2013-14 Volume 37 Final Edition

News/Timelines/Due Dates

Thanks to all our music groups for the concerts last week.  They were awesome!!  Also, great job PTA department on a successful (and cold) May Madness.  I think all of us that got in that power shower (I was the only administrator, just sayin), deserve a medal.  That water was COLD!  I can’t believe it is the last week of school!  It really has been a great year and I thank you for all you have done for our students.  You can dress casually the rest of the week except on Friday for those of us who will participate in the 8^th grade ceremony.

Common Core Feedback:  The Board of Education for the State of Georgia has specifically requested that schools in Fulton County provide feedback on the current Common Core Georgia Performance Standards.  Instead of having a face to face meeting about this, please use this site to give your feedback. All Language Arts and Math teachers are invited to give feedback.  Here is the site (thanks Andrea) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WIbFLjeevWHBvSukpJLZ8ymMFR0NHGy6LGIu1w8MLno/viewform?usp=send_form

Supplies for Next Year:  If you would like to shop for next year’s classroom supplies, the Office Max catalogs are in Beth’s office.  The suggested limited again next year will be $100.00

 

Memorial Day Cookout: If you are working on Memorial Day, we are going to have a cookout.  All the meat, buns, plates, etc.  will be provided but we need you to sign up for a side dish or desert.  Use this site to sign up:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AjckbYwlv46scvLhdv96peU9TwaPVq_1nbeC2ZuGKfk/viewform?usp=send_form

Federal election – Elections have moved up this year and will take place this Tuesday.  Please remind students that they should stay away from the voting area.

Where is Livingston?

Joe Wilson says “This person is an individual that I have had the great pleasure of working closely with this year on several projects concerning our mutual shared club interests. In the technology and robotics club with him this year I have seen this individual spend entire weeks in a row giving his extra time after school as late as 6 or 7 pm to ensure that his students were prepared for a big competition. (Which they won, by the way!) His passion for the technologies and their multiple uses in society today are also easily seen in his classroom as he imparts this knowledge to his students who often can’t wait to try it out for themselves. From 3d CAD houses to cardboard marble roller coasters, this individual is your go-to-guy. That is why I am happy to pass Livingston on to Ed Clawson!”

 

Happy Birthday

Danielle Sherfey            May 24

Aimee Fessenden          May 31

Happy Birthday Summer Edition

Landers	Jason	2-Jun
Butler	Robin	6-Jun
Matthews	Charles	7-Jun
Hill	Shelley	9-Jun
Davis	"Joy"	12-Jun
Lakhani	Rukhsana	16-Jun
Wilson	Stephanie	16-Jun
Beslagic	Sandra	18-Jun
Shiver	Lynette	18-Jun
Wilson	Wendy	18-Jun
Grimaldi	Carolyn	24-Jun
Shelnutt	Todd	28-Jun
Benedict	Beth	5-Jul
Creamer	Amy	14-Jul
Zoll	Jimmy	14-Jul
Hunt	Ped	21-Jul
Lynch	Jennifer	22-Jul
Bell	Erica	23-Jul
Gyori	Beatriz	26-Jul
Clawson	Edward	29-Jul
Hains	Michelle	30-Jul
Jahnke	Julie	30-Jul
Beyer	Shawn	1-Aug
Riley	Tim	3-Aug

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013-14 Volume 36

 

 

News/Timelines/Due Dates

I know this has been a very sad few days for all of us.  I also know we have that instinct to want to help.  Once we know more about funeral arrangements and ways that people can help the family financially, I will pass that on.  When a student chooses to end his life that way, there is a very delicate line between offering support and glorifying the choice he made.  So while the students may try to express their grief through things like “wear orange day,” we as teachers should refrain from promoting or encouraging those events.  If this does not make sense to you, please come talk to me about it.  Thanks

If you did not get a chance to see the play this past weekend, you missed a great performance.  The way these students were able to memorize these difficult lines was amazing. 

Congratulations are in order for Con Brio ('with great energy')! This 25-member choir consists of 7th and 8th grade girls who have met one morning per week to rehearse and prepare music since the end of January. Con Brio participated in the Southern Star Music Festival on May 9th in Atlanta, performing for three well-respected judges/experts in the 'choral world'. I attended the Awards Ceremony at Six Flags on May 10th and am pleased to announce that all three judges gave the choir a Gold Rating (highest) and awarded them a Gold Standard trophy! In addition, out of all 15 choirs in the competition (both middle school and high school level), Con Brio scored the most number of points, securing the title of Southern Star Music Festival Choral Sweepstakes Winner (and a 2nd trophy!).

