Week 15: November 28th-December 2nd

Bullock Brief

A week for duty.  

Habit 7 Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
C	D	E	F	A

For upcoming meetings and events please see the Bullock Master calendar. I reshared the Bullock calendar to be sure everyone has access. 

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Monthly focus:  Begin with the end in mind
We have not pushed accountability partners this year, but having an accountability partner keeps you on track and restores your soul.  I meet with my wonderful accountability partners (Ms. Cole and Ms. Rose) every Tuesday because that works for us.  I would suggest you find someone you connect with each week to talk about your life, your goals and how you can support one another.  

The habit focus in December is "begin with the end in mind."  Last week, I challenged you to examine how your paradigms drive your behavior.  I hope that you will share those reflections with a colleague, friend or accountability partner.  To "Begin with the End in Mind" means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.  That direction is your mission. Our school stays focused on our mission every day through every element of operation.  Your class should also have a mission.  I would encourage all of you to also have a personal mission to keep you connected and on track with your goals.  Take some time this week to draft or reconnect with your mission.

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SIT:  The SIT team will be meeting on Monday, December 5th  at 2:45pm in Platform. 

PLCs:  Admin visits in 3-5 this week.   

• 3rd grade (note time change): 8:20-9:00 Stef and/or Wendy
• 4th grade:  1:00-1:40 Stef and/or Wendy
• 5th grade:  2:45-3:25 Stef and/or Wendy

Staff meeting:  We will have a staff meeting on Monday, December 12th starting at 2:45pm. 

Lighthouse Meeting:  We will meet on December 9th at 2:45pm. 

ESL Parent Night: Thursday, December 8th.  Details to come 

Holiday Party:  We all that you'll join us for the Annual Staff Christmas Party.  It will be wonderful to spend time together celebrating the season and each other.  SIgn-up by December 5th here. 

• Where: Westlake Clubhouse, 1321 Gormly Circle,  Sanford, NC 
• When: Friday, December 9th, 6:00-8:00 pm

Splitting classes:  Ms. Dossenbach will clearly not be holding science classes this week as she focuses on a precious Bobbi Quinn.   We are working on coverage.  In the interim, the grade facilitator should split their class for Habit 7.  Please make sure to evenly split the classes so that class sizes are equal.  Thanks for being flexible with this change in the our schedule.  

Morning duty:  For all teachers and TAs on duty in the morning, please make sure you report to class immediately after the bell rings in the morning at 8:00am. It is only necessary for one person to stay back in the Dining Hal to usher the last breakfast eaters to class. 

Sanford Christmas Parade:  We hope that you'll come out to enjoy the Sanford Christmas parade on Monday, December 5th starting at 7:00pm.  The Bullock Leave a Legacy candidates and our choir will be riding the parade. 

Lesson plans:  I am having trouble finding lesson plans in classrooms during formal and informal observations. Please start placing your lesson plans in this folder on Friday for the week following.  Please start this process this week on December 9th.

Book fair:  The book fair is underway!  Super job to Ms. Ashworth for coordinating the event and setting-up the Platform for the fair.  It looks incredible. 

• Dates:  Friday, December 2- Friday, December 9
• Break down: Friday, Dec. 9 after school. Help to get a free book from wish list.
• Shopping times: 8:00-8:20 and 9:00-10:00 everyday.  1:40-2:00 Thursday, Dec. 8
• Family Night: Wednesday, December 7th. Help one hour get one free book. Help both hours and get 2 free books. Please email me to sign-up.
• Please keep all library books in your classroom during the Boom Fair. I will not have anywhere to put them. *
• Free books- Any one book under $10.  If the book you want is over $10, you may pay the difference. 

Custodial requests: Please be sensible when requesting custodial assistance during the day.  Our custodians are getting pulled to complete many requests that could be completed by a student or staff member.  They are always willing to help, but please synergize to ensure a smooth flow. 

Wonders training:  We have the final two Wonders training sessions on the December 6th and 13th.  Please see details below.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Please thank our wonderful TAs for being so flexible and helpful. 

• WONDERS TRAINING for 3rd GRADE - December 6th from 2:00-4:00 at Central Office
• K-TAs to report to 3rd grade at 1:45pm.  Townsend/McLean, Gallego/Alston, Hurdt/Ross, Hall/Davis, Lloyd/Douglass, Johnson/Swindell

• WONDERS TRAINING for 2nd  GRADE - December 13th from 2:00-4:00 at Central Office
• 1st-TAs to report to 2nd grade at 1:45pm.  Shepard/Chesney, Falk/Sellers, Spaulding/Williams, Gross/Hairston, Carter/Woodell, Roberts/Mills.

