The Hawk Happenings: Pennoyer Staff Newsletter

Hawk Thoughts & Happenings

Team Pennoyer,

I can't believe there are only three weeks left of the school year. When the days seem long, and the students are restless, just take a deep breath, hang in there, and try to focus on the positive moments. You're all doing an amazing job during this final month of school. A feel good moment for me this week was being the Mystery Reader for preschool. Good thing Nina saved me at the last minute with the perfect book...Pete the Cat and the New Guy. I highly recommend it if you like music, Pete the Cat, and celebrating that everyone has something that makes them special. Our preschoolers are the cutest!

I also wanted to share a special shout out to all the moms out there. Many of you will be celebrated this Sunday on Mother's Day, and rightfully so. Whether you're part of our Pennoyer staff and have kids of your own or you're celebrating your own mom, I wish you all a peaceful Sunday, and I hope it's filled with love and appreciation. I'm so incredibly close with my mom, who is a huge reason why I got into education in the first place. She's everything you'd want in a parent...supportive, kind, unselfish with everything, easy to talk to, nonjudgmental, and forever optimistic. When I think of my wife Jamee, she has so many of these qualities and more, and I know our kids are so lucky just like I've been in my life. The picture below is just a few months after Lennon was born, and the way she looked at him in this picture is that priceless look of comfort and connected love that can fill a lifetime. Happy Mother's Day to all of you in our Pennoyer family.

Hawk Action Items

Looking ahead to our final Staff Meeting on Monday, May 20th, I wanted to do something special again to celebrate everyone’s hard work this entire school year. You don’t have to bring anything except maybe a little hunger for something cool and sweet, and a fun, competitive spirit if you’re up for playing some card or board games in the MPR. I’ll be picking up Blizzards from Dairy Queen! HERE is a form to fill out if you're interested in a Blizzard. Please fill this out by Friday, May 17th next week so I can place the order...thanks!

Paraprofessionals or any other staff members that don't normally join us at staff meetings, you're more than welcome to put in a Blizzard order if you'd like, and I’ll have them at Pennoyer by 3:15pm before you leave for the day. You’re welcome to join us to celebrate and play games in the MPR on Monday, May 20th as well.

This is just a small token of my appreciation for all you do for our students, families and community every single day. #Pennoyerpride

HERE is our updated final week of school calendar so everyone is in the loop. If anything is revised or added on, we'll update this document. Reach out to Adam with any questions.

We need to get a headcount of all staff members attending 8th grade graduation at Ridgewood High School on Thursday, May 30th in their field house. The ceremony begins at 6:30pm. All staff will have special seating behind our graduates on the floor, so whether you're coming to help out, or just to support our students and be a guest at graduation, please take a moment if you haven't already, to RSVP and fill out the form HERE by next Monday, May 13th. Thanks so much!

On Friday, May 17th, Eisenhower Library will pay a visit to our K-6th graders to do 20 minute assemblies in the gym focusing on their Summer Programs and Summer Reading for our students! K-2 will be from 10:30-10:50am, 3-5 will be from 2:00-2:20pm, and then 6th grade will be from 2:25-2:45pm.

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. *New addition to the protocol...please make sure to let the supervising teacher know you're sending someone when you sign a student up for a Behavior Academy. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting these.

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 April! Keep it up in May. Here's the Google Form for teachers to complete. Thanks!!!

Weekly Hawk Playlist/Lyric

Time Will Tell by Gregory Alan Isakov

Hawk Celebrations

It's all about our amazing staff this week at Pennoyer as we come to the end of our Staff Appreciation Week. In all honesty, every week we need to appreciate our staff that make Pennoyer such a special place for all of our students and families. From the teachers, to support staff, to paraprofessionals, student services, related services, office staff, and our facilities team, they truly all make it work for our school, and their dedication and passion for educating our students is unmatched. I was in the classroom for almost 20 years, so I know firsthand who the true heroes of a school are. Our staff connect with our students beyond just academics. They're role models, social/emotional support, mentors, coaches, and advocates every step of the way. As I walked through the hallways and classrooms this past week and throughout the entire school year I get to witness firsthand the creativity, thoughtfulness, and work ethic of our Pennoyer staff who I'm so incredibly lucky to be working with. Here's just a small taste of what I get to see every day that makes me so proud of our staff...seeds being fertilized for an activity using sunlight through the window of a classroom in 2nd grade, along with students making their own helicopter leaves out of paper to learn more about nature's "zone of darkness", 4th graders showcasing their informative writing essays, debates in 8th grade to practice creating a coherent argument with claims and reasoning through the topic of should college be free or not, 3rd graders getting to take shots on their classroom basketball hoop based on social emotional growth and how well they've been living up to school expectations, 6th graders in music practicing piano on their iPads and creating their own music, Kindergartners working together on a game board to help them sound out words effectively, and 1st graders partner reading to each other and using their creativity and some hand paint to create something special for Mother's Day. The list goes on and on, so thank a million times for everything you do for students, families, and our entire community. #Pennoyerpride and #StaffAppreciationWeek