Monday Morning Memo: November 2021

A great big thank you to Sue for having salad for a meatless person. You saved my conference dinner! Thanks so much!!!

-From Cheryl Schuck

Thank you Para Squad for being the best group of co-workers! You rock!!!

and

Kudos to all of the 5th grade teachers for walking their class to specials and PE. Your presence is making the hallways a safer place, modeling proper behavior, and minimizing the running and rough housing that has been going on. Thank you!!! Your effort has made a noticeable difference.

and

Thank you Lisa Shannon for helping me last week in 6th grade ELA!

-From Renee Kanari

Big thanks to the Specials Team!

So grateful to be part of this thoughtful and talented team. A couple of examples that had far reaching impacts; first day of school when Lisa saw what needed to be done to reduce the extended parent pick up time. She quietly made it her business to fix the process, and did so! Wow! And, more recently, the parent teacher conferences were made easier with Victoria’s guidance in using calendar to schedule individual conferences rather than google classroom. I could go on and on with examples of Kim, Erin and Amber stepping up to get things done, but you get the idea - it’s one team, all in - my teammates are amazing! A big THANK YOU to our Specials team!!

and

Also, big thanks to Eddy, Russ and Don who are always quick to lend a hand and of course Russ who is always looking to recycle materials that otherwise would get tossed. We’re fortunate to have such a caring and thoughtful maintenance crew!

and

A huge thanks to all of the paras and perm. subs! The energy, love, focus and gentle strength that I see everyday in my classes as well as in the lunchroom is impressive.

and

Dear Kitchen Ladies - I get to see many times each day how thoughtful, organized and kind you are with our kiddos and staff - we are all blessed by your good work. Thank you!

and

Paula and Sue - nothing short of amazing! Thank you for your administrative help with everything from clubs to skyward and everything in between.

and

Classroom teachers, our partnership with you makes all the difference. Thanks for working hand in hand with specials.

and

Our often times behind the scenes workers - I love to see student behavior, speech patterns and fine motor skills improve, and language barriers slip away. Wow! Thank you all!

and

Admin, your support is very much appreciated!

Thanks dear people for all you do!

-From Gayle McManamon

A huge Kudos to Dani (McCarthy) Jones for an agreed upon visit to see former students. Thank you for all of your collaboration for our students It is a pleasure to work with you!

and

Thanks to Caitlyn Fenton, Victoria Corrado and Anna Carlson for an awesome job on conferences. Your compassion for your students was evident. Thank you, too, to Alana Carlson and Ellie Seyfert for juggling multiple conferences at the same time. I don't know how you did it, but it was appreciated!

and

Thank you to Mike Fefferman. You always respond to my requests for help. I enjoyed reminiscing with you.

and

Thanks to Natalie Udstuen for your support. I appreciate how you continue to check in.

and

A belated thank you to Sue Pinkawa for fixing the copier late in the day the other week. You always go the extra mile to assist.

- From Mary Santi

To Liz, Laura, and the Student Council for another successful food drive. Over 1700 non perishable items were collected and donated to the Grant Township Food Pantry last week. Way to go!!

-From Jeff Sefcik

Please send me KUDOS to give shout outs to colleagues! I LOVE to put them in the Monday Memo! 🎉

Furniture--Planning Ahead--

If you have high school-aged children (or know of any) who need volunteer hours, this is an OUTSTANDING way to earn hours!

WE STILL NEED MORE HELP (especially at Stanton!)

When: Monday, December 20

Time: 7:00AM-appx 3:00 PM

Our fabulous custodial crew will be onsite, but if you're willing to be part of this effort, we will pay $15/hour to those who are willing to help make the plan happen.

Let me know if you are interested!

COVID Updates

Current Local COVID Data

D114 Daily COVID Data

11/28/21
CDC thresholds and local data for Lake County
Indicator
Low
Transmission
Moderate
Transmission
Substantial
Transmission
High
Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new
cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
249.66
7 Day Average
Test Positivity
Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than
10%
3.61%

D114 Local Zip Codes Data from Northwestern University COVID Dashboard--ALL DATA INCLUDES ACTUAL AND PROBABLE CASES!
Indicator
Low
Transmission
Moderate
Transmission
Substantial
Transmission
High
Transmission
Current Status

Incidence Rate:
Total new
cases per 100K persons in the last 7 days
0-9
10-49
50-99
100 or greater
372.0
7 Day Average
Test Positivity
Rate
Less than 5%
5.0%-7.9%
8.0%-9.9%
Greater than
10%
6.68%

-November iReady GOALS:

“We are excited to share a Discourse Workshop webinar hosted by Liz Peyser, Curriculum Associates National Director of Content and Implementation. The workshop is FREE of charge, and we welcome all math teachers from your district to join! Please see the attached flyer for more information.”

FLYER

-November iReady DATA:

Keep it up! We are cruising at the average lessons completion rate of TWO! And, students this week spent much more time 50+ minutes working on their iReady paths!

This Week’s District Numbers:

Last Week’s District Numbers:

-Formative Assessment (updated bi-weekly)

Video

Relationships Matter

-This Week’s Tip:

It is important to be mindful of the cultural diversity in our school, especially at this time of year. Not every student celebrates Christmas; some may come from diverse cultural or faith backgrounds, and some may not celebrate any holiday at all.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, it just means you find ways to celebrate in a way that doesn’t exclude any student. This is an inclusive classroom. The great news is, acknowledging the diversity gives you an excellent opportunity to celebrate ALL the special things your students love about this time of year.

-Community Builder:

Forehead Dots

Each student gets a colored dot sticker, which is then stuck to their

forehead. Each student must figure out what color dot is on their

forehead, but without asking any other students for help. Depending

on the number of kids, there will be only a few colored dots (so a few

kids will have the same color). This is a great team building game,

because it forces kids to communicate non verbally. The first team

that arrives together (with the correct colored dots on their heads) is

the winner!

-Weekly Cheer/Silly Sport/Brain Break:

Members, check out the new Region 49 newsletter. If you are looking for any CPDU credits or classes, the IEA and NEA offer lots of great options!

Also, don't forget that Steve Podgorski (NEA retirement specialist) will be at Lotus on Tuesday, November 30. Use this link to sign up for a consultation at Lotus, Stanton (December 7) or virtually. This is a great opportunity to educate yourself on investments and how to prepare for your future...it is never too early to start saving!

New Member Benefit! CustomGuide Self-Paced Training Courses for IEA Members

· CustomGuide self-paced e-Learning courses are available on various topics including:
o Microsoft – Access, Excel, Office 365, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, SharePoint, Teams, Windows 10, Word
o Google – Gmail, Calendar, Chrome, Classroom, Docs, Drive, Forms, Meet, Sheets, Slides, Workspace
o Mac – Excel, macOS, PowerPoint, Word
o Computer Basics – Computer Basics, Security Basics
o Soft Skills – Business Writing, Effective Presentations, Email Etiquette, Managing Meetings, Security Basics, SMART Goals
o Other Software – Salesforce, Zoom
· Our 5-seat concurrent licensing allows for up to five users to be actively learning at a time, during peak usage you may occasionally get a message that all seats are taken, simply come back at a later time. IEA members may self-register for access here, check out this guide for more information. If you have any questions please reach out to Kelsey.Harms@ieanea.org

2022 IEA Awards: Information and online nomination forms for each award can be found on the IEA website under Member Center/Benefits/Awards. Nominations for all awards are due Dec. 15.