Celebrating Success
Who done it? The final performance of our CHS student produced production of Agatha Christie's famous play The Mousetrap was top notch. Congratulations to Kristy Long and students.
A special thank you to Ben Proctor, Eric Neat, Janise Peoples, Priscilla Aydelott and Cat Weidneger for demonstrating your outstanding teaching skills and sharing techniques with colleagues at last week's "Dare to Share" mini workshop. And thank you also, for those who attended this workshop. I think most of us would agree that one of the most effective forms of professional learning occur from interactions among colleagues. Sharing experiences, perspectives and instructional strategies truly helps to promote a cohesive and exciting professional Learning Community. We hope to do more of these types of learning forums next year.
Registration for SY 2013-14
As Cris mentioned in her e-mail all student requests have now been inputed by our amazing counseling department. Whew! Thats about 1400 + schedules reviewed and inputted. The counselors will now continue their behind the scene efforts to meet the challenges of ensuring that our seniors have met all the requirements and are prepared to graduate in a few short weeks.
Safety and Security
Nothing like being down to the wire to complete our required safety drills at CHS. Tomorrow, April 29, we will have a soft lock down drill at the very beginning of 7th hour (About 1:30). In all honestly this should not be too disruptive. Remember that during a Soft Lock Down business within the building can proceed almost as usual. Please refer to handout in your Emergency Folder that defines the expectations during a soft lock down. For future planning we will have a Hard Lock Down drill on Wednesday, May 15 at 11:40 AM.
Electronics
If your classroom policy does not permit the use of personal electronic devises and you are having trouble with students who are not following your policy, and have called parents of the non compliant student, here is something that might help. Becky has small plastic bags with labels affixed for student name, class period and teacher name for you to use to collect these devises and bring to the office until a parent is available to come to school to pick up the item. This Tier 2 intervention is to be used for repeat offenders and only if parents have been notified of the recurring problem prior to this step. See Becky for the pre-labeled bags.
M.I.A. Admin
Cris Ray and I will be out of the building Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week to attend an in depth Common Core/PARCC training in Phx. Our brave and willing regular replacements, George Moate and Dave Dirksen will be here in our stead.
Speaking of Common Core
Woo hoo, the last of the series of four sessions for phase I of Common Core is this Wednesday, May 1 at 1:15 in the cafeteria.
Leave Requests
If you know you are not going to be at school and will be needing a sub, please call off and request a sub as far in advance as possible. We have had a number of last minute call offs for professional leave. Calling off late often leaves us with no sub coverage This puts a strain on one another as we have to ask teachers to give up their precious prep time to cover classes when subs are not available.
Looking ahead
Click here for a list of events for the last few weeks of school. Also Doug Riddle asked that we add May 16/17 - Madrigal Dinner South Commons and Cafeteria - 7pm
May 25 - Choir Concert with Alumni Choir - 7pm Main Aud - Free!!
Also please note that the final Faculty Meeting of the year will take place on Tuesday, May 14 @ 2:30PM in the mini-theater. Topics~ End of year procedures, Summer work at CHS (Specifically new carpet in the classrooms), Teacher Professional Growth plans for SY 2013-14, other...
Trivia: 17 teaching days plus three days of finals remaining of SY 2012-13. Hang in there everyone, finish strong!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
April 22-26, 2013
Celebrating Success
Each time I sit down to write this part of the PantherReport I get a flood of thoughts of all the great things that happen at CHS every day...
National History Day results
Last weekend our CHS sophomore students had an extraordinary showing at the National History Day state competition!
Each time I sit down to write this part of the PantherReport I get a flood of thoughts of all the great things that happen at CHS every day...
National History Day results
Last weekend our CHS sophomore students had an extraordinary showing at the National History Day state competition!
Four students placed
1st or 2nd in their categories and earned their way to nationals: Andrew Wright (1st place), Becca Fix, Shannon Pynes & Sarah Ralston (2nd place).
Sydney Gingrich, Emma Gordon, Madison Noble, Mary Schlanger and Grace Otto placed 3rd and are alternates for the national competition.
John Bedonie received a special award entitled Best Native American History project.
Maccoll Nicolson was also a regional winner for his Individual Exhibit.
Congratulations to these students and all their teachers!!!
