Monday Musings - Week of October 29

To be festive with Halloween, I'm going to borrow a blog post from one of my

 favorite blogs that I follow at http://venspired.com/

 

Image by Krissy Venosdale

We may not really wear capes, but….

Teaching might be challenging, push you to your creative limits, stretch your emotions, and make you reach for that last drop of energy 7 days of the week, but is there any better job out there?  We get to show up to class and make learning exciting for kids.  We can help them uncover a new passion, explore a current interest, or add a building block to reaching their future dreams.  We have the ability to see growth that would amaze most people.  We get to encourage kids to take risks and try ‘one more time.’  At the end of the day, when we’re our very most exhausted, a tiny note left on our desk from a kid that had fun learning, can put our entire lives into perspective.  We may not wear capes everyday, but we get to be a part of something truly inspiring.  Learning. Kids. The future.

Importance of Keyboarding

DPI just issued the following statement regarding the importance of keyboarding:

Keyboarding more Essential than Ever

With students’ keyboarding skills referenced in new academic standards—and relied upon for upcoming state assessments—it is more important than ever for conversation to occur at the district level regarding keyboarding instruction and assessment.

Beginning in 2014-15, students will use computers to take Smarter Balanced assessments (which will replace the WKCE). Therefore, it is essential to prepare students with a level of keyboarding skill that allows them to enter text efficiently.

Also, the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts outline a need for keyboarding proficiency.

The DPI’s keyboarding webpage excerpts the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessment language relating to keyboarding. The page also outlines strategies and resources that may be of assistance to classroom teachers in planning for the development and delivery of keyboarding skills. 

Fall Festival Focus Day

(Sorry, but that was the best title I could come up with to substitute for Friday Focus on a short week! The short week and my Tuesday absence is also the reason for my lack of "Great Things I Noticed This Week" section.)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes
*You have the schedule for Thursday PD day, but please also make sure to bring your teacher math manuals  to our math curriculum PD.  We will be working with MaryAnn Hudziak from CESA6. I will be meeting with MS/HS staff about WKCE testing at 8:45, so I will likely be a few minutes late to join you and MaryAnn will have to start without me there to introduce her (sorry it was the only time to meet with MS/HS staff).

Events Next Week: Red Ribbon Week
*I will be involved with MS/HS WKCE testing next week, so I may be hard to find (or in the WKCE "cave"  next to my office preparing elementary test bins for the following week!)
Monday - "Put a cap on drugs" (hat day)
Tuesday - "Sock it to Drugs Day" (crazy socks)
4th grade WKCE presentation at 12:30
Wednesday - "Dreaming Big" (PJ's day)
Elementary WKCE Meeting at 7:35 in the Media Center (for 3-5th and other staff proctoring)
Thursday - "Red Rally Day" (wear red)
Friday - "School Spirit Day" (Dodgeland attire/Purple as always)
5th Grade WKCE Presentation at 12:30
3rd Grade WKCE Presentation at 2:15

*By the way...I do update all elementary events on our website in case you forget what each day is. This would be a perfect reason to show your class on the SMARTBoard of how to find the calendar at home. It's here or just go the Dodgeland website, Schools, Elementary and the main page shows the calendar.


Blogs, Pins and Tweets...Oh My!
Choice Literacy is becoming one of my favorite sources of literacy articles, here's a couple of great finds this week:
*Great article on Putting the Mini back in Mini-lessons 
*Mini Lessons to start conversations with students about books

Monday Musings - Week of October 22

Last week when I attended the AWSA Convention (Association of Wisconsin School Administrators) I had the great opportunity to discuss current issues in the elementary buildings at our networking session.  One common issue is "what to do with challenging students."  Whether it's a kindergartner with aggressive behaviors or a 5th grader that just doesn't care about school, we've all encountered a student like this at some point in our career.  If there was one strategy that would work, then we would have all used it by now (and someone would have gotten rich off of "selling" it).  Unfortunately, there isn't one strategy or trick that will work with every student, so it is up to us to look at what patterns we see in the behaviors, hypothesize what might be the cause for their behavior and try to be proactive and address the cause with an appropriate intervention.

More often than not, students exhibiting challenging behaviors lack relationships with others in their life.  One very simple strategy to try and build that rapport with this student is just spending 2 minutes a day with them. Not 2 minutes talking about what they should be doing (they get enough of that already), but 2 minutes to give them a chance to talk about anything-what happened over the weekend, what's their favorite tv show, favorite game, etc. 2 minutes to get to know them and build that connection.

I keep a list of "frequent flyer" students that I try to check in with each day on a positive note (before they make it to my office for a negative reason).  When I'm having busy days and don't get to one of them, it seems like that child ends up having a bad day and ends up having to spend time in the office with me. (Disclaimer - I don't have data to back this up and I'm not claiming that it's me that makes the difference in their day.)