Dr. Avossa is visiting several schools during the last two weeks of school and may be here tomorrow.  I know he will want to walk around and see the great learning that is still taking place at AMMS.  It was truly amazing all the great stuff that was happening last week including frog dissections, roller coaster demonstrations, multi-disciplinary units, and eggs dropping from the upper atrium!

Food Drive:  Please talk up the food drive.  This is a critical time for North Fulton Community Charities as students who are used to getting free and reduced lunch will not get that chance during the summer.   Let’s really have a great turn out for those less fortunate.

Supplies for Next Year:  If you would like to shop for next year’s classroom supplies, the Office Max catalogs are in Beth’s office.  The suggested limited again next year will be $100.00

PRIDE – This Friday, May 16^th PRIDE will not meet due to May Madness.

Noteworthy News:

This week is spring concert week for the music department.  We have lot of great music and many opportunities to hear our amazing musicians.  We hope you can join us!

Monday, May 12, 2014 – Orchestra Spring Concert @ 7PM in the Gym

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 – Band Spring Concert @ 7PM in the Gym

Wednesday, May 14, 2014 – Chorus Spring Concert @ 7PM in the Gym

In addition to our evening concerts, we will be presenting our annual “Pops” Concert during connections time on Wednesday, May 14^th in the Gym. 

Concerts will begin at:

9:15 AM (7th Grade Connections)

12:35 PM (8th Grade Connections)

2:30 (6th Grade Connections)

We are looking forward to sharing our music with you!

Musically yours,

Wendy, Tim, and Jason

 

Where is Livingston?

Danielle Sherfey says, “This week I am passing Livingston on to a fellow 6^th grade teacher. This teacher is always willing to lend a hand whenever it is needed on the 6^th grade hall. His effort and creativity has led to some amazing lessons; some in which I was lucky enough to be a part of. His leadership and care for students is evident every day in class. Not only is he wonderful to work with, but he is someone that you can count on to bring ideas to the table and get the job done. I am so excited to pass Livingston on to my neighbor teacher and friend, Joe Wilson!”

 

Happy Birthday

Chuck Mertes                         May 15

2013 - 14 Volume 35

Here's to the Teacher

By Dr. John Barge, State School Superintendent

 

Here's to the teacher rising at 4:00 a.m. to tend to the needs of her own family prior to leaving home for her school.

 

Here's to the teacher who arrives at school by 6:00 a.m. to ready her classroom for the day's lessons.

 

Here's to the teacher who is at his duty station every morning by 7:00 to monitor student behavior as students begin arriving on the buses, but the school day doesn't start until 8:00 a.m.

 

Here's to the teacher who used his own money to buy some new clothes for the child who has worn the same outfit for the last three days; other children are beginning to taunt that child for his smell.

 

Here's to the teacher who arrives at school an hour early every day to tutor students who are struggling to keep up the pace in the regular class -- and receives no extra pay.

 

Here's to the teacher who broke up a fight between two boys twice her size during the morning breakfast.

 

Here's to the lunchroom workers who arrived early to prepare breakfast for the majority of students in the school whose only meals that day will be the free breakfast and lunch they receive at school.

 

Here's to the kindergarten teacher who miraculously teaches 32 five year-olds for seven hours a day without assistance because budget cuts eliminated her paraprofessional.

 

Here's to the teacher who wipes the noses and tends to the cuts and scrapes of her students.

 

Here's to the teacher who cleans up after her sick student.

 

Here's to the teacher who is daily faced with the challenge of meeting the academic needs of five gifted children, five children with individualized education plans, five students who speak little to no English, and 10 average students all in the same class period.

 

Here's to the rural high school math teacher, or English, or science, or social studies, who must teach every subject to every child in the school because the school is so small they only earn one teacher per content field.

 

Here's to the teacher who endures the verbal abuse of a parent because his child didn't pass the teacher's class.

 

Here's to the teacher who endures the verbal abuse of a parent because his child made a 93 on the test and not a 100.

 

Here's to the assistant principal who takes a loaded handgun from a student who says the only reason he brought the gun to school was to protect himself from another child who threatened to stab him.

