First Days of School

Let the Good Times Roll!

What a sensational beginning to our school year! So much joy, excitement and happy people!

Without exception, classrooms were focused on norms, teambuilding, routines, procedures and developing those strong relationships that are the foundation of a culture of belonging. No wonder it was such a great beginning!

Keep in mind that all of these really important components are best built in tandem - and become relevant, when they are paired with discovery, inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. It's impossible to do any of these things if you don't have something engaging to think about!  Now is the time to jump straight into your units of study. Grab their interest, excitement and passion. You can continue to build in the elements of culture as you go. 

I know I've talked about this before, but I think it warrants repetition. In the Reading Recovery world we called it 'Roaming Around the Known'. This means, the teacher creates many opportunities for students to engage in learning and the teacher observes and notices what the student controls, what they are on the verge of being independent with (with only a little direct instruction) and what things they will need more support with before they are able to work independently. Create learning experiences that will allow you to uncover this. Watching students in the act of making decisions is the very, very, very best assessment. Ask them lots of questions:

* How did you know to do that?

* What were you considering when you decided to do that?

* I noticed you....why did you?

* How do you know you are right?

* What could you try?

* When they look to you for guidance - before you give it - say, "Try something."

* Watch them in groups. What tools do they use? 

* What strategies are present for reading, writing, problem solving, thinking, sharing, communicating...

* Teachers talk less.

* Students talk and think more.

You get the idea. Be very intentional that while you have kids immersed in discovery, inquiry, problem solving - your goal is to notice where they are. Have them do lots of writing that matters to them - then look at it - what are you noticing about your writers? As they are reading, what is easy, what is hard? What do they share about what they have read? 

Avoid being focused on all the things they don't control and be intentional about noticing what they do control, independently without support from you. 

This means, that there is likely less direct instruction in the next two weeks. It still means pulling groups - doesn't matter if you have them grouped correctly - that's the purpose. At the end of the two weeks, you'll know exactly where they belong. Pulling them in groups allows you the opportunity to more closely observe, questions and interact. Of course you can 'teach the group', but it isn't your purpose. Do you know what I mean?

In the next few weeks, challenge yourself to create a t-chart on each student. On one side, write what you have noticed that they control independently and on the other side, note what the next steps should be for that student based on what they control. I would add a third column and write what I know about that student as a person. What are they passionate about? What is special about them?

'Roaming Around the Known' can be so rewarding for everyone. You will leave this time with a full head of information about your students and chomping at the bit to begin to teach. Your students will have had two weeks of feeling independent, successful and excited about learning. Enjoy!

A Peek Around the School

...if only I had been able to capture each one of you and every remarkable event!

Is everyone saying The Pledge each day?
We need to. 

Clever idea Brittany has for taking role.

A component of Morning Meeting is the agenda.
 Notice that the agenda doesn't list a schedule of 'subjects' but includes what students will be doing for the day. 

Calendar

Week of August 10th:

  Monday:

* Drumming

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

* Hanni's Crew leaves on Voyage

Week of August 17th:

Monday:

* Drumming

* Lisa's Crew leaves on Voyage

* Brittany's Crew leaves on Voyage

Tuesday:

* RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

* Nicole's Crew leaves on Voyage

Thursday:

* Deborah out of the building to Elementary Admin. meeting

For Your Information

* All classroom doors must be locked. When you are present in the room you can use the doorjams or the magnetic strips. When you leave the classroom, the door must be locked behind you.

* We are no longer allowed to use sanitizer wipes.

* Make sure you have completed the mandatory moodle trainings. There may be a bit of time on Wednesday afternoon to complete some of these.

Please click on the link to access the district mandated trainings  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K7m72EVSl5dBdp4jEKc9AROF0M5Elrq-O5TKFX5U6bM/edit

* The Pledge of Allegiance needs to be recited every day.

* When you can, please send your blog link to Andrea and myself. We need to update the website. I would like to subscribe to whatever communication tool you have with parents.

* When you can, if you don't currently have a bio for our school website, please create one and give to Andrea for the school website. This is not urgent at all.

* I will be working with the office staff on the next two Wednesdays. We will be evaluating our current systems and identifying where changes can be made.

