Pinecrest Pagent

Last night I attended Pinecrest School's presentation of "The Littlest Reindeer." This year, Mrs. Hebert's K-2 class were the stars, and they did an outstanding job. On a cuteness scale of 1-10, I don't think anyone in attendance would argue that it was, at least, a 14. The kindergartners as elves produced many "Awwws" from the audience, and there was no way you could not smile as the whole cast performed. The older students serenaded the audience with traditional Christmas carols before the performance as well. It was great to get to meet some of the parents and families of these students, and I felt very welcomed. Kudos to Mrs. Hebert, Mr. Brown, and Ms. Terry for all their hard work and dedication to our students. It takes a lot of hard work and extra hours to put on a show like this, and from the smiles on the faces of the parents, it was well appreciated!

Choir concert

Last night was our winter choir concert. If you had a chance to attend it, I'm sure you were impressed by the talent our students. As I said last night, there is nothing that says Christmas to me more than children singing on the stage. It was great to look out at the audience and see a sea of smiling faces. The students all did fantastic, and I want to thank the teachers who came to help and support their classes. Of course, the largest thanks go to Caitlyn Randall, our music teacher, who singlehandedly orchestrated the entire concert. Without her dedication to our students they would be missing out on an important component to their education. I believe arts can have a tremendous impact on our students, and I hope to be able to expand our arts program at our schools when the budget situation settles down more.

Back to normal?

This morning it is raining, and the accumulated snow on the yard is slowly giving way to the rivers of rain. Part of me is relieved to have this round of snow and ice behind us, but part of me is sad to see it go. The snow truly is beautiful, and it makes the school look as if it is putting on it's fancy winter clothes. I know we'll see more as the winter wears on, but this first storm was a nice first blast.

Wednesday Late Start

Just a quick update... As of 8:30 on Tuesday night, our plan for tomorrow is a one hour late start. It will be icy, for sure, but with some care, we should be able to get everyone around safely. Looking at the weather forecast it doesn't look like we'll be above freezing until lunchtime, so please be careful everyone. Of course, if something changes, we'll alert the radio stations, so keep you ears open!

Let it snow?

Well, the weather outside is frightful... Sorry, too much Christmas music around my house. The snow has certainly hit with a vengeance. I was at school early this morning and there was a good 8 inches of snow on the ground already and it was snowing at a furious pace. Dr. Keiter and I had been in phone contact Sunday night and had decided on a 1 hour late start before the storm had hit in earnest. We decided it was not worth trying to get the buses out and about and it was too dangerous, so we called a snow day. I called the teachers and told them to stay home. Kathy and I held down the phones for a while as parents were calling to get updates. Finally, I grabbed some work, and headed for home, as I was afraid if I didn't go soon, I'd be stuck at school. It was amazing to see the snow accumulate at home, and it was a shame to see the massive black oak tree in my neighbor's house loose some massive branches.

I just received a call from Dr. Keiter, and we will be canceling school for Tuesday, as well. The weather forecast is for a hard freeze overnight, and temperatures are not expected to get over 40 for the entire day. The roads will be too icy to travel safely on.

On an unrelated note, it was great to see everyone at the Twain Harte "Winter Wonderland" parade on Friday night. It is these types of events that make me glad we are here.

We're not in Fresno anymore, Toto!

This morning started out in a way that I'm sure no principal in my former stomping grounds of Fresno has had to contend with. I got a call from Mr. Dunlap first thing this morning that there is a big buck and a doe nestled down on the hill above the middle school campus. Still being a relative newbie to the foothills, Mr. Dunlap and Mrs. Anderson made sure I understood the potential danger of a buck with a doe at this time of year. I've seen enough episodes of "When Animal's Attack" to understand the threat this buck posed here. So what to do? I went to look, and the two of them certainly didn't seem like they were at all worried about me, and had every intention of staying put even as our kids were starting to arrive on campus. I decided my plan was to get the doe to move on, and the buck would surely follow. I started to climb the hill towards her, and she didn't really care about me. I got withing about 10 feet, and she still wasn't even standing up. The buck wasn't standing yet, but I wasn't sure if I got too close to the doe, would he see me as a challenger, and come at me? I started throwing sticks and pine cones to try to get her to move. Finally the doe stood up and so did the buck. The doe then started moving down the fence towards the gate on Twain Harte Drive. It was clear she didn't want to head out that way, and so she turned and headed back towards the corner where they had been resting, Mr. Buck 3 feet behind her at every step. I was able to chase them down out of the corner, and out onto the soccer field. The doe kept looking at the fence like she was going to jump it, but the two large dogs in the yard next to the school made her decide otherwise. She then got down behind the baseball backstop, and was looking for a way out. The buck was in hot pursuit, and it was clear the doe didn't want to head towards him, and kept coming at me instead (I was the lesser of two evils, I suppose). It took much coaxing, throwing things, beating my coat on the fence, and blowing my whistle to finally convince the doe to leave. I'm sure I looked like a fool throwing piles of leaves at her (there wasn't anything else nearby!). When she did decide to go, she ran across the soccer field, down the ramp behind the bathroom, around Black Oak School, and out across the parking lot and over Manzanita Drive. Mrs. Berry was just coming in at that time and was pretty surprised to see the deer. I think she was more surprised to see me in pursuit.

