Thrift Store Puzzles

This weekend I had the pleasure of hearing from Suzanne Cox at my church's Ladies' Retreat.  She is married to a preacher of a LARGE church near Birmingham, AL.  Before taking on this role she served a Teen Challenge Ministry near New Delhi, India, which rescues young girls from prostitution rings.  She is very interesting and if you want to learn more about her life please click here.



Anyway, at the close of the weekend she told a story about her grandmother who liked to put puzzles together and she would go to the local thrift stores to purchase these puzzles.  Well as you can likely guess...some pieces of the puzzle would be missing because it was a second hand puzzle.  She related the puzzles pieces to the women in the room.  She shared that we all were needed to create a masterpiece.  You could not view the complete picture if a piece was missing.  You also could not really pick which piece was more important than another piece because the pieces ALL worked together.  YES...if you do the edges first you at least have a "guide" on where to go next but you needed all pieces "working" together to achieve the goal.  The pieces actually depend on each other and link together to form the picture.  Each piece by it's self seems insignificant and might have a weird shape but when it was linked to the one next to it...it looked just right.

Now this example had to do with our place in the world and that God needed us to be in place to ensure that all people had a chance to know God and reach perfection (Heaven).  I shall not preach now but feel free to stop by before or after school and I will share more!  What I do want to say is this... By ourselves the task of changing the world one child at a time seems impossible.  We receive results from benchmarks and we wonder...what class has this child been in all year?  We watch a student who's behavior has improved greatly in recent weeks make a bad decision and end up in the office.  If you are me, you watch an educator that has so much potential question their ability to teach so much they are suspended in fear...muddling through the rest of the year trying to be something they are not!

We have something special at ERWIN ELEMENTARY.  Each of us is at our school for a reason and do not think it just "happened".  We are each a piece of the vision of success we have for all students.  You do not know how important a piece of the puzzle is until it is missing.  A students might go without that needed hug if you aren't in place for breakfast duty.  Your co-worker might go without that kind word of encouragement because you decided to stay in your room during planning and not attend the grade level meeting.  A parent might feel hopeless without that positive call home to thank them for all of their support or the smile you give them as they enter the office. The type of change needed in our community starts with each piece coming together to create the masterpiece.

I am privileged to work with each of you and when I talk about our school to others I feel immense pride in the work we do on a daily basis.  We need each piece of the puzzle to continue to grow the future lawyers, doctors, firefighters, teachers, pharmacists, dentists, PARENTS, chefs, preachers, administrative assistants, cafeteria workers, bankers, truck drivers, welders, plumbers, coaches, citizens, etc.  If we don't model this idea of each small part being important to the big picture our most important puzzle pieces- THE STUDENTS WE TEACH- will not show up and play their part in creating our masterpiece.

Have an AMAZING week and remember the reason why you decided to take on the TOUGHEST JOB you'll ever LOVE!

Angela

Week of April 28- May 2
Summatives and Evaluations Continue
Boot Camp Begins in 3rd and 4th Grade

Monday

• 3rd Grade Planning/ PLC Day/ Score RtA
• mClass Assessments for 3rd graders
• 4th Grade PLC/ Planning Day
• SIT Meeting @ 3:30 in Media Center (We will give every staff member a form and please have that form back in Mrs. Lemon's box by 1:00 if you have something you want to add to agenda)

Tuesday

• 5th Grade PLC/ Planning Day
• mClass Assessments for 3rd graders
• RtA Assessment

Wednesday

• Hill Out (Attending Literacy Workshop in Chapel Hill- SUPER EXCITED)
• 5th Grade Trip to Coats-Erwin Middle School 8:45-10:15
• RtA Assessment
• Circle of Quality Meeting in Lillington
• PAY DAY $$$$$$$$$

Thursday

• Zaxby's Night 5:00-8:00 Please come out and volunteer and/or buy dinner for the whole family; Money to help fund trip to Myrtle Beach for students who met AR/IXL goals all year.
• Tailwaggin' Program
• RtA Assessment
• Mentor Meeting at 3:30 in Hayes' Room
• Grade Analysis Sheet Due to Hill by 3:30

Friday

• Honor's Chorus workshop at CU (Please see email from Busch for info)
• Goody Day
• Dunkins Out

Reminders

1. Please make sure you email me your planning information by 4/30.
2. Classroom Teachers: You will need to bring a classroom roster, your EVAAS log in info, and your laptop to your PLC this week.
3. Teacher Appreciation Week is next week!!!!!
4. Data Analysis Sheets are due 5/8 for final benchmark info
5. Goal Sheets for EOG will need to be completed by 5/26. I will share sheet with 3rd and 5th grades this week during PLCs. 4th grade is moving forward with their revised sheets.
6. PEP Audit is coming up 5/6.  I will send out information the team will be looking for.  I will be coming to your room on 5/5 to pull PEPs.  This will be random so all will need to be complete by then.