12.17

                                         

Hi All,

I hope that you all had a good weekend. This weather is just unlucky. We will most likely have indoor recess tomorrow. This time of year always feels like marathon and a sprint all in one. I know many of you completed the iReady diagnostic last week. Please remember that the window closes this week. 

A person heads up: Daycare is closed on Thursday/Friday this week so I will be splitting days with Christian on Thursday and Friday. I don't want to be out but our babysitter pool is pretty shallow these days. 

Staff Shoutouts 

• Lucia Burke for all her help in planning food for the Holidays 
• Mary Beth Downing for spending extra time last week to support a student through a tricky spot 
• Ashlyn for her consistent positive attitude  
• Sarah, Michele, Kim and Jess Egizi for working hard to welcome our newest students 

News and Announcements 

• Consistency and survival are the words of the week. Find the joy with your students while maintaining consistency and acknowledging the wide range of emotions that kids may be feeling this week. 

 What's Happening at Berlin?

Monday	Humanity and Justice Meeting 8:15 3/4 PLC  10:40-11:40  1/2 PLC 12:15-1:15
Tuesday	5/6 PLC Meeting 9:45-10:45
Wednesday	K PLC Meeting 1:55-2:55 Staff Meeting at 3:15
Thursday	SST Meeting 8:15-8:45 PK Meeting 11:30 Berling IIW--Session 4
Friday	Holiday Brunch 7:45-8:30 Extra Recess 2:45-3:15

Where is Celia?

Monday	Humanity and Justice Meeting 8:15 Check in with Meagan 2:30-3:30
Tuesday	Out of the Building----WCLT Budget
Wednesday	Check In with Lucia 9:30  Meeting with Jennifer Chambers 10:00 Principal's Meeting w/Meg 12:15 K PLC 1:50-2:50 Board Meeting 6:00
Thursday	SST 8:15 Out in the afternoon
Friday	Out in the Morning---in around 12:00

 

12.10

Hi All,

What a wild weather game we're playing! It feels like the universe may want us to have 4 day work week. It's a big bummer to miss another Monday but I hope that everyone got something done on their "to do" list. While the weather predictions were far off from what was expected it seems we're in the same boat as the rest of the state. 

Staff Shoutouts:

• Karen Chesser for pulling double duty last week 
• Betsy, Kirby and Annalissa who all stepped in to cover for paras and teachers last week 
• Doreen and Lori for a giant hand in the "Helping Hands" line
• All staff members who stepped up to take a mitten to support our community

News and Announcements

• The PTNA is hosting the annual Holiday Bazaar. Your class will have the opportunity to ‘shop’ for the people who live at their house. The volunteers from PTNA are asking that you bring your kids down to shop and then return to your classroom. Each classroom will be equipped with wrapping supplies and students will return to the classroom when they have shopped to wrap. Your assigned time will happen outside of your special time for the day. 

• HOLIDAY BAZAAR SIGN-UP

  Wednesday, December 13th

  TIME	CLASSROOM
  12:45	Wagner
  10:00 & 1:30	Pre-K
  10:45	Rob
  11:15-11:45	Maring
  2:00-2:30	Knapp
  2:30-3:00	Egizi
  9:30-10	Turcotte
  1:00/1:15 -1:30	Downing
  1:30-2:00	McCauley-Flippin
  8:45-9:30	Kindergarten

• Lori also shared this schedule via Google docs so that you can request changes.  
• We will move forward with Acadience Training during staff meeting. Paras I will have a quick task for you all as well. 

What's Happening at Berlin?

Monday	Snowday
Tuesday	5/6 PLC Meeting 9:45-10:45 Report Card Feedback Session 11:30-12:30 Location: Art Room
Wednesday	**Holiday Bazaar***  K PLC Meeting 1:55-2:55 Staff Meeting at 3:15
Thursday	SST Meeting 8:15-8:45 PK Meeting 11:30
Friday

Where is Celia?

Monday	Snow Day
Tuesday	PLC 9:45-10:45 Student Meeting 12:15-12:45  Out of the Building----WCLT Budget Meeting 1:00-3:30
Wednesday	Check In with Lucia 9:30  Meeting with Jennifer Chambers 10:00 Principal's Meeting w/Meg 12:15 K PLC 1:50-2:50
Thursday	Union Check in---10:00  11:00---Student Meeting  12:00---Student Meeting
Friday	Student Meeting---1:30 Student Meeting---3:30-4:30

 

12.3

Hi All,

I hope that you had a good weekend. I find that the time before/after a Holiday turns into quite a hectic time. It's also a time in education and life where you can feel like things are falling short in quite a few areas. Please give yourself grace and know that if all you have to give one day is 50% of you normal capacity then you gave 100%. Also, remind yourself that trying and showing up for our students in the way that you do is deeply impactful. 

