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

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