DAISY DAILY FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 30, 2017

January 29, 2017

Behind the scenes at Kids' News.......

Daisy Staff,

A few notes about this week:

• The Focus Group re: Sexual Abuse Awareness/Prevention (originally scheduled for last Tuesday) will take place this Monday, Jan. 30, from noon to 3 pm in Room 20.  All representatives who were to be involved last week will take part in this week's focus group.  Subs are in place and lunch will be served to the group during this work time.
• The Annual WECC/WELL Early Childhood Forum will take place at Daisy on Wednesday evening from 4:45 - 8:00 pm.  Thanks to all who are involved in this important event, whether volunteering, attending or helping with childcare.
• The 100th Day of School is now Monday, Feb. 6, but we are planning on going ahead with the "Good News" Assembly to celebrate the 100 Day on Friday, Feb. 3 at this point.  If anything changes, I will let you know ASAP.
• As you plan Parent/Teacher Conferences (with 1 pm dismissal on Feb. 7 and 9), please let me know any conferences that you'd like me to attend with you.  Also, please let the office know your needs re: Language Line (translating service) for any conferences.
• IMPORTANT:  Should you receive any requests from families re: immigration information or similar concerns, please forward these requests for information to Superintendent Pat Ciccone.  Our wish is to give parents/guardians the most up-to-date, accurate information available.

As always, as you plan for the weeks ahead, please consult our Staff Calendar by clicking on this link:

DAISY STAFF CALENDAR

Thanks and let's make it a great week!

Ruth

DAISY DAILY FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 23, 2017

Our First-Graders enjoyed their final "Learn to Swim" session last week at the Westbrook Y.

January 22, 2017

Daisy Staff,

Hope you're enjoying the milder weather that has been with us this weekend : )

As we look forward to next week, here are a few notes:

• Please be sure to click on the calendar link below to keep up with specific dates and events.  I continue to update this on a daily basis:

DAISY STAFF CALENDAR 2017

• "Tech Tuesday" is scheduled for this Tuesday, after dismissal, in the Music Room.  Please join us if you're available. Bring something to share or just come to network and/or pose questions.
• We'll use Wednesday's School-Based PLC to work on updating and evaluating Data as we're completing another round of Running Records and STAR Testing.  Grade-level teams may utilize this time to enter data into grade-level Google docs; as well as to collect and analyze assessment data; SLO's; etc.  Special education and special area teachers may want to utilize this time to evaluate data for SLOs, progress reports, goals/objectives, IEP data, etc., etc. and/or work with grade-level teams to analyze data. Please let me know any specific needs you and/or your team might have.  I would suggest that staff members work in a place of your choice so that you'll have access to data, resources and team members.
• Our 100th Day of School (barring any snow days between now and then) is Friday, February 3.  We're planning a Good News Assembly in honor of the 100th Day at 2:15 pm in the Gym on Feb. 3.
• Just a reminder to all:  Please be cognizant of meeting/picking up students on time (lunch/recess/specials/etc.) as our schedule is tight and we don't want to inconvenience our colleagues. Please let the office know if your classroom clocks are out of sync and we'll perform a time check/readjustment.
• As always, please let me know if you have anything that you'd like me to add to our Staff Calendar and please check it frequently : )

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Ruth

Visitors from Literacy Volunteers joined us 

at our "EL Coffee & Conversation" last week, 

where they modeled what a tutoring session looks like.
So glad that our superintendent, as well as administrators from WHS and WMS joined us!

Please spread the word about the Early Childhood Forum,

scheduled to take place at Daisy on February 1st.

Please join us for some superior Professional Development!

DAISY DAILY FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 16, 2017

Second Annual Literacy Night 2017

Many, many thanks to Diane, Helen, Michele and Kim

for the mountain of work  put into this very successful event!!!

"DLL/EL" Professional Development

Kudos to Emma, Jenn and Joanna for a fabulous job 

sharing information with our staff.

"Seussical the Musical"

(Sponsored by Daisy PTO)

January 16, 2017

Daisy Staff,

I do hope that all enjoyed a wonderful long, MLK weekend.

Last week featured a very successful Second Annual Literacy Night as well as very informative DLL/EL Training by our own staff members, making it a tough week to top!  : )  Many thanks to all who prepared these events for us as well as to all staff members who participated!

All set for the 4-day week ahead?

Please be sure to check the link to our Staff Calendar for updates:

DAISY STAFF CALENDAR

 A few featured items from this week:

• Our Second EL "Coffee & Conversation" will take place this Wednesday at 7:45 am in Room 1.  This is an opportunity to share resource with our EL families and to solicit feedback from the group as well.  Even if you aren't currently serving on the committee, please feel free to stop by to welcome and chat with some of your students' families.
• No after-school meeting on Wednesday this week.
• Our Special Area Team Meeting will take place at 8 am on Friday, Jan. 20, in my office.  If any Special Education staff members would like to attend to share student concerns with the group, please let me know.

