Monday Memo - Week of October 1st

Great Things I Noticed Last Week:
*Parent newsletters from several classrooms sharing "blurbs" about Bucket Filling and information about our new math program so parents can help at home (Make sure you're also sending those parent letters from the math book).
*A first grade class took their first unit math test and all did really well. It was great to see how excited they were!
*Kindergartners were excited to recognize some of their "star words" on the SMARTBoard in music class.
*4th Graders were starting to write persuasive essays on my favorite topic...which candy should be given out at Halloween. ;)
*Everyone was full of school spirit throughout Homecoming Week, the Pep Rally, the Parade, and the game. It was so awesome to see so many of our elementary students leading the crowd through cheers and entertaining with their baton twirling (thank you Stacey!) A huge thank you to everyone on the Homecoming Committee!

Events this Week:
Monday: Probationary&Mentor teacher meeting in the Media Center at 3:05
Tuesday: I will be out of the building 11:45-2:15 for Elementary Principals DART Meeting
Wednesday: K-12 All certified staff meeting in the Media Center (this is a new addition to the calendar)
Thursday: Student fundraiser forms are due. Please send them to the office.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*If you took any great pictures during Homecoming Week that I can include in my next website update, please email them to me or put them in the shared drive.
*Classroom teachers: as you finish up your Benchmark assessments, please make sure to complete the "Class Reading Profile" sheets to bring to our grade level meetings (or better yet, make me a copy please!)
*Firefox and Safari web browsers are set up in the computer lab for student accounts to go to the Dodgeland Website as the homepage. Please make sure to thank Mr. Modaff for making this change.
*If you check out an ipad/laptop cart, please have your students take the same #ID device each time. The iPads do not have a # on the cover of them (you just see it when you first turn it on). There is a little trick to find it on the ipad screen at the end of using it--just ask Mrs. Porter or myself to show you. Otherwise, it's just easy for them to each take the same # each time.
*Did you know that our school media center system (Alexandria) has 24 books you can view on your SMARTBoards? From our website, go to: Elementary School, Media Center, Alexandria Online (which opens up a new website) and then click on Capstone Interactive.
Thank you to Mrs. Porter for sharing this resource!

Blogs, Tweets and Pins...oh My!

Read a great post on Writing about Reading HERE

Lyn Hilt (@L_Hilt) 9/25/12 8:26 PM When we get there, are we going to be happy we arrived? @ToddWhitaker 's post on SmartBlog bit.ly/OTevDg #edchat #cpchat Brett Clark (@Mr_Brett_Clark) 9/27/12 5:35 PM @PrincipalSharp @PrincipalJ I'm collecting info on HW. goo.gl/RP6kk Would you consider sharing this with your staff? Thanks

Friday Focus - September 28

I know that I've used the above quote in a previous post, but it has come back to me a few times over the past 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, I have encountered a few situations with individual students in which I either observed a parent yelling at their child or tried to help soothe a student that was sad from being yelled at by his/her parents before school.  I wonder how many of our students come to school with empty buckets or repeat messages to themselves (that they've heard from their parents/care-givers) that perpetuate their own negative feelings about themselves?

On the other side of this, I witness constantly the positive models you are for our students at Dodgeland.  Every morning I see faculty greeting students in the morning with a smile, asking how their weekend was or telling them how happy they are to see them.  I've seen a chatty class easily disrupt a lesson that could make a teacher lose her patience, however, she stopped teaching and waited until students realized she wasn't going to start teaching again until they were ready.  I've seen an upset student stop yelling and calm down, because the teacher he was yelling at spoke in a soft voice (without arguing) that seemed to automatically make the child lower his voice.  I've seen high fives to celebrate "staying on green" and teachers recognizing students for being bucket-fillers.

I know I've said it before and I can't say it enough times...our students are so lucky to have you in their lives to make sure that they each hear positive messages each day to build them up!!

Monday Memo - Homecoming Week

Great Things I Noticed Last Week:
What a great week! I am so impressed with you and our students this year. 
*Another successful walk-a-thon. Thank you to everyone on the planning committee that helped make this a great event as always!
*During math talk time a student was explaining how she solved her answer and even though she had the wrong answer, the teacher praised her for her hard work and for how she worked to solve it. When she asked what went wrong in her work, the student knew what step was wrong, but not what...a peer chimed in to help explain.  Our new focus on "talk time" to explain how to get answers (even if they're wrong) is consistent with the research from Carol Dweck to help our students have a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.

