Monday Morning Memo 3/20/23

 

CLICK HERE to see another fabulous team sharing their chart!

Updated 3/19/23

 

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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!!!!

Stanton, 

Thank you for inviting us to your morning team building! What you are doing every single morning to nurture connection and strengthen wellness is extraordinary  Thank you for all you do! 

AND

Third grade,

Thank you for welcoming our guests into your collaborative planning.  We were all blown away by the level of vulnerability when discussing student work and planning around next steps. You are rock stars!

AND

2nd Grade & 4th Grade SST,

Thank you all for welcoming our guests during our SST meetings.  They were impressed by the level of collaboration, organization, and dedication that goes into getting every single student exactly what they need no matter what is in the way. 

-From Erica Barraza (Instructional Coach at Lotus)

Karen Brnot, our NJHS sponsor, for running the Fox Closet.  The kids really look forward to shopping days!!

and

Scott, Veronica, Rich, Niccole and Stephanie for their willingness to help supervised students during their lunch time.

-From Jeff Sefcik (Principal at Stanton)

Huge shout out to Gayle McManamon who punctured my storm with her calm! Thank you for your love and tender-hearted teaching to me!

and

Here's a big shout out to Mike Fefferman!  Thanks for coming alongside of me when I needed it!  

And Matt Peters for checking up on me!

-From Chris Brown (Paraprofessional at Lotus)

Thanks to everyone for making the week before Spring Break what I know will be amazing! I was telling about 40 people from other states who came to learn with me this weekend how awesome you are and how blessed I am to get to work with the D114 family. 

-From Heather 😘

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

Check out an amazing little dude taking a walk (which is a BIG deal)!  

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. 

Try using this as a check in on how kids are feeling, then you can use the numbers to form groups, do a turn and talk, or even ask kids to find someone with a DIFFERENT number than them to work together!

Coursework Hours!!!

Here's a GREAT and inexpensive way to get additional coursework hours! Please remember that any and all coursework reimbursement requests or lane changes MUST be submitted by June 30!

Coming Soon

After Spring Break, we will be initiating 2-step verification for all D114 employee emails. This is SUPER easy, and we'll walk you through it. This creates an additional layer of account safety for YOU and for the District...and it keeps our liability insurance provider happy, too!

Mark Your Calendar!

May 17--Open Enrollment meetings at both sites for 23-24 Insurance

SNEAK PEEK--SUMMER SCHOOL 2023!

 

Summer School 2023 is right around the corner! Here's what we know so far:

6 weeks

Monday-Thursday, mornings only

Both sites

Weeks in session

6/12

6/19 (Monday off for Juneteenth)

6/26

Off the week of July 3

7/10

7/17

7/24

Pay rates comparable to last year, which were:

Certified staff--$52/hour (this pay rate uses the end of our ESSR funds, and the rate is higher than other elementary districts in our area)

Support staff--hourly rate + $75 weekly bonus for each week with perfect attendance

Please email me if you are interested in working summer school this year!

 

Lake County Educator of the Year Event!!!

Please see information on this year's event! I'd love to see some great D114 representation to share our awesomeness!!!! 

PLEASE CONSIDER COMPLETING A NOMINATION, AND LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN HELP!

Paper or electronic nomination packets are due to the ROE by Friday, March 24, 2023. 

The Lake County Regional Office of Education will be hosting the second annual Educator of the Year Ceremony. The Ceremony will be held at the Lake County Fairgrounds on May 10th, at 5:30 pm. There will be a social hour with dinner. The awards ceremony will take place after the dinner. Ticket information will be provided at a later date.

The Educator of the Year Ceremony will resemble a mini Oscars like celebration. I have included all of the information in this email. The information can also be found on the ROE shared drive under the Educator of the Year folder and on the ROE website under the tab Educator of the Year. We will be honoring paraprofessionals this year as our special guest. The ROE will pay for 1 paraprofessional's dinner from each school district. The district can bring other paraprofessionals if they would like to be honored.

