April 22,2016

The 'Gift' of this time of year...

I know that everyone is feeling the pressure of too little time and so much to do by the end of the year. However... this can also be a pocket of time when you have a unique opportunity as a teacher.

You are in the home stretch. You know now where kids are in their achievement and growth and the impact you can make with them this year, draws to an end.

What about those ideas you had sketched out earlier in the year but just didn't get around to doing? What if there was something you were curious about and have really wanted to try, but it didn't quite 'fit in'. I wonder....

Do it! 

Precisely at this time of year is a good time to try something out and just 'sample' how it goes. Is there a resource, a method, an idea, a digital tool that you just want to play around with to test it a bit? No pressure to measure or hold kids to mastery of any kind. Just play. Sometimes, it just the right thing for you as a teacher to have a bit of fun and enjoy the experience with no particular outcome in mind. 

Celebrating all the wonderful things going on...

Demonstration AND personalized feedback!

A student in Lauren's room highly engaged in creating during their Learning Expedition

Here is the rubric the students collaborated on that is guiding their work.

Bethany supporting students who are creating

Brooks finding a way to increase ownership of recycling!

Lulu the artist

Guess who's talking about books!

Second graders in Dana's Crew
had a museum exhibit showing off their expertise from reading non-fiction.
Don't you just love that he even has an outfit to go with his exhibit!

Students from Jen's Crew were a captive audience as Evan explained what he had learned. All these kids had great visual displays to accompany their learning.

Fourth graders dressed for success...
and field work to the Colorado State Capitol

Check out who is seated in the Supreme Court Chambers!

"4th graders have been working on a high-quality visual representation as an end product for the Colorado History expedition. This product was part of a study of boom and bust trends in Colorado's history. Students discovered that the current Colorado flag is experiencing a boom right now. They figured that it would probably bust soon, so they created new Colorado flags to reflect their learning about Colorado history. During the study, they learned that the current Colorado flag was adopted by the state senate. So, they decided that they should present their ideas to a Colorado Senator. Last Friday, we had the chance to travel to the Colorado State Capitol to present four of our flags (these were voted on by our crews) to Senator Chris Holbert. Luca, Kelby, Viola, and Logan all did an amazing job presenting our ideas in a professional manner, while seated in the Supreme Court Chambers. This fieldwork gave students the opportunity to discover more about the world around them and gave them a chance to be active citizens - to try to make a change. "

Calendar

April 25 - 29th:
Kenny's Crew Winter Voyage
Climbing Week

Tuesday:
* RTI/MTSS 7:30 a.m.
Suzi's Crew Field Work

Wednesday:
* PD: Collaborative Planning/Building Leadership Team Meeting
5:30 Parent Course on Anxiety offered by Allison

Thursday:
Lisa's Crew to CRCC

Friday:
Billie's Crew Field Work

May 2 - 6th:
* Benefits Open Enrollment

Tuesday:
RTI/MTSS 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
9:00 a.m. Musical Theater Performance
1:30 p.m. PD: QRI assessment training
5:30 Parent Course on Anxiety offered by Allison

Thursday:
Deborah out - PK-12 Admin. Mtg.

Friday:
Second Grade Field Work - Cheyenne Mtn. Zoo
6- 8 p.m. Musical Theater Performance
Saturday:
6-8 p.m. Musical Theater Performance

Inviting you to take a stroll -

Be sure to spend a few minutes popping into rooms.

The documentation panels, student work, and displays that are everywhere in the building are such a celebration! It's an important time of the year to soak up all the great things that have been built to this point. Take a few minutes during a plan time, lunch or break to see all the high quality student work, talk with teachers and kids and hear the stories, and shout "Ta Dah" together!!!

Closing Thought - 

Chelsea shared some words of wisdom with me this week that she's applying and has found helpful.

We all share a common trait. We all strive for excellence in all we do. As a result, we are often our own worst critics and we tend to judge ourselves very harshly. 

Her words of wisdom:

Judge and be judged.

Or...change that messaging to ourselves to be:

Learn and help learn

Enjoy your three day weekend!!!

Deborah

April 8, 2016

 And....we're back!

Is it just me, but after a week of being back, does break seem like a distant memory? Isn't it almost surreal how we slide back in and time just flies? Hopefully, by today, your feet are back on the ground, your groove is back, and you're walkin' on sunshine!!

Leadership Team Meeting Outcomes:

On Monday, (can it really be of this week?!) the Leadership Team met. Decisions were made for the remaining Professional Development days this year (see details below).

It was also decided that for next year, we would return to the three rotations for Integrated Arts (Art, Performing Arts, PE). The creation of the Sustainability course was to support being innovative with our scheduling, which in the end, didn't make the difference in planning time we had hoped to accomplish. There is no doubt that Brooks knocked it out of the park on creating this learning experience for our kids K-6!!! We also acknowledged, that the success we've had with the course, is due to Brooks! We weren't certain that this would be an easy position to easily slide a new teacher into. Brooks will be teaching fifth grade next year, alongside Billie :) (Let's keep all these staffing announcements/decisions confidential within house for the time being.)

Just before we returned from break I got an email 'inviting' our school to apply to be a host site for a school visit from Ed Leadership, who will be having a national conference in Denver September 28-30th. Ed Leader asked DCSD to showcase some of the great work in schools. This "great work" should be providing opportunities  to showcase the integration of the 4C's and World Class Learning.

Our district, which has roughly 80 schools, selected 8 schools with the opportunity to apply to be a hosting school. Renaissance was one of the 8 schools selected! (Woot! Woot!) However, the application was due today! We had three days to put ideas together and turn them into a brochure/requirements for the application. The Leadership Team decided we should throw our hat in the ring and wait to see what happens.

Four of the eight schools have submitted a proposal. Renaissance is one of those four.  Ed Leader will then look at the proposals and make selections on the schools that will be included. Jeffco is also submitting applications.

Whether they pick Renaissance for a host school or not...To have been selected from 80 schools, worthy to showcase the learning experiences we create...well that deserves a great big 'ole, 'Ta-Dah"!!!!

Here's the brochure we submitted to Ed Leadership.
I held off publishing Friday Flash until today, because I wanted to share this brochure with all of you and we weren't quite finished creating it.

* A huge shout-out to Melissa and her talents to put together the brochure!!!

Professional Development Plan:

* As always, attendance is optional based on your need

April 6: Planning/White Bus Licensing Course

April 13: Planning/White Bus Driving Test

April 20: Tips and Tricks: Sharing (Showcase Celebrations, Student Led Conferences, CITE 6, EPR)

April 27: Collaborative Planning/Building Leadership Team Meeitng

May 4: QRI training 

May 11: Time for Student Led Conferences

May 18: 3rd Grade Showcase Celebrations

May 25: 6th Grade Showcase Celebrations

June 1: Last day of school - Reflection/Celebration

Feedback from Ted's Visit:

Ted Knight, assistant superintendent, did make it to Renaissance on Wednesday for his walk-through visit. We were able to make it to all classrooms - some of you weren't 'home' when we dropped by. It was a very casual visit, and Ted was just soaking it up rather than analyzing and evaluating. Sigh...

He didn't have any specific feedback for individuals - rather just tuned into the culture and was so satisfied and pleased. He shared that there are two schools in the district that are the first places he takes visitors - Renaissance being one of them.

Not related to his visit - but emailed to me:

From Ted Knight:

Letter to teachers about EPR

From Climbing to Archery....

Way cool Doug!

Talk about specific, personalized, actionable feedback!!

Reader's Workshop...

 Reader's Workshop - Exploring Non-fiction.
These second grade boys were each so engrossed in hearing what others were sharing.

New Resource if you are interested...

Students learn more—and with more joy—when offered intriguing lessons that connect with their lives and interests while challenging them to stretch and grow. Light the spark of learning in your students by building the six characteristics of engaging academics into your lessons. Click here to continue reading!

This article is an excerpt from our new book, The Joyful Classroom and we purchased a few copies!

Calendar:

April 11 - 15:

*Lisa's Crew Out on Winter Voyage

*Summative Evaluations all week

Monday:

* Discovery Classrooms to Ameri-Towne

Tuesday:

*MTSS 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

PD: Collaborative Planning/Bus Driving Practicum

Thursday:

Deborah out of the building Elementary Admin. Mtg.

April 18 - 22:

* Michelle's Crew Out on Winter Voyage - facilitated by Mr. Kenny

* CMAS Testing

* Summative Evaluations all week

Tuesday:

*MTSS 7:30 a.m.

* SAC?REA meetings 5:30 library

Wednesday:

PD: Tips and Tricks:

Sharing of how the process with Showcase Presentations are going.

Student-led Conferences tips and ideas

CITE 6 data entry support/

EPR 

Friday:

No School

Whew...another long one!

Welcome back !

Have a great weekend!

Deborah