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Mar 25, 2012

Monday Memo - Week of March 26


Great Things I Noticed Last Week: 
*A social studies chapter was reviewed in a fun/engaging way for students: playing "baseball" on the SMARTBoard with review questions in groups.
*Student contributions into the weekly class newsletter --1 explained what "blah and spicy" words were and the other wrote about what they learned about magnets in science. What a great way to grab parents' attention and have student ownership in sharing their learning. 
*3rd graders got to experience a chemistry lab in the high school led by high school students (yes, there were even explosions!)
*The student principals with me on Wednesday commented that they couldn't believe the 5K students could focus like that for Daily 5 to read and write.  They also said that from going to all the rooms, that almost every student was using a quiet voice and working hard.
*I enjoyed reading what some of you shared last Friday in the Share a Positive Google Doc please continue to add to it so we can celebrate together!

Events this Week:
Monday - Board Meeting (some of our 5th graders will be presenting about Jump Rope for Heart)
Tuesday - Fundraiser Kick-Off Assembly in the Elementary Gym at 2:15--this should only be about 15 mts. Please make sure students bring their fundraiser packets home with them. 
Wednesday - 1-5th Grades Vision Screening in the Elementary Gym all day
Thursday - 1-5th Grades Vision Screening in the Elementary Gym all day
          DEAN Health Assessments in D.O. in the morning (by scheduled appointments only)
          Evening-HS Art Chili Cookoff

It's hard to believe this the end of 3rd Quarter already! The original schedule said that grades are due Thursday morning.  I will wait and print them Tuesday, April 10 at 7:00 in the morning (which means everything from you is due in PowerSchool by 7:00 am April 10th).  Let me know if you have any questions.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Looking for Tech Projects in Your Class - So many of you do really interesting lessons using technology in your classrooms, and I'd like to feature those activities/practices for a presentation I've been asked to do this summer for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards summer leadership conference (The secret is out that Dodgeland has great things going on, including technology!).  I'd love to show off the cool projects you do.  So invite me to stop by your classroom or send me pictures with what you and your students are doing with technology being used for creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication (the 4 Cs of 21st century skills).  What I hope to do in my presentation is to change the minds of those school board members who have the mindset of, "We didn't have computers when I was a kid, so we don't need them now. All our school had was one broken green crayon and used paper from the bank, and we liked it."  
Just sharing a few articles I read this week:
*Article from Todd Whitaker on that typical student question of "Why do I have to know this?" 
*Check for Understanding - many quick 5 minute strategies to include in your lessons for student closure/summarizing learning
*Think-Pair-Share Variations 

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