 

Here's to the same assistant principal who then takes a six-inch hunting knife off the child who threatened the one with the gun.

 

Here's to the teacher who lends a caring ear to a young girl who tearfully confides in her that she is pregnant and is afraid her father will disown her when he finds out.

 

Here's to the teacher who reads in a student's journal of the abuse she is enduring at the hands of her stepfather.

 

Here's to the teacher who pays for the eyeglasses for her student because her family can't afford them.

 

Here's to the teacher who spends hundreds of dollars of her own money supplying her classroom because budget cuts have eliminated her supply money.

 

Here's to the teacher who eats lunch standing up while performing lunch duty.

 

Here's to the principal who oversees the evacuation of her building due to a bomb threat.

 

Here's to the teacher who peers into the bloodshot, vacant eyes of his student who is strung out on drugs and strives to spark an interest in Geometry.

 

Here's to the same teacher who then deals with the intoxicated parent of the same child.

 

Here's to the assistant principal whose life is threatened because he won't let a child get into a car with an intoxicated parent who came to school to pick up his child.

 

Here's to the teacher who is caught in the middle of a custody dispute between parents over who has the right to information.

 

Here's to the teacher who is slapped and spit on every day by the severely disabled children she teaches.

 

Here's to the teacher who changes the diapers of her severely disabled children every day.

 

Here's to the teacher who catheterizes her profoundly disabled student every day.

 

Here's to the teacher who tends to her unconscious student who has had a seizure in her classroom due to a previously unknown medical condition.

 

Here's to the teacher who performs routine lice-checks on her students.

 

Here's to the teacher who drives a child home from school after a basketball game because his father won't pick him up.

 

Here's to the teachers of the deaf and blind.

 

Here's to the teacher who strives daily to break through the vacant stares and walls built by the child who spends most of her time at home locked in a room with boarded up windows and no food.

 

Here's to the counselor who comforts the child who just lost both of her parents in an accident.

 

Here's to the teacher who, in spite of all these challenges, must ensure that; all children are reading on grade level; that she is differentiating instruction to meet the needs of the special needs, gifted, English language learners and average learners all in the same class period; and, that he is trained and teaching the standards properly, and is making the expected growth every year.

 

Here's to the teacher who, after arriving home, prepares dinner for her family, cleans up from dinner, and gets her children to bed, before spending two hours grading papers only to fall into bed by 11:00 that night, if she is lucky, and then have the alarm go off at 4:00 the next morning to start all over again.

 

Here's to the teacher who is then openly harangued and criticized regularly in the public eye for not being successful with every child in his class.

 

Here's to the teachers of Georgia who have faced each of these challenges head-on and still miraculously managed to raise the level of student achievement in the state of Georgia to some of its highest marks ever.

 

 

News/Timelines/Due Dates

This week, our parents salute the AMMS staff including a luncheon this Wednesday.  You may also choose to wear jeans every day this week!

 

I want to give a special shout out to the F.I.G.H.T club (thanks Jackie for starting this club) and student council for the great presence we had at Relay for Life!  They sold S’mores made over a fire pit (thanks Dan)!  It was great to have so many students involved this year and we were one of the highest donors. 

 

Great picture of our visiting Korean teachers with their host teachers and their families at Stone Mountain this weekend.  And notice our very talented sixth grade teachers in their newest profession! (see below)

 

Heads Up: 

Rising 5^th grade students will be visiting AMMS next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, May 6-8.  Music students will be performing for their arrival at 9:00AM.  Please excuse these students for a few minutes while they perform for our future AMMS Lions.

 

Food Drive:  Please talk up the food drive.  This is a critical time for North Fulton Community Charities as students who are used to getting free and reduced lunch will not get that chance during the summer.   Let’s really have a great turn out for those less fortunate.

