Friday Focus - March 18, 2016

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*A writing mini-lesson emphasizing the importance of paying attention to spelling during the rough draft phase so that the editing process isn't so difficult. The class reviewed all the strategies they know to use when they don't know how to spell a word so they can still get their ideas out the best they can without getting bogged down by spelling.
*When reviewing the prior day's lesson of 4 strategies to write a good introduction, students shared their examples to match each strategy that the teacher reviewed. As students shared it helped gave great ideas/examples for those that hadn't written theirs yet or needed to make it more interesting to hook their reader.
*Students reviewing science terms using quizizz.com, another fun online quiz application that had students engaged in practicing this vocabulary.
*The Talent Show and Fuel up to Play committees have been hard at work with great things coming our way!

Events Next Week: March Madness/College promotion (see "Nuts & Bolts" for requirements)
Tuesday - Elementary Art Show 4:00-6:00pm *Please have your students make sure nothing is hanging out of or in front of their lockers and pick up any hallway messes. :)
Wednesday - Grade Level PLC Meetings (see Nuts & Bolts for the agenda and what to bring)

Upcoming dates after break:
Wednesday, March 30th end of 3rd quarter (yes, already!)
   -EP Training (Doc Log and End of Year review) for those on summative year (nothing has changed from last year so it is not mandatory to attend)
Thursday, March 31st budget sheets and grades are due


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*For next week's grade level meetings, please plan to bring/discuss:

1. Writing from a student that is struggling in your classroom. Be prepared to describe what you're seeing and bring sample writing to share with your team so we can brainstorm together ways to help support your writer. 
2. Test prep. Not the skill and drill kind...you know that I'm not a proponent of that, but we do need our students to be prepared to be able to answer test questions using a variety of strategies. What practices and resources are you using to help your students know how to take tests to show what they know?

Yes, it's March Madness week so you can wear jeans with your college apparel, but there's a catch....
You have to promote college next week! Please make sure to post your "I went to college..." sign by your door.  I will add in a blurb to read to your class in the student announcements google doc. I will also post a sign in the front entrance so parents know why we're wearing jeans.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!
*The Burning Vocabulary Question Series: Which Words do I Teach?
*More Picture Books to Teach Theme

Practice persuasive writing in a college entrance letter! Other great ideas HERE.

Friday Focus - March 11, 2016

Events Next Week:

Tuesday/Wednesday - I might be out of reach in the mornings due to ACT make-up testing.
Friday - Staff Social Lunch (2nd grade/Mane)
I will be at CESA 6 for the DAC meeting

Upcoming...
The art show is fast approaching (Tuesday, March 22)!! Thank you again for any art work that you have students complete in the classroom so that they can have several pieces on display!

The Spelling Bee for Thursday, March 24th at 1:00 will be just for 2-5th graders.


"Bossy Business"
*I know I've often reminded around grading time to make sure that you do not have blank grades or * for any subjects. This is due to a state report that consumes a massive amount of Mr. Wallesverd's time if there are errors. The reports that he needs to complete for 1st and 2nd quarter have many missing grades so I'll be checking in with several of you in the next week.  As we near the end of 3rd quarter, please make sure to remember this so we don't have so many errors in the future please!

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Here's a great opportunity to apply for a Wisconsin grant that is aimed at:

      To enhance the education and literacy of children in Wisconsin by:

• Promoting creative learning experiences in and out of the classroom.
• Offering unique opportunities to inspire children to read.
• Stimulating creativity and imagination in children.
• Inspiring children to realize their potential.

If you are interested in applying for this grant, you can find the application HERE. Please let me know if you're interested in this and want some assistance with writing it.


Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*How Do You Reach Kids Who Don't Want to Engage?
*Using Colleagues to Create Your Own Professional Development

Friday Focus - March 4, 2016

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*During the active engagement part of the lesson the teacher moved around the carpet to see what students were adding to their writing and used that quick formative assessment to pull a handful of students with her for a small group as the rest got started.
*A guest teacher shared how great it is to sub in our building because she always knows that the teachers in the classrooms next to her (no matter what room) will be helpful to answer any questions. She was impressed with how collaborative our staff are to know how to answer questions about lesson plans, schedules or students.
*Fun, passion and excitement for reading with buddy reading, special class reading activities and Family Reading Night! With my involvement in HS ACT testing, I feel like I've missed out on a lot of the excitement and great opportunities for pictures, so please (again, I know!) share any pictures with me that you can so I can add them to our school Facebook page. You can either email them to me or upload them to the google folder I shared with you all.

Events Next Week:
*No grade level meetings (moved to March 23)
Friday - state send-off for the HS mock trial team at 10:40am

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*After next week, our schedule of classes to rotate for Celebrations announcements is up. If you'd like to have your students come down again, please sign up HERE.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Blog post: "I've Lost Control! Now What"