Ring-in the New Year...First School Week in 2011

King 5 Traffic Reporter Tracy Taylor meeting our very own Safety Patrol Advisor Terry Addison. Taylor came to Firgrove on December 17th and spoke with our students in grades 4-6 about Traffic Safety and career path in Communications via radio or television. The students were engaged and expressed disappointment when the assembly ended. Taylor said she'll wear her Honorary Firgrove Safety Patrol t-shirt during her next broadcast on Monday, December 20th around 6:30 AM.

F.A.S.T with Advisors Terry and Jackie and King 5 Traffic Reporter Tracy Taylor

King 5's Traffic Reporter Tracy Taylor with Terry, Char, Jackie and Almai

Firgrove Safety Patrol with Terry and Tracy Taylor

Pilgrim's Feast in Room 5, Sheri's class

THIS WEEK:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/3-7): Wendy J, Teresa J, Jessica D

1/3 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Renae, Sara D

1/5 Wed. - Evaluation/Conference LIC (traded with 1/12 per agreement during Oct. 20th staff meeting and Char's Oct. 21st email resent on Dec. 16th); Walking School Bus

1/7 Fri. - Respect Character Trait Assembly; 9:00-9:30 Intermediate Assembly; 10:00 - 10:30 Primary Assembly; Remember to bring your Respect Mind Maps to the assembly. Staff Room

Remember to:

- review behavior expectations with students upon return, especially in common areas

- read the revised emergency procedures that will be in your boxes by 4 pm, Wednesday, Jan. 5th.

- go over the teaching points regarding Lockdown that will be included in your revised emergency procedures and teach them

COMING UP:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/10-14): Jessy J, Bobbi, Renae

1/10 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie W, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes

1/10 Mon. - Co-op Board @ 5 PM, Library; School Board @ 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons; PTA Board @ 7 PM, Library

1/11 Tues. - Char and LouAnn at WASBO's ASB Workshop, 8-3, Renton

1/11 Tues. - QuEST and PAGE (Highly Capable Programs for Elementary and Junior High) Open House at Zeiger, 6-7 PM - Please include in your newsletter.

1/12 Wed. - Principal-Directed LIC (traded with 1/12 per agreement during Oct. 20th staff meeting and Char's Oct. 21st email resent on Dec. 16th); Walking School Bus

1/12 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast in the Gym

1/13 Thurs. - Char and Almai @ Elementary Principals and then to Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 8:00 - 12, ESC Pioneer

1/14 Fri. - Dental Van at Firgrove all day in the south parking lot

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/17-21): Char, Wendy L, Keri

1/17 Mon. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; No school

1/18 Tues. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Claire, Wendy J

1/18 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library (Guest Speaker: Lynn Mock, Anti-bullying Expert)

1/19 Wed. - Collaboration Teaming/Spec. Services LIC; Walking School Bus

1/19 Wed. - Watch DOGS Activity (more to come); 7:45 - 8:25 AM, gym

1/19 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30 PM, Woodland Library

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/24-28): Deb L, Nina, Cynthia I

1/21 FRI - Anti-bullying Assembly with Lynn Mock, 4th, 5th and 6th grade (no 6th grade chairs), 9-10, gym
1/24 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie 1/24 Mon. - School Board Meeting, 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons

1/25 Tues. - Char and Almai hosting Region 2 Administrators Nuts and Bolts at Firgrove, 7-8:30 AM, Library

1/25 Tues. - MLK Assembly, all school (no chairs for 6th graders), 1:30-2:30 PM, gym

1/26 Wed. - Individual LIC; Walking School Bus

1/27 Thurs. - Grade 6 Field Trip to University of Puget Sound

1/27 Thurs. - McTeacher Night, Shift 1 is 5-6:30 PM, Shift 2 is 6:30-8:00 PM, McDonald's on 176th/Meridian

The video below is a short clip of the work of our World Music Ensemble that meets every Tuesday and Thursday with Jim. The piece is based on a traditional dance called "Yandaki" or "Yandaki-Makru," which is performed at celebrations in Guinea, West Africa. Jim's disclaimer on the video states, "Sorry about the lousy camera placement, but it is the best recording we have so far"---spoken like a true perfectionist! :-) Char and I don't know what he's talking about in his disclaimer because we enjoyed watching it. He also promised to have more in the future to share with staff. Jim has also committed to have the group perform again during our district's Annual Honoring Cultures Diversity Celebration at the Puyallup Spring Fair.

Counting Down To Winter Vacation 2010!

Rigo Rojas in Mrs. Martin's class beams with pride and excitement! Rigo and his family were selected by the Longshoreman's Union to receive a $200.00 Fred Meyer gift card. Rigo was selected because of his dedication to learning and his great behavior. Way to go, Rigo!!!

Let's all remember to thank...

- PTA (especially Cynthia Steever) for the generous and thoughtful deed of providing all the delicious items at last Friday's PTA-sponsored staff luncheon.

- The Krause Family for hosting our annual holiday staff party in their home.

THIS WEEK: Last week before winter break! Woohoo!!
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/13): Jennifer H., Chrystie J., Melanie W.
12/13 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Joy, Missy, Kim F.
12/13 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
12/13 Mon. - CSIP Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library; Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou; PTA Board, 7:00 PM, Library
12/14 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library

12/15 Wed. - Principal-directed LIC - Char sent an email about the Learning Teams' work (goal-setting or goal review or goal refinement)

12/15 Wed. - Walking School Bus;District Reading Cadre4:00-5:30, ShawRoadLibrary
12/17 Fri. - Grades 4-6 Assembly with Tracy Taylor, 1:45-2:15, gym;
12/17 Fri. - PTA Reflections Pizza, 12:30 - 1:30; last school day for the year 2010; school resumes January 3rd, Monday

PTA HOLIDAY SHOP:

It is going on all week, Dec. 13-17, 10-noon, Portable 39

Grades 1-4 : Teachers may send their students who have money to shop during their recess (right after lunch) throughout the week.

Grades K, 5, 6: Teachers may identify a time (10-11 will be less busy since the other grades won't come until 11:30) at their discretion throughout the week to send students who have money to shop.

Please note: Time and space is limited, so while it would be great to give kids the opportunity to "window shop" before they actually shop, PTA is asking that we only send kids who are actually ready to shop with their money. PTA thanks you for your support.

