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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Dr. Smith's Weekly Memo

Happy first full week of school!  My usual method of weekly communication to staff will be the Learning Network Blog, "Monday Memo."  This blog should appear in your Outlook email and Google Plus as well each Monday.  Please look for it beginning next week!

We continue to have a positive beginning of the school year, thanks to you and your work with students- THANK YOU!

Congratulations teachers and staff!  There are so many effective and engaging practices happening in our HMS classrooms and throughout the building.  We have seen in depth mathematics discussions and debates, great team building, reinforcing the scientific method through mystery, high level thinking and comparing in social studies, differentiated reading utilizing strategies proficient readers use, meaningful and relevant in-depth conversations in gifted, enthusiasm and goal focused learning in our electives, student enthusiasm for reading in the library, good relationship building in the halls and cafeteria, and everyone coming together as TEAM HMS to make each day a positive experience of growth for students!  Thank you all!

Thank you to our Team Reps for a great start to our Team Rep monthly meetings on Monday.  Great suggestions were made to improve the referral form, and we talked technology, weekly times for teams to meet with me, and consistency in discipline procedures/becoming more consistent in all we do.  More details to follow...  Thank you to Sherri for allowing us to meet in 118. : )

Meeting Schedules:  Faculty meetings are the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month.  The first meeting each month will be dedicated to PD as we work toward growth in learning.  The second meeting each month will be dedicated to working in departments (PLCs).  Since department time is not built into the schedule, and the week is packed with our Monday meetings and activities, it is critical that we utilize this 2nd Monday for time for you to collaborate as departments.  I have let our coordinators know this schedule so they can work with you during this time as well.  We will discuss further procedures and expectations for this department time...

Monday August 25th will be dedicated to a few beginning of the year nuts and bolts: open house on the 27th, PD day on the 29th, Discovery review, discipline, etc.  Remaining meeting time will be for departments to touch base. 

Faculty Meetings:
Will be the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month, however, September is a little different due to Labor Day:

9/8- Faculty meeting- PD
9/15- Team Rep meeting
9/22- Faculty meeting- PLC (Department meetings)
9/29- Department chair meeting
10/6- regularly scheduled Department chair meeting cancelled 

Please be looking for student MAP scores to be coming to you with our parent letter.  We will be distributing the score sheets and letters by team before the end of the week.  Score reports are being sorted into teams now...

Technology/ Communication:
Please continue to check Outlook mail throughout the day as always. In addition, please challenge yourself (whatever your level of understanding) to check, utilize, and communicate through Google Plus.  Remember, novices and apprentices in technology...I am on this journey with you!  For those of you who are experts in your use of Google Tools and technology, continue to explore, apply, and create!

Dr. Smith's Meeting Schedule This Week:

Monday and Tuesday: several meetings on campus

Today: 1:00 pm meeting with Tim Brown, district coordinator for instructional tech.  1:30 meeting with PTO

8/21- 8am meeting with Linda Holliday at Epworth, 9am District leadership team meeting at Epworth, after school meeting in building

8/22- 8:45 PTO Parent-Principal Coffee, Annex, 10:30 meeting with Teacher , afternoon- HMS Admin team meeting 

Thank you for all you do and for making our school an amazing place for our kids.

Have a fantastic day!

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