Bring the Joy!

Principal ponderings...

Honestly...there are so many things I could say about this picture...just enjoy it,
it certainly makes me smile!

I wanted to thank all of you for such a smooth start to the school year.  Staff members were smiling.  Parents were happy.  And most importantly, kids were excited about coming back to school!  I definitely saw everyone bringing the joy during our first few days back.  So now, we just need to keep that momentum going.  I will do my best to remind you about being joyful...even when it might be particularly hard on some days.  And I hope that you will remind each other.  It does not take much to put a smile on a colleague's face when they are not having the best day.  And those smiles are contagious.  Once the adults start passing them around, they automatically spread to the kids!  It's a pretty simple message so I'm keeping my post short and simple today.

Currently reading:
I want to tell you about an amazing book I read this summer: Kids Deserve It.  Every educator needs to read this book!  In fact, I loved the book so much, I am working with the publishers to order multiple copies for us to have here at FloRo.

This book was written by two principals from California and Texas.  I had the chance to meet and hang out with one of the authors, Todd Nesloney, this summer when I was at the NAESP Conference in DC.  Their message is a great one.  Here's a quote from the book:

Events this week:
**Dianna will be traveling to recess and lunch sessions to review expectations with students.
Monday - Happy Labor Day, No school!
Tuesday - Liz at SU in the afternoon to interview adjustment counselors
Wednesday - Dr. Rodriguez visits FR in the am, Staff meeting @ 3:30 in the staff development room
Thursday - Liz meeting with PTA president @ 12:30
Friday - Para Meeting @ 9:00

Next week:
Thursday - Curriculum Night, 3-4 grade 6:00-7:00, K-2 7:00-8:00, We are planning an information session that will happen at 6:30 for all 1st grade parents.  Grace and Sharon will be presenting to them about our reading intervention program.
Friday - Welcome Back Picnic!  4:00-6:00

Great things I noticed last week:

• I absolutely loved our time together last Monday.  From starting with a video of everyone enjoying summer vacation to writing down our promises to beginning to talk about PBIS to our photo scavenger hunt...it was such a great way to launch our school year, together, smiling, and supporting each other.  Enjoy some of the scavenger hunt photos that different teams submitted...
  

• So proud of our 3rd grader, Xander.  That is quite a feat getting up in front of the entire district!  How will you challenge all of your students this year?

• Mrs. Fulreader and I loved surprising different bus stops throughout the week! 
  
  
  
• It was such a great first week of school and I have too many pictures to post, but I loved when I had a visit from this 2nd grader who wrote all about her trip to India this summer. 
  

Check it out:
Here is a video clip of all of our promise cards.  Be on the lookout, I will be posting them in the staff room!  https://quik.gopro.com/v/XsSQTinTZQ/
And by the way...I used my new favorite app to create that video.  It's called Quik and it's free!  So easy to take lots of photos from my phone and turn them into a video set to music!

A short post about why students write: https://twowritingteachers.org/2016/08/19/students-writing-day-one-and-every-day/

And remember...