Spirit Week has begun!

Our students have been working hard all year to make sure that they master each standard at their grade level, and our teachers have been working hard to make sure that they have multiple opportunities to master them.

Well next week, April 5th -9th, is our time to show just how well we have done. CRCT week brings lots of stress and nervousness, so that is why we take the week before to have some fun and build up some spirit and confidence for the CRCT week.

We have had 2 days of spirit week so far. Monday was "Twin Day" because we work twice as hard as anyone to be ready for the CRCT. Tuesday was "Super Hero Day" because we know we will do "SUPER" on the CRCT. I have included a few pictures of the two days so you can see it.

We still have Pajama Day on Wednesday, Crazy Hair Day on Thursday, and Friday is Black Out day- Everyone Wear Black! Our Slam Dunk the CRCT pep rally will be on Friday, April 2nd (8:30 k-2 & 9:45 3rd-5th)

Glad to have Kaloda back!!

It was great to see our Canine Assistance Reader Dog, Kaloda back on Friday. She has not been able to come because of her owner being out for a while, but they were able to arrange it for Mrs. Harwell to take care of her and bring her back in on Friday. Kaloda is a trained reader dog that works as an incentive for our Kindergarten students to read. Our Kindergartners get to earn the opportunity to read to Kaloda each Friday by reading throughout the week at home. It is a great incentive and the students love it.

Way to go Mrs. Tilson!

Mrs. Tilson, the art teacher at KES, just had some of her students' art work featured in the latest edition of the Mpowering News: A Kid2Kid Newsletter. This newsletter is produced by HealthMPowers of which we are a part of. Mrs. Tilson's students created a dinner plate that incorporated the color wheel with eating a balanced meal with areas of the food pyramid identified. It is really neat! Take a look:
http://healthmpowers.org/getmedia/594c0c76-b437-4d12-b2ca-85160f49e2b5/Kid2Kid-Mar-2010-Final-(Read-Only).aspx

KES Appreciation Day

Today we celebrated Staff Appreciation Day. Our teachers were treated to an Italian lunch that was cooked by Dr. Jordan (lasagna), Ms. Bachman (salad), Ms. Sears (desserts, lots of them!), and myself. I really enjoy cooking and it was nice to be able to treat the wonderful people that work so hard each day to prepare these kids for life. What a blessing it was for me to see them smile when they came through the office to get their food. I know how it feels as a teacher when you are only a few days away from the CRCT. You feel like all the pressure is on you to make sure every standard has been taught, retaught, and then taught again. You feel like you need to make sure that you are reminding them to get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast, drink plenty of water, and be at school on time with a sharpened number 2 pencil that does not go outside the bubble. It is crazy, hectic!!!
I don't like that our schools, teachers, and students are judged as successful or not successful in a one-week snapshot. I know that the students at KES are being taught the standards and are working hard to meet and exceed them. I also know that the students at KES are being taught to be Ready, Respectful, and Responsible, to have character, and to take pride in themselves and their school and country! (All things that will never show up on a standardized test, but will take you much farther in life!) I know this because I see the dedication and hard work of these teachers, assistants, media specialist, counselor, custodians, office staff, instructional facilitator, and assistant principal each and every day. I see how they plan to meet needs of the students; I see how they take their lunch to work extra with a struggling child; I see how they bring clothes and materials from home to give to those that don't have them. I see how they love and care for these kids each day! I see how they are dedicated to making sure that all kids are believed in. I see the success each day!
I don't like it and have stated why, but I also understand that it is the ONE hoop that we must jump through in the education business. That is why I push our students and teachers to not just do what I stated above, but to have them ready for the test. We have taken over 6,000 practice tests as a school. We have spent hours on classworks getting extra help on the standards. We have worked before, after, and even during school to provide extra help for those who are still struggling. They have done this with no extra pay (furloughs even) and have done it because they feel that it is their opportunity to invest in our future! That is why I appreciate them!!! Lasagna and salad can not say it enough (Those desserts were pretty close though!)but I really do appreciate all the teachers and staff do at KES!!

Spirit Week Coming Next Week

Well, my bracket has officially been destroyed by Kansas and Villanova losing in the 2nd round. That is the joy of the entire tournament; teams that should not have a chance knock off the Goliath's of the tourney. That is the same thing I hope happens at KES. Our students who at the beginning of the year did not think that they could pass the CRCT with an 800 now believe that they have a shot. We have now taken over 5,000 practice tests as a school and we are working daily with GPS to get us ready. It is now just time to have FAITH and not FEAR what will happen in 2 weeks. We are READY and we will not just achieve, we WILL... OVERACHIEVE!!!
To get us pumped up, next week will be our SPIRIT WEEK. Each day has a theme:
Monday : Twin Day because "We work twice as hard as anyone else to be ready for the CRCT"
Tuesday: Super Hero Day because "We will do SUPER on the CRCT"
Wednesday: Pajama Day to make sure we get enough rest for the CRCT
Thursday: Crazy Hair Day because "the CRCT is NO Hair Raising Experience for Us."
Friday: BLACK OUT DAY "Everyone wear Black to show we are ready to slam dunk the CRCT"
Our Pep Rally will be on Friday at 8:30 for K-2 and 9:45 for 3-5. Come on out and show your support!

Saint Patrick's Day

It was great to see everyone in their green today as we celebrated Saint Patrick's Day. It is always a favorite of mine because it is also my birthday. Thank you to all the students who made me cards and said happy birthday to me as they walked down the hall. It was especially nice of Mrs. Dechicchis's class for singing to me.

