The Crystal Apple award this year goes to the brains of our operation. Julie Hammari leads our team through her talents, knowledge, abilities and height. She has been a great leader and teacher for both faculty and students here at East Meadows Elementary. She has always been willing to change a grade level because of her nature to be flexible and her ability to work in any situation.
Julie began teaching at Canyon elementary as an intern in the 5th grade. She then moved to 3rd grade the next year and back to 5th grade her third year at Canyon. Her move to to East Meadows Elementary placed her back in 3rd grade until she made that fearful move to teach sixth grade.
However difficult the content in 6th grade was, it was the fact that the students exceeded her in height that brought the most fear. Julies knowledge and understanding allows her to teach and inspire students to achieve beyond their own expectations. Her math knowledge has allowed her to diversify the level of math classes she has taught over the years.
Students comment on her sense of humor and her ability to bring a smile and joy to their lives. Her creativity and artistic talents have appealed to the eyes of many, especially Dwight at Christmas time. Her colleagues love working with Julie and congratulate her on all of her accomplishments.
By Garrett Andersen and Adam Gull
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Kids Cause Presents Award at February Alpine School Board Meeting
(Viewed from left to right we have Karma Swain, Kids Cause Board Member; Suzie Makin, Kids Cause Board Member; Elaine Kirsch, Kids Cause Coordinator; Doug Gardner, Kids Cause Audiologist.)
Each year the Kids Cause Board chooses to honor a few individuals who help make wonderful things happen for children. Karma Swain, Kids Cause Board member, presented the Kids Cause award to Dr. Doug Gardner. Dr. Gardner is a former audiologist for Alpine School District.
Kids Cause was organized for the purpose of providing clothing, medical treatment, vision care, dental care, school supplies and other items that will contribute to the well being of public school students who are not served by any other community, state, or national agencies.
Today, Kids Cause has 37 schools in Alpine School District. With the support of United Way, all K-Marts in Utah County, and Target in American Fork have made clothing and school supplies available.
Kids Cause also partners with optometrists, dentists, and audiologists in the area to provide for visual, dental, and hearing needs of students, which have been identified by their teachers. These services are donated at no cost to the families. Over the past 15 years, thousands of children have been served.
Kids Cause relies totally on volunteer help. School principals, staff and Kids Cause coordinators assess needs and follow through on services. With the financial support of United Way, Kids Cause can and does make a difference for students in need.
Employees of Alpine, Nebo, and Provo School Districts are invited to make contributions through payroll deduction each year to United Way. Many earmark their donation to Kids Cause. Donations are also accepted from private community members and businesses.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Clarification on Retirement Bills
By Susan Kuziak, UEA Legislative Team Member
Although committee meetings and floor debate during both the morning and afternoon included consideration of many bills, the focus of attention was the Senate debate of three bills which will change the benefits of public employees under the Utah Retirement Systems.
The Senate debated separately SB43 (first substitute): Post-retirement Employment Amendments, SB63 (first substitute): New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act, and SB94: Supplemental Benefit Amendments for Noncontributory Public Employees before voting to pass each bill to the third reading calendar.
Sen. Dan Liljenquist presented each bill followed by questions and comments from many other Senators. Republican Senators praised and support the bills. Democratic Senators asked questions about the data presented to support the bills and expressed deep concern about the need for the changes and with most emphasis, the need to act quickly without further analysis and study. Educators should express thanks to them for not climbing on the express train to retirement reform. Sen. John Greiner, himself a public employee, raised relevant and specific questions about SB43 and SB94 and was the only member of the Republican caucus to vote against these two bills. (Additional details about the debate will be included in a separate update.)
Some Senators have accused public employee groups, including UEA, of misinforming employees about what these bills would do. They seem to forget how complicated some of the changes are and that multiple amendments to the bills have been made in past weeks and continue to be made right up to and during debate of the bills.
SO, let’s be very clear on each of these bills…
SB43 (first substitute): Post-retirement Employment Amendments (effective July 1, 2010) makes changes for employees who are REHIRED into the state retirement system after retiring.
- Future rehires (rehired after July 1, 2010), could come back to employment within the state retirement system, BUT would have to suspend his/her pension benefit (applies to full time reemployment).
- The rehired employee would again earn service credit under the terms of the existing system.
