August 16, 2012: It's All Good

August 16, 2012

It's all good! 

Dire Straits - Walk of Life

For your listening pleasure...

dedication devotion

What should "school" or “learning” look like . . .

In a world where almost all factual information is literally a click away?

At a world class school teachers think critically about what and how they teach so that the learning is relevant, purposeful and authentic to the kids they teach.

What are the most important things to teach and what is the most important way to teach? 

What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? 

The fluent will lead,
the literate will follow,
and the rest will get left behind            
    - Jason Ohler
    Educational Leadership
    March 2009

Fluency is the ability to practice literacy at the advanced levels required for sophisticated communication within social and workplace environments.
               
 - Jason Ohler

Life long learners become their own teachers.

Do you focus on and assess the most important outcomes for your students?
(Creativity?  Collaboration? Critical Thinking?  Communication?)

Are we focused on the right outcomes for students’ futures?






                        What's Happening...

Voyages begin...

This week Lisa's 6th grade Crew went backpacking in the Ironclad Mountains and 2nd grade went to Camp Elim.

(No opportunity to get photos from those groups at the time of this post)

Second grade students prepared for their voyage by recording their thoughts and feelings. Here is a demonstration of critical thinking -

"I feel sad to go away from home and I feel scared a little and a little happy 
and some of the time I feel the same in 1st grade and I will sometimes feel the same in the world."

First graders learning to work in partners.
Important 21st Century skill!

Saw this in Neil's room
Setting expectations

Ms. Linda sings El Alfabeto

Melissa, our Speech Language Pathologist

Jane, our occupational therapist and
Chris, our school psychologist -
Heidi, director of Camelot, in the back.

Mr. Chris supports students on how to handle unkind actions and words - bully prevention skills.

Guess who wasn't feeling well on Tuesday?
Adorable Lochen, Hanni's kindergarten son.
Don't you just want to cuddle up there with him?

All School Meeting

Diana prepares for her 'Eye of the Tiger'  Battle of the Books presentation at All School Meeting

Glee Club singers lead the National Anthem at
All School Meeting

LIVE music at All School Meeting
Our very own rock star- Tyler!

and rock star music teacher, Ms. Cheryl!
Love your new choir shirts!

Back to School Picnic

Do you suppose they arranged the rain on purpose so that people would have to huddle together under tents and get acquainted?

Calendar: Two weeks at a glance

August 20 - 24:

Tuesday: 

* RTI team available to meet with teachers 7:15 a.m.- 8:30 a.m.

* Lindsey's Crew Voyage to Educo

Wednesday: 

* 1st grade Crews to Camp Elim

* Leadership Team meeting 11:00 a.m.

* PD: Backwards Planning

Friday:

* 3rd grade fieldwork to Bent's Fort

August 27 - 31:

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

* Mr. Neil's Crew Voyage to Educo

Wednesday:

* All School Meeting: Lisa's Crew Hosts

* 6th grade, 5/6 Discovery Field Work 

* PD: Vertical Team meetings/ Technology

Wednesday Professional Development:

The plan for the focus of our time on Wednesday afternoons is driven by the needs we identified as a staff in the spring. 

We have created time on these afternoons to collaborate, build new understandings and practices, time for creating backwards plans, building capacity with digital tools and how we can use technology as a tool for learning, and to go deeper with the work we have started in writing. Our work together will also help us to understand how we can become highly effective as evaluated by the CITE tool. (Continuous Improvement of Teacher Effectiveness)

We have been using backwards planning for developing our Learning Expeditions and are now using it to develop our writing genre units of study. By deepening our understandings of this planning tool we are addressing CITE standard #1: Teachers create lessons with world class outcomes. We will use our time to become masters with this tool and to have the time it takes to create assessments and feedback systems- addressing CITE Standard #3: Selecting performance assessments that demonstrate student learning.

 In writing, we'll revise and create learning experiences to teach the writer and provide opportunities for grade level Professional Learning Teams (PLC's) to meet with other grade levels in Vertical Team meetings with a focus on student data. Our collaboration will address CITE Standards #1 (creating lessons with world class outcomes) and Standard #2 and Standard #3: facilitating learning activities that require students to analyze, synthesize, evaluate and create.

In Math, we will begin by examining the resources we presently use and identify other resources that may support our math instruction and differentiation. The scope of this learning and how we will generate new understandings is still fuzzy. As we delve into the work, the process, resources and path will become clearer. Again, this work will address CITE Standards #1 and #2 and #3.