 

Governance Council Elections – You will receive directions next week on how to vote for the teacher representative for governance council.  The choice should not be too difficult as we only have one candidate.  Here is her bio:  Rebecca Myers

I am currently in my eighth year as a teacher and have taught at the high school and middle school levels.  I have also taught in urban and rural districts fused with diversity.  I have a Masters in Educational Administration and am a certified Biology and Middle Grades Science teacher with an Administration certification.  I am currently working towards my PL6 certification at Kennesaw State University.  I love education and I love teaching and working with children.  They are the reasons I come to school every day and my motivation to continually work hard and improve as an educator.    I would like to be a part of the governance council because of their roles in designing innovative solutions to increase student achievement and its impact on the direction of the school.  I would like to be a member of the council that looks within the school and its community to work together, putting the needs of the students first, thereby increasing student growth and achievement.  I currently influence the lives of about 100 students per year.  I would like to take the next step and be a part of a larger democratic process that impacts many more students. Being a member of the school governance council will allow me to understand the educational needs of the community and use this as a focal driving point to increase student learning,    growth, and achievement for all the students at Autrey Mill.        

 

PRIDE:   This Friday, May 9^th will be the final meeting for PRIDE this school year. (May 16^th – May Madness and May 23^rd – LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!)  All grade lessons will have a concluding lesson of reflection and a survey.  Think about ways you can celebrate this school year with your PRIDE groups.  Reflect back on the memories that have been created during this year or even the past two or three years with your group. 

 

Teachers and students will be asked to complete a survey.  All surveys (Students and Teachers) should be turned in to Fran Meredith by the end of the day Friday, May 9^th.

 

Now is a great time to start cleaning out your PRIDE materials if you have not already done so.  If you have been holding on to any PRIDE lesson materials that need to be returned or could be used again in the future please return those to Wendy Wilson or Kathy Nagle.  If you have mosaic tiles from the lesson a few weeks ago, please put those in the cardboard box in the front office mailroom.  Make sure ALL hula-hoops are returned to the PE staff.

 

Where is Livingston?

Marisa Wesker says, “The person I would like to pass Livingston to is someone who works day and (literally) night to accommodate the needs of ALL of her students.  She does so with passion and integrity, and she has inspired me to be a better teacher this year.  This person has become not just a colleague to me, but a friend and confidant.  Her patience with some of our more challenging students is unmatched, and she teaches from her heart.  From her, I have gotten great advice and a sounding board for ideas, issues, and pretty much everything else.  This week, Livingston will live with Danielle Sherfey."

 

Happy Birthday

Jackie Sundal             May 7

Sarah Jarvis               May 7

Dana Griffin               May 9

Michael Harrell          May 9

Nomitha Thomas      May 11

 

 

 

2013-14 Volume 34

"What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath, as a work of art in progress? Imagine that you are a Masterpiece unfolding, every second of every day, a work of art taking form with every breath."
— Thomas Crum

 

News/Timelines/Due Dates

We say a fond farewell to Lyn Shiver this week.  She is retiring after many years of dedicated service.  I always admire how Lyn really knows our students and their families.  She can often shed light on situations because she knows what is happening in the child’s life.  We wish her the very best!

We are hitting that time of year where severe weather is all too common.  It looks like that could be the case over the next couple of days.  Make sure you review emergency procedures.

Congrats to our Spanish students and their wonderful teachers for the outstanding scores on the National Spanish Exam.  The list of winners looks like a whos who of private schools but right up there in the pack is AMMS!!  Way to go.

PRIDE  - This week is silent reading.  May 9^th will be a concluding lesson of reflection and a survey.  Think about ways you can celebrate this school year with your PRIDE groups.  Reflect back on the memories that have been created during this year or even the past two or three years with your group.

Now is a great time to start cleaning out your PRIDE materials.  If you have been holding on to any PRIDE lesson materials that need to be returned or could be used again in the future please return those to Wendy Wilson or Kathy Nagle.  If you have mosaic tiles from the lesson a few weeks ago, please put those in the cardboard box in the front office mailroom.  Make sure ALL hula-hoops are returned to the PE staff

Where is Livingston?

Andrea Rioux says, “This teacher put me to work as soon as I arrived at AMMS, really making me feel needed which in turn really eased my transition out of the classroom. During the development of creating the first lesson together, I quickly learned how dedicated she is not only to her student but all the students in her grade level.  She is an innovative educator willing to try new things (regardless if they work) and challenge the status quo. I am impressed by her commitment to AMMS because at this time of year, when all of us just want to get to the end, she and her team are already planning for next year.  On top of everything MARISA WESKER does at AMMS, I am most thankful she has taken the time get to know me and make me feel a part of AMMS. Livingston is going to enjoy spending the next week with her… I hear he likes Reeses too!”

 

Happy Birthday

Caren Allen                April 28