Wildcat Weekly October 4, 2024

Happy Friday Wildcats!

I hope you had a fantastic week. One more week until Fall Break!

This past week we had our staff meeting on Tuesday, where we reviewed our School Performance Framework, which showed that we moved into "Performance" after being on "Improvement Plan" status last year. This is great news, but we still have a lot of growth to make, so we don't want to take our foot off the gas.

At the staff meeting we shared that during second quarter we will take our PLC focus to the next level with the 15-day challenge. Each PLC group will use the 15 day at the start of one of their units during 2nd quarter. This challenge will focus on going through the PLC cycle and using data in the cycle to adjust instruction.

I'd like to thank Graig and Carol for leading sessions on writing at our staff meeting as well. These writing strategies are what led to the schoolwide success and growth we saw last school year as everyone incorporated writing across all content areas. Writing is still the area we want to incorporate schoolwide as our CMAS data shows writing as our lowest area still. Thank you for taking these efforts and putting them into practice!

On Thursday, we had our P.R.I.D.E. breakfast, where we were able to recognize so many students for a great start to the year. Thank you for submitting your nominations and thank you to Melissa for taking care of the details, the food and certificates to help make this happen!

One more week! Let's finish strong this last week. I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

- Ben

Sunny Herron October 5

Laura Anglemyer October 11

Monday, October 7th

• 6/7th Flag Football vs. Cresthilll AWAY 4:00 pm
  
• 8th Flag Football vs. Cresthill HOME 4:00 pm
  
• 6/7th Grade Girls Volleyball- A/B AWAY vs. Cresthill, C HOME 4:00 pm
  

Tuesday, October 8th

• SGMS IMTSS Implementation Team Meeting 3:00 pm, 215
  
• 6/7th Flag Football MS District Playoffs- Day 1 @ SGMS, 4:00 pm
  
• Choir Concert 7:00 pm

Wednesday, October 9th

• 6/7th Flag Football MS District Playoffs- Day 2 @ Echo Park, 4:00 pm
  
• Ponderosa Feeder Bond Information Happy Hour @ Pinery Country Club 4:30 pm

Thursday, October 10th

• Orchestra Concert 5:30 pm, Band Concert 7:00 pm

Friday, October 11th - Assembly Schedule

• Quarter 1 P.R.I.D.E. Activity 1:40 pm

No Wildcat Classes this week!

We did not have team meetings last week due to the staff meeting.

Here are some highlights from the staff meeting:

1. We made it off the school improvement plan by a very slim margin; we are continuing to use RACE and breaking down prompts for continual improvement

2. Some professional reminders:

• Please don't EVER prop a door!
• All student cell phones should be off and in their backpacks and not used for class
• Reminder to supervise the hallway/pod after class
• Please don't ask Wendy to make your copies for you! (or send kids to make copies!)

3. We broke out into two sessions to either a) be introduced to RACE or b) work on increasing rigor in our classrooms!

Teresa Clark teaches 8th grade mild/mod students. This is her first year at SGMS. She and her husband, John, and 2 boys, Jackson and Nico, moved to CO this summer. They have 2 Boston Terriers. Teresa loves hiking, cycling, and watching baseball and basketball. She decorates for Christmas every year at midnight on November 1 and previously designed courseware for the US Air Force! Her goal is to complete the Boulder Ironman within the next 2 years because she hates running and wants to prove to herself she can do it!

I thought it might be informative to share some of the discipline items that have come across our desks so that everyone is aware of some of the things going on in the building! As a reminder, we follow the district's discipline matrix when making decisions regarding consequences, however our goal is always to make sure students learn from their choices and the behavior is not repeated. Please ask if you'd like to see it!

This first round will cover some of the bigger things we dealt with the last few weeks --Colleen

• Incidents of racism, written and verbal in classrooms. Typically for first offense, depending on the severity, is generally 1 day of ISS with a remedial lesson on diversity
• Kids paying/daring another student to do something inappropriate. Other students tackling a student and holding them down. Took place at lunch/recess. Out of school suspensions for detrimental behavior (2 - 3 days); We also took away phone privileges for several students who filmed.
• Students saying sexually explicit comments toward another student. During Wildcat. 2 days out of school suspension.
• Student ditching class. After school detention to make up time.
• Giving a teacher the bird. After class. After school detention and restorative conversation.

We've seen an uptick in mean behavior in 6th grade (hallways, classrooms) and lots and lots of girl drama in 8th!

Here’s some Sagewood “tea” that needs to be spilled far and wide!

Did you know that AVID provides us with a proven framework of Essential Skills that can be used in ALL content areas to help our students become more successful right now, as well as help prepare them for college and career opportunities in the future?

Yes! It’s actually, really, 100% TRUE! :-)

Take a peek at this week’s short AVID Professional Development article to learn more, and then please feel free to reach out to Janelle R., Maranda, or any of our other AVID Site Team members for individual clarification and support.

We would LOVE to partner with you as you envision new ways to bring these skills to life for students in your content area(s) every day!

Our PTO is leading the charge with raising funds to update and spruce up our staff lounge. So far they've raised $1,300 through the "Fill the Calendar" fundraiser. THESE STAFF have agreed that if their calendar gets bought out, they will get pied in the face (not by students).

The assembly for this will take place on October 31st at the end of the day. It won't take more than 30 minutes, so we'll adjust our schedule that day and do it at the end of Wildcat time.

PTO will be selling days on calendars October 9, 10 & 31 during lunch.

The 2024-2025 Apple Award Nomination link is LIVE on your school's page on the FoundationDCS.org website.The 2024-2025 Apple Award Nomination window will be open from Monday October 1, 2024 through Sunday November 11, 2024. We invite our DCSD students, teachers, staff and community to join us in nominating their favorite teacher(s), principal, classified employee and department employee. After the Nomination window closes on November 11th we will return the list of nominees to each school for your own selection of this year's school representatives. Each school may submit one educator and one classified representative to be considered for the 2023 Apple Award!