Happy Birthday December Birthdays!!! Thanks for the delicious treats in the workroom!
PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BLOG SO WE CAN COMPLETE THE SCAVENGER HUNT FOR DECEMBER:) I had a great time in Mrs. Hayters class! I think the kids actually enjoyed their hour with me too.
PTO Meeting Review – Instead of Smartboards for the Kindergarten classes right now we are going to buy a new laminator. We have to take it to a vote at the 4th Grade program night performance. Hopefully after Christmas we will have a new laminator.
Extravaganza - We talked about how the Sock Hop became the Extravaganza and there really isn’t much for the kids to do. The School Success Cadre has some ideas and we want to spruce up our end of the year celebration a little bit.
Schedule for Christmas Story - I would like to read a Christmas story to the kids this year. Shane Medlin shared the book Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant. I have it in my office if you would like a preview. It is really good. I don’t think I did this last year but would like keep this tradition going. I would like to do this just like I did at the beginning of the year when I came around and read The Bucket Book. Here is the schedule.
Thursday Dec. 17:
9:00 = Ball/Daughtery
9:30 = Ferguson/Woods
10:00 = B.Smith/Kramer
10:30 = Cooper
11:00 = 4th Grade in Library
Friday Dec. 18:
9:00 = A.Smith/Key
9:30 = Carter
10:00 = Hillenburg/Schalger
10:30 = Bannon/Beckler
Food Drive Next week – Please put reminders in your blogs and send parents emails about next weeks food drive. Also remember to bring in your toys for the kids. You might remind them about the gloves, hats, mittens, scarves, etc. for our Christmas tree too.
K12Online Follow Up - On Monday I showed you how to navigate around the K12Online website. I did try to listen to the LIVE event last night on Edtechtalk.com but my children were demanding my attention so I didn’t get much out of it:):) I had it on in the background and couldn’t tell you much of what was said. Next week they start to release all the other 51 presenations on a daily basis. If you watch one that is good please share with everyone so we can watch too. I will share any good ones that I see too.
Upcoming Events:
7th = Early out = On your own/Food Drive kicks off
8th =
9th = Admin. meeting 9:30 – ???
10th = 4th MRI/SIT Team/ Preschool program in gym
11th = Flouride Day – Put on your flexibility hat for this day:):):)
It’s good to be back with all of you. I always enjoy my family time and time to reenergize. The next 3 weeks will go by very quickly so I will include all our monthly events for you to put in your lessons and calendars.
K12Online Conference - I am very excited to share this event with all of you. There are actually 51 presentations to be released over the next 2 weeks. I have a feeling you will find something that you like:)
SMARTboard cleaning - Please take a cholorox or cleaning wipe and wipe down your SMARTboard. You probably don’t realize how dirty it is. We are also going to need to check the filters and bulb life too. I am not sure how to clean the filters or if that is something I need to check with Bob about. Hold off on that until you hear back from me.
Toy sign up – Please remember to sign up to bring toy for a student on our list in the workroom. We want to make sure all students have at least one gift.
December Blog Scavenger Hunt – Mandy sent an email to request that you reflect on the holidays so that we can create another scavenger hunt. Please do this by Friday and we hope to post the new scavenger hunt next week. You are welcome to show your students the scavenger hunt in class. I would prefer they complete the scavenger hunt at home with parents.
Positive Office Visits - The brag board is now current with pictures so we are ready for more! Students can come up and read to me, show me writing they have worked on, share compliments they earned for good behavior, share events outside of the school day, etc. There really aren’t any rules so you can be as creative as you would like.
School-wide Pajama Day – In the past, some of you have suggested a school-wide pajama day the day before Christmas break. So I say let’s do it! I have ordered a book to read to the students and will work on a schedule for that last week before break. Probably a couple classrooms at a time instead of the entire grade level. Seemed to work better.
Christmas tree “decorations” - Make sure you read the newsletter but I wrote that we would decorate our Christmas tree this year with gloves, hats, mittens, scarves, and socks. Unfortunately our tree was damaged by mold over the summer so I will be getting us a new one tonight.
6 + 1 Traits Technology Integration Website - This is a link to a website with some ideas of how to integrate technology into the 6 + 1 Traits. I have not looked through the entire site but it looks great at a glance.
