May 20, 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%

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

Teachers: Having Trouble with Defiant Students?  Have you tried these strategies?

http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/challenging-students/school-wide-strategies-managing-defiance-non-complianc

Our jobs may get hectic as we try to close out the year strong.   Here are some things to remember about what we may call disrespect or defiant behavior:

cont.

There are cognitive lags caused by the effects of poverty.  They most certainly can be overcome.

Kids raised in poverty need more than just content.  They need capacity. Simply trying to stuff more curriculum into their brains backfires and makes students feel overmatched or bored.  Rather, dramatic results come when you upgrade students brains’ operating system

Students’ School Operating System must haves:

ÒThe ability and motivation to defer gratification and make a sustained effort to meet long-term goals

ÒAuditory, visual and tactile processing skills

ÒAttentional skills that enable the student to engage, focus and disengage as needed

ÒShort-term and working memory capacity

ÒSequencing skills

ÒA champion’s mind-set and confidence

These skills form the foundation for school success and can give students the capacity to override the adverse risk factors of poverty.  These are not simple study skills; they enable students to focus on, capture, process, evaluate, prioritize, manipulate, and apply or present information in a meaningful way.  Without improving students’ brains’ capacity to process incoming data, student achievement will stagnate.  

Announcements:

Test training today.

***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. ***

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).

Calendar

5.20	5	C	Y
5.21	6	D	X		Skating Trip
5.22	1	E	X		1st Grade NC  Zoo 8:00-2:00 PM; Ready EOG window opens; TRC window closes; all classroom displays to be taken down for EOG; Skating Trip
5.25	2	A	X
5.26	3	B	X
5.27					EOG ELA
5.28					EOG Math; 3,4,5 teachers stay afterschool for bubble party
5.29					EOG Makeups
6.1					EOG Sci 5
6.2					EOG Sci 5
6.3					EOG Makeups
6.4					RTA/EOG Makeups; 3rd grade teachers afterschool for bubble party
6.5
6.8
6.9
6.10					3rd grade teachers stay after to edit answer sheets
6.11
6.12

Holidays Around the World

Wednesday	May 20	National Day	Cameroon
Wednesday	May 20	Independence Day	Cuba

Today in World History

May 20

325		The Ecumenical council is inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea.
1303		A peace treaty is signed between England and France.
1347		Cola di Rienzo takes the title of tribune in Rome.
1520		Hernando Cortes defeats Spanish troops sent against him in Mexico.
1690		England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II.
1674		John Sobieski becomes Poland's first king.
1774		Parliament passes the Coercive Acts to punish the colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior. The acts close the port of Boston.
1775		North Carolina becomes the first colony to declare its independence.
1784		The Peace of Versailles ends a war between France, England, and Holland.
1799		Napoleon Bonaparte orders a withdrawal from his siege of St. Jean d'Acre in Egypt.
1859		A force of Austrians collide with Piedmontese cavalry at the village of Montebello, in northern Italy.
1861		North Carolina becomes the last state to secede from the Union.
1862		President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act, providing 250 million acres of free land to settlers in the West.
1874		Levi Strauss begins marketing blue jeans with copper rivets.
1902		The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ends.
1927		Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York for Paris.
1930		The first airplane is catapulted from a dirigible.
1932		Amelia Earhart lands near Londonderry, Ireland, to become the first woman fly solo across the Atlantic.
1939		Pan American Airways starts the first regular passenger service across the Atlantic.
1941		Germany invades Crete by air.
1942		Japan completes the conquest of Burma.
1951		During the Korean War, U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara becomes the first jet air ace in history.
1961		A white mob attacks civil rights activists in Montgomery, Alabama.
1969		In South Vietnam, troops of the 101st Airborne Division reach the top of Hill 937 after nine days of fighting entrenched North Vietnamese forces.
1970		100,000 people march in New York, supporting U.S. policies in Vietnam.
Born on May 20
1663		William Bradford, printer.
1750		Stephen Girard, American financier and philanthropist.
1768		Dolley Madison, first lady of President James Madison.
1799		Honore de Balzac, French novelist (The Human Comedy, Lost Illusions).
1806		John Stuart Mill, British philospher and economist.
1818		William George Fargo, one of the founders of Wells, Fargo & Co.
1882		Sigrid Undset, Norwegian novelist (Kristin Lavransdatter).
1908		Jimmy Stewart, actor (It's a Wonderful Life, Mr Smith Goes to Washington).