RING-IN THE NEW YEAR:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/3-7): Wendy J, Teresa J, Jessica D
1/3 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Renae, Sara D
1/5 Wed. - Evaluation/Conference LIC (traded with 1/12 per agreement during Oct. 20th staff meeting and Char's Oct. 21st email); Walking School Bus
1/7 Fri. - Respect Character Trait Assembly; 9:00-9:30 Intermediate Assembly; 10:00 - 10:30 Primary Assembly; Remember to bring your Respect Mind Maps to the assembly.
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/10-14): Jessy J, Bobbi, Renae
1/10 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie W, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes
1/10 Mon. - Co-op Board @ 5 PM, Library; School Board @ 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons; PTA Board @ 7 PM, Library
1/11 Tues. - Char, Almai and LouAnn at WASBO's ASB Workshop, 8-3, Renton
1/12 Wed. - Principal-Directed LIC; Walking School Bus
1/12 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast in the Gym
1/13 Thurs. - Char and Almai @ Elementary Principals and then to Region 2 Elementary, 8:00 - 12, ESC Pioneer
1/14 Fri. - Dental Van at Firgrove all day in the south parking lot

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/17-21): Char, Wendy L, Keri

1/17 Mon. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; No school

1/18 Tues. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Claire, Wendy J

1/18 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library

1/19 Wed. - Collaboration Teaming/Spec. Services LIC; Walking School Bus

1/19 Wed. - Watch DOGS Activity (more to come); 7:45 - 8:25 AM, gym

1/19 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30 PM, Woodland Library

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/24-28): Deb L, Nina, Cynthia I

1/24 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie

1/24 Mon. - School Board Meeting, 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons

1/25 Tues. - Char and Almai hosting Region 2 Administrators Nuts and Bolts at Firgrove, 7-8:30 AM, Library

1/25 Tues. - MLK Assembly, all school (no chairs for 6th graders), 1:30-2:30 PM, gym

1/26 Wed. - Individual LIC; Walking School Bus

1/27 Thurs. - Grade 6 Field Trip to University of Puget Sound

Apple Cup Weekend! Are you a Coug or a Dawg?!

Vail and Westcott show their collegiate pride! Go Dawgs! Go Cougs!

Lucas Johnson and Simon Vail get in on the pre-game spirit! Apple Cup 2010!

Former Hawks Hergert and McAffrey Job Shadow with Mrs. Bridges

THIS WEEK:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew: Christina G., Mary H., Brian W.

12/6 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Jackie, Marlene, Angelo, Stacy, Kim M.

12/7 Tues. - Report Cards are sent home today.

12/8 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

12/9 Thurs. - Char and Almai at PEP and then Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 8-12, ESC Pioneer

12/10 Fri. - PTA Date/Movie Night, 6-9 PM, Gym

12/10 Fri. - Staff Holiday Party, 6:30 PM, the Krause's Residence

COMING UP: Last week before winter break! Woohoo!!

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/13): Jennifer H., Chrystie J., Melanie W.

12/13 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Joy, Missy, Kim F.

12/13 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

12/13 Mon. - CSIP Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library; Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou; PTA Board, 7:00 PM, Library

12/14 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library

12/15 Wed. - Principal-directed LIC; Walking School Bus;District Reading Cadre4:00-5:30, ShawRoadLibrary

12/17 Fri. - Grades 4-6 Assembly with Tracy Taylor, 1:45-2:15, gym;

12/17 Fri. - PTA Reflections Pizza, 12:30 - 1:30; last school day for the year 2010; school resumes January 3rd, Monday

RING-IN THE NEW YEAR:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/3-7): Wendy J, Teresa J, Jessica D

1/3 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Renae, Sara D

1/5 Wed. - Principal-Directed LIC; Walking School Bus

1/7 Fri. - Respect Character Trait Assembly; 9:00-9:30 Intermediate Assembly; 10:00 - 10:30 Primary Assembly; Remember to bring your Respect Mind Maps to the assembly.

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (1/10-14): Jessy J, Bobbi, Renae

1/10 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie W, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes

1/10 Mon. - Co-op Board @ 5 PM, Library; School Board @ 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons; PTA Board @ 7 PM, Library

1/11 Tues. - Char, Almai and LouAnn at WASBO's ASB Workshop, 8-3, Renton

1/12 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

1/12 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast in the Gym

1/13 Thurs. - Char and Almai @ Elementary Principals and then to Region 2 Elementary, 8:00 - 12, ESC Pioneer

1/14 Fri. - Dental Van at Firgrove all day in the south parking lot

Here Comes December...

THIS WEEK:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew: Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W

11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie

11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer

11/30 Tues. - Cultural Explorers, 2:46-3:45 PM, Gym

12/1 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus

12/1 Wed. - PSD Diversity, 3:30-5 PM, ESC Pioneer

12/2 Thurs. - Report Cards due by 3 PM to Char or Almai for review

12/3 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Leadership, 9-9:30 Intermediate, 10-10:30 Primary (Remember to bring your leadership mind map to the assembly.)

IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR ALL STAFF:

If you haven't gotten the training on Boundary Invasion that was delivered at the last staff meetting, please come see Almai, Christina or LouAnn by Wednesday morning. It takes about 5 minutes at the most. Remember to sign on the "Staff Sign-in Sheet." Thank you to some of you who have notified Almai already if you received the training in another school.

ENTERING THE BUILDING DURING NON-SCHOOL HOURS OR AFTER THE ALARM HAS ALREADY BEEN TURNED ON

To enter the building after it has already been secured or armed with the alarm, just wave your badge on the black pad outside of the building. This will unlock the single door to let you in. Upon entry, you'll hear the alarm's continuing beeping sound. Wave your badge to the white pad and the beeping sound should stop. Remember to sign-in just like before. When you're leaving and after signing-out, just wave your badge in front of the white pad. The alarm message window will let you know that the system is now armed and it'll count down from one minute.

COMING UP:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/6): Christina G., Mary H., Brian W.

12/6 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Jackie, Marlene, Angelo, Stacy, Kim M.

12/7 Tues. - Report Cards are sent home today.

12/8 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

12/9 Thurs. - Char and Almai at PEP and then Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 8-12, ESC Pioneer

12/10 Fri. - PTA Date/Movie Night, 6-9 PM, Gym

12/10 Fri. - Staff Holiday Party, 6:30 PM, the Krause's Residence

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/13): Jennifer H., Chrystie J., Melanie W.

12/13 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Joy, Missy, Kim F.

12/13 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

12/13 Mon. - CSIP Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library; Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou; PTA Board, 7:00 PM, Library

12/14 Tues. - Char, Almai and LouAnn at ASB Workshop all day

12/14 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library

12/15 Wed. - Principal-directed LIC; Walking School Bus; District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library

12/17 Fri. - last school day for the year 2010; school resumes January 3rd, Monday

REPEATED POSTS:

FIRGROVE GIVES BACK...CLOTHING DRIVE DECEMBER 4TH!!!

Firgrove PTA is hosting a huge clothing drive "give-away" to support families in need this December 4th. If you have clothing items, including shoes, hats, gloves or accessories to donate please bring them in to support the cause! This wonderful event will be open to the general public on December 4th between 11am and 4pm, and by counselor invitation only to select families and foster families from 8:30-11:00 am. If you have questions please contact a member of PTA or Jackie.

REMEMBER... Remember to include the late start directions for teachers into your substitute notebook. Also, be sure to cut and paste the message to parents into your next newsletter! All school closure information will come directly from our PSD Communications Office via SchoolMessenger, as well as posted on the PSD website.

What are you thankful for?

Hector in Melanie Martin's 3rd grade classroom writes with a thankful voice! Check it out in the hall!

Second grade turkey artwork is beautiful!