* This weeks professional development will be facilitated by Debbie, Amanda, and Chelsea. Chelsea will lead the activity. Amanda will be sharing some of her work, with primary teachers, around mathematics in hopes that it can be of support to others.  Intermediate teachers will be meeting, under the direction of Lisa, to create an assessment for reading to possibly use in lieu of iReady for CITE 6.

* Andrea is in the process of creating the drill schedule. We will be having a fire drill this week.  Make sure you know where you are to go and that you have the red/green card and an accurate class list for taking role. (Is this information included with sub plans?)

* For now, we will continue to drum (whole school but in Crews) until we have a chance to review whether this is what we want to continue to do. Remember, this doesn't mean it's the only time you can drum. 

Have a great week!

Deborah

May 29,2015

Last Week of School....

Here's some ideas I found in an article recently - ideas for connecting with our kids on the last week of school. Have we thought about how important that closure is for kids? In many ways, this coming week mirrors our Closing Circle of each day. As a school, we participate in the Closing Circle for our Sixth Graders. What are some of the ways you are celebrating and connecting with your kids in the last week? 
Take some time to think about the important, intentional experiences you want to be sure to provide on this last - ever so important week!


Eat lunch together. Join your class in the cafeteria, or invite students to eat in the classroom with you. If you want to make more individual connections, invite a different group of 5-6 kids to eat with you each day Monday through Friday. If you have a snack time in your classroom, that can be a fun opportunity, too—bring in something special to share with the class during the last week and sit with a different group of kids each day.

Join in at recess. If you’re the type who normally stands on the sidelines, ask if you can join a basketball game or jump rope contest. Kids love to see their teachers having fun! Make it your goal to spend at least a couple of minutes with each child at some point during the week just hanging out, talking, or doing something they love.

Read (or re-read) your favorite books. If you haven’t had time to share your favorite children’s book with your students, now’s your chance! And if you have, the last week of school is a great time to revisit that book again and invite children to join in on the parts they remember. Encourage the kids to submit their favorite books for you to read again, too. If you don’t have enough time for them all, provide 10-15 minutes for kids to pair up and read their favorite book to a partner. This is also a great opportunity to remind your students of how much they’ve grown as readers throughout the year!

Record favorite memories. There are lots of creative ways to have students reflect on what they learned and enjoyed during the year, but many of them are time-intensive. If you only have a few minutes, hang a large blank piece of bulletin board paper and invite students to share their favorite memories and lessons during your morning bell work or dismissal time. Another easy way to capture students’ memories if you have a video release form from parents is to use your phone to capture video of yourself interviewing kids at lunch or recess (or have a student do it for you). Play the video clips back for the class to watch and reminisce together, or post them on your class blog so parents can see, too.
Bright ideas for connecting with kids during the last week of school

FYI

* Reminder that I need class lists by Monday if you haven't already shared those with me yet.

* I hope to send out the blog to parents on Monday informing them of some of the up coming changes - both with staff and the way we will share teacher assignments for next year.

* Please make hard copies of student reports for cum files.

* I made a shift from the original decision to send student reports out on Thursday, to sending them out on Friday. You will have some time on Thursday morning to work on those. If you are ready to send them on Thursday, you can do so at the end of the day. All reports need to be emailed by Friday noon.

Week of June 1st

Monday: Planning Committee meeting 4:30 p.m. in library

Tuesday: 6th grade continuation ceremony at 6:30 pm

Wednesday: 
All School Drum Circle
Staff Meeting @ 1:30 in the library
Staff get-together at Julie's house

Thursday: 
9-11:00 Kindergarten Parent Orientation
8:30 - 11:00
The rest of the staff works on sending out report cards and/or packing up your room.

11:00-12:00 Acknowledgement Circle

Lunch

1:30 Moving of classrooms 

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

May 15, 2015

Solo

It's important, maybe critical, in these times when things are moving so fast and we are feeling the pressure of all that needs our attention, to stop and be still. I'm a huge fan of Super Soul Sunday. It's exposed me to some great people, great minds and great thinkers. I've found comfort in their words and it helps me in a time of great activity when the pressures are great and my mind is whirling. I thought I would share some of the wisdom that has been shared from Super Soul Sunday. 

