September 24th, 2021

By barsotti_p  

Madison Family,

Some of you have shared that the “honeymoon” is ending and you’re starting to experience some behaviors that weren’t evident early on. We want to support you! Please reach out so we (Peter, Gina, Anne, Audrey) can offer support to both you and students who may need it. Whether it’s taking kids for a break or stepping in for a few moments so you can use the bathroom or just take a deep breath, send us a text/email/phone call and we’ll be there. As you start to build a more regular structure into your period and begin to use curriculum or do more academic focused tasks, we can expect to see more behaviors emerge as students may seek to avoid work, lack stamina after 18 months of distance learning, or may have skill gaps that make the work challenging. A concept that serves many teachers well is go slow to go fast. Move slowly now, do smaller portions of a task, teach your expectations thoroughly, allow them time to practice and get feedback so that you can move more quickly later. 

Mon, Sept 27 Tue, Sept 28 Wed, Sept 29 Thur, Sept 30 Fri, Oct 1
  Climate Team 7:45am     2:45 Staff Meeting, followed by GLT if that time was chosen by the team

Madison Information         

  • Focus Activitites: 
    • Monday Sep.27: Respect Agreement – day three, or wherever you are in the process
    • Tuesday, Sep. 28:  PRIDE Tour Part 2
    • Wednesday, Sep. 29: wrap up anything from Respect Agreement or PRIDE Tour that isn’t done
    • Thursday, Sep. 30: Light and breezy circle topic, practice circle communication skills. Examples include:
      • Something I collect is…

      • If I could choose a superpower it would be…

      • A food I could eat every day is…

      • If you could be an animal for a day, what would you be?

      • If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

      • What’s the best day of the week? The worst? Why?

      • Would you rather travel back in time or travel to the future?

      • If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it? 

      • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon?

      • If you had a robot to help you with school, but it could only do one task, what would you have it do?

      • If humans started colonizing Mars, would you volunteer to move there? Why or why not?

      • Is cereal soup/is a hotdog a sandwich?

      • If you could wake up tomorrow and magically have a new skill – speaking a different language, playing basketball like Ruthie Hebard, creating the world’s funniest TikToks – what would it be?

  • EasyCBM: We are going to be doing Math EasyCBM in Focus class the week of October 4.  More information to come.

    • If you’re new to Madison or have never log into EasyCBM, please check your EasyCBM account to ensure you can log in and access materials and scores. If not, let me know so I can request access for you. 
  • Quarantining Information: As a reminder, if students are quarantined as close contacts to a Covid positive person, staff or students who were identified as a close contact are NOT quarantined if they are vaccinated. Vaccinated close contacts remain working in the building. There are times you won’t know who those staff members are and at other times you may figure it out based on the students in quarantine. These staff members are safe to be around and are not expected to alter their daily work. Please be kind – we’re all getting through this together.

    Here’s what we’ve learned last week (Disclaimer: This info is subject to change…)

    • Individual Students Quarantined: When kids are quarantined individually either through exposure at school or at home, they cannot return for 14 days.
      • Work for Individual Quarantined Students: Students are working on the class work posted in Canvas and can reach out to teachers for a zoom conversation if needed or desired.
  • Contact Tracing: Contact tracing is made easier by seating charts and routines. However, sometimes we spend time with kids who aren’t in our usual seats. If this happens, we need to you to document it the best you can incase we have to ask you in the next day or two.

  • Student COVID Testing: This week we have 25ish students participating in the optional at-home Covid testing. 
    • Students New to the Program: As parents sign students up (which they can do on an ongoing basis), these students receive a green folder with all the info about how to do the tests. They keep these folders at home. If they haven’t submitted a consent form, the office staff adds one to the folder and students return it with their tests.
    • Test Distribution on Thursdays
    • Test Drop Off on Fridays:    
  • Staff Check In: Let us know who deserves recognition this week! 

DISTRICT INFORMATION                    

  • Repeat: Safe Schools: All staff will have Safe Schools (now called Vector) modules to complete by December 31. Your username is your employee ID number. There are about 2 hours worth of trainings to complete. Staff can use time this week to complete the modules, but you have until December.  
         

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND OTHER INFORMATION   

  • Repeat: SELCO’s Educator Grants, Due 9/30: SELCO’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grant Program is now accepting applications for projects up to $1,000 that inspire curiosity, make learning accessible, and spark something new. Applications are open August 16-September 30. Visit the link above for details and to apply.
         
  • Repeat: EEF Grants Due Oct 1: Because last year was so different, EEA has moved the grant process to the fall. Visit the website here, under the Grants tab, to complete the application. If you’d like to submit a grant request, please send Peter your grant title and idea so TLC can rank order grant submissions. 

Next Week at a Glance:

Mon, Oct 4 Tue, Oct 5 Wed, Oct 6 Thur, Oct 7 Fri, Oct 8
TLC @ 7:45am Zoom Open House @ 6:30   Justice League  

Two five day weeks down! Thanks for hanging in there with us.

 


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