Thankful at Firgrove

THIS WEEK:

11/22 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Wendy J, Claire

11/22 Mon. - PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons
11/23 Tues. - Picture Retakes on the stage
11/23 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger
11/24 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School
11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School

COMING UP:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/29): Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W
11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie 11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer
11/30 Tues. - Cultural Explorers, 2:46-3:45 PM, Gym
12/1 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus
12/1 Wed. - PSD Diversity, 3:30-5 PM, ESC Pioneer
12/3 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Leadership, 9-9:30 Intermediate, 10-10:30 Primary (Remember to bring your leadership mind map to the assembly.)
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/6): Christina G., Mary H., Brian W.
12/6 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Jackie, Marlene, Angelo, Stacy, Kim M.
12/8 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
12/9 Thurs. - Char and Almai at PEP and then Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 8-12, ESC Pioneer
12/10 Fri. - PTA Date/Movie Night, 6-9 PM, Gym
12/10 Fri. - Staff Holiday Party, 6:30 PM, the Krause's Residence
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/13): Jennifer H., Chrystie J., Melanie W.
12/13 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Joy, Missy, Kim F.
12/13 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
12/13 Mon. - CSIP Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library; Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou; PTA Board, 7:00 PM, Library
12/14 Tues. - Char, Almai and LouAnn at ASB Workshop all day
12/14 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
12/15 Wed. - Principal-directed LIC; Walking School Bus; District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library
12/17 Fri. - last school day for the year 2010; school resumes January 3rd, Monday

FIRGROVE GIVES BACK...CLOTHING DRIVE DECEMBER 4TH!!!
Firgrove PTA is hosting a huge clothing drive "give-away" to support families in need this December 4th. If you have clothing items, including shoes, hats, gloves or accessories to donate please bring them in to support the cause! This wonderful event will be open to the general public on December 4th between 11am and 4pm, and by counselor invitation only to select families and foster families from 8:30-11:00 am. If you have questions please contact a member of PTA or Jackie.

REMEMBER...
Remember to include the late start directions for teachers into your substitute notebook. Also, be sure to cut and paste the message to parents into your next newsletter! All school closure information will come directly from our PSD Communications Office via SchoolMessenger, as well as posted on the PSD website.

Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast this week!!

THIS WEEK:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/15): Kay dV, Cecilia D, Kaarin V
11/15 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes
11/15 Mon. - Harbor WildWatch Workshops in some classes - pre-arranged earlier with Almai
11/16 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
11/17 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus; Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast (12-1, Staff Lounge); Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Meeting, 4-5:15, Mt. View Community Ctr.
11/18 Thurs. - First Grade Literacy & Lending Library Night
11/19 Fri. - PTA Bingo Night, 6-8 PM, Gym
11/19 Fri. - Char and Almai at Superintendent class, 5-9 PM, ESC

WAY TO GO!
Firgrove has reached 109% of our United Way Goal for the year! So far we have brought in $2,550.00 to support the greater Pierce County area services. If you have been meaning to get your United Way Pledge form in, you still have time. Deadline to submit pledge is December 1st! Just put in in the red "Urgent" folder on Almai's office door.

GAME DRIVE!
Remember we are collecting new games to donate to the Puyallup Gift Makers! Questions? Ask Jackie!

WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE CLEANING?
Well for those of you who are still wondering...Region 2 Principals and their office staff had an opportunity to attend a very powerful workshop sponsored by the Association of Washington State Principals titled "Breakthrough Coach". The basic idea is that it is easy to let the job overwhelm you, but by starting with some simple strategies that involve cleaning and yes...time management...a person can increase their effectiveness and not burn themselves out. =) Stay tuned....

Weather Watch...I know we've all heard that this winter is supposed to be a real bear. Be sure you have what you need at home such as extra food, water, batteries, flashlights. If you have been pondering the idea of purchasing a generator, this might be the time...Department of Emergency Management will be putting out information to the community on tips to prepare and see the winter through. As we get information we will pass it on for sure.

SAVE THE DATE~STAFF HOLIDAY PARTY AT THE KRAUSE'S!

Friday, December 10th 6:30 PM

We will have Lasagna, Caesar Salad, Bread and Beverages!

If you can make it (and I hope you can) you may bring an appetizer, dessert and/or beverage of your choice!

Cheers!!

COMING UP:
11/22 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Wendy J, Claire
11/22 Mon. - PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou Commons
11/23 Tues. - Picture Retakes on the stage
11/23 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger
11/24 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School
11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/29): Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W
11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie 11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer
11/30 Tues. - Cultural Explorers, 2:46-3:45 PM, Gym
12/1 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus
12/1 Wed. - PSD Diversity, 3:30-5 PM, ESC Pioneer
12/3 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Leadership, 9-9:30 Intermediate, 10-10:30 Primary (Remember to bring your leadership mind map to the assembly.)
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/6): Christina G., Mary H., Brian W.
12/6 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Jackie, Marlene, Angelo, Stacy, Kim M.
12/8 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
12/9 Thurs. - Char and Almai at PEP and then Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 8-12, ESC Pioneer
12/10 Fri. - PTA Date/Movie Night, 6-9 PM, Gym
12/10 Fri. - Staff Holiday Party, 6:30 PM, the Krause's Residence
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (12/13): Jennifer H., Chrystie J., Melanie W.
12/13 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Joy, Missy, Kim F.
12/13 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
12/13 Mon. - CSIP Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library; Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PSD School Board, 6:30 PM, Ballou; PTA Board, 7:00 PM, Library
12/14 Tues. - Char, Almai and LouAnn at ASB Workshop all day
12/14 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
12/15 Wed. - Principal-directed LIC; Walking School Bus; District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library
12/17 Fri. - last school day for the year 2010; school resumes January 3rd, Monday

Veteran's Day This Week

Quote of the Week:
"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others." ~Pericles

Thank you for...
~ helping keep the lunch-serving area quiet and orderly through your consistent supervision
~ making sure that the notes being sent to the office have the students' full names
~ having completed you sub-folders and having placed them in a highly visible location such as your desks
~ for consistently holding your students accountable to behavior expectations, especially in common areas
~ for consistently walking your students to and from the following: recess, specialists, dismissal to the bus and loop


THIS WEEK:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew - Angie C, Sara D, Megan T
11/8 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Sara D, Renae
11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library
11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library
11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:10-9:40, Gym
11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Pro Dev & then Region 2 Elementary Nuts & Bolts, 8-12, ESC 11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library
11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School
11/12 Fri. - School IS in session (you may want to remind your students and their families)

Update on United Way: Tis the Season of Giving...
Thank you to those of you who have donated to United Way by returning the completed form in the red "Urgent" folder in Almai's box. As mentioned earlier, our school's goal is $2,400. We are at 62% of our goal as of last week's donation, not counting any donations submitted after Wednesday. Those will be part of the update next week. We are more than half way our goal. Thank you for your generosity, especially during these tough times.

Again the great thing about donating this year is if you've never donated before, your $5 donation generates more money because the Gates Foundation will match new donors' donations dollar per dollar. On the other hand, if you're already donating to United Way and you increased your donation this year, the Russell Company will also match that increase dollar per dollar. These "match the donation dollar per dollar" only apply to the donations designated to the General Community Fund.

