2013-14 Volume 33

 

"The best hope of solving all our problems lies in harnessing the diversity, the energy, and the creativity of all our people.”
       -Roger Wilkins

News/Timelines/Due Dates

 

I know a lot of pressure comes with the CRCT and appreciate all you have done to get the student’s ready.  I need you to be extra diligent in following all directions as we implement the test over the next few days.  Make sure you are reading the latest emails form Chris and following the guidelines precisely. We had too many mistakes last year and most were due to lack of attention to detail.  Some have asked if CRCT days are jeans days and the answer is no, except of course on Friday.

It’s hard to believe that a year ago the Boston Marathon bombing occurred.  Watching all the coverage this weekend, the triumph of the human spirit was all I could think about.  No one really remembers the names of the evil people that pulled this off, but they certainly remember all the acts of heroism and kindness. 

I hope you also saw the moving tribute Friday put together by our news crew supporting our Korean community in the horrible ferry accident.  One of our visiting Korean teachers was so thankful for that outpouring of support.

Check out the latest Insider from Fulton County.  Our own Marisa Wesker is highlighted!  Way to go!  http://issuu.com/fultoncountyschools/docs/march2014

Governance Council – If you are interested in running for the governance council for next year, please let me know.  This is for a two year term and is a great way to be involved in the decision making process of the school.  We meet once a month and there is some committee work involved.  For further details, ask current members, Elizabeth Ferree, Fran Meredith, Deborah White and Erin Hoerr.

Final Exams – Content chairs should turn final exams in to their content administrator by May 6.

PRIDE  –We will not meet this Friday, April 25^th due to CRCT Testing.  PRIDE will return next week with Silent Reading. 

Looking ahead…….there are only 2 PRIDE sessions remaining for this school year – May 2^nd and May 9^th.  May 2^nd will be silent reading and 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?

Sherry Thomas says, “It’s true…not being in place on day one has its disadvantages but try coming in mid-year to a new position that is still evolving.  Top that off with landing in the midst of the very important Seed fund project with the responsibility of a presentation to The Fulton Foundation.  That’s tough but Andrea Rioux has managed to overcome the newbie obstacles and rise to the many challenges with confidence and expertise.  Her vision and contribution to the redesign of the Media Center has also been invaluable. I’m constantly impressed with her depth of knowledge in the world of technology and her problem solving, can do attitude.   We are fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and forward thinking individual join the AMMS staff.   So Livingston moves on but not far…I just hope he likes purple!”

Happy Birthday

Lizzie Haber               April 22

Linda Collett              April 23

Kim Hobbs                 April 26

2013 -14, Volume 32

"If the life of a river depended only on the rainfall within the confines of its own banks, it would soon be dry.  If the life of an individual depended solely on his own resources he would soon fall.  Be grateful for your tributaries.”
       -Dr. William Arthur

News/Timelines/Due Dates

 

I hope you all had a wonderful break.  It was nice to have a little down time and gear up for these final weeks!  This week holds important religious significance for many on our staff with Passover early in the week, Good Friday and then Easter on Sunday.  

Governance Council – If you are interested in running for the governance council for next year, please let me know.  This is for a two year term and is a great way to be involved in the decision making process of the school.  We meet once a month and there is some committee work involved.  For further details, ask current members, Elizabeth Ferree, Fran Meredith, Deborah Clark and Erin Hoerr.

PRIDE  –This Friday, April 18^th students will be in an advisement class for PRIDE.  Each grade level will have a different lesson involving the upcoming CRCT lessons.  Students will be either be learning about the structure of the test, test taking techniques, or ways to relieve stress and anxiety while taking the test.  Lessons will be placed in your boxes.  A powerpoint presentation will go along with the 6^th grade PRIDE lesson.  It will be emailed out to you this week.  If you are in a room without a projector please partner with your PRIDE buddy.

As a reminder, we will not have PRIDE next week due to the CRCT testing.

Coffee and Conversations – Our next session is this Friday.  We will be talking about discipline and looking at a few case studies.  Feel free to join us in room A150

Where is Livingston?

