Jag Spots is a weekly newsletter authored mostly by Colin to share with everyone what is coming up in the coming week, inspirational thoughts and articles, a list of important events and deadlines, and general housekeeping. A new edition of Jag Spots comes out every Sunday and it contains everything our team needs to know for the coming week. Make sure to read it so you won't be consumed by confusion in the coming week.

The first few weeks of school are the most intense of them all. These are the moments when we set the tone for the coming school year and our students are watching. What this means is that students have great hopes for us, they want to be pushed, they want to succeed, they want to be proud of themselves, they also want to have fun, spend time with their friends, and feel good about themselves. None of these experiences are exclusive but what happens the first few days of school matter.

These are the days for students to share with you who they are through something innovative such as, playing a game, creating a mask that shows how we see them and also how themselves internally, or it might be playing silly games like Scrabble Dash to loosen them up and develop camarederie. We have such a limited time to make an impression for them to relaize that being in your classroom will be an experience unlike any other they have experienced. I encourage all of you in the coming days to play with your students, teach them the routines in your classroom but make sure although there are rules, they are ones that students love to follow, show them a bit about who you are and what you care about. This means being willing to take a risk in front of your class, tell them a funny story, sing a song, try a magic trick, make funny faces, take the time to read them a hysterical story, transform the classroom into something unusual reflecting the start of the school year. At the same time letting students know what they do has value, meaning, and importance whether they are sharing their work via social media or addressing issues of concern at school or within the larger community.

All of these goals are achieved through exstenive planning. Think in detail about every aspect of the first four days of school in terms of how your students move around the room, interact with you, and relate to each other. Setting up a comprehensive plan for the coming four days enables the fun, the hard work, and discipline that we all want (our students included.)

Emergency sub plans are sub plans submitted by every teacher for use only when someone is either too ill or unable to create a sub plan. Please draft a set of four emergency sub plans that follow your classroom schedule. These plans should contain information such as classroom rules and procedures, students that can relied upon to provide accurate information, and other individuals to turn to in the building for assistance. Four emergency sub plans should be submitted to James in hard copy form by Monday 9-15 by 8:30 am. If you have emergency plans from last year please update them to reflect new duties, schedule, and students.

Professional Learning Communities are groups of teachers (grade level teams in grades PK-5), subject area teams for grades 6-8, and Spanish. These teams meet once a week during a common planning time to discuss student work, engage in professional development, or to develop assessments. If you are in grades K-5 please review your schedule with your teammates and determine when during the week you plan on holding your PLC. As soon as you have a time send me an email letting me know when your team plans to meet. Teachers in PK and 6-8 are assigned PLC times due to the complexity of the middle school and PreK schedules.

In the coming month I plan meet with all of you to discuss your goals for the coming school year. We want to know how you'd like to grow professionally and goals you have related to student performance as well. Starting next week speak to Ada about setting up an appointment to meet with me for about 20 minutes.

Students entering grades 4-8 received summer homework. Students in the accelerated track in grades 6-8 have homework due tomorrow for science and social studies. All other students have until Monday, September 11th to hand in their assignments.

James created a great form for all of us to track our positive contacts home. Remember to try to contact two-three families once a week about something positive about a student. It is even better when the student is there with you when you reach out to them. Let's see whether Lower or Middle School is better at spreading great news for the coming marking period.

Every week in Jag Spots we include inspirational quotes to motivate everyone for the coming week. I've created a Googledoc for everyone to share their name and a favorite quote with the entire LCCS team. I hope that by the end of the school everyone will have the opportunity to share two or three inspirational quotes with all of us.

"If we want meaningful change, we have to make a connection to the heart before we can make a connection to the mind."-George Courous, The Innovator's Mindset