November 10 - Grade Reports disseminated

November 16 - Balance Night

November 17 - Fire Drill (end of Anchor Time)

November 21 - 25 - Thanksgiving Holidays

December 5 or 6 - Faculty Meeting

December 5 – Winter Chorus Concert

December 8 – Anchor Time Ends

December 8 – Recovery Deadline

December 8 – Winter Orchestra Concert

December 12 – 16 – Georgia Milestones EOC

December 12 – Winter Band Concert

December 13 - School Governance Meeting

December 16 – Fire drill – end of day 3:45

December 20, 21, 22 – Final Exams for first semester (Early Release days)

December 22 – Last day of First Semester

We have completed first semester IG sessions. Thank you to those who planned and facilitated and thank you to all who participated. Now it is time to look ahead to next semester. Because so many folks are away from the building on the Fulton County PD days, we have decided to hold AHS University sessions (shorter, specific PD sessions hosted by AHS teachers) on the county days for those of us who are here. We will host IG sessions on the AHS PD days.

The survey below asks for ideas for AHS University sessions - What do you want to learn about?

It also asks what you want to do next semester with your IG group. There are new IG groups to consider; some groups will begin fresh and host the same sessions for new people; other groups will continue for those who want to keep learning about the topic. You must complete the survey so we know where to place you for next semester.

https://goo.gl/forms/mKRGcWsZ9egJRDRp1

With the Thanksgiving season upon us, it is the time of year when we once again ask you to consider nominating a colleague for Teacher and Professional of the Year. Nominations will need to include the staff member’s name and a short paragraph detailing any attributes or experiences that inform your nomination.

When thinking about who you might nominate, please consider our school’s mission and values statements:

Mission

At Alpharetta High School we believe that education creates opportunity. As a learning community, we seek to inspire intellectual curiosity and stimulate personal creativity by setting high expectations and developing engaging environments to promote a culture of continuous learning where hard work is a contributor to success.

We respect the diverse perspectives, beliefs, and backgrounds of others and strive to build a foundation of self-governing integrity that recognizes each of our unique contributions to both our local and the global community.

Values

Because we are reflective practitioners devoted to the craft of education, we value a passion for what we teach, a commitment to whom we teach, and a desire for collaborating and improving how we teach.

As a community, we aspire to find balance in where we devote our time, to pursue a unity of shared purpose that guides our decisions, and to support one another and our learning community by bringing our best selves to every opportunity.

When nominating a teacher, tell us how our mission and values are demonstrated in classroom practices (differentiation, engagement, use of data, real-world lessons, rigor, etc.), dedication, knowledge, leadership, professional attitude, extracurricular involvement, rapport with students, staff, parents, and community members.

When nominating a professional, tell us how our mission and values are demonstrated in “value added” (e.g. how does this person add value to our school community), dedication, knowledge, professional attitude, extracurricular involvement, rapport with students, staff, parents, and community members.

To nominate, complete the form linked here by 4pm on November 18: https://goo.gl/SKbRHJ.

If you have any questions about this process, please email Frank Fortunato, and he will do my best to help work through them. Thanks for all that you do each and every day!

The AHS Marching band consists of 130 kids who put in 20+ hours a week beginning in July practicing, performing halftime shows, and competing. Recently they:

Placed 2nd in class and 7th overall at a VERY tough competition at Wiregrass Rach High School in the suburbs of Tampa.

Placed 3rd in class and 4th overall in a tough local competition at Central Carroll High School. (beat Chattahoochee, Roswell, and Centennial)

Please excuse ALL Varsity Football Players, Athletic Trainers and Film Crew members from 5th and 6th period on Friday November 11th for our 1st Round Playoff Game at Alexander High School in Douglasville, GA. Student-athletes should report to the gym after 4th period at 1:30pm. These individuals know they are responsible for scheduling make-up opportunities for any assignments that they miss. If you have any questions, please contact Coach Nichols. Roster is attached.

Thank you, and GO RAIDERS!!!

Dr. Kersey will be implementing another recognition initiative for entire classes who display a positive behavior or an outstanding academic achievement! They will be rewarded for their efforts with a treat of some sort from Dr. Kersey.

The form is attached to this newsletter email, is available on the T-drive, and will be in the mailroom. Please bring the forms to Jessica Robinson in the front office.

Professional Development Days are planned for January 6 and March 13. Links to the spreadsheets for both Professional Development Days are below:

• January 6 Session Spreadsheet

For each spreadsheet, the first worksheet has all of the required sessions. For the majority of required sessions, teachers do not need to register in Edivate. The second worksheet has all of the optional sessions. Teachers need to register for optional sessions. The catalog that the course can be found in is included on the spreadsheet. These sessions are available until they are full.

Please remember that teachers are expected to attend all required sessions. Teachers who do not have a required session may attend an optional session, school based PD or work at their home school.

Registration Instructions:

• Log into the Employee Portal
• Locate the Edivate icon in My Apps
• Click on View All Catalogs (or Click here) in the Catalog card
• Select the indicated catalog
• Choose the course title (click on the word TITLE in the grey bar to sort alphabetically)
• Click icon
• The course will no longer show under Catalog. Instead, it will be under the Transcript tab
  
  If you later decide not to attend, please return to Edivate and remove the class from your transcript so someone else may take that seat.

Laurie Vellion will be going out on Medical leave beginning November 14th. Please refer to the following staff members with any issues, questions, or concerns.

A big thanks to these folks for stepping in to fill these roles while I am out!

Cafeteria workers: Dr. Kersey

Senior 504's: Whitney Decaminada

RTI/SST: Derek Wright

Anchor Time: Frank Fortunato

Attendance: Connie Morrow

Seniors at Risk: Counselors

Virtual Lab: Tina Johnson

Behavioral RTI: Errol Dice

World Language: Dr. Kersey

The Alpharetta High School Nutrition Staff

Invites you to celebrate the season with a Thanksgiving Feast!

