Summer Reading/Writing

Do you LOVE Todd Whitaker? I think he is the bees' knees, so I am excited to have these books ready for all 79 staff members upon their return. I'm spending a few weeks writing a personal note in each person's, which has been a powerful experience. So many of my staff exemplify most of the 17 things he lists that it is hard to choose just one. But I'm going to push through! 

I have a little tub (dishpan from a Target) for each staff member. My secretary and I use those for staff supplies, handouts, t-shirts, and other goodies. They look forward to getting their tubs on our 1st day back in August. I am going to put each person's book in their tub, and we will refer back to it throughout the year.

Are you sharing any books with your staff? 

Deep in the Heart

This will be our staff shirt for 2015-16. I am super excited! Getting organized for Back to School is a little like Christmas... My secretary and I love to pick out all of the goodies for our staff. We are like elves, haha!!

I love our shirt and theme: "Deep in the Heart". The reason students are successful in school is because of the connection we make with them - deep in the heart. So very important...

Also, Montgomery is the birthplace of the Texas flag, in case you didn't know...And of course we all love Chevron! 

Special thanks to CC Creations for finding the perfect shirt and creating our new design. They are super talented.

She's B-a-a-a-ack!

So much has happened since my last post... (That is what happens when you don't write down your thoughts for 3 years, I guess!) Something important that occurred in my life is my job transfer. I was able to leave my previous principal position in a very large district (over 50 elementary schools!) to serve as principal in the smaller area where I live (4 elementary schools). I absolutely LOVE serving in my small town and seeing all my "peeps" - big and little - when I am out. It is a blessing to continue the job I love and be able to apply all of the training and knowledge from the 7 years at my previous one.

I am going to follow up on this post with some fun things we are doing at my campus. I've gotten so inspired from following principals on their blogs that I have started to feel a little guilty about letting mine slide! I am so excited to be back and share my thoughts. I will be back next week with a picture of our staff spirit shirts for 2015-16. They are going to be SUPER cute!! Our theme is "Deep in the Heart."

Happy Summer!
cb

We "Mustache" You a Question

Here is something cute we did with our staff this year: Mustache Questionnaire Click on the link and download the file if you are interested. Every week I change the form and picture so that three different staff members are highlighted.

We do this each year and nobody likes their picture. :) This year we took them with silly mustaches, and everyone loves it. Very fun!

Words of Wisdom - Alphabet Soup

This an example of my Principal Word Wall. Since all of my teachers have content-specific vocabulary areas, I decided to do the same. Each week I change the word in the frame and put up the next "Alphabet Soup" word of the week.

ABCD for Staff

This is an example of our ABCD recognition.

Parent Conference - and other - sign up sheets

We have tried for several years to determine the best way to schedule parent conferences. Should the parents pass around a form during Curriculum Night? (too disruptive) Maybe have them sign up in the hall after the meeting? (traffic jams) Perhaps the teacher should just assign the time? (too unfriendly) This year we are going to try www.signupgenius.com across the grade levels. It allows teachers to build their schedules of time, keep all other names private, and have reminder emails sent a day or two earlier. Our counselor even implemented it today for the teachers to use as they signed up for classroom guidance lessons. Hopefully this will make the logistics of parent conference sign up run smoothly!