October 2009 Connector

         

PTA CONNector

Parents, educators, and students working together to build a stronger school community

OCTOBER 2009 Principal’s Message Dear Conn Families, The school year has gotten off to a wonderful start! Our enthusiastic staff has worked together to make the first month of school an exciting one for our students. As I visit classes, I see students who are ready to learn and teachers who are prepared to teach. As you are aware, our Wednesday schedule has changed to allow for team-based collaboration. Students are now dismissed at 2:45 every Wednesday (and at 1:15 on Early Release Wednesdays). Teachers meet as grade level and department teams during this time for the purpose of professional learning teams (PLTs). These PLTs use data, professional experience, and best practice to meet studentlearning needs. PLTs also collaborate to ensure that our Title I, Special Programs, and Intervention staff are supporting students throughout the day. Our staff is finding this time to be incredibly valuable! Our School Improvement Plan (SIP) outlines our annual goals and the strategies that will support accomplishment of these goals. I invite you to review our 2008-2011 SIP which can be found as a link on our website (as of mid-October) or in hardcopy form in our main office. The School Improvement Plan, which was created by our School Improvement Team (consisting of staff and parents) has four goals: 1. to increase family and community support at school events as measured by attendance 2. to maintain a safe and healthy school environment as measured by the NC Teacher Working Conditions survey and WCPSS parent/student surveys 3. to increase staff retention and staff satisfaction as measured by survey data 4. to increase to 60% the number of Conn students meeting growth targets on the reading and math End-ofGrade (EOG) tests See Ms. Story’s article for more information about this important document. We are working to maintain a high level of schoolhome communication. The CONNector comes home in Tuesday Folders at the beginning of each month. If you prefer, you may request an electronic version. This will save paper, ink, and folder preparation time. We also utilize the Phone Messenger system – I record weekly phone messages with calendar updates and important announcements. Please contact our main office if you do not receive our weekly phone message. Both the

CONNector and the phone message are available on our website. Our school motto states that Conn students and educators show respect, responsibility and kindness. One of the easiest ways we can instill responsibility is through regular, on-time attendance to school. Our school social worker, Ms. Karen Rabins, will lead our efforts to encourage good attendance. It is imperative that students • arrive at school before 9:05 • are in their classrooms by the 9:05 bell • attend school regularly and are only absent when they are sick • remain in school all day and are not checked out early Please support your child’s academic performance by encouraging regular, on-time attendance! Thank you for your attention to these important matters. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have questions about your child’s academic performance, attendance, or classroom-related matters. We appreciate your support and enjoy the opportunity to work with your child! Diann P. Kearney Conn Elementary Principal

PTA President’s Message Hello, Conn Families, It’s hard to believe it’s October! We’ve enjoyed several school events to date, such as the Welcome Back Open House and Parade of Teachers. I hope you have too. I’d like to thank all that have volunteered and/or participated in these and other school activities. Here’s October news to note. There are a number of ways to impact your child’s education at Conn: INSIDE THE CLASSROOM: This year PTA is making a strong push to assist our teachers in their classrooms and we hope that all parents will commit to making a contribution. If you haven’t already registered as a volunteer in the classroom, visit the Media Center and sign up in just a couple of minutes. More importantly, contact Carol Lawson, Room Parent Coordinator, or our Classroom Volunteer Coordinators: Carmon Pullen (K-2) or Jaime Baker (3-5). You can find 1

their contact information elsewhere in this CONNector or at the PTA website. WITHIN THE SCHOOL: Sign up to help with the Book Fair and show our students how important reading is to everything we do throughout our lives. Volunteer to help with Vision Screening – we test every First, Third and Fifth grader to make sure they can see or get help to see how to do their work. OUT ON THE GROUNDS: Spend two hours on the st 21 in this glorious fall weather sprucing up our campus. Our kids play out there most school days and take pride in the playground. This is a great way to help them treasure our outdoor environment Thanks for all you do to make Conn such a great school for our kids. Have a great month! Linda Davis Conn PTA President

Fundraising News MYCOKEREWARDS: If you have Coke rewards in a mycokerewards account, then you can donate them directly to the school. If you don't have an account, send in your codes to your teacher and we can enter them for the school. Codes are found on most Coke products. THINK GREEN: We are participating in the Harris Teeter Together in Education "We Think Green" Contest. Collect plastic shopping bags from ANY STORE and send them to school from September 30th through November 10th. Our school has a chance to win up to $1,000!! Julie Thomas Vice President, PTA Fundraising