*A teacher walked around during independent math work time to see which students "had it" and which ones didn't. She quickly pulled a small group up to the carpet/smartboard to model additional problems that they were still struggling with.
*For the first time in 8 years of tracking data there is no student in 1st grade that qualifies for intensive 1:1 intervention. Testing isn't completed in the rest of the grade levels, so this may be the case in other grade levels.  All of our hard work is paying off for our students!

Events this Week: If you forget what day it is for homecoming week, I have it listed on the web page calendar here. 

Monday: Elementary PD Meeting--required training on OASYS at 3:05 (the online component for the evaluation system). Please bring your laptop to the media center.  If you cannot attend, you will need to come to the MS/HS training on Wednesday at 3:05.
Tuesday: Grade Level Meetings in the Data Room (SMART goals, SAGE goals and Report Card modifications)
Flu Shot clinic after school
Thursday: I will be out of the building at CESA 6 for training.
10:00 am-JAM (Just a Minute) dance break (if possible for your class).  See the email from Sue Kuhn, the youtube clip for it is here.

Friday: Our lunch time is different today: 11:55-12:55 and then straight to the Pep Rally at 1:00.
Early Dismissal at 2:30 for parade (meet at the park at 4:00, parade starts at 4:30).

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*I've started a "window" into our wonderful school for our parents on my Principal's Page. I plan to update this every 2 weeks. You'll see pictures and brief descriptions from when I'm in classrooms. I want to share what's happening in math as much as I can since this is new to all of us...I may stop and ask you (or send an email) to make sure that I have the correct math language/terminology before I post it. If you have anything you want me to put on here, just let me know.  
*If you're available to join us to help at the Family Bingo Night on Friday, October 5, go here for the sign-up document.

Blogs, Tweets and Pins...Oh My!
*Wonder of the day...explore with your students at http://wonderopolis.org VERY COOL SITE!

*“Excellent teachers move ordinary students to do extraordinary things.” (@Principal_EL)-
a perfect description of each of you!

*"As difficult as it may be, my job is to be a tour guide through the complexity of great books. "
—Kelly Gallagher

Bulletin board for student book recommendations

Another way to display student work, explained HERE.

Chart of sentence starters to help students make connections.

Friday Focus - September 21

After recently reading John Hattie's book Visible Learning for Teachers and our training this week on giving student surveys for the Teacher Effectiveness Project, I've got the topic of feedback on my brain.

I know that many of you have already been in the practice of surveying your students for feedback, but these standard/"official" surveys are new to us and I recognize concerns you may have with them.  While I know that some are worried about what certain students may put on their surveys, I hope to steer you away from that concern, because it is not about who has higher student survey ratings.  The purpose for student surveys is to give students a chance to share how they perceive the learning environment and give you feedback on the learning environment for your professional reflection.  In the session with MS/HS faculty, one of the teachers said that surveys give a chance for all students to speak up and often it's the quietest students that give valuable feedback.  It also gives you the opportunity to see learning through the eyes of your students.

As we said in the training, students are the primary consumers of your teaching and are in the best position to give feedback.  Likewise, you are the primary consumers of my work and are in the best position to give me feedback.  I have asked for your feedback in the past on various surveys and have valued your input to help me reflect and improve in my position.  The feedback has been both validating of the work I'm doing and, on the other hand, has been hard to take at time due to differing perceptions.  I've learned to take a step back to not take constructive criticism personally, but to reflect professionally on how I can improve.  Each time, your feedback has been extremely important to me (I have been reviewing last survey's feedback every 2 weeks!).

I appreciate your dedication to continual reflection/learning to benefit student learning.

Now speaking of feedback...I have another quick survey (just 2 questions) to ask for your feedback! Please go HERE.