LOOKING AHEAD..........

• The Early Childhood Forum will take place at Daisy on February 1st at Daisy from 4:45-8 pm.  Please consider joining the group for an exciting keynote speaker, interesting break-out sessions and a tasty dinner.
• The 100th Day of School will be Friday, February 3 (barring any snow days between now and then.)  We will hold a "Good News Assembly" at 2:15 pm on that day.  Lesley Harrington is planning some exciting 100 day activities.

DAISY DAILY FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 9, 2017

Recess fun in the snow.....

January 8, 2017

Daisy Staff,

I hope that everyone survived this snowy weekend.  As we saw, Friday was just a tease for what was ahead for us.

Let's hope we can get our students out again this week to play in the snow.  As you know, we follow the practice of outdoor recess if it's 20 degrees F or above, factoring in wind chill; and students must have proper snow gear to play off the blacktop.  We may have a couple of severely cold days, then it looks like it'll get warmer again.

We have a busy week ahead (as always) with PLC Meetings on Wednesday afterschool;  our Daisy Literacy Night on Thursday, from 5-7 pm; and a PTO Cultural Arts Performance on Friday at 9 am in the gym.  Friday also features Early Dismissal for Professional Development.  All certified staff members will have the opportunity to participate in PD re: English Learners from 1:15-3:15 pm on Friday in the cafe.

Please consult our Staff Calendar for all events and meetings:

***DAISY STAFF CALENDAR***

Please also let me know anything else that you'd like included in this calendar, for the good of all.

A few reminders re: this week:

• Office Staff will watch the outside temperatures each day and make an announcement re: recess so we're all on the same page.
• Please remove your decorated door coverings before Thursday so that the clues for Literacy Night (which will be posted on doors) will be in full view.  Thank you!
• Thanks so much to all who have volunteered to help on Literacy Night.  It should be a fabulous evening!  Kudos to Diane, Michele, Kim, Helen and all who have helped to make this a most memorable evening!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Ruth

DAISY DAILY FOR WEEK OF JANUARY 2, 2017

January 2, 2017

Daisy Staff,

I sincerely hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday break!  I look forward to welcoming you and our students back to school on Tuesday, January 3.

Such a festive spirit permeated Daisy prior to the break.  Thanks to ALL who put the time and energy into creating delightful door decorations for us all to enjoy.  Please feel free to leave these up through Literacy Night (Jan. 12) as long as the windows on classroom doors are not covered, for safety sake.

Thanks to all who added to the fun at our Holiday Sing-A-Long and especially to our talented music teachers Michele, Jen and Rachael Allen from WHS.  It was a fun day for our students and staff as we welcomed record numbers of families and community members to our Sing-A-Long.  I sincerely appreciate everyone's efforts to save the Rose Family Christmas Tree after the Bumpus Hound Debacle.  Many thanks to all of you---and your students---for the myriad of wonderful ornaments, many of which were handmade, which adorned our tree throughout the holidays.  My husband keeps reminding me that "they're still puppies," but at more than 100 lbs. each and 10 months old, I'm thinking I can't wait until they're calm, tired, old dogs : )

It was a very quiet week last week at Daisy, but maintenance, cleaning and a "face lift" to the front office were completed.  We also hosted our student campers for three days last week.  Thanks to our office staff, Math booklets were completed and spiral bound for grade 3 and the good news is, we have placed an order for the grade levels requesting bound Bridges materials for the rest of this school year.

I'm hoping that you find the information in this "Daisy Daily" helpful to you as you plan for your students.  I'm trying something different in this new calendar year, in order to improve the efficiency and legibility of all of our calendar events.  Rather than provide you with a list of events, please click on the calendar link below.  I will continue to update this calendar so that you can look ahead as well as keep track of A, B, C or D days.  I welcome your feedback on this new feature:

DAISY STAFF CALENDAR




As you peruse this calendar, please make note of a few important events:

• Daisy's Second Annual Literacy Night is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12.  The "trailer" video and link for sign-up is currently on our website.  Please talk this up with our students.
• We are also scheduled for a Cultural Arts treat from the PTO on Friday, January 13 at 9 am.  "Seussical the Musical" will be coming to us.  It is a live performance with a large stage set-up and will take place in the gym.  Please remember that Jan. 13 is an Early Dismissal Day at 1 pm for Professional Development.

Please continue to check back to the calendar link because this is where I will update all Daisy happenings, including grade-level meetings, special events, etc.

Thanks for ALL you do!  Wishing you the very happiest of New Years!!!

Warmly,

Ruth

Enjoy your students this week;

remember, they're the reason we're all here : )