Friday Focus, December 22, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Students spending the first 10 minutes after recess in silence around the room, each with their own choice of a guided meditation using the Breathe app in their headphones (this was my favorite, calm 10 minutes of the day!)

*4th graders incredibly engaged in putting together their Public Service Announcements for weather, their culminating project for their non-fiction writing unit.

*2nd graders each organizing their many topic ideas into different chapters of their book inside of a file folder, making it incredibly easy to open up and see their their brainstormed notes ready to reference as they write. (I just had to share with them that this is the same exact strategy I use when I'm writing!)

Beginning events of 2019:
Wednesday - Elementary Staff Mtg

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*One final request for you to please complete Miss Ganser's mid-year survey on Second Step HERE.

*Keep in mind that as you come back from break you may need to treat the first days back just like the first days of school; reviewing expectations, practicing routines, class community building, etc.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Our Kindergartners just finished their reading super powers unit and they definitely have the powers to read with  pointer power, snap word power, sound power, book talk power, and persistence power (and yes, they know what persistence means!)
*1st graders were super engaged and excited as engineers building structures  to haul rocks in their PLTW Pushes & Pulls unit.
*3rd graders applying non-fiction text features they found in mentor texts to their own writing: compare/contrast, timeline, diagram. It is incredible when it's hard to recognize if it is reading or writing workshop, because they tie together so seamlessly!
*5th graders providing feedback to 3rd graders to help them with behaviors.
*An incredible music concert led by great teamwork to make it all fall in place so wonderfully!!

Events Next Week:
The reading weather forecast is calling for reading blizzards, which means you all need to be prepared with a good book to take cover and read! I will announce this forecast on Monday morning for students to know and then will email a link for you to play in your classroom whenever you want for a reading blizzard in your classroom, each day if you want!  Please go ahead and bring your own good book to enjoy reading!

Tuesday - Ugly Sweater Day -we will also have the green screen set up in the IMC. PLEASE go down with your team/colleagues to take some fun pictures together. I'll get the pictures printed for you again for a fun holiday memory gift.

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday

Thursday - Polar Pajama Day

Friday - Movie Field Trip day (I will be out of the building for a DAC meeting, so I will be crossing my fingers that everyone enjoys the trip)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Helping Students Make New Years Resolutions

Friday Focus - Dec 7, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*A class making plans for how to pay it forward with kindness to others.
*Students having great math dialogue in partners as they corrected their answers by comparing their answers and then having conversation when their answers were different to try to determine who had the correct answer and what the other one's mistake was.
*A teacher problem solving with a student and parents about recognizing how the child feels when strong emotions are coming and coping strategies to calm down.
*Our Tech Ninjas (with the guidance of Sensai Abegglen) put a great deal of preparation into their Tech Ninjas Student Leadership presentation at the SLATE conference. The room was filled with about 30 teachers, tech directors and administrators and our students wowed them with their creativity, responsibility, and leadership. Kids can do incredible things when we nurture their strengths, give them voice and choice and empower them!

Events Next Week
Monday - Professional Development Day - PLTW will be in ICE room and Pyramid Model will be in the Distance Learning Room

Thursday - K/2/4th grade music concert 6:30pm

Monday starts the 10 Days before Christmas break. You know I don't like countdowns, but I love using these days to give you something fun or yummy each day. My hope is that this will help you feel like you're not just surviving these days before winter break, but to keep you thriving! I won't tell you all the days, but you've likely already seen the parent newsletter calendar that gave away the special dress days and I'll also let you know a couple of extras, so you're prepared:

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Thank you to everyone for trying to keep things as normal as possible (I know that's a challenge) while we get closer to Christmas break. The more we stray from the routine, the more our students get off track. Many of you already see students struggling to cope with added stressors at this time of the year. We can't take away the things happening in their lives outside of school that contribute to their stress, but we can always model how to remain calm, set the example and help students learn strategies to cope. 

This is also the time of year to keep in mind parent perceptions...if students come home saying all they did was watch movies, do crafts and have parties then parents will be more likely to take students out of school on these days in the future. We can still learn a lot while tying in the theme of the year.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!

*Chase Growth, Not Perfection

Friday Focus - November, 30, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*I noticed so many staff welcoming students back to school Monday morning after break...it felt like a family reunion. Our kids were so happy to see you!
*Students reviewing sample student writing to see what they could notice to use in their own writing, with the teacher helping to point out what they could use in their writing too.
*During Guidance with Ganser, students were brainstorming ideas for giving compliments and challenged to give compliments to someone else.
*Several staff members pitching in and helping in many different areas--classrooms, hallways, lunchroom, recess to help cover in others' absences.  Your teamwork is incredible!!!
*A Christmas elf put the tree up before I even remembered to try to find which closet it was in. Thank you!
*Our Family Fun Math Night committee put together an incredible night for our families to see that practicing math can be fun. Thank you Ms. B, Mrs. O'Toole, Ms. Zemlicka and Mrs. Fobes! For our first time to have this event--it was a HUGE success and we will definitely be doing this again and looking for staff to represent different grade levels.