Festivities will take place on

Thursday, November 10th, 2016.

Lunch hours are: 11-11:30 and 12:50-1:20pm.

Teachers $3.35

(Yes, we will actually have Turkey and all the fixings!)

I'd love to add some AHS Thanksgiving Information. Please take this very quiz survey so I can add specifics to our November newsletters. Your name is optional. You may answer all or just one of the questions.

For what are you most thankful?

What traditional Thanksgiving dish do you enjoy most?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

What about AHS makes your thankful?

https://goo.gl/forms/Zg5PKAbnJwskTfB23

Yaritza Ferrer De Valero 1

Cari MacDonell 1

Penni Johnson 5

Danita Chiclana 6

Shelby Smith 6

Amy Binder 9

Maureen Bergeron 10

Christy Jolle 10

Shane Sweet 10

Jaime Duran 12

Christine Lauer 16

Shannon Kersey 27

Susan Fisher 28

"Once you start practicing being grateful and thankful for things, people, and events, you may notice that you start to attract more positive things, people, and events in your life."

Stephanie Conkle, Happy Person. Happy Life

The following information pertains to teachers interested in either helping with an enrichment section during Anchor Time for this coming spring. Below is a quick summary of what Enrichment Classes are and the guidelines for proposing a class. Please email Frank Fortunato with any other questions you might have!

Overview

The goal of Anchor Time Enrichment is to provide students with learning experiences that they might not otherwise have access to during their regular schedules and are not currently offered as clubs or extracurricular offerings. Enrichment classes fall into the following categories: “Hands-on” (learning how to do something), “Kinesthetic” (getting up and doing something), “Intellectual” (learning about something), “Artistic” (creating/performing something), or “Academic” (being supported in something).

Guidelines

• Enrichment classes will be open for ANY interested and eligible (e.g. non-RTI) students to sign up and participate.

• Because all enrichments will be open to any students who wish to participate, keep in mind when drafting your proposal that there may be “novices” who do not have much (or any) familiarity with what you may be proposing.

• ANY teacher interested in teaching a section of Enrichment may submit a proposal. Enrichment proposals will be reviewed and approved by Frank Fortunato, Laurie Veillon, and Derek Wright as we work out our needs for the Spring Anchor Time.

• All proposals must include the following information:

  • Teacher

  • Title of Enrichment Class (make it catchy!)

• A brief description of the enrichment that details what students will know, understand, and/or do as part of the enrichment and explains how the enrichment promotes either “Hands-on” experiences (learning how to do something), “Kinesthetic” experiences (getting up and doing something), “Intellectual” experiences (learning about something), or “Artistic” experiences (creating/performing something). To support our PBIS branding, please also try to use language that would help show alignment with and promotion of one (or more) of the R.I.C.H. Raider attributes.

• Students will have the opportunity to sign up for Enrichment sections (date TBD). More information will be given about the sign-up process once the final list of Spring Enrichments has been approved, but our goal is to allow students to begin signing up before the winter break.

• Enrichment proposals are due by Monday, 11/14. See below for some examples.

Proposal Example 1:

Name of Enrichment Class: Hooked on Crochet

Teacher Name: Flavia Villarinho

Class Proposal: Apart from being fun and relaxing (offering students an alternative method of combating boredom and relieving stress), learning how to crochet and how to follow a crochet pattern or instructions can improve a student’s fine motor coordination, reading skills, math skills, comprehension, critical thinking, and problem-solving. In addition, learning to crochet can teach valuable life lessons, such as:

• Responsibility (Students have to keep up with their supplies)
• Ability to focus and follow through (Learning how to crochet is a step-by-step process)
• Persistence (Projects take time and patience to complete)
• Positive social behaviors and teamwork (The classroom environment caring and collaborative – students are able to chat about their day as they help each other learn and perfect new stitches)
• Expressing creativity (projects are only limited by a student’s imagination)

Proposal Example 2:

Name of Enrichment Class: Check, Matie!

Teacher: Dotty Davis

Class Proposal: In this enrichment course, Raiders will be exposed to the world of playing CHESS. Benefits of playing chess: Playing chess teaches planning and foresight and helps develop problem solving skills, foster self-confidence, increase creativity, improve memory and concentration, and enhance decision making skills. It’s a great way to exercise your brain (both the left and right sides) and is a game you can play for the rest of your life! Chess is a “sport for the mind.”

Expectations:

• Play: Students will learn the rules (novice) and/or develop/research strategies (advanced); we will do tactical and positional exercises, appropriate for various level of play; students will have the option of practicing and playing face-to-face or online against comparable competitors; students also have the opportunity to prepare for chess tournaments outside of school (we will enter teams if we have enough participants)

• Research and Reflection: Students will set their own goals for what they want to get out the program; they will keep statistics on wins and losses and have the opportunity to obtain a USCF rating; students will also research past and current national and grand masters to determine ways to improve play.

We want to create a community filled with more balanced lives. The School Governance Council proposed a solution, and the Instructional Leadership Team agreed; thus, we have declared two nights a semester during the 2016-17 school year as "Balance Days."

November 16th

February 15th

March 15th

The nights above are Wednesday nights the week of the 17th (to celebrate the class of 2017), and on these nights there will not be any homework assigned, no assessments will occur the next day, and no AHS meetings will be scheduled.

The idea is that Raiders will go home right after school and work to create balance in their lives. Staff members and students alike will take a night off. Club sponsors and coaches and directors may hold meetings and practices and games as needed. We feel students release stress through these extracurricular activities.

Please plan to enjoy yourself and work your assessments around these dates this year.