School Improvement Planning Believe or not, the end of first quarter is upon us! Conn students and staff have gotten off to an excellent school year; ready for another year of steady improvement and progress. As the School Improvement Team chairperson, I closely monitor Conn’s improvement processes in four core areas: academic achievement, maintaining a safe and healthy school environment, retaining and recruiting highly qualified teachers, and maintaining strong family and community support. These core areas represent the four goals in Conn’s School Improvement Plan (S.I.P). Early fall marks the beginning of our school improvement planning process when School Improvement Team members review our current school improvement plan (S.I.P) goals and objectives. Although Conn maintains an approach of continuous improvement throughout each school year, team

members carefully review each goal and decide on new and/or improved objectives for the following school year. The Wake County School system defines the school improvement plan as a manageable, data-driven action plan that details what a school wants to accomplish over a twoyear period. All Wake County schools have a schoolimprovement plan which serves as the foundation upon which all instructional decisions are made. At Conn, like all Wake County elementary schools, the school improvement plan is divided into four sections: 1) achievement (reading, math, and writing) 2) strengthening community/parent/business support 3) providing a safe/orderly/healthy school environment, and 4) retaining and recruiting highly qualified teachers. School improvement team members, including members of the Conn Leadership Team and parent representatives, break into four small groups, or “goal teams,” to carefully review each section. Following this reflection, the whole team gathers to review the changes and submits the improvements for staff approval. Changes are then submitted to our Area Superintendent for review and then onto the Wake County Board of Education for final approval. The 2009-10 school year marks the second year in a two-year cycle of school improvement planning. This school year will be the last year to refine the established goals and objectives as established two years ago. As Conn looks forward to the next two-year continuous improvement cycle, we are certain that our mission will remain and that all students will be engaged in an active learning environment so that they may achieve their maximum level of performance and be prepared for the future. If you would like additional information about Conn’s school improvement plan or the planning process, please contact me at 856-7649 or at [email protected]. Conn’s current 2009-10 School Improvement Plan is available for anyone to view and is located in the main office. Parents and community members will also have access to the S.I.P online beginning mid-October. Christy Story, IRT

Conn Cafeteria – A Great Place to Eat! The cafeteria at Conn is a great place to eat! The staff does a wonderful job of ensuring that students have a “healthy” well balanced meal during breakfast and lunch. We are fortunate to have the returning staff from last year back with us. Ms. Ida Hawley is serving again this year as Cafeteria manager. The other staff members include Juanita Payne, Nadira Clarke, and Irene Davis. The cafeteria staff takes pride in the preparation of the food and they enjoy having as many students as possible eat in the cafeteria daily. As students proceed through the serving lines, they have a choice of entrees along with either two fruits or two vegetables or they can have a choice of one fruit and one

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vegetable. Students may choose strawberry, chocolate, or skim milk with their lunch. The students are provided with the opportunity to purchase one nutritious snack along with their lunch as well. Students are expected to follow specific rules while in the cafeteria which is outlined in our Conn Cares Matrix. All students are expected to enter the cafeteria and go through the lunch line quietly. They must respond quickly and appropriately to adult directions the first time given and use appropriate manners. We have placed stop signs on the columns for students as they enter the cafeteria. These stop signs require the students to stop and slow down before moving through the line. Arrows have been placed on the floor around the trashcans to direct students as they throw away their trash and recycle their plates. The classroom teachers assign students to assist with cleaning the tables and picking up trash. We feel that this helps with teaching students responsibility and it also helps our students to take pride in their dining area. Wake County Public Schools participate in the National School lunch program. The free and reduced lunch eligibility status expired on September 30, 2009 for any student whose parent did not reapply. This status is usually honored for the first 15 days of each new school year. This year it was extended due to the current economic times. Parents can submit an application for meal benefits at any time during the year. Also, any time household size or family income changes, parents can reapply. This year our staff voted to participate in “Duty Free” lunch. You may have observed teachers dropping off their students and leaving them with an assigned Teacher Assistant. “Duty Free” lunch allows teachers the flexibility of eating their lunch in the cafeteria or in another designated area independently away from the students while Teacher Assistants supervise their classes. Your child may tell you that someone differently from their classroom teacher supervises them during lunch. Finally, please be aware that if students do not have lunch money in their account or fail to bring lunch money to school, they are given fruits and vegetables along with a cup of water. They can receive this up to three consecutive days. A notice is usually sent home each week to indicate that your child’s account is low. Also students are given green stickers that say, “I need lunch money.” We encourage parents to prepay for student lunches or use My Lunch Money.com. This service is easy to use and it is private and secure. To access this service simply go to www.myLunchMoney.com to enroll and start using the site to deposit funds into your child’s lunch account. Once the account is established, you can check balances and fund the account anytime from your home computer. Funds usually will post to your child’s account with 24 to 48 hours. We hope that if your child is not participating in the school lunch program, you will consider allowing them to do so. Dermetta A. Stevens Assistant Principal

