December 15, 2017

The Power of Service

Allison, you are an inspiration to us all about the power of serving others. Thank you for once again, taking the initiative to spearhead this incredible 'Adopt a Family' movement you've created! Thank you for extending the invitation to all of us to be involved in such a meaningful experience for our community.

Allison has been doing Holiday Adoptions for 12 years in Douglas County. She partners with community schools to help provide families with new clothing, toy items for their children and gift cards for food. 

To date close to 600 families have been supported with this program. 

This is REMS 4th year participating in this program. REMS partners with Pine Lane Elementary, Prairie Crossing Elementary, Douglas County Bridge Programs, Fox Creek Elementary, and Renaissance Secondary. This year we are supporting approximatly 60 families. Each family was able to get clothings, toys, and at least $50 for groceries. 

Some stories below: 

Grandma and Grandpa are raising their two teen granddaughters. Both sets of grandparents have health issues, and Grandma took the bulk of the parenting tasks. This past November, Grandma passed away. Grandpa is not caring for his girls. This program was able to help with new shirts, pants, undergarmets, socks, shoes and toys. For Grandpa we were able to surprise him with favorite history books and gift cards to resturants to enjoy with his girls. 

Mom and Dad have worked hard to save up and move into Douglas County to be near good schools and in a good community. This past fall they finally did it, they purchased a home here in Castle Rock. Then dad lost his job. The family has their home, but they have been forced to sell their home belongings to make it month to month. This program provided this family with clothes and new toys as well as some surprise small gifts for mom and dad that include lotions and movie gift cards as well as gift card for groceries. 

Ms. Kim's and Ms. SamAntha's crews partnered together to adopt 3 families. Students in these crews developed plans to earn money on their own to purchase items for these children. These students then walked over to Walmart, picked out the needed items and then brought everything back to REMS where they had to wrap each gift carefully. The students had enough funds left over that each family also received $50 in food gift cards. 

A family was brought to Ms. Allison's awareness when a new family to Castle Rock bought a home. Mom has scoliosis and a fused lumbar. The family has 3 elementary aged children and mom stayed at home to care for them. Dad was very active and would run regularly until he started to experience fairly significant back pain. Dad underwent surgery to relieve backpain. However, the surgery didn't go as planned and Dad woke up paralyzed from the chest down. He regained some feeling in his chest, but his independence was gone. They have a wheelchair that is specially formed to his body and they have a lift in their house to get him up and down the stairs but depended on his wife almost completely. Mom's pain is excruciating as well as dad's, so the children spend most of their time at their neighbors. The goal was set to get this family a second wheelchair. However, the cost of this chair is in the thousands. Multiple REMS families heard of this story and started to contribute. One REMS mom, went home to tell her children. The children then decided that they wanted to help, and on their own accord, they donated their allowance and savings. Parent's told the children that they would match their contribution, but had no idea the plans their children had. So when the children brought their money to mom and dad, and added their match, they contributed $964! It was important to these children that this family's children didn't witness their parent's pain. With their contributions the family now has the $3300 dollars needed to buy this second chair. This chair not only allows some of the physical pain mom and dad have everyday, allows the children to enjoy their parents more (since they aren't in as much pain), but allows dad some independence to go about the house.  

These are just some of the ways we are CREW.

Kim and SamAntha's Crew Fieldwork

Students raised money, on their own outside of school and pooled their resources together - t

hen they went shopping to see how far they could stretch their budget - 

wrapping their gifts was their finishing touch.

Here's what the kids had to say about their experience:

"50 kids raised $877! We worked as a team toward a common goal." 

"I didn't earn money for myself to get more stuff for me. I did it for others in need." 

"Looking over the list of their needs and wants, I realized that I have a lot to be thankful for." 

"I'm thankful that my parents have jobs so that they can provide food and clothes for my brothers and sisters and me." 

"We got to see the stuff and choose what we thought was best for them. We actually helped...not just our parents." 

"We had to work for the money, just like our parents have to do." 

And lastly, there was one very impactful story shared by one group: 

"When we were going through the check-out lane, the lady working asked us what we were doing. When we explained it to her, she asked what organization we were with because she and her son are homeless. As she rang up our stuff, we realized we were over budget. We took some stuff out, but we were still 20 cents over. We were trying to decide on one more thing to put back. The cashier took 20 cents out of her own pocket and told us she'd cover it so we didn't have to put anything else back. And she's struggling just like the families!" 

