Pennoyer Staff Newsletter - 1/26/24

                                                 Hawk Thoughts & Happenings

Team Pennoyer,

As we roll along through this crazy weather month of January, I realize why we probably all appreciate the sunshine, stability, and warmth around here more than people in other parts of the country.  We just gotta wait for it I guess, and then take it when it comes.  

Outside of school, this past week was a monumental moment in the Greenberg household.  My 12 year old daughter Sadie just got her braces off, and I'm happy to say that's it for us as a family.  Both of my kids were in braces for almost two years...what a relief that's over with.  Maybe I should have been an Orthodontist, because I can't believe the amount of money and appointments we had deal with through the years.  These doctors are probably doing ok I'd guess.  On a similar note, I haven't watched it yet, but there's a new documentary on Netflix called Open Wide that follows a couple doctors that have unorthodox theories and methods when it comes to the world of orthodontics.  Who knows....maybe I could have saved thousands of dollars...lol.

Well, I can't end this Hawk Happenings message this week without a shout out to Emerson and her playoff pool she put together for the staff.  What a fun idea, and it's been great seeing so many staff members getting into these final NFL games.  I'd love to see Detroit win the whole thing, but I know the odds are stacked against them.  Anything is possible though.  Maybe if Jarad Goff had Taylor Swift in his corner, things might work out differently.  Enjoy the games on Sunday if you're watching!

In addition, Nina Torossi has a special shout out for Nataliia Shnaider...

I would like to give a shoutout to Ms. Nataliia Shnaider. Nataliia is an amazing help to my class this year and I couldn't get by without her. She goes above and beyond to not only focus on helping our Ukrainian students, but our class as a whole. She is quick to help and spends extra time working with our kids. We appreciate you so much! :)

Hawk Action Items  

• If you're interested in signing up to supervise and facilitate any Behavior Academies after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, feel free to sign up on the  spreadsheet.  Here's a reminder about the protocol for our Behavior Academies if you're interested.  Thanks to everyone who has been supporting these. 

• Just a friendly reminder to make sure food is out of the classrooms each day and nothing is left open.  We have found some mice in our building, and we're doing our best to deal with this situation.  As homeroom teachers, if you didn't get a to have students clean out their lockers to make sure there is no food, old work they don't need, etc. before Winter Break, please take some time that works best (could be homeroom, Enrichment, etc.) to have students do this before Friday, February 16th.  If you need garbage cans or recycling bins by classrooms, please let our maintenance crew know and put in a work order...thanks!

• If you haven't had a chance to take our Pennoyer climate survey, it's still open until January 31st.  Remember, this is completely anonymous and results will only be reported out collectively.  We greatly appreciate your input and feedback.

  
  
  Click the link below to access the CERTIFIED STAFF survey:
  https://forms.gle/CVWn2HG7UYy8XvrZ9
  
  
  
  Click the link below to access the PARAPROFESSIONAL survey:
  https://forms.gle/aJaetkBZVztjVECL6
  
  
  
  Click the link below to access the SUPPORT STAFF survey:
  https://forms.gle/P4zLTrgRVXY7HP7m9

• Lucky Losers Ridgewood Casino Night Fundraiser Event - On behalf of Ridgewood High School, an invite has been extended to  the Union Pennoyer staff and families for their 4th Annual Lucky Losers Casino Night Fundraising Event.  Click HERE for a flyer if you're interested. Purchase a couple's ticket for the event if you'd like.  By doing this, you will be involved in the biggest community event of the year for Ridgewood.  You will meet coaches, alumni, parents, school administrators, community members, along with having a fun filled night out with dancing, food, cocktails and casino gaming fun.  Most of all chances to win raffle prizes, 50/50 and the grand prize of $5k (Based on 200 couples). Registration link (https://ridgenet.revtrak.net/lucky-losers-22/?fbclid=IwAR2p3wgNhO3oo7bzgnO-th5CkoWv2oqsmLFndpyJ9o3E84WAn7y28t5VcqY) 

What your ticket includes...

- Admission for 2 people
- All you can eat appetizers

- Buffet Dinner

- Top shelf bar from 6pm - Midnight

- Casino Gambling

- Dancing

- 1 Ticket for the grand prize $5K (Based Off Of 200 Couples)

• Below are some useful supports and resources to check out to help build a more restorative mindset and set of tools to use at Pennoyer.  These come from the PD we did at our Staff Meeting this past Monday.  We're planning on continuing this work at our next Staff Meeting on Feb. 5th.

