each morning teachers take attendance while their P-boards are up and running. The point being that every student can see icons listed next to student's names indicating whether they are IEP or 504 students or even special alerts. This student pointed out that this is no one else's business and that she felt uncomfortable about it.
Because of this, I think it's a good idea to keep your board off or freeze it until attendance is done. I know that I asked you to have the announcements on the screen, but with announcements now being read, we should keep the attendance records off the screen. If I'm missing anything with this, please let me know.
* Note on Promethean boards: The remotes have "Blank" and "Freeze" buttons that allow teachers to freeze or mute the screen.
Some good looking PD opportunities:
Corwin Webinars:
I just got a flyer about Corwin's free Monday webinars. Check them out here along with other opportunities.
ASCD "myteachsource"
ASCD PD products are know to be of high quality. If anyone would like to check out this product, please do and let me know what you think.
FREE WEBINARS with Educator and Author, Eric Sheninger
If you would like info on how to record any of these opportunities toward your 175 hour requirement, please speak with me.
Here's a fun Youtube clip, especially for you math and science teachers.
Wednesday, Jan. 27
Semester 2 slots on the Master:
You'll notice that I've started to put some semester 2 slots in the master (see the new "sem" column). It will be easier to track holes in the schedule by doing it this way, so look for that in the future if you have semester changes to some classes. I will be putting aide and assistant schedules on their own tab, which will help make both lists easier to scroll.
Friday PD Events:
Missy is working on Friday's schedule. One of us will send you the link when it's completed. We are having an active shooter and DASA training, two wonderful subjects. There are some other events people are attending that Missy will put on the sheet.
Conference requests for next year:
From my initial look at the budget requests, I'm not seeing much in the way of conference requests. Please do this: if you think you might want to go to a conference, but you're not sure of the exact event, please give me an idea with a request. When someone puts in for a conference that wasn't budgeted the previous spring, I need to transfer money between budget codes. This can only happen when we have a cushion in other areas. If you want to modify your budget, please stop down today.
Table of Contents
Remember that we have a table of contents file that links to all folders in the staff share folder along with the files that are used the most.
Staff share and Table of Contents
These links are now at the top of this blog. If you bookmark this wonderful blog, these other wonderful links will be right at your fingertips.
BOCES Newsletter January 19:
There are some good opportunities listed in this newsletter, so check it out.
BOCES Newsletter January 26
TST Tribune January '16
You'll notice that I've started to put some semester 2 slots in the master (see the new "sem" column). It will be easier to track holes in the schedule by doing it this way, so look for that in the future if you have semester changes to some classes. I will be putting aide and assistant schedules on their own tab, which will help make both lists easier to scroll.
Friday PD Events:
Missy is working on Friday's schedule. One of us will send you the link when it's completed. We are having an active shooter and DASA training, two wonderful subjects. There are some other events people are attending that Missy will put on the sheet.
Conference requests for next year:
From my initial look at the budget requests, I'm not seeing much in the way of conference requests. Please do this: if you think you might want to go to a conference, but you're not sure of the exact event, please give me an idea with a request. When someone puts in for a conference that wasn't budgeted the previous spring, I need to transfer money between budget codes. This can only happen when we have a cushion in other areas. If you want to modify your budget, please stop down today.
Table of Contents
Remember that we have a table of contents file that links to all folders in the staff share folder along with the files that are used the most.
These links are now at the top of this blog. If you bookmark this wonderful blog, these other wonderful links will be right at your fingertips.
BOCES Newsletter January 19:
There are some good opportunities listed in this newsletter, so check it out.
BOCES Newsletter January 26
TST Tribune January '16
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)