A Few Buzz-y Weeks Ahead!
Greetings Parents and Community Members! Once again, so much has happened since the last time we spoke and, of course, I am happy to share! First and foremost, while our students were home from school yesterday, our staff was busy at work engaging in a day full of trainings and professional developments. Our entire faculty and staff came together at the Primary Center to learn once again from Brenda Fitzgerald, a leading expert in early literacy, writing and multisensory learning. She engaged our teachers in three hours of Understanding Dyslexia as we eagerly took notes and asked questions on how to best serve our students. One out of every five students has dyslexia and we want to continue learning everything we can about how to best support our students’ reading and writing. We also spent the day in the PC gym watching the Superintendent’s address as well as learning about the new Anonymous Reporting System that APS will be rolling out, which can help us identify issues with our students before they arise. The program primarily is geared toward middle and high school students, but our elementary teachers learned a lot from the training. More info to come soon.
Second, last week was highlighted by our amazing Book Character Dress-Up Day. This was my first experience with this at Brandon, and, I have to say, I did not leave disappointed! I started the day at the Primary Center and was so impressed by the book characters and costumes. The parent support was unbelievable as our Kindergarten students marched through the hallways so excited to see not just their parents and friends, but all of the 1st and 2nd graders cheering them on. What a great tradition for Brandon! As I made my way to the Main Campus, I was encouraged to see the dress up tradition continuing on with our older students (and our teachers). This is such a great way to bridge the gap between our two campuses and I was so impressed with the participation among everyone, including faculty and staff! The week was topped off on Friday by our rising Kindergarten interest meeting. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect or how many people would attend, but there were a lot in attendance and the interest in Brandon is spreading! A big shout-out to our PTA presidents and president-elects for organizing this event as well as the school tours, but, most importantly, to our awesome Program Administrator Dwight Hutson for leading the charge!
Finally, we have big few weeks before we hit Thanksgiving. Our teachers just finished up their Benchmarks, Eureka end-of-module assessments are taking place, and we are gearing up for our next STAR assessment, a way for us to monitor progress and growth during these first two quarters. While the fun and engaging learning continues, so does our enrichment of the whole child. Social Emotional Learning is taking place every day as our teachers lead the charge on this important district initiative. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me or a member of our admin team. We are here to help! Don’t forget to take our GADOE Climate Survey for Parents – we need lots of participation. The link can be found here. Also, I hope you can join us this Friday for the 1st annual Morris Brandon Thanksgiving family luncheon. The cost is $5 for non-APS students.
Until next week,
j