Bulldog Bulletin

Dear Bulldog Families-

Wow! Having three snow days was really amazing; however, it was definitely tough for all of us to get back into the routine this week.

Weekly Highlights:

1. Grateful Family Gathering...went really well last night. Thank you to the families that were able to make it out! If you weren't able to make it this time, fear not! We will have another event for families during quarter three.
2. Veteran's Day Assembly...it was such a treat to have Mr. Gibson's military band come on Monday to play and celebrate building veterans. See the information below.

Upcoming Events:

1. NO SCHOOL MONDAY for STUDENTS! This is a district professional development day for teachers and we can't wait to see students on Tuesday.
2. Quarter two grades will be open on December 11th. Please be sure to check your student(s) powerschool to support them with their grades. If you have any issues or questions with powerschool, please reach out to kaye.jones@d11.org.

Reminders:

1. Harvest of Love Food Drive ends tomorrow. Please bring in your items and put them in the box in your advisory. WEB will be around at the end of the day to collect all items.
2. Impact Forms were given out to students during their advisory last week. Please be sure to ask your child if they brought one home. If they did, please turn them into their advisory teacher no later than November 20th.

As always, we are grateful for your ongoing support and partnership. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to reach out.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

In partnership,

Julia Scott

Galileo Middle School vision, "Students will engage in purposeful, authentic learning experiences, through integrated core subjects with real world connections."

On November 11 we celebrate Veterans Day and say THANK YOU to our building veterans for their service to our country. We are proud to honor you today by recognizing your names and service below. And thank you Mr. Gibson for a wonderful start to the day today, your band was fantastic!

• Sergeant Greg West, United States Army, 4 years, Korean Linguist/Voice Interceptor
• Sergeant First Class Paul Gibson, Army National Guard, 12 years
• Specialist E4 JoMary Vega, Puerto Rico National Guard, 8 years, Supplies and Logistics
• Major Sean Reed, United States Army, 13 years, Logistics Officer
• Sergeant First Class Reginald Blakey, United States Army Aviation, 24 years, Retired
• Master Sergeant Wayman West, United States Marine Special Operations Command, Force Reconnaissance, Retired
• Former Galileo teacher Petty Officer First Class Esther Smith, Army and Navy Reserves, 23 years, Retired

Monday, November 18th

• District Professional Development Day---NO STUDENTS

Friday, November 22nd

• Whole School Community Circle 8:40a

***Thanksgiving Break for ALL D11

Monday, November 25th-Friday, November 29th

Agenda:

• Welcome and Introductions
• Kaye: welcome everyone to the meeting; review the agenda.
• Celebrations
• Fall P/T Conferences
• Julia: Our goal is always 100%. This year we had advisory teachers reach out to invite families to conferences versus giving families a sign-up genius. We increased our participation from 33% last year to 62% this year!! This is a BIG celebration.
• Fall Family Event
• Fran: Ms. Haddenham had student leaders set up and support the event. Students were wearing the bulldog mascot and took turns. Families really enjoyed the opportunity to interact and enjoy seeing their students engage in activities.
• David: I was able to meet families and take a survey to support us in better understanding of what our community needs to create a community school pathway.
• Julia: We are super excited that we increased participation from 2 Bulldogs last year to 131 Bulldogs this year!
• Staffing Updates
• Julia: We hired a Community Coordinator to support with our Community Pathway Turnaround work. David Flanagan will be working in this position in collaboration with our Family Liaison Shirley Moorhead. Our 7th ELA teacher is being relocated to Japan. We are sad to see Ms. King go. We have a teacher ready to begin teaching and she has been shadowing, Ms. Jordan.
• Big Rock 1: Instructional Excellence Updates
• STAR Testing
• Fran: teachers will be setting goals with students. This assessment is an 80% correlation to CMAS. We need families to support us in talking to students about taking this assessment seriously. We will test beginning December 3rd. High schools use this data to place students in their classes for HS so it is very important that students take their time.
• Sustainability Grant PD Days
• Julia: Teachers that work at Galileo are receiving pay to come to engage in 40 hours of professional development outside of their teaching hours. All teachers have opted into this opportunity.
• Big Rock 2: Positive School Culture Updates
• PBIS Store
• Julia: counselors have set up the store during Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday lunches for students to shop.
• Student Support Center
• Julia: Through the sustainability grant, we are given a daily building sub. If this sub is not covering a classroom, they are in the student support center supporting students that may need intervention, catch up time or a quiet space to work. This is NOT in school suspension. Administration invites students to work in this room. It is also not meant to be a place where students stay all year. This space is used as needed.
• Attendance
• Julia: we have increased our attendance over the last month or so and we are at 90% or higher. YAY!!! Advisories are in a competition to see who can get 90% attendance or higher each week. We are trying to spell BULLDOG. Once an advisory gets BULLDOG, Ms. Scott will buy that advisory breakfast!
• Open
• PTA/PTO... we will definitely look at doing this as we build our community pathway
• Family Night Outside School like Skate City Night...the proceeds could go to the middle school.
• Audubon is doing this at least once a month. Tonight, they have skate city night with pajamas.
• Winter Break would be a great time to plan a family night so that students have a fun thing to do.
• Next Meeting: Thursday, December 19th at 4p

We are excited for you to be a part of the 2024 Toy Nation campaign! Our goal is to provide each student at Monroe, Penrose, Mark Twain and Wilson ES a toy for the holidays and we need all the help we can get in order to reach this ambitious goal (around 1400 toys needed)!

Our Donation Window starts on November 4th this year and will go until December 11th. We will then take the toys to each of the elementary schools across December 12-13. There will be a decorated donation box in the front office for donations.

Applications for eye exams were due on Monday, November 4th. Please reach out to shirley.moorhead@d11.org if you have questions or missed this deadline.

Appointments and glasses fittings take place on site at Galileo Middle School! The eye exam appointments will take place at school on the following days/times:

• Friday, December 6th from 8a-4p
• Monday, December 9th from 8a-4p
• Tuesday, December 10th from 8a-4p