- The contribution to a 401(k) account will be eliminated for future rehired employees.
- An expected amendment would allow employees working on a contract (such as teachers) to rehire up to Aug. 1, 2010, and still qualify under the existing system.
- For currently rehired employees, the percentage of salary contributed to the employee’s 401(k) will no longer be the same as the employer’s contribution rate but will be an amount called the “normal cost.” This rate is now approximately 12 percent, about 4 percent less than what the rate would be next year.
SB94: Supplemental Benefit Amendments for Noncontributory Public Employees (effective July 1, 2010) eliminates the employer 401(k) contribution (1.5% of salary) for all current state employees hired after July 1, 1986.
- Money saved would go into the General Fund.
- NOTE: Those employed prior to July 1, 1986, received this benefit as a “substantial substitute” for moving from the contributory to the non-contributory system. Eliminating it for these current employees would have legal implications.
SB63 (first substitute): New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act (effective July 1, 2011) changes (and substantially reduces) retirement benefits for all public employees hired on or after July 1, 2011.
- The bill would eliminate the current retirement system for all new hires and replace it with a choice between a defined contribution plan and a greatly reduced hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution plan.
- The defined contribution option would place 8 percent of an employee’s salary in a self-directed investment, with a four-year vesting period.
- The hybrid option would initially place 5 percent of an employee’s salary in a defined benefit plan and 3 percent in a defined contribution plan.
- The hybrid option defined benefit would pay out a 1 percent of salary per year of service credit, as opposed to the 2 percent provide under the current system.
- The hybrid option would shift funding from the self-directed defined contribution plan to the defined benefit plan if investment results are not as expected in the defined benefit system. If costs exceed a total of 8 percent of employee salaries, the additional cost would be borne by participating employees, not the state as under the current system.
Although committee meetings and floor debate during both the morning and afternoon included consideration of many bills, the focus of attention was the Senate debate of three bills which will change the benefits of public employees under the Utah Retirement Systems.
The Senate debated separately SB43 (first substitute): Post-retirement Employment Amendments, SB63 (first substitute): New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act, and SB94: Supplemental Benefit Amendments for Noncontributory Public Employees before voting to pass each bill to the third reading calendar.
Sen. Dan Liljenquist presented each bill followed by questions and comments from many other Senators. Republican Senators praised and support the bills. Democratic Senators asked questions about the data presented to support the bills and expressed deep concern about the need for the changes and with most emphasis, the need to act quickly without further analysis and study. Educators should express thanks to them for not climbing on the express train to retirement reform. Sen. John Greiner, himself a public employee, raised relevant and specific questions about SB43 and SB94 and was the only member of the Republican caucus to vote against these two bills. (Additional details about the debate will be included in a separate update.)
Some Senators have accused public employee groups, including UEA, of misinforming employees about what these bills would do. They seem to forget how complicated some of the changes are and that multiple amendments to the bills have been made in past weeks and continue to be made right up to and during debate of the bills.
SO, let’s be very clear on each of these bills…
SB43 (first substitute): Post-retirement Employment Amendments (effective July 1, 2010) makes changes for employees who are REHIRED into the state retirement system after retiring.
- Future rehires (rehired after July 1, 2010), could come back to employment within the state retirement system, BUT would have to suspend his/her pension benefit (applies to full time reemployment).
- The rehired employee would again earn service credit under the terms of the existing system.
- The contribution to a 401(k) account will be eliminated for future rehired employees.
- An expected amendment would allow employees working on a contract (such as teachers) to rehire up to Aug. 1, 2010, and still qualify under the existing system.
- For currently rehired employees, the percentage of salary contributed to the employee’s 401(k) will no longer be the same as the employer’s contribution rate but will be an amount called the “normal cost.” This rate is now approximately 12 percent, about 4 percent less than what the rate would be next year.
SB94: Supplemental Benefit Amendments for Noncontributory Public Employees (effective July 1, 2010) eliminates the employer 401(k) contribution (1.5% of salary) for all current state employees hired after July 1, 1986.
- Money saved would go into the General Fund.
- NOTE: Those employed prior to July 1, 1986, received this benefit as a “substantial substitute” for moving from the contributory to the non-contributory system. Eliminating it for these current employees would have legal implications.
