Our Superintendent says the following drinks at Starbucks are a fall inspiration (haven't tried one myself, but hear good things!) Salted Carmel Mocha and Pumpkin Spice Latte. Treat yourself to one soon!
Appreciate you so much!
Today is a professional development session and it will be good to sit with one another for the morning! Today we will spend a little time thinking about what we know and apply about assessment. We will take our first steps towards our Unified Improvement Plan goals: defining expectations of writers.
We will start at 8:20 in the library. We'll break for lunch at 12:00 or 12:30 and then you will have the afternoon to collaborate/plan/work on your tech skills and/or meditate.
You decide!
I hope today you will come away with some new thinking,
a little further down the road with defining your own personal expectations of your writers
and connecting with colleagues.
Coming up soon:
Calendar for next two weeks:
Week of September 26 - 30th: (Lots of field work this week!)Monday, Sept. 26: Picture re-take day
Tuesday, Sept. 27:
Staff flu shots
Mary Sue's crew to Dinosaur Ridge (field work)
Josh's crew to Ice Core Lab (field work)
Wednesday, Sept. 28:
All School Meeting
Halogen support at 1:30 p.m.
Technology Professional Development 2:30
Thursday, Sept. 29:
Lindsey and Neil's crew to Molly Kathleen Mine (field work)
Friday, Sept. 30: Faculty Gathering (see Hanni for details)
Week of October 3 - 7th:
Tuesday, Oct. 4th:
REA meeting 2:30 p.m.
Yoga 4:30 p.m.
SAC meeting 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 5th:
All School Meeting
Wellness Class 4:15 (Zumba)
Thursday, Oct. 6th:
Mary's Crew to Molly Kathleen Mine (field work)
Friday, Oct. 7th:
We DO have students this day
5th grade to Castlewood Canyon (hike & field work)
Skip to the parking lot at the end of the day
(This format for a calendar is a mess...I'll work on it!)
EPR information:
David Ray is the the new Chief Academic Officer.
Our Curriculum and Instruction Coordinators developed the Bridge Document to make the Colorado Academic Standards more accessible to elementary teachers and to make the alignment more concrete with the EPR statements. The Bridge Document translates the information found on the Colorado Academic Standards templates to more teacher-friendly language and condenses it to fit on fewer pages. As you look at the documents you will see that the EPR statement is the heading of each column, and below that is the condensed language from the Evidence Outcomes of the Colorado Academic Standards.
Again, this is just a support document and there is no expectation that its use be mandated. It could be used to help teachers prepare for parent conferences or to help grade level teams quickly capture the essence of the Colorado Academic Standards. Its use is optional, and only intended to provide teachers with a support tool (i.e. to support them in having meaningful conversations with parents about student learning).
We outlined other potential uses of the Bridge Document in a webinar. This webinar (approximately 15 minutes long) and PowerPoint was archived with our other EPR resources.
(Look for 2011-12 Updates). On this page look for the grade level links: XBooklet and Bridge Document. The grade level booklet contains all the detailed Evidence Outcomes for the Colorado Academic Standards. Scroll down to the bottom and you will find the bridge documents. Log in as a guest, and enter your name and school.
Calendar change reminder in October:
With our No student contact day due to our Professional Development session on Friday, September 23rd behind us (well almost!), this is a good time to remind your parents that it could be confusing when they are looking at the school calendar on Friday, October 7th. It is important that they refer to the Renaissance calendar as the district modified calendar shows that students should NOT come to school on October 7th. As a school, we made a shift and students SHOULD come to school on October 7th and NOT come to school on Monday, October 24th just following Fall Break. I suspect parents will need several reminders about this. We made this shift as we collectively decided that there wasn't much power in a professional development day just as we were leaving school for a two week break. Having our professional development day just as we return allows for greater application of any professional development we do and also allows us to provide a strong start coming back from a break.
Do you need a 10 minute coffee break sometimes? Need to go lay on the couch in the lounge?
I would relish the opportunity to be a guest reader in your classroom if you find you have a place where I might fit on some given day. Shoot me an email if an opportunity becomes available. If emailing would involve planning, please just send a student runner with an S.O.S.! You might also let me know if you are engaged in a genre study and I'll try to have a book that fits.
A peek into classrooms:
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| Expert Speaker: William Brecken visits the third grade. No...it's our adorable Noreene! |
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| Lauren and her crew doing field work at Bent's Old Fort. |
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| Diana...looking for a romance novel for the weekend. Thanks Diana for all the support you give teachers and kids in finding just the right books! |
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| Mary Beth braces herself on the desks of her students so she doesn't fall over from exhaustion from the constant dashing about the room to meet the needs of 28 first graders! She did have 29! |
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| Students in Jill's class write their hopes and dreams. I think Peyton got her wish! |
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| Jill reading Elephant and Piggy A new series her class is loving. Check below for the Youtube link to another favorite book and how Jill and Mary Beth are using it in their genre study. |
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| Can you tell her students love it?! |
Jill and Mary Beth are doing a genre study of pattern books. Here is a video of 'Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes' that has the kids fired up as writers! Stop by first grade and take a look at the books the kids have written! (We'll all be singing this song and doing the dance!) A testimony to the power of mentor texts and genre studies!!
Here's a video clip of Linda in action. She's using Mini-Story time as a tool for learning and this mini-story is James and the Giant Peach.
Did you know that Eric has been working very hard on his backyard and has just finished installing astro-turf?! Take a look...
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| Before |
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| After! I think we have an expert landscaper in our midst! Absolutely gorgeous Eric! Bravo! |
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| Last year Pedro told Lisa and Debbie that once Angel was able to come home, he would bring him in to one of our staff meetings and hold him up the way Mufasa held Simba up in the Lion King. |
Thoughts to ponder:
When we teach, belief and disbelief sit side by side. To play the believing game, we need to know both the child and the process.
Margaret Wheatley states that what people need is good solid feedback, not measurement.
Stand by the things you do well,
be true to your own vision of excellence.
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