           Recording of our Restorative Practices PD (1/23/24) – This is a recording of the  

           session from Monday.   The link expires 30 days following your training. 

           What is Restorative Practice – This is a link to a YouTube video that discusses  

           restorative practices and how to 

use these in schools.

           HERE of some of the slides covered during the training.   These might come in  

           handy as we continue to learn and utilize more restorative practices in our  

           classrooms.

• I hope all is going well with instituting our universal expectations each day of the week for EVERY CLASS PERIOD they teach a new group of students to support behavior, expectations, and build connections.  3 to Succeed! 

                  1. Greet students every morning.

2. Display School PBIS expectations OR PBIS Expectations (BLANK) in the

classroom and review everyday. Example: What are 2 ways we are

responsible in the classroom? In school? (This doesn't have to take long each

day and each class period)

3. Anytime your kids are in the hallway (arrival, dismissal, transitions,) you are

in the hallway with them. Middle school - transitions between classes.

• Wanna make somebody's day at Pennoyer...don't forget about our staff shout outs we'd like to get started up again this year!  It's real easy; if one staff member wants to give another staff member at Pennoyer a positive shout out for something that week, just send a quick email blurb to Adam, and he'll feature it in our weekly Hawk Happenings!

• Great job with all the social media posts shared for the month of December! Keep it up in January. Here's the Google Form for teachers to complete.  Thanks!!!

Weekly Hawk Playlist/Lyric

"I know I could turn, blink, and you'd be gone.  Then I must be prepared anytime to carry on.  But minute by minute, by minute by minute, I keep holding on."

                                                                    - Minute by Minute by The Doobie Brothers

Hawk Celebrations

This week our celebration is focused on a very special group of students here at Pennoyer...The Principal's Crew!  These 12 students from 3rd-8th grade, were nominated by their teachers earlier this school year to represent their peers and have an opportunity to meet with me once a month and discuss a variety of topics that support our school and students in a positive way.  This year's Principal Crew members are:  Petar, Riley, Davey, Halima, Liam, Oleh, Molly, Penn, Ava, Alexa, Emilia, and Filip.  They have all been an amazing group of students to work with so far, and I couldn't be more proud of them.  They always come with such good energy, they collaborate together, and have come up with some thoughtful ideas this year.  From the middle school dance, to a possible 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the spring, and a book drive, this group of student leaders are challenging themselves and me to make this school a better place.  I'm so excited to work with them this school year...#PennoyerPride

January Birthdays! 🎂

Vicki Kafka - 1/11

Kristin Kopta - 1/13

Alexis Koukari - 1/20

Sarah Adkins - 1/21

Pennoyer Staff Newsletter - 1/19/24

                                         Hawk Thoughts & Happenings

Team Pennoyer,

I want to begin by officially welcoming Maura Stickley (ALOP Advocate) to our Pennoyer family!  I hope many of you have had the opportunity to meet her this week, but if not, she'll be officially in next week and starting to work full days.  Her office is down by the science room if you want to pop in and see her, and Maura is already working closely with myself, our student services team, and intervention team to learn about Pennoyer, our students and needs, and the systems we have in place.  She'll spend the first week or so visiting classrooms as much as possible, making connections with students and our entire staff, and coming to meetings to fully prepare to begin taking on a caseload of students.  We're so incredibly excited to have her at Pennoyer!

I have to say, the Board meeting this past Wednesday night, was maybe one of my favorites.  We had such an amazing turnout of students and staff members to celebrate the many clubs going on right now at Pennoyer.  Thanks so much to the staff members that helped support the Pennoyer Pride segment of the Board meeting to honor the hard work they've put into offering these thoughtful opportunities to our students and spotlighting the importance of students exploring interest and passions outside of the classroom walls.  It's a vital component I feel strongly about to create an enriching school experience, and we really do an amazing job here at Pennoyer with a variety of options that students can explore and grow from.

*HERE is the agenda for our Staff Meeting next Monday, January 22nd at 3:15pm.  Remember this will be a virtual staff meeting over Zoom, so you can be in your classroom spaces. 

**Instead of grade band meetings next Wednesday, January 24th, we'll be having an all staff meeting in the MPR starting from around 2:40-3:15pm to update construction plans and have time to meet with our paraprofessionals and lunch/recess supervisors to start brainstorming plans for our students.  Thanks for being flexible with this time!

***I will be out of the building all day on Thursday next week, January 25th.  Please reach out to our social work team or Alicia if you need any support.

