🗓️Upcoming Dates
March 13: Shanda McCloskey, author visit
March 13: PLCs during GL Planning
March 14: PBIS Celebration-Picnic Lunch and Bubbles
March 17-20: Career Week
March 20: BLaST, Sunshine, Inquiry
March 24: Math Mania 3rd-5th grades
March 25: Math Mania Kinder-2nd grades
March 27: PLCs during GL Planning
March 31-April 3: Spring Book Fair
April 17: GMAS Examiner Course Complete
Keep going! March is L--O--N--G, but you can do it! I encourage you to stay focused and committed to the task at hand. Please let us know how we can support you!
The 3rd-5th grade i3 Showcase was a huge success! Thank you to all who made it possible. Special shout out to Kate and Mercedes for organizing the Chick -Fil-A among many other things!
As you reflect on the Faculty Meeting content, please review the de-escalation materials. Students can get off kilter at the drop of a hat and those are really good resources to have on hand to help you in times of distress.
We are excited to have our PBIS celebration this Friday! Reach out to Beth and/or Olivia if you have questions or to see if they need assistance. Events like this needs all hands on deck!
Leadership Team members, please make sure you have saved the dates (sent in separate email) for Crucial Influencer Training. Each session will be from 1:45-3:45 in the PL room. The next session is this Thursday, March 13. Please use same coverage schedule as last time.
ACCESS Testing has wrapped up and we are nearing the end of year testing window. EOY MAP testing will be on Monday, March 31 (ELA) and Tuesday, April 1 (Math). We will create testing sessions during planning on Tuesday, March 25. Please remember to actively monitor your students during this time.
Third, fourth, and fifth-grade students will take the Georgia Milestones beginning in May. ALL Certified staff is required to complete the GA Learns Georgia Milestones Examiner Course online by Thursday, April 17. After completing the course, PRINT your Georgia Learns PDF Transcript and place it in the yellow folder on my desk. A screenshot of the course is below. Please reach out if you need assistance with the course before the due date. We will have a mandatory Georgia Milestones training meeting for ALL Certified on April 24 during our faculty meeting.
The third Quarter PBIS Celebration is this Friday, March 14. Please list students who are eligible here. It will be a picnic lunch outside with bubbles. Olivia and I will deliver the bubbles to you on Friday. Lisa is providing styrofoam trays and trash bags for you to take outside. We will supply the bubbles.😃
RTI/MTSS: Our next round of Tier 3 meetings is April 2 & 3. Stay tuned for the meeting schedule.
💡Bright Spots💡 Please don't forget to vote for the April TOTM and SMOM here by Wednesday, March 26.
We are beginning to plan for class rosters next year and will continue to place students in classrooms with teachers who have endorsements that will best serve student needs. As a school of inquiry, we encourage all of our teachers to obtain their Gifted Endorsement so all of our students receive personalized learning that challenges them appropriately. The gifted endorsement is available at no cost for 2025-2026, beginning with Course 1 this summer. Hall County Schools will pay for the gifted endorsement through Pioneer RESA, and teachers earn a $300 stipend for the summer Course 1 completion. Upon completing the gifted endorsement in May 2026, Hall County teachers earn an additional $450 stipend. Most classes are online and asynchronous; there will be about 4 or 5 face-to-face sessions and 4 or 5 live Zoom sessions throughout the year, scheduled with several options to make it work for you. Please see the updated Gifted Endorsement Flyer for more information.
If you want to start your gifted endorsement, please see the attached flyer and complete this 2025-2026 Gifted Endorsement Survey. Please complete by March 14; Laurie Ecke and/or Michele Hood will reach out with more information later in March/April.
Important Dates:
March 10-13: Give Math Mania Pre-Test to all students in the grade
Remember to discuss as a grade level how you are giving it—how much time will you give, etc.?
Read aloud to Kindergarten only.
Pre-Test: You are welcome to make changes if your grade level feels there is a need. Make the changes on the Google doc so we will have the changes for next year (pretests are linked below).
Friday, March 14: Have all pretests graded and determine as a grade level the top 20 students. (if there is a tie we can go up to 25 or we can determine a tiebreaker.
Input names of students on the Math Mania Spreadsheet
Monday, March 17: Send home permission slips (I will make copies of these and give them to the math leader in each grade level). Encourage students to return permission forms by Wednesday, March 19. Please check yes or no on the spreadsheet when forms are returned.
March 17-21: during grade level Bridges time, Mrs. Miller will pick up Math Mania students instead of Bridges students to go over Math Mania procedures and some practice problems.
