November 1, 2020

Kudos!!!

Thank you to Eric Sulik and Ryan Hoffman for your desire to attend the STEM professional development this past Wednesday and Thursday with Midwest! Midwest is a company we have decided would be a great partner for our STEM materials and training. Eric and Ryan met with them at Fox River Middle School in Waterford where they were doing some training with the Waterford STEM teachers. Great opportunity for Eric and Ryan to see some of the equipment and curriculum prior to committing to certain components, etc. as we work to develop our 6-8 STEM courses.
Thank you to Patty Firkus and Jean Fifer for your willingness to assist with coverage at Karcher (3-5) School these past few days! Everyone's willingness to help where help is needed is TRULY appreciated!
Thanks also goes to our special education teachers who were able to attend the CESA 2 training this past Wednesday morning. Though we did not get exactly what we were looking to gain from the professional development I want to thank you for your honesty an feedback about the training so that we can ensure what we need is what we are spending time on - so - thank you! As I shared with all of you, I will talk with Kathy Merlo and work on next steps!
Lastly, thank you to the staff who met with Emmons this week regarding furniture selections for the new 6-8 building. The focus this past week was on office spaces, PE needs, and the LMC/Commons area. Thanks again for coming prepared, with great questions, and simply the willingness to share your thoughts when it comes to what works and doesn't work in our spaces for years to come! Those who sat in this past week were: Terri Morrical, Connie Wiedmeyer, Stephanie Schmitt, Steve Berezowitz, Becky Hoesly, Andrea Donegan, Sam Meyer, Jon Nelson, Hans Block Marissa Skipper, and Suzanne Dunbar - thank you all!

Video this week:

As we move into the month of November, during a pandemic, we all can sense a feeling of being overwhelmed. A feeling where we are on a hamster wheel where some of us would like to get off, that riding is an obligation. Others would like to stay on as the hamster wheel as the ride is viewed as an opportunity. Either way... your only choice is to stay on. Which lens do you view it from?

November is the month of gratitude. What are you grateful for? Who are you grateful for? At times all of us can go between viewing the hamster wheel as an obligation one moment and an opportunity the next. Where does your mindset tend to fall?

My challenge for myself is to focus on our opportunities. What are we grateful for, even during the toughest of times. My personal goal will be to write to someone everyday that I am grateful for - to reach out and share my gratitude, my appreciation.

What will you do during the month of gratitude?

Who are you thankful for?

Information/Reminders

BASD Building Use: This is just a reminder that we have decided to continue to limit building use through December 2020.

During the week please remember to stay out of the buildings before 6:00am and after 9:00pm.
This means buildings and grounds will be closed on weekends. We recognize that this will disappoint groups that have traditionally had weekend programs in district buildings in November and December.

BASD Required Trainings:

Just a friendly reminder to complete the additional two required trainings shared with everyone from Connie Zinnen. Below are the two training and links!

Both completions should be submitted to Tobie Green by November 24, 2020.

Tuesday, November 3 - Annie and I will not be at BHS so if you need assistance please seek out Ryan or Emily!
Wednesday, November 4 - 8:00-4:00 Inservice Day

This is a reminder that no students should be scheduled to come this Wednesday.
If you want to flex your time to 7:00-3:00 you are welcome to do that.
Normally this would be an 8:00-12:00 building level/district level time. However, we understand the need to give you more time! So... below will be the plan for Wednesday:

BLT Meeting: 6-8 Scheduling Information via a Zoom from 9:00-9:45. It may end sooner depending on questions, etc.
Building Level Time:

iReady Information
iTime plans after this rotation (4 weeks left before Christmas break of iTime)
SLOs/PPGs - Due November 5th

The rest of the time is planning time for you and your content area teams!

Saturday, November 7 - BHS will be hosting WIAA Boys State Volleyball. As noted above, all school buildings will remain closed to all staff and community functions on the weekends. This is a reminder that this event is taking place and is allowed as it pertains to school district events.

Looking ahead:

Monday, November 9 - District Essential Skills Committee Meeting via Zoom from 3:45-5:15.
Monday/Tuesday - November 23 & 24 - The Winter iReady Diagnostic Window will open and close on December 18, before Christmas break. The diagnostic is being given prior to winter break because we started school earlier and the end of the term is on December 18th. So... this is the correct time frame to be giving the diagnostic!

BLT was asked to talk with teams to determine how teams would like to give the diagnostic, knowing that we would like to ensure it does not drag on for a long period of time. Please make sure you are having that conversation and then BLT members please share with Annie and I!

Picture from this past week!

What a great week of relationship building, fun, and of course academic learning!

Rube Goldberg machine development in STEM with Eric Sulik!

Students in Brad Ferstenou's social studies class participating in a simulation where students were in groups to create the "Worlds First Empire". Students were given tasks to complete in order to gain access to the "secret invention" that allowed them to create said empire!