From the Safety Team:
If we hold a lockdown drill or earthquake drill this week...are you and the students ready?

Please make sure you bring the emergency garbage can and/or the reusable supplies (discard food) in Portable 31 per the email you received from Cindy a couple of weeks ago. Thank you if you already have.

Finally, the Safety Team will work with the parents, teachers and school nurse to make sure that students with "special diet" (i.e. food allergies) will have emergency food packs.

COMING UP:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/15): Kay dV, Cecilia D, Kaarin V
11/15 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes 11/16 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
11/17 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus; Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast (12-1, Staff Lounge); Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Meeting, 4-5:15, Mt. View Community Ctr.
11/19 Fri. - PTA Bingo Night, 6-8 PM, Gym
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/22): Michelle D, Claire E, Nancy W
11/22 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Wendy J, Claire 11/23 Tues. - Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger
11/24 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus;
11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School
11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/29): Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W
11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie 11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer

It's November!!! Gobble, Gobble...

Quote of the Week:
"The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied, it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere." ~Winston Churchill

THIS WEEK:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew: Nina B, Romy H, LouAnn T
PTA Book Fair all week
11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)
11/1 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Kim F, Joy, Missy
11/2 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 7:30-8:30 AM, SHSB
11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/4 Thurs. - Char and Almai at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here
11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer
11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM
11/4 Thurs. - Remind your students to wear the colors of your adopted university to tomorrow's assembly.
11/5 Fri. - Char, Almai, LouAnn and Christina at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here
11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd; Remember to bring your trustworthiness mind map to the assemby.

United Way: Tis the Season of Giving...
It's that time of the year again. If you're able to donate at least the cost of one latte a month to United Way ($5 a month), please complete the United Way form that is in your box and return it to me in my red "Urgent" folder in my box. Our school's goal is $2,400. With 72 staff members in our building, we'll (more than) meet our goal if everyone donated $5 a month. You can either have $5 taken out of your check every month for the next twelve months or just cut them a check for $60. Having said that, I also know that times are tougher for other families in our very own staff. You know what you're able to do, so do just that. The great thing about donating this year is if you've never donated before, your $5 donation generates more money because the Gates Foundation will match new donor's donation dollar per dollar. On the other hand, if you're already donating to United Way and you increased your donation this year, the Russell Company will also match that increase dollar per dollar. These "match the donation dollar per dollar" only apply to the donations designated to the General Community Fund.

From the Safety Team:
Nicely done fire drill last Thursday....most of the students did well with the expected noise level as they evacuated the building.
It took us 4 minutes 22 seconds to clear the building. It took us 7 minutes and 21 seconds to account for everyone and conclude the firedrill.
A couple of reminders:

• close your door on the way out
• while the kids are emptying the room, lock the door if you're able to

Safety check points: Did you bring your staff binder with you when we evacuated? Do you have your students' emergency dismissal forms (they're yellow) in your Emergency section of the staff binder? Do you have the most current evacuation map posted near your door (fyi: the Safety Team will distribute a revised copy at the next staff meeting)?

If we hold a lockdown drill or earthquake drill this week...are you and the students ready?

Please make sure you bring the emergency garbage can and/or the reusable supplies (discard food) in Portable 31 per the email you received from Cindy last week.

Finally, the Safety Team will work with the parents, teachers and school nurse to make sure that students with "special diet" (i.e. food allergies) will have emergency food packs.

COMING-UP:
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/8): Angie C, Sara D, Megan T
11/8 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Sara D, Renae
11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library
11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library
11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:10-9:40, Gym
11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Pro Dev, 8-11, ESC 11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library
11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/15): Kay dV, Cecilia D, Kaarin V
11/15 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes 11/16 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
11/17 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus; Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast (12-1, Staff Lounge); Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Meeting, 4-5:15, Mt. View Community Ctr.
11/19 Fri. - PTA Bingo Night, 6-8 PM, Gym
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/22): Michelle D, Claire E, Nancy W
11/22 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Wendy J, Claire 11/23 Tues. - Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger
11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School
11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School
Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/29): Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W
11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie 11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer

Wow...We're on the Last Week of October!

Team from Target Hard at Work in Creating a Reading Theme Mural in the Library

Thank you, Target Team!

A big Firgrove Clap and Thank you...
...Sunshine Team for the wonderful spread of delicious breakfast last week
...for continuing to reteach, reinforce and reteach our building behavior expectations
...to those of you who have your planbooks and sub folders highly visible so Char or I or your sub can easily access them
...for posting your schedules and learning targets
...to those of you who are taking the time to say a kind word or two to each other, especially during these busy and "can-be-stressful" times
...to those of you who display positive presuppositions toward any fellow Hawk staff as you seek to understand something that you may have questions about or maybe even something you're frustrated about
...Staff for helping PTA have a smooth fund-raising

Are you and the students ready if....
...we had a fire drill this week?
...we had lockdown drill this week?

THIS WEEK:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew: Sherrie B, Jackie B, Melissa S
10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
10/25 Mon. - Thank you, Salad Club Day Hosts: Angelo, Jackie, Marlene, Stacy, Kim M
10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, RHS
10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus
10/27 Wed. - Safety Team's Work Session, 12:30-3:30 PM, Nina's room
10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr.

Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO):
If you were identified earlier as ELO support staff and Char or I already connected with you, go with that plan beginning Monday, Oct. 25th. If neither one of us have talked to you yet or you're not sure, please see Almai.

From our Office on Behalf of Facilities: Q & A for Gaining Entry to the Building During Non-school Hours (Turning the Alarm On/Off)
Effective very soon, the alarm key pad will now be enclosed and hence we won't be able access the pad to punch in any code. The code has also been disabled.

What does this mean?
This means that when the alarm is on, you will only be able to enter the building using your employee badge---the Puyallup HR-issued badge only; not the purple one made by the photographers. This also means that you need to alert LouAnn the moment you lose or misplace your badge so it can get deactivated and re-issue you a temporary one until you obtain a new one from HR. You will need to go to the Central Office and it'll cost you $15 to replace your badge.

How do I gain entry during non-school hour?
Wave your badge in front of the black alarm pad located on the same spot as the old silver alarm pad. A green light will apear on the pad. You may now enter.

There is a beeping sound when I entered. What do I do?
Wave your badge in front of the white alarm pad similar to the one outside, only it's white instead of black. The beeping sound should now stop and a green light will be visible on the white alarm pad.

Do I still sign-in?
Yes. You need to let others know you're in the building so they don't set the alarm.

I want to leave the building now. What do I do?
Sign-out. Make sure no one else is in the building per the sign-in sheet. If someone is still there, just walk-out the door and leave. If you're the only one left, wave your badge in front of the white alarm pad AFTER you sign-out. You should see a red light on the alarm pad. If the red light doesn't come on, then you need to see what perimeter door is ajar and close it.