Magnet Minute Module season has begun! Throughout the school, our students are deep into their grade level modules with science and social studies content. Coming up in October, we will be embarking on our first excursions of the school year. We will be going to the Museum of Science, Pet Supply Plus, Poe Health Center, and The Great Harvest Bread Co. We also have welcomed Melissa Madrid to talk to 1st grade about families, Stephanie Rollins (Geology Instructor at Wake Tech) spoke to 4th graders about rocks and minerals, and Fran Breedlove (Food Sanitation Chief for Wake Co) spoke to students about food sanitation. During modules, students are creating vehicles in 5th grade and analyzing liquids in 1st grade, all the while forming predictions and recording results in Science Notebooks. A 4th grade student (C.E.) speaks about modules: "I LOVE modules. They are so much fun! I remember in 3rd grade studying about the human body. One of the things I learned was that children have more bones than adults. We had a perfect guest speaker who came and brought in x-rays of bones. IT WAS AMAZING!" A 5th grade student (J.W.) speaks about modules: "Modules are WOW! That's SUPER WOW! No other school in the county does what we do, trust me, I have been to a few. I got to go on a scavenger hunt in 3rd grade and use GPS units. I felt like a super smart scientist." There is no doubt our students are getting the best that Conn and Wake County has to offer with our module classes, excursions, and expert speakers! Emily Deluca Magnet Coordinator

Media Minute What a full month! 5th grade is beginning research using nonfiction books, 1st grade is learning about families, 3rd and 4th are practicing finding that “just right book,” 2nd grade students are keeping us busy checking books in and out, and kindergarten is singing and learning about libraries with Freddy the Frog!!! Thank you for sharing your children with us and sharing the love of reading with them! A few “reading related” items: *Conn Book Fair is coming!!! Check your student’s Tuesday folder for lots of information to support your student, other Conn students, your Conn teachers and your media center in the pursuit of reading and information. Thank you to the PTA and especially Kelly Turner for all their support. Book Fair Schedule: October 12 – 15 during school hours October 13, 4-6 p.m. Family Time October 16, 8:45 – 10:00

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*See and hear an author! Watch the newspaper for area bookstores featuring children’s authors. It’s a great fun way for your child to ask questions and learn about the writing process. Quail Ridge Books features many children’s authors and their schedule is on the media center door. Our own visiting author, Candace Fleming, will be here in March thanks to the PTA and the staff at Quail Ridge Books. *Parent resource books are available in the media center for check out. Just ask a staff member - Happy Reading! Brenda Shore, Media Specialist Kathie Rozar, Media Assistant

PBS Update Conn is presently in the 3rd year of PBS (Positive Behavior Support) implementation. The PBS team has worked diligently to develop school-wide positive behavior support plans surrounding our school motto which emphasizes respect, responsibility, and kindness. This year, we have seen a lot of school-wide strategies being implemented on a daily basis. Some student behaviors include: walking on the third tile, using a two finger wave to say hello in the halls, walking with hands “lock it, or pocket”. Students receive a “Conn Cares Ticket” for their class when they demonstrate one of our school-wide expectations and/or show respect, responsibility, or kindness. Each time a class reaches 100 tickets the class earns a “Connor” (a computer mouse to display outside the classroom) as well as a class reward. Currently, Conn’s PBS team is working on incorporating the WCPSS character traits (courage, good judgment, integrity, kindness, perseverance, respect, responsibility, self-discipline) into our PBS program. Both initiatives are focused on the same thing: helping students build positive social skills and good character, so that they can be productive and valuable members of society. Every month we will focus on a different character trait and students will be taught how to demonstrate good character in their daily lives. We are very proud of the outstanding progress Conn’s PBS program has made in three short years. Carla W. Massengill, NBCT 4 Grade Teacher, PBS Team Leader th

