Johnson Memo: 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