MS Faculty Blog: Week Beginning January 2, 2024!

A big thanks to Mark, Judy, Sam, Garry, Brenda and her team, and Malik for all their help over the last week. While the majority of folks have been off enjoying the break, this group has been working hard to get everything ready for the last big push. And that means putting together LOTS of furniture, moving boxes, removing trash, and cleaning EVERYTHING!

If you see anyone of these folks, make sure to give them a massive thanks. It's taking a small army to cross this last hurdle and fingers crossed, all the permits get checked off so we can start the new year in here.

One final thing, we CANNOT access the MS newly renovated area next week until we have all the inspections completed. I will email everyone with updates as they occur in case some of you are very excited to get a sneak peek IF we pass inspection, but my recommendation would be that you enjoy your break and come back all guns-a-blazing in the new year to see it all.

Happy Holidays to you all and see you in 2024!

ACTION ITEMS

Schedule with NEW locations: Here is the updated classroom schedule for all core classes, Flex P3 and P6. We will NOT change this in myAW until the end of the semester when we change sections for Grade 6 and 7. Copies will be printed for each classroom and this will be on the slides each morning. FYI the order of classes has not changed.

Semester 1 Report Dates & Guidelines 23-24: Please review this and we will discuss it during in-service.

No food in classrooms: It sounds as if snacking food is becoming more common in classes and Office Hours. I would ask that you keep treats for special events and that an odd, individually wrapped candy is OK. This is now especially true for our new spaces - no food!

Common Ground Survey: If you haven't yet done this, please complete this by Jan 4.

New classroom spaces: I am sure you have lots of questions, here are a few things that I wanted to update you all on:

To see what should be in your classroom spaces, please review this doc and the tab MOVE Jan '24. Jean and Jake are keen to make the rooms look as smart and new as possible, so the plan is to remove old and tatty furniture and replace it with new bookcases, desks, etc. Not everything may be in the rooms for the first day, so please bear with Mark and his team. They have done a remarkable job and have worked almost every day of Winter Break, Any questions? Please reach out to me directly.
Poster locations: Please keep posters etc. on the bulletin boards (coming soon) or whiteboards in the new spaces. If you would like more hanging space, please let Ruth know. You will find that the common posters for each room are now in frames and will be hung in each new room.
Bulletin boards outside your rooms are being covered and sorted to reflect the color of the advisory that meets in there. We hope to have your advisory name on here too. Please add whatever else you would like, if and when you have time.
Who is where? Here are the classroom locations, stating where each advisory will meet and where each teacher's desk and phone will be. The Tech Team will be working on the phone and projectors in each space. Please understand that this is a work in progress and we may need your patience as they finish off these items over the next few weeks.
Lockers and coat hooks in the MS Lounge will be for Grade 7 and 8. Grade 6 will have cubies and bins in their advisor's space and coat hooks in the lower corridor. Dodge's advisory can continue to use their lockers in the old hallway for now. More on the assignment of lockers and coat hooks to come.