I've checked and there are no doors that are opened or ajar (or I've closed the door I found ajar) and the red light still won't come on after I waved my badge as I was trying to leave and turn the alarm on. What do I do now?
Call PSD Security at 253-229-1158 (program this on your cell phone now or write it down).

Firgrove Hawks are College-Bound!
Below is just a reminder of what tasks are involved to keep the momentum going to make this initiative even more visible to our students and community.
1. let Almai know if you are changing your team's originally adopted university by Wednesday, the 27th; otherwise, she'll assume you'll keep your original adoption - adopt the university that you and the students can connect with; it's okay if there is duplication of universities
2. compose a cheer/chant/call-out related to your university that will become part of our assemblies along with our Firgrove cheer/chant/call-out
3. teach the connection of the university cheer and our Firgrove cheer using the guiding questions provided earlier (Themes: we can belong to more than one community and show pride of belonging to each; college-bound hawks are planners, learners, contributing citizens)
4. let Almai know as your team is ready to share your cheer/chant/call-out in any of the upcoming assemblies (it may be November or December or January)
5. the banner of your adopted university will be hung outside (thank you, Jennifer A) your door (may be one of the windows inside for portables) as soon as the banners arrive (courtesy of PTA funds)

If you need more clarification on the "why" of the five tasks above or have further questions about this initiative, please see Char or Almai personally. If you have ideas/suggestions for our College-bound/No Excuses University initiative, please see any member of the Positive Behavioral Support team (Bobbi, Jackie, Claire, Sara D, Marlene, Stacy, Romy).

From Char and Almai on Behalf of District Risk Management:
The safety of everyone in the building is the top priority second to the business of learning. Per our district policy, building administrators need to work with the District and employee to provide a safe environment. The intent is not to be in your personal business, but to be informed in order to take proper safety measures to keep you and everyone at Firgrove safe. Please let Char or Almai know if you have a restraining order against another person. This information is kept confidential.

From our District ADA Compliance Office:
American’s with Disabilities Act Statement
The Puyallup School District is in the process of reviewing its activities, services and programs to identify and eliminate any barriers to full participation by all otherwise qualified persons regardless of any disability. If you are aware, or become aware, of any such barriers to access or to communication associated with any of the school district's programs, services or activities, please notify the Americans with Disabilities Act/Section 504 compliance person for the Puyallup School District: Lorraine Wilson, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, 302 Second Street SE, Puyallup, WA 98372, (253) 841-8764.

Non-Discrimination Statement
The Puyallup School District provides equal opportunities in education and employment and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability in accordance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, and any applicable Washington State laws against discrimination. For specific information please contact: Lorraine Wilson, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, 302 Second Street SE, Puyallup, WA 98372, (253) 841-8764.

Telecommunications Relay Service
For persons who are deaf or hearing impaired, all staff members may be contacted through the Washington State Telecommunications Relay Service at the following telephone numbers:
Tele-Braille: 1-800-833-6385 Voice: 1-800 833-6348 TTY: 1-800-833-6388

ADA Accommodations
The Puyallup School District provides reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities. We invite any person with special needs to contact the ADA/504 coordinator at least seventy-two (72) hours before scheduled meetings, training, or events to discuss any special accommodations that may be necessary. Please contact: Amie Brandmire, Director of Employee Relations, 302 Second Street SE, Puyallup, WA 98372, (253) 841-8645.

COMING-UP:

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/1) Nina B, Romy H, LouAnn T
11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)

11/1 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Christina, Kim F, Joy, Missy

11/2 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 7:30-8:30 AM, SHSB
11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/4 Thurs. - Char and LouAnn at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here
11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer
11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM
11/4 Thurs. - Remind your students to wear the colors of your adopted university to tomorrow's assembly.
11/5 Fri. - Char and LouAnn at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here
11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd; Remember to bring your trustworthiness mind map to the assemby.

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/8): Angie C, Sara D, Megan T

11/8 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: LouAnn, Michelle, Sara D, Renae

11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library
11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library
11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:10-9:40, Gym
11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Pro Dev, 8-11, ESC 11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library
11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/15): Kay dV, Cecilia D, Kaarin V

11/15 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Terry, Melanie, Kay, Jennifer A, Wes
11/16 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library
11/17 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus; Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast (12-1, Staff Lounge); Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Meeting, 4-5:15, Mt. View Community Ctr.
11/19 Fri. - PTA Bingo Night, 6-8 PM, Gym

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/22): Michelle D, Claire E, Nancy W

11/22 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Char, Angie, Megan, Wendy J, Claire
11/23 Tues. - Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger
11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School
11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School

Staff Room Clean-up Crew (11/29): Kim F, Karen G, Katrina W
11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

11/29 Mon. - Salad Club Day; Thank you, Salad Hosts: Almai, Stephanie, Teena, Jim, Chrystie
11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer

REPEATED POSTS
Report Card Timeline for First Trimester: (Watch for a Report Card Q&A Post Next Week)
Nov. 16th, Tuesday - TAC opens (NOTE: New this year, you can input grades even before this time.)
Nov. 29th, Monday (revised from Nov. 26th since that's Thanksgiving Break) - Provide Char or Almai your report cards for review. Let LouAnn know if you prefer to review them first before she gives them to Char or Almai. If you need more time beyond this, please connect with either Char or Almai.
Dec. 2nd, Thursday - Report cards are sent home with students.

From Safety Team: Anticipate at least one drill a month, so remember to begin covering procedures for each type of drill: fire, earthquake, lockdown, shelter-in-place. These procedures are found in the Emergency tab of your staff binder. There is also a single-page "Quick Reference Guide" in the same section. Questions? Ask one of the Safety Team members: Jennifer H, Nina, Almai, Sheri P, Cindy. The emergency bins will soon be replaced by backpacks. You will also be notified soon of your Incident Command System (ICS) role. Once you are notified of your role, you will also receive its outlined job description. Please read it and familiarize yourself with the tasks you'll need to execute for that role. Questions? Ask someone from the Safety Team.

October 18th is the 30th School Day!

We Are Poem by the 6th Grade Team

We Are Poem by the 2nd Grade Team

THIS WEEK:

10/18 Mon. - Salad Day; Hosts: Teena, Jim, Stephanie, Chrystie, Almai

10/19 Tues. - Individual Pictures (including staff)

10/19 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4, Library

10/20 Wed. - EC/SS LIC (SS is job-alike collaboration for SpEd, Title, LAP); Walking School Bus

10/20 Wed. - District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library

10/21 Thurs. - PTA Skate Night, 6-9 PM, Tifanny's Skate Rink

Firgrove Hawks are College-Bound!

Thank you again for choosing your grade level/team adopted universities. It's exciting to pick-up again with the symbolic part of our Turn Around Schools/College Bound initiative. We enjoyed seeing one of the grade level team obtain some free spirit stuff from Gonzaga University already. We can't wait to see the banners of the universities affiliated with each of the grade levels outside each of the classrooms as soon as they come. The portable will have theirs inside to keep them protected, of course.