Foldable book templates – This is a link to a website with templates for making foldable books of all shapes and sizes. I think you have seen some of these but there might be something new to you.
Schedule of events:
Today = Early out Andrea’s room
Tuesday = 4th MRI
Wednesday = Admin. meeting 8:00 – ???
Thursday = Lit Team/PTO
Friday = Hat’s On/Bday treats/Nov. Tiger Pride 2:30
This conference is put on by 4 volunteers and subcommittees. TOTALLY FREE. (I learned about it on twitter, I think.)
Educators from around the world submit proposals to “present.”
Each presentation is approximately 20 min. long.
Presentations are “released” on certain days but once released they are online “forever.” You can watch presentations from 2006 – 2008 right now. Once the 2009 presentations are online they will be there to stay too.
There are a few LIVE events. I write these in my calendar and try to participate. One live presentation is in the middle of the night because the keynote speaker is from another country.
Here is the schedule: Once the events are uploaded you can click on them to view them. You can go back to past conferences and view some of the presentations to get a feel for what it would be like.
I will give you PD credit if you participate. Since they are only 20 min. presentations you can get .5 on a PD form. The Keynotes are longer and you can earn one or more hours on those. So basically you can earn PD credit on your time, any time that is convenient to you. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Faculty Meeting – The Technology Plan that we went over at the faculty meeting on Monday was presented at the board meeting last night. The school board is very supportive of increasing the amount of technology use by both teachers and students. They were also aware that we need more training and more equipment. So I think we are on the right path. This is no longer a 2 year initiative but an ongoing initiative. You do not need to be proficient/advanced in technology usage in 2 years. We will all learn together and work together over the years.
Writing Rubrics - You are welcome to use the writing rubrics from Linda’s website any time. When you do use them please let me know if you have any questions so we can bring it up at Lit. Team.
Possible Passage - I modeled a front-loading strategy called “possible passage.” I posted this in the workroom. Let me know how this goes if you use this strategy with your students.
Math CAP - CAP = Common Assessment Planning. I think I finally understand this process so that I can share a little bit about it. The math teams around the district have been working together on Math curriculum and GLE’s. We have spent about 3 workdays grouping GLE’s under common “power headings.” This way we can teach them together when appropriate instead of all over the place. We have one more day of this scheduled that we think we can complete this step.
The next step is going to be to look at the work vertically and determine the extent to which each grade level should be teaching the content. Some GLE’s are mentioned for 3 grade levels. Our future goal is to have Common Assessments that can answer the question, “How do I know my students learned/mastered the material?”
Legal Academy for School Principals - Yesterday I attended a workshop about school law and current issues. Much of the information was targeted at principals and issue they deal with. However, I did come away with a new understanding of confidentiality and quality supervision in regards to what teachers do. Students must be supervised at all times, obviously. Do not talk about students to anyone:)
Updates and Reminders:
School Resource Officer – The school resource officer has been coming over in the mornings to be “visible” to the kids. He is usually here for about 15 min. and is wandering around.
Newsletter – If you any input for the December newsletter please email me.
Jan. 14 Admin. MRI – We will be hosting this in the Library and Computer Lab. I have emailed Sheryl about coming to your rooms or rescheduling that day. There will not be open computer lab that day either.
Look fors - Since we are a veteran MRI school they will be looking for evidence of that. I am not sure how many classrooms we will visit but I will let you know far enough in advance that you can be prepared. One thing that will stand out is what we have displayed in the hallways and visible anchor charts in the classrooms.
Anchor charts – Most of you have these. The purpose of creating these is for the discussion and student thinking that goes along with them. It is also important to display these so students can refer to them. Some of you are even running out of room in your classrooms for these. If so, display them in the hallway with student work surrounding them. I think there were some examples of this in the photos I took at Willard Central. Scroll down to that post and you can take a look. I will keep you posted as to what else they would like to see.
Guided Reading Lesson Plans – After Thanksgiving break I will be coming around and looking at Guided Reading lesson plans. You can put them in my box or I will come to your classroom and take a look at them.
Building Open Tomorrow - There is a basketball tournament HERE tomorrow 7:45 AM – 4:00PM It is for elementary kids and I have no idea how many people/kids will be here. Just giving you a heads up.
