Happy Friday Everyone!
Week of October 3 - 7th:
Monday, Oct. 3rd:
Official student count day
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
Fundraiser Award: Rock Climbing with Cody
Wellness Class 4:15 (Zumba)
* Note about the rock climbing with Cody. This will impact the top sellers and you will receive an email with student names. Intermediate students will be meeting at the office at 9:00 a.m. and leaving for outdoor rock climbing at Castlewood Canyon. They won't return until 2:00 p.m. Primary students will be joining Cody in our gym at 3:30 p.m until 6:30 Wednesday afternoon. Parents of all children have been contacted through the office. If parents approach you with questions, please direct them to the office.
Thursday, Oct. 6th:
Mary's Crew to Molly Kathleen Mine (field work)
Friday, Oct. 7th:
We DO have students this day (Be sure to remind parents)
5th grade to Castlewood Canyon (hike & field work)
Skip to the parking lot at the end of the day :)
System Tweak:
The notices that go out to teachers informing you at the end of the day that there has been a change in plans for a student's routine has been a challenge. To ensure that you do get the information, someone from the office will hand deliver the notice to you. Literally hand it to you. I know that can be an interruption.
In addition, when parents arrive before the end of the day to pick up students, the office has been calling the classroom to ask you to send the student to the front office. We are changing that. We will ask parents to sign in and then come to the classroom and pick up the student. Again, I know this can be a disruption. However, so are the phone calls!
Let's try this and see if it works.
Thursday Folder change: I've asked Andrea to create an email for you to forward instead of adding attachments to your email. I asked her to do this because some attachments are not easy to identify their purpose from their title. I'm hoping the brief blurb will better help parents identify what is meaningful to them. All you need to do is forward this email from Andrea on to your parents. Thanks!
Calendar/Delayed Start changes from district level:
The school board made some changes to our school calendar in the month of March. It didn't impact us much because we'd made changes already...but in a nut shell....a copy of the latest and newest Renaissance calendar will be in your mailbox and on our school website. Throw the old one away!
Also, and this is a BIG also, the district made a shift: All delayed starts (ie. due to snow) will be 90 minutes this year. That means, the bell will ring at 10:00 a.m. for students. Teachers are expected to be at school at the regular start time. Know that big snows, bad weather will impact the commute you all make and I am sensitive to that challenge. We will need to change the delayed start IA schedule (groan...).
Staying Sane:
The district has created a partnership with Horizon Health. This partnership will provide you access to some mental health service for free! It is my understanding that you are entitled to 10 free mental health visits per issue. So, if you have 25 students you have 250 visits! Add in a spouse, a child, a friend, a parent, personal issues.... you could go everyday! The counseling surrounds things like: stress management, balancing work and family, parenting skills, healthy marriages, managing finances,...even pet care! Look for a brochure in your mailbox.
Week of October 3 - 7th:
Monday, Oct. 3rd:
Official student count day
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
Fundraiser Award: Rock Climbing with Cody
Wellness Class 4:15 (Zumba)
* Note about the rock climbing with Cody. This will impact the top sellers and you will receive an email with student names. Intermediate students will be meeting at the office at 9:00 a.m. and leaving for outdoor rock climbing at Castlewood Canyon. They won't return until 2:00 p.m. Primary students will be joining Cody in our gym at 3:30 p.m until 6:30 Wednesday afternoon. Parents of all children have been contacted through the office. If parents approach you with questions, please direct them to the office.
Thursday, Oct. 6th:
Mary's Crew to Molly Kathleen Mine (field work)
Friday, Oct. 7th:
We DO have students this day (Be sure to remind parents)
5th grade to Castlewood Canyon (hike & field work)
Skip to the parking lot at the end of the day :)
System Tweak:
The notices that go out to teachers informing you at the end of the day that there has been a change in plans for a student's routine has been a challenge. To ensure that you do get the information, someone from the office will hand deliver the notice to you. Literally hand it to you. I know that can be an interruption.
In addition, when parents arrive before the end of the day to pick up students, the office has been calling the classroom to ask you to send the student to the front office. We are changing that. We will ask parents to sign in and then come to the classroom and pick up the student. Again, I know this can be a disruption. However, so are the phone calls!
Let's try this and see if it works.
Thursday Folder change: I've asked Andrea to create an email for you to forward instead of adding attachments to your email. I asked her to do this because some attachments are not easy to identify their purpose from their title. I'm hoping the brief blurb will better help parents identify what is meaningful to them. All you need to do is forward this email from Andrea on to your parents. Thanks!
Calendar/Delayed Start changes from district level:
The school board made some changes to our school calendar in the month of March. It didn't impact us much because we'd made changes already...but in a nut shell....a copy of the latest and newest Renaissance calendar will be in your mailbox and on our school website. Throw the old one away!
Also, and this is a BIG also, the district made a shift: All delayed starts (ie. due to snow) will be 90 minutes this year. That means, the bell will ring at 10:00 a.m. for students. Teachers are expected to be at school at the regular start time. Know that big snows, bad weather will impact the commute you all make and I am sensitive to that challenge. We will need to change the delayed start IA schedule (groan...).