Dana Griffin says “Coming in to the school  after the year has already started is tough.  I’ve had to do that several times.  Working in an environment where you are in constant contact with all the faculty….not just one grade level…… and having to learn everyone’s name is even tougher.  Looking good every day and setting the fashion bar wwwaaaayyyy high, is the toughest of all!  Considering the people she has followed in the footsteps of since the school opened, I’m beginning to think that fashion is a job requirement.   I’m passing Livingston on to Sherry Thomas!  She is always smiling and ready to help.   While jump starting the machines and laminating yards and yards of materials is definitely appreciated, I mostly admire her kindness and patience with both teachers and students.  Congratulations! ”

Happy Birthday

Jaimal Page                April 16

Mimi Gamel                April 16

2013-14 Volume 31

 

"It is a shameful thing to be weary of inquiry when what we search for is excellence."
       -Cicero

News/Timelines/Due Dates

 

 

Rock Eagle was a great success and I hear one of our own was a rock star on the trail.  According to Michelle (and others) “I wanted to let you all know that I REALLY appreciated having Todd as the designated leader of all the hikes this year.  In the last 7 years, it was probably my (and the kids’) least favorite activity at Rock Eagle, because it was just a trip up, an underwhelming destination, and the trip back.  It was not very interesting.  This year that changed all because of Todd. 

 

He took groups of 60 – 90 adults and kids up the trail, and made frequent stops along the way to point out and explain very interesting things about nature, ecology, history, etc., all unique to the area.  He got the kids’ attention and held it throughout his mini-presentations.  In 7 years there, I can honestly say that it was the best hiking experience at Rock Eagle.  Hats off to Todd and to Julie and Erin for making this change.”

Congrats to Rusty Godwin who was elected as District 4 president of the SSWAG this past week in Savannah!

Walk-a-thon – If you are participating in the walk-a-thon tomorrow, you may wear jeans.

Welcome to our four visiting teachers from Korea.  They are currently teachers in Korea but will be spending time with us for the rest of the year. 

Congrats to our track team who competed this rainy past Saturday.  The girls placed second in the county.  Thanks to Malinda, Alyssa and David for all your hard work.

 

Governance Council – If you are interested in running for the governance council for next year, please let me know.  This is for a two year term and is a great way to be involved in the decision making process of the school.  We meet once a month and there is some committee work involved.  For further details, ask current members, Elizabeth Ferree, Fran Meredith, Deborah Clark and Erin Hoerr.

Surveys – Please remember to fill out your survey for me and your assistant principal. 

Reminders from the front office

·         Please remember to email the Front Office if you are somewhere other than your classroom. 

·         If a student has a pass signed by the Front office for checkout, please allow the students to leave at the time specified on their note.

 

PRIDE  –This Friday, April 4^th will be silent reading during PRIDE.  All students will remain in homeroom for silent reading.  6^th grade classes will claim their prize for the footsteps competition during this time.

It looked like many groups were having fun with their team building activities last week.  If you had a group working with the paper mosaics, please put all of the papers back in the baggie and return them to the cardboard box in the copy room in the front office.    If your group was working with the hula-hoops, please return the hula-hoops to the PE staff.

Next week we will not have PRIDE due to Spring Break! 

Where is Livingston?

Erin Hoerr says “This teacher is one of the hardest working teachers in the school.  She is a pillar of the 6^th grade.  Not only does she coordinate all of the TAG paperwork and testing for the entire school, Dana Griffin fields countless emails from parents who try to push their child into the gifted program.  The TAG work alone would be a lot for most people to handle, but Dana is head of the yearbook, navigator team leader, mentor to new teachers, and she is the back bone of the 6^th grade social studies department.  If you are ever here working late, her light is one of the few lights still on, since she usually does not leave school before 6pm.  When I started here in 6^th grade, I deliberately watched how she led our team meetings to learn how to be a better leader myself, since leadership is just one of her natural skills. Dana is an inspiration and a mentor to me.  Thank you, Dana, for all of the work that you do for AMMS! ”

Happy Birthday

Amy Nikolaou            April 1

Brad Hubred             April 4

Jennifer McCann        April 5

Maria Purwin             April 5

Matt McNamara         April 11

2013-14 Volume 30

“To break through creativity, we must defer judgment.  That is, learn to accept all ideas, without prejudice, and examine them each in turn.”

-Scott Isaksen

News/Timelines/Due Dates

Bon Voyage Rock Eagle people!!  I know the next few days will be fun but exhausting.  Please know I appreciate the time you give to the students for these kinds of endeavors.  Have a safe and wonderful trip.

Once again, Multi-cultural night was a huge success.  I want to thank the entire committee for all the time and effort that went into making this a great event.  It truly is a special night to share the many different cultures that are prevalent at our school.  While I think we might need to start earlier next year (3:30J-just kidding Gemma, kinda), seeing one of our children who struggles greatly and whose early childhood was spent in an orphanage, get up and sing, was worth its weight in gold. 

Our next Coffee and Conversations is this Friday, March 28.  We will be discussing an article called The Irreplaceables.  You can find a copy or summary here http://tntp.org/ideas-and-innovations/view/the-irreplaceables-understanding-the-real-retention-crisis.