The CocoNuts are proud to once again represent Coconino High School at the FIRST Robotics World Championship as the 4-time Arizona Regional Chairman's Award winning team! They head to St. Louis this week for worlds...Go Nuts!!!
And drum roll please....We have received preliminary AIMS Reading & Writing results and they look pretty darn good, actually very good. That is all I can say right now as the results are embargoed until June 6th when all AIMS scores become official. However, I can say congratulations and that you should ALL be very proud of the excellent work you do each and every day. 10th grade English Teachers; Janet Chavez, Cat Weidinger and Derek Born deserve a great big pat on the back as well.
A special thank you to Barrett Tritle for a great job organizing and seeing that the testing days went as smoothly as possible.
"Excellence is caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible."
~ Author unknown
Registration
Thank you to our counselors for working diligently on inputting all our student requests for classes for SY 2013-14. Our goal is to complete this process along with developing the master board and teacher course assignments by mid May.
Appeal Letters
Please remind your students that if they need to write a letter of appeal due to chronic absences, the letters are due by 3:00 PM, Friday, May 10.
What's up this week?
ACT testing for all juniors will take place on Tuesday, April 23
All Juniors with last names A-Mo report to the Large Gym
All Juniors with the last name My-Z report to the Small Gym
* We have combined late lunch on Tuesday beginning at 11:50 AM.
PLCs
Thank you for taking the time to complete the PLC reflection survey. Your input is invaluable and will help us in our planning for next year. This week is the last Wednesday of the month and set aside for you to collaborate with colleagues outside of your subject area Collaborative Team. Please remember to consider the following questions as we wind down the school year
1. What do we want our students to know and be able to do? (Essential Learning Outcomes and Content Objectives)
2. How will we know if they if they know it? (Formative and Summative Assessments)
3. What will we do if they don't? (Instruction practices, Interventions, Remediations etc. )
4. What will we do if they do? ( Instructional practices, Extension, Challenge, Enrichment etc.)
Dare to Share
Over the course of this school year we have heard from a number of educators and or consultants from outside of our building. It's about time to hear from and share the expertise, talents, ideas, strategies and techniques from teachers within our building. Hope you can join us on Wednesday, April 24 at 2:45 P.M. in the Panther Cafe for "Dare to Share". Cat Weidinger, Priscilla Aydelott, Janise Peoples, Ben Proctor, Greg Reiff and Eric Neat will be sharing some successful techniques with us.
Pathways
This Thursday we're back to 20 minute ASP followed by Interventions, Study Halls and Pathways.
A glimpse into the future (SY 2013-14)...Thursday Intervention/Enrichment days are here to stay. Our plan for Thursdays next year at CHS is to have three options: Study Halls, Interventions and School Clubs. No ASP and students will not rotate every 9 weeks for enrichment. They will sign up for a club and attend club meetings, or organized club activities on Thursdays for the entire year. For example Students Council, National Honor Society, AICES, MeCha, etc. If you have an idea for a student club please let Cris or me know before the end of the school year. :)
Dates to Remember
4/22 S3 @ CHS
4/23 ACT Testing all Juniors (Combined lunch 11:50)
4/24 Vertical PLCs
Please see schedule Star for updated extra curricular events at CHS this week.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
April 15-19, 2013
Celebrating Success
Thank you for coming together on Friday to help keep our students safe. It was very reassuring to see teachers everywhere inside and outside of the building. I believe that your presence helped avoid some potentially dangerous situations. The heart and soul of CHS are the people; teachers, students and staff and your care and devotion to maintaining a safe and pride-full environment is what makes Coconino so special. Thank you!!!
Good News
By now I am sure you have heard that last Tuesday The FUSD Governing board approved the compensation increase for FUSD employees. Yay!
CHS Spirit
This week we have our final pep assembly scheduled for Thursday, April 18 at 1:20 PM (Following ASP). Because some students are not interested in attending the pep assembly we are going to open two study halls at the same time as the assembly. On Thursday, those students who are wondering, lost or resistant to going in the gym will be redirected to study hall instead of hanging out in the North Commons. Study hall will take place in the library and the overflow will go to the cafeteria if necessary.
End of Year Field Trips
There have been a number of requests for field trips as of late. While field trips are an important part of school experience and can be very enriching for participating students, they can also be very disruptive to the learning environment at school. It is important that you plan these trips as far in advance as possible so teachers can plan accordingly. If you are planning a field trip before the end of the school year, please let me know asap. I also ask that you check with your colleagues to be sure that field trip bound students are not failing classes.