We started our year off together participating in a solo - we recognized its importance and its power. Perhaps it's a practice that could calm the waters for all of us about now?

An additional thought....
The end of the year is stressful - for us AND for the kids. In some ways, it feels like its unraveling. We shared our values in our recent discussions around the importance of play and the importance of relationships. I wonder what place those values have at the end of our year? 
We give great attention to creating a strong culture at the beginning of the year. What are we doing intentionally at the end of the year to continue to build relationships and culture? Do you need permission, a push, some encouragement to think about setting those all important academics aside and going outside and playing some games together? Is it time for some team building? Pull out those great books you've been dying to share with the kids but there hasn't been time? Build something? Teach kids some games you love? Sing? Dance? Is it time to play a little? 

Calendar

May 18th - 22nd:

Monday:
Debbie out of the building for READ meeting
Schedule planning committee meeting 5:00 at DLMC

Tuesday:
Deborah out in the morning
REA meeting 6:00 p.m.
DC Downbeat concert 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday:
Kindergarten to Camp Elim
The Beat
1:30 6th grade Portfolio Review

Thursday:
GT SENG Parent Support Group Meeting 6:30 p.m.



May 25th - 29th:

Monday: No School

Tuesday:
Dress Like a Super Hero - Staff Appreciation Tuesday
?RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
1:30 6th grade Portfolio Showcases




And we know I love Soul Pancake....

Treat yourself to something special this weekend - you deserve it!

Maybe write yourself a love letter?

Deborah

May 1, 2015

Inspiring thoughts....

This is the quote Pam read to us.

More from Steve Jobs....

“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Read more: http://www.cheatsheet.com/technology/20-most-memorable-quotes-from-steve-jobs.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3YlMyDEOk

Here's the link to the google doc to keep our conversation going and growing until Wednesday when we can resume our collaboration:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qufjuz8F6rCvm9kdDDK1oRqdCboY3t5Z9wTryrA1Glw/edit

Calendar:

May 4 -8th:

Monday:
Suzi's Crew out on field work

Tuesday:
Staff Appreciation Tuesday
RTI 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
No Beat - Page to Stage Presentation 9:30 a.m.
CITE 6 Team meeting 8:30 a.m.
PD: 1:30 DLMC - same as last week - all interested staff invited - continuation of our mission and vision exploration

Thursday:
Deborah out for admin meeting

Friday:
Band and Orchestra Concert 1:45 - 2:30 p.m.

May 11- 15th:

Monday:
District Art Award Ceremony 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday:
Staff Appreciation Tuesday
RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
The Beat
PD: Third Grade Portfolio Showcases

Thursday:
Deborah out in afternoon for elementary admin meeting

iReady: Are you ready? 

It's important that you complete end of year testing with iReady. We need that data for you to upload into CITE 6. Remember, you will have a member of the CITE 6 team sit with you to do this. But you need the data! IF you haven't already done your end of the year assessment - do it soon. I am also inviting Carolyn Burtner back to help us interpret the data.

Rosetta Stone

We need to have a brief conversation on Wednesday afternoon about Rosetta Stone and next year. We will need to decide what grade levels will be using it. We need to decide what our implementation will look like for next year. Think about it now and come prepared to weigh in.

Rockies Tickets

I have 8 Rockies tickets for Tuesday, May 5th at 6:40 p.m. If you are interested, please let me know by this Friday at noon. If we have more than 8 interested people, I'll draw names.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

April 17, 2015

As I passed through Chelsea's classroom I saw this music resource sitting out.

It made me smile and happy inside.

Why? Because it's just another way we give students the opportunity to explore their passions and the process of their own personal self-discovery of who they are becoming as people.

It's a sign that we don't live in a box about what instruction could be for elementary students.

Then I found out that Wendy brought this resource in. 
Who knew Wendy was a 'metal head'?

Wendy and Haven share a passion for Metallica.

Wendy works in first grade and Haven is in sixth grade...
so how does she know?

Ultimately, this is what makes my heart sing.

 A community that knows no boundaries 

of sharing, connecting and caring.

Thanks Wendy - you inspire me!