Staying Sane:
The district has created a partnership with Horizon Health. This partnership will provide you access to some mental health service for free! It is my understanding that you are entitled to 10 free mental health visits per issue. So, if you have 25 students you have 250 visits! Add in a spouse, a child, a friend, a parent, personal issues.... you could go everyday! The counseling surrounds things like: stress management, balancing work and family, parenting skills, healthy marriages, managing finances,...even pet care! Look for a brochure in your mailbox.
A Peek Into Classrooms:
Here's....Bill!
Watch the brief video and find out the title of his case study!
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| Learning Targets |
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| Drawing connections between gallery walk and what they were reading. |
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| Bill shakin' it up! |
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| Neil dining with a student. It's all about relationships and Neil knows it! |
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| Students are jazzed about their Google accounts! Noreene has been helping teachers get this set up with students. Ask Lisa, Josh and Rebecca about how they are using this with their students. |
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| Mary Sue has Ipads in the hands of students. Ask Mary Sue how she managed rolling them out with students. |
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| I could hardly get Mary Sue's students to stop and talk to me! |
There will be some time this coming Wednesday during our Professional Development time together for sharing what people are doing and learning more about using Ipads with students.
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| Josie asks Jack if he can help her check her email. LOL :) We've all come so far in such a short amount of time! |
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| Bill works his magic with the 2/3 Discovery students. |
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| Four kindergarten students help Kathy with concepts about print. |
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| Hanni supports her growing readers during a Guided Reading group. |
Sharing:
I'm sharing an email I got from Jill, as it serves as a good reminder about the the 'balance' in the 'Balanced Assessment' work we did on Friday last week:
Here is a link to a podcast by Franki Sibberson and Kathy Collins. Kathy Collins is the author of Growing Readers (one of the books we use to teach reading). I loved that this podcast talked about how important it is to know more about your students than just their test data. She gave examples of how to use their strengths in one area to help in another area. She talked about the importance of seeing kids as people not just numbers. (She does agree that we need test data but just that we can't stop there.) Very inspirational - it gave me a much needed lift this morning.
Josh found an expert speaker for the 6th grade Expedition while hiking a 14teener! The 6th grade teachers were vibrating with excitement about the fantastic learning experience this expert brought to their students! Keep hiking Josh!
Celebration!
"Congratulations! Your school has been selected as a Finalist in the
2011-2012 Champion Creatively Alive Children Grant Program."
This summer Pam spent put a great deal of energy into writing a grant offered by Crayola to fund some of her awesome, creative ideas. Well...she won! Once she's completed some additional paperwork for Crayola we'll be able to move forward sharing the good news with our community. Yeah Pam!
Pam will share the details with us soon!
Great aspirations:
Josh told me he is working on establishing boundaries to balance work responsibilities and still have a life. How's that going Josh? Please share the tips you are learning with us!
Jill sent me an email that might get us started - thanks for sharing Jill!
Jill writes: "As I am decompressing after today, I found this blog post. It is about how to settle into a new school year while still having some balance in your life."
An excerpt from this article:
Maybe you’re reaching for some Advil by 3:30 because you’ve been using so much redirecting language your neurons need their own redirecting. It’s a good thing that you invested the time in modeling how to take a break and benefit from quiet time, because they each need it. In addition to teaching, you’re also writing newsletters, calling parents, preparing curriculum, attending meetings, skipping lunch, a workout or just making your own bed. Your to-do,list(s) haunt you at night and keep you on the move all day. It’s the end of September.
The article lists 6 great tips for finding some balance!! Well worth the read.
Love and Logic:
Thanks Pam for facilitating the Love and Logic 9 Essential Skills for the Classroom! The group has covered 4 of the essential skills and I'll give an over view of each of the 9 Essential Skills, one at a time, in Friday Flash to serve as a reminder for all of us! If you missed out, connect with Pam because I'm sure you can join the group at anytime even if you missed some of the earlier sessions. Maybe we can twist Pam's arm and she'll offer another round later in the year!
Skill #1 in the 9 Essential Skills is Neutralizing arguing.
Step One: Go Brain Dead
Step Two: Choose a Love and Logic "one-liner" antidote:
Choose from:
*I respect you too much to argue" or
"I bet it feels that way" or
"I know"
"How sad"
"Nice try"
"Thanks for noticing that"
"What a bummer"
"Could be"
"That's one way of looking at it"
then...redirect
Step 3: Do Not Attempt to Think
Become a broken record, repeating your one-liner. Allow any frustration to be that of the child, not of you.
Step 4: If the child continues to argue
It is effective to say, "I argue at 12:15 or 4:15 daily. What would be best for you?" Then play the broken record with the question. Don't give into temptation to match wits with a child.
Reminder:
Please remember to sign up for your pre-conference, observation and post conference. If you need any assistance see Julie, Andrea or myself.
Thanks for inputting your goals into Halogen!
Feedback:
Should you have feedback for me about this blog I am open, open, open! I desire this blog to be a useful communication tool, connect us and hopefully inspirational from time to time. Please share your suggestions and impressions with me when you have them.
Quotes from kids:
"Crew means your family during the day."
-Zac Conti (first grader)
Thoughts to Ponder:
"The trick is what one emphasizes.
We either make ourselves miserable
or we make ourselves strong.
The amount of work is the same..."
- Carlos Castaneda
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