Common Core
Session three this week on Wednesday, April 17 @ 1:15. I came across this quote that i think is fitting as we continue our training:
" It's what you learn after you know it all that counts most."
~John Wooden
Dodgeball anyone?
Any brave souls interested in forming an adult dodgeball team to play in the annual Marshall School tournament? Rumor has it FHS has a team and hoping to defend their championship title. The tournament is Sunday, May 19. See Barrett Tritle for more details.
Dates to Remember
Frosh Softball @ home
Thank you for coming together on Friday to help keep our students safe. It was very reassuring to see teachers everywhere inside and outside of the building. I believe that your presence helped avoid some potentially dangerous situations. The heart and soul of CHS are the people; teachers, students and staff and your care and devotion to maintaining a safe and pride-full environment is what makes Coconino so special. Thank you!!!
Good News
By now I am sure you have heard that last Tuesday The FUSD Governing board approved the compensation increase for FUSD employees. Yay!
CHS Spirit
This week we have our final pep assembly scheduled for Thursday, April 18 at 1:20 PM (Following ASP). Because some students are not interested in attending the pep assembly we are going to open two study halls at the same time as the assembly. On Thursday, those students who are wondering, lost or resistant to going in the gym will be redirected to study hall instead of hanging out in the North Commons. Study hall will take place in the library and the overflow will go to the cafeteria if necessary.
End of Year Field Trips
There have been a number of requests for field trips as of late. While field trips are an important part of school experience and can be very enriching for participating students, they can also be very disruptive to the learning environment at school. It is important that you plan these trips as far in advance as possible so teachers can plan accordingly. If you are planning a field trip before the end of the school year, please let me know asap. I also ask that you check with your colleagues to be sure that field trip bound students are not failing classes.
Common Core
Session three this week on Wednesday, April 17 @ 1:15. I came across this quote that i think is fitting as we continue our training:
" It's what you learn after you know it all that counts most."
~John Wooden
Dodgeball anyone?
Any brave souls interested in forming an adult dodgeball team to play in the annual Marshall School tournament? Rumor has it FHS has a team and hoping to defend their championship title. The tournament is Sunday, May 19. See Barrett Tritle for more details.
Dates to Remember
- Monday, April 15
- Tuesday, April 16
- Wednesday, April 17
Frosh Softball @ home
- Thursday, April 18
Spring Pep Assembly 1:20 PM
- Friday, April 19
- V Baseball & Softball @ home 3:30
Sunday, April 7, 2013
April 8-12, 2013
Celebrating Success
Last Tuesday CHS hosted about 480 wide eyed and seemingly curious (OK maybe scared) SMS, MEMS and charter school students during the annual 8th grade orientation. Thank you everyone for helping CHS shine. We received lots of positive feedback from our middle school colleagues. A special thank you to Bondo for organizing and orchestrating this successful event.
Following orientation our counselors visited the middle schools to work with students and their teachers to begin the registration process for next year. Thanks you to our counseling department for their hard work, time and energy during this long process.
Congratulations to you all for completing round two of the Common Core Training. You have my sincere appreciation for the seriousness with which you have participated in these trainings. I think it is especially beneficial that we are all learning this information together and I am confident that as a school and faculty we will be able to transition to the new standards more readily as a result. Two down, two to go.
This week all over the state
AIMS AIMS AIMS & Standford 10
Tuesday, April 9 Math ~ ALL 10th graders and and any 11th or 12th grader still needing to pass
Wednesday, April 10 Science ~ ALL 10th graders
Thursday, April 11 Standford 10 ~ ALL 9th graders
Respect, Responsibility and Integrity
Hopefully these three words are becoming CHS's guiding principles for school wide expectations. Tomorrow, April 8th CHS will host a site visit from the PBIS State grant review team. They will be wandering around the halls talking to students, teachers and most likely support staff.
