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| Cute Crew! |
Kids were out helping moms and dads with all things grounds work. You can't put a price on that! Dedication to the cause even in this hot weather. Thanks all!
As we moved through the weekend into the week, bulletin board displays caught my eye. It's always fun to see what themes are being planned and how teachers approach the opening days in classrooms. Lots of work behind the scenes!
And of course, Preservice Week itself happened. Monday-Wednesday saw us in training all day, with some time reserved for teams to meet, plan, and tackle beginning of the year team to-do lists.
We began our week with a fabulous PTA provided breakfast, then the annual all staff picture, review of nuts and bolts to running the school, a short training connected to Reading Portrait Biographies (DAR) presented by Sally Hunter, and a broad overview of yearly goals and action plans! Thankfully, we did manage a puzzle brain break so we could connect all those pieces! Full Day!
Monday afternoon, Maplewood teachers joined us as trainers from TAP conducted break-out sessions on all things DBI (drama based instruction). I liked what I saw and heard from participants, with many saying they knew what they were going to use with their own kids the first days of school. Relevant PD always makes for a good day.
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| Dr. Hasty kicking off the afternoon |
Other activities abounded Tuesday and Wednesday. We participated in our SEL training, trained on K-2 Math TEKS and TEMI math screeners, further reviewed STAAR data, listened to the Superintendent's Convocation (after a few technical difficulties!), met with members of our new PTA board - valuable information and they facilitated a wonderful Roll On Sushi lunch for us to boot! - had team time, plus prepped and planned before, in between, and after into the evening hours. Probably one of my favorite activities was the training Laine and I provided connected to the Matsumura book Creating High Quality Classroom Assignments. We were able to connect to our goal of Process/Product displays as part of each teacher's work this year (meaningful idea from the DC arts conference as you may remember), but best of all, teachers were able to use some of their DBI strategies from Monday's AGC training; it was neat to see their created PSA's from the book chapters. Loved their enthusisasm for the work! Really easy to use information connected to planning high quality assignments with the foundation always laid with appropriate, rich, varied text. We're already rolling on it...
And we did manage to squeeze in some fun. About 30 staff members (some of us seen below) travelled to Zach Scott for their Teacher Preview Party. We were able to see scenes performed from 2012-2013 school offerings; all were engaging, well done, and left all of us thinking about connections to the classroom. We'll keep you posted on what's on tap for grade level enrichment experiences at Zach. Thanks Nat and ZS!
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| HP teachers and newest Scottie Natalie too! |
A truly busy week, but a good week. Rally Day, as always, saw most of you on campus, and we couldn't be more excited about the year ahead. As promised, some dates below to plan for as we head into our new year. Can't wait!
Highland Park Night at The Taco Shack Bowl! Thursday, August 30, 7:30 pm, House Park. Special cheer to learn first week of school and kids on the field at Halftime! See Tammie for Free tickets. First come, first served!
Highland Park Night at MAC's Beauty and the Beast. Friday, September 7, 7:00 pm. Flyer and information on the PTA website and sent by Tammie through School Messenger - check your email. One time only special adult pricing! Great way to show your support for our Knight family and the arts! Thanks MAC and thanks Kerren Campa for making it happen!