Events Next Week:
Monday - New Teachers Meeting 3:15
-I will be out of the building in the afternoon

Tuesday - I will announce students of the month in the morning

Wednesday - I will be out of the building most of the day (I'm taking our Tech Ninjas to present at a conference)
3:10 Elementary staff meeting

Thursday - it is already mid-Quarter!!! Time to send home progress reports to keep parents informed.


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Wednesday's staff meeting agenda includes an update from the PBIS committee and PLTW information to prepare us for our Dec 10 PD day.
• We are currently short staffed in our evening custodial crew, so please be understanding if some things get missed. This is a great opportunity to make sure students are helping to keep their classroom they way they want to live in it at the end of the day (i.e. picking up scraps off the floor, cleaning up after any messes, etc.)
• The latest book from ASCD, called Engage the Brain just came in my mailbox and I know I won't have the chance to read it for quite a while (I have a large to-read stack that I'm working on first.). Here's more about this book: http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Engage-the-Brain.aspx  Let me know if you would like to borrow this. :)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!

*Can Learning Social Skills in School Pay Off Beyond the Classroom?

Friday Focus - November 16, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Several teachers greeting kids at their doors-I saw hugs, high fives and heard such welcoming messages. Such a small gesture that makes a HUGE impact on starting each student's day out right and providing them with a safe and welcoming place to be each day!
*Students SO engaged in their books during readers workshop that when the teacher rang the chimes, kids groaned!!!!
*Staff brainstorming/problem-solving how to revisit lunch room procedures. We are a team and all the ideas and support make a difference!
*A grade level data meeting with many points of student gains (measured by iReady growth monitoring) to celebrate! I personally enjoyed connecting with individual students at lunch time to tell them about their gains--each of their faces lit up!
*Students reflecting on/writing things they are thankful for.

For Today's Assembly:
Just a reminder that after we pass out awards, we will give a minute for transition to spread out a bit more in the gym to circle up as classes. Teachers- you might want to make up a team name with your class before coming to the gym, because when you get onto Kahoot with your iPad you'll have to enter your team name first. Have fun with this!

Events Next Week:
Happy Thanksgiving Break (Wed-Fri) - Please take time to relax, rejuvenate and enjoy your families, because I know you've been spending a lot of time here taking care of your classroom family! It's time for you all to Balance Like a Pirate! Do something for yourself to fulfill your personal quadrant in life. Do something totally fun to fulfill your passions quadrant--read for pleasure, go see a movie, craft, whatever makes you happy....do it! :) 
(*I will be up in the middle of nowhere northern MN where the internet hardly exists so I will not be checking emails.)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Some of our students are already telling us that it's that time of the year...when stress from home with winter and holidays on their way affects them in ways that we don't alway realize. It could be overhearing the adult conversations about money to buy winter gear, arguing over where they will be for Thanksgiving, etc. Many of our students will enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving break filled with family and good food, but think of how many of our students would rather be at school than at home for five days. Just around that corner is the countdown to Christmas...another major stressor in their lives. Some of our students will be feeling the adult stress of everything that has to get done before Christmas, they might hear threats that "Santa won't be coming." For students in these situations, we are likely seeing the affects of this on them manifest in their behaviors/emotions.  We can't control what's happening in any of our students' lives, but we can control our classrooms to still be consistently structured (to not add more chaos to their days) and show them the caring relationships that they may not be getting at home right now. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*5 Questions to Ask Yourself about Unmotivated Students
*3 Things Teachers Focus on in High Poverty Classrooms that Get Real Results (great tips to read, but this is also a podcast you could listen to on a long car ride over break!)

Friday Focus - November 9, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Kindergartners with independent reading focus during workshop time for a full 15 minutes and then another 15 minutes reading with partners. Wow, I cannot wait to see how they grow as readers if they have this much stamina already!
*A few teachers sharing the message together to a couple of students (with difficult behaviors) that they believe in them and will not be giving up on them. Do your students know you believe in them?
*Students applying the word "yet" when they were practicing yo-yo tricks at recess ("look Mrs. Johnson...I can't do 'rock the baby' yet, but I almost have it!") This actually happened a lot this week! ;) I hope you're continuing to reinforce students adding YET to their vocabulary!!
*4th graders taking turns in each classroom to read each others pieces, providing thoughtful comments on post-it notes for their peers. It was amazing to see how quiet and focused they were in reading each others' writing in each classroom.