After spending the better part of half an hour with these deer, I was finally back at my desk. For fun, I thought I'd look up my official job description to see where "deer herding" fit. Alas that "other duties as assigned!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take a moment today to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am very thankful to be in a community such as this, and am thankful for the dedicated staff that I get the honor of working with on a daily basis. We spent Monday and Tuesday of this week planning for the rest of the year, and I'm excited about the direction we are heading.

Have a great vacation, and see you Monday!

Updates!

Once again, I've been derelict in my blogging duties! Last week was a bit of a disjointed week with the Veterans Day Holiday. I hadn't posted on Veterans Day, but I did want to say a sincere thank you to all of our veterans who sacrificed to help make this a great country!

Things have been relatively quiet around school. We have been pushing hard as this is the largest block of instructional time and we've been working to gain a lot of ground. It's good to have Thanksgiving Break coming up as I think the students and staff are all ready for a breather.

Speaking of breathers, I needed one today after playing a few rounds of "prison ball" with Mr. Dunlap's 5th graders today. If you're not familiar with prison ball, it is a variation of dodge ball. Basically pick up the balls and try to destroy the opposing team. Even with my best efforts, my team lost.

Speaking of the 5th graders, they have recently completed their science projects, and have their display boards set up in the study area outside the library. They are very interesting, and if you have a chance to check them out in the next couple of days, I highly recommend them.

It was also neat to sit in on a few of the oral book reports given by some of the 7th graders in Mrs. Anderson's class. I was especially impressed by Parker's description of "The Lord of the Flies." I remember reading that intense book when I was in high school, and his descriptions brought back memories for me.

The past few days I've been preparing for our two professional development days next week. While the kids are enjoying the full week off, the teachers and I will be working on Monday and Tuesday. I'm looking forward to those two days, but I'm really looking forward to Wednesday, and having a few days off!

H1N1 Clinic

Yesterday we had the county health department come and administer our H1N1 vaccines. We had about 150 of our 283 students get the vaccination, much more than the 30% the health department had originally anticipated. Things went very smoothly and we were able to get everyone through the clinic in about 2 hours. We would have been done sooner but the county folks needed to bring in an extra supply of the nasal spray from the county health department. The vast majority of our students had the nasal spray, and their only complaints were it being cold and having a bad taste. Those few that got shots were very brave, and there were very few tears shed. Hopefully the slight discomfort yesterday will help ensure our kids stay healthy!

Smokey and pancakes

This week's biggest events were a visit from Smokey the Bear on Thursday, a bus safety drill, and the 8th grade Harvest Breakfast.

Smokey and friends came to visit our K-3rd graders on Thursday morning. We had several Cal Fire fireman with Smokey, and after the kids got to hear Smokey's message, they then got to go play in a Cal Fire engine that was parked on the blacktop. The students got to dress in the firemen's turnouts and blast the fire hose. What was surprising to me, was the onslaught of 7th graders who wanted to crash the Smokey party so they could go give him a hug. I was getting bribes of gummy bears and a dime and a nickle to try to convince me to let them visit Smokey, but I held my ground and kept the 7th graders at bay.

On Friday, we held our bus safety drills. We had three buses on the blacktop and ushered all the classes through them. This is an important safety drill for all our students to participate in, and they all were attentive, and I think they all enjoy jumping out the emergency exits.

Also on Friday, we had the members of Club Live (the middle school version of Friday Night Live, a drug/alcohol prevention program in high school) present a drug awareness skit they had created for Red Ribbon Week. It was pretty powerful, and I appreciated the attentiveness of the rest of the middle school students. The message of the dangers of drug use was sent, and I believe, received.

Just today, Sunday, we had the 8th Grade Harvest Breakfast. I took my two kids, Hannah and Chris, and I was very impressed with the decorations in Telele Lodge, and the quality of the raffle prizes. Clearly a lot of work went into making this a successful event. Big thanks to Naomi Johnson, and Wendie Scott, who headed up this event along with all of the parents and students who helped. I've heard that all of the food and raffle prizes were donated, so it should turn out to be a great fundraiser for the 8th grade trip. Hopefully when I get to school tomorrow morning, there will be my Dodge Ridge annual pass, or my two tickets for Great America that I put my raffle tickets in!

