CHS Homecoming Week September 30-October 4

Celebrating Success
I am so proud and honored to say that not only is CHS home to the Coconino Teacher of the year, Terry Wilson, we are also the

• Home to the Arizona Science Teacher of the Year~Christine Sapio
• Home to three nominees for the Northern Arizona STEM Teacher of the Year~ Brian Locke, Craig Howdeshell and,  the winner of the STEM Teacher of the Year~ Christine Sapio
• Home to one of the top ten finalist for Arizona Teacher of the Year~Christine Sapio
• Home to the 2013 Commission on Disability Awareness High School Educator of the Year.~Eric Neat

These recognitions are the kind that deserve a stand up applause and ovation. Congratulations to Terry, Christine, Brian, Craig and Eric! 

Safety 

The safety committee met last week to review data and make some recommendations for continued safety at CHS. First of all, thank you everyone for doing a great job reporting and documenting student conduct concerns. It appears that Thursdays are our highest absentee day as well as the day of the week with the most student infractions. Hmmmmm? We are not exactly sure why, but we know lunch is longer on this day, which might have something to do with high absenteeism in the afternoon. Let's keep an eye on this and see what we can do to change the trend. 

CHS Literacy Initiative 

The CHS Literacy Team would like to share some helpful tips about how to quickly update your Teacher WebPage. Click here for WebPage tips.

Academic Tutoring
College students are here at CHS offering free academic tutoring for CHS students. The tutors are here on Mondays 2:30-5:00pm and Wednesdays 1:00-4:00pm, both days in room 204.

PSAT 
PSAT testing is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16. 8:00am-12:50pm.  Registration open until filled. Students can sign up in the bookstore. 

Homecoming Happenings

Spirit week dress up themes are all based on Dr. Seuss books: 

Monday:  "The Sleep Book" ~ Pajama day
Tuesday:  "Thing One, Thing Two" ~ Twin Day _ (Our white long sleeve staff shirts).
Wednesday:  "Maybe You Should Fly a Jet. Maybe You Should Be a Vet" ~ College Day
Thursday:  "The Butter Battle Book" ~ Camo Day
Friday:  "Hooray for Coconino (Diffendoofer) Day" ~ Spirit Day

Dodgeball Tournament ~ Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

In addition to our usual combined lunch Wed and Thurs, we will have only be 1 lunch on Monday, 9/30 and Tuesday, 10/1.  That lunch will be 1st lunch.  If you normally have a 4th hour class you will have lunch before you see your students on those two days.  For those of you who normally have a 5th hour class, nothing will change for you!

Staying Fit @ CHS

The Coconino Cross Country Team is encouraging everyone to stay fit and participate the first ever Panther “No Time” Mile on Tuesday October 1 @ 5:30pm.

 No need to sign up in advance, just show up on the CHS Track by 5:00pm.  You can go as fast or as slow as you’d like. $5.00 fee will go to help support our X-Country team. 

Faculty and Staff Luncheon

Wednesday, October 2 1:00pm  in the CHS Cafeteria 

Bonfire 

Wednesday, 9/2 6:30pm CHS South Parking Lot 

LipDub Music Video

The production team had been working hard to put together the plan for filming day, Friday, October 4. Dean Shaddy will be sending an e-mail to you all with the lipDub Production Schedule, Zone Map and link to the theme song.  The dry run and then the filming will all begin around 8:30 am on Friday. 

Parade

Traditional CHS Homecoming parade Friday, October 4 1:00pm

Pep Assembly

Action packed assembly will begin in the main gym immediately following the parade 1:20 ish. 

Panther Football

Friday at 7:00pm Cromer Stadium

Panther Classic Golf Tournament 

Saturday, October 5 8:00am Elephant Rocks Golf Course in Williams (It's not too late to sign up, see Jen Parker). 

Homecoming Dance 

Saturday, October 5 8:00pm CHS Cafeteria

Sleep

Sunday, October 6 All day!

Happy Homecoming Week! 

Update- Sept 23-27

Celebrating Success
Way to go Panthers!
Varsity Football, Volleyball and Golf all brought home a big W this week. Niiice!

SY 2014-15
I know we just launched SY 2013-14 and we are talking about next year. There are three proposed calendars on the table for next year. Barbara Hickman is asking for staff and faculty input.  I have posted a copy of the three options in the mailroom. Below I have attempted to highlight the main differences. (Winter and Spring break dates and last day of school are the same in all three options, so i did not include them).

#1.  School start for students is August 4
        Fall Break, one full school week,  October  13-October 17
        Built in snow days (Days off  if not used for snow): May 7, 8, 11,12,13 (lumped together)

#2.  School start for students is August 7
        Fall Break, two days,  October 16 & 17
        Built in snow days (Days off if not used for snow) May 7,8, 11,12, 13 (lumped together)

#3.  School start for students is August 4
        Fall Break, two days, October 16 & 17
        Built in snow days April 24, 25 & May 7, 8, 9 (separated)

*You will have a chance to indicate your preference during our prep hour meetings on Tuesday, September 24. 

