Monday Morning Memo: Monday Morning Memo 10/3/22

For all those who do Medicaid billing, this is your reminder to do it! We need you to please stay on top of this!!! THANK YOU!!!! 😁

If you have no idea what this means...you don't have to do it! YAY!!!!

Kudos to the Lotus kitchen ladies for an outstanding job on a perfect report from the health department! Thank you for all the hard work you do daily. You girls are amazing and I am so grateful to work with you!

-Sonia Miller (Lotus Kitchen)

To all the staff for your amazing support, supervision, and help to run a super-smooth first pep rally, we THANK YOU!!! We could not have done it without you! One Team, All In!

-From Stephanie Kaye (Stanton Instructional Coach) and Laura Livesay (8th Grade Science)...and both are Student Council Sponsors

To the ELA teachers piloting Amplify - I wanted to say how awesome it's been to see such collaboration and problem-solving together when navigating the new program. I always look forward to team discussions with you! and

To Kim and Meghan - it's so much fun sharing our "burrow" together downstairs. I'm so glad you're here and I love chatting with you both each day!

and

To ALL the teams at Stanton - thank you for being patient as we navigate the new SST meetings and system! ~Stephanie Kaye (Stanton Instructional Coach)

Kudos to Gayle McManamon for looking each one of my students in the eyes and telling them she’s proud of them. You’re so good at making each student feel valued!

and

Kudos to my whole team (Nicole, Donna, Ashley, Debbie, Deb, Kristine, Melanie) for just being amazing! Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without each one of you!!

and

Kudos to Yesenia for the way you make each student feel so excited about what’s for breakfast!

and

Kudos to Matt, Natalie, Cathy, and the whole SST for giving amazing support with a new student a couple weeks ago!

-Sami Harshaw (Kindergarten Teacher)

To Rich Bressett for his awesome playlist during basketball open gym… His jams are the best way to start the day!

and

Lynn Smolen for her unwavering patience, guidance, and humor.

and

Kim Mack for being a supportive mentor and the best SWC partner!

-Meghan Reimers (Stanton Counselor)

Big shout out to grade-level teachers for all of the work into getting Number Corner started. There is a ton of time that goes into getting materials to ready in addition to planning instruction. Our students are so lucky to have you!

-Erica Barraza (Lotus Instructional Coach)

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped out this week in preschool covering classrooms for our SLO administration and to sub. It takes a village and you guys all stepped up! Thank you to Natalie Udstuen, Erica Barraza, Amanda Lorenz, Erin CJ, Kim VanHoorelbeke, Sharon Preskill, Fiona Wisniewski, Lynn Smolen, and Gina Crosthwaite.

and

Thank you to all our preschool aides for your patience, flexibility, and busting your butt this week to make sure everything was done and everyone’s rooms were set and covered while we were short handed. Mindy Auld, you have been working in both the aide and teacher role for almost 2 weeks helping out subs. I’m blown away by your ability to do it all and with a smile on your face! Thank you!

and

Thank you Kristine Gumm for being EVERYWHERE in preschool. The preschool floater job is challenging enough and you are always helping in Kindergarten! That’s a big job and you have been rocking it! You step right into each classroom with a seamless transition, you have made personal connections with the students (and there’s TONS you have to know in the whole preschool AND kindergarten), you help keep all the preschool classrooms stocked with supplies and set up for the day, you help collect observational data, and are willing to help in any capacity! Thank you so much!!!

-Michelle Magness (PreK Teacher)

A huge shout out to my Preschool team and the countless other staff members that pitched in to assist while I was gone. Being at home sick brings with it that sense of guilt even though it's out of your hands, a concern for your teammates having to take on more and a worry about your classroom kiddos. My team kept me up to speed at all times, checked in on me continuously, encouraged me to take care of myself first and kept my student's daily routines moving forward. I am so thankful for the loving and caring support!

-Mary. Foersterling (PreK Teacher)

Thank you to Cathy Jawnyj for helping me with the Kids Success line after school. The bus was running a little late on Friday and Cathy saw the need for the extra help. It’s a big group of kiddos with quite a few Pre-K students. She helped me make sure that all the students got safely on their bus. Thank you for taking the time to help. It was very kind of you!

-Joan Kantenwein (Reading Recovery/Literacy Super Guru at Lotus 😊

Thank you to Natalie Udstuen for always offering support and for understanding special circumstances. Words cannot express how much you helped me this past week.

and

Thanks to Joan Kantenwein for always taking the time to offer wonderful ideas. It is such a pleasure to work with you.

