SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY FRIDAY NOTE

September 18, 2020

GEF Fall Grant Cycle

GEF 2020 Fall Grant Cycle- Due October 23

Please note: we will accept the grants from the Spring 2020 without resubmission. New requests are welcome as well!

Please use the new form “Fall 2020”

https://geneseoeducation.com/grant-application

Does your project fit under the funding criteria?

Teachers submit grants for their projects. The GEF Board of Directors review the grant requests and determine which grants to fund, based on a number of criteria, including:
Total amount of funds available for distribution
Number of students affected by projects
Distribution of funds to all grade levels
Projects that produce materials and programs that will benefit future students
Innovative methods and techniques

To begin the application process, fill out the attached form and email to Sharon Neumann at geneseoeducation1@gmail.com by October 23. Additional forms can be found on our webpage geneseoeducation.com

We should have the approvals announced by early November.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you!

Sharon Neumann

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Classroom Teachers

Meet with all students’ parents/guardians virtually sometime between September 8th and November 13th. Conferences may take place face-to-face with building principal approval and can also take place before, during, or after the school day.
The evenings of October 13th and 15th may be used as originally scheduled but are not required. Attendance from 4-8 on these evenings are not required. Each building principal will have a document that keeps track of the conferences that take place.
Parent/Teacher Conference Guidelines to be followed.
Recommended time frame for the conference is 15-20 minutes.

Special Teachers

Reach out to parents/guardians providing them the opportunity to schedule a virtual conference. Conferences may take place face-to-face with building principal approval and can also take place during before, during, or after the school day.
Recommended time frame for the conference is 15-20 minutes.

**Please document your conference dates and time HERE.

Mid-Term Letters

We are now on the verge of completing our third week of remote learning. Unfortunately, there are some students and families who are not engaging in the learning opportunities that are presented to them. For this reason, we would like to send out a mid-term letter to formally notify each family what we have attempted and the consequences of disengagement.

These mid-term letters will be mailed on Monday, September 21st. We ask that each classroom teacher do the following by Monday, September 21st at 8 a.m.

Fill out a mid-term letter for any student who:

Has 5 or more disengaged days and/or 5 missing assignments AND without a communicated plan for improvement.
Attach current grades to the letter.

Give the mid-term letter and current grade sheet to the building principal by Monday, September 21st at 8 a.m.
Seek assistance from your building principal if needed to help determine if a letter is needed.

Our hope is this communication will help re-emphasize the importance of students engaging in the learning being provided and our attendance expectations.

Weekly Attendance

Here is the Elementary Attendance Policy for Remote Learning. If you have any students who have not engaged in classroom activities for multiple days this week, please email me with the student(s) name(s) and the attendance interventions you have tried. We will work together to determine if the student(s) will be marked absent and for how many days. Once attendance is determined, the teacher will need to go into Skyward to update the attendance by 8:00 a.m. on Monday for the previous week. Directions for changing attendance are hyperlinked in the policy above.

Learning Tickets During Remote Learning...How will that work?- REMINDER!

Purpose: To promote and encourage positive learning behavior demonstrated by students.

What’s a Learning Ticket? A business card sized ticket that is given to a student from Mr. Hofer when the teacher notices an outstanding learning behavior. The teacher will email Mr. Hofer explaining the outstanding learning behavior and the student who displayed it. The ticket has the student’s name, classroom teacher, and the outstanding learning behavior observed.

Reward: Mr. Hofer will join a class meeting to present the Learning Ticket to the student. The Learning Ticket will be mailed to the student along with a Dairy Queen or McDonald’s gift card.

Teacher Expectations: To nominate at least one student per month but not more than one student per week.