Welcome to 2015!!! We hope your break was filled with food, family, and relaxation. You have all earned the time away! It will be great to see everyone back in the building and doing incredible work with kids. So...here we go!!!
- The building looks fantastic! With only a few in the building over the break our custodians did a phenomenal job of getting the building ready to go for the second half of the year. Exceptional job, everyone!!
- I will have a very quick survey out to you this week regarding our January 23rd inservice. We want to make sure you have some time for choice, but also have some opportunities for starting the transition to Google Apps, which we plan to have in place by the beginning of the 2015-16 school year. We will have multiple opportunities to become more familiar with Google Apps throughout the second semester and into the summer.
- The Calendar committee met before the break and discussed the layout of the 2015-16 school year. We are looking at keeping the number of days consistent with where we have been in the past, but utilizing the professional development days a little differently. We are also looking to add a "flex" day at the beginning of the year, which would essentially mean certified staff members would have one less scheduled day of inservice, but be expected to put that day in and document a day sometime in August to prepare for the year.
- Going to keep this in for awhile...If you did not receive an invite to the Google+ page from let shoot me an email. I tried to get as many people as possible while I was at Google Tech Academy last week. The Google+ community is open only to our staff...I am hoping it turns into a place where we can share articles, great ideas, and/or things going on in your classroom. Here is the link... https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/106247918310540095234. If you can not get in let me know...it means you will need a Google+ page or an invite. Either way it is a quick fix.
- A group from Lifetouch will be here on January 13th document some footage for a video they are creating for our district. If you have specific things going on in your classroom that would be good for the video, please let me know and I will get you on the schedule. I would like to feature some things at each building. The promo video will only be about 3 minutes. Please help me with this...what do you feel is important to highlight in our district and how can we get that on film? Can we make January13th a PRIDE DAY and have our kids in Cricket gear?
- There has been some discussion about technology in the classrooms, specific to teacher work stations and 1:1 at the high school level. We have been talking about devices and what direction we would like to go...cost is definitely a factor in that discussion. Though we would love to have high end laptops for teachers, but the cost is prohibitive and we will have to be creative with the direction when it comes to a provider (Apple of PC).
- Internship-We applied and have been granted an internship position by the DPI for the second semester. We would like to pilot the process and see if it is something worth expanding in the future. The potential internship will be in 4th grade with Jane as the cooperating teacher. I am indicating potential, because if we don't find anyone to be a good fit during the interview process then we have no obligation to move on the placement. It will allow time for Jane to work with teachers who have implemented SMARTboards and lessons in their classroom. If we feel like the process is worth it I would like to add at least one more in the MS/HS for the 2015-16 school year. More to come if we move forward with the placement.
This week in Tweets...
Keep adding @fccrickets to tweets and use the #gocrickets hashtag after a tweet to add to the wonderful story of the Crickets...or let us know how we can help get your story to the world. Go Crickets.
Articles Worth Reading
Check out the Google+ community for articles...feel free to add resources to that community as well. We are better together...add what you feel would benefit the group. Thanks!
Check out the Google+ community for articles...feel free to add resources to that community as well. We are better together...add what you feel would benefit the group. Thanks!
Videos Worth Watching:
I will add videos to the Google+ page for those interested. Can be accessed here... https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/106247918310540095234
I will add videos to the Google+ page for those interested. Can be accessed here... https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/106247918310540095234
