It Takes a School...

Principal Ponderings...
As I lay in a hospital bed in the emergency room Thursday night, thinking about Open House happening without me, it became clear what my Monday reflection article would be about.  I watched the minutes tick by and thought about the parents listening to teachers talk about curriculum.  I thought about parents getting signed up on iParent.  I thought about which parents were the last ones in the building and how they were probably being "encouraged" to finish their conversations.  I thought about teachers finishing up a very long day and finally being able to drive home.  And as much as I was upset that I was not there, I realized that Open House happened, without me.

It's funny, earlier on Thursday, I had been in Mrs. Taylor's kindergarten classroom to do a read aloud and meet the students.  When asked if they knew what I did, one student said, "You run the school."  I smiled and told him that no, I did not run the school.  That would be too difficult of a job to run the school by myself.  I told all of the students in that class that luckily, Florence Roche has so many wonderful teachers and staff, and that, together, we all run the school.  Little did I know how the reality of that statement would become even more clear to me by the end of the day.

So now, I am sitting here on my couch typing this, stuck at home.  Thank you for the flowers, the chocolates (my husband and stepson were especially appreciative of those!), the emails, the positive thoughts.  As difficult as it is for me, I am listening to my body and resting and recovering from surgery.  This is definitely a new level of exhaustion that I am experiencing.  You all know how hard it is for me to not be at school!  But the great thing is...the students have all of you to keep the school running smoothly.  It is comforting to have complete trust in the people that I work with.  I hope to be back on my feet soon, although I may not be the fastest one through the hallways for a while. ;)

I am stealing and changing the phrase "It takes a village..."  Over the last few days, I have learned that it takes a whole school.  Thank goodness I have all of you.  And thank goodness our students have all of you.  Have a great week!

**That same student who I quoted earlier...when I said that I was glad that Mrs. Taylor let me come in and read to her class...he said, "Well of course she said yes to you coming in, she always has to say yes to anything you ask!"  Laura, I will remember that, and always expect a yes from you!**

Events This Week:
Tuesday - Administrators, coaches and school psychologists will be attending a training on district determined measures (DDMs) from 12:30-3:30 at the PAC
Wednesday - Staff meeting from 3:30-5:00
Thursday - Curriculum half day, lab teachers will be working with our TLA consultant, Evernote help will be provided in the computer lab, Genius Bar with tech dept at the high school
Friday - PTA event...Family Fun Night 4:00-6:00, staff are welcome to attend, Mr. Garden will be singing!

Great Things I Noticed Last Week:

• Every day our school nurse takes care of all of our students.  But last week, Lorinda dealt with 2 emergency situations in one day.  We had a child who fell in the classroom and had to be brought to the hospital.  Then we had a child have an allergic reaction, and Lorinda had to administer an epi pen.  The child was then taken to the hospital.  I just wanted to recognize Lorinda for doing the right thing and keeping everyone safe.  It was a stressful day for everyone, but in the end, our students were ok because she was there to take care of them.  Thank you Lorinda!
• Mr Smith was leading his 3rd graders in a writing brainstorm during snack.  Using the ELMO, he was demonstrating how to make a list of writing topic ideas.
• 1st graders in Mrs. Cragg's class were listening to one of my favorite stories, Two Bad Ants.
• I saw some great anchor charts up in Mrs. Fournier's classroom.  I could tell from the charts that her students had talked about different kinds of books that they like to read, and they had discussed challenging, easy and just right books.

Check It Out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMTHhKdkw&app=desktop
This link is an inspirational talk by Rita Pierson called "Every Kid Needs a Champion."  Give yourself 8 minutes and watch it.

If you have not read the book The One and Only Ivan yet, you need to!  This is a great blog entry about a teacher and her experience with reading it to her class.
http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/the-one-and-only-ivan-by-katherine-applegate-absolutely-not-reviewed-by-donalyn-miller/