We will look at the anchor papers the Lit team has been working on
We will look at the district Tech plan/goals
Math glossary will be passed out
Writing Resource Books – The remainder of the writing resource books have come in. Sheryl cataloged them in the Library and I will be brining them around to you. These are the books you can refer to when you are planning and working on writing lessons. They are very good books.
Restrooms - Please remember to space out your restroom breaks so that there are not too many classes/students in the restroom at one time. We have noticed an increase in noise and teachers talking loudly (nice way of saying yelling) during restroom breaks and between classes.
Smartboard Bulbs – You might want to monitor how you are using your smartboards and how long you are leaving them on. I have noticed a couple times that Smartboards are being left on while students are at special classes. I have a gut feeling that these bulbs are going to burn out on us a lot faster than we realize. You might even consider writing your morning messages on the board rather than projecting them for 45 min. in the morning. I want you to use them but if you can get the same message across by writing it down you might consider that. I am thinking ahead and trying to be proactive before they all burn out at once. It is hard to give you such a great tool and then put some limitations on it but I think you would be lost if the bulb did burn out and I wasn’t able to replace it for an extended period of time.
MAP Testing Schedule - We will be going back to giving the MAP test in a 2 week window rather than 1 week. I have posted the dates on the google calendar also. We will test April 7-9 Comm Arts. & April 13 – 15 Math.
School Website Scavenger Hunt – I have posted a scavenger hunt on our building website. I recommend that you read it see what you and your students can win if the students complete the hunt:) Smith, Smith, and Cooper’s classes are in the lead! 12 students have completed the scavenger hunt so far! Winners and drawing will be November 30th over morning announcements.
MRI Administrators Visit Jan. 14 – In my post below I mentioned that the Southwest area Administrators will be having an MRI training here at East on Jan. 14. I will let you know more specifics before we leave for Christmas break.
Important Dates:
Today = Early out Faculty Meeting/Midterm ends
Tuesday = Admin. Meeting 9:30AM – ???
Wednesday = Math CAP meeting @ Willard Central 8:00AM – 3:00PM
Thursday = Midterms go home/3rd Grade program 2:30 & 7:00PM/I will be at a Legal conference
Friday = PAY DAY!!!
Saturday = Building open 9-4
Next week = THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!
Be sure to check out Linda’s blog! She emailed this weekend that she added to it and I think you would like all the resources!
What better way to share information from my training today than with pictures and a blog post! You will find a Flickr slide show at the bottom of this post. Our building gets to host the next Administrator MRI training January 14! This is exciting because it validates that what we are doing is good for kids and others realize this! More information about this will come at a later time.
A little bit about the attendees - There were approximately 40-45 principals K-12. Some came all the way from St. Louis area.
Agenda/Topics covered:
Front-loading strategies for reading – We talked about how to get students ready for reading. We practiced and modeled KWL, Anticipation guides, MVP = Most Valuable Point(main idea),Tea party, and Possible Passage. (I think I can model possible passage at Monday’s faculty meeting.)
Classroom observations of a literacy block of time – I visited Mrs. Bass’s 4th grade class. Her students were working at centers and she worked with 2 groups during the 30 min. I was in her room. The pictures of the classroom with anchor charts in the slide show below, are of Mrs. Bass’s classroom.
Lunch – very garlic-y pasta:)
More front-loading strategies (cont’d from above)
Brain research presentation on how to get the brain “fit for learning”
Regression factor discussion - I asked how other schools were trying to beat the 1st of the year regression factor on DRA’s. (Some of us talked a little bit about this when we put our assessment wall cards on the wall.) Here are what some other schools do, or came up with to try:
A couple principals said they use last year’s end of the year DRA scores to put students into groups before giving the Fall DRA. They knew these would not be the regular groups but it gave them a place to start at the beginning of the year.
Make and post a list of common strategies in every classroom. Since we have been an MRI school for so long we are probably teaching the same strategies and the kids might be more ready at the beginning of the year than we realize.
Summer incentive programs – Send home “bridge packets” at the end of the year and if they turn them in they win a prize.
Using the Daily 5 and 1st 20 days was a popular idea. Many schools already doing this.
