Bobcat ROAR

I was blown away with the presentation for "Boss Appreciation." My family and I began enjoying the contents of the basket this weekend and they are thankful for the wonderful variety. There was something in there for each family member. The amount of love you all showed me last week was humbling. I am grateful for a dedicated hard working team. Your passion and commitment to our Bobcats makes my job more seamless. I can not thank you enough for believing in my leadership. The journey continues!

Congratulations to our Bale's Best of the week, Mrs. Trinina Pouncy. Her name was pulled from our Shout Out Bulletin Board in the Teacher Lounge Hallway. She was recognized for her positive attitude and approach to intervening for positive student behavior.

Also, a special recognition to our Employee of the month, Allison Bibens! Not only has she been present to work the past 30 days, she is also finishing up her MAT and volunteering for extra learning opportunities through PLC Foundations and Teaching with Poverty in Mind. She comes in on the weekends to work and has been a major contributor to her new 2nd grade team and to our school. Keep up the exceptional work, Miss. Bibens!

I will be at the Arkansas Leadership Academy's Master Principal Institute November 4-6 which means we'll move our November Faculty Meeting and SLT Meeting to the following week at the same time and location. The fifth grade team has agreed to provide snacks for the November meeting.

It's that time of year again for Drug & Bully Free Awareness. Take a stand against drugs and bullying by joining in on the fun. Find each day's activities listed in the document attached below.

After meeting with Deb Bamforth, Solution Tree PLC Coach two weeks ago, I have had an opportunity to reflect on our next steps. I recall my first experience as a teacher forced to be on a PLC team with other colleagues. The way we were matched together made no sense and therefor had little impact on student learning. This is not the path that I want to follow. As it relates to the Professional Learning Community culture we're establishing at Bale, we will engage in collaborative teams that make the most sense to propel student learning. This primarily impacts our specialists and SPED teachers as grade level teams will continue to collaborate together during common planning time. Stay tuned...more discussions will follow.

Did you know that Bale is a "Spotlight School" for Wit & Wisdom (WW) and Fundations? Bobcat students are showing how much they are learning and we have several teachers teaching their hearts out with our new literacy curriculum. What an honor to have the opportunity to showcase instruction and learning for other building principals, Literacy Facilitators, LRSD Executive team members, and ADE. Special thanks to our 2nd grade team, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Breedlove, Mrs. Walls, and Ms. Glover for agreeing to be our "feature teachers."

Below you will find a video link from our Elementary Director, Darian Smith and Curriculum Director, Hope Worsham. They share tips and encouragement regarding our new literacy curriculum in the first half of the video and in the second half (11 min 25 sec) there are insightful interviews from teachers in Crossett, Arkansas who are in their second year of implementation of the same literacy materials. I am working to take a group of you to Crossett for those who may be interested. The video is worth viewing on your own. Mrs. Wilson's lesson on Jacques Cousteau is featured in the video! Here's a quick overview of the first half of the video.

Heggerty & Fundations - DO NOT CHANGE; Implement with fidelity

W&W - Three moduals completed by the end of the year is the expectation; three lessons per week is the goal; grade level teams should be no more than one lesson apart from each other.

*Trust the process! Do not pull out old worksheets.

Grades - Grade the activities from the program. Provide feedback in the consumable books/materials

MUST HAVE in the classroom: Anchor charts, sound walls, vowel valley, reference teaching tools during instruction, all hanging tools must be relevant to the current lesson, be sure to hide or take down charts from previous learning that will not be referenced in the current lesson.

Social Studies/Science - Both are built into the WW lessons; Science vocabulary/reading homework/research activities, and PBL are great options to implement.

Small Group time/centers occur during DVR and should reference learning students have already experienced.

● PBIS in the Classroom Session #11465 (Recommended for Novice Teachers, SPDG Teachers, and Teachers seeking strategies for classroom management) 10/22/19 8:30-11:30

● Tier II PBIS Section #11446 (Required for all SPDG PBIS Coaches/Teams)

• PD for “K-5 Other Teachers”: Specialists (Music, Art, P.E., etc.) should NOT sign up for the training for Reading Teachers. Nor do they need to attend W & W Module and Lesson Study. Specialists should sign up for a SoR Awareness Pathway - course #10632 in Talent Ed. Sessions 13A/B, 14A/B, 15A/B are dedicated to elementary specialists. Please sign up for the designated course .

● October Saturday R.I.S.E. 3-6 Classes:

○ Day 3 at the IRC this week 10/19;

○ Day 2 10/26 -Forest Heights;

○ Day 4 -October 26 - IRC

● Additional Professional Development Offerings for October 2019 are posted on the LRSD PD Page

Uniform collared top colors: Navy, light blue, white, grey

Uniform skirt, skort, jumper, slacks: Navy, Khaki

Additional options: Spirit shirt with uniform bottoms any day of the week. Denim bottoms with uniform or spirit shirt on Fridays.

Email: roxie.browning@lrsd.org
Location: 6501 West 32nd Street, Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone: 501-447-3600
Facebook: facebook.com/BaleElementaryLRSD
Twitter: @RHBrowning