Instruction:  I will scan and send the Learning Focused lesson refresher in a separate email tomorrow morning.  Check out this article I read this week about 5 ineffective strategies to eliminate in the classroom.  Something to think about. 

A couple reminders...

• Please do not have students copy down vocabulary words in any subject.  It is a waste of time and does not impact retention.  The Wonders program has provided resources for a quick 10 minute frontload of the vocab. 
• Students must use calculators every day.  I need to see the calculators out and in use. 

Visit http://www.meetme.so/StefanieClarke to schedule time to meet with me. 

Should have recently completed (check that it's complete):

• Midterm - December 1st

Due this week:

• Wonders training for 3rd - Tuesday, Dec. 6 from 2:00-4:00 
• Book fair - December 5-9
• Book fair family night - Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 5:00-7:00
• ESL parent night - Thursday, Dec, 8 from 5:30-6:30
• Bullock Christmas party - Friday, Dec. 9 from 6:00-8:00

Upcoming dates:

• Wonders training for 2nd- Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 2:00-4:00
• Data Deep Dive K and 1st - TBD

Week 14: November 21st-22nd

Bullock Brief

A week for duty.  

Habit 7 Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
B	C	Thanksgiving Holiday No school	Thanksgiving Holiday No school	Thanksgiving Holiday No school

Upcoming meetings and events for November 21st-December 2nd.
The most up-to-date calendar is located online on the Bullock Google calendar. 

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Monthly focus:  Be Proactive
Last week I shared a reactive vs. proactive language table (see below).  On this short week, I would like to pose a challenge. Try to find a way to integrate proactive vs. reactive mini-lesson in your day.  You can use with social issues (the child lists the reactive choices and then chooses a proactive response) or in academic areas (proactive choices our forefathers used when making the journey to the US).  Share an example in your newsletter or through DoJo to teach our broader Bullock community.  Happy habit living.  #ichoosejoy


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Celebration station:  I have heard so many people share awesome lollipop moments. Please get those moments on our board to celebrate with all.  You can take a picture to let the someone know.  Living our mission every day...To love. To learn. To lead.

Counselor Led Training:  Please see the email sent by Megan to complete the counselor led training by November 18th.  

PLCs:  No PLCs this week.  I so enjoyed the data session and conversations with the grade levels I visited this week.  Super job teams.  

Attendance:  Please let Jennifer Babb know if you have attendance concerns or if a student is absent for more than 2 days.  Please also call the child's home to make sure our kiddos are OK. 

Thanksgiving potluck:  We will have a holiday potluck on Tuesday, November 22nd from 11:00-1:00.  The following items have been assigned to each team.  It will be fun to celebrate being thankful together. 

• Kindergarten, 3rd Grade & Specialist- Dips(ex: spinach dip, buffalo chicken dip)
• 1st Grade, 5th Grade & Cafe-Sweets(ex: cookies, cakes, brownies)
• 2nd Grade, 4th Grade & EC- Finger Foods(ex: mini sandwiches, meatballs, nuggets)
• Office & Custodial Staff- Drinks(2 drinks a piece)

Evacuation maps:  The fire marshall that some classrooms are missing evacuation maps.  Please print and post.  The map can be found here.  

McKinney Vento video:  Please take time to watch the McKinney Vento video provided here.

Leadership Notebooks:  This Monday and Tuesday are great days to get your Leadership Notebooks started if you have not already.  Remember the 'why' behind student goal setting.  

DPI coaching visit: The first data deep dive with Claudia was incredible.  I am looking forward to round 2 on November 28th from 12:00-3:00.  K and 1st TAs will cover in there classrooms.  

Black Friday Raffle:  The Black Friday Raffle was extended to Monday.  Get those final tickets in for a chance to win a classroom pizza party.   

Send-off for Ms Nemeth:  We will gather in the Platform at 3:00pm on November 22nd for the send of Ms. Nemeth.  

Instruction:  Remember to include 20 minutes of spiral review every day.  Spiral review is a mandatory component in daily lessons.  

Visit http://www.meetme.so/StefanieClarke to schedule time to meet with me. 

Should have recently completed (check that it's complete):

• Counselor training video - November 18th
• ESL training - November 11th

Due this week:

• McKinney Vento - November 22nd
• Read-a-thon - November 22nd
• Thanksgiving holiday - November 23rd-25th

Upcoming dates:

• Data Deep Dive K and 1st - November 28th from 12-3
• SIT meeting - November 28th from 3:00-4:00
• Wonders training for 4th - Tuesday, November 29 from 2:00-4:00 
• Jungle Book auditions - November 29th, from 3-5
• Regional Habit 7 training - November 30th-December 1st
• Wonders training for 3rd - Tuesday, Dec. 6 from 2:00-4:00 
• Wonders training for 2nd- Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 2:00-4:00  

Week 13: November 14-18

Bullock Brief

B week for duty.  