March 24: 3rd- 5th Grade Math Mania (see Schedule of times) *The highlighted part of who will be helping was what we had last year, please talk in your grade level and update, or let me know and I’ll update.
March 25: K-2nd Grade Math Mania (see Schedule of times) *The highlighted part of who will be helping was what we had last year, please talk in your grade level and update, or let me know and I’ll update.
Counselor Links:
Student Referral for Individual Counseling
(KK and 1st Grade= Teacher Referral)
Personal Phone #: 678-617-4869
Work Extension #: 06-10080
From Olivia, School Counselor
Career Week will be March 17-20! The schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, March 19: Careers on Wheels for PK, K, 1st, and 2nd (8:00-10:30)
Thursday, March 20: Career Fair during Connections for 3rd, 4th, and 5th
Sign up here if your loved one (husband, brother, cousin, neighbor, friend, etc...) is interested in being apart of this amazing day!
Self-Harm/Abuse Protocol:
Once you believe a student is a threat to themselves/others OR is being abused, please halt all questions and notify me (this is to limit the amount of times they will be questioned).
If I am out of the building, please get admin. If I am in the middle of something, text me that it is an emergency because they do not need to go home before I can speak to them.
Better to be safe than sorry!
Wildcat Way Day
March 7: Cooperation
April 18: Hope
May 2: Initiative
Please submit by Friday February 21.
ClearTouch Updates & Trouble Shooting
Before leaving your room and each afternoon hit “Microsoft + L” to lock your account. This closes your account so no one can use it while you are away. You will need to login the next morning.
Only use the rocker switch (the power button on the bottom of the panel near the power cord) when troubleshooting or when instructed by the county. Regular Updates are pushed to the ClearTouches but they need to be on to accept the updates.
Hovercam Flex 11 app should be working for everyone now. Zach sent it out to all MicroPCs before Winter BReak. Please let me know if yours isn't working or is requesting a password.
HallCo will not be renewing the District subscriptions to NewsELA & Nearpod next year. You will have access to both services through the end of June.
AUTHOR VISIT: MARCH 13
We are excited to welcome Shanda McCloskey on March 13. She is the author and illustrator of Doll-E 1.0 and T-Bone the Drone as well as illustrator of other vibrant and engaging picture books.
She will be presenting her Robot Research presentation for all six grades.
Autographed books are $18 and will be available the day of her visit or can be pre-ordered here.
Schedule is as follows:
8:50-9:35: 4th & 5th
10:30-11:15: 2nd & 3rd
11:15-Noon: lunch with Young GA authors winners
Noon-12:45: K & 1st
2024-25 YEARBOOK
We are using TreeRing again this year for yearbooks. Our theme this year is "I Spy"
Yearbooks can be purchased your using this link: "TreeRing Yearbooks" or sending checks or cash to Mrs. David in the Learning Commons.
Hardcover yearbooks are $35
Softcover are $28
Please make sure you upload pictures to the *Pictures_2024-25 Shared Drive
With all of the technology changes we have undergone in the last few years many of the traditional ways of watching videos have become obsolete. Likewise, utilizing personal streaming services are a violation of your user agreements and could possibly result in legal consequences. As a solution Hall County has purchased District Licenses to the SWANK Streaming Service...but that doesn't mean you can show any of the movies on the platform any time you like.
The movie policy is as follows:
Teacher completes the LSi3-HCSD Movie Approval Form
There are some movies not on SWANK that we will continue to stream school-wide (i.e. many of the Christmas classics).
Administrator approves
Teacher gives approved form to Media Specialist
Media Specialist submits a request to have the movie added to the district SWANK content
Media Services Coordinator approves the request
**No request submitted by a teacher will be approved.**
Movie is added to the district licensed content
Once a movie is approved for one school, it will be available
to all Hall County teachers. Being available in SWANK does not mean it is approved for all classroom use.
We are still required to get permission for students to view PG rated videos
Pi Day, March 14
May 9
The Second Friday of each month we will place a Southern Baked Pie order. Our next order will be Pi Day, March 14. Pies are $12 each and you get a free slice of dessert pie with each savory pie ordered. If you intend to order please follow the link below to fill out the order form by Wednesday, March 12 and Venmo your $12 payment to @Allyson-David.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j9MVSCw7DvLitTegDVBo94QUzDlgpb2O0z6yyvvJO_8/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Snack Cart
What The Science of Reading Says about Vocabulary Instruction for ELLs:
ELLs need both intentional & incidental vocabulary instruction to truly thrive!
*Images credit to: Equipping ELLs