June Year End Stuff

Here are some things you need to know for the year end.  I will update this post as I think up new and exciting things for us all to remember!  Thanks for looking. 


This week's meetings


Master schedule updated   Please take a look and let me know of any issues. Preps/duties etc. are not completed yet.

Very important surveys to fill out:

2015-16 in review   Please give your input directly to me with this one.

Summer PD:   PD survey   Deadline is Friday, June 17.

Please do the adviser report and application ASAP.  Thanks.
   Advisor report:
   Fill out this form to report this year's class or club adviser happenings

   2016-17 Adviser application:
   Fill out this form to apply for next year's positions.

Other links:

Planner  - Please get used to checking this occasionally.  It's available from the table of contents inside of Staff Share.

Regents Testing File - All the testing/proctoring news, hot off the press.

Christa's Caring Bridge account sign in

Latest BOCES newsletter from Barry Derfel

Please do not let kids into any rooms without supervision. We had a situation last week where some kids got into a room and made a mess.  


Check out shop.ascd.org for some great products.  If you see anything you'd like to use with a PD project, please let me know.  We have an institutional membership and should get the best price.

Missing Students:
For the rest of this school year, please do not send out an email to everyone about a missing student. If you think a kid might be skipping a class, please get in touch with one person to start.  Marilyn or Tim C would be a good start.  It can be investigated, and if a kid is skipping or otherwise lost, it can be dealt with.  We can get the kid to the office or AC and work with that kid for an explanation and/or consequence. One of these emails can lead to 2 or more responses.  Multiply all those emails by the amount of people  on the lists, and it creates a lot of inefficiency.  You know I'm all about trying to make our communication more efficient.  There must be a better way. Any ideas, I'm all ears. If you have an idea, please speak with me or reply to just me.

On another topic, remember to take period by period attendance. This is extremely important. We sometimes have students who are absent from school but don't get reported until later in the day. We can't let that happen.




















Surveys from last week (finished):

Mr. Zielinski would like the following 2 surveys to be completed.  Info from these surveys will give us valuable input.  Thanks for doing the staff survey and sharing with your students.

   WE LEARN™ Instructional Staff Survey

   WE LEARN™ Student Survey – Grades 6-12

Monday, May 2

2016-17 South Seneca Calendar
This calendar is posted in Staff Share / Schedules-Calendars. 

New teacher registration law:
As if we didn't have enough to worry about.  I put a file in the PD folder of staff share.  Here's the link to the file:  click here  Make sure you scroll down past page 2.

2016-17 Marking Period Schedule
Please review and let me or Kim Dresser know of any issues.

Math Engaged Summer Opportunities
I was in the Ithaca Bakery the other day and saw a poster for some good looking opportunities from an organization called Math Engaged. They are listing Creative Math Camps and Math and Coding Week.  Please take a look and share with your students.

Kindness Connects

Here is a great opportunity to get our kids involved in a worthwhile project.  Possibly a great character education piece for regular classes and/or enrichment classes?

Please click this link to find out more.   

Tech Opportunity for Students:
Message from Jacob Mack, SS Grad

Mr. Houseknecht,

I’m am reaching out in regards to your technology department and potential opportunities for your students at Morrisville State College.

My name is Jacob Mack and I graduated from South Seneca in 2008, spent 6 years in the military and now am attending Morrisville for their wood technology program. I wanted to pass on some information about our programs in hopes of capturing the interests of your students. I know South Seneca has a good technology department and it looks like some classes were added after I graduated. Morrisville is a technology based school and has programs that I believe your students would easily transition into. Some of those programs include wood technology, residential construction, architecture, auto tech, and a variety of CAD courses. I would love to come down and talk to some of the students about our programs or even better, have some of your students come up here for a tour. Please email me back if you are the point of contact I should be talking to, or forward my information onto the proper point of contact.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Here is a link for our school.

http://www.morrisville.edu/

Jacob Mack

If anyone has an idea for a field trip or a visit from Jacob, please let me know.

Open Educational Resources, Student-Centered Learning, and More
A nice article on some free resources if you'd like to check it out.
BOCES deadlines, from Sunny Miller:
Hello Admins! It is so hard to believe that the end of the school year is upon us! I want to make you aware of a few deadlines from BOCES for paperwork and requests.
The following dates are hard deadlines for enrichment coser (415, 416, and 417) requests and payments.
  -  No new PO's can be generated after May 2, 2016.
  -  ALL paperwork for payments is due by June first. I have to submit all invoices for payment to Accounts Payable by June 5, 2016.
Please be sure to get your requests and paperwork to our office as soon as possible to ensure timely payment! If I can assist in any way, please feel free to reach out. I am happy to help if I can.

Many thanks to you all for such a great year!

Sunny
Coordinator of Cooperative Enrichment Services
Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES

Observations:
We are currently working to get our second observations completed. Remember that information for domains 1 and 4 needs to be supplied.  You can do this electronically or with a binder.  If you have any questions, please ask either one of us.


BOCES weekly bulletin
A great summer retreat opportunity is available on Raquette Lake in the Adks. Look in the March 15 edition.

5 Great Uses for Rubrics from Schoology

Summer Honors Program
I just received a flyer on an honors program this summer. It's at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  

Chalkbeat NY
A new chancellor and a new way to graduate.

Monday, April 11

SS Tech Website:

Rob's Tech website is now linked from the "Staff Tools" button on the district site.  Thanks to Rob for putting this together.  If you have any cool tools to share, please send a link and description to him.






Tee shirt project:
I'll schedule our big tee shirt wearing day for next week just before break.  If you haven't painted your shirt, we still have some paint!! 

Leos Club - Part of the Lions Club

Last month, I attended the local Lions Club meeting.  I suggested to the club that we look into starting a Lions "Leos" chapter here.  The Leos are a youth community organization that many Lions clubs nationwide sponsor.  I was a member of the Olean Lions Club.  We sponsored a Leos club through Allegany-Limestone.  Please check this link for information on what a Leo Club is.

I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in speaking with me about running such a community service club.  It would provide some great opportunities for service and interaction with community adults.  Please get in touch with me if you are.  Thanks.

BOCES weekly bulletin
A great summer retreat opportunity is available on Raquette Lake in the Adks. Look in the March 15 edition.


Programs Available through the Forest Service:

Please take a look at the video linked below.  This is about the FS's “Middle Leader Program at the Munford Schools, which are likely the best example in the country of what a long term partnership with the FS can do, and in bringing the outdoors (and hands on education) into every aspect of the classroom.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZiAPSfjOg0

Jodi Vanselow would be more than happy to help us get some programs off the ground. How about something for Falcon Camp?   Please take a look at the video and let me know.


Intern needed at BOCES: 

From: Jeffrey Podolak
Date: 03/31/2016 09:01AM
Cc: Diahann Hesler
Subject: Summer School Intern

Good Morning,
Diahann and I are looking for a quality intern for our Regional Summer School Programs.  If you have any teachers or know of any CAS candidates that would be interested please direct them to our website to apply.

Thanks,

Jeffrey R. Podolak
CTE Principal
Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES
(607) 257-1551 ext. 2003
jpodolak@tstboces.org

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:

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