North Kingstown High School Weekly Focus: Week Ending February 17, 2017

Scheduling and...

Wow, great Q & A this morning. Looks like we will be moving forward (tentatively) to see how this schedule may shake out. Thank you for your support.

Regarding the Suicide QPR Professional Development this afternoon I would like to make a quick correction. This morning, our guidance counselors were not part of the 3-hour long training on how to do a more clinical assessment. Leigh Raposa had guidance counselors on the slide of those that were the “go to” people. The guidance counselors can certainly assist but they have not been trained. I will get an updated list of who was there and get that out to you in an email next week.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Health and Wellness

From Karen D’Abrosca:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology: GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT (GBBC) February 17-20, 2017.

What do birds have to do with wellness, you ask? Just about everything. Bird watching is available and accessible to all. It is popular with all ages, leads to an appreciation of nature and allows attention to focus on small details of the environment. “Birding” allows us to shift our minds from our busy lives and possibly take our bodies on a heart healthy walk! This GBBC project collects real time data on wild bird species over 4 days. It helps researchers study climate change, avian diseases and other factors that can affect bird populations and migration patterns.

Simply tally the number and kinds of birds you see for at least 15 consecutive minutes during one or more days of the count. The National Audubon Society and region specific field guides will help with bird identification. Visithttp://gbbc.birdcount.org/get-started/ to sign up and record your observations.

Try something different, include the family and enjoy the weekend, bird counting or not!

Upcoming Events/Important Dates

February

20 No School - Presidents Day

21 School Committee Budget Meeting 7pm

22 Survey Works! (Date change)

23 8th Grade Open House 6:30pm

24 Course request worksheets due to student’s history teacher

March - Creativity

3 Musical - Oklahoma 7pm

4 Musical - Oklahoma 2pm and 7pm

5 Musical - Oklahoma 2pm

8 The College and Career Fair 6pm

Good News!

The latest Skipper Pride winner is Amy Messerlian who was chosen from the last winner, Carole Taylor.

From Carole to Amy:

Amy is always there when I have a Special Ed question – my go to person, always willing to help. Goes the extra mile for all the students – being their voice.

Walks in the room and asks “can I help with anything” and always with a smile – For all these reasons and more, I chose you for the Skipper Award for Excellence – Way to go Amy!

Teaching and Learning

From Barbara Morse:

Some of you have visited my office recently may have noticed my wall-sized worksheet. I am fortunate to be part of a small group of Rhode Island administrators who were accepted into a grant-funded “School ReTool” professional development program. Caitlin Donahue, from Hamilton Elementary is also part of this group. The purpose of the program is to help administrators think more deeply about the way we

support student learning and approach changes that invoke Deeper Learning skills for our students. I will be engaging with administrators across the state from all levels, visiting other schools, and generally pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone in the ways that I approach problem-solving and planning. It’s not about building a new program or creating massive changes but rather taking small, simple experiments that might be a baby-step in the right direction. At first, I was extremely skeptical of this seemingly faddish thing called “hacking”, but I have to admit that I’ve already had a few “aha” moments of reflection about leadership and student learning.

My recent Student Shadow was part of my homework for this program. I had an amazing day (using student lavs was definitely out of my comfort zone). Over the next few months, you may see me “hacking” other small-scale adventures, such as hosting an informal after-school meeting just to chat with students, or opening my hallway door to my office for a day to welcome one and all to stop by. I’ll be adding a few other wall-size posters to my office as the program progresses. Feel free to ask me any questions about how the program is going, or about the slightly odd “hacks” you may see me trying out!

Student Services

From Donna Sweet:

School Culture Themes

This month we are celebrating Wellness. Perhaps the time for those January 1st resolutions are just coming to fruition? When it comes to our students, we hope to remind them that Wellness comes in many forms. We are hoping for the emotional, social and physical wellness. On the School Culture Theme site there is particular focus to Teen Dating and healthy relationships.

For March, we will celebrate Creativity! Along with the school play, this is a great opportunity to showcase the creativity of our students. Please forward any highlights of innovators and creators in your classrooms. Also, I would like to build a whole school challenge during advisory each week. Think along the lines of "Minute to Win It" type challenges, ideas welcomed!

The deans and the PTSO will be featuring March Madness to help raise funds for a winning class, for PBIS and for the PTSO.

As an extension of our collaboration with the PTSO, we are beginning to develop the idea of creating an Alumni Association. With so many NK alums here in the building, I would love to hear your input as we move forward.

As a former class advisor, The Class of 2008 just purchased a Commemorative Brick for the Brick Project the PTSO has worked so hard to create. If you were a former class advisor, please consider representing your graduating class as well.