Summer school obviously
Bring back looping:)
Random notes/thoughts:
Get through as many Linda Hoyt mentor texts as early as you can so you can use them in as many mini-lessons as possible through out the year. This meant just read them and talk about the books before you use them to teach.
Ask Shane if he buys all the post it notes or the teachers do.
How can I incorporate/model front-loading
Group discussion leads to 50% retention compared to lecture leading to only 5% – you create anchor charts through group discussion. Many of the products created in the pictures in the slide show below involved group discussion.
There you go! See, I wasn’t at Starbucks all day after all:):):) I just wanted to share all the good stuff we learned today. When you go to the other buildings for MRI get there early or stay late and just take a look around at North or the other buildings. You find some pretty cool stuff. Maybe the pictures below or my reflections will give you some new ideas.
I put comments on the pictures but for some reason they are not showing up in the slide show. All of these pictures were taken of work displayed in the hallway. Some of it even looked like they did the work in the hallway because there may have been more room to work:)
Today you will find Super Teacher awards in your mailbox. There is only 1 of me and over 40 of you so I need your help in recognizing the positive things that are going on in our building. I don’t even think we have revived the Super Teacher awards yet this year and we need too! Even though we have been very busy there have been some great things going on this year.
For those of you who are new, or those who need a refresher course here is how this works:
You will find Super Teacher awards in your mailbox prior to faculty meetings.
Fill out Super Teacher certificates for teachers you would like to compliment or “pat on the back.”
Bring these to the faculty meeting on Monday and you will read the certificate and present it to the teacher you have a compliment for.
It can be a compliment, a thank you, a recognition, etc.
Good Morning! I apologize for not having this to you over the weekend. You might notice in the picture that I hosted my first children’s birthday party this weekend:) Alyson turned 4.
Veteran’s Day Information: Veteran’s usually arrive pretty early and that is why we are serving breakfast early this year.
8:30 – Breakfast for Veteran’s – The student that invites the Veteran can eat with them and sit with them during the assembly. I would like the kids to check in with their teacher first but some might forget. Breakfast will be set up in the gym this year.
9:00ish – We hope to start the assembly at 9:00. Please wait for me to make an announcement because we might not start to go to the gym until 9:00 so the assembly would start later than that.
Gym seating – We will be facing the same way we were facing during Fast Forward. The Veteran’s will be seated in the area that Fast Forward danced so we will sit facing the Veteran’s.
Pictures - Lifetouch is supposed to be here for pictures. We hope they can get their pictures taken during the breakfast time but some may need to do it after the assembly. We will see how that works out.
Help! – Special class teachers if you do not have duty please be available to help sent up around 8:15ish.
Flu Vaccine Clinic Friday - Willard South hosted their clinic last Friday and Kara Crighton-Smith said it went very well. We will get you a list of students from your class who are registered for the vaccine. At your designated time we will call down and have that grade level come down and wait for their vaccine. Kara mentioned that some parents did decide to take their student home after the shot.
12:00-1:00 = Kindergarten
1:00-2:00 = 1st and 2nd Grade
2:00-3:00 = 3rd and 4th Grade
3:00-4:00 = Tiger Cubs Preschool
Siblings can get their shots at the same time even if they are in different grade levels. We might call for older siblings during the younger students time slots.
Good News Club Thursdays = We will give you a list of your students who are enrolled in Good News Club. Please do not send these students early. They will just turn to go into the Library when your class gets to the front. Our Good News helpers were very impressed with our students behavior and that says a lot for how hard you guys work on good character and behavior. THANK YOU!!!
Hat Day Success – Our “Hat’s On” days have been very successfull this year! Good work! Our goal would usually be $80 if every student brought a quarter but we have exceeded that every time. I know how much you like having “hat head” on Fridays but I do appreciate you guys wearing your hats.
Christmas Gift Preference – Each year you receive a Christmas gift from the school district in the form of a gift card or a gift certificate. Gift Cards may be used multiple times until the dollar amount is used up. Gift Certificates must be completely used at the time the certificate is presented. This year you will have a choice of which one you would prefer. You may choose a gift card OR a gift certificate. Please fill out the form below so that we can get you the gift of your choice this year!:)
Picture Retakes Nov. 16th – We have new order forms in the office for students who would like a retake.
