Summer Update #4 - Sunday, August 10th

WOW, in a little more than one week I will be thrilled to have all our staff together to begin the new year!

Only a few items before this Thursday's full calendar update

• Open house letters will be stuffed and mailed with bus information on.....Thursday?  We have not received any info that they will not be ready by then, nor have we had much success with entering rosters in Power-School.  So the Thursday date is tentative.  If we are delayed we will do the letters over the weekend for delivery Monday Morning.  Stay tuned and be flexible if you are willing to help, THANKS.
• Monday, August 18th  we return to a welcoming continental breakfast from our PTA.  Food will be ready by 7:45 and we will start our opening meeting @ 8:10 in the cafe.

The full weekly calendar will be posted on Thursday the 14th.  

Summer Update #3 - Friday, July 25th

Good news and bad news about the blog;

• Bad News - I was at the WSFCS summer leadership retreat and did not get the blog written hence my morning work on this Friday - a typical "day off."
• Good News -  I had the intention to write the blog in some "down-time," yet the retreat was so relevant and engaging - There was no down time!  I could have said I was "busy." To me that term implies obligation and tasks that are rote and mindless.  I was fully mindful and thrilled to be participating in the process of school/district improvement!

So, one day late I can provide a brief recap of the last couple of weeks;

• The 14th -17th was FULL of interviews.
• Thanks to Darcy and Kathy for lending perspective and participating in the process.
• We hired two ESL teachers-
• Anna Stoppelbein joins us from Pilot Elementary in GSO where she was teaching first grade
• Diana Adkins joins us from Diggs -Latham where she was an ESL teacher and SIT co-chair
• We hired a 3rd grade HAG teacher
• Kelsey Byrd joins us from High Point with experiences in STEM and LEGO robotics
• We bid a fond farewell to Angela Adams. She has accepted a position at Lewisville elementary as a Kindergarten teacher.
• We also say goodbye to Jason Brewer who accepted the fifth grade position and was lured away  by the Museum of Science in Boston to be a national trainer for EIE workshops
• On the 18th Elizabeth and I celebrated 22 years of Marriage!  We flew to St. Louis to visit with my brother and attend a Faullin family reunion where we honored my Dad on his 80th Birthday.
• The Leadership Retreat on the 22nd-24th was AWESOME.  I will have much more to share at our opening meeting, yet I need some time to reflect on my new learning.

I will attend the Professional Learning Team training next week on Monday and Tuesday, then work on Staffing and Schedules for the last three weeks.  I will blog again on August 7th before we join forces on AUGUST 18th @ 8am

Summer Update #2 - Thursday July 10th

Happy THURSDAY!

I am doing well and hope you are too.  The following are some news tidbits to keep you updated.

• What do you imagine when your hear the phrase, "STEM pipeline."  I have two new staff members to introduce that may shift your perception.
• Brandi Burroughs joins our team as a second grade teacher in room 11.  I first met Brandi at the Scaling STEM conference as she was presenting on integration of the Engineering Design Process through all areas of the curriculum.
• Jason Brewer joins our team as a 5th grade teacher in T-36.  He just recently returned from EIE training at the Museum of Science in Boston as part of a UNC-G grant team.  
• Welcome these two new teachers to our team from the "STEM pipeline."

In other staffing and assignment news;

• Charity Cota-Robles will teach 3rd grade next year in T-38
• Jessie Spaciel will teach 3rd grade next year in T-34
• Kim Mason will teach 4th grade next year and stay in room 16
• Tiffany Ray will teach 3rd grade next year in room 15 (tentative)
• Suzette Lopez will move from room 15 (tentative) to the new mobile T-41 or room 26, still teaching 2nd grade TBE.
• Laurie Steadman will move to the main office to be our 50% Local Assistant and 50% Testing Coordinator
• Dr. Willie Stevens will bump his Parent involvement role to 50% at Brunson and 50% at Kimmel Farm

Remaining staffing needs;

• We need to hire a new 3rd grade HAG teacher as our numbers will be near 80.
• We need a 60% AIG resource tacher to serve our growing number of AIG students
• We need to hire TWO ESL teachers
• 1 for Olga - Who is loving retirement
• 1 for Stephanie - She has accepted a transfer to become a Wiley Wolverine. This creates an opportunity for collaboration between our two schools shared population of LEP families.     
• We need to hire two PRT positions with Title One funds to provide interventions for developing readers.
• We await the state budget outcome to determine our needs for Assistants.

If you have recommendations for any of the positions that are open, please zip me an e-mail or call as I have interviews for the ESL and HAG openings set up for next week. 

I am also going to be more "active" on our Twitter feed.  Follow Brunson at

• https://twitter.com/BrunsonOffice 

Professional Development Notices

From Willette Nash, the WSFCS Instructional Specialist, Multicultural Education.