There will be 9 categories for nominations. Districts can submit as many nominations for the categories, but all the paperwork must be included for each nomination to be considered. Paper or electronic nomination packets are due to the ROE by Friday, March 17, 2023. 

Here is a link if you would like to submit the nomination packet electronically. 2023 Lake County Educator of the Year

This folder contains all the information needed for the 2023 Lake County Educator of the Year.

 2022-2023 Information

If you have any questions please let me know. This will be a great event to recognize our amazing educators.

Have a great day,

Mike

Michael Karner, Ed.D.

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! 

One more week until a much deserved Spring Break! You've got this!!

Mark your calendars!  Wednesday, April 12 will be our spring Union Articulation Meeting. We will meet at Stanton with a meeting time of 2:00 PM.

Please remember to arrive after 1:45 to keep the Stanton Dismissal safe and smooth moving. We will have treats for everyone and our big topics will include elections for this year, some opportunities to get involved and negotiations. Please plan on attending if you are a union member, as we are given this contract time to meet.  

Check out the Region 49 Newsletter for the most up to date news in our Region!

Tuesday, March 21--Board of Education meeting at Lotus

SPRING BREAK!!! March 25-April 2!! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!

May 17--Open Enrollment meetings at both sites for 23-24 Insurance

2022-23 Fencepost Standards all grades, all content areas!

22-23 Second Step Pacing Guide

PBIS World--This site is awesome for identifying strategies to use to support challenging behaviors! 

2022-23 Early Release/Professional Development Planning Calendar

2022-23 Assessment Calendar

2022-23 D114 Calendar

2022-23 Parent/Student Handbook

Shared folder of resources 

Link to D114 Business Office Share Folder

*check here for documents most frequently used/requested

Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this

folder!

D114 Family Update

Work Order Request

Technology Support Request

Let's all seek to find moments that matter every day!

-Heather 💝

Monday Morning Memo 3/13/23

  

CLICK HERE to see another fabulous team sharing their chart!

Updated 3/12/23

 

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If you'd like to subscribe to Devin's weekly dose of happiness, just click here to get to his website. 

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!!!!

Thank you to Kim Mack and Meghan Reimers for the surprise "pick me up" in my office Monday morning. It was totally unexpected, and totally appreciated - more than you know. Thanks for thinking of me! xoxo

-From Stephanie Kaye (Instructional Coach at Stanton)

Shout out to Anna Morris for being so calm and doing what’s best for her kids in tough situations. You rock!

-From Cortnee Snell (Special Education teacher at Lotus)

Thank you to Kim Husko - for always being cheerful and for letting me stay in my room during health class so I don't have to pack a suitcase and find a home for 42 minutes.  AND for helping out Thursday when we needed someone to assist supervising the 5th grade recycle helpers!!!  Appreciate you taking part of your plan!!!

and

Thanks to Chris Carvell - best Community Building partner ever!!!  Chris is a real team partner in teaching 2nd step, coming up with "real" examples and sharing in teaching the lessons!!  

-From Veronica Kretz (5th grade Teacher)

Nicole Mild, 

Thanks for welcoming me and a student into your classroom on Friday. He was so intrigued by all the fun and learning that he worked extra hard to stay the whole day. You are the best and in his words, "I really like you,  Mrs. Mild."

and

Ms. Fenton and Mrs. Snell,

It was such an honor to listen to the fabulous sports fiction books your students worked so hard on. Your authors included plot, protagonists, antagonists, dialogue, and we even heard themes of perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and loyalty. Well done, Fenton/Snell crew!

and

Thank you, Mary Santi, Cathy Jawnyj, and Cortnee Snell for the case manager updates. It's amazing to hear how much growth our students have made. Your dedication does not go unnoticed. Great work! 

and

My dear friend, Amanda, thank you for being the best brain buddy, friend, and partner in crime a girl could ever have!  You truly balance me in so many ways and inspire me to be a better person and educator

and

Kim Rauchfuss, 

It has been such a pleasure getting to know you and seeing you shine in your element. You have such a graceful way of communicating hard topics with parents and work really hard to ensure our students get what they need from a fully informed place. You are a breath of fresh air! We are so blessed to have you here in 114!

and

Mo, my dear friend, thank you so much for modeling a UFLI Foundation lesson for K-2. It was really cool to experience the program through the lens of a student and from such an awesome teacher! You da best! 

