The End of the 1st Month!

We have been in school for 20 days now, and tomorrow marks the end of the first month of school.

A lot of great things have been happening at KES in August. We have had Open House, Sonic Night, Curriculum Night, and Kindergarten Family Night. We had over 50 girl scouts and over 40 boy scouts come out to sign up. We have also started our planning for the Carnival on October 24th. It is amazing to see how much is going on at KES.

September promises to be more of the same. This week, on Thursday, we will have our first Hot Dogs and Homework night for Kindergarten and First Grade. For $2.00 per person, you can get a meal and then have some assistance with your homework. The parents will also get to see how they can reinforce what their students are doing in the classroom. Hopefully we will have plenty of people taking advantage of the opportunity to show how important education is at Kennedy. It all starts this Thursday at 5:30.

I did pretty well on my goals for week 4.
1) I was able to get into everyone's classroom for a few minutes and saw some excellent teaching and learning. The highlight of this week was either my conversations with our second graders at lunch. On Friday, I sat down with a few of them while they ate and they talked about the different shapes of their food (Pizza, PBJ, Milk, and even their trays). They were able to tell me about the different attributes of these shapes (vertices, sides, and angles). Can you tell me where an edge on a lunch tray is? or How many vertices were on the pizza? Our second graders can!!! If that wasn't the highlight, then my math competition with Ms. Cunningham's class was. There were 2 students (Leshon and Chanda) who were convinced they could beat me in a multiplication speed test. It was fun, but the 2 of them still need to work to compete with me!!!
2) Ms. Bailey in the computer lab had some good lessons in the lab, and our 5th Grade teachers continue to really incorporate the Promethean Boards into their lessons. It is very exciting.
3) Ms. Evans and about 7 parents have started the initial planning of our Fall Carnival on October 24th from 12:30 to 4:30. It promises to be a fun-filled day. Don't worry, It is a UGA off week, so we will see you ALL there!!
4) I heard ZERO HERO came, but I did not see him! Maybe next time.

Goals for week 5:
1) See every classroom!
2) Have at least 10 classrooms meet their math fact goal (We had 5 last week!)
3) Have a good turnout for our 1st Hot Dogs and Homework.

My favorite things!

I have spent a lot of time visiting classrooms to see what our students have been doing. This week, I have been so impressed with the writing of our 3rd Graders. I was able to see a very good rough draft from one of our new students in Mrs. Watrous' class. She was writing about Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Eeyore was one of my favorite characters when I was growing up along with Oscar the Grouch and Snoopy. She was not quite finished with it, but told me today at carpool that I would be able to read it tomorrow. I am very excited. I also was able to read a student named Vanessa's paper about her Golden Retriever. It was 5 paragraphs about the dog and why she loved her so much. My mother-in-law works with Golden Retriever rescue and would have been so proud of Vanessa's love for her dog. It was a very well written paper. All of our 3rd graders, along with every grade, have really been doing an amazing job with their writings. So that has been my favorite thing this week so far!

It is hard to believe that we have had 3 weeks of school already. All the teachers have the students actively engaged in all sorts of fun learning experiences. I was able to see Mrs. Hixson's class working on the divisibility rules for 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's. All of them seemed to be getting the rules and applying them to large numbers on the board. I know that she also had a Promethean Board lesson that the students did that allowed them to apply what they had learned in class. I also was able to see Mrs. Dercola doing calendar math with her students. It is amazing how many math skills can be learned just by doing the calendar each day. The best part of the week though was seeing the students playing partner Math games. I saw students playing a game that reinforced place value as well as a guessing game that allowed students to talk about characteristics of numbers (odd, even, greater than, less than, etc.). The students were having fun while they were learning, and that is what it is all about.

I was able to meet most of my goals for week 3.

1) I was able to get into each classroom for a few minutes each day. It is nice to see the students progressing through the year.

2) As I stated before, I was able to see some creative math lessons, but I still haven't seen one from each class.

3) The Carnival is getting planned. We have the date set for October 24th. We have a parent planning meeting this Friday at 7:30 (August 28th). We have gotten a foursome of golf donated as a raffle prize, and some other very promising prospects.

4) The Kindergarten Family Night was a big success. We had almost 150 people here. Thanks to all the Kindergarten Teachers and instructional assistants as well as Ms. Bachman, Dr. Jordan, and Ms. Lott for their help. It seemed like all the families were enjoying themselves.

Goals for week 4

1) Continue to get into all the classrooms.

2) See some technology incorporated into lessons.

3) Continue to plan the Carnival and our first Hot Dogs and Homework on September 3rd.

4) Find Zero Hero!!!

So much to do!