This summer the Office of Multicultural Education will offer a two day institute in Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies to help support the goals of the Title I LEA Improvement Plan.  There will be two sessions for 25 teachers (first come/first served basis). Participants will receive a stipend of $75.00 per day. The dates are August 12-13 from 9:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M. (location TBD). Please share this with your staff and have all interested parties respond to wnash@wsfcs.k12.nc.us.

The Raytheon-EiE Teacher Scholarship program supports teachers in implementing EiE in their elementary classroom by providing funds for professional development and classroom materials. Attend an EiE workshop at the Museum of Science and receive a complete set of EiE classroom materials. The total value of the award is more than $2,500.

We’ll start accepting applications for the next round of scholarships in early Fall 2014. Check back soon for more details.

For more information:

http://www.eie.org/eie-curriculum/scholarships-elementary-teachers

Summer Update #1 - Thursday June 26th

USA - USA - USA

The drama of the World Cup reminds me of the distinct pleasure of working in a diverse school.  We have national allegiances to 

• Columbia
• Ecuador
• Uruguay
• Mexico
• USA
• Others that I surely have neglected - sorry

Enjoy the drama, or tune out.   Summer is here and the choice is yours.

PBIS Reflection

In an effort to sustain and grow our amazing climate I am going to add this section to the daily blog.  So for my first effort I want to reflect on our leadership to resist connecting the actions of one individual to a group.

• Suarez, the star of the Uruguay, is accused of POOR sportsmanship with a "bite" to the back of an Italian player on Tuesday.  I was rooting for Uruguay as that is the home country of Silvia Correa.  Do I stop rooting for the Team?  Do I sever my friendship with Silvia before she bites?
• We often roll out group consequences for our classrooms.  Principals have even created policies that target one or two behaviors, yet affect many folks in a deleterious manner. (not me of course....?)
• I challenge us to reflect on this complex issue and grow our practice with students to balance our judgments concerning individual and community.

Staffing updates

• I have made two recommendations to our HR department for staff to be hired that are EIE trained!  A network of STEM schools trained by Liz Parry is starting to take hold!  I will be able to release their names after they complete the employment process with WSFCS.  I will also be able to inform teachers that are on the bubble for grade level assignment next year before the next blog on July 10th.  If you are part of a "move," expect an e-mail July 9th.  The "lineup" will be listed in the next posting.

I apologize that I am unable to post our winning entry on the new sign.  we have 3 lines to work with and entries that garnered votes all had 4 or more lines that need vertical alignment to convey their message. I am going to post the summer enrichment dates and be boring until August.

SUMMER is here and the time is right.........

for some communication updates?

I plan to update the blog on the following dates for your continued information over the summer.  

• Thursday, June 26th

• Thursday, July 10th

• Thursday, July 24th

• Thursday, August 7th

• Thursday, August 14th

All areas of the school except for the offices and mobiles will be CLOSED from July 28th through August 17th.  This allows the cleaning crew to perform deep cleaning in the short window after the summer enrichment program.

• Our Return to work date is 
• Monday, August 18th

• Our Reserved Central PD day is
• Tuesday, August 19th

• Expeditionary Learning PD is
• Wednesday August 20th

• Open House Evening is
• Thursday, August 21st

• Curriculum Nights 
• HAG Monday, September 8th 
• K - 2 Tuesday, September 9th
• 3 - 5 Thursday, September 11th

Friday MM

Good Morning, MAKE this day a positive memory for your students and yourself!

The lunch schedule is below and posted on the board

Hollomon Science 11:00 AM
Woodruff Technology 11:05 AM
Smoot Engineering 11:10 AM
Castello Mathematics 11:15 AM
Hailstock Sustainability 11:20 AM
Binkley Environment 11:25 AM

Adams Science 11:35 AM
Gray Technology 11:40 AM
Kiger Engineering 11:45 AM
Zarate Mathematics 11:50 AM
Gulledge Sustainability 11:55 AM
Lopez Environment 12:00 PM

Grisette Science 12:05 PM
Coles Technology 12:10 PM
Steele Engineering 12:15 PM
Overby Mathematics 12:20 PM
Patrick Sustainability 12:25 PM
McNatt Environment 12:30 PM

Gough Science 12:35 PM
Mason Technology 12:40 PM
Phelps Engineering 12:45 PM
Weber Mathematics 12:50 PM
Ray Sustainability 12:55 PM
Cota-robles Environment 1:00 PM

Sipe Science 1:10 PM
Spaciel Technology 1:15 PM

Thursday MM

Good Morning!

Recess schedule today is as follows;

• noon - 4th HAG
• 12:30 - 3rd HAG and 4th grade
• 1:00 - Kinder and 1st grade
• 1:30 - 2nd and 3rd grade
• 2:00 - all 5th grade

Extra Class placement cards and instruction sheets will be available in from Willie later today.  copies of the check out check out list will be with Brenda.

For the morning of the 13th, we will be PACKED with parents so please get here early and fill the parking lot on the bus side rather than the car rider side.  I will be outside to help with traffic while Maria, Stacy and James help sign parents in on legal pads. 

Subs:
Rosemary Hazy for Tonya Grisette PM only