March 8

Proud to be an Expeditionary Learning School

I had big plans for this blog post. Arriving home on Saturday evening from Baltimore from the Expeditionary Learning National Conference, I had trouble settling down because I had so much enthusiasm and so many ideas. I just couldn't wait to share...and make plans. Then this week happened.

I'm still full of wonderful ideas and enthusiasm but recognize that the timing isn't good for sharing yet...but I will! So for now, I'm sitting on my hands and will hold off...for awhile! 

In the meantime, I do want you to know that Renaissance is right on track for where Expeditionary Learning is as a network. We haven't fallen behind nor have we wandered off into a world of our own. We have stayed focused and true to the core values.

I had the opportunity to do a school site visit for a full day and Noreene attended a 'slice of learning expedition'. We were both doing field work to see if the vision and practices of EL had changed since we were formally part of the organization. While there are improvements and a few shifts, the vision and practices are aligned with what we do every day. 

It did feel SO good to be among 'our people'. There is a value in belonging to a professional community and my next step is to create a proposal to district leaders to see how we can be innovative and creative in how we might reconnect with Expeditionary Learning's national organization... so stay tuned!

I so look forward to taking some time in our early days in August to examine the history of Expeditionary Learning and build background and connections to our roots. We can take pride in belonging to this exceptional school design.

At the bottom of this blog post, I've featured some pictures I took. I know they lack context for you, but I wanted to share them anyway. I hope you'll notice that they could have been taken here.

Calendar

March 11 - 15th:

Monday:
Noreene's birthday :)

Tuesday:
RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:
New Parent Orientation
Fire Drill 10:00 a.m.
Professional Development:
1:30 Student Led Conferences

Saturday:
Life Is Art

March 18 - 22nd:

Week of Student Led Conferences 

Monday:
Third grade field work

Tuesday:
RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:
All School Meeting
Art Field Work to Colorado Springs

Student Led Conferences in afternoon

Also add to your calendars....

* District Interim Assessments: The testing window is April 22nd - May 3rd
Teachers will NOT be doing the scoring!! (Happy dance!)

Wednesday PD:
* March 13th: Student Led Conferences
* March 20th: Student Led Conferences

Leadership Team Notes:

You will all be jealous because at the Leadership Team this week we had such a wonderful time filling out our school Balanced Assessment Matrix - compiling the information you did individually and on Vertical Teams. We all felt invigorated and a new sense of purpose after this work together. :)

We discussed the Every Child A Writer training that some of our teachers have attended and the upcoming training in April that interested teachers are attending. We discussed the impacts to the system and our UIP with this resource. I emphasized that we are not becoming an ECAW school - we are an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound school with some teachers using this resource.

Artist Edition: Life Is Art

(Sent to Mr. Josh by Sydney Stegman)

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone in the drum circles tonight at Life Is Art!! It was a huge success and I think I speak for all of us when I say this. It was literally the best night of my life. Maybe someone can get videos up??

Peek Into an Expeditionary Learning School

in Washington D.C.

All School Meeting

Student leading the meeting - about 5 and they were from a few different grade levels.
I loved this idea but can't imagine our kids waiting years for a chance for a turn.

Song they were singing

Song they sing at the end of All School Meeting where they all leave ASM to go to a half hour of time spent doing service work. I want to share more about this!

Students doing some of their service work.

Pictures from inside classrooms:

Student doing service work within the classroom -
doing some work for the teacher

More service work - cleaning the dry erase boards

Service work - cutting some things out used for manipulatives for instruction

Teacher - note the Learning Target on the yellow paper on the board

I can't wait to share with you how they share the learning target with kids - this was really good!

Service work - creating an anchor chart for the classroom

Second grade classroom - I want these tables!

See some familiar routines?

This was a spot in the classroom for students who needed a minute to regroup

Integration of writing and science learning expedition

Sixth grade classroom

Expert text group

First grade classroom

Middle School All School Meeting led by 7 or 8 students

the student body in Middle School

 Pictures from the Expeditionary Learning National Conference

Learning Target for a session I attended

Noreene and I had a marvelous time at the conference. We left with our brains full, our hearts full and our bags full of Expeditionary Learning documents! We are anxious to share and looking forward to how we can apply what we learned. Don't be afraid!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

P.S.

Remember to 'spring forward' Saturday night :)