SHARK TEAM SHOUT OUTS

    GROWING PAINS & ROCKETS

SHARK TEAM SHOUT OUTS GO TO:
 Darlene Larry and the fantastic cafeteria staff  for the delicious staff breakfast on Tuesday morning to celebrate our academic performance gains. Thanks also for rearranging your schedule to accommodate the 5th grade so they can schedule optimal instructional time.  Our cafe staff demonstrated true Shark team work! Thanks.
Tony Berryman and the hard working custodial staff (Tom & Pam) for making our school grounds beautiful, groomed and shiny for our students, staff and our school community. Has anyone noticed how shiny our floors are? Ahhhh!  Also thanks for moving a few of our classrooms so our students can be close to your own grade levels.
Our office staff, assistants and volunteers for working together as a team to make sure all areas of need are covered for each other so that our school runs efficiently and  our students' instructional needs are met and supervised. Stay the course and "man" your posts without compromise. :)
Ms Anne and her assistant, Liz Thornberry for your creativity, caring and putting in extra  long hours so that our morning show is entertaining, yet informative to our students and our students are provided inspiration for the love of books.  Did I mention that our book fair simply ROCKS!
Veronica Brown, PTO officers and volunteers for organizing events, recognizing our precious grandparents, and fund raising for our students all during your own free time with no expectations of thanks.  Veronica thanks for leading the PAS testing organization. This was an important and enormous task which you achieved success with flying colors.
Wendy Summers, Lynn Kennedy and Cindy Stencil, Jacqueline Meyer and all assistants for raising the academic bar for your Kindergarten students in reading and implementing the most instructional time possible!  Thanks for broadening our students' instructional base. The broader the base the higher the learning tower can be built in future grades.
Angela Hummel, Carolyn Stansberry, Denisa Omohundro, Robyn Smally and now welcoming  Janie Johnston for teaching our nonreading students how to read whole books! Thanks for allowing them to share their successes with me.  I would love to announce over the intercom each time a students reads an entire book for the first time.  The entire office cheered for the 2 gentlemen that read for us Friday.  What a great way to end our day and our week!  Thanks for keeping your standards high both academically and behaviorally!
Heather Crowl, Cindy Puckett , Jacquelyn Meyer and now welcoming back Cindy Ringer for working so successfully with 30 students each sitting in your classrooms. Thanks for giving these students your best and  keeping such a positive attitude while we worked through the large class solution and transition.  Each time I visit I observe all students engaged in instruction.  With 30 students, that is a feat to applaud.
Kelly Fox, Christy Fox, Betsy Clark and Brenda Sipes for working as a team to organize the new self-contained configuration to better serve your students and keep the 90 minute reading block focus as well as the 60+ minute math block instruction.   I notice your dedication to each and every subject area. I  also liked seeing the visual specific science posters in every room and your intentional approach to Investigation's math, reading and reader's workshop. Also, I observe model teamwork in everything you do from reading interventions to weekly KCCT-like assessment development. Impressive results on your last weekly KCCT-like assessment results.
Becky Adkins, Tobi Sadler, Lisa Moberly and Beverly Walker for also reconfiguring to become self-contained to better serve your students. The "yard sale" rewards for students keeps the students motivated for good behavior and high quality work.
Kudos for not compromising high quality intense instruction for each and every student. Planning instruction purely on the Program of Studies, Academic Expectations and Core Content the way to go every time. 
Mike Hamilton, Debbie Owens, Jan Horn and Missy Estep for your dedication to high quality instruction.  Kudos for getting our students prepared for middle school.  Thanks for embracing the new office referral process created by our own Instructional Discipline team and being the first to use it. Great stuff!  You are to be commended for staying the course with your pacing guides and standards based instruction.  Also, thanks for initiating the school assessment celebration. We missed you at the event. We missed you even more so because you planned it and didn't get to attend it.
Paula McLin for using a laser focus to support teachers with standards-based instruction, modeling instructional strategies in classrooms, planning reading interventions with teachers, helping coordinate and acquisition of instructional resources school wide.  Also, thanks for coordinating and leading the CIA planning meetings and the Assessment Wall Kick Off.
Regina Spencer for providing behavioral instruction to our students, acting quickly and professionally when a student crisis arises. 
Carol Payne for providing your exceptional expertise to our staff regarding reading instruction. With you leading with the reading, we will rise in the ranks and numbers of P & D students. Thanks for your small group intervention work in the primary.
Amanda Pasley & Janie Johnston for your patience in scheduling and perseverance  providing interventions to the students who need it.  I see evidence of your interventions and know these research based strategies are effective and have shown great gains with previous students! 
Nurse Shonnie for taking such professional and exceptional care for our critical needs students.  You are appreciated for keeping us legal in regards to medication administration and health procedures.  I notice the extra hours you put in almost every evening.
Jennifer Bell, Anna Bruce, Crystal Ware and the Special Ed Department for taking our Special Ed instruction to a new level. I can't wait to see your data when it shows the growth of your students all because you gave them face-face and bell-bell instruction.  Your collaboration is paying off and I am hearing praises building wide. KUDOS to you all. 
Praises to All for posting and implementing your DAILY "I Can" statements that are purely standards based not only on Core Content but especially on the the Program of Studies.  Narrowing those down when you post the 1-3 each day per content allows our instruction to go a mile deep and an inch wide each day.  When we have 12-30 posted the students can not focus.  Thanks for narrowing your focus and keeping that focus narrow, yet intense each day! 
I also must mention your positive commitment to daily student supervision. We also have teachers who VOLUNTEER to do duty every day when they are only required to do duty one day per week. I do notice you and appreciate you.
 