Title I Intervention Program Our Title I program serves students who qualify for reading and math support. We have three Title I reading teachers – Ms. Dameron, Ms. Davis, and Ms. Johnson. We are meeting daily with first, second, and third graders, concentrating on word work, interactive writing, fluency, and guided reading. Our lessons are 30 minutes long and

very direct and clear. We are meeting with most of our fourth and fifth graders only three times a week for 45 minutes. We believe this schedule will allow them to have more time in their regular classroom for core academic instruction. Kindergarten Title I services will begin after the first quarter. We have four parent meetings (PAC) throughout the year. Our first one was September 29th and we discussed “No Child Left Behind” and the program format. The next meeting will be held November 5th. It is our popular Make

Conn PTA Spirit Night  Wed. Oct. 21  3 – 10 pm   

Join us at Jason’s Deli at 909  Spring Forest Road for dinner  and connect with other Conn  families.  Conn Elementary will receive  10% of the sales generated by  Conn families.   

   

Join us for  Awesome Food  A Good Time  And  a Great Cause! 

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and Take Workshop. We hope that many of you will be able to attend this workshop because it provides you with strategies to help your child at home. We are also fortunate that we have a Title I math coach this year, Ms. Peggy Williams. She is working with K-5 grade level teachers to support them with math strategies and hands-on activities. Nancyrose Johnson, Amy Dameron, Alston Davis Title I Reading Teachers Please Note: As a Title I school, Conn is required to provide, upon parent request, certain information on the professional qualifications of the student's classroom teacher. If you would like to request this information regarding your child's teacher, please direct your written request to Ms. Kearney, Principal. 

Conn Community Night Dinners THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our recent Community Night Dinner at Chick-Fil-A at North Hills. We raised a total of $165 by joining together for dinner and having fun! We have an opportunity in October to beat our own record. Our October Community Night Dinner will be hosted by Jason’s Deli on Spring Forest Road. See information on the previous page for details.

Conn Clothing Good news! There is still time to order Conn t-shirts and denim shirts and polos. Mary Williams will be placing the order for Conn Spirit Merchandise on Friday, October 9. Mrs. Williams’ contact information can be found at the end of this newsletter.

Kindergarten Corner Thank you to everyone who attended the Conn Parade of Staff and Open House! We were able to meet with so many families and share important information with you regarding the Kindergarten program. If you would like to see the presentation again, it is located on the Kindergarten website under “Our K Program”. You can access our page through the Conn website, http://connes.wcpss.net/. Click on class pages and then click on the Kindergarten link. We post important information on the website throughout the year so please check it out! You will also find teacher emails if you need to contact us. As a reminder, Kindergarten students get free breakfast. This is an important start to your child’s day and learning. Students should arrive by 8:50 in order to finish breakfast and arrive to class on time. Class begins at 9:05 A.M. We are starting our guided reading groups during literacy center time. Some items you can work on at home

to help with reading are; pointing to the front of the book, the back of the book and the title, knowing where to start reading in a story, where are the first and last words on the page, and where to go after reading one line. Retelling a story with details also helps students with comprehension. We will start using our parent volunteers in October. Your child’s teacher will let you know when is the best time for you to come in and help. If you have not yet registered as a volunteer, please do so. You can register for this in the media center. Thank you for your support and donations to the classroom. The Kindergarten Team

Meet the New Conn Math Coach WHO DO WE SERVE? teachers, classrooms, specialists, intervention, students, parents, administration, community, each other WHAT DO WE DO? modeling, co-teaching, planning with teachers, providing feedback, data analysis, making math expressions work, alignment of objectives, WHEN DO WE DO IT? during math instruction, everyday, grade level planning, staff development, faculty meetings, math night, before and after school, early release, anytime WHERE DO WE DO IT? classrooms, PLT meetings, grade level planning, faculty meetings, alignment lessons, single source, hallways, playgrounds, PAC meetings, early release days, school activities, anywhere WHY DO WE DO IT? promote math best practices, improve math scores, liason for teachers, implement math expressions, students feel good about math, achievement gap, build conceptual understanding, make math fun, meet school and district goals HOW DO WE DO IT? professionally, trusting, thoughtfully, actively, patiently, hands on, creatively, slight authority, coteaching, listening, modeling, data based, by providing resources, starting discussions Looking Forward To A Wonderful Year At Conn, Peggy Williams Room 514, Title I Math Coach

Conn Family is AWESOME Thanks to those of you who have voted “NO” in your Tuesday folder, saying you do NOT want a hard copy of each month’s newsletter. We are reducing our paper purchase in October by 27%! If you have NOT voted in your Tuesday folder yet, take a moment to do so right now. Let’s see if we can go even lower next month!!