AIMS to PARCC
With the intent of helping schools overcome glitches and prepare for the transition from AIMS to PARCC, The Arizona Department of Ed is piloting the PARCC Assessment around the state. CHS will pilot Geometry, and 9th & 11th grade English Language Arts.  The windows for testing will be March 24 through April 11 and  May 5 through June 6.   Only two classes per subject will test.  I'll let you know who the "chosen ones" are as we get closer.

PR for CHS
The KAFF Radio challenge, Friday Night "Likes" begins Monday, September 23. This is a friendly competition between CHS and FHS to get the most Facebook likes.   The winning school will receive $1000.00 and a Pizza party for the entire school. WE WANT TO WIN!!!
Please go to Facebook.com/Kaffcountry and "Like" Coconino High School. Also, please encourage your students, friends, relatives, people you meet on the street and anyone else you can think of, to do the same. You can "like" the page as many times and as often as you want.
Also, if you have any current photos of CHS related events, people, projects etc, please send them to Joleen so she can include them on our CHS Facebook page.

Faculty Meetings
I have had several questions about faculty meetings this year. The plan is to have only one faculty meeting per month.  If we have a scheduled prep hour meeting, unless something unexpected comes up, I will not to plan an after school faculty meeting.  This month, September 24, we have prep hour meetings scheduled. (This will take care of September) .  Then on Wednesday, October 23 we will have a faculty meeting from 1:00-2:00pm.
On Wednesday, October 2, we will have a special Faculty lunch celebration at 1:00pm in the cafeteria. (No formal meeting).

Fire Drill
The first fire drill of the year went fairly well. Evacuation from the building happened within 1 minute of the alarm sounding, with the exception of one student had trouble being roused from a deep sleep. In a real emergency this sleeping student would pose a danger not only to him/herself, but the others trying to wake and help the student out of the building.  Students who can not stay awake in class, should be sent to the nurse who will determine if the student should be sent home for the day.
Please note the following refinements to our fire drill procedures.

• Classes who go to the north parking lot, your rally point is as north as possible toward the fence line. Please do not gather in the cul de sac or side walk areas of the lot
• Classes who go to the west side of the building, your rally point will be the main football field, Cromer stadium. 
• All teachers should bring your class roster and take roll at the rally point. A hard copy of your roster should be contained in your red emergency folder and easily accessible.

More information regarding emergency procedures will be forthcoming.

Homecoming Plans

Student council will be sharing the theme for homecoming spirit week soon.  For your planning purposes

10/02    Faculty Lunch 1:00pm cafeteria 

             F FB @ home v. Bradshaw Mt. 3:30

             Annual Bon Fire 6:15 pm

10/04   Abbreviated schedule Click here for schedule 

            School wide lip dub beginning at 8:00am

            Homecoming Parade 1:00pm 

            Pep Assembly 1:20pm -2:20pm

            Varsity Football game 7:00pm v. Bradshaw Mt.

            

Also please note-If you are helping students with homecoming floats, posters etc, and need supplies our generous PTO has donated rolls of butcher paper in the teacher's mail room. If you need additional supplies such as markers, tape etc, see Pat Therrien.

Dates to Remember This Week
9/24 Prep hour meetings room 211 for all periods except 2nd.  2nd period will meet in the Mini-Theater.
9/25 F FB @ home v. Kingman 3:30pm
9/26 VB @ home all levels 4:00pm
9/27 V FB @ home v. Kingman 7:00pm

Welcome back Gaby and Dana, and our best for a speedy recovery for Eric Ashcroft. 

Update-September 16-20, 2013

Celebrating Success
Freshmen freeze was really cool.  Nearly 400 Freshmen gathered in the cafeteria to check in with their Link Leaders last Thursday.  Lots of happy smiles and great conversations took place. Thank you everyone!

CHS Homecoming

You may or may not have heard the buzz about our CHS Lip dub.  Now you might be thinking what the heck is a lip dub? A lip dub is a sort of school wide music video. High schools all over the country are producing these fun, high spirited videos.  The purpose is to promote pride, excitement, energy and school spirit.  Our CHS Student Council and Media Technology classes are working together to create our very own Coconino High School Lip Dub.  The filming will take place on Friday, October 4.  The students are really excited about this project and asked that I help support and promote the lip dub. Their hope is that every individual at CHS will be part of the video. You can find lots of examples of high school Lip Dubs on youtube, schooltube etc.  Click here to view one example. I sincerely hope you will all get involved and help support this project. Keep an eye out for more information and details from our student council.

Friday Night Likes
KAFF Radio in Flagstaff is kicking off a campaign to help generate excitement and support for local high school programs. The kick off for this campaign is a competition to get as many Facebook "likes" for Coconino and Flag high. The school that receives the most "likes" will win  $600.00 and the runner up school will receive $400.00. The competition will begin this Friday, September 20.  Then, between 9/20 and 11/ 1 (The CHS/FHS football game), students from both high schools are invited to join the radio program to talk about their school and programs in which they are involved and how the community can support our students, activities and schools. I will keep you posted about this too.