Halloween

Friday was a pretty interesting day around campus. I had heard that the Halloween parade was a pretty big deal around town. I'd never even been in a parade, let alone lead one. I had my first clue that this was a big deal when I saw the fire engine and highway patrol with lights ablaze blocking the roads for us. I wasn't prepared for the crowds when I turned the corner leading this year's parade. I think there was a large crowd, at least. See, for my costume (I was Elwood Blues, and Dr. Keiter was Jake Blues, of the infamous Blues Brothers), I had to get Rayban sunglasses (fortunately the pharmacy had the cheap imitation Raybans). Of course, I wear prescription sunglasses, and the costume sunglasses were not, so the whole crowd was a blur. Fortunately, all our yard duty assistants were dressed up as referees and were positioned at all the turns to ensure we didn't lose any children. Black and white stripes stand out even to a nearly blind Elwood Blues impersonator, so I didn't wander too far off the prescribed parade route. I'm not sure, but I was told that this year's parade may have set a record. I think we completed the whole route in about 8 minutes. Not sure whether the record was longest or shortest parade. By the way, I'm considering having the yard duty wear the referee outfits as official uniforms. They just seem so much more appropriate on the yard that way.

Then on Friday night, we held our first middle school dance of the year. Since it had been more than 25 years since I last attended a middle school dance, I was not quite sure what to expect. The student body officers had done a great job, and the cafeteria looked great. I had to smile as the dance unfolded, exactly as I would had expected. The DJ had the music, lights, and fog machine all working at maximum efficiency. As the students arrived, they all clung together for safety in small clusters near the exits. After a few minutes of scoping out the scene and seeing if it were safe, a small cluster of girls bravely ventured out into the danger zone of the middle of the floor, and tentatively started swaying back and forth to the music (ironically, I think it was "Single Ladies" by Beyonce that got them to dancing). Slowly, as the other students began to realize that the first group of girls hadn't turned to stone, or some other horrible tragedy, they began to slowly join up, until all but the most untrusting of students were in a mob dancing in the middle of the floor. I had to chuckle to see the boys who probably considered themselves "players" to be the last ones to let loose of the safety of the walls, and head on into the fray, even then, only with the safety of their "homies." I found myself at first patrolling the perimeter of the dance like a beat cop, looking for "perps." After a little while, I began to relax, as even my most notorious students were behaving themselves, and I found that instead of having to be the warden, I was able to enjoy myself some. I do admit, I had to show off some vintage 1980's dance moves when prodded by a group of students. They were duly impressed with my "Rainbird" and "Lawnmower" moves. The dance was progressing well, and then horror struck! A slow dance! Suddenly all the chaperones were on full alert. We were scrambling looking for our 1950's Catholic school nun standard issue yardsticks to be able to swat wayward hands. Our fears were not realized however, as there were only about 10 brave souls who ventured into this new frontier, and it was easy for us to verify all hands in proper places. I had a huge surprise when Bonnie, an eighth grader, asked me to dance! What to do? Slow dance with a student? I harkened back to my short stint in Arthur Murray Dance Class (A birthday present for my wife) and struck the proper ballroom carriage. Right hand high on her shoulder blade, left hand "washing windows." We had an enjoyable conversation, which I had to cut short when Krysta, a 6th grader, cut in on Bonnie. I found my dance card becoming full!

It was a very enjoyable evening, and I am very proud of how well our students behaved. They all seemed to have a great time, and it was great to see students in a different light. Thank you to Mrs. Bickley for all her hard work in putting this together. I look forward to the next one!

Catching up!

I've been falling down on my blogging duties! I see it's been nearly a week since my last update!

Here's what's been happening around campus...

Last Saturday B.O.T.H. hosted our Halloween carnival. There was a ton of work put into converting the cafeteria into the carnival and the hallway into a haunted house. Kudos to all the parents and students who put in many hours of work. It was well attended and I think we can officially stamp it a resounding success!

We have had many new students in the last week (7, if my math is correct) and they have been adjusting well. We have had a few move out of the area, so our numbers are remaining relatively constant, just new faces.

On Tuesday night we had Dr. Stolp, the county health officer, come to our school to host the first of several community forums on the H1N1 flu virus. It was very informative and covered a variety of topics related to the flu virus, historical lessons, vaccinations, and the county's response to the H1N1 virus. This virus seems to have a more pronounced effect on young people. Therefore the county is targeting youngsters with their school-based vaccination clinics. The first of these clinics was at Pinecrest school last week. Twain Harte and Black Oak are slated for November 9th.

Coming up this week is the highly anticipated Halloween parade through downtown Twain Harte. I'm told it's tradition for the principal and superintendent to lead the parade (I'm also told the grand tour through downtown lasts about 7 minutes). I've been asking students what they think would be a good costume for me to wear. I've had several suggestions ranging from Michael Jackson to Cinderella. The Cinderella suggestion comes from one of the kindergarten students who continually addresses me as "Mrs. Mayers." Is my manliness being questioned here?

A well-deserved honor

Last Friday I was notified that Mrs. Anderson has been selected as the Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce's Teacher of the Year! She was nominated by Mrs. Olsen, and there will be an official recognition in a few weeks. This is a well deserved award for one of Twain Harte's finest! Way to go Nancy!

Paint!