We already have a Firgrove "shout-out" (a.k.a. call-out) that we've chanted during assemblies for the last couple of years. We'll continue to use that chant (Firgrove Hawks Rock!). Now, for the best part....We would like to ask each of the grade level team and their students to create their own chant as it relates to their adopted universities---university fight songs are too long. Then at assemblies, we can do our "shout-outs" first by grade level, then last with our own Firgrove Hawks Rock. We would love to see this happen in our next Character Trait Assembly on Nov. 5th. What do you think? Can we pull it off?

Report Card Timeline for First Trimester:
Nov. 16th, Tuesday - TAC opens (NOTE: You can even input grades even before this time. We'll let you know as soon as it is possible to begin entering grades that is earlier than this.)
Nov. 26th, Friday - Provide Char or Almai your report cards for review. Let LouAnn know if you prefer to review them first before she gives them to Char or Almai. If you need more time beyond this, please connect with either Char or Almai.
Dec. 2nd, Thursday - Report cards are sent home with students.

From Safety Team:

Anticipate at least one drill a month, so remember to begin covering procedures for each type of drill: fire, earthquake, lockdown, shelter-in-place. These procedures are found in the Emergency tab of your staff binder. There is also a single-page "Quick Reference Guide" in the same section. Questions? Ask one of the Safety Team members: Jennifer H, Nina, Almai, Sheri P, Cindy.

The emergency bins will soon be replaced by backpacks. You will also be notified soon of your Incident Command System (ICS) role. Once you are notified of your role, you will also receive its outlined job description. Please read it and familiarize yourself with the tasks you'll need to execute for that role. Questions? Ask someone from the Safety Team.

COMING-UP:

10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, RHS

10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus

10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr.

11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)

11/2 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Elementary Nuts and Bolts, 7:30-8:30 AM, SHSB

11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

11/4 Thurs. - Char and LouAnn at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here

11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer

11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM

11/4 Thurs. - Remind your students to wear the colors of your adopted university to tomorrow's assembly.

11/5 Fri. - Char and LouAnn at Conference; Admin Intern Brian Fosnick here

11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd; Remember to bring your trustworthiness mind map to the assemby.

11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library

11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library

11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:10-9:40, Gym

11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Pro Dev, 8-11, ESC 11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library

11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School

11/16 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library

11/17 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus; Firgrove Thanksgiving Feast (12-1, Staff Lounge); Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Meeting, 4-5:15, Mt. View Community Ctr.

11/19 Fri. - PTA Bingo Night, 6-8 PM, Gym

11/23 Tues. - Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7:00-9:00 AM, Zeiger

11/25 Thurs. - Thankgiving Break, No School

11/26 Fri. - Thankgiving Break, No School

11/29 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

11/30 Tues. - Char and Almai at School Board Study Session, 9-11, ESC Pioneer

October 11th is Columbus Day!

October 7th Student Led Goal Setting Conferences  Engage Parents and Empower Students!

THIS WEEK:
10/12 Tues. - Health Screening for certain grade levels
10/13 Wed. - CT LIC Grade Level Collaboration (Grades 4, 5, 6 will have a 50-minute training in FLASH, the newly adopted Sex Education curriculum, by Rick Wells, Director of Athletics and Health & Fitness, at Spinning library, beginning at 1:15 PM.)
10/13 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast and Second Wednesday of Walking School Bus
10/14 Thurs. - PSD Diversity, 3:30, ESC Pioneer

COMING-UP:
10/19 Tues. - Individual Pictures (including staff)
10/19 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4, Library
10/20 Wed. - EC/SS LIC (SS is job-alike collaboration for SpEd, Title, LAP); Walking School Bus
10/20 Wed. - District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library
10/21 Thurs. - PTA Skate Night, 6-9 PM, Tifanny's Skate Rink
10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, SHSB
10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus
10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr.
11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)
11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer
11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM
11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd
11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library
11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library
11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:00-9:40, Gym
11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus
11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Meeting, 8-11, ESC
11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library
11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School

It's OCTOBER!

Monday Morning Cheer at 8:00 AM in the Gym

This Wednesday: Walking School Bus Kick-off - October 6th is the International Walk to School Day, so Firgrove is launching its Wednesday Walking School Bus on the same day. This is Firgrove's second year with this initiative.

Why do we do this?

• to promote physical health and fitness through walking to school
• to promote safe walking skills and practices
• to promote environmental awareness (less traffic means cleaner air)
• to build community

When? Kick off is October 6th, Wednesday (also declared as International Walk to School Day)

How?

• We already have over 100 walkers to school everyday
  
• Students can walk with friends, parents or neigbors


• Parents can drop their kids off by 7:30 AM at Heritage Field next to Zeiger Elementary on 94th to join the school's Walking School Bus coordinators (Teresa and Carie) and other school staff (everyone is welcome to join) walk to Firgrove.


• Staff may coordinate to carpool to Heritage Park and then have the person whose car is parked at the meeting place be dropped off later to get his/her vehicle OR ask a colleague to just drop you off at the meeting place.

First PR LIC of the school year: Learning Teams' First Collaboration Time - We know that each learning team has started working together before this time. We are looking forward to the increased momentum that each of the seven learning teams will create in our building-wide charge to keep fostering success in our students as each team rolls-up "its sleeves" to take the lead in the charging ahead with the initiatives in each of these areas: Safety, Diversity, Literacy, Math & Science, The Arts, Positive Behavioral Support. Each team has received applicable documents that will also help guide the work, along with all the talents and expertise contained within each team's capacity. Please submit your team's electronic minutes to Char. The minutes template has also been sent to each of the facilitators/co-facilitators.

October 7th, Supplemental Day #4: Continuing our Student-led Conference/Navigation 101 Initiative. This day will be used as a school-wide conference for our families and the opportunity to roll-out our Navigation 101 initiative. Specialists will be participating in their own department's planned activity unless there is not one planned. If they don't have a department training, they are expected to be in the building that day with their posted schedule of when they can have families/parents drop by for questions or consult with other staff members. The schedule needs to be posted outside the specialist's office/room and provide a copy to the main office.

Did you know? Lake Washington School District just started a district-wide initiative of student-led conferencing? They are holding a student-led goal-setting conference this month as well.

THIS WEEK:
10/6 Wed. - PR LIC - Learning Teams Work

10/7 Thurs. - No School BUT School-wide Goal-setting Conferences/Roll -out the Navigation 101 Program to our families; Specialists post available time for questions and consult outside their office (provide copy to the office as well).

10/8 Fri. - No school, State Teacher Inservice Day

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE:

Message from ITC Regarding Elementary Report Card Dates - Report Card dates for the 2010-2011 school year, as approved by the Student Learning Department, are noted below. Please be aware that the process for teachers to enter grades via TAC is improved over last year, and documentation will be made available in mid-October.

