First Five Minutes: Week of January 2

First Five Minutes Pattern

Monday	Mondays are for acts of kindness.  The first four minutes could be used to listen to stories about the acts of kindness performed the week before.  The last minute should be spent going over what this week’s act will be.
Tuesday	Tuesdays are for talking about the quote.  Have students discuss their interpretation of the quote, how it makes them feel, and how it relates to their lives.
Wednesday	Wednesdays are for talking about ethical questions or scenarios.
Thursday	Thursdays are for discussion to get many points of view on one topic.
Friday	Fridays are for target letters of kindness. Have students write a quick note of appreciation for that week’s target.

Monday	“Open door week”.  Open the door for people at your school and greet them with a smile and a hello.  This common courtesy may have an uncommon affect on the people you greet.
Tuesday	“Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, Or sin by silence when I should defend…”The world is better that I lived to-day”. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919); author and poet
Wednesday	If you are hanging out with friends that steal or draw graffiti on a wall, do you think you are guilty by association?
Thursday	What do you do when you’re angry?  How can we make better choices when we’re angry?
Friday	Assistant Principal

Staff Bulletin for the Week of January 2

Professional Time

This week we'll have our faculty meeting beginning with snacks provided by the English department.  Our meeting will start at 1:45pm.  The agenda is located here.  Advisory planning time will be given from 2:55-3:25pm.

Advisory

This Wednesday we will have advisory. Please be sure to remind the upperclassmen.  Mr. Higgins will be sending out the suggestions for grade-level activities.

BE Events for Students and Staff

Notes:

Admin/Guidance meeting will focus on counselor watch students.
The secretary's meeting will be canceled on Tuesday.
We'll have our School Leadership Team meeting on Wednesday, beginning at 12:40pm in the library conference room.
Don't forget the mini-grant award reception on Wednesday evening at 5:30pm.

SRBI will be held Friday at 8:00am.

BE Home Varsity Athletic Events

Notices:

Midyear common assessments:   The midyear common assessments are scheduled to begin on Thursday, January 19th with assessments for Blocks 1 and 2.  January 20th, 23rd, and 24th will also be used for administration of assessments.  Please be sure to have reviewed your assessments PRIOR to the date of administration. It is also important to review the district FAQ common assessment document prior to administration of the exams.  Remember that this document can be found on the Bristol BOE intranet under common assessments.

Grade 8 open house:  The Grade 8 Welcome will be coming up in the next couple of weeks  Please consider representing your department at an academic table in the cafeteria.  If the club or activity you supervise is interested in having a table to introduce their group to future students, please send an email to Creighton Paquette-Claman and/or Mike Higgins.

Midyear Conferences:  Midyear conferences will begin in February.  Remember, these conferences are an opportunity to revisit your student learning objectives and professional practice objectives you've set earlier this year.  Using the interim information you've collected thus far, we'll review whether or not your goals are still attainable yet rigorous.  Prior to these meetings, you'll want to:

1. Review any formative or summative assessment data you have related to your SLO/PPO.
2. Review your goals.  You may have emaild them to your supervisor or you may have shared them within Google Drive.  
3. You'll want to note any possible adjustments you think you will need to make to your goals.  Do not make any changes to the electronic documents at this time.  Please wait until your conference.

Staff Bulletin for the Week of December 19

Professional Time

This Wednesday will be an instructional data team meeting.

BE Events for Staff and Students

Notes:

• Admin/Guidance:  Focus will be on policy
• SLT will be meeting on 12/19

December 23 Schedule:

Warning Bells 7:25 and 7:34

Period 1/2 7:35 to 8:35

Period 3/4 8:39 to 9:39

Period 5/6 9:43 to 10:43

Period 7/8 10:47 to 12:06

     First Floor Concert: 10:50 to 11:20

    Second Floor Concert: 11:25 to 11:55

            Return to second floor classes 11:55 to 11:59

            Remain in classes until 12:06 dismissal bell

 

Home Varsity Athletic Events

News, Notes, and Reminders

Ugly Sweater/Cookie contest:  On Friday, don't forget to wear your ugly sweater!  We're also having a cookie contest.  Please bring your cookies to the library before school.  We'll have them available for eating (I mean, judging) there and in our office throughout the day.  Please come by--ugly sweater not required!

Holiday parties:  As we head into the holiday break, please be cognizant of our students’ differences and how they might respond to the upcoming vacation.  Be sure that any events plan are respectful of all of our students’ cultures and traditions.  In addition, if you do have food, know which of your students have allergies--I recommend steering clear of peanuts, eggs, and other common allergens.  Please give us notice if you will be having a holiday celebration with food.  We would also recommend store-bought food and drinks, only.