Kim shared - "Wow! What a life lesson and real-world role model of generosity that we could never have planned for! I know I will hang on to this one for a very long time. " 

Joyous Chinese Cultural School

Fieldwork

Our purpose:

To use our study of a complex, local, ecological topic (wildland fires) to illustrate our big ideas: interconnected systems and cycles and scientists have specific ways of finding things out. Students learned to work as ecologists in the field, they gained and used background knowledge that helped them understand what experts have to share, and are now using their gathered data to draw supported conclusions and make recommendations to stakeholders (ie. ski resort, home, business owners, etc). The are also learning how to look at a complex issue from multiple perspectives and to come to consensus as they try to solve the problem of forest - and land - management. 

To serve as an example for those who benefit from a model, here is an email sent to Keystone Science School to develop this fieldwork experience:

Hi Jillian,

 Lisa here. First, thank you so much for all of your work on this! I think this case study and our time at KSS is going to be exactly what we were aiming for:

• A complex, local, ecological topic
• An illustration of how systems and cycles are connected
• An opportunity to learn to work as scientists in the field
• A chance for the kids to gain background knowledge and use the conclusions they drew from their data to make decisions and (hopefully) recommendations
• An opportunity to investigate and understand multiple perspectives and interests (stakeholders)

Anyway, the kids will arrive Wednesday with a fairly solid grasp of the following: 

• scientific method
• carbon cycle
• earth's systems (hydrosphere, geosphere, etc.)

We are currently working toward the kids understanding (or having exposure to) these concepts too:

• Food chains/webs
• Biodiversity
• The four basic fire management methods
• A basic history of fire suppression in the U.S.

We are trying our best to make sure they arrive with an investigable question - using the model you sent to us:

How does the management style (clear cut, prescribed burn, suppression, or let it burn) affect ______________?

 What I'm wondering: 

• Will you guys have time to show them the different tools available to them? 
• Will you be able to help them identify independent and dependent variables? 
• Will we have time for them to create any organizational charts/tables, etc. to record their data in?

Thank you again for all of your (and your staff's) hard work and preparation!

:) Lisa, Kenny, and Hope

Two great articles from Love and Logic

The Greatest Holiday Gift

Does Praise Create Pain?

Calendar

Week of December 18 - 22nd:
Climbing Week

Monday, 18th:
Ms Jenny's Crew on fieldwork 9 -2

Tuesday, 19th:
MTSS 7:30 a.m.
Mr Tyler's Crew on fieldwork 9-2
Kenny's Crew fieldwork 9:15

Wednesday, 20th:
The Beat

Professional Development: 1:30 Library
* Group Gathering
* Individual planning time

Thursday, 21st:
Math Professional Development 7:30 Jill's room

Friday, 22nd:
Ms. Jill & Mr. G. Fieldwork 9-1

Staff holiday party 4:30-8:30 Jen's home

Winter Break!

Week of January 8 - 12th: (3 day week for students)
Monday, January 8th:
8:30 meet in the library for a Morning Meeting
Work on creating Rock Art during the day as fits your schedule
3:30 Acknowledgement Circle for Doug

Wednesday, January 10th:
Professional Development in library for teachers leading Winter Voyages
* Additional training from Amanda, our school nurse

Friday, January 12th:
No Students
Professional Development 8:30 - 10:30 (continuation of sharing Learning Expeditions)
Planning time

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

Stress and holidays seem to go hand-in-hand. 
Tyler's got it handled!

December 1, 2017

How cool is this?! Thanks Martha!

Noticing...Appreciating...Wondering

The month of December will be a special one - a time to notice, appreciate and wonder. 

We ask kids to do this all the time - because we know that this is the beginning

 of the learning process. Learning about each other, learning new ways, 

wondering and 'the having of wonderful ideas' - all begin with noticing.

Mentorship

Where will you start on this cycle of learning?

What can you offer to others?

What do you notice when you observe others?

What do you wonder when you observe others?

Through the practice of inquiry, a mentor can provide direction with reflection. Mentorship is a process to present possibilities and abilities, not dictate, guilt, or demand the decisions of others. We have to have a vision for ourselves.

I know we would all ferociously defend that all children having strengths. We would be advocates and defend that they all have something to share with others - that all children are experts at something. So then, that is true of all of us.  Why do we work so hard to build on this belief for children and then back away from it as adults?

 Coaching 

We all thrive off of constructive feedback. We all need people who can push our thinking and question our decisions - it pushes us into reflective thinking and personal growth. Allowing ourselves to be coached by others requires being vulnerable and open. And that isn't always easy or comfortable. But then, we know this is good for kids - so then, can we embrace it for ourselves?