Calendar:

Week of April 20th
* Suggested week to do iReady
Third Grade out on Winter Voyage

Tuesday- RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.
Wednesday- PD - personal choice (plans, student reports)
Thursday- Debbie Out- READ Act meeting
Deborah out - PD session w/select staff

Friday- NO SCHOOL 
District Art Show begins



Week of April 27th:
2nd round of PARCC
Library closed

Tuesday: RTI meeting 7:30 a.m. 

Wednesday:
PD: 'Think Tank' - all staff/library 1:30

Thursday:
Jill's first grade Voyage

Dates for end of year planning:

Wednesday schedules for the rest of the year:
May 6: TBD (might be a continuation of our 'Think Tank' on the 29th)
May 13th: 3rd Grade Portfolio Showcases
May 20th: 6th Grade Portfolio Review
May 27th: 6th Grade Portfolio Showcases
*Implication for you - if you need a Wednesday afternoon for report cards, it needs to be Wednesday, April 22nd.

Last week of school:
Tuesday evening, June 2nd: 6th Grade Closing Ceremony 6:30-8:00
Wednesday morning: All School Drum Circle - Last day of school

End of Year Report Card for Parents:

** The Leadership Team is working on having more direction for you on what our end of year report card criteria might be. In the meantime, use the template created to mark student growth and achievement and we will communicate with you soon about the personal comments.

Think Tank

Wednesday, April 29th, we are going to gather together as a staff to engage in a philosophical conversation to set our direction for the coming year. In preparation, do some personal thinking about the needs you have professionally and your thoughts about where we need to grow as a school. We have a team attending the DSchool this summer and their mission will be to solve a problem in an innovative way and to bring their ideas and discoveries back to our collective group. It will be important for them to embark in that undertaking knowing our thinking and the direction we want to head. They'll also want to be solving an authentic problem that we identify together. Personally, each of you might be engaging in some professional development over the summer and it would be helpful to each of you to know how your personal work can fit in the vision of the larger vision of the school. 

To support you in thinking prior to our Think Tank, I am sharing the thinking of the Leadership Team from our last meeting. To spark our thinking we used some questions to guide our thinking about our professional development and next steps for our school. Reading over them might spark your thinking. You might agree, you might have other ideas, you might be able to build on the ideas. After the Leadership Team engaged in this brainstorm, we agreed that we needed to do this as an entire staff. Below are the notes from our meeting. As you read them over, jot down your thoughts so that we can move easily into our shared inquiry of next steps for our school.

• What are some predictions we are making? (about our needs professionally to grow)

Differentiation

Assessment

Design Thinking

Reading Recovery -shared learning experience

Vertical Alignment

Math approaches = similar structure as RR training

Team Teaching - SPED/Literacy specialists with classroom teacher

New Team Planning - curriculum development

Classroom Management

Love and Logic

4 C’s/21st Century Skills

• With what assumptions are we entering?

That new teams won’t need additional time to create new curriculum?

That everyone understands and can backward plan. That we all are integrating? That we teach/assess the 4C’s and 21st Century Skills - okay - maybe we shouldn’t have made this assumption -

• What are some possibilities for learning?

Design Thinking - mindset shifts - solving some problems. Differentiation seems to be the big idea - the others fit together -

Design Thinking = RR training=Team Teaching

• What seems to be surprising or unexpected?

How integrated it all really is. Maybe we need to think of it that way. That nobody talked about assessment - it’s inherent....

We don’t have anything that is data driven? This is all about teaching to learn - process and strategies

• What are some patterns, categories or trends that are emerging?

Differentiation, integration, collaboration, problem solving - not looking for a model - we want to figure it out.

• What are some things we have not yet explored?

Team Teaching / our space/ schedules / sharing students/ more student choice to follow passion learning

Student Data?

• What inferences/explanations/conclusions might we draw?
  

That next year will be an exciting platform for us to play and perform. Going beyond the minutia - it’s exciting!  It’s transforming.  A staff with a growth mindset. Evidence of the necessary paradigm shift.

• All of these promote problem solving and strategies
• All of these increase student engagement and ownership
• We wonder how the increased ownership might impact state assessments/test scores?
  

• What additional data sources might we explore to verify our conclusions of the data in the doc?

* If time, it would be valuable to also have a shared discussion about Rosetta Stone and iReady.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah