A huge thank you to the many volunteers who made Monster Mash come alive once again and make it memorable for all who attended.  We had a packed house in the gymnasium and the consensus was "it was the best"!  It is a labor of love with all the planning, decorating, cleaning, etc. but seeing the students (and parents) enjoying the event, I hope, makes it all worthwhile.

The staff and I had another very busy week, not only engaging in our daily schedules, but also participating in professional learning activities to enhance our own learning.  This new learning for us will transfer to the teaching arena for students.  On Tuesday of this week, we continued to add to our own digital learning repertoire by participating in various webinars on selected apps from our "IPad toolbox." These new learning tools are exciting and will support each teacher's instructional program.  Answers to questions you may have regarding the district's digital learning plan may be found on the GPS website where there is a link for FAQ's related to DLE.  As I have shared, this 1:1 plan is a huge undertaking as we move forward in implementing it and there is a tremendous amount of new learning for all of us.

We have also finalized the content of ISD's 15-16 School Improvement Plan and are in the final stages of editing it.  Our academic goal centers around improvement in the area of communicating mathematical reasoning through the use of teacher feedback.  We arrived at this area of focus after a thorough analysis of the Spring Administration of the Smarter Balanced Assessments results.  The plan will be posted on the school's website soon.  

On Tuesday, December 1st, at 7:00, the PTA will hold a general membership meeting.  At the meeting, I will be doing a presentation on our SBA results (from the spring 2015 administration to students in grades 3, 4 and 5) and sharing information about the new STAR assessments being administered to students in grades 1 - 5 in the fall, winter and spring and to kindergartners in the winter and spring.  Please mark your calendars.

On Wednesday, Nov. 11th, we will hold our annual Veteran's Day Ceremony outside the front of the school (weather permitting) at 9:15.  A reception for our guests will follow in the cafeteria. (Remember Veteran's Day is a full school day.)