Upcoming Events:
Tuesday - I will be out of the building with several others for a workshop on trauma invested practices.
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
-staff meeting at 3:10 in IMC - (please bring your target based learning work so we can continue our conversations and figure out where we need to go next)
-have any student nominations for the Pride Assembly submitted by 4:00 today
Thursday - Packer attire day
Friday - 2:30 Dodgeland Pride assembly


Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Noticing the Good Stuff: A Suggested Practice

click HERE for details

Friday Focus - Nov 2, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*4th graders identifying things in a story that get repeated multiple times and discussing what the author's purpose or deeper meaning was for repeating those.
*4th graders memorizing their part of the Veteran's Day medley....they are semper paratus (always ready).  We are in for a treat at Veterans Day!
*2nd graders reviewing their narrative writing with the Lucy writing checklist.
*1st graders identifying the teacher's modeling of bad reading habits, calling them out when they recognized them (do you know what "Don't do the Elsa!" means? 1st graders do!) and then also applying the good reading habits they've learned.
*A student that often struggles with losing his temper realized he was mad in flag football and sat down to take a break all on his own....our efforts to help students learn to notice and regulate their emotions is helping them do that! :)

Upcoming Events:
Monday - report card grades/comments due by 7:30am
New Teachers and Mentors meetings (separate meetings) at 3:15
Tuesday - our Playworks Coach, Atoi, will be here outside observing to give us coaching feedback
Wednesday - Report Cards to be sent home
 -Fundraiser pick-up in commons 3:00-5:30
Thursday - I will be out of the building for a training
--feel free to wear your Friday jeans on Thursday
Friday - Veterans Day Assembly 9:30 in High School gym - Please dress professionally on Friday as we will have many community members in our building for this event.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Please review behavior expectations with your students before taking them down to the gym for the Veterans Day Assembly. Please also make sure to be there prior to 9:30 so they are not waiting for us to get started.  

*Thank you for your efforts in helping promote attendance...it is working. Our overall attendance rates are improving!!!  If you didn't get to see the parent letter I had in this week's newsletter addressing attendance, you can read it here. You will see in that letter that we added hat day to the Monday after Thanksgiving break---something to look forward to and want to come to school for after 5 days off (I know I'm looking forward to that coming back!) 

*You will also see that we have added a Family Math Night to Tuesday, November 27th. Our goal for this evening is for parents/kids to have fun with math, everyone leave with activities they can do at home to have fun with math and for me to share some information with parents (addressing "why is math so different these days?").  We are hoping that you will help promote this night to encourage your students to attend. You are also welcome to attend if you would like!  This night is being planned by: Mrs. O'Toole, Ms. Braunschweig, Ms. Zemlicka and Mrs. Fobes so let us know if you have any questions. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*A Lesson from the Leaves - a beautiful reflection on student behaviors

Friday Focus - October 26, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Students reflecting on how they've shown the Trojan Way, writing on a reflection page posted on their lockers.
• Students sharing brief book talks in around a small group circle. These weren't formal/prepared book talks, just a minute each to try to sell their book to their group. What a great way to get kids interested in reading something new!
• Students write on a post-it's to share on peers' writing of glows and grows to give each other feedback before publishing. 
• I wasn't here on Thursday, but heard that when our 5th grade Jr Coaches were all gone for their field trip, we had some incredible 4th graders that took over to help lead activities for our little ones. We are creating future leaders all the time at Dodgeland!

Upcoming Events:
Today - State Send off for Cross Country team at 10:40 (line up in the hallways and get ready to high five them with Trojan Pride!)

Tuesday - I will be out of the building in the morning to present about the great programs we have in place this year with the financial support of the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation.

Thursday - Special Elementary Assembly of "The Ned Show" 2:00-2:45 in the elementary gym. I will send you an email with details about this.

Friday - End of 1st Quarter (yes, already!)
Monday, Nov 5th -grades due by 7:30am
Wednesday, Nov 7th - report cards go home, Fundraiser pick-up after school

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Just a reminder that our Dodgeland Pride assembly will not include Honor Roll awards, but will focus more on celebrating hard work, character and students' approach to learning and adding in some school community building. We will be changing the assembly to just be for staff/students. Details to come soon in google doc requests for your students to celebrate.  Thank you for your patience with this! :)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins....Oh My!!!
*Honor Roll? Really? -This post by Rick Wormeli is written for middle school, but I feel applies to the changes we are moving forward with as we transition into target based learning and work to instill in our students a growth mindset and approach to learning.
*12 Ways to Deal with Chronic Complainers at Work -this post by Angela Watson is also in her podcast "Truth for Teachers"

Friday Focus - October 19, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Classroom teachers reinforcing the whole body listening from guidance lessons--using the same language, pointing to the posters, and I heard a few students singing the focus listening song in a class. Keep it up!!
*Staff collaborating/problem-solving coverage for students and an entire class (yes...2 different situations and staff pulling together...we are a TEAM!)
*Students reading many different books about spiders to write their own informational books...the low buzz of chatter between partners was incredible to hear as they kept excitedly sharing the interesting facts they were finding (although I was creeped out by all their spider info!)
*The folks from US Cellular said they were SO impressed with our students in the assembly in comparison to other schools they have been to.  Our students behave SO well from the model that you set for them. Thank you!