Monday Memo - Week of Sept 17

Great things I noticed last week:
Where to start, there were so many great things in every classroom! 
* When the Daily 5 chimes rang in a 3rd grade classroom, a student said, "oh I love this book SO much!
*When Mr. Lange and Ms. Abegglen taught how to use IPICK for choosing a good fit book, I had to laugh when Mr. Lange read from the WISC3 (I raised my hand for not being able to understand what he was reading!)
*I've seen several books during Daily 5 Mini-Lessons that correspond well to the Bucket Filling theme.
*I heard a 2nd grade teacher share with her students something she had just learned while reading a book for teachers--having students NOT use erasers is a good thing, because then they are not worried about being perfect and showing their thinking.  By sharing this, she was modeling for students that teachers are readers/learners too!
*Overheard a 4th grade teacher say, "I'm not afraid of this math!"
*A teacher with a chatty bunch kept track of the "wasted minutes" throughout the day and then had a reflective conversation with the class when they were surprised by the amount of time wasted.  They made a goal as a class for the week to decrease that time and have been making awesome progress with getting started right away!
 *A 5th grade class has been working on writing their class mission statement. Here were some of the charts of brainstorming in the initial stages:

Events this Week:
Monday: Elementary PD Mtg at 3:05 in Media Center. This is training on the student surveys for the Effectiveness Project. Please bring your guidebook and your reflection journal.  If you will be unable to attend, plan to attend the Wednesday MS/HS meeting for a repeat of this training. (Our next 3 mtgs will be this way--repeats of training at MS/HS meetings during the same week)
Tuesday: Fundraiser Kick-Off Assembly at 2:15 in the Elementary Gym. You will be given the student packets before hand to send home this day.
Wednesday: Bus Evacuation Drills before school. Please note that students will be about 5 mts late due to these drills. Please hold off a bit on attendance as our breakfast students may end up late to class due to the evacuation drills. 
-4K/5K Bus Safety sessions
Thursday: Walk-a-thon 12:45-2:30
Next Monday: Elementary PD Mtg at 3:05 in Media Center for training on OASYS (the computer portal) for the Effectiveness Project.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Our first day of Grade Level Meetings (scheduled for next week Tuesday, Sept. 25) will be time to revise our SMART Goals, math standards on the report cards, and talk about math progress.  I will put last year's SMARTGoals and report cards in your boxes this week so you're ready to talk about them on Tuesday. Start thinking of any questions or confusions you're having with the new math curriculum (I would love for you to email me any ahead of time, since I likely will need to contact Darlene with any of them! That way I can you the answers you need by our meeting times)
*The Big Buddies Lunch Program is starting again this year. Lisa will be emailing out information for any new candidates. When buddies come to eat they will be eating in the art room or at the tables by the salad bar. During recess they can choose to go in the library or a conference room for a game, or outside for recess.
*As you're seeking classroom volunteers or chaperones, please remember our new policy requiring volunteer approval.  You can send a packet home or pass them up to the office for a form. As Caryn runs the background checks, I'm maintaining the list of approved volunteers, so just check with me.
*Specifically for field trips: We have a number of students that would greatly benefit from bringing school sack lunches.  Cathy can provide sack lunches for students at the same cost as their normal lunch (which is free for those already receiving free lunch).  She will just need to know 10 days ahead of time to order what will be needed. Please let her know if you need a form from her for this (if you don't want to just have it on the grade level form that many of you create).
*There's quite a few left over "American Treasures" postcards in the mailroom. Feel free to take if you can use them in any way.
*We had a great first PTO meeting of the year--FAR more parents in attendance than I have EVER seen! Thank you to those of you that encouraged parents to attend and to Mr. Mane for providing this month's childcare.  We are planning Family Fun Bingo night for October 5th and will be looking for any help we can get. Let me know if you're interested.

 Blogs, Tweets, and Pins...Oh My! 

Great way to keep track of books read as a class. Anyone recognize this?!

What topics are in your Writer's Backpack? Read the post/lesson HERE.

Mindi Rench ‏@mindi_r  I think that reflection piece is critical. No growth without reflection. #educoach

Linda Goodwin ‏@lgoodwin1975

Feedback really pushes the individual to critically reflect on their own practices. #educoach

Lesa Haney ‏@lesahaney

He clarified that feedback was not advice, praise, or evaluation. This is critical. Feedback not a letter grade. #educoach

@Sports_Greats Motivational pic of the day http://t.co/FlsSiJPJ It always seems impossible until its done. -Nelson Mandela -- Sports Quotes 

 

 

Friday Focus - September 14

cc licensed flickr photo by ianguest

"You will never find time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it." ~Charles Buxton

When I came across this image/quote on another blog, it inspired my thoughts about our time for reflection as educators (interesting how pictures can inspire writing!) 