SB63 (first substitute): New Public Employees’ Tier II Contributory Retirement Act (effective July 1, 2011) changes (and substantially reduces) retirement benefits for all public employees hired on or after July 1, 2011.
- The bill would eliminate the current retirement system for all new hires and replace it with a choice between a defined contribution plan and a greatly reduced hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution plan.
- The defined contribution option would place 8 percent of an employee’s salary in a self-directed investment, with a four-year vesting period.
- The hybrid option would initially place 5 percent of an employee’s salary in a defined benefit plan and 3 percent in a defined contribution plan.
- The hybrid option defined benefit would pay out a 1 percent of salary per year of service credit, as opposed to the 2 percent provide under the current system.
- The hybrid option would shift funding from the self-directed defined contribution plan to the defined benefit plan if investment results are not as expected in the defined benefit system. If costs exceed a total of 8 percent of employee salaries, the additional cost would be borne by participating employees, not the state as under the current system.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Nebo Education Association Donates to Kids Cause
Nebo Education Association President, Jim Griffin, Vice-President’s Denise Ray and Layne Moody presented a check for $1,100.00 to Kids Cause Board members Bonnie Palmer and Kaye Westwood. This past year has been hard on families and the educators felt that helping children in these families was a priority. Bonnie Palmer and Kaye Westwood were delighted to accept the check for Kids Cause. The money will be turned over to the United Way, the fiscal partner of Kids Cause.
Kids Cause was organized for the purpose of providing clothing, medical treatment, vision care, dental care, school supplies and other items that will contribute to the well being of public school students who are not served by any other community, state, or national agencies. Today, Kids Cause has 17 schools in Nebo School District. With the support of United Way, all K-Marts in Utah County, and Target in American Fork have made clothing and school supplies available.
Kids Cause also partners with optometrists and dentists in the area to provide for visual and dental needs of students, which have been identified by their teachers. These services are donated at no cost to the families. Over the past 15 years, thousands of children have been served.
Kids Cause relies totally on volunteer help. School principals, staff and Kids Cause coordinators assess needs and follow through on services. With the financial support of United Way, Kids Cause can and does make a difference for students in need. Employees of Alpine, Nebo, and Provo School Districts are invited to make contributions through payroll deduction each year to United Way. Many earmark their donation to Kids Cause. Donations are also accepted from private community members and businesses.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Kids Cause Presents Award at Nebo School Board January Meeting
By Lana Hiskey
Nebo District
Public Information Officer
Each year the Kids Cause Board chooses to honor a few individuals who help make wonderful things happen for children. Bonnie Palmer, former Nebo School Board member, presented the Kids Cause award to Dr. Traer Caywood.
Mrs. Palmer stated that Dr. Traer Caywood graduated from Southern California College of Optometry in Fullerton, California and returned to Utah in 1983 with a practice in Springville and in Provo. Dr. Caywood has been practicing for over 26 years. He loves working with the visual system and particularly enjoys diabetic care and diseases of the eyes. Dr. Caywood likes to give back to the community through programs like Kid's Cause.
Kids Cause was organized for the purpose of providing clothing, medical treatment, vision care, dental care, school supplies and other items that will contribute to the well being of public school students who are not served by any other community, state, or national agencies.
Today, Kids Cause has 17 schools in Nebo School District. With the support of United Way, all K-Marts in Utah County, and Target in American Fork have made clothing and school supplies available.
Kids Cause also partners with optometrists and dentists in the area to provide for visual and dental needs of students, which have been identified by their teachers. The Kids Cause vision program is coordinated by Dr. Phillip A. Plothow. Dr. Plothow has recruited other eye doctors in Utah County to provide eye exams and glasses for students who have vision needs that their parents can't afford. These services are donated at no cost to the families. Over the past 15 years, thousands of children have been served.
Kids Cause relies totally on volunteer help. School principals, staff and Kids Cause coordinators assess needs and follow through on services. With the financial support of United Way, Kids Cause can and does make a difference for students in need.