As the Holidays are upon us please reach out to myself or your counselors if you are noticing an increase in hunger, instability in housing, etc. We will do our best to connect kids to the things that they need. Food and basic necessities (gear, mittens, clothes) are the easiest "get" but we can connect with other resources as well. 

Staff Shout Outs 

• Kirby for always taking the extra time to go outside on "non duty" days to connect with kids 
• Christine for stepping in and supporting kids in multiple ways 
• Kathy for being as flexible as ever
• Tyler for helping in the kitchen and with transitions 
• 5/6 team for working so hard to support all of your students
• Mary Beth for navigating the transition back to work and being proactive in working to plan for all your kids 

News and Announcements

• Lunch Pickup/Transition---Because our gym is multi use we have 15 mins to transition from lunch to the gym being used as a teaching space. The 3-6 students need to be out of the gym at 12:45. If you know your crew needs a little extra time to settle please either pick them up a smidge early or have them settle in the hallway before exiting. The transition crew appreciates your timely approach! 
• Staff Meeting---Will be on Wednesday! I will have to switch up the programming given the weather but stay tuned 
• As we are entering the month of December when distraction is high please take a peek at these articles on setting students and yourselves up for success. 
• Getting Ready for Winter Break
• Upper Elementary/Middle School Engagement
• Making Up for Lost Time

What's Happening at Berlin?

Monday	No School---Weather Day
Tuesday	5/6 PLC Meeting 9:45-10:45
Wednesday	Student Focus Group 12:15-1:00  Staff Meeting at 3:15 Board Meeting---EMES 6:00
Thursday	SST Meeting 8:15-9:15 PK Meeting 11:30
Friday

Where is Celia?

Monday	Mixture of work from home and school ILT  1:00-2:30
Tuesday	Student Meeting 8:15  5/6 PLC 9:45-10:45
Wednesday	Check In with Lucia 9:30  Meeting 10:00 Principal's Meeting w/Meg 12:15 K PLC 1:50-2:50 Elementary Principals 2:00  Board Meeting 6:00
Thursday	Student Meeting 9:00 11:30- PK Meeting  District Safety Team 2:00-3:30---Out of Building
Friday

11.19

 

Hi All,

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Thank you for your patience with my in/out last week. It turns out that Rowan has/had Pneumonia. We've got antibiotics on board and seem to be making a comeback....thank goodness. Fingers crossed she doesn't pick anything else up in the few days this week. 

We've got two days this week and I'm confident that we'll make it through with a little handwashing and some love. 

Staff Shout Outs:

• Marc and Tyler for helping to serve Harvest Luncheon
• Deb and Chef Jake for putting on an amazing lunch that was so well attended
• All Staff for your flexibility in our last two Wacky Wednesdays!
• Kim Knapp and Jess for putting on a fantastic Scavenger Hunt, thank you for sharing your celebration with the school.

Important Reminders: 

• Check out this amazing article on Showing Gratitude. This is a great, quick read with some ways to incorporate Gratitude in an inclusive and proactive way.
• No team meeting/PLC this week

What’s happening at BES?

Monday	Humanity and Justice Meeting 8:15-9:00
Tuesday
Wednesday	No School
Thursday	No School
Friday	No School

Where is Celia?

Monday	Humanity and Justice Meeting 8:15-9:00 Check in with Kerra Holden 3:30
Tuesday	Student Meeting 8:20  4th Grade Student Meeting
Wednesday	Work from home
Thursday	Thanksgiving
Friday	Vacation Day

11.12

Hi All,

I hope that you all had a good weekend and that you got what you needed from the weekend. This past week was a wild one. I learned early last week that a dear family friend died very unexpectedly, we will celebrate her life next weekend. I was quickly reminded that we need to remember to tell people we care for that we love them and that life is just too short. Smile, eat the cake, hug your people!

Please know that I recognize that you all have lives outside of this incredibly demanding career and I am here to support you in what you need wherever I can. 

Lastly, it always feels good to have conferences behind you! I know the level of energy and brainspace that each conference takes up so, hats off to you all. The paras and I had a good day on Friday that focused on our Humanity and Justice work as well as De-escalation techniques.

Staff Shoutouts:

• The Lisa’s for helping out with snacks for the kiddos
• Marcus, Chuck and Ali for tweaking cleaning schedules to work around the influx of parents in the building
• Amber B for her extra support of students in that 4th grade classroom. 