1st Trimester
Processing Opens: Nov. 16
Building prints final Report Card: Dec. 1
Trimester Ends/Report Card goes Home/Parent View in HAC: Dec. 2

2nd Trimester
Processing Opens: Mar. 1
Building prints final Report Card: Mar. 14
Trimester Ends/Report Card goes Home/Parent View in HAC: Mar. 15

3rd Trimester
Processing Opens: Jun. 3
Building prints final Report Card: Jun. 16
Trimester Ends/Report Card goes Home/Parent View in HAC: Jun. 17

COMING-UP:

10/12 Tues. - Health Screening for certain grade levels

10/13 Wed. - CT LIC Grade Level Collaboration (Grades 4, 5, 6 will have a 50-minute training in FLASH, the newly adopted Sex Education curriculum, by Rick Wells, Director of Athletics and Health & Fitness, at Spinning library, beginning at 1:15 PM.)

10/13 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast and Second Wednesday of Walking School Bus

10/14 Thurs. - PSD Diversity, 3:30, ESC Pioneer

10/19 Tues. - Individual Pictures (including staff)

10/19 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4, Library

10/20 Wed. - EC/SS LIC (SS is job-alike collaboration for SpEd, Title, LAP); Walking School Bus

10/20 Wed. - District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library

10/21 Thurs. - PTA Skate Night, 6-9 PM, Tifanny's Skate Rink

10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room

10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, SHSB

10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC; Walking School Bus

10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr.

11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)

11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer

11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM

11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd

11/8 Mon. - CSIP, 3-4 PM, Library

11/8 Mon. - Co-op Board, 5-6:30 PM, Library; PTA Board, 7-8 PM, Library

11/9 Tue. - Veteran's Day Assembly (all school; no chairs for 6th), 9:00-9:40, Gym

11/10 Wed. - Evaluation & Conference LIC; Walking School Bus

11/10 Wed. - Char and Almai at Puyallup Elementary Principals' (PEP) Meeting, 8-11, ESC

11/10 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30, Woodland Library

11/11 Thurs. - Veteran's Day, No School

Human Electricity Conductor at The Grove???

This is Jackie's key after "the Superhuman incident" happened last week. Don't know the story? Ask her. We are planning to contact the show produced by Stan Lee (creator of Spider Man, Fantastic Four, etc.) called "Superhumans" in the History Channel to have our very own Jackie featured as the "Superhuman Electricity Conductor from The Grove." What do you think?

Last week of September!!

Let's kick off our theme of "We're going to College" by encouraging students to wear the colors of your grade level's adopted university. It will be really cool to see students in color groups more and more as the year progresses!

Also, be ready to bring your class's Responsibility Mind Map to the your grade level's assembly this Friday! Stay tuned for how we will incorporate the Mind Maps into the program!

Monday Morning Cheer 8:00 in the Gym!

Thank you for:

• all of your hard work preparing for Back to School Night! We had a gym full of parents! Thank you for communicating this event in your newsletters and with your students.
• the fantastic and beautifully written and illustrated "We Are" poems from each team. Remember to point those out to your students.
• greeting students at the door
• monitoring the hallways during transitions
• walking your students to/from specialists and recess
• reinforcing common area expectations: 4-point line, silent hello/wave, quiet voices, walking to the right
• walking your students to the bus loading and loop area
• alerting us at the office for any tardy and/or absence pattern you're already noticing with specific students
• remembering to sign-out when you leave the campus
  

Thank you for completing the following: (If you haven't done so, please complete what applies to you as soon as possible)

• daily schedule using the building template provided and submitting it to LouAnn
• updating your yellow staff emergency information by connecting with LouAnn

Are you ready to...

tell/email Almai your grade level team's adopted university? This is first come, first serve. It means a university cannot be adopted more than once. So if you want "first dib" in adopting your favorite university, let Almai know ASAP before another team grabs it. The office team (LouAnn, Christina and Melissa) has adopted University of Michigan, while the Administrative Team has adopted Washington State University (Go, Cougs!).

THIS WEEK:

9/27 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40 - 8:15 AM, Rm. 26
9/28 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7 - 8:30 AM, Brouillet
9/29 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC

9/29 Wed. - Fall PTA Fundraiser Kick-off Assembly, 8:30-8:50 Primary, 9:00-9:20 Intermediate, Please be sure to be seated and ready to go right at the start time for your assembly. 9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev, 1:30 - 3:45, Mt. View Com. Ctr.

9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Team, 4 - 5:15 PM, Mt. View Com. Ctr. 10/1 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly (Responsibility); included is the kick-off for our Wednesday Walking School Bus, 9:00-9:30 Intermediate (grade 6 with chairs), 10:00-10:30 Primary

OTHER THINGS TO NOTE:

Math Training Opportunity for Grades 3, 4, 5 on Sept. 29, Wed. (I LIC), 2-5, Ballou Commons

Why? To support you in implementing the (fairly new) Math Frameworks. Additionally, you will receive the following:

• 3 clock hours
• 3 hours pay
• class set of linear strips
• powerful strategies for using math visual models

The format of this workshop is "break-out sessions." Sign-up at https://staffdev.puyallup.k12.wa.us/StaffDev/class_info.php?CID=3592

Wednesday Walking School Bus - Teresa and Carie coordinated this last year and have expressed interest to continue their leadership in this initiative. There will be a flier to send home soon to re-introduce this practice to our families. This will be briefly re-introduced to our students during the Oct. 1st Character Trait Assembly. The first Wednesday Walking School Bus will be Oct. 13th, changed from last week's post, to coordinate it with the PTA Box Top Breakfast.


October 7th, Supplemental Day #4: Continuing our Student-led Conference/Navigation 101 Initiative. This day will be used as a school-wide conference for our families and the opportunity to roll-out our Navigation 101 initiative. Specialists will be participating in their own department's planned activity unless there is not one planned. If they don't have a department training, they are expected to be in the building that day with their posted schedule of when they can have families/parents drop by for questions or consult with other staff members. The schedule needs to be posted outside the specialist's office/room and provide a copy to the main office.

COMING-UP:

9/27 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40 - 8:15 AM, Rm. 26
9/28 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7 - 8:30 AM, Brouillet
9/29 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC 9/29 Wed. - Fall PTA Fundraiser Kick-off Assembly, 8:30-8:50 Primary, 9:00-9:20 Intermediate, Please be sure to be seated and ready to go right at the start time for your assembly.
9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev, 1:30 - 3:45, Mt. View Com. Ctr.
9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Team, 4 - 5:15 PM, Mt. View Com. Ctr.
10/1 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly (Responsibility); included is the kick-off for our Wednesday Walking School Bus, 9:00-9:30 Intermediate (grade 6 with chairs), 10:00-10:30 Primary
10/6 Wed. - PR LIC - Learning Teams Work
10/7 Thurs. - No School BUT School-wide Goal-setting Conferences/Roll -out the Navigation 101 Program to our families; Specialists post available time for questions and consult outside their office (provide copy to the office as well).
10/8 Fri. - No school, State Teacher Inservice Day
10/12 Tues. - Health Screening for certain grade levels
10/13 Wed. - CT LIC Grade Level Collaboration (Grades 4, 5, 6 will have a 50-minute training in FLASH, the newly adopted Sex Education curriculum, by Rick Wells, Director of Athletics and Health & Fitness, at Spinning library, beginning at 1:15 PM.)
10/13 Wed. - PTA Box Top Breakfast and our First Wednesday of Walking School Bus
10/14 Thurs. - PSD Diversity, 3:30, ESC Pioneer
10/19 Tues. - Individual Pictures (including staff)
10/19 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4, Library
10/20 Wed. - EC/SS LIC (SS is job-alike collaboration for SpEd, Title, LAP)
10/20 Wed. - District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library
10/21 Thurs. - PTA Skate Night, 6-9 PM, Tifanny's Skate Rink
10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, SHSB
10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC
10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr.