This morning as I came into the office, I was surprised to see that the peeling paint on Black Oak School had been power-washed away. I knew that the building was slated to get a paint job, but just on Friday I received an email from Dr. Keiter saying the painters would begin prep work on the 26th. Obviously, the painters had come over the weekend and were ahead of schedule. Today a couple of the crew were sanding and continuing the prep work. The painters want to get a jump on things before the weather turns. I had to shoo the crew away from Mrs. Stapp's class as the sanders were quite distracting to the lessons being taught. We had a couple of good showers today that shortened the work day for the painting crew, but I'm sure they will be back soon. It will be a bit of an inconvenience, but it will be nice to get the old school a new coat before winter settles upon us!

Exciting games

I just got back from our first-round game of the 8th grade girls' basketball tournament. It was an exciting game against a tough Jamestown team. We were leading at the start of the game, but Jamestown was tenacious and by halftime they were up by 6 points. The Twain Harte girls remained tough on defense and we slowly whittled the lead down. With about a minute left in the game, we took the lead by one point, and had the fend off the the desperate Jamestown team. We managed to get the ball back and held on for the well-deserved win. Nice job girls! Tomorrow night we take on Soulsbyville in the semi-final game.

Also tonight our sixth grade team took on the team from Columbia, and played well, winning by 10 points. They also continue on in their tournament with a game tomorrow night as well. Good luck to both our teams!

Wet, Windy and Wild!

As with the rest of the state, we are in the midst of a strong storm. The wind is whipping the leaves off the trees, and hurling them across the blacktop, and the rain is falling sideways. Fortunately for us, we are on a half-day schedule due to parent conferences, so this storm won't put too much of a damper on the day. I only hope our power holds out!

On a different note, our 7th grade girls basketball team lost in the first round of the county tournament. I got to the game right as the girls were shaking hands with the other team. The girls were very upbeat and told of their comeback from the 0-20 start. Today our 6th & 8th grade teams play their first games of their tourneys. Good luck girls!

Good Kids

In the last two days I have witnessed a couple of events that really demonstrated how good our children can be.

Yesterday, during the noon league softball game, one of our autistic children, Jason, came out on the field. He was standing in the field and I called him over to me on the sidelines, so as to keep him safe. He then proceeded to head over to the bats, and pick one up and get in the batter's box, jumping ahead of the team that was already up to bat. Since he seemed so eager, I told the pitcher to go ahead and give him a couple of pitches, and assured the team up to bat that this would be a minor detour in the game. The pitcher lobbed one over the plate and Wham! Jason smacked it up the middle and took off to first base. He safely made it, and was hopping up and down with excitement. This is where I became even more proud of the other students. Their encouragement of Jason, and helping him as he ran from base to base as the other batters hit was impressive. The opposing team members would tell him to stay on the base, and when to run, and when he made it home, there was much cheering and high fiving from both teams. When it was Jason's team's time to head out in the field, one of our fifth grade girls took off her mitt, and handed it to Jason. The next time his team was up to bat, they made sure he had a chance to bat again. All of this was of their own doing with no adults telling them they needed to include him.

The second incident I want to share happened today at recess. During the upper grade recess two fifth grade boys, Ricky and Brandon had come down to the basketball courts to shoot some hoops. At the same time, Ms. Sperry's kindergartners were out playing. As the two older boys started shooting the ball, it attracted some of the kindergartners. Ricky handed the ball to one of the kindergartners and encouraged him to shoot it. Before long there was a swarm of little guys on the court, and Ricky and Brandon organized them into a line and had the kindergartners come up and take a shot, then head to the back of the line. This lasted the entire recess, and by the time the bell had rung, neither Ricky or Brandon had taken more than two shots, but nearly every kindergartner had taken many. Again, this was a completely spontaneous act that I observed from a distance.

I couldn't be prouder of my students than I was after these two examples of everyday kindness. Parents, I commend you for raising such nice children.

Fire!

Drill! Today was our first fire drill, and for the most part, everything went smoothly. There were a few procedural things to work out, but the kids all behaved well, and quietly and quickly got to their assigned areas. I'm glad we had Captain Slater (parent of a Pinecrest student!) from the neighboring station on hand, as apparently we needed to alert the alarm company when we are conducting a test! Whoops! Fortunately Captain Slater was able to call off the engines that were scrambling. Note to self, let the alarm company know next time!

Goings on...

I thought I'd spend a minute or two going over the general happenings at school. Over the last two days we have had 6 new students enroll, one K, one 1st, one 3rd, one 5th and two 7th graders. I've spent the day checking in on them, and the seem to be adjusting well.

Today Mrs. Olsen was out ill, and Mr. Anderson (Mrs. Anderson's brother-in-law) substituted. He has lived a fascinating life, having spent 8 years in a school in Botswana (400 miles down a dirt road, in a grass hut), and a few years in Japan and is an amazing artist. I was observing in the room today as he was telling some of his stories and showing some of his artwork to the eighth graders. They were impressed!

In noon-league softball, the Angels are now the only undefeated team, holding off a hard charging Dodger team yesterday.

This afternoon, Ms L. (that's how she introduced herself) was working with the students in Mr. Calbert's class doing improv acting lessons. The students were very involved, and I had a good laugh with them.