Our Shark Smiles will be listed as teams most of the time because that is how we all work and succeed!

Staff members may feel that they spend too many hours per day completing what is required. 
The first years we do spend a great deal of extra time changing our old habits and possibly challenging our previous philosophies, but once our structures are functioning smoothly, this time investment not only pays off, but you have become proficient and will continue to become more efficient in completing tasks.

Staff may not be aware of what other staff members are doing.
If we are intensely involved in taking care of our own responsibilities, we do not have time to be monitoring what other staff members are doing. Everyone has responsibilities and staff members must trust that what our fellow staff members are doing is contributing to school wide goals for success. We must also trust that those hired into their positions are there due their experience and expertise.
Staff may lack full understanding about why we must achieve the school, district and state academic goals.
One main fact applies here; we are all employees and part of a team that operates in the best interest of our children. We are hired to do jobs because we are equipped to do these jobs. To win and achieve our goals we must operate as a team. We must work to achieve these goals because they are what is best for our students, not just because we were directed to do so by our supervisor.
Staff members may feel that meetings are a waste of time.
Our PLCs must meet weekly, daily and monthly to concern ourselves with ways to improve teaching and learning.  Our team must take collective responsibility for the academic achievement of ALL STUDENTS. As a PLC we must plan more effective lessons, analyze student work, solve instructional issues, and plan interventions to make our students and  our schools GREAT!  We must meet face to face to participate in constructive dialogue, read and heed our e-mails that provide information and procedures for best practice, listen and act on verbal directions from superiors, respect suggestions from our colleagues and cooperate with our team members and fellow school colleagues.  These practices are vital to making our school and classroom instructional results GREAT.

Gone are the days of closing our doors and teaching in solace.  We are stronger as a team and must work as a  team to increase student achievement. It takes 213 companies to build one rocket. Our students are more intricate and complicated than rockets.  Everyone has something to contribute to the success of our students.
 

Pictures of Success at Shearer Elementary

Click to Enlarge  (More to Come!)

Students Reading Books of Choice Independently
Providing examples of what it means to "Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Responsible".
Parent & Family Involvement Decorating our school for Fall!
Unit Outcome Statements Daily Outcome Statement Emphasized and Emphasized for FOCUS.
Science Critical Vocabulary Word Wall and Outcome Statements!
CHAMPS & DAILY AGENDA Classroom Organization Instruction evident
Social Studies Critical Vocabulary Word Wall
Intentional Successful Writing Strategy Posted as a Visual
Lesson Plans present on desk that represent standards, formative assessment strategies, and how students will be engaged!
A Visual Poster that not only contains critical vocabulary but definitions and diagrams. Great for addressing varied learning styles!
Another Student Work Display 3rd Grade Letter Writing!
An Outstanding Reading Strategy
Hands On Labs!  Great work!
Those who made all of this happen!

   TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

To reduce the excessive number of 1st and 2nd grade students that we have in our existing classes, we have place a few old  faces in new places. LOL

Janie Johnston will take over Ms. Ringer's existing 1st grade class.

Ms. Ringer will have a new 2nd grade classroom which will reduce our existing numbers from 30 to 20 each!

Mary Beth Phillips will be working under the lead of Carol Payne as a reading interventionist in the primary hall.

Karen Rice will be working under the lead of Paula McLin as reading interventionist in the intermediate hall.  You will also find her in the Read 180 classroom.

Let's welcome and help these old faces settle in to their new places.  Thanks to those who gave up their Friday evening to do this. I found out about this plan after the fact. If I had known we could have all pitched in to help before the celebrations. 

1. The new version of iLearn with curriculum documents, pacing guides, and common assessments.  Mike placed this icon on our Shearer Home Page. You may also click on this icon.

You will also find a Shearer Portal in iLearn that I have created just for our documents that pertain to policy, handbooks, curriculum resources, assessment resources, evaluation resources, etc. It is currently a work in progress.

2. The Curriculum Portal Technology Integration online resources. 
http://www.weblight1.com/CP/edtech.htm

Have you noticed the new "S" drive located beside your "H" drive when you click on "My Computer"? That is also a Shearer Shared drive for us to drop our assessment calculators into as well well as finding a place  to drop your lesson plans, or anything else needed to be viewed by me and the rest of the staff.  Lesson Plans need to be viewed by your collaborating teachers, curriculum/literacy coaches and by me for both coaching and evaluation purposes. 

     LITERACY

    ASSESSMENT