Sunday, May 17

Happy Rainy Sunday!! The following quote has multiple meanings right now. Just remember, the sun will shine again! 

Professional Development, 5/18: Tomorrow is our PD Day. 
This is the SCHEDULE.

Parade Details: (Feel free to share this with families. I will have it in the parent blog tomorrow. Encourage families to decorate cars, etc.) 
Our next school-wide parade will be Wednesday, 5/27, at 12pm. However, we will be doing it a little different this time. During this parade you will be driving by the teachers. The teachers will be along the front sidewalk of Stoneridge and you will drive past and wave. The teachers will be spaced out and grouped by grades beginning with TK and ending with 5th. All cars will enter by the upper grade side/Adventure Club. Mrs. Brooks will be at the driveway entrance and will help direct traffic. (She really misses directing traffic during pick up and drop off!!) Please mark you calendars! More details will follow.

**5th grade teachers- Let's send out a separate invite to only 5th grade families. We can work on it. 

Brene Brown: My challenge his week is for you to choose one of her podcasts that speaks to you and take the time to listen. Please share what you listened to and how you liked it. Also, if you have any recommendations, please share them with me.
Brene Bown's Podcasts

Class Lists: We will be going over and finalizing class lists during our PLC time this week. Thank you for all of the thought you have put into creating classes. 

Material Pick Up: I am working on the schedule/details and will share with you soon. It will be June 1-5. I will split it up alphabetically and have extended hours. There are plastic bags in my office, if you need them to pack things up for students. We are not positive when yearbooks will arrive, but I am planning to include them. 

Teacher Check Out: I will share a sign up for a check out time on May 29. Keep your eyes out. 

Have a great week! It is the last full week of instruction. 
The end of the year feels SO different this year! 

Sunday, May 10

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers!!! 
And Happy Mother's Day to all of you taking GOOD care of mothers!! 

Brene Brown:

I have included the link to Brene Brown's Site and Podcast. This is her first podcast that includes introducing "FFT's." There is also a good blog post to go with it. 

Brene Brown: Unlocking Us

Part of the reason why I am sharing these with you is because it forces me to take the time to listen to her podcasts. It is something I always want to do, but do not always make the time to do it. I think we will all benefit from creating the time for ourselves to pause and listen. 

End of the year details:

This is the time of year when I would usually be including images saying 'We Got This!' 

'Only ___ Days to Go!' etc. This year feels a little different! Personally, I cannot believe we are already in the 2nd week of May. You are all doing a fantastic job and there is only a short bit to go. 

Class list creation: I will share the spreadsheet with PLC's when we meet this week and show you what the process will look like. You can start the process this coming week. 

Student material pick up: We will have a week of material pick up after school is out, 6/1-6/5. 

District PD, May 18: I think I will have the specific schedule and directions for you after my admin meeting on Tuesday. 

More dates to come: I will share dates with you as they are determined. 

Enjoy your day and have a great week!

Sunday, May 3

Happy Sunday!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!
This week will look a little different than other appreciation weeks, but it will be special, no doubt! 
Our community has been so thankful for the amazing job you are doing and for all of the hard work you have put into this different type of learning. 
And of course, I appreciate all of you too!! You have taken on this challenge and gone above & beyond! 

Updates:
* I am getting more Chromebooks in case anyone else needs one. Please let me know if anyone needs one. 

* If students are having any trouble with their borrowed Chromebooks, they need to fill out this form:
Student Device Lost, Stolen or Damaged

I cannot take any damaged Chromebooks at the site. 

* Keep sharing this link with Families:
Request For Support

We have had many families reach out which is wonderful! 

* Families struggling to engage: Please send the names of students that have not logged onto anything. I will be sending a letter this week. 

* PTC~ If you have questions for the PTC, please send them to me. They are still doing reimbursements, so grab a form in the office and fill it out. If you leave it with Luisa, they will come grab them to write a check. 

I will talk to all of you this week! 

Sunday, April 26

Happy Sunday! 
Two weeks down! And five weeks to go! Not that anyone is counting. Please focus only on getting through these five weeks and taking care of yourselves. We will get through this together. 

I am working hard to figure out everyone's placements for next year because I know that the unknown is uncomfortable. This is a strange and difficult time. It is becoming very clear that next year will not be back to normal. However, we do not know what it will look like. There are smart people in the right seats doing the hard work, so you don't have to think about next year yet. 

My goal is not to turn your worlds upside down on top of everything going on. We have open positions, a freeze on hiring, and projections to dissolve at least one class at Stoneridge. I have to navigate all of that before I can confidently make assignments. Of course, with all of those factors, change is inevitable. 

A few other things:

1) Grade Level Collage: If your grade level would like to share a collage with me, I would love to post them on our Facebook page. I am going to post kindergarten on Monday and then post a different one daily. 

2) It is time for Teachers Who Make a Difference! I love to have your participation in who is chosen. Please email your nominations to me this week! 

3) Exciting News! We are going to have an online Book Fair. It starts tomorrow. You are welcome to share the link and news with your families as soon as you like. I will be including it in the blog tomorrow. This is the link:
Online Book Fair

A reminder that Thursday, from 9-1 pm is both curriculum pick up for TK and K and the first library book drop off day. I will have a few more drop off days. Stay tuned for the dates. 

We have our PLC meetings and then our staff meeting on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing all of you.

Sunday, April 17

Good Morning! 

Well, you made it through the first official week of distance learning. I hope it got better as the week progressed. I received a lot of wonderful feedback from parents. Thank you for all of the hard work you are putting into it! It is paying off. 

We had 20 more students pick up Chromebooks on Friday and there are only 2 packets of materials left. We are doing great! 

We have had a few families fill out a request for internet support and at least one fill out a request for support. I am so pleased they are asking for help! 

Intervention at home: A few of you have asked what to do with students that had additional support during the year. For those students, you can lead small groups via Zoom or you can give them differentiated assignments. If there are sites with practice that will benefit them, you can share that as well. The goal is to support them the best we can.

Here we go Week 2!! YOU are all rockstars!! 

Sunday, April 12

Happy Easter!! I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing day with your family!

This week marks the beginning of our continuous learning. Please have your first lesson plan and work uploaded tomorrow. I believe this first week will entail many questions and a lot of work, but it should taper off after the initial introduction to families. 

I have my district admin meeting tomorrow morning, then we meet as PLC's. I am sure I will have updated information to share with you. 

If you need access to your classroom to do some of your videos, lesson plans, etc, you that is fine. We just ask that you continue to practice social distancing. 

Just a short one today. See you all this week. Enjoy the rest of your day! 

Sunday, April 5

Just a quick check in with a couple details. 

But before that.... A huge shout out to JeriAnn and her husband for all of the work they put into our free library! It is awesome and such a gift to our community!

Another thank you to Erin and Stephanie for all of their hard work on the yearbook. It is done and looks awesome! This is a year to remember, that is for sure!

A few business items: 
We will keep all meeting times the same after Spring Break. That includes the meetings on Monday, April 13. 

I am looking over lesson plans and overall, they look great. I have also been talking to the district office, just to make sure we are meeting expectations. They want me to remind everyone to include the district adopted materials in the lessons. You can supplement as you like, but the district curriculum should be your starting point. 

Please please please take some time to relax and unplug. I am sharing the blog today and will try to do the same next week. I know all of you have been working in overdrive. 
Relax and give 100% to you and your families.