Reflection is such a key to our professional growth in education.  Last year I gave all of you journals to be used for reflection, with the goal of setting aside a few minutes in each of our meetings to give you the time to reflect/write. I wasn't that great at remembering and still am not (at our last meeting I intended to have you write your goals in your journals, but with everything on our agenda, skipped it).   

So, why haven't I?  Part of it is that I feel like your reflection journals are your personal reflections and worry that some of you may feel uncomfortable journaling in our whole-staff setting.  However, as I think about how many of you have implemented reflection time in your classrooms and the impact it has had on your students I realize that it is the sharing out/discussion that makes it effective for learning.  If it's working for you in your classrooms, then why not try it as a staff?  

I am publicly committing in this Friday Focus post to make a better commitment to time for us to reflect together during our meetings....writing for a few minutes in our reflection journals and then sharing/discussing our thoughts. (I do know that some of you prefer blogging/electronic journaling--that's fine, just bring your laptops).

Monday Memo - Week of September 10

Great Things I Noticed Last Week:
*Classroom activities to build classroom community.
*Teachers practicing various procedures throughout the building--walking quietly in the halls, how to go to the lunchroom, how to come in from recess, etc.  It is so important that we nail down these procedures now before bad habits develop.
*Students back into the routine of Daily5 already. I've had several students mention that their favorite part of school is Daily 5.  Being our 2nd year school-wide I know that many of you have already found it very easy to start.  One of our 1st grade classes already hit 10 minutes of stamina!!
*There are many "drops" on our classroom buckets bulletin board. Thank you for writing them out and encouraging students to write them as well!
*I already had 1 student tell me, "I used my lid and walked away from him" at recess.  It's amazing how the bucket filling concept empowers our students!

Events this Week: "Casual for Cancer" fundraiser: pay in the mailroom if you're dressing casual
Monday - Probationary teachers meeting at 3:05 in Media Center
Tuesday - Benchmark training/refresher at 3:05 in Jenny's room
                PowerSchool Gradebook Set-up at 3:05 in the FACET room

Wednesday - PowerSchool Gradebook Set-up at 7:30 in FACET room
Friday - Staff Social Lunch (Jimmy Johns!!)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*This Friday's Social lunch will be from Jimmy Johns. Please place your order with Marie by Wednesday).  Here's the menu, although another one is in the mailroom. I will bring in fruits/veggies to go along with lunch.
*I added a picture and word document version of the Bucket Filler's Pledge to the shared drive. It is in a new "Bucket Filling" folder in the elementary folder. Please feel free to add anything you create for bucket filling. I've seen a lot of great ideas you've created for your classrooms, this is a great way to share. (I already stole a paper copy of 4th grade's new think sheet that was modified to use the bucket filling language).
*I purchased every skinny expo marker from Staples and Walmart for 1st-5th grade math boards. They are in a basket in the mailroom.  Please only take the amount you need and we should still have extras for when students lose them.
*Mr. Schimmel has moved custodial staff around and they are still getting used to their cleaning duties. Please let me know if you have any concerns with how your classroom is being cleaned.
*Here is the video clip from Tony Evers on "Agneda 2017" that I mentioned in our staff meeting last week:


*As you're getting reading to start benchmark assessments, here's a great list of 8 Tips for Managing 1:1 Assessments from the Sisters.

Blogs, Tweets and Pins...Oh My!
*A great, short article from ASCD on 10 Tips for Building Teacher Resiliency 

shiraleibowitz: The Secret to Making It a Great School Yearhttp://bit.ly/RBEDBz  Recognize&seek to understand what went well every single day


Tony Sinanis (@Cantiague_Lead)
9/7/12 11:00 PMOur 2nd Gr. writing about how they plan on being Bucket Fillers this year- have you filled a bucket today? pic.twitter.com/kebh29Ir @PrincipalJ

Todd‏@ToddWhitaker

A definition of school is "four walls surrounding the future." - Roland Barth#edchat #edfocus

Go HERE for the ideas...scroll to the bottom of the post to find additional posts of ideas.

Fun bookworm wall display. Find the post explaining it HERE.