It has been absolutely beautiful on campus. Several of the trees are starting to get a touch of color on the tips of their branches. We are getting a healthy collection of sweatshirts in lost and found, as it is quite chilly in the morning, but come lunch time students are peeling off their outer layers.

Frost!

This morning, when I went to get in my truck to drive to school, there was frost on the roof, and as I drove up the hill to Twain Harte, I noticed all of the buildings' roofs were white with frost. Seems like summer is officially over! Now if I can only find my gloves!

LAIR Part II

Yesterday afternoon I went out to visit our 8th graders at LAIR. I got there as they were eating dinner, and ate with them. The students were all very animated as they recounted the stories of the previous two days (something about a rubber snake in the girls' dorm I think I need to follow up on). After dinner, the students went back to the dorms for a bit. I spoke with our fathers on the trip, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Relva, and they echoed what Mrs. Bickley had told me over dinner. Namely that our students had done very well, and they had had no issues.

There was a bit of down time after dinner, so we got together a volleyball game while many of our students were playing basketball, or "just chillin'." Ironically, after the volleyball and basketball lost their allure, a game of Duck, Duck, Goose was organized (my second in a week!). It was much fun playing with the 8th graders.

After the game time, our guides took us on a night hike. With a nearly full moon, it wasn't too difficult to tramp about the forest. We then headed to the campfire, where Mrs. Bickley took over, and led the students on a discussion of how much she's seen them grow individually and come together as a group in the previous 2 days. It was a remarkable night, and I am very impressed with this fine group of young women and men.

LAIR

Today we got the 8th grade class off to LAIR at the Sierra Outdoor School. LAIR is a leadership program that really helps our students grow and mature. The agenda for LAIR includes a high ropes course, and a day kayaking at Pinecrest Lake. I plan on heading out to LAIR to visit with the students and maybe eat dinner with them. They will be at LAIR for 3 days and nights, and for many of them this is the first time away from home. I'm not sure if the separation is harder on the students or on the parents!

VIP

It was great to have our VIP/Virtue assemblies on Friday. It's nice to recognize students who are doing a good job, not just academically, but behaviorally. Thanks to Mr. Calbert who helped run the VIP assembly at Black Oak. There are many traditions (wink, songs, secret handshakes, etc.) that I need to come up to speed on, and I appreciate the help! Same goes for Mrs. Anderson whispering in my ear for the virtue assembly at THMS. Thanks also to the McDonald family for providing the Pizza Factory certificates for our winners.

On another note, I was felling a little grumpy on Thursday after I had to chew on some students because their behavior was not up to snuff. As I was walking back to my office, Mrs. Gold's class class was playing "Leaves and Pumpkins" (Duck, duck, goose, for you lay people). I noticed an open spot in the circle, and decided to have a seat. Nothing like a good game of leaves and pumpkins with kindergartners and first graders to make you forget misbehaving 7th graders!

Trophies

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Calbert approached me and wanted to do something about the trophy cases in the hallway at Black Oak School. The glass has been gone for many years, and most of the dusty trophies were older than our students (some were older than the new principal!). We spent a few minutes boxing up the old trophies, and now the trophy cases are a display area for student work. The first "exhibit" was the T.P. roll creations by Mr. Calbert's class. I loved the creativity of the sailing ship, the wind chimes, and the dachshund. There were great displays if imagination, and the students from all grade levels really enjoyed looking at the projects as they were in line for lunch. We now have Mrs. Ransom's class on display with their "Boxcar Children" dioramas. I was chatting with some of the artists as they were waiting to board the bus the other day. It is nice to see the children get excited about their work being showcased.

Now the question is what do I do with the 5 boxes of trophies (Some dating back to the early 1960's!) that are now stored under the stage?

7th and 8th Basketball

Today our Lady Braves took on the team from Soulsbyville, and unfortunately both our teams were handed defeats. The 7th grade girls went cold in the second half, and didn't score a basket. It seemed everything the Soulsbyville 7th graders threw up went in.

The 8th grade girls then took to the court, and were pretty evenly matched. Maria led the team well, and we were ahead at half. Soulsbyville came back in the third quarter to take the lead by 4. Our girls had many opportunities to tie the game up, but we couldn't get the shots to drop. It was good to see Becca and Bailey from Pinecrest playing with the Twain Harte girls.

Since I'm talking about sports, our noon-league softball season is in full swing (pardon the pun), and it is great to have kids out doing organized activities at lunch recess. It helps me get to know the students better, and hopefully they are enjoying it some.

On a completely different note... Blogger (from Google) allows publishers to put ads on their blogs to raise funds. I've enabled ads on this blog as an experiment (They are over there>>> below the archives). So far, I've not made a penny from these ads, and have included a poll to see if folks think the ads should stay or go (Over there, >>>>>> above the followers). Any funds made from any ads will go to the school, by the way. I'm not looking to enrich myself. Let me know where you stand on these ads by answering the poll question. Thanks!