I love my job. I consider it a blessing to have a school to be the principal of each day. I love seeing kids eager to learn, and I think teachers are the most amazing people in the world. But I marvel at how much has to be done to make a school run effectively. Teachers have to have lesson plans, look a data to determine needs of their students, communicate with parents, be an encourager and mentor to kids that are not always appreciative of the effort give to invest in their lives. They also have to grade papers and then come up with new ways to present stuff that needs to be done again while at the same time challenge those who have already gotten it with ease. I haven't even gotten to the teaching in the classroom.

It is amazing what a teacher does every day, and I feel privileged to work with 70 fantastic ones each day. I can never express how much I appreciate what they do, and they probably wouldn't slow down from getting ready for the next day with their students, but I do love the teachers that work at Kennedy Elementary School. They are REMARKABLE!!

Great Night!

We had a wonderful Curriculum Night on Thursday, August 13th. We had over 100 families here at Kennedy to learn about the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) that their children will be learning this year and exactly how they will be learning them. It was really good to see everyone.


Just a reminder that starting on Monday, August 17th we will be starting school at 7:40, NOT 7:45. I would also like to make everyone aware of some opportunities to volunteer at KES. Our parent volunteer coordinators are in the process of finding parent to assist in classrooms so that our teachers can do some very important individualized assessments on students. We will also be having a carnival on October 24th and will need assistance in the planning and carrying out as well as help getting donations for raffle prizes. Please contact the school if you are interested.

So, how did I do on last week's goals???
1) I did not get to a Math lesson at each grade level, but I saw some wonderful math lessons . One was in Ms. Paramore's class. They were discovering arrays in their classrooms. A few students pointed out arrays to me and then were able to explain to me the dimensions and how they correlate to multiplication. I also saw Ms. Cunningham's class comparing numbers (greater than, less than, equal to) using standard, expanded, and word forms. This was a very interactive lesson where the students had to set themselves up so that their statements made sense. Both lessons had students communicating using the language of math and showing a deep understanding of the standards. Way to go 4th grade!
2) I was able to make it into every class pretty much everyday. I love seeing students and teachers in action. One of my favorites this week: Mr. Thornton's music class where groups of students had to come up with body motions to go with the different music terms and then act them out when they heard them in the song. It was a lot of fun!! The other, some very descriptive writing in Ms. Harwell's 3rd grade class. The sentences were so descriptive that I did not even need to the picture they drew to know what it looked like. Great Job.
3) I did not see him, but the Kindergarten students told me that Zero Hero came to their class on Friday. I don't know why I never see him when he comes, but I will be looking for him on the 20th day!
4) Our Curriculum Night was a success. Congratulations to Ms. Whiddon's class for the highest participation rate. Your popcorn will be there on Monday!!!

Goals for next week:
1)Get into every classroom
2)See more Math Lessons
3)Start the planning for our Carnival in October
4) Have a fantastic Kindergarten Family Night on Friday

Upcoming Events and Changes!

The second week has really been going well. We are really seeing students in classes getting an established routine and doing some really nice work. Our media center has been bustling as students are listening to Mr. Frame tell stories and then checking out some good books. I love to see students excited about reading!! I have been excited about seeing our 5th graders using some of the new technology to teach lessons. Our most seasoned dragons are up at the Promethean Board using the pens to move place value cubes all electronically is pretty cool!!! I don't think the 5th graders will admit it, but they think it is cool to learn that way as well.

I am also really encouraged by the parent volunteer coordinators who have stepped up to help get our volunteer program going. If you have not been contacted by one of them, and you can help out, please let me know and I will get you hooked up with someone. We have some volunteer opportunities coming up at the end of the month, so if you want to help out just let us know.

We do have some important events coming up. Tomorrow (Thursday, August 13th) from 6:00-7:15 is our Curriculum Night. This is the best opportunity to come and learn about what your child(ren) will be learning in their classroom. You will hear about the GPS (Georgia Performance Standards) they will be responsible for learning as well as how they will be assessed. The teachers will also share their expectations for homework as well. Please come out and invest the time in your child's education. On Friday, August 21st we will be having our 3rd annual Kindergarten Family Night. There will be free food and games for kindergartners and their families.

We do have a change coming up as well. Starting next Monday (August 17th) we will be starting school at 7:40 instead of 7:45. This is to make up for the furlough days that will be coming in November. With that being said, I would like to apologize for my miscommunication on our school information. In the literature we sent home, it states that school starts at 7:45, but it does not state that we expect students to be in their seats in the class at 7:45. If your child is walking into the building right at 7:45, they are considered "tardy" for the day. That was NOT stated clearly in our information packets, and I apologize for that. I want you to know that we are doing everything we can to make sure we communicate clearly our expectations so that we can best take care of your children, but sometimes we are not clear in stating those so everyone can understand. I will be relaying this information in a more clear and concise manner in the upcoming Kennedy Connection newsletter.

