The Dog Days of Summer

Cougar Notes:

It’s been “as hot as blazes” this week after the mild temperatures of early August had spoiled us all.  Coach Gary and his staff have been very conscientious about gauging the heat index to make sure our football boys are safe.  I appreciate everyone watching out for safety during the extremely hot conditions that we are feeling right now.  Any outside walking time during lunch should be kept to a minimum when the temperatures and heat index are so dangerously high. Enjoy your weekend, but be safe out there!

Personnel:

We are glad to hear that Nycol Hart’s daughter Anna did very well with her surgery and gets to go home today.  I know that Nycol appreciates everyone’s concern and prayers.  Mary Ann McKinney’s daughter has been having some health issues and has also been in and out of the hospital this week.  Please remember her as well.  Brittany Geary and baby Bentlee are doing great, and we wish them all the best as well.

Safety (from Mr. Whitmore):

As you know, before learning can occur, our top priority is to keep our students and staff SAFE. I want to thank our Safety Committee for volunteering to conduct a GCMS Safety Assessment later this year.  Fortunately, this is the year for our District Team to conduct assessments at each school. The District Team will be at GCMS next week on Wednesday at 8:30. They will be looking for safety, maintenance/custodial, evacuation routes posted and flip charts, and facility issues. This will give the GCMS Safety Committee a jump start before our own assessment in the fall. I have placed  “Hazard Hunt” forms in mail boxes. Please take the time to report any safety/maintenance/policy issues you observe and return them to Mr. Whitmore.

Family Fun Night:

The Grayson County Board of Education has generously arranged a family fun night for the school staffs and our families this coming Wednesday evening at the Leitchfield Aquatic Center.  This will be from 5:30-7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, August 27.  Please let Mrs. House know if you and your family plan to attend.  We appreciate Mr. Anderson and the board for thinking of us in this way.

Next Friday PD Day:

We are looking forward to next Friday’s PD day at GCMS.  Please remember that this is a non-flexible PD day that does count as one of your four required days.  We will spend part of the day analyzing individual student data from this spring’s KPREP testing.  We are allowed to share data with teachers pertaining to students you had last year and/or students that you currently have this year.  For that reason, we will need to conduct this work in our interdisciplinary teams 1-9 instead of our CSI/PLC teams.  We will also have a segment of time devoted to program review that day, a segment of time devoted to KYCID screeners, and a little time to continue our PGES learning.  I look forward to another productive PD day at GCMS.

Principal’s Advisory Council:

I need for team leaders to send me the name of your team’s student representative to the Principal’s Advisory Council.  This student needs to be a well behaved,  hardworking, good citizen,  who is a creative thinker and doesn’t mind to speak up and share ideas to help make our school better.  If you find someone who fits all those criterion, we might want to clone a few more of them!  Thank you to Rita, Holly, and Carla for already sending me their team’s representative.

Self-Reflections and PGPs:

Many of you have successfully entered your PGES self-reflections into CIITS, and about a third of you have also entered your PGP.  Please remember that your PGP should include at least one goal based upon your self-reflection and at least one goal based upon our GCMS school improvement plan or the district improvement plan.  Both goals should match a PGES component. This should be entered into CIITS by August 30.  As I mentioned earlier, teachers should include the following for each goal:

•             What you want to change about INSTRUCTION that will effectively impact student learning.

•             What is the personal learning you will complete in order to make the change?

•             What will the measures of success be (student growth impact)?

Mrs. Purcell shared a simple template with the principals this week that you may want to use:

During the 2014-2015 school year, I will (insert practice that needs to change or improve).

I will (insert personal/professional learning needed to help achieve the goal). 

Growth will be evidenced through (insert measures of success). 

It will be wise to print both your self-reflection and your PGP after entering it into CIITS.  Mr. Whitmore, Mrs. Miller, or I will review your PGP and either approve it or suggest revisions.  Be sure to have two goals and address those three areas for each.  Remember, we will be revisiting your PGP throughout the year, so it is important to “make it real” and use it to impact your professional practice and student learning.

Quote of the Day:

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~John Wooden

Coming Attractions:

Aug. 27...Family Fun for GC School Staff at Leitchfield Aquatic Center

Aug. 28…Suicide Prevention Certificates due to Mrs. House

Aug. 29…PD Day Non-Flexible (no students that day)

Sept. 1…Labor Day (no school)

Sept. 8…Parent/Teacher Conferences, 4:00-6:00 pm

Sept. 15…September Faculty Meeting, 3:00

Sept. 16-18…KY Dept. of Agriculture Mobile Science Center at GCMS

Sept. 22-23…EXPLORE Test for 7^th and 8^th grade

Sept. 24…Pinocchio Play at GCMS (for all 3 grades)