6th grade Girls Basketball

Last Thursday, before Back to School Night, I attended the 6th grade girls basketball game versus Curtis Creek. I had heard that the CC girls had just mopped the floor with one of the neighboring schools, and that there were at least three on that team who are on a local traveling team. Needless to say, I was nervous for our 7 girls. The first quarter confirmed my fears when the Mustangs outscored the Braves 8 to 2. Seems everything they threw up went in, and their defense held our girls out near the three point line. We made a nice comeback in the second quarter with Sarah scoring 5 and Allison sinking a nice shot at the end of the first half to bring the game within 1. Alas, we couldn't do much more in the rest of the game, and the Curtis Creek Mustangs defeated the Twain Harte Braves 18 to 11. All of our girls played well, and our coach, Noel, did a nice job of getting all the girls playing time, and was very positive throughout the game.

I am thankful to the parents, coaches, and athletes that make up our athletic program. I hope to be able to build a strong athletic program and give kids opportunities to get out and participate. I believe extra-curricular and co-curricular activities are one of the things that set an excellent school apart from a good school, and I intend to make Twain Harte an excellent school!

Back to School

The state finally released the API scores on Monday. Black Oak School showed impressive gains of 53 points, the second highest point gain in the county. All of the schools in the district are now over the state's goal of 800 points. Way to go!

It was great to see all the families tonight at back to school night this Thursday. The teachers have been working hard on getting their rooms ready, and it was nice to be able to showcase that work. I am proud of the school and am happy to show it off.

Keeping an eye on those 8th graders...

On Thursday night we had a meeting for 8th grade parents to discuss the upcoming LAIR trip. We had a good turn out of parents, and after Mrs. Bickley covered the important aspects of the leadership building trip, and answered the few questions parents had, the meeting then became a chance for the 8th grade parents to begin making plans for the fund raising events for the rest of the year to get ready for the end of year trip. It was nice to see parents actively engaged in ensuring their child had a great school year.

On Friday I was visiting Mrs. Bickley's class as she was discussing the early American colonies, and was discussing the issue of slavery. To make a point about the nature of slavery, Mrs. Bickley suggested that the 8th graders would need to "invade" Mrs. Anderson's 6th grade class down the hall, look the 6th graders in the eye, and say they were not human, so as to be able to enslave them and own them as property. I believe this is an inherent mindset in 8th graders, so I was not at all surprised when at least half a dozen of them raised their hands and said they were ready to lead the charge right then and there. I made a mental note at that point to keep a closer eye on these 8th graders...

B.O.T.H.

This morning I attended the Ed/Law meeting at the County Office of Education. This is an opportunity for local educational leaders to meet with county law enforcement (Sheriff, Sonora P.D., Probation and CHP) to address any issues that schools may be having. We went around the table and discussed how the budget issues have been affecting us. It was an eye opener to hear how hard some of the other agencies have been hit, and I felt fortunate (or was it naive?) to say that we're doing relatively well budgetwise, all things considered.

When I returned to school the B.O.T.H. meeting was in progress. B.O.T.H. is the parent club for Black Oak and Twain Harte schools (hence the acronym, B.O.T.H.). This is a dedicated group of parents who work to help out the teachers and students at the schools. Today they were reviewing a number of requests for funds and were electing officers. It was nice to see parents of kindergartners getting involved (the term "fresh blood" was used). Later in the meeting the group began to start making plans for the Halloween carnival. Someone mentioned a large Winnie the Pooh costume that would fit me... I'm starting to get worried.

Over the last few days we've started having IEP meetings for our special education students. While I am still getting to know many of these students, what I've really taken away from these meetings is how dedicated my teachers are to ensuring all students are successful here. It gives me a good feeling about my staff as I know the kids are in great hands!

The draft...

Today we held the draft. Not the "You're in the Army now" type of draft. No, this was far more serious than that. Today was our first noon-league sports draft.

I gathered 16 of the best 8th grade athletes together and had them select teams from the 5th-8th grade students who signed up for our upcoming softball season. Our games will be held at lunch time recess starting tomorrow. Serious bragging rights (and maybe a tee shirt?) are on the line here.

A beautiful drive

Yesterday I drove up to visit Pinecrest Elementary. My official job title is "District Principal" meaning I'm responsible for all four schools in the Twain Harte -Long Barn Unified School District. Those schools are Black Oak Elementary, Twain Hart Middle School, Twain Harte Academy, and Pinecrest Elementary. I haven't been up to visit Pinecrest yet, and decided yesterday was a good day to go up the hill. The little 3-room Pinecrest school is in a beautiful location at about the 5800 foot level in the Sierra. Chris Bunow, the office manager, took me on a tour of the three classrooms. It was nice to see Mr. Brown's 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms, and talk to some of his students. We then went to Mrs. Hebert's K, 1, 2 class and talked with those students a bit. Finally we headed outside to visit Ms. Terry's 6th, 7th, & 8th graders out in the portable classroom. I enjoyed speaking with the upper graders and meeting the triplets (half of the entire 7th grade class!). After spending a few more minutes chatting with some of the parents and volunteers around the school, I was needing to head back down the hill. Before I did that, however, I decided to drive up to Pinecrest Lake. I had heard of how beautiful the lake was, but had never seen it. It is about 3 minutes up the road from Pinecrest School. If you live in the area, you've undoubtedly gone to the lake. It certainly lived up to it's reputation as a lovely Sierra lake.