Habit 7 Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
C	D	E	F	A

Upcoming meetings and events for November 14th-18th.
The most up-to-date calendar is located online on the Bullock Google calendar. 

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Monthly focus:  Be Proactive
Between the stimulus and the responses lies the freedom to choose.  This space allows us to use our unique human gifts to respond.  Those gifts include: self-awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will.  We can choose to be proactive vs. reactive.  Check out the list below and look for opportunities to trade a reactive thought/response with proactive language this week.  #habitlife


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Action teams:  Tomorrow, November 14th at 2:45. Action team chairs should prepare an agenda and share it with our school community.  Super work teams!

Lighthouse meeting:  Friday, November 18th at 2:45pm.

CogAt make-ups:  CogAt make-up testing will take place on Monday.  Please be cognizant that students will be testing in various areas as you move throughout the building.  

Counselor Led Training:  Please see the email sent by Megan to complete the counselor led training by November 18th.  

PLCs:  Purpose:  Review the data from Q1 assessments. 3-5 PLCs will dig into data on Thursday.  4th grade-1:00 with Perrell, 5th grade-2:45 with Perrell and 3rd grade-2:45 with Clarke.  

This week before PLCs independently review your data asking yourself. 

1. In looking at this data, what pops out at you? 
2. Why is this data important?
3. If this data remains constant, what might be the possible consequences for our students?
4. What are your hunches about what might need to happen next to impact this data?
5. What further questions do you have, and what additional data is needed?

During PLCs, teams can share their reflections to note.  We will provide a template to guide our discussion. 

• Here’s What! filled with specific facts (Ex: 30% of Grade 2 students did X?
• So What? is an interpretation of the data
• Now What? can be action steps.

DPI coaching visit: Claudia Lanier will be visiting our K-3 teachers for an informative session on how to use mClass data to drive instruction and provide targeted intervention. The first session is on November 15th from 12:00-3:00 in the front conference room for 2nd and 3rd grade.  Please note coverage below.  Team Bullock, thanks in advance for synergizing to provide the time for our grade level teams to collaborate. 

DATA DEEP DIVE W/ DPI for 2-3 - November 15th

12:00-3:00pm K-TAs to cover in 2nd grade and 1st-TAs to cover in 3rd

DATA DEEP DIVE W/ DPI for K-1 - November 28th

12:00-3:00pm K-TAs to cover in K and 1st-TAs to cover in 1st

Learning A-Z Training:  Learning A-Z training will take place this week on Wednesday for K-2.  The training schedule is included below.  The training will take place in the front conference room.  

LEARNING A-Z training for K-2 - November 16th 

12:30-1:30 K with K-TA coverage

1:30-2:30 1st with 1st-TA coverage

2:30-3:30 2nd with K-TA coverage to help get the kids to buses

Black Friday Raffle:  The Black Friday Raffle is underway.  The directions are simple.  Each ticket is $1 or 5 for $6.  Each ticket provides a chance to win $1,000.  Anyone can win! WooHoo!   Encourage your students to sell tickets. You can sell tickets as well.  More tickets are available in the office. I mentioned that we needed to raise money to provide teachers with the $200.  That is for NEXT YEAR.  We are covered for this year and you can certainly spend your $200 already given to you by the PTO for the 2016-17 school year.  

Leadership teams:  Mr. Bradian has the school-wide leadership teams ready to roll.  Please see his email (titled "Leadership Teams!") in regards to sending the student leaders to their sponsor on Monday morning, November 14th, at 8:10am.  

Assembly:  Our 2nd graders will perform for the school at 1:00 on November 17th.  Come see our second graders sing about Wacky Weather.  

New 1st grade teacher:  As we say goodbye to Ms. Nemeth to head overseas to Germany, we welcome Tanya Harrington onto the 1st grade team. Ms. Harrington has experience as a teacher and nurse and she is eager to get back into the classroom.  She will be starting after the Thanksgiving break.  I hope you'll show her a warm Bullock welcome.  

Instruction:  Vocabulary instruction is one of our focused five.  Ms. Lyon and Ms. Grace have some excellent tools provided by DPI for academic vocabulary review.  They have graciously offered to prepare those materials for our teachers.  Please be sure to use and teach academic terms every day.  Another element of our focused five is spiral review.  Please provide time daily to review skills that have been previously taught as well as providing time for drills on foundational skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).  

Visit http://www.meetme.so/StefanieClarke to schedule time to meet with me. 