Once again thank you for your support of Kennedy Elementary and for sending us wonderful students to work with each and every day. As I stated in our parents' meetings and will state tomorrow night at curriculum night, I want Kennedy to be a REMARKABLE school with REMARKABLE teachers and students and REMARKABLE test scores, but I know we don't produce test takers. We produce REMARKABLE young men and women who will be the future of this great country. That is why my number 1 priority as the principal of Kennedy is to make sure that your child is loved, cared for, and respected. When my REMARKABLE teachers do that (which I think they do better than any other school) the test scores and everything else will take care of itself.

Thanks again and see you at Curriculum Night

Week 2 Begins!

The first week of school we really concentrate on getting everyone where they should be and make sure that we have everything in place to be successful. Week 2 is when we really get it going academically. I am excited to see what will happen this week as our teachers in 3rd-5th grade are rolling out a new reading series. The teachers have been getting it all ready, and it looks like it will be an excellent resource to challenge all students at KES. I am also excited to see how all of the students at KES get going with their math facts. Last week we already had some students master some of their facts, and this week they will move on to the next level. We will also start our students out on the newscasts this week, and one of our 5th grade classes will be doing the first patriotic song of the year.

We will also be advertising our new start time for August 17th. Due to the furlough days, we will be starting at 7:40 instead of 7:45. This new start time will NOT affect any bus routes, but those who cut it close to 7:45 in car pool need to make sure they leave about 5 minutes earlier.

Goals for week 2:

1) See at least 1 math lesson for each grade

2) Get into each classroom every day

3) Make sure ZERO HERO visits on the 10th day!!

4) Have a great turnout for Thursday's night Curriculum Night from 6:00-7:15.

How did I do on last week's goals?
1) All the kids who came did get home. (A couple got home a little later than expected, but they did get home :) )
2) We had over 70 families come out to the parent meetings and all seemed like they wanted to be involved. That is a start to a supportive PTO.
3) I hope the teachers know how much I appreciate them.

Day 3

The parent meetings went really well. We had over 70 different families represented at the3 different meetings. All of the parents seemed eager to learn about the mission for the school year and were also eager to help us meet it. If you are a parent that wanted to come but were unable, we will be putting a video link on the website (www.barrow.k12.ga.us/kes ) in a few days. We will also be holding our curriculum night meetings next Thursday, August 13th at 6:00. This is the best way to find out exactly what your child will be learning at Kennedy Elementary School this year. You will also hear how you can plug in and help out with upcoming events and volunteering opportunities.
A week ago I said I couldn't believe that the new school year was going to start, and now I am just so excited to see that our students have hit the ground running. When I was walking down the halls today, I heard kindergarten teachers and students singing the letter song; I saw First graders creating flow-maps about the story they had just read; I witnessed 2 graders writing about why following directions is so important; I noticed 3rd graders working on math facts; Our 4th graders were learning the expectations for working in small groups effectively; while the 5th graders were discussing place value and whole numbers. All that was just in 1 walk around the school.

It is quite obvious to me that it is going to be a year filled with learning! The students have shown me in just 3 days that they are READY. We will continue to watch as they develop into RESPECTFUL and RESPONSIBLE young Dragons!!

The First Day!!

Well the first day has come and gone. We had 576 students come to school today and all 576 of them got home the way they were supposed to get home. We had a few that we had to make changes on, but they all got home so today was a success. It was great to see all the smiling faces and excited young people in the halls. That is what makes a school a school. This year's group of children is great, and I am excited for what the year has in store.

Tomorrow we will be having 3 welcome back parents' meetings. The first one is at 8:30 am, the second is at 12:30, and the last one is at 6:00pm. I hope that plenty of parents come out to see what is in store for this year as well. Parents are a vital part of the education process and I need them here to share what our vision is for their children.

I will add more later. I am really worn out after the first day!!!

Tomorrow's the big Day!

Well, tomorrow is the big day! The teachers have had their time to get it ready, the custodians have the halls shiny, the bus drivers have done their practice runs, and tomorrow all the kids come back to school! The 2009-2010 KES School year is here!

I have put up in the school a bulletin board that has a purple cow on it that says at KES we are READY, RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE and REMARKABLE. That comes from a book that I read (The Purple Cow by Seth Godin) about how successful businesses are run. They are successful because they are remarkable. They are remarkable because they stand out and are different. Like a purple cow would be. That is what I want from KES. A successful school because we are REMARKABLE.

I am so excited. I have been eagerly awaiting this day to come. I have been praying for a safe and successful year. I ask for guidance and wisdom to lead and to set a tone that will show love and respect for the teachers, parents and kids. I ask for a safe place that students, parent, and teachers will want to come to and know that they will be treated well. I have been praying for a REMARKABLE year. A year that we will stand out as the best school in Barrow County.