Midterm Exams:  Mid Term exam testing will start on Thursday, January 19 and end on Tuesday, January 24.  Cancellations due to weather will move this scenario up a day for each cancellation we incur.  Stay tuned for any further updates. 

Final Exam Exemption for seniors:    We shared the proposal to lower the final exam exemption from 93 to 90 with a 90 for quarter four at high school council last week.  BC will be sharing the proposal with their faculty and will let us know in January.

PSAT results are in:  We'll be sharing data out with faculty and you'll have your own student data to work with coming up in January.  If you are someone who likes looking at data and would like to contribute to planning how to best share/promote/analyze this data, email me!  I'd love to have you involved in planning how we will share the data with everyone.

Holiday Cards:   We'd love to see all of the little ones.  If you have an extra holiday card that features your loved ones, please leave one in our office and we'll create a display for everyone.

Staff Bulletin for the Week of December 12

This Wednesday,  we do have an advisory meeting scheduled.  Please remind your juniors and seniors.

Professional Time

This Wednesday will be an instructional data team meeting.

BE Events for Staff and Students

Notes:

• Admin/Guidance:  Focus will be on attendance
• Operations will meet briefly on Monday
• SRBI will be held Friday morning.

Home Varsity Athletic Events

News, Notes, and Reminders

PSAT Results:   Student results from the October PSAT is now available.  Students will have their results in their College Board account this week.

Progress Reports:   The progress reporting period will end on Tuesday, December 13th and will be reported on Friday, December 16th.  If there is a snow day in this time period, the reporting period will be extended.  

Holiday Cards:   We'd love to see all of the little ones.  If you have an extra holiday card that features your loved ones, please leave one in our office and we'll create a display for everyone. 

Holiday Get Together:  The informal times when we can get together are some of best.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Holiday Open House this Friday after school.  Don't forget to RSVP by December 12th.

Common Assessments:  The Office of Teaching and Learning plans on distributing final copies of the common assessments to teachers this Wednesday. Please keep us informed if you do not receive your assessment.

Copy Machine Move:  Results were fairly positive (66%) about the copy machine move (or at least removing the vending machines).  However, I am looking into a few other possibilities before that occurs.  Thank you to those of you who sent your input.

Staff Bulletin for the Week of December 2

Professional Time

On Wednesday, we will have staff chat sponsored by CATE and guidance.  We'll meet from 1:45-2:55pm.  Advisory planning time will follow until 3:25pm.

Agenda can be located or printed here.

BE Events for Staff and Students

Notes:  

Guidance/Admin meeting will focus on 504 review.

Bristol Eastern Athletic Events

Boys' Basketball and Wrestling will scrimmage in a few events this week.

News and Notes:

Progress:  The progress period will end on December 13th.   Progress reports will be printed on that date.  Keep in mind the grading considerations we shared at the beginning of the year, particularly these two:

Understanding that we should be regularly assessing student’s progress toward meeting the curricular standards, there should be at least one assignment in your gradebook per week.  That means at least six entries into gradebooks by progress reporting periods and twelve entries by the end of the quarter.

No quarter grade should be primarily made up of one assessment for the quarter.  For example, if you have assessments weighted at 70% and you only have one assessment for the quarter, that one assessment alone should not determine the grade for the quarter.

Please remember that eligibility for ALL after school extracurricular activities is impacted by progress and end of term grades, so please be sure that what you have entered is accurate. For eligibility purposes, for students who were partially eligible, progress grades determine if they will be ineligible or fully eligible.  If you have questions about eligibility, please email me.

Winter weather:  Since weather can be unpredictable, it would be wise to have a few copies of the delayed opening and early dismissal schedules handy.  

Midyear conferences:   Midyear conferences and IDT midyear reviews will occur in January.  Prior to the conferences, you'll want to review your goals and data.

Staff Bulletin for the Week of November 28

Professional Time

This Wednesday will be district-wide learning directed by OTL for the afternoon.

Advisory Meeting

This Wednesday we will have advisory. Please remind students of the alternate schedule.

BE Events for Staff and Students

 Notes:

Guidance/Admin meeting this week is focused on Counselor Watch
Please stay tuned for the World Language Cultural Diversity Night information.

Varsity Home Athletic Events:

Football Banquet, Tuesday evening from 6-8pm