Good Monday Morning!

Our weekly faculty announcements will be posted on Monday mornings beginning today.

Here are some general announcements to start off the week:

1. There will be no faculty meeting this afternoon.  I will try to cover our important points here in order to avoid keeping you here after school unless absolutely necessary.  I will be planning some professional development activities for the remainder of the year, and we will try to use our faculty meeting time for that type of thing.

2. Sixth grade and fine arts lesson plans are due this week.  Please have them in by Friday.  If you teachers in the other grades feel as though you missed a week, it is fine with me if you simply turn in your plans on your next due date.  We will follow with 7th grade and technology next week, and 8th grade and PE the week after Spring Break.

3. Please help us during the day by keeping your classroom doors closed and locked.  It is also very important that you notify a teacher in an adjacent room if you must leave the room for even a few moments with students present.  We should avoid leaving classes unattended, but if an emergency arises, please have the teacher in the room next door help keep and eye on your students.

4. Thanks so much for the wonderful job you did in helping us handle our tornado warnings Friday.  Things ran smoothly due to your professionalism.

5. I have been so impressed with the infusion of writing into so many classes across our curriculum.  Thanks for the effort in this area!  Please continue to find ways to have your students write, even if just a little every couple of days.  This is a skill that they will be called upon to utilize throughout the remainder of their educational career and future work life.

6. If you find an opportunity, please take a moment to thank Ahna Baggett for leading our first-ever middle school chapel service last Thursday.  The feedback on this new endeavor has been nothing but positive.

7. If a parent requests a conference with you, please tell them that these are now being scheduled through the Guidance Center and that we are meeting together in grade level teams.  This allows us to examine issues that are present in all classes and work together for a solution.

Have a great week!  

The Friday Memo (Saturday Edition)

Happy Saturday!

I usually publish this post at the end of the day on Friday.  However, I had two back-to-back birthday parties to get my daughter to, so being Daddy had to come first.  I'm sure you parents understand!

Please remember that we will have a brief faculty meeting at 3:40 Monday afternoon in Kathy Pirtle's room.  I'll go over all announcements and important information then.

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Friday Memo - Thursday Edition

Good Afternoon!

Just a couple of quick announcements before we head out of here for a much-deserved long weekend:

1. There will be no faculty meeting when we return Tuesday.

2. I will have all of your lesson plan notebooks ready to give back to you by the end of the day Tuesday.  I have really enjoyed reading about the many great things you are doing in your classrooms!

3. Lesson plans are due next week for 6th grade teachers and any 8th grade teachers who haven't gotten them in yet (yes, you get a pass because of DC!).  This should put us back on track -- please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

4. Remember to continue to find ways to implement writing across the curriculum.  I have been so pleased to see this in many of our classes - keep it up!

I would like to extend a very special THANK YOU to our DC chaperons: Kathy Pirtle, Kathy Moody, Elisa Bowden, Rebecca Helms, Barbara Littlepage, Trip Franklin, Randy Ragsdale, and Dann Cleveland.   You guys, along with our tour guides and students  were AWESOME!  What a great trip!  

I have an idea: Let's do it again next year!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Here are a few announcements and reminders:

1. Please remember to keep Edline updated every other Monday.  It is also a good idea to keep parents posted as to what is going on in class at any given time.

2. Proactive communication is key.  It is always a good idea to make parent contact at the very first sign of academic or behavioral trouble.  It is also a good idea to call parents when their children are doing well or when significant improvements have been made.

3. If a parent requests a conference with you, please have them contact the Guidance Center to set it up.  From now on, we will conference as a group, with the guidance counselor and an administrator present.

4. Please help us keep an eye out for anything that could be considered bullying at our school.  If we are all making sure that our areas of responsibility are adequately supervised, we should be able to prevent most acts of bullying from ever happening.

5. Your lesson plan notebooks are in and your plans will be returned to you in these binders.  They are big enough for you to include test copies and work samples (as many have done) if you wish.

6. Mr. Neu will be serving as the acting middle school principal while Randy and I are in Washington this week.  Please take any immediate issues to him in our absence. 

7. You may follow the progress of our Washington trip by checking out our parent blog each day.  We will give a brief report on the events of the day along with photos and maybe even a video or two.

8. Please add our 8th grade students, chaperons and bus drivers to your prayer list this week.  Pray specifically for good health, safe travel, and a wonderful, memorable experience for our students.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you Feb. 9!

The Friday Memo (On Saturday!)

Greetings!  I hope you are enjoying a great weekend!

Thanks for holding the fort down for me while I was away yesterday.  I had the opportunity to attend a conference with my wife at the University of Alabama.

Please remember that we will have a faculty meeting at 3:40 Monday in Kathy Pirtle's room.  I will go over any important announcements at that time.

Have a great "rest of the weekend."  See you Monday!

The Friday Memo

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a wonderful week!

Here are just a couple of announcements:

1. We will be having a combined middle school/upper school chapel service Wednesday, January 21.  In order to accommodate our new lunch program, we will be having this service immediately following first period.  Chapel should run from 8:50-9:30 after which we will proceed with homeroom and second period.  Beginning in February, every other chapel service will be divided, with middle school students having a separate chapel service.

2. Lesson plans will be due beginning January 20.  The first group scheduled to submit plans will be the 6th grade and fine arts teachers.  Please make sure that you have your plans in the box that will be provided in the copy room before leaving for the day.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

3. Feel free to show Tuesday's inauguration ceremonies on your Smart Board.  CNN has particularly good audio and video streaming and will be broadcasting everything live.  Keep in mind that coverage will begin before the actual swearing-in ceremony (at 11:00 our time) and will last all afternoon.  Eighth grade teachers may want to show even just a few minutes and give the kids a taste of DC before we go in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy your long weekend!  See you Tuesday!

Welcome Back!

Teachers,

Thanks for a great first week back!  If you are like me, you're still pinching yourself over this new lunch program.  The food is great, and we are now getting into the groove of how things will work with this new service.  Thanks so much for all of your help as we have worked out the kinks this week.  As always, please feel free to offer suggestions as to how things can be improved.

Here are just a few important announcements and reminders:

1. Please remember that we will be meeting in our SAIS committees Monday beginning at 3:40.

2. Mr. Neu's State of the School address will be Tuesday evening at 6:30 in Willett Hall.

3. Group A is scheduled to turn in lesson plans January 20.  I will have your binders to you next week.

4. Our State Course of Study books are here.  You may pick yours up in my office.  These will be especially helpful with some of our SAIS committee work having to do with curriculum.

5. If you have forgotten to get your list of "activity" type fees to me, please do so as early Monday morning as possible.

Have a great weekend!