Thursdays
As we expand options for students on Thursdays please follow these guidelines:

• Dismiss Math Intervention students first
• Refrain from giving hall passes during the first ten minutes of study hall
• Remind students to bring necessary supplies to 7th hour on Thursdays (This should help decrease the number of students needing to go their lockers). 

Dates to Remember

9/19  Volleyball @ home (all levels) v. Show Low 4:00pm

          JV Football @ home 3:30pm

9/20  Fire drill 9:00am

Update-September 9-13, 2013

Celebrating Success
Math Interventions are up and running. Thank you to our CHS Math Teachers for organizing targeted interventions for our students.
 Teachers please remember to send ONLY students who have a red pass to Thursday Interventions.

PLCs are alive and well at CHS. The Collaborative Team Goals and focus on creating formative assessments will undoubtedly help answer the questions that guide our Collaborative work:
1.  What do we want students to know and be able to do?
2.  How will we know if they are learning?
3.  What will we do if they are not?
4.  What will we do if they are?

Mastery Learning Center (MLC)
This year, the MLC is in room 353 (Popham’s old room).  What is the MLC?  This is a room utilized by students with IEPs for accommodations such as extra help on assignments or tests.  When you’re sending students to the MLC, please fill out an MLC pass,  with the student’s name, which assignment he/she should be working on, and what help he/she should receive. Click here for the MLC pass.   Please see Marti Millhouse should you have questions about the MLC.

Hall Passes
Speaking of passes, please remember not to give hall passes during the first ten minutes of class. Keeping the hallways clear during first ten minutes helps our efforts in curtailing tardies and helps to promote the message that being in class on time is important.

Sweep Sweep Sweep
Sweeps are making a difference. Comparative data from last year to this year shows that tardies, and incidentally absences are down. Please continue to be at your door, marking students who are late to class on the tardy sheet. Also, double check that your tardy sheet includes your name and the first and last name of the students.  Thank you for your help and support in this effort.

Dress Code
Please continue to send students to see nurse McKenzie should you find a student in violation of our dress code. Our policy clearly states that...  

Students may be asked to change clothes if the clothing is deemed inappropriate by staff.  Staff discretion will determine appropriateness.
The dress code policy can be found on the front page of our CHS website.

Field Trips
Ah yes, field trips... Please refer to the Coconino High School Faculty Handbook for details and requirements for scheduling a field trip. (This is the red book given out a the beginning of school year meeting). Eric Freas is the contact person for scheduling transportation and related questions. Also, remember if you are planning a field trip that requires students to miss classes other than your own, please check to ensure that students are in good academic standing in all classes in order to be eligible to participate.

TPEC (Teacher Performance Evaluation)
Our pre-conferences are wrapping up. Steve, Cris and I  have enjoyed meeting individually with each of you and we are looking forward to spending time in your classrooms. Please remember to log in to the https://fusd1.truenorthlogic.com and accept your profile. Here is a brief tutorial thanks to Marshall Principal, John Coe.

Planning Ahead
Mark your calendars for prep hour meetings on Tuesday, September 24. Prep hour meetings will be held in room 211, with the exception of 4th period which will be held in the Panther Cafe.
Homecoming Week is September 30-October 5.

Dates to Remember 
9/11 New Teacher Mtg 2:20-3:00pm Room 211
9/11 Panther Tracks (PBIS) Mtg 3:00-4:00pm Room 211
9/12 Freshman Freeze.  The last 20 minutes of Thursday Intervention all freshmen students will join the Link crew leaders. (More info later this week).

September 3-6, 2013

Celebrating Success
As August slips into September, first grading cycle is complete, Open House is behind us and Rachel's Challenge was a success. Immediately following the assembly about 75 Coconino students met together to share their feelings and perspectives about Rachel's Challenge and its impact on them. Their honesty and courage to speak openly about their own hardships and the challenges they face at school was really amazing. The students collectively agreed that actively promoting kindness and compassion will help Coconino be a better place. They split into groups with the help of 13 CHS Faculty members to begin planning action steps toward this effort. A special thank you to James Mason for introducing the idea for Rachel's Challenge at Coconino. There will be another meeting this Wednesday, during combined lunch in the mini-theater. ALL students are invited to attend. Because this meeting will take place on Wednesday, and we only have announcements on Thursdays, we need your help letting students know about this meeting. 

Study Hall/Intervention
Study Hall and Math Interventions will begin in ernest this Thursday, September 5. Math teachers will give intervention passes to students in need of extra math support. At 1:20PM we will make an announcements asking teachers to release only those students who have a pass to go to the specified math classroom.  All other students should remain in study hall.

CHS Events
If you would like to view scheduled CHS events you can go to Schedule Star. Go to our CHS website, click schedule star on the left.  The user name is chs@fusd1.org and the password is panthers.

Dates To Remember
Sept 5 Spirit Committee Mtg 11:05 room 211
Sept 6 Panther Varsity Football @ home v. Tempe 7:00pm

Have a great week!