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2009-2010 Conn Elementary PTA PTA CONTACTS

NAME

HOME PHONE

CELL PHONE

EMAIL

President

Linda Davis

821.7602

210.4420

[email protected]

President-Elect VP Fundraising VP Membership

Dakeisa Parker Julie Thomas Melissa Madrid

803.2035

264.7744 434.9690 255.5219

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Secretary

Dionne Lester

792.2442

Treasurer Asst. Treasurer Butterfly Garden

Toddi Steelman Joe Sinsheimer Christine Murphy

513.0408 821.9487 832.3298

Communications

Reid Serozi

807.1878

CONNector Cultural Arts

Fall Carnival – CONNivale

Julie Snee Peggy Hayes Soo Keith Lisa Ferrando (Staff Liaison) Lisa & Rob Vanderberry

Family Spirit Night

Jared Ollison

Green Team

Jeff Cherry

878.6177

915.1012

[email protected]

David Thome

834.2735 834.6488 833.1732 834.6488

215-0420 368.3856

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

428.0992

Holiday Shop Hospitality Legislative Literacy Night & Campaign Media Center Room Parent Coordinator Parent Classroom Liaison, K-2 Parent Classroom Liaison, 3-5 Positive Behavior Support

Chrissy Pressley Capricia Conyers Matthew Brown

Reflections

870.0599

[email protected] 271.2844 345.1807

[email protected] 210.5586 522.7995 834.1811

828.3534 872.0741

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

271.4350 247.4478

Pam Hartley

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

[email protected] [email protected]

Kelly Turner

846.9347

[email protected] [email protected]

Carol Lawson

761.1013

[email protected]

Carmon Pullen

376.0844

291.8803

[email protected]

Jaime Baker

231.9878

931.1478

[email protected]

Mary Williams

846.5019

[email protected]

Kelly LeVoyer

833.2297

[email protected]

Betsy Alexieff

524.8936

[email protected]

Room Parent Coord.

Carol Lawson

761.1013

[email protected]

School Store

Daphne Shuler

School Spirit Merch. Student Directory Teacher Apprec. Yard Sale

Mary Williams Adrienne Berney Susan Robson Gabriella Corter

846.5019 828.5599 212.8733 833.2078

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Yearbook

Mary Williams

846-5019

827.3681

[email protected]

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Conn Elementary - October 2009 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Bell Schedule: M,T,Th,F – 9:05-3:45 W – 9:05 – 2:45 Early Release Day 10/21 9:05 – 12:30

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5 PTA Board Mtg. 6:15

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

2

3

6 Vision Screening

7 Vision Screening

8

9

10

13 Conn Book Fair School Hours Family Time 4-6 p.m.

14 Conn Book Fair School Hours

15 Conn Book Fair School Hours

16

17 Green Team 10 - 12

21 EARLY RELEASE 12:30

22

23

24

29 End of 1st Quarter

30

Vision Screening

11

12 Conn Book Fair School Hours

Fall Scholar Night

18

19

20

Conn Comm. Night at Jason’s Deli, 909 Spring Forest Road 3-10 p.m. 25

26

27

28

PTA Mtg. 6:15 Conn Showcase 6:30-8:00

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TEACHER WORKDAY

Conn Elementary - November 2009 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1 Bell Schedule: M,T,Th,F – 9:05-3:45 W – 9:05 – 2:45 Early Release Day 9/23 9:05-12:30

2

3 SCHOOL PICTURES

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5 REPORT CARDS (2nd – 5th) INTERIMS (K – 1st)

6

7 Fall CONNivale 1 – 4

8

9 PTA Board Mtg. 6:15

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21 Green Team 10-12

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

SCHOOL HOLIDAY

TEACHER WORKDAY

SCHOOL HOLIDAY

SCHOOL HOLIDAY

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