Do you have a student with challenging behaviors?  Give this simple 2 minute strategy a shot. Focus on spending 2 minutes with him/her for the next 10 days and see if it makes a difference.  I'd love to hear your "results."

By the way...if you're looking for a list of interventions for challenging behaviors, Intervention Central is full of research based strategies.

Friday Focus - October 19

Great Things I Noticed this week:
*5th grade classes looking at student writing samples together, using the 6 Traits Rubric to score and then see how the teachers scored each piece of writing. This helped students better learn the rubric. By the 3rd time around they were almost as consistent with the teachers on scoring.
*4th grade students wrote weekly scores into their portfolios, assessed themselves on the code of conduct for the week and wrote their personal learning goals for the next week. What a great way to give them ownership of their own learning.
*Kindergarten is up to 9 minutes of reading stamina!
*An almost magical technique to get 4K-ers to stop blurting...when told to "catch it" they put hands over their mouths as they raised hands. I could not believe how well it worked!
*Several classes have started trying out the iPads. I'd love to hear when you're going to so I can get in to help. Let me know if you want me to help you plan for them.

Events Next Week:
Monday-We will have 3-4 teacher visiting from Oakfield to observe Daily 5/Cafe in the lower grades, with additional teachers to visit at a later time. (Word continues to get out about how great you are!)
Let me know if you're interested in joining them for lunch to talk Daily 5/Cafe...not sure where they're eating yet.
Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7:30, School Board Meeting 7:30
Tuesday - I will be back at CESA 6 for Teacher Effectiveness training all day
Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7:30
Wednesday - Fall Festival
Thursday - Professional Development Day
Saturday - PTO Craft Fair/Bake Sale-If you can't come to help, please come to shop!!! (or bring baked goods on Wednesday to help with the sale)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*For 3-5th grade teachers the WKCE Parent letters will be mailed out by October 24th. Please also try to mention the WKCE test in your Parent/Teacher conference so parents end up hearing/seeing this information twice.
*Let me know if you would like me to join in a P/T conference or just have one you'd like me to be nearby "just in case." My schedule for both nights is booking up.
*When you're using Google Docs it has now turned into "Drive." I know several of you are still using the old version and some are braving the latest "Drive." I've survived through finding things in the new version, but found this resource very helpful to learn how to navigate Google Drive: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rn3sOyKSv111UX2DngOLCwd1FMCf7IgCu4RNdyjVNXg/edit

Blogs, Tweets, and Pins...Oh My!
Teach Mentor Texts - a great blog that shares a wealth of books for mentor texts. What are mentor texts? Mentor texts or anchor texts are books that can be used as an example of good writing for students.  Students can use the writing in these books to improve their own writing.  

Print your own blank Piggie and Elephant comic strips

Go HERE for online and hands-on science activities

 ‏@Jeff_Zoul

“If you aren't excited about examining your students' work, you are giving the wrong types of assignments.” David Wees

Monday Musings - October 15

Now with my posts switched, I didn't think "Memo" was the appropriate title for my weekly post sharing my reflections with you all, so it is now my "Monday Musings."

In last week's DailyCafe Tip of the Week Newsletter I found a series of Leadership Support articles on how principals can support teachers while implementing Daily 5/Cafe (too bad they weren't written before when we were starting!).  One of the articles was on what to look for in classrooms that indicates Daily 5/Cafe is being used. As I read through the list I reflected on how well you have all implemented Daily 5/Cafe in classrooms and that I could have written the article myself based on what I see in your rooms each day!

Here's the short list of what to look for from the article (if you want the details on each bullet point, just ask and I'll share the full article with you)...

What to look for in a Daily 5 Classroom:

• I-Charts
• Book Boxes
• Brief focus lessons
• Stamina graph
• Student behavior

What to look for in a Cafe Classroom:

• Cafe Menu
• Student ownership
• Individualized instruction
• Academic language
• Academic success

The final bullet point, academic success, is evident in our reading data.  But what our data cannot show is that we are creating readers at Dodgeland.  Our students aren't reading because we require them to or give them incentives to read; they read because they enjoy reading and they enjoy learning.  This wouldn't be possible without your passion and modeling of your love for reading and learning!

Friday Focus

Just a reminder that starting today, my posts have been switched so the Friday Focus will be giving you all of the events to plan ahead for next week!

Great Things I've Noticed this Week:
*Keeping a stamina chart for Read to Self and Work on Writing. What a great idea to track both while building reading/writing stamina in the classrooms.
*Many great ideas shared among teachers in the grade level meetings.
*In a writing mini-lesson the teacher put on a hat (her "writers hat") while writing and thinking out-loud for students to hear what was "going on in her brain" while showing students her writing process. Such a great idea for students to see/hear what it is like for writers in the process.
*4th graders explaining to me how they are rounding and checking for the exact answer. It was very different than how I've previously seen it taught (I was confused at first since I missed the lesson), but the students I asked explained it well and it made better sense than previous strategies I've seen. I know this math program is quite different, but I'm seeing some incredible thinking going on!