March Madness!

I love March Madness!!! I am not a huge college or pro basketball fan, but there is something about March Madness in college basketball that gets me pumped up. I think it is how all the teams that make the tournament have a chance of winning the prize. Everyone of those teams, whether a #1 seed like Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, or Duke or a #16 seed like Lehigh, Vermont, East Tennesee State or Winthrop, has a shot at the title. All the players are excited and committed to accomplish the goal of cutting down the nets in Indianapolis on April 5th. It is either that or the fact that in order to make it to the dance, each team had to has some victory to get rewarded the chance. It was either a conference championship like Houston and OHIO STATE or a great season with good wins like Georgia Tech and Washington.

It reminds me of the March Madness we have at Kennedy. Our students are excited and committed to accomplishing their goal of 800 or more on the CRCT. They all have a chance to do it and have made a commitment to see it through. They also have all had victories along the way. It may have been a 100 on a test or an "Exceeds Standards" on a benchmark test. It may have also just been an increase of 10 or 15 points from formative to summative tests, but everyone of our students at Kennedy can find a victory that they have had this year that will assure them that they have chance for the prize of getting 800 or more on the CRCT.

I also love doing a March Madness bracket. In my bracket, I have a final four of Kansas, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, and Villanova with Kansas beating Kentucky in the final. I tried to be the homer and go with my Buckeyes beating Kansas, but they just don't have enough depth. In my bracket at school, I have the Kennedy Dragons beating the CRCT in April with all of them getting an 800 or better. That would be AWESOME!!

Thank You Dr. Saunders!

Dr. Ron Saunders has been the Superintendent of Barrow County Schools for the past 12 years. He has decided to retire after 40 years in education. He has been responsible for some amazing changes in Barrow County schools over the past 12 years (The system has grown from 7,000 to over 12,00o students. We have added an Elementary School, Middle School and High School along with the ELC and PLC.). He was also the person who hired me to be the Principal at Kennedy Elementary School two years ago. I really appreciate him believing in me and giving me the support that I needed to feel that I could lead at Kennedy. He is a great leader and an even better man. I will miss him.

Today he came to Kennedy Elementary School to say, "Thank You" to each teacher and student. It was a great visit. The video above was the "Top 10" List we created for what he should do when he retires. I hope you enjoy it! The video below is our steel drum band playing Sweet Home Alabama! Dr. Saunders will be moving there in a couple years!

GAPSS is Coming!

Tomorrow we will have the first of our two days of GAPSS visit. This is an exciting time for KES. 16 educators from all of Northeast Georgia will be at our school for the next two days. They will be observing in every class multiple times, interviewing staff, and discussing standards with our students. They will write up a summary of what we do really well at Kennedy and also make suggestions on how we can get a little better. It should be interesting to see what they see we do really well!! I will keep you posted!

Story Book Night

Thursday night was a blast! We held our 2nd annual Story Book Night. It was wonderful to see just how much fun our teachers can have when they get the chance. Our Kindergarten teachers brought to life the Napping House by Audrey Wood. Our First grade teachers were fantastic when the presented The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone. The second grade teachers presented The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble. The 3rd grade teachers presented a new twist on Cinderella where Cinderella actually is a shoe maker, it was a cool twist on the classic. Our 4th and 5th Grade teachers told The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Sciesczka. It was really really good. The finale was a very special treat; Mrs. Andrea Lott, the Family Engagement Specialist for Barrow County, did the 3 Little Bear rap and really got all the kids up and moving. I felt really blessed to have her there; even though she made me dance in front of all those people. My wife says, "You REALLY CAN'T dance!!" so I was real excited about that. It was a lot of fun though. Mrs. Sears, Ms. Bachman, Dr. J and I even got into the action by sharing A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon.
The night was also one where parents learned about what was available to help get their child ready for the CRCT and purchase books in the book fair.
What made the night so special to me though was to see the enjoyment on the parents and kids faces as they watched these amazing adults having fun with literature. That is what teaching is about, having fun while investing in young lives while you bring skills to their attention. With everything that teachers have to do to teach on a daily basis, it was great to see them just having fun. I wish we could do it more.
Thanks Teachers, I really appreciate it!!

Early Release Craziness

From the minute that we turned the phones back on this morning, we had people calling about whether we were going to send the students home early. Mrs. Dobbs, Mrs. Bailey and anyone else within arm's length of a phone were busy as bees answering with the same line: "That is Dr. Saunders' decision and we will let you know once he makes it."

At about 11:05 the decision was made to go home 2 hours early and parents actually knew before we did ( I don't know how. They must have known someone who knew someone that knew someone who knew that we were going home early!), but then the real craziness began. It was a mad dash to get the rest of 2nd grade into the cafeteria and serve lunches to the entire 3rd -5th grades all within 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was amazing to see everyone helping out. Anyone that did not have a class was helping out to load up trays, stack milks, and deliver lunches. Others were frantically calling parents who had not filled out emergency pick up arrangements, while even more were working the front office to assist in check outs of other students. It was amazing to see the calmness and efficiency of all those people working together to make sure 607 students all got home safely. Thank you to the entire staff at Kennedy for making it all happen in less than 2 hours. You are amazing!!!

If one of the 8 of you who read this blog could pass on to other parents the importance of making sure we have updated phone numbers and emergency pick up arrangements, it would be greatly appreciated. I promise that we will do everything we can to assure that every student at KES gets home safely when emergencies arrive, but we need to make sure that every parent has made the effort to ensure that we have the latest working contact numbers. Thanks!