-From Erica Barraza (Instructional Coach at Lotus)

Thank you so much to my amazing team who tried to problem solve the scoreboard controller that was not working and helped to run the girls basketball tournament by manual scoring and timing-Jeff, David, Don, Jamie, Kendra, Kim, Jill, Michele, and Mollie. You are amazing!!

and

Thank you to Chris and Bryan who brought our wrestlers to state and encouraged them along the way! Thanks Jack for stepping up to help coach this season and all of your support for the team.

and

Thank you to Rich and Oner for coaching girls basketball and being so patient with some of the girls for their first time playing.

and

Thank you to everyone who helped score for volleyball, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, and scholastic bowl- Betty, Jill, Michele, Katy, Kendra, Mollie, Kim.

-From Rachelle Peters (Assistant Principal at Stanton)

So much to be thankful for! I truly love this Lotus family 

To Amber M. Thank you for always being open and willing to have students from ECSE join to have a quick cool down when the gym is available. We appreciate your excitement and knowledge of P.E. activities that are sure to assist with calming strategies. Your heart is in all you do, and I am so thankful for you!

And,

To Amanda L, thank you for being such an amazing support with my classroom data. I appreciate you taking the time to review and go over items with me (numerous times)! Your enthusiasm for educating others is infectious-and I am so thankful for your guidance and support! 

And, 

To Deb M, Colleen and Melanie, Lynn and Natalie for sitting down with me while I share the many ideas and new opportunities for learning I have adapted in the ECSE classroom. I appreciate your support while we adapt the learning experiences for our little learners. Thank you for exploring the many new educational opportunities and being flexible as things change. I appreciate you! 

And,

To Cathy J for helping out in the heat of the moment during a difficult behavior situation with a student in the hallway. Your knowledge, expertise and calm demeanor was incredibly impactful for me as an educator. You are such an amazing peer leader, and you demonstrated your commitment to education as well as your strength in SPED supports. Thank you for being you! 

And,

Thank you to Paula who was at the front desk during the above mentioned behavior situation. You stayed calm and supportive of Cathy and I as we navigated the situation all while providing support for those in the office. Your smile calmed my heart, and I appreciate all you do each and every day!

And,

To Don and Russ for assisting with taking the large, heavy cave out of the ECSE classroom. Our students loved to assist while you guys moved all the pieces, and you both made it look easy  AND were awesome while our students tried to help. Thank you for helping out with big or little tasks that I throw your way, it makes a HUGE difference, and you are appreciated! 

And,

Thank you to Eddie who will forever be cleaning rice, beans and all other kinds of crazy materials that I have in the sensory table in the ECSE classroom. Thank you to Kelly R for donating the rice, beans and various materials we use-we are so grateful for your donations. 

And,

To everyone who rotated the front desk this week-you all are ROCK STARS and you demonstrated One Team, All In! Thank you for being dedicated and ready to jump in-you are so so so appreciated! 

And,

Thank you to Mary Santi who is such a supportive colleague and who knows just what to say. I appreciate you more than you know. 

And,

Thank you Ellie-ECSE kept you busy this week! I am beyond thankful for your calm demeanor and your amazing expertise in all you do. We appreciate your dedication, encouragement to adapt to new situations and your constant support. Thank you for being such an amazing support for our classroom, we couldn’t do it without you! 

And,

To the Preschool Team : Thank you for sharing resources, ideas and an excitement for learning. I love collaborating with all of you!! 