Events this Week:
Monday-Elementary PD Meeting (training on the Documentation Log for the Effectiveness Project) at 3:05 in the Media Center. You do NOT need laptops or your guidebooks this time. If you miss this meeting, you will need to go to the MS/HS meeting on Wednesday at 3:05.
*Monday is also the date that the survey growth plan is due in OASYS. Please let me know if you have any questions/issues or don't think it will be done in time.
Tuesday-Google Calendar refresher training at 3:05 in the Media Center with Mr. Modaff
Wednesday-Google Calendar training at 7:30 in the Media Center with Mr. Modaff (please go to the one of these)
Thursday-EC/4K Field Trip
Friday-5th grade field trip, 4K playgroup at 1:45 (open to the public)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*I will be out of the building Tuesday/Wednesday presenting/learning at the AWSA Convention. Is anyone available to cover my recess or lunch duty on Tuesday? Please let me know if you can.
*At the PTO meeting last night they discussed plans for the PTO Craft Fair/Bake Sale on Saturday, October 27th.  They are seeking any help they can get (they have all different shifts throughout the day). Please let me know if you're interested in helping. If you can't help, I would highly suggest marking it on your calendar for a good holiday shopping day--there's always great vendors there!

Blogs, Tweets, and Pins...Oh My!
*Have you ever heard your students say "I have nothing to write about?" (Did you just laugh, because you've heard that too many times?) Heres a great blog post addressing that issue: Ways to Support our Striving, Disengaged, and Reluctant Writers. 
*Great site for a picture of the day to spark ideas for writing: Twisted Sifter
*"Don't be so worried about the mistakes of yesterday that you miss today's opportunity for success." @LeadToday
*Wegivebooks.org is a site that lets you sign up for a free account and view many great books online. Looks like a great resource to use on the whiteboards, computers or SMARTBoard. I don't think it reads it to you like tumblebooks though.

Monday Memo - Week of Oct. 8

Great Things I Noticed Last Week:
*Many 5K students are already reading!
*A classroom reread and re-signed their class mission statement while discussing some of the issues that had been disruptive to their learning goals. What a great way to put the ownership on the students!
*2nd graders eagerly sharing their writing during Daily 5 reflection time.
*A 5th grade class has already made it to 50 minutes of reading stamina!
*We filled the commons for Family BINGO Night on Friday. Thank you for promoting this with your classes...everyone had fun!

Events This Week:
Monday - MidQuarter: send progress reports home
Tuesday - Grade Level Meetings in the Data Room (see previous email sent out regarding our agenda)
Wednesday - Fire Safety presentations to 5K/5th grade classes
      Unity Day -wear orange
Thursday - PTO Meeting at 3:05 in Media Center
Friday - Staff Social Lunch (2nd grade & Hendricks)
1st Grade Field Trip


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*After I posted feedback last Friday I received a great suggestion that I think will be helpful for everyone. Starting this Friday I will be switching my posts so that the Friday Focus will contain what I typically put in my Monday Memo. This way you have all the information for the following week by Friday morning to help you with your planning.  I need to come up with a new title for the Monday Memo, which will be a post of my reflections that you chose to read.  (Let me know if you have a nifty MM title!)

Blogs, Tweets and Pins, Oh MY!
*Laura Komos ‏@LauraKomos

Tonight's chat archive is ready!http://storify.com/LauraKomos/d5chat-october-2-2012 #d5chat  

(Go here for the archive of the last Daily 5 chat on twitter)

Anchor chart on non-fiction text features, from this post. 

Anchor Chart on retelling. This post has many other anchor charts.

Anchor chart on written responses (sorry I can't find the blog post that goes with this)

Friday Focus - October 5

A few weeks ago asked for your feedback on my blog/email communication and here's what you told me:

I know the screenshot requires bi-focals to read...63% like all of the resources in both posts with 8 people feeling there are too many or don't read them.  With over half satisfied with it, I am still going to continue to post both, but just know that the Friday Focus is not something you HAVE to read. My intent each week is to share my reflections with you on either something I've just read or something on my mind professionally, because I have found that I learn a lot from reading other people's blog posts in my google reader each week.  I will never put any "must know" information in the Friday Focus...you can choose to read it or delete it. If I include a prompt for your reflection journals, it is also optional (and was an idea from a staff member last year).

If you're interested in learning about how to use your google account for a google reader to follow other blogs, here's my handout to get started: Getting Started with Google Reader.