Friday, February 16, 2018

Staff With Heart

*I'm missing a few of you - but I'll get you added!

When I popped into Billie's Crew on Wednesday, I was inspired by a video of Micheal Franti they were watching. It gave me the idea to take these pictures of our staff. Thanks Billie!

Something you might enjoy...

Here's a story of how Hannah Brencher stumbled into her way of changing the world....She founded More Love Letters in 2011 and she gives a compelling, and moving, TED Talk (with 1.9 M views, by the way) about her inspiring letter writing journey here:

Want to get involved?

More Love Letters

Valentines Day provided a wonderful opportunity for creativity!

The homemade boxes were amazing!

Ms. Gina's Crew - Fieldwork in Castlewood Canyon

A Peek Into Dana's Crew...

 A few pictures from Lisa's Crew's Winter Voyage

Second Grade Winter Voyage

Some kids sniff glue -
at Renaissance, we sniff trees!
Only way to know it's a Ponderosa Pine!

We do such cool stuff...every week!

No place I'd rather be than here - with you💜

Calendar:

February 19 - 23rd:
Monday:
No School

Tuesday:
MTSS
Lisa's Crew - Field Work 9 - 11 a.m.
SAC meeting 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday:
The Beat 9:00 ish
Professional Development:
* 1:30 - 2:30 Early Literacy Study
* Primary/Intermediate Teams analyze student writing 2:30 - 4:00

Thursday:
First Grade Winter Voyage


February 26 - March 2nd:
Monday:
Third Grade Winter Voyage

Tuesday:
MTSS

Wednesday:
Professional Development:
* 1:30 Early Literacy Study

Thursday:
* Third Grade day of rest
* Deborah out of the building - admin. mtg.

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

February 2, 2018

Renaissance Adventure Education Goals and Objectives 

Delivering on the Dream...

Each student will demonstrate empathy, beneficence, and integrity in a growing respect for self and others. 

Each student will recognize that the value of experience and growth is increased when shared with others. 

Each student will demonstrate perseverance in a growing willingness to step beyond his or her comfort zone and consistently challenge him or herself. 

They took advantage of an opportunity to put what they are learning about service into action.
They took a gear room and transformed it!

 Each student will demonstrate a greater understanding of the value of service to fellow crewmembers as well as the greater community. 

Each student will demonstrate continuous development of mind, body, and spirit. 

Mrs. Bartee's photo of professional photographer, Nick Lucey with Renaissance students on pinhole camera fieldwork in downtown Castle Rock.

Pam has been busy taking kids on fieldwork!

Nick Lucey is journalist who now lives and promotes Castle Rock. He wrote the following on his blogpost:

"My day was made before 10am this morning. While out shooting some street photography, I ran into a group of 5th graders from Renaissance Secondary School who were walking around downtown snapping shots with their little Holgafilm (yes, you heard me correctly—film) cameras. It was a delight to see the sparkle in their eyes as they scanned the world around them for photo subjects. They were also calculating how many exposures they had remaining on their roll—a quirky phenomenon that has become so alien to us in the digital era. It instantly teleported me to my film days, when I was an underwater photographer and it was impossible, of course, to change film beneath the surface. Those precious exposures were critical! You pressed the shutter release sparingly, and you subliminally saved an exposure or two in case something really interesting came along (a whale, a shark, or a whale shark, for example). Seeing these kids in action was a fantastic reminder that it's the artist—not the camera—that makes the shot. My rig today might be literally 100 times more expensive than their plastic Holgas, but the passion and creativity that was ignited on their photo shoot this morning is priceless, and worth more than anyCanon DSLR. Less, as they say, is indeed more.

 "— in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Calendar:

February 5 - 9:

Monday, 5th:
Ms. Lisa's Crew Winter Voyage
Ms. Kim, Ms. Teresa and Ms. Karen's Winter Voyage (D 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th)

Tuesday, 6th:
MTSS 7:30 a.m.


Wednesday, 7th:
The Beat 9:00ish
PD:
* Team Planning
* Early Literacy Course 1:30 p.m.
* Webinar: Guided Reading by Interest 2:30 p.m.

Thursday, 8th:
Deborah out to admin. mtg.

Friday, 9th:
Ms. Gina's Crew Hike 9:30 a.m.


