Weekly Update

It's "B" Week

Our Pledge Helpers are.........

Tues:  Collins

Wed:  Marshall

Thur Johnson

Fri: Dickerson

Duty this Week.......
AM
Car Line: Crocker
1st grade holding: Latham
Bus Sidewalk: Wilson
K holding: Shannon
Cafeteria: Fortenberry
Back Hall: Patterson, Mince, Philpot
PM
Car Line: A Smith, Young, Osburn
Front Sidewalk: Cravens
Front Hall Intersection: Higg
Outside back workroom: Wilson





Please make every effort to communicate with parents via email, through our email system, and avoid texting.  This is a District expectation.

Checkout Neighborhood Bridges and consider joining

TCS in this initiative.

Neighborhood Bridges

Cahaba homework should include reading at home and dreambox minutes. If you are doing more than this, let's talk about it. Test should be application based and not require "study guides".





If you have students listed on the PST schedule PLEASE make sure you STAR test them before the PST meeting Wednesday!  





We will accept lunch visitors beginning Tuesday!  Don't forget the rules! Visitors are welcome.  We ask that the visitor sit at the visitor's table with their student.  They may not invite other family members or friends to join them at the table unless you have written permission on file.  They may not sit at your table.









We are going to try something a little different with the dismissal of our YMCA friends.  They will dismiss with bus riders. They should exit through the front doors and walk across the lawn to the gym.  They will meet their YMCA worker there. 

Your Teacher's Advisory Counsel for this year...........

Kathleen Latham, Linda Odom, Erin Philpot, Amy Meredith, Amy Prickett, and Pam Shepherd

They will have a red dot on their mailbox. You may send questions for TAC to them by placing them in their mailbox or emailing.

Our Leadership Team meet Thursday afternoon and discussed some issues that are very important to Cahaba.  I'm so thankful for a group of people who provide insight from your perspective and help me make crucial decisions.  

1. How are we doing with the our non-negotiable which expects students to be greeted individually each morning by their teacher?  The team thought we were doing pretty well, but could use some examples and reminders. Some teachers are "knocking it out of the park".  Here are a few posters I found that could be modified.  I'll be looking for something with your own twist hanging by your door.

 

2. I'd really like to have "Student Led Conferences" before Christmas.  Help me come up with a good idea.   We decided that Student Led Conferences could be done October 17th. Students would be scheduled in groups of 5-6 for 30 minutes.  The teacher would facilitate, the students would present to their parents by following a guide projected in the room.  Specialist would be available to help in Kindergarten and First Grade.  We will have some training and students should practice with a friend on the days you don't have Specials.   Tyner will contact PTO for after school Treats for the Tribe.

3. We have 21 staff members that have at least one personal child on our campus.  I think we need guidelines for these students.  I'm worried that we are creating a culture of entitlement and that goes against everything Cahaba believes and teaches about kindness. Entitlement is not kind.   

After a long and emotional conversation the Leadership Team helped me create the following guidelines.

1. All personal children should be with their classmates in their designated holding area during morning arrival.  
2. Personal children are not allowed to accompany their parents while they have duty. If it's after school, your child should wait in your classroom or the classroom of a friend. 
3. Children of staff members should be dismissed last, behind your bus riders and car riders. Please wait until halls are generally cleared.  We don't want them walking opposite directions to the students dismissing and intermingling with the big kids.  
4. Our personal children should eat lunch with their own class at their assigned table. 
5. We do not use the microwaves to heat up student lunches, that includes our personal children. 
6. Our personal children should not be on campus on Thursday during early dismissal, teacher work days or during Professional Development.

The meeting ended with me asking our team for any other suggestions that would make Cahaba better.  The team discussed the scheduling of Chat Nights and Meet the Teacher events. We will try a Meet the Teacher event next year that follows more of an Open House model and I promised not to schedule any Chat Nights to start after 6pm.