-Mary Santi (Second and Third Grade Case Manager)

I want to give a kudos to Kim Leable for taking a friend and helping them get caught up on several assessments! I so appreciate your willingness to help :)

-Mollie Herchenbach (3rd Grade Teacher)

Thank you to the awesome Business Office team of Andrea, Kristie, Maddie, and Mary who make doing my job possible!

Thank you to Laura Livesay, Stephanie Kaye, and the Stanton Student Council for the AWESOME pep rally on Friday!

-From Heather (Your very grateful and blessed Superintendent)

Please send me your kudos for colleagues each week! I'll happily post them in this section!

Here's a link to all the ideas gathered for the HOW and WHY of the Friz 5...I'll keep adding as great ideas come forward.

Because CLEAR IS KIND, here's some info the Administrative Team would like you to know about classroom walk-throughs:

*We'll be looking for the Friz 5 in action. We don't expect to see all 5 and know that we will see different elements depending on when we come in the room.

*We will stay a maximum of 15 minutes (unless something amazing is happening and you want us to stay or to help!).

*We all have our way of giving feedback. I use a hand print that's a note (and can stick to anything you like!), but each of us has our own style that we're comfortable with.

*If you EVER have any questions or suggestions for any of us, please reach out!

I found a couple of lists of questions you can ask and then a great link of "This or That" questions so that if you run out of ideas, you can check these links!

Thanks to everyone who is showing commitment to making the Friz 5 come to life! At Friday's Institute Day, we'll do some review and check in on what's going well, what's challenging, and support everyone in continuing to focus on these 5 key moves.

October 7 Institute Day

Yip yay it's Institute Day!!! The DRAFT plan is linked here. If I missed anything/anyone, please let me know! Questions and input are appreciated!!!! I'll send out the final plan later this week when the final details are worked out and after all of you have a chance have input! We tried to align the time to the work everyone is doing!

Pop Machines

Due to increased costs, the price of pop in both buildings' machines has been increased to $1 by the vendor. Thanks for understanding. 💓

WELLNESS SCREENINGS!

It's time for our annual Wellness Screening Event through NIHIP!

Empower Health Services will be at Lotus on Friday, October 14, 2022 from 6:30am - 10:30am. The event is available to ALL staff.

The wellness screenings will consist of three components:

The Screening package (see attached for more information)
Seasonal Flu Shot
Additional Test Options

Screening package and Flu Shots are available at NO COST to employees and spouses on any district health plan.

Additional test options are available and covered for all BCBS PPO members and on a self-pay basis for all BCBS HMO members.

Employees and spouses not on the district's insurance plan can also participate on a self-pay basis.

For those only interested in the Seasonal Flu Shot, you must register online and select the "Flu Only" option when creating an appointment . Flu Shots will only be provided to those with an appointment.

Registration is now open! Please follow these steps to sign up:

Visit the Empower Health website by clicking here
All participants must create a new account
Complete "New User" fields and enter
client code: foxlakedist114EHS

Flyers will be posted in the lounge at each building.

Please reach out to Maddie Mercado if you have any questions or concerns.

WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO HOLD THESE AT STANTON NEXT YEAR!!!!

Jeff and I were doing his goal-setting meeting for his evaluation, and we came across this great article about Student Involvement versus Student Engagement.

My favorite part was a question set to measure student engagement, and this question in particular:

"To what degree are students creating rather than consuming?"

If you'd like to check out this short but powerful read, it's linked here!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback! Erica and Stephanie are sending out Lotus- and Stanton-specific supports, but I'll also post the link to a folder containing them all here so they are easy to find, everyone can see everything, and you're reminded to check them out!

ISBE News Release Sept. 20: State Board calls for Those Who Excel and Teacher of the Year nominations. Nomination deadline is Dec. 2. Learn more.

Looking for another way to honor an educator or staff member that you look up to? Check out these awards given by the IEA!

And....Don't forget to check out your discounts and deals as an IEA/NEA member! Discounts and Deals can be found here!

Save the Date: If you are interested in meeting virtually with Steve Podgorski (NEA Financial Advisor), we will be sending out a sign up for October 25 and 26. This is at no cost to any union member and there is no financial commitment. Be on the lookout for that sign up.

Mark your calendar for the next EAFL Spirit Day- October 11th! Show your spirit by wearing your EAFL shirt! We would also love to see you at the school board meeting that same evening @ 7:30 PM in the Lotus Library.