Happy Christmas Eve!

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas Eve! Just for fun, here is one of my favorite Christmas tunes played by the Boston Pops, directed by John Williams. Enjoy Sleigh Ride!

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for the wonderful job you do each day! You are deeply appreciated!

I hope you and your family have a Holy and Merry Christmas!

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

Well . . . we've made it to exam time! In one week you'll be heading out the door to a well-deserved two-week vacation. Hang in there!

As was announced during lunch today, we will have our final Paw Print day of the semester Monday. Students may redeem Paw Prints for a dress-down day Monday. I will send an email of students participating before homeroom Monday morning.

Please remember that lunch will be served until 12:30 p.m. during exams in order to accommodate our teachers who participate in that program.

You might want to take some time over Christmas vacation to check out this blog post which points the way to National Geographic's extensive image collection. Included in the article are some tips on integrating photos from the database into your lesson plans.

I also thought you might like this inspirational story. Let's keep in mind the impact we have on our kids each day.

Thanks for a great week, and have a spectacular weekend!

2009 Edublog Awards

Teachers,

I invite you to check out the winners of this year's Edublog awards. Perhaps you will find some that you can bookmark and refer to on a regular basis:

Best Individual Blog - "Once Upon a Teacher"

Best New Blog - "Favorite Parent"

Best Class Blog - "Miss McMillan's Blog"

Best Student Blog - "EDucation ToGoBox"

Best Resource Sharing Blog - "Free Tech for Teachers"

Best Teacher Blog - "Math Models"

Best Educational Tech Support Blog - "edu.Mac.nation"

Best Library Blog - "TLC = Tech + Library + Classroom"

Best ELearning Blog - "Love Learning"

Best Educational Use of Audio - "Cool Teachers Podcast"

Lifetime Achievement Award - "2 Cents Worth"

Happy reading!

E-Learning for Kids

Teachers,

When you get a chance, check out this great SmartBoard site. It includes interactive whiteboard activities for kids up to age 12, so I'm sure you'll find some good middle school content there.

I hope you are having a great day!

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

As we go into the final two weeks before Christmas vacation, here are some important reminders:

1. Please see that your grades on Edline are current. We want to ensure that parents have a clear picture of where their children stand this close to the end of the semester. If a student is in danger of failing, please notify the parents by phone and discuss the matter.

2. Our January 4 in-service will feature Dr. Frank Buck in two morning sessions that I believe will be very helpful for all of us. Dr. Buck is an expert in the area of organization and time management, and has helped countless teachers and administrators "get it together." He is the author of two books, the most recent of which will be published in January. You may read Dr. Buck's blog on organization here.

3. Homeroom teachers will be given Sage Dining surveys to be distributed to your students early next week. Please impress upon your students the importance of completing these seriously, as we are striving to make our lunch program the best it can be.

4. Please plan on a brief faculty meeting Monday afternoon after carpool in Kathy Pirtle's room. We will discuss exams and other end-of-semester housekeeping items.

Thanks so much to Kathy Pirtle, Latrell Fussell, and Lisa Smithson for putting together our annual trip to the Shakespeare Festival. We deeply appreciate your hard work!

Have a great weekend!