So that you can plan ahead, here is the schedule of our Wednesday afternoon professional development sessions until Fall Break:

8/22--Backwards Planning

8/29--Vertical Teams/Tech

9/5--Math/Planning

9/12--Planning

9/19--Vertical Teams/Tech

9/26--Math/Planning

10/3 - Planning

FYI:

Leadership Team Meeting

At the Leadership Team meeting this week we defined the norms for the group,  clarified the vision and created goals. We identified current initiatives and implementation at the school and district level. We prioritized those initiatives and created action steps (focus of PD came from this phase) to move our implementation forward.

We also discussed financial needs of our school for recommendation to REA for the fund raising committee. The team agreed that having sound enhancement systems for classrooms and the library would be a valuable fundraising project.

The focus of the next Leadership Team meeting will be reviewing our TCap results and examining our Unified Improvement Plan.

REA

The executive board of REA (Renaissance Educational Association) met with me this week. There will be a general session for all REA members and any interested community member in September (likely via an adobe webinar) to hear the plans and goals of REA for the 12-13 school year.

The Fundraising Committee will be focused on:

1. Scholarships for the 13-14 school year

2. Technology rejuvenation fund

3. Capital Improvements (building/outdoors)

* This is where the sound enhancement systems will live

4. Teacher Development ( a pot to support professional development - perhaps opportunities to attend state/national conferences, etc.) *This is new

The amounts are still to be determined and there are a few details that remain to be determined, but I'm sharing the general gist with you. 

* We will have Boot Camp this year and it is scheduled for Friday, October 5th - last day of school before Fall Break.

Featured Folks

authored by Melissa Salazar

My name is Melissa Salazar and I am from New Mexico.  I moved to Colorado in 2003.  Since I young I had a dream to live in CO and my dad helped make sure that happened   At 18 years old my father moved from Mexico to the United States to provide for his family and give us the best life possible.  He has worked so hard to provide for us and still does.  My dad is a business entrepreneur and has worked on drilling rigs for over 44 years.   When I was young my father told me I was going to college, so I never questioned him.   He is the boss and my hero.  My mother has also played a huge part in who I am today.  She is always there to teach me, advocate for me, and sit with me and my siblings when we need support.  After having 5 children (between the ages of 3 and 15) she went to school and earned a degree in special education.  She worked as a learning specialist and a Dean of Student for many years.   Before moving to CO I actually worked with my mother and was the speech therapist at her school.  My mom has had a huge part in helping me grow in my career.  I became a speech therapist because of my sister Erica.  Erica, who is 2 years younger than I am has special needs and has had to participate in multiple types of therapy throughout her life.  She is the best medicine when you are sad and motivates my family and I to keep pushing forward.   My parents not only gave me the opportunity to have an education and career, but they also provided me with multiple opportunities to experience life. Travel is one of the many ways they have provided us with life experiences.   My favorite hobby is traveling.  Not only have I had the opportunity to go on trips with my family and friends, I was given the opportunity to travel with an organization called Up With People.  .  I traveled so many places and learned so much that year.   I have so many great memories from that year, but  one of the best moments for me was the day we performed and sang for Pope John Paul.  After I am able to retire my dream is to travel as much as possible.

 My parents and four siblings are not the only people in my life.  Five years ago I met Tony (my boyfriend, fiancée, husband, whatever you want to call him).  We live in Highlands Ranch and have 2 dogs. Their names are Mondee and Cally.  My family got Mondee  for me.  I named him after one of my cousins who had passed way.  My cousin was so special to my family.  I will be honest,  I was not sure how Mondee and I were going to make it through his puppy stages.  Thank goodness I had Tony to help me.  I swear Mondee had ADHD.  Now that he is  a bit older Mondee has turned out to be the best dog.  After having Mondee for a while I begged to have another dog.  Tony got Cally for me last year as a birthday present.  She is a fluff ball of energy that I think we needed.  Cally has the best personality.  We also have 2 ferrets (Pepper & Griz).  Our animals are so spoiled.  When Tony and I  are not working we enjoy watching Avalanche hockey, going to sporting events, hanging out with friends, playing with the animals, and spending time at home.

My Family

Puppies

Tony and Me

Have a great weekend!

Deborah