Employees of Alpine, Nebo, and Provo School Districts are invited to make contributions through payroll deduction each year to United Way. Many earmark their donation to Kids Cause. Donations are also accepted from private community members and businesses.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Provo Kids Cause School Board Presentation
Ann Woolley,(far left) and Gayle Chandler (far right) Kids Cause Board Members, presented Kids Cause Awards to Brenda Marvel,(left) a Kids Cause Coordinator,and Kim Hepworth, (right)a Provo District Audiologist. Brenda Marvel teaches at Spring creek Elementary and has been a Kids Cause Coordinator for eight years. Kim Hepworth is a Provo School District Audiologist and has been involved with Kids Cause for three years. Kids Cause, sponsored by the Bonneville UniServ helps to provided clothing, school supplies, eye glasses, hearing aids, and dental care for public education students in Utah Valley. Kids Cause works with the United Way to provide essential educational needs for needy students. Educators can call their school or area coordinator to request help for needy students and the coordinator will notify Bonneville UniServ who then will refer the student to the appropriate provider. Many thanks to these two wonderful individuals and their dedication to the Kids Cause Program.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Letter From NEA Benefits Specialist Sean Mabey
Dear NEA Members,
Greetings! There are many new ideas out there to help teachers. NEA has created a web-site called “Works-4-Me” which are tried and true teaching hints suggested by NEA members. Each week you will receive an e-mail with six helpful (and short) hints to help you in your teaching. They will fall under the following categories:
Teaching Techniques
Content
Getting Organized
Managing Your Classroom
Relationships
Using Technology
In addition, you will get information about your NEA Member Benefits that are available to you through your membership in the Association. Click on the link or visit www.neamb.com.
Teaching Techniques
Bingo Review
"Terminology is often difficult for students to master. We found that playing Bingo is not only fun, the students tend to retain the information. Bingo cards can be constructed in Microsoft Word by using the Table format. Vocabulary words are then entered into each of the blocks. The instructor reads the definition, and the students mark off the correct words. Using this method, students generally score better on this portion of the exam."
Content
What's My Noun?
"I have a game that I play with two to four teams. Each team writes five nouns for a member of the other team to describe with up to five adjectives. I can increase or decrease the number of nouns, depending on the level of the students. The guessing student's team must guess the noun, with the number of nouns guessed correctly determining who wins. The teacher must referee to be sure no verbs or adverbs are thrown in."
Getting Organized
Painted Windows
"I have an idea for those that are artistic and would like to make their classroom look exceptionally alive and wonderful! I choose a theme relating to either science or literature and paint the windows in my classroom. This month, I chose the solar system and planned a scene in outer space with midnight blue paint as the background. There are yellow stars, planets, shooting stars and aliens in space ships. I painted it with regular tempera paints mixed with about ? cup of dish detergent. This allows the paint to be easily washed off when ready to change themes. Just add water and it washes off with ease. These paintings create a vibrant color wash in the room and are absolutely incredible!"
Managing Your Classroom
Student Numbers and Recording Grades
"I cut down on the time it takes to record grades by giving each student the number corresponding to her/his name in my grade book. Each new year I give students these directions: (1) Make a box on the right hand corner of the folder that you bring to class each day and put the number in this box; and (2) Write this number on the right corner of your paper each time you write your regular heading. Grades will always be posted on the right hand side of the paper. When assignments and tests are picked up, I ask a student to place them in order according to the numbers. Believe me, time is really saved when recording the grades!"
Relationships
School Notes
"To communicate easily with parents and students, I post a message on www.schoolnotes.com. I can list my assignments for the week or direct kids to a favorite web site. It's easy, fun and free!"
Using Technology
Writing Autobiographies
"Students in my computer classes learn how to format reports by writing their own autobiographies. They begin by drawing a 'map' on a plain sheet of paper that I do with them on overhead. In the top right they draw their birth hospital, and in the bottom right they draw the school. In between, they draw the 'highway of life' complete with significant events in their lives as signs along the way. These signs become the side headings of their papers to help them to stay on topic. We make a formal title page together and students are encouraged to add graphical displays. They are directed to use all the features of the word processing program, including the thesaurus, at least once per page. They are also directed to reflect upon the happy moments of their lives and tell no family business. I tell them it is a celebration of their lives to read to their own children some day. For extra credit, I encourage students to create picture displays of their lives that I put up on the walls of the classroom. I get lots of visitors to see these displays."
NEA Member Benefit of the Week:
Happy You Year!!!