Hawk Action Items  

• Just another reminder that all teachers should have begun instituting our universal expectations each day this week for EVERY CLASS PERIOD they teach a new group of students to support behavior, expectations, and build connections.  We're calling this our 3 to Succeed! 

                  1. Greet students every morning.

2. Display School PBIS expectations OR PBIS Expectations (BLANK) in the

classroom and review everyday. Example: What are 2 ways we are

responsible in the classroom? In school? (This doesn't have to take long each

day and each class period)

3. Anytime your kids are in the hallway (arrival, dismissal, transitions,) you are

in the hallway with them. Middle school - transitions between classes.

*Admin will continue to walk the hallways as much as possible during transitions to help support and check in on our progress, along with weekly pop ins to classrooms to support our 3 to Succeed daily universal school wide expectations. Also, Meghan has put together a simple Google Sheet linked HERE for grade band teams to do their own fidelity checks weekly and share some of the different ways, where we can all learn from each other, that they're focusing on reviewing our PBIS expectations with students. Thanks again to everyone for your continued openness and support with all of this! Reach out to Adam with any questions or concerns.

• Wanna make somebody's day at Pennoyer...don't forget about our staff shout outs we'd like to get started up again this year!  It's real easy; if one staff member wants to give another staff member at Pennoyer a positive shout out for something that week, just send a quick email blurb to Adam, and he'll feature it in our weekly Hawk Happenings!

• Great job with all the social media posts shared for the month of December! Keep it up in January. Here's the Google Form for teachers to complete.  Thanks!!!

• Stipend Opening for JV Boys Volleyball in the spring...Connect w/ Adam if interested.

Weekly Hawk Playlist/Lyric

It's All Right by The Impressions

Hawk Celebrations

What a wonderful celebration we have this week!  I'm so excited to announce that our very own social worker, Mrs. Rachel Slawson, will be taking on the newly formed position of Dean of Students at Pennoyer next school year!  Mrs. Slawson truly earned this new job, and we couldn't be more proud of her.  The Dean of Students will support all of our students at Pennoyer in a variety of ways through restorative and thoughtful behavioral interventions, building relationships and connections with them, promoting our PBIS program, and working closely with our Student Services and Intervention Teams to aid in student progress at Pennoyer.  Mrs. Slawson couldn't be a better fit for this position.  She has been such a dedicated staff member through the years at Pennoyer that has truly made a difference in students' lives.  She is highly collaborative, a creative thinker, and such a hard worker.  Most importantly, Mrs. Slawson goes above and beyond and puts the needs of students first at Pennoyer.  We're lucky to keep her at our school and so excited about her journey ahead!  #PennoyerPride

January Birthdays! 🎂

Vicki Kafka - 1/11

Kristin Kopta - 1/13

Alexis Koukari - 1/20

Sarah Adkins - 1/21

Pennoyer Staff Newsletter - 1/12/24

                                              Hawk Thoughts & Happenings

Team Pennoyer,

Welcome to our first Hawk Happenings of 2024!  While I really enjoyed having a break and unplugging from work for a little bit, I truly have enjoyed the week back and seeing everyone at Pennoyer.  There's been a good energy this week with students and staff, and I've enjoyed walking through the hallways and classrooms.  I tried my best to catch up with a lot of you and touch base about your Winter Break.  Many staff members truly just took it easy, and had some relaxing time at home with friends and family with no big plans to attend to.  Those are sometimes the best breaks as far as I'm concerned.  

We did try to venture out for a few days to New Buffalo, Michigan the day after Christmas, but with no snow and many things closed, my kids kept reminding me that they'd rather be home or in Hawaii like some of their friends.  Yeah...lots of luck with that!  My wife and I definitely liked the change of scenery, slow pace, and quiet nature of being up there.  If nothing else, it was a break from Chipotle, Netflix, and our normal routine.  We got our two teenagers to actually play some board games with us (Family Feud and Trivia Pursuit), we fed deer that came right up to the fence in our backyard, ate some great meals, went ice skating, and hit up some antique stores for fun.

Here's Sadie and Jamee sitting by the fire that was a highlight most nights and my cooky son Lennon lying around one day with an idea he had to become "soccer head."  I do love them so much, and I'm glad we got away a little bit.

Hawk Action Items  

• All teachers should have begun instituting our universal expectations each day this week for every class period they teach a new group of students to support behavior, expectations, and build connections.  We're calling this our 3 to Succeed! 

