Carpenter`s Chatter - Carpenter Elementary School
Carpenter’s Chatter Principal ‘s Newsletter for Carpenter Elementary ield April 6, 2015 *Early Release: On our last Early Release Day, our staff watched a video on testing code of ethics in preparation for end of grade tests. We also facilitated grade level planning as we focused on essential curriculum concepts that must be taught before the year’s end. The PTA supplied us with a delicious pizza luncheon. Many thanks to Shannon Flynn for organizing our staff luncheons on behalf of the PTA this year. *Honor A Teacher: Thank you for the nominations for Cary Chamber of Commerce’s Honor A Teacher Award. We have received 43 nominations on 18 different teachers. The top five nominated teachers were Jillian Cleveland, Tracie Newson, Tuyetnga Levesque, Gina Esposito and Tammy Matthews. These teacher have submitted essays and will be interviewed by business leaders. The winner will be announced on May 11, 2015 at Regency Park. We will continue to read a nomination on the intercom announcements each morning. *Technology Tidbits: When I first came to Carpenter Elementary, all the grade levels expressed an overwhelming desire to increase technology tools. Many Cary schools have a Smartboard/Promethean Board in every classroom. At Carpenter, we had three portable Promethean Boards and two were broken. These boards have now been fixed. In addition, with proceeds given from the YMCA and 519 Church renting our building, we were able to purchase new technology. Thirtyeight new, all in one computers have been added to the computer lab and media center. The computers that were in these spaces have been redistributed throughout classrooms. In addition, ten Promethean Boards are being added to our classrooms. Two interactive boards will be installed in each grade level and the Art room. *PTA’s Boosterthon: $13.70 per student is how much we received in state and local funding this year for library books and technology. A laser print cartridge for our media center’s printer costs over $300. This is just one printer as each grade level has their own. Each K-3 teacher is required to have a county issued IPad to do Mclass reading assessments. Did you know that when one breaks, it is the school’s, not WCPSS’s, responsibility to fix? We had a discipline situation on the bus last week in which three books were destroyed when a chameleon smashed yogurt all over another chameleon’s books. These three books were replaced out of the $13.70 per student funding. Maintenance and replacement costs like this take most of our media and technology funding. Can you imagine three teachers sharing one laptop? Me neither, imagine our students doing the same. WCPSS has committed to a 3 to 1 technology plan which is three students to one student technology device. The plan Important Dates April 8th Gr 3 Tr 1-3 Laurel Hill Trip April 9th 5th Grade Middle School Overview - 1:00 pm Boosterthon Pep Rally Grades K-2 - 1:50 pm Grades 3-5 – 2:40 pm April 14th Internet Safety - 5-6:30 pm April 17th Run Club Full Day of School Boosterthon Fun Run Track 3 9:30 – 10:30 am Last Day for Track 3 April 20th First Day Back for Track 4 Track 4 Boosterthon Rep Rally - 2:40 pm April 21st Track 4 Case 21 Reading Test April 22nd Track 4 Case 21 Math Test Chick-fil-A Night April 23rd Track 4 – Grade 5 - Case 21 Science Test Science Festival PTA Cultural Arts Program Grades K-2 - 1:15 – Transient Grades 3-5 - 2:15 - Transient April 24th Run Club April 27th Tracks 1-2 Interim Reports Grades K-2 – 9:30 - Fun Run Grades 3-5 – 10:40 – Fun Run The4CsofCarpenter–Creativity,Communication,CollaborationandCriticalThinking is several years out but we want to prepare Carpenter for this technology focus by purchasing as many student devices as we can before then. The profits from the PTA Boosterthon will be used to purchase student laptops. Please reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors to sponsor your child during a fun run. People pledge money for each lap your child walks/runs up to 35 laps. *Pastries with the Principal: If you missed last month’s Pastries with the Principal meeting, we discussed the Teacher Working Conditions Survey from Spring 2014. Some measures that have been implemented to bring up these scores include: establishment of a teacher led Leadership team that meets monthly increase staff meetings from 4 times a year to 12 times a year to build community staff celebrations are woven into the staff meeting structure a menu of professional development sessions are offered professional development is delivered by classroom teachers and geared towards their needs plus/delta Google evaluations are done anonymously after each staff development session weekly staff newsletter is written and issued by the principal principal takes a more active role in discipline referrals open door policy established by administrators Although the 2014 TWC results preceded my leadership, I am very excited to be part of the changes at our school. I am confident that the Spring 2016 TWC Survey will yield improvements. *Teacher Request: Due to shifting enrollment, there will be many teacher assignment changes next year. Parents can describe the type of learning style their child has and the corresponding teaching style desired. Parents can also request “any teacher but..” with details. These anonymous comments will be taken into consideration while making final placement decisions. Click here http://goo.gl/forms/kb3jkN6afo *Inclement Weather: Our teachers are busy making plans for our inclement makeup days. There will be no Specials on these days as the days are devoted to core curriculum. Many teachers will be facilitating two Reading and two Math lessons to make up for lost time. We encourage students to come and stay all day; April 17th Full Day Tracks 1, 2, and 3 Lunch is served May 16th ½ day Tracks 1, 3, and 4 No lunch May 30th Full day Tracks 1, 3, and 4 Lunch is served *PTA Science Festival: Don’t miss the fun, hands on Science learning for all families on April 23rd from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. This night is sponsored by a grant that our Instructional Resource Teacher won from Duke Energy. *Testing Dates: End of Grade Tests are approaching soon and every group requires two adults; one to administer the test and one to proctor. With the amount of 504 plans and IEPs that we have, it is not uncommon to have over twenty testing groups at a time. Therefore, it is imperative that all students be present on their testing days unless they are really sick. Please ensure these dates are kept free so that your child may be in attendance; Test Reading EOG – Grades 3-5 Math EOG – Grades 3-5 Science EOG – Grade 5 Track 1 May 14th May 15th May 18th Tracks 2, 3 and 4 June 10th June 11th June 12th With Chameleon Pride and Spirit, Fay Jones The4CsofCarpenter–Creativity,Communication,CollaborationandCriticalThinking The4CsofCarpenter–Creativity,Communication,CollaborationandCriticalThinking
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