NEA Member Benefits is excited to launch Happy You Year, which offers 14 great member benefits as you set your New Year’s Resolutions. With everything from saving money (Click & Save and SmileMakers), to getting organized (The Container Store), to losing weight (Jenny Craig), to developing professionally (The NEA Academy), to getting your financial house in order (the NEA Magazine Service).
Check out the bottom to the last offer… a FREE one year subscription to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine- a $47 value!
SOURCE: http://www.neamb.com/home/4517.htm
NEA Member Benefit Article of the Week:
10 for ’10: Top Financial Resolutions for the New Year
Date published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
By Mary Rowland
Here we are again at the time of year when people talk about getting a fresh start and avoiding the mistakes and bad habits of the year gone by. Like most of us, I believe that evaluating where we’ve been over the past 12 months and making a promise to polish up the rough edges for the coming year can be a valuable life planning tool. Of course, I am not resolving to look like Megan Fox in 2010, or to land an art scholarship in Florence, or even to win the Pulitzer Prize. Still, we’d all like to improve our financial situation in the new year so here are 10 things I plan to do and also recommend to you.
1. Build a personal reserve (emergency) fund. If there’s one thing the financial uncertainty of the past year has taught us, it’s just how dangerous it can be living paycheck to paycheck. Make a pledge to yourself this New Year to start building your own personal reserve fund—or make sure your reserve is sufficient if you already have one. Experts recommend you set aside at least 3 months’ worth of living expenses in a savings or money market account. You never know what the future may hold, but having a reserve fund will allow you to focus on the important (and not the immediate) in case you or your spouse loses your job or you’re faced with unexpected expenses.
2. Check your credit report. If you haven’t done so recently, winter break is a great time to spend a few minutes reviewing your credit report to make sure your accounts are listed correctly and that there aren’t any errors that need to be corrected.
3. Reevaluate your credit cards. Credit card issuers are tacking on big new fees to beat a deadline of Feb 10, 2010, when a new law puts restrictions on credit card fees. When I got my MasterCard bill the other day, it carried a $39 late fee and $13.79 interest charge even though I paid the full balance on time. While credit is harder to get than it has been in the past, it’s worth taking a look at consolidating high interest rate cards, or asking yourself if that rewards card with the high annual fee is really all that rewarding.
4. Review your insurance coverage. Most of us tend to look at insurance as a ‘set it and forget it’ part of our financial security. Nothing could be further from the truth. Spend some time over the holidays reviewing your coverage to see if it still meets your needs. Is your homeowner’s policy still sufficient to cover replacing all your personal possessions? Have your life insurance needs changed during the course of the past year? By making a habit of reviewing your coverage annually, you may be able to save money by reducing some unnecessary coverage, or you may find areas where you need to increase your coverage.
5. Save more. This is tough for me as I have a son in college and a daughter who just graduated and is struggling to get a foothold in today’s terrible economy. Still, I’m committed to move just a couple of dollars—a handful—from my checking account into a retirement account as often as I can. I’m self employed so I don’t have a 403(b) or 401(k) plan. I will use my IRA account. The sooner you can start saving the better. Assuming an 8% annual return, every dollar saved today will be worth more than $3 in 15 years. Thinking that I’ll get over $3 for every $1 I save today makes saving a lot more appealing—and this morning’s $3 latte a lot less appealing. Speaking of which.
6. Buy less. I started by taking inventory: cleaning out cupboards and closets, the basement, etc. to get rid of excess stuff, keeping only those things I like and use regularly. (Donating all the stuff you no longer use before the end of the year can also add up to a nice tax break.) I also resolved to make a list of absolutely essential things that I do not have. So far, that list is blank. I will not buy anything that is not on the list.
7. Know where your money goes. As the management mantra goes, you can only manage what you can measure. If you don’t know where your money is going, you’ll never be able to get a handle on your spending. Invest in a personal financial software program like Quicken or use an online site like Mint.com to track where you money is going. I think you’ll be surprised by what you learn. You’ll also discover that making future spending decisions—and setting financial goals—will become much easier.
8. Avoid “beta stocks.” I don’t have much confidence in the stock market right now. Yet I’m realistic enough to know that I can’t put all my money in a bank CD or squirrel it away in a shoebox under the bed. But I will do my best not to buy investments that move in tandem with the market or “beta stocks.” Beta measures the volatility of an investment relative to a benchmark, like the overall stock market, which has a beta of 1.0.