Blog Scavenger Hunt – Mandy came up with a great idea to have a School website scavenger hunt. When I get this posted to the website I will send you a link. The only thing you need to do is promote/advertise this. It is pretty self explanatory and they have to complete it at HOME. This is not a school project.
All students who participate will have their name in a drawing for a Barnes and Noble gift certificate.
The class with the most students who participate will earn an hour with Principal Miller as their teacher for a fun activity!
New Schedule NEXT WEEK! – I will make copies of the new K, 2nd & 4th Schedule to put in your box. I didn’t hear back from anyone so I am going to “assume” these are good to go! Make sure you communicate the new PE days to parents.
2 Week Preview:
Today = Early Out Cadres
Tuesday =
Wednesday = Veteran’s Day
Thursday = K/3 MRI/ I have Admin. MRI/SIT Team
Friday = Flu Vaccine Clinic
Week of 16th:
Monday = Faculty Meeting
Tuesday = I have admin meeting 9:30-???
Wednesday = Math CAP at Willard Central
Thursday = 3rd Grade Program 2:30 & 7:00/School Board Meeting
This does apply to 1st Grade or 3rd Grade. Your schedule “should” remain the same.
In your mailbox you will find a DRAFT schedule for the 2nd trimester. If you think waaayyyy back before school started we talked about having to break the year into 3 “trimesters.” All I did was move the top teacher’s names down and put the last teacher’s name on top.
If you have comments or questions WRITE THEM IN RED ON THE DRAFT and put them in my mailbox.
Once this is finalized, hopefully by the end of the week, you will need to communicate this new schedule to parents.
Whew! Conferences and report cards are behind us! Sliming is behind me:) Yes, that was disgusting but not near as disgusting as the ice cream sundae toppings. However, it doesn’t wash out of your clothes. Can you believe it’s November!
Conference % - Please turn your conference % in to Betty ASAP. Please include phone conferences.
Hillenburg Familly update – Lisa is home but Mason wasn’t able to come home this weekend. They thought he might but he came down with something and has to stay a little longer. Hopefully he will get to come home in the next couple of days. Be sure to sign up in the workroom if you are able to provide meals on the designated days. Kelly said they were thrilled about this since they will be spending their time at the hospital.
New Character word – November’s word is CARING! There will be a new flyer in your mailbox next week.
Veteran’s Day invitations - Please begin to promote our Veteran’s Day assembly in your blogs and newsletters. 8:30 breakfast 9:00ish assembly. I will work on paper copy invitations next week. In the past teachers have mentioned this in their class and asked students if they have relatives who are veterans. Then send the invitations home with those students.
Writing Resource Books – Last year the textbook committee decided to use some of the money we had that didn’t go towards Math, for writing resource books. There isn’t a “textbook” on how to teach writing. Students have to write and practice writing to make sense of what shows up on the paper. During MRI training our trainers mention authors and bring resource books to show you. I am sure that if you are looking for a mini lesson on a specific skill you will find it in one of these books! Below is a list of the books that you will be receiving based on your grade level:
K-2: Wonderous Words, Teaching Young Writers, & Shaping Literate Minds
3-4: Lucy Calkins, Craft Writing, & Building a Writing Community
Linda’s Blog – Be sure to check out Linda’s blog on a regular basis. She is always adding the resources that you guys ask. It is a great blog.
Tutoring MONEY - Students who are on RIP plans require tutoring. You can tutor for Career Ladder and/or $18 per hour before or after school. Please see me if you are interested in tutoring for money.
Camp Bear - Information about teaching at Camp Bear is posted on the BB in the workroom. I think the due date for proposals is in February.
Voicemail – Please make sure you set up your classroom voicemail with your voice. Some of you may not have rerecorded your greeting and need to do that ASAP.
Future-cast:
Monday – Faculty Meeting to go over MAP IBDs in the Art room
Tuesday – Ice Cream cake for lunch for kids/NO Matt
Wednesday – Admin. Meeting 9:30AM – ???
Thursday – PTO Meeting/District Lit Team
Friday – 1:30 Fast Forward Assembly/Hat’s On/ Bday Treats
I hope that you enjoyed your weekend and could relax from a busy week last week.