WRITING SCORES!!!! – Congrats to our eighth graders for the outstanding writing scores.  30% of our students exceeded and 65% met!!  We were one of five middle schools that had more that had 95% or more meeting and exceeding.  Thanks to all of our teachers who have worked to get our kids to be so successful.

Surveys – Please remember to fill out your survey for me and your assistant principal. 

Reminders from the front office

·         Please remember to email the Front Office if you are somewhere other than your classroom. 

 

·         If a student has a pass signed by the Front office for checkout, please allow the students to leave at the time specified on their note.

Noteworthy News:

Congratulations to both the 7^th grade & 8^th grade Bands on their outstanding performances at LGPE (Large Group Performance Evaluation) last week.  Both ensembles received straight Superior ratings on their stage performances and Superior ratings in the sight-reading room.  A superior is the highest rating that you can receive.  We are extremely proud of these students and their accomplishments! 

 

2014 MathCounts team of Luke Zhuo, Monica Tang, Veronica Chen and Phoebe Liu finshed 2^nd in state competition Monday March 17, at GA Tech.  Luke Zhuo placed 1^st overall individually, and will represent Ga. on the 4 person state team at Nationals in Orlando, Fl. In May.  Good luck to Luke and congratulations to the entire team and coach Michelle Potts for a great year!

 

 

PRIDE  – If you are referring to the schedule given at the beginning of the year, we are having to make a few changes in the next couple of weeks to accommodate upcoming lessons that correspond with the upcoming CRCT tests. Since the CRCT has been delayed we are having to move around some of our lessons.  Below is an updated schedule of the next few weeks.

This week 3/28 – Team Building activity in PRIDE

    6th Grade - Students will be creating "Body English"

    7th Grade - Students have "Hidden Agendas" while creating Mosaics

        *(Teachers will need Mosaic strips of various colors - provided)- After the lesson, please collect the mosaic color strips and put them in the bag.  Return the mosaic tile bags to the mailroom and put them on the counter or in    Wendy Wilson’s box.

    8th Grade - Students will be "Shipwrecked" with Hula-Hoops and Sharks 

        *(Teachers will need Hula-Hoops:  Please see PE Staff for Hula-Hoops)

 

4/4 – Silent Reading in HR for 7^th & 8^th / 6^th grade - 30 minute free time reward for footsteps competition

4/11 - No PRIDE - Spring Break

4/18 - CRCT Lessons in PRIDE

4/25 - NO PRIDE - CRCT Testing

 

Where is Livingston?

Deborah White says “This teacher truly can doing it all with a smile.  She is the STEM coordinator for her grade level, on the leadership team, a member of the school governance council and a valuable member of both her grade level team and her content team.  Recently she put countless hours into a presentation she had to make for The Fulton Foundation.  This is the organization that awarded our school the SEED fund money to implement the interdisciplinary portion of our strategic plan.  Not only did she do a terrific job with a very complicated and detailed task, but her presentation was the only one of four that was awarded the money.  She was a finalist for teacher of the year and is a true asset to Autrey Mill.   Her dedication, organization and good nature make her a pleasure to work with every day.  This week Livingston goes to Erin Hoerr, a wonderful teacher who will soon make an even better mother.”

Happy Birthday

Ashley Sutton            March 24

Fran Meredith           March 26

Ingrid Hudson           March 27

Aimee Biggs               March 28

Liz Grage                    March 29

2013 -14 Volume 29

March 17, 2014

 

“To get the full value of joy you must have people to divide it with.”

-Mark Twain

News/Timelines/Due Dates

 

Top of the Mornin to ya!!   Next week is a meeting free week!!  Our next Coffee and Conversations has been moved to March 28.  We will be discussing an article called The Irreplaceables.  You can find a copy or summary here http://tntp.org/ideas-and-innovations/view/the-irreplaceables-understanding-the-real-retention-crisis.

 

 

The Rock Eagle Chaperone Meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 19^th at 7:45am in Julie Ferris’ Room, A-180?   

PRIDE  –  This Friday will be silent reading.

Where is Livingston?

Jennifer Lynch says “I’d like to pass Livingston off to Deborah White. She is an excellent and dedicated reading teacher, who routinely stays late to make sure she has the absolute best plans in place for her students. Her subject is very difficult—not only does she teach various skill levels, but also various grade levels. On top of all that, she has been incredibly helpful to me in my first year at Autrey Mill and in my first year as a Reading teacher. She’s a real asset to Autrey Mill, and I love working with her!

Happy Birthday

Daniel Quinn              March 20

Debra Anderson       March 20

Rayna Helton             March 20

2013-14 Volume 28

March 10, 2014

 

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things.”