Should have recently completed (check that it's complete):

• Grade cards go home - November 9th
• ESL training - November 11th

Due this week:

• Counselor training video - November 18th
• 2nd grade performance - November 17th at 1:00pm (in-school) and 6:00pm

Upcoming due dates:

• Thanksgiving holiday - November 23rd
• Wonders training for 4th - Tuesday, November 29 from 2:00-4:00 
• Wonders training for 3rd - Tuesday, Dec. 6 from 2:00-4:00 
• Wonders training for 2nd- Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 2:00-4:00  

Week 12: November 7th-11th

Bullock Brief

A week for duty.  

Habit 7 Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
F	Optional teacher workday	A	B	No school- Veteran's Day

Upcoming meetings and events for November 7th-11th.
The most up-to-date calendar is located online on the Bullock Google calendar. 

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Celebrations
Check out the Celebration Station.  There are many new additions.  

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Reconnecting with our 'why'
More to come in our staff meeting on Monday, November 7th.
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Staff meeting:  Tomorrow, November 7th at 2:45. Agenda here. 

Election:  Bullock will be an election site on November 8th.  We are anticipating heavy voter turn-out.  We will have an optional teacher work day that day.  Please park outside the 1st quadrant to provide parking for voters.   

CogAt testing:  Please see the comprehensive testing plan shared by Mrs. Perrell here.  Please remember to maintain a quiet testing environment for our scholars.  

Counselor Led Training:  Please see the email sent by Megan to complete the counselor led training by November 18th.  

ESL title III:  The ESL title III training can be found here. Please complete ASAP if you have not already done so.  It is due no late than November 11th. 

PLCs:  Purpose:  Review the data from Q1 assessments.  1st grade-12:10 (Wendy), K-2:45 (Wendy) and 2nd grade-2:45 (Stef). 3-5 PLCs on Thursday will take a deep dive into curriculum and planning.

Teams have shared their reactions to the pacing guide and assessment alignment.  We will not address that in this weeks PLC.  This week before PLCs independently review your data asking yourself. 

1. In looking at this data, what pops out at you? Not focusing on pacing guide alignment
2. Why is this data important?
3. If this data remains constant, what might be the possible consequences for our students?
4. What are your hunches about what might need to happen next to impact this data?
5. What further questions do you have, and what additional data is needed?

During PLCs, teams can share their reflections to note.

• Here’s What! filled with specific facts (Ex: 30% of Grade 2 students did X?
• So What? is an interpretation of the data
• Now What? can be action steps.

Wonders training: The county is providing additional Wonders training for our teachers. The sessions are schedule from 2:00-4:00pm.  The next session is Tuesday, November 29 for 4th grade.  Coverage to come.  Upcoming training:  Tuesday, Dec. 6 for 3rd grade and Tuesday, Dec. 13 for 2nd grade.  

Awards:  The calendar noted that it is time for Q1 awards.  Please note that he awards can be tailored to your classroom/grade level.  It is a time to pause and acknowledge hard work and our wonderful leaders.  Awards can include: students calling home to report success, informal in-class celebrations, brag tag ceremony, a formal in-class celebration, or grade level event.

Field trips:  I recently sent clarification on field trips via email.  Check it out.  Key points: Let us know if a student misses the deadline so we can help trouble shoot solutions, use the provided template,last day to request December 20th, and no field trips after April 28th.

Black Friday Raffle:  The PTO will begin the Black Friday Raffle this week.  Details and direction will be forthcoming.  

Habit 7/RtI:  The Habit 7 team will start their RtI intervention support this week.  Way to synergize teams. 

• Dossenbach = K
• Stephens = 1st
• Cole = 2nd 
• Wiltshire = 3rd
• Ashworth = 4th
• Bradian = 5th

Instruction:  The greatest gift I have ever received as an educator is the opportunity to visit so many classrooms and observe great teaching taking place in different styles and with a variety of nuances.  I learned more from my observations of you than the hours of PD I embarked on as a teacher. I want to share that gift.  

To get started, I would like to gather a list of teachers who would be willing to be observed and a list of teachers who would be interested in observing in other classrooms.  We will all eventually visit each other's rooms.  You can put your name on both lists.  Ideally, teachers could observe on their grade level and another grade level to gain deeper understanding vertically.  Please sign-up here for a rich learning experience through non-evaluative peer observations. 

Visit http://www.meetme.so/StefanieClarke to schedule time to meet with me. 

Should have recently completed (check that it's complete):

• Grade cards

Due this week:

• Staff meeting - November 7th
• Optional work day _ November 8th
• Grade cards go home - November 9th
• ESL training - November 11th
• CogAt testing - November 9th-10th
• Veteran's Day Holiday - November 11th

Upcoming due dates:

• Counselor training video - November 18th
• 2nd grade performance - November 17th
• Thanksgiving holiday - November 23rd