An investment with a beta of 1.0 tracks the market exactly, with precisely the same volatility as the overall market. A perfect example is an index fund that tracks the Standard & Poor’s Index of 500 stocks. An investment with a beta of 1.25 would be 25 percent more volatile than the overall market.
This year, I hope to find investments that don’t correlate with the market. One possibility is health care stocks or mutual funds. Another might be a currency fund that invests in a foreign currency.
9. Avoid junk bonds. I’ve never been a fan of junk—those bonds that carry a high risk that the issuer will default. Junk bond investments soared in 2009. A warning bell rang the day before Thanksgiving when Dubai asked to postpone payment on some of its $59 billion in debt. In his Smart Money column on Dec. 1, James B. Stewart said he sees a potential bubble in these high-risk bonds. “Lately investors have been pouring money into some of the riskiest fixed-income categories. Junk bonds have been having their best year ever, up an average 42.5% this year, according to Morningstar.” Stewart worries that the Dubai crisis could be the beginning of a “cascade of defaults.” Clearly this is no time for junk.
10. Find investments outside the market. Take a look at non-market investments such as real estate, including rental property. This idea might work better for someone who’s not still paying for college. I’m not sure I can scrape together money for real estate. I did invest in gold—another non-market investment—last summer. But I think it’s too late to put more money in gold now as it seems to have created yet another bubble. Finding non-market-related investments takes time and energy. I resolve to dedicate some of both to identifying new opportunities.
11. Give what you have. Make one resolution about giving—or sharing—time rather than money this year. The recession has left me with less money. So my time is cheap. Still, I tend to hoard it. My daughter and I spent a year teaching English as a second language but I haven’t done it again since she left for college. I’m exploring other options, too. I also count here making a weekly or monthly coffee date with a friend or teacher or mentor who has slipped out of my life.
12. Remember to invest in you. I’m not falling for the “lose 10 pounds” resolution. Too banal. But to preserve good health and strong bones, I know I need cardio work, weight bearing exercise, yoga for stretching and some core strength work. I also want to spend some time on my personal development—either taking a class or maybe getting back to a few hobbies I used to enjoy. I resolve to get serious about maintaining a schedule that can afford all these things.
I know that was 12 resolutions, but I wanted to include the last 2 because they’re important and they’re good reminders that our financial health is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Remembering to focus on the important things in life this year is the best resolution of all.
Source: http://www.neamb.com/home/602_4562.htm
To be removed from this e-mail list, reply to this e-mail with REMOVE in the subject line.
Sean L. Mabey
NEA Member Benefits
Affiliate Relations Specialist
smabey@neamb.com
Greetings! There are many new ideas out there to help teachers. NEA has created a web-site called “Works-4-Me” which are tried and true teaching hints suggested by NEA members. Each week you will receive an e-mail with six helpful (and short) hints to help you in your teaching. They will fall under the following categories:
Teaching Techniques
Content
Getting Organized
Managing Your Classroom
Relationships
Using Technology
In addition, you will get information about your NEA Member Benefits that are available to you through your membership in the Association. Click on the link or visit www.neamb.com.
Teaching Techniques
Bingo Review
"Terminology is often difficult for students to master. We found that playing Bingo is not only fun, the students tend to retain the information. Bingo cards can be constructed in Microsoft Word by using the Table format. Vocabulary words are then entered into each of the blocks. The instructor reads the definition, and the students mark off the correct words. Using this method, students generally score better on this portion of the exam."
Content
What's My Noun?
"I have a game that I play with two to four teams. Each team writes five nouns for a member of the other team to describe with up to five adjectives. I can increase or decrease the number of nouns, depending on the level of the students. The guessing student's team must guess the noun, with the number of nouns guessed correctly determining who wins. The teacher must referee to be sure no verbs or adverbs are thrown in."
Getting Organized
Painted Windows
"I have an idea for those that are artistic and would like to make their classroom look exceptionally alive and wonderful! I choose a theme relating to either science or literature and paint the windows in my classroom. This month, I chose the solar system and planned a scene in outer space with midnight blue paint as the background. There are yellow stars, planets, shooting stars and aliens in space ships. I painted it with regular tempera paints mixed with about ? cup of dish detergent. This allows the paint to be easily washed off when ready to change themes. Just add water and it washes off with ease. These paintings create a vibrant color wash in the room and are absolutely incredible!"
