March 5, 2015

Welcome to the Speas Global Elementary Blog!

All staff members, let's make sure we are teaching, reteaching, and teaching again the procedures in the common areas (Hallway, Cafeteria, Bathrooms, Playground, Bus).  We should be giving out lots of Bee's for students demonstrating the basic expectations.  It is a good idea to review the procedures before you leave one area to travel to another area.  

Our Mission: It is the mission of Speas Elementary School to provide its students with the tools necessary to successfully meet the challenges they will face in a diverse world.

Goals:

To increase English Language Arts achievement by 10%
To increase Mathematics achievement by 10%
To increase Science Achievement by 10%

picture by C. Cardona

Check out this graphic about global education.  The things above water are just the tip of the iceberg.   Try to go deeper in your instruction and touch some of the issues below the surface.

ISS
Specialists will begin holding ISS in their respective areas on their assigned days.  The schedule is below.  Teachers, specialists may be contacting you for work for students assigned to ISS.  Please get them work as soon as possible.   

Day	Teacher	Location
A	Arora	Room 213
B	Bowen	Music
C	King	Art
D	Childers/McMasters	Media/CL
E	Lindquist	Gym

Announcements:

Tornado drill this morning. 

* A tornado watch will be issued first.  This just means conditions are favorable.  You do not go to your tornado areas at that time.  It is just meant to make you aware.

* A tornado warning will be next.  A tornado warning means a tornado has been seen and you need to report to your tornado area immediately.  

***For all technology issues, please follow these steps in order to submit a SchoolDude ticket. Mr. McMasters will receive this ticket and be able to work on resolving the issue as quickly as possible. Tickets take priority so please enter a ticket for the technology issue that you have. If you have any questions on how to do this, please see Mr. McMasters. Thank you!

To submit a ticket…on either the WSFCS homepage or the Speas homepage, click on “User Options” in the top right of the screen --> “SCHOOL DUDE requests --> Click “IT request” tab --> fill out request and click submit. ***

The Art's Council Campaign is now open.   Please donate.  Ash is giving out a jeans coupon to anyone who donates $20 or more.  The link for donating is below:

http://5934.thankyou4caring.org/Winston-Salem-Forsyth-County-Schools-Arts-Council-Campaign

We have a Speas Symbaloo page.

http://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcMEZPT#

email: djjohnson@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
pass: speasbees2014

Please email us with your favorite educator sites so we can create a huge selection of online resources.  

All staff members, let's make sure we are teaching, reteaching, and teaching again the procedures in the common areas (Hallway, Cafeteria, Bathrooms, Playground, Bus).  We should be giving out lots of Bee's for students demonstrating the basic expectations.  It is a good idea to review the procedures before you leave one area to travel to another area.  

SMOD Tickets (dress code violations) are located in the workroom.  Please keep the bottom portion for your own records as a way to keep track of the number of violations.  The continuum is as follows:

1st offense: verbal warning, and letter will be sent home to be signed.  Parent or guardian notified of violation
2nd offense: Teacher notifies parent or guardian and student is removed from class until proper SMOD is delivered.

(Teachers, we all should be enforcing this, it will only work if we all enforce it).

It is Dr. Seuss week.  His birthday is 3/2.  Here are some fun pins for your consideration.

https://www.pinterest.com/sweney/dr-seuss-week/

In honor of the good doctor, here are few pearls from his works:

I will be adding more quotes this week.  If you don't see your favorite, email it to me so I can post it.

Calendar

3.5	6	B	Y
3.6	1	C	Y		Ash out AM
3.7					Happy Birthday Faragher!!!!!!
3.8
3.9	2	D	Y
3.10	3	E	Y		Class Picture Day
3.11	4	A	Y
3.12	5	B	X		Ash out AM; Chik-fil-A Spirit Night
3.13	6	C	X		Access Testing window closes
3.14
3.16					Spring Picture Day
3.17					Canty Out-Meeting
3.18
3.19					Evan w/ Teachers; Happy Birthday Pfitzner!!!!!!!; Yoforia Spirit Night
3.20
3.23					Quarter Testing Begins Happy Birthday Smith!!!!!!!
3.24
3.25					Johnson out AM
3.26
3.27					Johnson out; Quarter Testing Ends Happy Birthday Ferguson!!!!!!!
3.29					Happy Birthday Mitchell!!!!!!!!
4.7					Ash out AM
4.8					Evan mtg w/grade levels
4.9					Quarterly Awards
4.10					1st Grade Dan Nicholas Park 8:30-2:00
4.13					Canty out-training
4.14					Report Cards go home
4.16					Happy Birthday Hooker;Ash out AM; Yoforia Spirit Night
4.17					Kids Night In Movie Night
4.21					IC mtg.  Instr. strategies
4.22					Johnson out- AM
4.23					Johnson out
4.26
5.1					Canty out meeting
5.5					Ash out AM
5.14					Ash out AM; Papa Murphy’s Spirit Night
5.7					4th Grade Heritage Theater, New Winston Museum
5.20					Johnson out AM
5.22					1st Grade NC  Zoo 8:00-2:00 PM; Yoforia Movie Night; Ready EOG window opens
6.5					Ready EOG window closes
6.7					Water Day

This Day in World History

March 5

1624		Class-based legislation is passed in the colony of Virginia, exempting the upper class from punishment by whipping.
1766		Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.
1793		Austrian troops crush the French and recapture Liege.
1821		James Monroe becomes the first president to be inaugurated on March 5, only because the 4th was a Sunday.
1905		Russians begin to retreat from Mukden in Manchuria, China.
1912		The Italians become the first to use dirigibles for military purposes, using them for reconnaissance flights behind Turkish lines west of Tripoli.
1918		The Soviets move the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow.
1928		Hitler's National Socialists win the majority vote in Bavaria.
1933		Newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt halts the trading of gold and declares a bank holiday.
1933		Hitler and Nationalist allies win the Reichstag majority. It will be the last free election in Germany until after World War II.
1943		In desperation due to war losses, fifteen and sixteen year olds are called up for military service in the German army.
1946		In Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill tells a crowd that "an iron curtain has descended on the Continent [of Europe]."
1956		The U.S. Supreme Court affirms the ban on segregation in public schools in Brown vs. Board of Education.
1969		Gustav Heinemann is elected West German President.
1976		Britain gives up on the Ulster talks and decides to retain rule in Northern Ireland indefinitely.
1984		The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.
Born on March 5
1326		Louis I (the Great), King of Hungary.
1574		William Oughtred, mathematician and inventor of the slide rule.
1824		Elisha Harris, U.S. physician and founder of the American Public Health Association.
1824		James Merritt Ives, lithographer for Currier and Ives.
1853		Howard Pyle, writer and illustrator (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood).
1870		Frank Norris, novelist (McTeague, The Octopus).
1887		Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazillian composer.
1908		Rex Harrison, actor.
1938		Lynn Margulis, biologist.
1948		Leslie Marmon Silko, writer (Ceremony).