 Direction

 Through the process of inquiry, a mentor can provide direction within reflection. Using questioning and guidance, our mentor can focus and direct our thinking in a positive direction for growth. Sometimes the circumstance doesn't change, but our outlook and the possibilities do!

 Opportunity 

Take full advantage of the invitation! Don't turn this down from fear of lack of confidence. Carpe Diem!  And at the same time, seize the opportunities you can provide to help grow and stretch others!

 The mentorship process goes beyond conversations. We must develop others through active participation.  "Two voices combine and work off each other." Classroom observations and shadowing a colleague to gain additional experience - and to reflect on what we are doing . This helps us get down to our most basic core about what we believe.  Once we do some observing, let's move to a higher level of working together in a mentorship.

Advice

The importance of surrounding ourselves with people who don't think just like us, agree with us all the time, or who come from different backgrounds. "Sometimes the most dangerous place we can put ourselves is in an echo chamber." Be open to receive advice from people who are going to challenge our thinking, but who will be there to encourage and build us up.


When we work together with a mentor beside us, behind, or in front of us, it's so much easier. Perhaps yet another definition of 'Crew Not Passengers'?

Link to article Jill shared if you need to work on -
Pushing Past The Imposter Syndrome

We do make a difference...

We do inspire and influence....

Behind the scene things that need to be accomplished - 

pull out your calendar/schedule and be sure to include these:

iReady mid-year diagnostic testing window:
December 4th - 15th. Be sure to get this scheduled on your calendar!

EPR's (Elementary Progress Report) needs to be completed by December 15th. I will then release them to the district. I will check and see when the district releases them to parents - I suspect that will be December 22nd.

CITE 6: Input student roster, base line data and SLO's. Consider going in and entering student data here for units you teach (units of math, reading, writing) throughout the year. It's okay to have data from only one unit - or include more. The more student data you include, the more you can personalize this data to directly show the impact you have on student learning.

If you need support or help with any of the software involved in these tasks, reach out to help. If you are good at this - be sure to reach out and let others know you are available to help!

Fourth and First graders gearing up for the Hour of Code Event Tuesday, 4:30 -6:30

Yep - Using (Math) Thinking Routines in PE

Way to jump on applying what you learned, Doug!

Students thinking about which one doesn't belong!

Inquiry Investigation stage of the Creative Process in Visual Arts

'Noticing....wondering...'

Calendar

December 4 -8th:
Climbing Week

Monday, 4th:
Vision/Hearing Follow Up Screening 9:30-2:00 library

Tuesday, 5th:
MTSS
Hour of Coding 4:30 - 6:00 (for those participating)
New Family Parent Orientation 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, 6th:
Kenny and Lisa's Crew leave for Keystone Fieldwork (back on Friday)
The Beat 9:00
Professional Development: Planning time, EPR's

Thursday,7th:
Math PD 7:30 a.m. Jill's room

Friday, 8th:
First Grade Fieldwork 9:30 - 1:00



December 11 - 15th:
Climbing Week

Tuesday, 12th:
MTSS
REA meeting 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, 13th:
New Parent Orientation 7:30 a.m.
Professional Development: Planning time, EPR's

Thursday, 14th:
Math PD 7:30 a.m. Jill's room

Check out a sampling of the iMovie book trailers that each book club made

 as a wrap-up to their mystery novel study in Kim's Crew.

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

November 10, 2017

 Who Cares For You?

I came home tonight stressed. So many things happened this week that feel so heavy. This is not the space I want to live in. 

Because we are connected, I know many of you had challenges this week. I'm reminded that we are surrounded by the things we need - the things that will care for us.

We have nature that grounds us, calms us, and cares for us. We have music that grounds us, calms us and cares for us. And we have each other. Let's all remember we have created that Circle of Safety; a circle of people we can reach out to for help. Challenging times are when we can and should reach out to each other for support, care and compassion.

Calendar

Week of November 13 -17th:
Book Fair Week!

Tuesday:
* MTSS 7:30 a.m.
* REA mtg. 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday:
* The Beat
* PD: Keystone Science School visits
Building Leadership Team 3:00 ish

Thursday:
* Math PD 7:30 a.m. Jill's room


Week of November 20- 24th:

Tuesday:
* MTSS mtg. (time to be announced)
* Thanksgiving Feast - many of our families will be joining us for lunch!
Wednesday - Friday: Thanksgiving Holiday

A great article to get you thinking and also a great article to share with families....

How can we teach our kids selflessness?

Take care of yourself this weekend!