11/1 Mon. - PTA Book Fair begins (and lasts until the 5th)

11/3 Wed. - Evaluation and Conference LIC 11/4 Thurs. - PSD Diversity Committee Mtg., 3:30 PM, ESC Pioneer

11/4 Thurs. - PTA Reading Night (associated with PTA Book Fair), 5:30- 8:00 PM

11/5 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly: Trustworthiness, 9:00-9:30 4th-6th, 10:00-10:30 K-3rd

BACK IN THE GROOVE AT "THE GROVE"

Monday Morning Cheer 8:00 in the Gym!

Firgrove clap and thank you for your grace and professionalism for:

• greeting students at the door
• monitoring the hallways during transitions
• walking your students to/from specialists and recess
• reinforcing common area expectations: 4-point line, silent hello/wave, quiet voices, walking to the right
• walking your students to the bus loading and loop area
• your patience and flexibility as we continued to make some adjustments to the master schedule to keep our instructional initiatives intact
• alerting us at the office for any tardy and/or absence pattern you're already noticing with specific students
• remembering to sign-out when you leave the campus

Thank you for completing the following: (If you haven't done so, please complete what applies to you as soon as possible)

• required annual Safety Schools on-line training for all was due Sept. 17th: http://puyallup.wa.safeschools.com/login Log-in to this link by using your employee number with E in front of it. Example: E123456
• daily schedule using the building template provided and submitting it to LouAnn
• updating your yellow staff emergency information by connecting with LouAnn

Are you ready to...

• tell/email Almai your grade level team's adopted university?
• present your "We Are" team poem and poster at the staff meeting?
• share some golden nuggets from the article on formative assessements at the staff meeting?

THIS WEEK:
9/20 Mon. - Fall DIBELS Assessement Week window by the District Reading Assessment Team
9/20 Mon. - Bobbi and Jackie will provide teachers the directions and time frame from our District Assessement Office to enter the Reading and Math scores from recently administered assessments.
9/21 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4 PM, Library. Be sure to read article on formative assessment before this meeting.
9/22 Wed. - CT LIC - Prepare for the Oct. 7th School-wide Goal-setting Conferences with families (email about this was sent Sept. 10th)
9/22 Wed. - Stipend Review Team Mtg., 3 PM, Room 7 (Reminder: All welcome to join this ad hoc team as long as you don't have a stipend application being processed.)
9/22 Wed. - District Writing Cadre, 4-5:30 PM, Woodland Library
9/23 Thurs. - Grades 1 - 6 Curriculum Night/PTA BBQ, 6 - 7:30 PM


OTHER THINGS TO NOTE:
Math Training Opportunity for Grades 3, 4, 5 on Sept. 29, Wed. (I LIC), 2-5, Ballou Commons
Why? To support you in implementing the (fairly new) Math Frameworks. Additionally, you will receive the following:

• 3 clock hours
• 3 hours pay
• class set of linear strips
• powerful strategies for using math visual models

The format of this workshop is "break-out sessions." Sign-up at https://staffdev.puyallup.k12.wa.us/StaffDev/class_info.php?CID=3592

Wednesday Walking School Bus - Teresa and Carie coordinated this last year and have expressed interest to continue their leadership in this initiative. There will be a flier to send home soon to re-introduce this practice to our families. This will be briefly re-introduced to our students during the Oct. 1st Character Trait Assembly. The first Wednesday Walking School Bus will be Oct. 6th, this year's nationally identified Walk to School Day.

October 7th, Supplemental Day #4: Continuing our Student-led Conference/Navigation 101 Initiative - As communicated in an earlier email a little over a week ago, this day will be used as a school-wide conference for our families and the opportunity to roll-out our Navigation 101 initiative. September 22nd, a CT LIC, will be spent by staff preparing for the Oct. 7th School-wde Conferences. Specialists will be in the building that day with their posted schedule of when they can have families/parents drop by for questions or consult with other staff members. Specialist create their schedule when they are available for consults or questions for this day. The schedule needs to be posted outside the specialist's office/room and provide a copy to the main office.

COMING-UP:
9/27 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40 - 8:15 AM, Rm. 26
9/28 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 K-12 Nuts and Bolts, 7 - 8:30 AM, Brouillet
9/29 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC 9/29 Wed. - Fall PTA Fundraiser Kick-off Assembly, 8:30-8:50 Primary, 9:00-9:20 Intermediate, Please be sure to be seated and ready to go right at the start time for your assembly.
9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev, 1:30 - 3:45, Mt. View Com. Ctr.
9/29 Wed. - Char and Almai at PSD Administrative Team, 4 - 5:15 PM, Mt. View Com. Ctr.
10/1 Fri. - Character Trait Assembly (Responsibility); included is the kick-off for our Wednesday Walking School Bus, 9:00-9:30 Intermediate (grade 6 with chairs), 10:00-10:30 Primary
10/6 Wed. - PR LIC - Learning Teams Work
10/6 Wed. - Wednesday Walking School Bus begins
10/7 Thurs. - No School BUT School-wide Goal-setting Conferences/Roll -out the Navigation 101 Program to our families; Specialists post available time for questions and consult outside their office (provide copy to the office as well).
10/8 Fri. - No school, State Teacher Inservice Day
10/12 Tues. - Health Screening for certain grade levels
10/13 Wed. - CT LIC Grade Level Collaboration (Grades 4, 5, 6 will have a 50-minute training in FLASH, the newly adopted Sex Education curriculum, by Rick Wells, Director of Athletics and Health & Fitness, at Spinning library, beginning at 1:15 PM.)
10/13 Wed. -PTA Box Top Breakfast
10/14 Thurs. - PSD Diversity, 3:30, ESC Pioneer
10/19 Tues. - Individual Pictures (including staff)
10/19 Tues. - Staff Meeting, 3-4, Library
10/20 Wed. - EC/SS LIC (SS is job-alike collaboration for SpEd, Title, LAP)
10/20 Wed. - District Reading Cadre, 4-5:30, Shaw Road Library
10/21 Thurs. - PTA Skate Night, 6-9 PM, Tifanny's Skate Rink
10/25 Mon. - Safety Team, 7:40-8:15 AM, Nina's Room
10/26 Tues. - Char and Almai at Region 2 Nuts and Bolts, 7-8:30 AM, SHSB
10/27 Wed. - Individual Planning LIC
10/27 Wed. - Char and Almai at K-12 Principal Pro Dev (1-4 PM) and Administrative Meeting (4-5:15 PM) @ Mt. View Com. Ctr