Managing Your Classroom
Student Numbers and Recording Grades
"I cut down on the time it takes to record grades by giving each student the number corresponding to her/his name in my grade book. Each new year I give students these directions: (1) Make a box on the right hand corner of the folder that you bring to class each day and put the number in this box; and (2) Write this number on the right corner of your paper each time you write your regular heading. Grades will always be posted on the right hand side of the paper. When assignments and tests are picked up, I ask a student to place them in order according to the numbers. Believe me, time is really saved when recording the grades!"
Relationships
School Notes
"To communicate easily with parents and students, I post a message on www.schoolnotes.com. I can list my assignments for the week or direct kids to a favorite web site. It's easy, fun and free!"
Using Technology
Writing Autobiographies
"Students in my computer classes learn how to format reports by writing their own autobiographies. They begin by drawing a 'map' on a plain sheet of paper that I do with them on overhead. In the top right they draw their birth hospital, and in the bottom right they draw the school. In between, they draw the 'highway of life' complete with significant events in their lives as signs along the way. These signs become the side headings of their papers to help them to stay on topic. We make a formal title page together and students are encouraged to add graphical displays. They are directed to use all the features of the word processing program, including the thesaurus, at least once per page. They are also directed to reflect upon the happy moments of their lives and tell no family business. I tell them it is a celebration of their lives to read to their own children some day. For extra credit, I encourage students to create picture displays of their lives that I put up on the walls of the classroom. I get lots of visitors to see these displays."
NEA Member Benefit of the Week:
Happy You Year!!!
NEA Member Benefits is excited to launch Happy You Year, which offers 14 great member benefits as you set your New Year’s Resolutions. With everything from saving money (Click & Save and SmileMakers), to getting organized (The Container Store), to losing weight (Jenny Craig), to developing professionally (The NEA Academy), to getting your financial house in order (the NEA Magazine Service).
Check out the bottom to the last offer… a FREE one year subscription to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine- a $47 value!
SOURCE: http://www.neamb.com/home/4517.htm
NEA Member Benefit Article of the Week:
10 for ’10: Top Financial Resolutions for the New Year
Date published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
By Mary Rowland
Here we are again at the time of year when people talk about getting a fresh start and avoiding the mistakes and bad habits of the year gone by. Like most of us, I believe that evaluating where we’ve been over the past 12 months and making a promise to polish up the rough edges for the coming year can be a valuable life planning tool. Of course, I am not resolving to look like Megan Fox in 2010, or to land an art scholarship in Florence, or even to win the Pulitzer Prize. Still, we’d all like to improve our financial situation in the new year so here are 10 things I plan to do and also recommend to you.
1. Build a personal reserve (emergency) fund. If there’s one thing the financial uncertainty of the past year has taught us, it’s just how dangerous it can be living paycheck to paycheck. Make a pledge to yourself this New Year to start building your own personal reserve fund—or make sure your reserve is sufficient if you already have one. Experts recommend you set aside at least 3 months’ worth of living expenses in a savings or money market account. You never know what the future may hold, but having a reserve fund will allow you to focus on the important (and not the immediate) in case you or your spouse loses your job or you’re faced with unexpected expenses.
2. Check your credit report. If you haven’t done so recently, winter break is a great time to spend a few minutes reviewing your credit report to make sure your accounts are listed correctly and that there aren’t any errors that need to be corrected.
3. Reevaluate your credit cards. Credit card issuers are tacking on big new fees to beat a deadline of Feb 10, 2010, when a new law puts restrictions on credit card fees. When I got my MasterCard bill the other day, it carried a $39 late fee and $13.79 interest charge even though I paid the full balance on time. While credit is harder to get than it has been in the past, it’s worth taking a look at consolidating high interest rate cards, or asking yourself if that rewards card with the high annual fee is really all that rewarding.
4. Review your insurance coverage. Most of us tend to look at insurance as a ‘set it and forget it’ part of our financial security. Nothing could be further from the truth. Spend some time over the holidays reviewing your coverage to see if it still meets your needs. Is your homeowner’s policy still sufficient to cover replacing all your personal possessions? Have your life insurance needs changed during the course of the past year? By making a habit of reviewing your coverage annually, you may be able to save money by reducing some unnecessary coverage, or you may find areas where you need to increase your coverage.
