Mid Year and Ready for Winter Break

It has been an exciting few months of school. The following has taken place at the elementary school i work at.

1. Implementation of PBIS School wide.  My assistant Principal and I revised our student handbook she created the rubrics for PAWS Behavior and what it would look like. I translated all rubrics and information into the Spanish language for our spanish speaking parents. We then shared school created videos that was done in collaboration with teachers. We shared these great videos at a school wide assembly and students enjoyed watching their teachers following and break the school rules.

2. Establishment of a Parent Advisory Committee, i began this work last year with only three parens attending the monthly meetings. This year I have an average of 7 parents.  In addition to sharing school wide data with parents, we have reviewed the school improvement plan which i updated with our buildings current initiatives and desired outcomes for student achievement.  Parents have been supportive and come with questions about topics that they read about in published media. Please join our meetings they are published on the school district calendar.

3. I have worked on analyzing our school wide data to create goals for the new Principal Evaluation System (www.awsp.org) and selected the following areas to work towards seeing academic growth.

• 3rd Grade Reading/ELA as is it is a State wide focus for Washington State.
• Mathematics for our intermediate grade levels.
• Increasing fluency with the end goal of closing the achievement gap. 

4.  I continue my philosophy of being a life long learner,  I have shared one article with staff thus far and have assigned a new article from ASCD in the  November 2014 | Volume 72 | Number 3 

Talking and Listening written by Naomi Theirs.  I always read the articles and prepare a focus question that will lead to discussion when we meet as a staff and share out new learning and ways we can and will embed our new learning into our teaching craft.

5. My Professional Development currently consists of reading the following books:

• Authentic Learning in the Digital age: Engaging students through inquiry. By Larissa Pahomov
• Five levers to Improve Learning: Who to prioritize for powerful results in your school. By Tony Frontier and James Rickbaugh.
• Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 ways to put all students on the road to academic success.  By Suzy Pepper Rollins.

6. In addition I am working to maintain a Positive and Collaborative culture in the building.  This includes working collaboratively with our buildings Sunshine Committee who then spreads the sunshine through luncheons in the staff lounge, treats for teachers and more... They are a great group who make our school a great place to work.

7. In Closing, my tasks for the year i am working on a Winter Break Message to post on our schools Web page and thinking of what our work will look like in the New Year.