Don't Achieve.... OVERACHIEVE!!

Since we have been back to school in January, we have been challenging our students with the following statement: "Don't Achieve... OVERACHIEVE!!!".

I believe that all students can achieve and be successful, but they have to believe it themselves. But believing is only the start; you have to have a goal and then work your tail off to get. I also believe that whatever bar we set for students; they will reach. That is why I have used the statement: "Don't Achieve ... OVERACHIEVE!!" If students and teachers set their goals of just doing the basics (achieving), then they are not giving themselves a chance to truly succeed past their potential. If you set your goals higher like writing 7 sentences instead 4 for your paragraph (overachieve), then you will have the chance to truly see what you can do! You will probably be surprised by just how much you can really do when you set your mind and body too it!! There is a saying by Les Brown that says: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!" That is so true and that is what we mean when we ask our kids challenge themselves to : "Don't Achieve... OVERACHIEVE!"

100th Day!!

The 100th day of school is always one of my favorites. I don't why, but it just is. Even as a 5th Grade teacher, I would have activities and exciting things to do with my kids. One year, my math class had to spend 100 million dollars. Another year, I had my class write poems that had exactly 100 words. I also had one year that my class made "Trashion Show" outfits that had exactly 100 pieces of recyclables. I always just loved the day.
Well today was the 100th day of school at KES. It was supposed to be on January 20th, but got moved to the 22nd because of furlough days. It then got moved because of the snow day to today, January 25th!!
Even though it was delayed two times, it did not disappoint. It started with my Great Grandpa welcoming students into the building. (My Great Grandpa looks a lot like me in a grey wig, hat and cane.) The next thing was to have one of our Kindergartners, Anna Sears, read a 100 day poem that had exactly 100 words. It was fantastic. That was followed up by my morning walk around the building where I saw many projects that parents and students had done together that showed 100 items. One of my favorites was Lillie Johnson's in Kindergarten that had 100 pictures of herself. WOW!!!
I also heard that Zero Hero made a very special visit to all of the Kindergarten classes. He always comes on days that have a zero in the one's place. Today was special because there not only was a zero in the ones place, there was a zero in the tens place as well. I also heard that he had them all count to 100's by 5's and then gave each of them a $100 bill. Wow, I wish he would have visited me. As a matter of fact, I still have not seen him when he has visited. I keep telling the teachers to let me know, but I can never get down there to see him in time!!!

I love the 100th day!!!!!!!!

A Day Away!

I do not like to be out of the building for any reason. It is not that I don't trust the teachers, staff, ans students to take care of the school, but I just miss the energy of the learning process and how great it feels to see students excited about being in a safe place where everyone cares about. Today and tomorrow I have to be out of the building doing a GAPSS visit at a school in Athens. It was long and tiring, but it was very exciting. A group of educators (teachers, administrators, media specialists,counselors) from all over come in and observe everything that is done at the school during a day. A bunch of outsiders observe each class and then ask every teacher questions about why and how they do it/ This is an opportunity to see how others do things and to reflect on what we do at Kennedy. As a n educator, you need to be a life-long learner and this process that I was a part of is definitely a learning opportunity. I learned so much about myself as a leader as I reflected on the answers the principal at the school we visited. I was able to see how we do things and reflect on if there are ways to get better. It was very enlightening. It gets better though, in March we get to have the same process done for us.

It was very enlightening and will definitely help me become a better principal, but I did miss the Kennedy School and all its wonderful teachers and students.

Don't Achieve...OVERACHIEVE!!! --53 More Days!!

I have posted the past couple of times about how we are starting our push to prepare our students for the CRCT in April. We have asked students to not just Achieve but to OVERACHIEVE and have encouraged them to take practice tests on http://www.georgiaoas.org/ each week. I am now asking parents to let us know what you need to prepare your children for the CRCT. If you are one of the 5 people that read this blog and are interested in how to better prepare your child for the CRCT in April, please let me know. The school will be having a storybook night sometime in the first week of March. That night will also be a time where we can show parents some things that they can do to help in the last month before the test. Please let me know if you need help in preparing your child before that though!!!!

Spelling Bee Champion!!!

It was an exciting day at KES as we held our annual school spelling bee. The excitement started in the media center and flowed throughout the school as we televised the bee live via closed-circuit TV (Thanks AHS students).
Ms. Voss did a great job of calling the words and all of our students did a good job of handling the nerves and spelling the words she called. Our finalists were: Maggie Sears, Shaylee Culley, Kate Thompson, Ingrid Caicedo, Brianna Mullins, Sabien Lively, Savannah Casey, Cody Holland, Lindsey Ham, Mason Williams, Esteban Cardenas, Haley Mize, Samantha Bonnett, and Dawson Ryan.
After a few rounds, we were narrowed down to our 2 finalists, Lindsey Ham and Kate Thompson, with Kate correctly spelling "Straightforward" and "courage" to win the bee. Wat to go Kate. Her mom's face was priceless when she realized she won. Kate will represent KES at the County Spelling Bee on February 1st.
Like Mr. Williams said to me, it was very fitting that the word that won was "courage" because it takes a lot of "courage" for those students to stand up in front of the whole school (ON TV) and spell those words.
I am really proud of all the participants.

Snow Day

Well, we had our first "snow day" of the year. While I am sure most of the students were happy to be out (teachers too!), I just wish it would have held off so that we could really get back in the swing of things. I am not sure if this day will be made up or if it will become a furlough day or what, but it did throw us for a little loop with our Spelling Bee. We were to find out our school wide winner on Friday, but that will now be postponed until January 12th. I hope everyone has a wonderful and WARM weekend.
Please make sure that you are practicing the www.georgiaoas.org tests over this weekend. Remember every student who takes and passes all 30 of the CRCT-Drive tests will get to throw something at me at the pep rally on April 2nd.

Happy 2010!!

Well today is the first day back after the holidays. I hope that everyone (all 5 of you) had a wonderful time with your family and friends and were able to have some fun.

It was wonderful to see all the smiling faces of our students as they came into school today. Some were bundled up so much that I could not tell who they were, but it was great to see all of the kids here today. I missed them!

We have hit the ground running today and have already started our push to get everyone ready for the CRCT that will take place in 61 school days. We are doing practice questions on the morning announcements and have added more practice tests on www.georgiaoas.org . There are now 45 practice tests for grades 1 & 2 and 75 for grades 3-5. If you have not been taking the practice tests, I highly suggest that you do. Our school's theme this year is "SLAM DUNKIN' THE CRCT!" We will be giving incentives for students who take and pass the practice tests on www.georgiaoas.org each week. Those students who take and pass all 30 of them (10 Reading, 10 ELA, and 10 Math) will get to throw something at Mr. Butcher (last year we did pies, but I don't know what I want thrown at me yet!) Practice tests on www.georgiaoas.org are one of the best things a parent can do to help their child get ready for the CRCT because it gives sample questions that mimic what they will see on the CRCT in April. We will be resending out your child's login and password on Friday of this week.

2010 will be a REMARKABLE year at KES. My church is doing a 20/10 Vision series, and I stole some of my pastor's (David Walters at the Vine in Braselton really brought it this past week!) material and asked Kennedy teachers to have 20/10 vision (Better than Normal) as we teach our kids. I want them to see more than just what they see in the classroom, but to look deeper into each child's potential. By doing this, we will really be remarkable and won't just achieve, but we will "OVERACHIEVE!"