Deborah

October 27, 2017

Anchor Charts: Making Thinking Visible

Here's what Expeditionary Learning's framework tell us about anchor charts:

Purpose
 • Anchor charts build a culture of literacy in the classroom, as teachers and students make thinking visible by recording content, strategies, processes, cues, and guidelines during the learning process.
 • Posting anchor charts keeps relevant and current learning accessible to students to remind them of prior learning and to enable them to make connections as new learning happens.
 • Students refer to the charts and use them as tools as they answer questions, expand ideas, or contribute to discussions and problem-solving in class.


Building Anchor Charts
• Teachers model building anchor charts as they work with students to debrief strategies modeled in a mini-lesson.
 • Students add ideas to an anchor chart as they apply new learning, discover • interesting ideas, or develop useful strategies for problem-solving or skill application.
• Teachers and students add to anchor charts as they debrief student work time, recording important facts, useful strategies, steps in a process, or quality criteria.
• Students create anchor charts during small group and independent work to share with the rest of the class.


A Note on Quality
 • Anchor charts contain only the most relevant or important information so as not to confuse students.
 • Post only those charts that reflect current learning and avoid distracting clutter—hang charts on clothes lines or set-up in distinct places of the room; rotate charts that are displayed to reflect most useful content.
 • Charts should be neat and organized, with simple icons and graphics to enhance their usefulness (avoid distracting, irrelevant details and stray marks).
 • Organization should support ease of understanding and be accordingly varied based on purpose.
 • Charts are best in simple darker earth tones that are easily visible (dark blue, dark green, purple, black and brown—use lighter colors for accents only)

 And here's an excellent article from a teacher...

6 Things You Must Know about Anchor Charts

And here's what I have noticed:

For years when I have visited classrooms I primarily saw anchor charts for reading - charting out strategies for what to do when readers would get stuck on a word. And those were and are good!

I continue to see great reading anchor charts...

And look what else I'm seeing on walls that didn't use to be there...

And more...

I wonder if these anchor charts are also a visible sign of our evolution in our own understandings? They show that we understand the building blocks behind the content we teach. They are evidence to visitors that we value and teach 'thinking'.  Not everything lives on an anchor chart. We've also learned that we can flood our classrooms with anchor charts and end up with visual chaos, so some of those 'anchor charts' live within notebooks and student resources. 


 Strategy: a plan of action. Many of these anchor charts provide visual representations that students can use to be strategic thinkers. Some of them chart out what we have discovered so we can build on what we are learning.  They aren't purchased and then posted. Rather, we are all creating them with our students and then they have relevance to the learners. Gone are classrooms with teacher created 'pretty stuff' - and have been replaced by classrooms that are workshops where the 'workers' that live within those environments are active problem solvers surrounded by the tools they have created to assist them to do their work.

How cool is that?!

And... Billie was charting out with her students all the things they felt they had learned in Learning Expeditions prior to fifth grade. Take a look. Wow! If we were wondering if we were covering content....well....I'd say 'yes' and then some! You'll see responses all the way back to kindergarten! Woo hoo! This is extraordinary evidence that the inquiry process within a Learning Expedition 'sticks'. We do great things!

Calendar:

Oct. 30th - Nov. 3rd:
Monday:
* SAC meeting 4:00 p.m. (moved up)

Tuesday:
* No MTSS meeting
* Halloween Parade begin around 8:50ish (or before?!!)

Wednesday:
* The Beat 9:00
* Professional Development: EL Conference Attendees share with staff

Thursday:
* Kindie - Ms. Jen - hike 9 a.m - 1 pm (TBD)
* Deborah out in the am (admin mtg.)
* Parent Orientation for perspective parents 6:00 p.m.

Friday:
* Deborah out of the building
* Kindie hike - Ms. Kathy - hike 9 a.m -1 p.m. (TBD)

* 4:30 Staff Gathering at Maddie's

Nov. 6 -10th:
Student Led Conference week for some grade levels
Monday:
* Vision and hearing screening

Tuesday:
* No students in the building
* Day for conferences

Wednesday:
* Professional Development - Conferences
* Parent Orientation for perspective students 3:00 p.m.

Thanksgiving Lunch

We will be having our traditional Thanksgiving lunch here at school November 21st - the Tuesday before we leave for Thanksgiving break. We won't be changing the lunch times or changing the schedule. More about that as we get closer. In the meantime - wondering if we have any classes who might want to make some things to set out on the tables or the walls/windows? Nothing too big or fancy - just spruce it up a bit? If not, that's okay too!

Inspired Innovation - Goal Setting

Just a reminder to teachers that if you haven't already gone into Inspired Innovation and created your professional goal. Please do that just as soon as you can! Thanks!

Have a great weekend!

Deborah