Note to self: Don't start Check In Check Out (CICO- PBIS Tier 2) on the morning that the principal is out, the school psychologist is out, all of the greeters/office EAs have MAP testing and need to get computers up and running, AND a new student needs to be taken to his classroom at the far end of the building. Oh, and we are short a substitute teacher because our new "Teachers On Call" system does not provide subs when teachers call in the morning of (or so we've experienced). It is only 9:00 and I am feeling pulled in 100 different directions. Fortunately most of the CICO greeters were on-point and gathered all of their students that needed to check in this morning. I was able to round-up our third graders, who are completely new to the process, by 8:15 and get them started off on a positive note.
I definitely learned last year to keep my schedule clear when I am the only person in the 'back office.' And today I am sure thankful I did! I am actually really excited to spend some time with a fourth grade class this morning (filling in as a 'sub'). I don't get to see them much since I have third grade for Lifeskills right now. That is the biggest downfall of my schedule/rotation with classroom lessons. But I will NOT complain, because it frees up my schedule to see individual students and run groups, as well as visit with ALL students during a few lunch/recess times and work with 5th grade Student Council.
Speaking of Student Council- Mr. Grenzow, the 5th grade adviser, and I decide to get student council up and running as early as possible. And that we did! Last week we met with our Planners and Promoters group to decide theme days for Homecoming Week, which is next week already. The funniest part was yesterday when he came to me in a panic because he deleted the Smart notebook that contained all of our notes from the meeting, including the days we decided on for next week. We were able to recall every day but Monday. Funny thing was, the students couldn't think of Monday either. I'm starting to think we didn't assign a 'theme' to that day, because no one seems to remember! Tomorrow the Planners and Promoters will be meeting again to make signs and a Podcast to promote the days next week. I'm hoping we made them easy enough for all students to participate! On Thursday we will be meeting with our Welcome Wagon committee. I am so excited to get this students started early this year! We have 19 new students, including our newest 5th grader who started today. Hopefully our Welcome Wagon students can 'buddy-up' with our new students and spend time getting to know them. We are still evolving as a student council, but I am so excited to see what we can become! Next Wednesday I FINALLY get to meet with my Junior Ambassadors! I have already had students asking when we will be meeting, so I already get the feeling that there is a lot of positive energy that will be coming to my meeting next week. I am already brainstorming ways that we can provide service to our school and our community. Last spring, we did a car wash to raise money for our school-wide focus of the McFarland Food Pantry. We raised over $500!! My thought is to do a fall fundraiser as well, but I'm trying to keep it simple. My most current thought is to have a competition where staff will volunteer to be 'Pied.' The staff member with the most money in their container will be 'pied' at Waubesa. I am hoping to get the community involved by setting up a table or something at one of the Friday night football games. So many ideas, so little time!
Well, I better wrap it up! I need to figure out what I'm teaching in 4th grade science today! I hope that the rest of the day goes smoothly... and tomorrow. And Thursday. Because my office neighbors (principal and school psychologist) won't be back until then! Wish me luck...
I definitely learned last year to keep my schedule clear when I am the only person in the 'back office.' And today I am sure thankful I did! I am actually really excited to spend some time with a fourth grade class this morning (filling in as a 'sub'). I don't get to see them much since I have third grade for Lifeskills right now. That is the biggest downfall of my schedule/rotation with classroom lessons. But I will NOT complain, because it frees up my schedule to see individual students and run groups, as well as visit with ALL students during a few lunch/recess times and work with 5th grade Student Council.
Speaking of Student Council- Mr. Grenzow, the 5th grade adviser, and I decide to get student council up and running as early as possible. And that we did! Last week we met with our Planners and Promoters group to decide theme days for Homecoming Week, which is next week already. The funniest part was yesterday when he came to me in a panic because he deleted the Smart notebook that contained all of our notes from the meeting, including the days we decided on for next week. We were able to recall every day but Monday. Funny thing was, the students couldn't think of Monday either. I'm starting to think we didn't assign a 'theme' to that day, because no one seems to remember! Tomorrow the Planners and Promoters will be meeting again to make signs and a Podcast to promote the days next week. I'm hoping we made them easy enough for all students to participate! On Thursday we will be meeting with our Welcome Wagon committee. I am so excited to get this students started early this year! We have 19 new students, including our newest 5th grader who started today. Hopefully our Welcome Wagon students can 'buddy-up' with our new students and spend time getting to know them. We are still evolving as a student council, but I am so excited to see what we can become! Next Wednesday I FINALLY get to meet with my Junior Ambassadors! I have already had students asking when we will be meeting, so I already get the feeling that there is a lot of positive energy that will be coming to my meeting next week. I am already brainstorming ways that we can provide service to our school and our community. Last spring, we did a car wash to raise money for our school-wide focus of the McFarland Food Pantry. We raised over $500!! My thought is to do a fall fundraiser as well, but I'm trying to keep it simple. My most current thought is to have a competition where staff will volunteer to be 'Pied.' The staff member with the most money in their container will be 'pied' at Waubesa. I am hoping to get the community involved by setting up a table or something at one of the Friday night football games. So many ideas, so little time!
Well, I better wrap it up! I need to figure out what I'm teaching in 4th grade science today! I hope that the rest of the day goes smoothly... and tomorrow. And Thursday. Because my office neighbors (principal and school psychologist) won't be back until then! Wish me luck...