***Don't forget to email me throughout the week to "shoutout" your fellow colleagues!***

News and Announcements:

Often in the business of our schedules closing portions of a lesson and the closure of the day can get rushed. Here's a great article on the importance of closure and some tips for how to be successful: Smooth End of Day

Reflection and finding a moment of calm is so important to our health as educators. Here is a great set of meditations: Moment of Calm.

Budget Announcement: The WCUUSD administrative team is working hard on a Draft of Budget #1 to present to the board. We worked hard to make judicious cuts to the budget with the pillars of EQS (education quality standards), equitable distribution of resources and student needs as the foci of the work. Budgeting is always a challenge and this year is no different. Given the guideposts of our budgeting process and looking carefully at where I think we will be in a year the two recommendations I am making at this time will be: a reduction of a 1.0 FTE classroom teaching position and the reduction of a 1.0 school counselor. 

Given the Project SERV funded BCBA and the projected enrollment numbers these cuts seem to make the most sense for our building's budget and is supportive of the cuts that we were directed to make by the board. I have spoken with the district staff and have been assured that we will have a classroom para in a K class that is over 18 and we will reevaluate staffing/class configurations if the total class size exceeds 22. 

These reductions at this point are proposals and as we move through the budgeting process I will continue to communicate and we will make more solid plans as the budget moves along through the next phases.

What's Happening at Berlin?

Monday	3/4 PLC Meeting 10:50-11:50 1/2 PLC Meeting 12:15-1:15
Tuesday	5/6 PLC Meeting 9:45-10:45
Wednesday	Harvest Luncheon---see schedule in Copy Room 5/6 Scavenger Hunt---Details from from the 5/6 Team Staff Meeting at 3:15
Thursday	SST Meeting 8:15-9:15 PK Meeting 11:30
Friday

Where is Celia?

Monday	Student Meeting 8:00-8:45 Goals Meeting 10:00 3/4 PLC Meeting 10:50-11:50 1/2 PLC Meeting 12:15-1:15
Tuesday	WCLT Meeting---Out of Building All Day Student Meeting 3:00
Wednesday	Check In with Lucia 9:30  Meeting 10:00 Principal's Meeting w/Meg 12:15 K PLC 1:50-2:50 Board Meeting
Thursday	Student Meeting 8:00 Union Check In 10:00 11:30- PK Meeting
Friday	Student Meeting---2:00-4:00

11.5

Hi All,

After a particularly long week (Halloween on a TUESDAY?!?!) we made it through. I hope that you have chased down the last few parents that you need to to make appointments on Friday or throughout the week, however you chose to do it! If there is a conference that you would like me to attend please let me know asap and I will do my best to be there. Also, please remember to share you conference schedule with me.  

There is a lot of the creeping-crud that is going around. Please make sure that you and your kids are washing their hands frequently, drinking plenty of fluids and seeing the nurse if they need to. I can send a friendly reminder to families about our sickness policies. 

 Staff Shoutouts:

• Honestly team there are too many to count this week! 
• I want to give a huge shoutout to Michelle T and Besty for working through a marathon meeting Friday. 
• To our Union Team for a great meeting on Thursday, I appreciate our collaboration. 
• Ashlynn, Danny, Megan and Jess H. for stepping up to support a colleague. 

News and Announcements:

• Here's a good webinar from Responsive Classroom on Parent/Teacher conferences RC---Parent Teacher Conferences Webinar
• Something I always did for my students prior to conferences was to first sit down and write my class list out from memory. Then I would write down three strengths that each child has and how they show up in the classroom. I found this exercise to be an important reflection on "who I was missing/took a while to come up with" on my list as well as a reminder that even the trickiest kiddos have a LOT of strengths.  

What's Happening at Berlin?

Monday	3/4 PLC Meeting 10:50-11:50 1/2 PLC Meeting 12:15-1:15
Tuesday	5/6 PLC Meeting 9:45-10:45
Wednesday	K PLC Meeting 1:55-2:55 ***All School Celebration 5 filled tubes***  See email from Jess Heinz about Game Day! Prep time for conferences in lieu of staff meeting 3:15
Thursday	SST Meeting 8:15-9:15 PK Meeting 11:30
Friday	Family Conferences/Inservice Day

Where is Celia?

Monday	8:30-9:15 Meeting at C.O. 3/4 PLC Meeting 10:50-11:50 1/2 PLC Meeting 12:15-1:15 Budget Check in 3:45-4:45
Tuesday	Daycare is closed---Celia is home. I will do my best to attend as many virtual meetings as I can
Wednesday	***Out until 11:45---Appointment at UVM.  K PLC 1:50-2:50
Thursday	PK Meeting 11:30
Friday	Inservice and Family Conferences