                  1. Greet students every morning.

2. Display School PBIS expectations OR PBIS Expectations (BLANK) in the

classroom and review everyday. Example: What are 2 ways we are

responsible in the classroom? In school?

3. Anytime your kids are in the hallway (arrival, dismissal, transitions,) you are

in the hallway with them. Middle school - transitions between classes.

*Admin will continue to walk the hallways as much as possible during transitions to help support and check in on our progress, along with weekly pop ins to classrooms to support our 3 to Succeed daily universal school wide expectations. Also, Meghan has put together a simple Google Sheet linked HERE for grade band teams to do their own fidelity checks weekly and share some of the different ways, where we can all learn from each other, that they're focusing on reviewing our PBIS expectations with students. Thanks again to everyone for your openness and support with all of this! Reach out to Adam with any questions or concerns.

• Just a reminder that we'll continue our work digging deeper into our professional development centered around student engagement this trimester.  In addition, this will be a great opportunity to perhaps tie the behavioral RTI work and classroom management structures we’re working through that directly correlate with high levels of student engagement.  HERE is our Pennoyer Trifecta Vision & Framework as a reminder!

  
  

  The Innovation Coaches; Angela Gonzales and Justin Gonzalez, will be joining one of your common plan times during the day in the next two weeks and are excited to meet with each of your teams individually. During your team plan you can expect Angela and/or Justin to do the following 

  • 5 minute check in 

  • 5 minute review of SMARTE Goal (feel free to check it out ahead of time) 

  • 15 minute reflection, revision of SMARTE goal if needed 

  • Essential Questions: Where are you now? Where do you want to be? What support do you need to get there? 

  • 5 minute closure and minimum next steps 

  
  

  Each team will have the opportunity to decide which 30 minute team plan slot you’d like to meet virtually. Should any of the proposed times not work for you in the next two weeks, please do let us know. You can sign your team up using this form. 

  
  

  *For any teachers and staff that don’t have common plan time with their counterpart (content area or grade level), please feel free to pick a time that works best for you.  Feel free to combine with another team if you’d like as well.

  
  
  

  For Learning Walk Participants: please review the proposed grouping/timing of your learning walk cohorts found at the bottom of this page, and provide any feedback/requests in the orange cell of which time slot you’d prefer for your group's time slot. 

  
  

  For Learning Lab Participants: please review the proposed calendar/timing of your labs found on this page, and provide any feedback/questions in the orange cell at the bottom of the page. 

  
  
  

  We’d love for all team plans/meeting dates & times, as well as feedback/questions to be provided by Friday, January 19th at the latest. 

• Wanna make somebody's day at Pennoyer...don't forget about our staff shout outs we'd like to get started up again this year!  It's real easy; if one staff member wants to give another staff member at Pennoyer a positive shout out for something that week, just send a quick email blurb to Adam, and he'll feature it in our weekly Hawk Happenings!

• Great job with all the social media posts shared for the month of December! Keep it up in January. Here's the Google Form for teachers to complete.  Thanks!!!

• Stipend Opening for JV Boys Volleyball in the spring...Connect w/ Adam if interested.

Weekly Hawk Playlist/Lyric

"Come with me and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination.  Take a look and you'll see, into your imagination..."

                                                                -Pure Imagination from the movie Wonka

Hawk Celebrations

For our first celebration of 2024, I'd like to highlight our new middle school math teacher this year, Mrs. Carin Chrastka!  I've had numerous opportunities to pop into Mrs. Chrastka's classroom and witness firsthand so many of the amazing things she's doing to engage our students at the highest levels.  She is passionate, dedicated, thoughtful, and so creative when it comes to managing the curriculum and supporting all of her students.  Mrs. Chrastka puts students at the center of their learning and dynamically moves through lessons to keep students focused and truly being a part of their own learning experience.  She has effective systems in place to challenge students and reward them for positive behavior and working hard.  One of the coolest things Mrs. Chrastka came up with was a way to leverage some of our brightest math students at Pennoyer and have them support other middle school students.  Each week, Mrs. Chrastka has 8th grade Math 2 students coming in and out of her class to peer tutor other middle school students either one on one or in small groups.  What a great leadership opportunity she has opened up for many of our students!  Mrs. Chrastka is #Pennoyerpride all the way!!!

January Birthdays! 🎂

Vicki Kafka - 1/11

Kristin Kopta - 1/13

Alexis Koukari - 1/20

Sarah Adkins - 1/21