You can find TONS of Teacher App Reviews at teachercast.net

Friday Focus - September 7th

I cannot believe we are already at the end of 2 weeks together.  This week has been such a smooth start to the school year, with an incredibly positive vibe from everyone---students, faculty, and staff.  I have already heard several positive comments from parents on how they appreciate our bucket filling theme spilling over at home and how excited their children are about it.  

As I read the story to each classroom this week, I thought about how many of our students may be coming to school each morning with a bucket that is already close to being empty.  We have such an important role each morning to start out our day on a positive note with each and every one of our students to fill their buckets.  I appreciate how welcome and inviting you all have been to make the first week such a success for all of our students.  Please continue to be alert for children who have empty buckets and make a special effort to praise and encourage them every day.  We've heard many stories of children who thrive in the presence of one sincere, caring, bucket-filling adult.

This is the opportune time of year to rehearse classroom procedures--showing each procedure the "wrong" way to get it out of their system and then modeling/rehearsing the right way over and over to build those "procedural muscles;" giving positive recognition to build those correct procedures.  When you focus on positive behavior, you will have far less negative behavior in your classroom.  

The start of a new year is the best time to begin building positive relationships with parents as well.  I encourage you to try to make a positive contact home for each of your students over the next few weeks, before you may have to call with a concern.  As you make these calls home, you will be filling 3 buckets: the parent, the child, and yours!  (I'm sure you're all wondering how to document that in your communication log---you could simply just note it as "positive call home").  

Monday Memo - 9/3/12

Welcome to the start of the 2012-2013 school year! Let’s make it the best year yet!  

Remember, every parent wants their child to feel fully known, fully understood & fully loved. If we can do this for ALL students, then we will be the best school in the country!

Parents are hoping you will find the uniqueness and light in their child. Don’t give up until you discover it for each of your students!

Finally, please collaborate & be kind with one another. I truly believe you are here at Dodgeland because you are the best in your field, or have the potential to be the best in your field. Learn and share with each other.

Let’s make this the best year ever!

Events this Week:

Tuesday - First Day!! Recess Orientation: 9:30-9:45 5th grade, 10:15-10:30 5K, 12:30-12:45 1st grade
Wednesday -Elementary PD Meeting at 3:05 (room to be determined). Please bring your reflection journals.
                    Recess Orientation: 9:30-9:45 4th grade, 10:15-10:30 3rd grade, 12:30-12:45 2nd grade
Sunday - Dodgeland Staff Apparel orders are due by midnight.  Go to http://stores.inksoft.com/Ameriprint/, click on "Stores" at the bottom and then select Dodgeland to start shopping! :)  If you want to try any items on they are in the conference room next to my office. 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes

*Student Handbooks/Quizzes are in your mailboxes. Please do not send them home until you go over the most important parts with students.  As the forms get returned to you, please alphabetize them before you bring them to the office (makes Sarah's job a little easier).

*When I read to your class this week, I will give students this letter to bring home to explain Bucket Filling to their parents.  

*In your mailboxes you will also find a dental form to go home with all students. This year we are fortunate to be having  dentist come to our school to provide basic dental services to students without insurance.  As these get returned, please send them my way. 

*Just a reminder that when you have student birthdays to send them to the office to pick out a book of their choice as their birthday gift!

*We received another shipment of consumable supplies in case you were waiting for file folders, construction paper, or glue sticks.  We're still waiting for additional back-ordered items.

*If you haven't already subscribed via email to bucketfillers101.com, here is their first week of school newsletter.

*Just a reminder that you receive my Monday Memo and Friday Focus via email, but you can always go to johnsonmemo.blogspot.com where all the posts are stored, along with the google calendar of staff events, my shelfari (to see what I've been reading). If you're looking back and can't remember which post something was in, but do recall the month, it should be fairly easy to use the "blog archive" feature on the right side to find links to each post instead of having to continuously scroll down the page and click "older posts." Here's what the archive looks like:

Just sharing:

*I recorded my Open House presentation for parents and put it on the website. If you're interested, you can see it here. 

*I know some of you are super excited about the iPads and just can't wait to get started (don't worry if you're not thinking about it yet). For those of you that are wanting to start exploring how you can use them, I've started another page on my blog to add resources for you.  Just go here.   If you find anything for me to add to it, please let me know!

*Have you thought about starting blogging with your students?  Here is a great blog post from a teacher in Madison to get you started.  I used this post to get started with my students for my summer school class.