Upcoming Events:
Monday - Optional EP training (for SLO/survey support/work-you can use the time/space to get it done!)
Tuesday - I will be out of the building
Wednesday - Picture Makeup Day
Thursday - I will be out of the building


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Thank you so much for your continued efforts to report "all here" attendance. Our attendance rates are looking AWESOME, even with all the illnesses we've had. See below for last year's attendance rate vs this year so far (rate is what % has each student been in school. Ex: If a new student has been enrolled for 10 days, but only attends 8 days, she would be at 80%):

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*See the Small - great reminder. What small wins are happening around you that you might not be noticing, because you're not looking for them?

Just the essentials Friday Focus - Oct 12, 2018

Events Next Week:
Wednesday - drill (see Mr. Modaff's email with all the details from 10/5/18)
3:15 drill debriefing meeting for all district staff
Thursday - Special all school assembly

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Keep your SLO work on hold...I am still working on how to provide you with guidance on using the iReady data (and next week's staff meeting turned into the drill debriefing so we will have to move SLO work to our next meeting.)
• Our special assembly next Thursday 1:45-2:30(approximately) in the HS Gym is because....

Mr. Klueger made the Top 15 for the Most Valuable Coach competition!! Our assembly will be for US Cellular to present our school with a $5,000 check and celebrate #WeAreDodgeland!!!  In addition, a film crew will come to our school to highlight all of the great work happening at Dodgeland for our students. Now that the contest narrowed down the top 15, he is still in the running for first place (and $50,000 for the school!) You can keep helping spread the word to vote.  Here's how the next phase of the contest works: 

Nominee’s community impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s school impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s leadership impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s school’s wishes regarding use of the prize (12.5%); and
· Nominee’s votes from the Prize Voting Period (50%)

I know I missed a lot this week while attending a conference. Here are some of my favorite takeaway nuggets that I tweeted out:

Friday Focus - October 5, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*1st graders incredibly engaged in partner reading. They not only took turns reading their books to each other, but were such great listeners to each other and even asked questions about what they heard from one another's books. 

*3rd graders super proud of their multiplication progress--practicing their skip counting, the 9s trick and all...at lunch! They are very excited about their learning!

*In 3 different instances I saw staff covering for one another --transitioning another's class while a meeting ran late, covering a class so the teacher could meet with a student struggling emotionally and helping out with duty when someone was running late. Wow-we make such a great team!!

*K-2 recess lines are getting quiet quicker to transition inside after recess. HUGE thank you to Mr. Lange and the Jr. Coaches to get them calm and ready to get back in for class. And to teachers for continuing to pump up the Trojan Way tickets---I saw some silent cheering (yes, silent cheers are real!) from students as they received their tickets on the way in. 

Events Next Week: Get some extra sleep this weekend, take your vitamins and pack your favorite healthy snacks to keep your energy up!

Monday/Tuesday - P/T Conferences 4-7:30 (Professional dress for conferences)

Wednesday - Bonus Workout Wednesday (I know you'll want that after 2 nights of P/T Conferences)

Friday - PD Day 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

For P/T Conferences:

*Along with your Title 1 Parent Compact for P/T conferences, you will also be provided with another handout promoting "Strive for less than 5" absences. You will also be given a handout from Attendance Works that has some very helpful tips for information to share at conferences about attendance and the link to academics. 

*Keep track of your attendance turnout to share with Marie afterwards.  

*Please try to stick to your schedule so that parents aren't waiting in the hallway for too long. It would also be a good idea to post a sign like this one on your door:

*As you saw from Niki's email we are changing up the attendance incentive and plan to do something different each month to keep promoting attendance. For October it is trying to spell out OCTOBER for each day that all your class is here. To keep the excitement going...each day that your class is all here, please just send me a quick email with the subject line ALL HERE. At the end of each day I'll announce the classes that had everyone in school to hopefully encourage the same for the next day!

A HUGE shoutout to Niki for making the hallway bulletin board celebrating our September attendance rates by grade level! 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!

*Ok-not a blog, but this is the PT Conference w/ attendance tips that will be in your mailboxes: Making the Most of Your Parent/Teacher Conference