-From Erin Donovan (ECSE Teacher)

Thank you to Anna Morris for letting me join your class to hear your students' AMAZING stories. I was so impressed and had a BLAST!
and

Thank you to Paula and Sharon for showing grace, flexibility, and humor at the Lotus front desk. It was a busy, busy week, and you handled everything handed to you 110%. And remember...there's always a fish sandwich waiting for you if you want one! 

and

Thank you to everyone who showed interest and and signed up for National Board Certification! We have 13 in D114's inaugural cohort and we are going to ROCK IT!!!!

-From Heather 😘

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

You want to learn about grit? Check out this week's video!

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. 

ENGAGEMENT MATTERS!

Look at what our students do after learning in D114!!!!

Check this out!!! 

Stanton alum 

Kyra Jagodzinski presented to the Lake County Superintendents on Friday!!!! 

How can we encourage more of our students to take leaps and risks like Kyra? 

She's changing the WORLD!!!!

Maddie Out

FYI, Maddie Mercado will be out until Wednesday on vacation. 

SNEAK PEEK--SUMMER SCHOOL 2023!

 

Summer School 2023 is right around the corner! Here's what we know so far:

6 weeks

Monday-Thursday, mornings only

Both sites

Weeks in session

6/12

6/19 (Monday off for Juneteenth)

6/26

Off the week of July 3

7/10

7/17

7/24

Pay rates comparable to last year, which were:

Certified staff--$52/hour (this pay rate uses the end of our ESSR funds, and the rate is higher than other elementary districts in our area)

Support staff--hourly rate + $75 weekly bonus for each week with perfect attendance

Please email me if you are interested in working summer school this year!

 

Lake County Educator of the Year Event!!!

Please see information on this year's event! I'd love to see some great D114 representation to share our awesomeness!!!! 

PLEASE CONSIDER COMPLETING A NOMINATION, AND LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN HELP!

Paper or electronic nomination packets are due to the ROE by Friday, March 24, 2023. 

The Lake County Regional Office of Education will be hosting the second annual Educator of the Year Ceremony. The Ceremony will be held at the Lake County Fairgrounds on May 10th, at 5:30 pm. There will be a social hour with dinner. The awards ceremony will take place after the dinner. Ticket information will be provided at a later date.

The Educator of the Year Ceremony will resemble a mini Oscars like celebration. I have included all of the information in this email. The information can also be found on the ROE shared drive under the Educator of the Year folder and on the ROE website under the tab Educator of the Year. We will be honoring paraprofessionals this year as our special guest. The ROE will pay for 1 paraprofessional's dinner from each school district. The district can bring other paraprofessionals if they would like to be honored.

There will be 9 categories for nominations. Districts can submit as many nominations for the categories, but all the paperwork must be included for each nomination to be considered. Paper or electronic nomination packets are due to the ROE by Friday, March 17, 2023. 

Here is a link if you would like to submit the nomination packet electronically. 2023 Lake County Educator of the Year

This folder contains all the information needed for the 2023 Lake County Educator of the Year.

 2022-2023 Information

If you have any questions please let me know. This will be a great event to recognize our amazing educators.

Have a great day,

Mike

Michael Karner, Ed.D.

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! 

Get Ready…EAFL spirit day will be on Tuesday, March 21! Then join us at the school board meeting at 7 PM.

Don’t forget, if you are interested in sitting on the negotiation team, please reach out to an EAFL board member to express interest or ask questions. 

Enjoy the last few weeks before spring break!  You’ve got this! 

Tuesday, March 21--Board of Education meeting at Lotus

SPRING BREAK!!! March 25-April 2!! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!

2022-23 Fencepost Standards all grades, all content areas!

22-23 Second Step Pacing Guide

PBIS World--This site is awesome for identifying strategies to use to support challenging behaviors! 

2022-23 Early Release/Professional Development Planning Calendar

2022-23 Assessment Calendar

2022-23 D114 Calendar

2022-23 Parent/Student Handbook

Shared folder of resources 

Link to D114 Business Office Share Folder

*check here for documents most frequently used/requested

Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this

folder!

D114 Family Update

Work Order Request

Technology Support Request

Let's all seek to find moments that matter every day!

-Heather 💝