-Elinor Smith

News/Timelines/Due Dates

I know we presented a lot of information in a short time to you last week during grade levels about the very exciting initiatives that evolved from our strategic planning.  Please know, especially in regards to the proposed schedule, that there is still much to work out in terms of details.  I will send all our seed fund applications so you can get the background and ideas behind each initiative and also see the incredible amount of hard work that went into these plans.

We are on round 4 of walk-throughs focusing on standards 3. 7 and 8.

Congratulations to Julie Ferris, Vicki Alvis, Beatriz Gyori, and Elizabeth Ferree for presenting (to rave reviews) at the Foreign Language Association of Georgia conference.  We are so proud.

Our students competed well in the state technology competition this weekend.  AMMS Computer Technology Club member, Diane Moon won First Place in Non-multimedia Applications for 5-6th graders on Saturday at the Georgia Educational technology Fair held at The Middle Georgia State College in Macon, GA.  The judges’ feedback for her project was "exceptional use of the software."  We also had a few students who participated in the robotics competition.  Thanks to Sharon and Ed for their leadership with these groups.

PRIDE  – This Friday, March 14^th we will not meet for PRIDE.  This Friday is one of our make-up days and we will run the regular Monday – Thursday schedule.

Noteworthy News:

The AMMS 7^th & 8^th grade Band students will be attending the GMEA LGPE (Large Group Performance Evaluation) event next week on March 19^th & 20^th.  The 8^th graders perform in the afternoon on March 19^th and the 7^th graders perform in the morning on March 20^th.  More details containing exact departure and arrival times as well as rosters will be sent in an email.  These students should be allowed to make up all work missed as they are involved in a school activity.  Thanks for your support!

 

 

Where is Livingston?

Kaitlin Dunn says “It’s been great having Livingston on display in my classroom the past few days. This week, I’d like to pass him off to a teacher I hear about on an almost daily basis from the seventh graders I teach. They tell me her class is interesting, challenging, and fun. Though I don’t directly interact with her much, she helps me as a teacher by delivering content that students can connect to what we learn in life science and can relate to on a personal level. Livingston goes to Jennifer Lynch – she really makes the ancient language of Latin come alive!”

Happy Birthday

Betsy Skalet               March 12

Dan Kearney              March 12

2013-14 Volume 27

“In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity-it is a pre-requisite.”

-President Barack Obama

News/Timelines/Due Dates

 

The first day of the last quarter begins on March 17.  Don’t forget to set your clocks forward this weekend.  In celebration of losing an hour of sleep and getting to drive home in the daylight, Monday will be casual.

We wish a fond farewell to Betsy Jacks who is leaving us to move onto another position.  She has been with AMMS since the day it opened and she will be missed. 

Finally I want to thank the many people who worked long hours on putting our seed proposals together.  We presented last Monday and should hear something today.  We will be sharing more with you at the Wednesday meetings.  The photo is the group at the presentation last week.

Seven myths about rigor – Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing seven myths about rigor in the classroom from Barbara Blackburn, author of Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word

Myth 7. Rigor is just one more thing to do.

Rigor is not another thing to add to your plate. Instead, rigor is increasing the level of expectation of what you are already doing. For example, if you are teaching vocabulary, instead of asking students to write their own definition of the word, ask them to write a riddle. It’s the same end result, but at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

PRIDE - On Friday, March 7^th,   6^th & 7^th grade students will be doing a second week of student choice lessons for the PRIDE. The choice is yours again for this week! Topics may include Cyber Bullying, Making Good Choices, Self-Advocacy, Teasing and Harassment, Top Ten Middle School Issues, or Honesty.  Choose a different lesson from the one you completed last week. Lessons will be located in the mailroom in folders.  Please browse and choose a lesson you would like to discuss with your students.  You may have already picked a second lesson last week.

8^th Grade students will be doing part two of  the “Creating a Legacy Project”.  This is the culmination of a special two week lesson that will allow students to leave their mark on AMMS as they look forward to the future of high school.

 

Exciting News:  Congratulations to our Debate team who placed second overall in their tournament this weekend.  This is an incredible feat given that the club just started this year!!!

Where is Livingston?

Rebecca Myers says “I would like to pass Livingston along to a brand new teacher at Autrey Mill this year.  We are in TAG certification class together and besides eating and sitting at the same table every other Thursday night she has passed along some insightful ideas about instruction and teaching.  Her peers will tell you she has a high work rate and is a great addition to the 7^th grade science department.  I enjoy listening to her thoughts and ideas on the teaching profession and I am sure her students are learning a lot from her as well.  I am very happy to pass Livingston on to Kaitlin Dunn.   Your dedication and hard work is obvious, contagious, and admirable.  Enjoy!!!”

 

 

Happy Birthday

Cindy Smith                March 7