February 12 - 16:

Monday, 12th:
Ms. Dana's Crew Hike 9:30 a.m.
Fifth Grade Parent Night: Healthy Relations Seminar 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, 13th:
MTSS 7:30 a.m.
12:00 Steve Cook (Assistant Superintendent) makes informal visit to Renaissance (45 minutes)
REA meeting 4:30 p.m.
New Parent Orientation 6:00- 7:30 p.m

Wednesday, 14th:

Ms. Dana and Ms. Gina's Winter Voyage

Valentine's Day

PD: 

State testing proctor training 1:30 p.m.

Early Literacy training 3:00 p.m.

Thursday, 15th:

Fifth Grade Healthy Relations Seminar 1:30 - 4:00

Friday, 16th:

*NO school for students

Professional Development for teachers:

Agenda:

Love and Logic Training 9 am - 3 pm

* All classified invited to join

Update!

Janell is on her way home after a successful surgery. Nothing keeps her down for long!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

January 19, 2018

A Bright New Year

Discover how well you're seeing students and letting them know they're seen by using this exercise devised by educator and author Donald Graves. Divide a piece of paper into three columns. In the 1st column, quickly write the names of your students in the order in which they come to mind. In 2nd column, write one thing you know about each student that doesn't have anything to do with school. In the 3rd column, put a check if you're sure the student knows you know this fact. When your 3rd column doesn't have a check, look for moments you can comment on or ask questions about the things you know are important to that student.

Calendar:

January 22 - 26:
Fifth Grade Winter Voyage 
Discovery 6th Grade Winter Voyage

Tuesday:
* MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
* The Beat
* Professional Development: Personal Planning

Thursday:
* Deborah out of the building


January 29 - February 2nd:
Fourth Grade Winter Voyage
Kenny's 6th Grade Winter Voyage
* Deborah out of the building Monday
Tuesday:
*  No MTSS meeting - Sped Team mtg.

Wednesday:
* Professional Development: Personal planning

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

January 5, 2018

Happy New Year!

Here in Lake George, we are probably the only area in Colorado that didn't get a flake of snow over the break. I love snow - and lots of it - so this was hard for me. I think it was a very valuable lesson for me in learning to accept what is. (My husband will vouch that this took me awhile! Ha!)

I have been having fits with our internet connection all through the break. While it has been wildly frustrating at times, it's been a wonderful blessing. And perhaps yet another opportunity for me to learn to accept things the way they are.

I received a wonderful book for Christmas that supported me in some quiet reflection time.  "The Wisdom of Sundays - Life Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations" compiled by Oprah Winfrey from her Super Soul Sundays series. I also immensely enjoyed listening to podcasts. 

Gretchen Rubin had a wonderful podcast titled '18 for 2018'. She posed the idea of writing down 18 things you want to do in 2018. These are not the traditional resolutions like stop doing something - rather, the emphasis is on what you would like to include in this New Year for yourself. It was easy for me to identify 18 things and I'm excited about my 'list'. You might want to try it! If you do, I'd love to know what you are looking forward to doing for yourself this year!

Intention is my power word for this New Year. 

Alas, I am struggling with the internet this morning and so that means a very brief Friday Flash. Pictures are especially challenging when the internet is so slow - so no pictures!

I look forward to seeing each of you on Monday and am anxious to hear what you did over your break! Kind of nice to have a three day week with kids coming off the break!

January 8 - 12th:

Monday:

* No Students

* Gather in Library for brief welcome back at 8:30 a.m.

* Rock Art for Doug during the day

* Acknowledgement Circle for Doug at 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday:

* No MTSS meeting

* REA meeting 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday:

* Professional Development: Med training update for Winter Voyages

* New Parent Orientation 5:30 p.m.

Friday:

* No students - Professional Development day devoted to planning for Learning Expeditions.

* Gather in library at 8:30 a.m.

January 15 - 19th:

Monday:

* No School

Tuesday:

* MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

* The Beat 9:00 ish

Thursday:

* Deborah possibly out of the building for regional meeting

* RSS 6th grade meeting 4:15 p.m.

Saturday:

* Love and Logic Seminar 8 - 4 p.m. in Golden

Enjoy your last few days of unstructured time!

Warmly,

Deborah

"All of us are seeking the same thing. We share the desire to fulfill the highest, truest expression of ourselves as human beings."

-Oprah Winfrey