Busy day.

It's a bit after 5:00 and I'm alone in the office. I'm sitting in my chair for what feels like the first time in hours. I wanted to jot down a few things here to give a snapshot of what my typical day looks like. As I write that I wonder if there is such a thing as a typical school administrator's day. Anyway, I usually arrive a little before 7:00, typically as the buses as just rolling out of the yard to head up the hill and start picking up the students. I take the quiet time before everyone arrives to organize and plan for the day. I write down my morning announcements, check and respond to emails, update my to-do list and do a few quiet things for about half an hour. This morning I had three students pay a visit at about 7:20, which cut my quiet planning time a little short. It was alright, as I want the kids to get to know me, just as I'm getting to know them. At about 7:45 I went up to the upper building to deliver some teacher's manuals to our new RSP teacher, Julie Burton, and to touch base with a few of the THMS teachers. When I headed back down to the office there was a new 7th grader who had just enrolled, so I walked him up to his classroom to met Mr. Gold, and along the way I introduced him to Mrs. Bickley, and Mrs. Anderson, as those are the teachers he'd be rotating through. When I came back to the office I had a parent who wanted to chat about a few things, so we talked for a short while after I did the morning announcements. I then went back to the upper building to see if there were some extra chairs lying about for Mr. Dunlap, and was able to secure a few that I think will work. While I was in his room, I had to find some 5th grade math materials to make copies of for Mike Brown, our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teacher up in Pinecrest who is missing some materials. I then decided to see what was happening in some of the upper grade classrooms. I sat in for a few minutes in Mrs. Anderson's class as she was explaining what she expected her student to have in their binders (organization is not an average 7th graders strong suit!). Mr. Gold was was going over the scientific process with the 6th graders and having them read about what a hypothesis is. Mrs. Olsen had 8th graders reading through "My Brother Sam is Dead" while Mrs. Bickley was working with the 5th graders on their "mad minute" math facts. I continued my short classroom observations by heading down to the lower building and I sat in as Mrs. Ransom was discussing fiction versus non-fiction in relation to "The Boxcar Children". As I finished visiting a couple more classes it was recess time. Since it's taken this many words to cover the first hour and a half of the day, I don't think I'll write more tonight about the rest of the day! I have a good feeling about where we are as a school, and the dedicated teachers that are working with the students.

On another note, we are still waiting for the state to release the API scores. They were supposed to be released to the schools last week, and made public today. We've received no word yet. Wonder what's going on at the State Department of Education.

Rules

Today I began having my rules/discipline assemblies with the students. I feel it is important to start the year out with clear expectations for student behavior. When the students hear the same message, it helps with consistency of expectations. Today I discussed rules with the kindergartners, 1st and 2nd graders, and the 3rd and 4th graders. I've discovered younger students sometimes have a difficult time knowing the difference between asking questions, and telling their life stories. Tomorrow I will have discussions with the 5th and 6th and then the 7th and 8th graders.

Today I was pleased to see our FFEE board meeting in the staff room. If you are unaware of FFEE, it is the Foundation For Educational Excellence, and they work to supply teachers with needed supplies and funds. They will be sending out a welcome/recruiting letter soon, and if you are interested in joining this worthwhile group that is dedicated to helping our students, please keep you eyes open for that information.

On a personal note, this weekend my mom came to visit and we went to Lupita's Restaurant here in Twain Harte for lunch on Saturday. If you have not been there yet, I recommend it highly. The food is excellent!

Names!

Today has started off as a smokey day. The fire in Yosemite is blowing smoke and ash our way, and hopefully the upslope winds will clear the air come recess time.

Suddenly, I remember why Fridays were so anticipated. During the summer we take them for granted! It's always nice opening the school year on a Wednesday, as it gives students and teachers (and administrators!) a few days to get started, and lets us build our endurance!

The school year has really gotten off to a smooth start. Special thanks go to Kathy Cross for making sure all of our students were properly assigned on a class list. We are currently at 289 students, and they have all settled into their classrooms without too many tears (from students or teachers?).

My goal for myself is to try to know every student's name by Christmas. So far I'm up to about 5 that stick in my memory bank. I have some work to do! I'm off to walk the classrooms, and try to learn a few more names.

Go!

Well it's about 3:00 on the first day of school, and all the kids have gone home. From my view it was a great opening. All of the hard work of the teachers and staff paid off with students all finding their classrooms with little difficulty. It was great to see all of the students with their new shoes, and backpacks, some with nervous smiles, others with big hugs for their friends from previous years.

This morning it was great to meet many of the parents dropping off their students. Sometimes it was difficult to tell who was most nervous.

Today I went to all of the classrooms to introduce myself to the students. I found myself sympathizing with the kindergartners. I found myself unsure of schedules or bells, or where I was supposed to be. It was reassuring to play with Playdough. I have a new favorite student... Kayla in Ms Sperry's class looked up from her Playdough and said she liked me because I was handsome! :)

We are off to a great start, and it'll be a great year!