5. Save more. This is tough for me as I have a son in college and a daughter who just graduated and is struggling to get a foothold in today’s terrible economy. Still, I’m committed to move just a couple of dollars—a handful—from my checking account into a retirement account as often as I can. I’m self employed so I don’t have a 403(b) or 401(k) plan. I will use my IRA account. The sooner you can start saving the better. Assuming an 8% annual return, every dollar saved today will be worth more than $3 in 15 years. Thinking that I’ll get over $3 for every $1 I save today makes saving a lot more appealing—and this morning’s $3 latte a lot less appealing. Speaking of which.
6. Buy less. I started by taking inventory: cleaning out cupboards and closets, the basement, etc. to get rid of excess stuff, keeping only those things I like and use regularly. (Donating all the stuff you no longer use before the end of the year can also add up to a nice tax break.) I also resolved to make a list of absolutely essential things that I do not have. So far, that list is blank. I will not buy anything that is not on the list.
7. Know where your money goes. As the management mantra goes, you can only manage what you can measure. If you don’t know where your money is going, you’ll never be able to get a handle on your spending. Invest in a personal financial software program like Quicken or use an online site like Mint.com to track where you money is going. I think you’ll be surprised by what you learn. You’ll also discover that making future spending decisions—and setting financial goals—will become much easier.
8. Avoid “beta stocks.” I don’t have much confidence in the stock market right now. Yet I’m realistic enough to know that I can’t put all my money in a bank CD or squirrel it away in a shoebox under the bed. But I will do my best not to buy investments that move in tandem with the market or “beta stocks.” Beta measures the volatility of an investment relative to a benchmark, like the overall stock market, which has a beta of 1.0.
An investment with a beta of 1.0 tracks the market exactly, with precisely the same volatility as the overall market. A perfect example is an index fund that tracks the Standard & Poor’s Index of 500 stocks. An investment with a beta of 1.25 would be 25 percent more volatile than the overall market.
This year, I hope to find investments that don’t correlate with the market. One possibility is health care stocks or mutual funds. Another might be a currency fund that invests in a foreign currency.
9. Avoid junk bonds. I’ve never been a fan of junk—those bonds that carry a high risk that the issuer will default. Junk bond investments soared in 2009. A warning bell rang the day before Thanksgiving when Dubai asked to postpone payment on some of its $59 billion in debt. In his Smart Money column on Dec. 1, James B. Stewart said he sees a potential bubble in these high-risk bonds. “Lately investors have been pouring money into some of the riskiest fixed-income categories. Junk bonds have been having their best year ever, up an average 42.5% this year, according to Morningstar.” Stewart worries that the Dubai crisis could be the beginning of a “cascade of defaults.” Clearly this is no time for junk.
10. Find investments outside the market. Take a look at non-market investments such as real estate, including rental property. This idea might work better for someone who’s not still paying for college. I’m not sure I can scrape together money for real estate. I did invest in gold—another non-market investment—last summer. But I think it’s too late to put more money in gold now as it seems to have created yet another bubble. Finding non-market-related investments takes time and energy. I resolve to dedicate some of both to identifying new opportunities.
11. Give what you have. Make one resolution about giving—or sharing—time rather than money this year. The recession has left me with less money. So my time is cheap. Still, I tend to hoard it. My daughter and I spent a year teaching English as a second language but I haven’t done it again since she left for college. I’m exploring other options, too. I also count here making a weekly or monthly coffee date with a friend or teacher or mentor who has slipped out of my life.
12. Remember to invest in you. I’m not falling for the “lose 10 pounds” resolution. Too banal. But to preserve good health and strong bones, I know I need cardio work, weight bearing exercise, yoga for stretching and some core strength work. I also want to spend some time on my personal development—either taking a class or maybe getting back to a few hobbies I used to enjoy. I resolve to get serious about maintaining a schedule that can afford all these things.
I know that was 12 resolutions, but I wanted to include the last 2 because they’re important and they’re good reminders that our financial health is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Remembering to focus on the important things in life this year is the best resolution of all.
Source: http://www.neamb.com/home/602_4562.htm
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Sean L. Mabey
NEA Member Benefits
Affiliate Relations Specialist
smabey@neamb.com
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