Spring has Sprung
I bet you know what I'm talking about. If you said, dress code, you're right. Let's start with the short shorts. We all need to work together on this. Remember step one is addressing the students who are in question by letting the student know they are not dressed appropriately for school. Suggest that they change (I have found that girls often have a change of clothes in their car or their locker). If they do not have a change of clothes they should call home and ask a parent to supply a change for them. If this doesn't work or the student refuses, send them to the RTR where Mr. Popham can help the student contact someone who can supply replacement attire. If all of the above doesn't work. or you have a repeat offender, send the student to the office and and administration will take it from there.
PLCs
As we approach the end of the school year it is important that we take some time to reflect on our work in our Collaborative Teams. Our Professional Learning Community has shifted from forming teams and developing norms, expectations and goals to examining subject area standards and curriculum maps and identifying essential learning outcomes (Aligning curriculum with instruction). At this point we should be looking carefully at common assessments to ensure we are assessing what we have determined to be essential concepts and skills. Several teams have begun the process of developing informal formative assessments to help inform instruction and accurately assess student knowledge along the way. This week in you Collaborative Teams please take a few minutes to discuss and record your team's findings, successes, observations, concerns etc.
"Well implemented Professional Learning Communities are a powerful means of seamlessly blending teaching and professional dialogue in ways that produce complex, intelligent behavior in teachers and their students."
~Sparks 2005
4/10 AIMS Science
4/11 Stanford 10
V Tennis @ home v. Page 1:00PM
4/12 V SB @ home v. Tuba City 3:45 PM
4/12 MORP
FYI I will be out of the building Monday, April 8.
Last Tuesday CHS hosted about 480 wide eyed and seemingly curious (OK maybe scared) SMS, MEMS and charter school students during the annual 8th grade orientation. Thank you everyone for helping CHS shine. We received lots of positive feedback from our middle school colleagues. A special thank you to Bondo for organizing and orchestrating this successful event.
Following orientation our counselors visited the middle schools to work with students and their teachers to begin the registration process for next year. Thanks you to our counseling department for their hard work, time and energy during this long process.
Congratulations to you all for completing round two of the Common Core Training. You have my sincere appreciation for the seriousness with which you have participated in these trainings. I think it is especially beneficial that we are all learning this information together and I am confident that as a school and faculty we will be able to transition to the new standards more readily as a result. Two down, two to go.
This week all over the state
AIMS AIMS AIMS & Standford 10
Tuesday, April 9 Math ~ ALL 10th graders and and any 11th or 12th grader still needing to pass
Wednesday, April 10 Science ~ ALL 10th graders
Thursday, April 11 Standford 10 ~ ALL 9th graders
Respect, Responsibility and Integrity
Hopefully these three words are becoming CHS's guiding principles for school wide expectations. Tomorrow, April 8th CHS will host a site visit from the PBIS State grant review team. They will be wandering around the halls talking to students, teachers and most likely support staff.
Spring has Sprung
I bet you know what I'm talking about. If you said, dress code, you're right. Let's start with the short shorts. We all need to work together on this. Remember step one is addressing the students who are in question by letting the student know they are not dressed appropriately for school. Suggest that they change (I have found that girls often have a change of clothes in their car or their locker). If they do not have a change of clothes they should call home and ask a parent to supply a change for them. If this doesn't work or the student refuses, send them to the RTR where Mr. Popham can help the student contact someone who can supply replacement attire. If all of the above doesn't work. or you have a repeat offender, send the student to the office and and administration will take it from there.
PLCs
As we approach the end of the school year it is important that we take some time to reflect on our work in our Collaborative Teams. Our Professional Learning Community has shifted from forming teams and developing norms, expectations and goals to examining subject area standards and curriculum maps and identifying essential learning outcomes (Aligning curriculum with instruction). At this point we should be looking carefully at common assessments to ensure we are assessing what we have determined to be essential concepts and skills. Several teams have begun the process of developing informal formative assessments to help inform instruction and accurately assess student knowledge along the way. This week in you Collaborative Teams please take a few minutes to discuss and record your team's findings, successes, observations, concerns etc.
"Well implemented Professional Learning Communities are a powerful means of seamlessly blending teaching and professional dialogue in ways that produce complex, intelligent behavior in teachers and their students."
~Sparks 2005
Dates to Remember
4/9 AIMS Math4/10 AIMS Science
4/11 Stanford 10
V Tennis @ home v. Page 1:00PM
4/12 V SB @ home v. Tuba City 3:45 PM
4/12 MORP
FYI I will be out of the building Monday, April 8.
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