Get set!

Last Friday I had an opportunity to meet many of the other local school administrators at the Tuolumne County ACSA (Association of California School Administrators) kick off social. It was nice to feel welcomed by so many fine administrators. I look forward to getting to know my colleagues better as the year wears on.

Today most of the teachers attended a training about the new math adoption we have this year. The publishers have every possible "bell and whistle" in their textbooks, and I was glad we could have an expert from the publisher come and help the teachers piece it together.

Tonight I have been trying to figure out exactly what to say to my staff tomorrow on my first opening inservice day... Actually, I've been spending most of the evening procrastinating (the garage is starting to get clean, and I'm now updating my blog...). Now that I'm officially going to be in the spotlight, I've found myself writing and rewriting my outline for the day. What do I need to cover with the staff? What do I say to make them comfortable with me? What are the important things they need to hear from me directly? What do I believe in, and how do I communicate that with the staff? Am I making too big of a deal out of this? I think I need to sleep on it, and polish off my opening thoughts in the morning. Good night!

On your mark!

The last week has been dedicated to enrolling new students and trying to balance out the class lists. We seem to have quite a few new families moving into the area, and Kathy and I have been working to get everyone in the right place. I've also been working on our teacher inservices. We have a new math adoption this year and many of the teachers will be in on Monday to learn about all the "stuff" in the new text books. We are also having the teacher inservice on Tuesday to go over all of the beginning of the year items with them. Even though they are all still on vacation, I have seen every one of our teachers spending many hours in their classrooms getting ready for Wednesday. They are a dedicated bunch for sure!

It has been interesting to read in the paper of all the other schools in the area starting up. I feel a little like I'm standing on the sidelines waiting to be put into the game. Not that it hasn't been a whirlwind of activity here. It's just that without the students around we have lots of action that seems a little disconnected to our purpose. It will be nice to have the lost little kindergartners and the first graders who are excited about seeing their friends from last year. The 5th graders looking forward to moving to the upper building and the 8th graders who are now "King of the Hill." I am anxious for the familiar rhythm of the school day, and learning the names and faces of the students. Maybe come next June, I will be looking forward to the peace and quiet, but for now I'm looking forward to the hustle and bustle!

And the beat goes on...

I was off a couple of days last week as I was finally moving into our new place. It's so nice to finally have "feet on the ground" and can focus in earnest on getting ready for the upcoming year.

The steady preperations for the return of the students continues this week. Thank Goodness Kathy Cross is back in her seat in the front office. We've had quite a few people coming in to register their children, or inquire about any number of things and I'm so glad Kathy's there to handle it all. I was getting tired of saying "I don't know, but check back when Kathy's here." (I suspect I'll still say that for quite a while to come!)

With all of the new enrollees, we are working on putting together the classlists. Those will be posted on the 25th, the day before school starts.

Students, enjoy your last week of sleeping in!

Getting to know you...

Last week I went to lunch with Mike Woicicki, my predecessor here at Twain Harte. He took me to the China House restaurant here in town and introduced me to a Larry and Wendy, the proprietors and parents of a THMS student. We had a very nice chat, and I must say the food was excellent!

Here at school preparations continue. Larry Gold, who is moving from the Twain Harte Academy to Twain Harte Middle School to take Mr. Loughmiller's position has been spending a lot of time organizing his room. Mike Lamasney, our computer tech, has been busy working on our computers and networks to make sure they are running at optimum performace. And finally, Baby, the office cat has been sleeping on a chair in the office! What a life!

Settling in

Today is my third official day on the job (I came in a couple of times last week just to find my way around). I've been spending most of my time the first few days going through paperwork and files. There has been more people coming through as we get closer to opening. I've begun to meet some of the staff, and am getting to know them. Ron, the head of maintenance, has been working hard with his crew to get the school ready. Friday was exciting as our new school bus arrived, and we spent time pushing buttons and opening doors and windows. Steve, Diann, and Angelique have been cleaning carpets and getting the rooms and bathrooms ready. Just yesterday, Jan Zukal began her summer school with some of her students and our new RSP teacher for THMS, Julie Burton, has been coming in to observe Jan's class. I've meet with Lori Gold, and she was happy to find the copying machines up and running without issue. Wendie Roberts, our librarian, and I had a good discussion about Accelerated Reader, and have begun laying out some plans for the upcoming year. Nancy and Gary Anderson dropped by and we discussed some of the schedules and plans for the middle school. I also had an opportunity to talk with our choir teacher, Mrs. Randall, as she brought some materials in to begin getting ready. Also, I've spent a few hours at the district office going over things with Dr. Keiter, and Michelle Dake to make sure all is ready for the openeing of school. All in all, things are shaping up to be another busy year!

The begining

Well, here goes. I'm going to test my blogging abilities on my journey as Principal at Twain Harte. We're just about out of our Fresno house, and are on the way with our place in Sonora, with a tentative move in date of August 13. School begins August 26th! Wish me luck!