Parma Plan It: Teacher Appreciation

Quotable: "The best thing about being a teacher is it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is it matters every day." ~Todd Whitaker

A topic for this week's blog was an absolute no brainer for me:

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. While not all of you have the title of Teacher according to your contract, this week is about celebrating all of you who influence the lives of our students....and that is each and every one of you! I certainly appreciate all that you do. What I appreciate the most is the environment you create for our students. Kids love coming to school each day, and parents feel welcome here by all of you.

The compassion for our families, respect for one another, and focus on kids can't be neatly measured and represented on a school report card or data spreadsheet, but to me, it's more important than any other piece of data that exists. This makes me think of the quote, "Years from now children might forget what you taught them, but they will never forget how you made them feel." I love working with a group of people who not only believe in the potential of our kids, strive to help them be the best they can be, but also care so much for the students and community in which we work. So, if our students don't tell you today how much of an impact you are making on them, please hear me tell you now that you are making an incredible impact on our students!

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you so much for all that you do everyday to make Parma Elementary School a great place for kids to learn and grow!! You are the Best!! Simply the Best!

Calendar in Review:
Please note the calendar on the right....
Welcome Back Joan Fitzpatrick
Monday, May 7: Teacher appreciation Luncheon provided by PTA
Monday, May 7: 8:00 SST Meeting
Monday, May 7: 2nd grade Common Core
Tuesday, May 8: 6:30-8:30 Staff Appreciation Breakfast at HS
Tuesday, May 8: Common Core for Administrators Conference
Wednesday, May 9: Walk To School Day
Wednesday, May 9: K - 2 PLC Assembly
Thursday, May 10: 3rd grade leaves for Mackinac
Thursday, May 10: 5th grade Common Core
Thursday, May 10: Kindergarten Common Core
Friday, May 11: 10:00 - 11:00 Food Play in the gym for all grades
Friday, May 11: "The Talk"....4th grade at 1:30 and 5th grade at 2:30
Sunday, May 13: Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!!

Highlights from the week:

I observed a second grade math lesson and the students were making grammatical corrections to the story problems.
A fourth grade student brought her published book to me in the hallway and wanted to share it with me. She was so proud and so was I.
I observed fifth graders performing small plays and realized that we have many students who truly need to go into theater.
I loved working with our fifth graders on our weekly news show.
I witnessed a group of students stopping another student from making fun of someone. Wow!
Our Panther KNex kids are doing an outstanding job. Seeing those connections every day and watching how our kids are growing from the experience is amazing.
Betsy Powers was honored at Ella Sharpe Museum for the Top Teacher Award. She had more the 3 tables full of family, friends and colleagues to help honor her.
I think something has happened in third grade, and our kids are enjoying writing!
I got to drive Michelle Rogotzke's car. : )