Friday Focus - January 27, 2017

Great Things I Noticed This Week:
*Great conversations during Monday's PD day regarding our students' progress, what is working, what isn't working and problem solving new strategies for the students that haven't made the gains we had expected yet. It is amazing to see all of the growth that we do have to celebrate up on the wall in the work room!
*Teachers having individual conversations with students about their report cards, their progress and their goals.
*For a quick vocabulary practice/review as the teacher displayed different engaging pictures on the smartboard, students used the vocabulary words in sentences to describe the picture.
*Student choice for their end of unit project to culminate their learning.

Events Next Week: our annual "Souper Bowl" is taking place. While we don't get to cheer for the Packers, we can help donate food for the Gathering Source.

Monday - EP Training 3:15 in distance learning room (on Documentation Log)
-IMC closed all day due to the training taking place along with other districts (I will also be in this)
Wednesday - Space Station Conservation play (sponsored by Juneau Electric. 9:00 for grades K-2, 9:30 for grades 3-5 in the elementary gym.
Thursday - I will be out of the building at a training for the Forward exam
Friday - Wear Red day

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Could you take a moment to share a podcast that you've listened to in this padlet: Podcast Share.  I know you each got to share with your small group on Monday, but here's a great way to find even more possibilities for ongoing learning (or for entertainment).
*If you would like to access classroom activities to go along with the Space Station Conservation play:

1. Go to NTCplayworks.com 2. Select Wisconsin 3. Click on the Space Station Conservation logo.

 There are BRAND NEW (and short) educator and student videos for both before/after the performance. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*The Grading Conversation We Need to Have
*Growing Toward Independence - how to help the student doesn't read independently during Daily 5.

Friday Focus - January 20, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*I don't know about you, but I'm grateful for time to catch up on a couple of snow days and rediscover what the color of my desk is under the piles!
*When I asked students what they did for the snow days I had several tell me that they wished they would have been in school, because they were bored!
*3rd graders reviewing social studies terms/definitions in a matching game that got them moving around the room and the chance to review several different terms. Then they reflected individually on how well they knew them.
*4th graders reading/discussing famous people to learn about how they overcame adversities to achieve their goals.
*I cannot even count how many students that have shared their excitement of meeting/beating their MAP goals! I love seeing the ownership and pride they have in their learning.  Now....how can we get them to feel that same ownership for the state Forward exam?


Events Next Week:
Monday - PD Day, 2nd Qtr Report Card Grades due
    Bandorama Concert at 7:30pm

Wednesday - Report Cards to be distributed

-I will be out of the building on Thursday an Friday

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Please make sure to get your Honor Roll and On a Roll names into the google doc.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*22 Powerful Closure Activities

Friday Focus - January 13, 3017

Great Things I Noticed This Week:
*4K students practicing mindfulness/calm breathing along with GoNoodle videos.
*Students reading passages at their level and checking back in the text as they answered questions in https://readtheory.org. 
*3rd graders publishing their informational writing books in Book Creator, using the digital tools to create diagrams to go along with their writing. Students were highly engaged in the topics that they were each an expert of. 
*5th graders getting in additional fact fluency with a quick facts game while waiting in line from the bathrooms/milk. 



Events Next Week:
Monday - IF the Packers win on Sunday night you can wear your Packers attire (and jeans!). Cross your fingers!!
Friday - End of 2nd Quarter (grades are due by 7:30 on Monday, Jan 23rd)
10:00 Geography Bee Finals for 4/5th grades (HS gym)
11:00-12:00 Lunch/Recess
12:20 Early Dismissal for Report & Planning

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Why You Should Pretend Your Most Difficult Students Are Perfectly Well Behaved
*Integrating Mindfulness into the Classroom

*The Story of Martin Luther King Jr as told by Kid President:

Friday Focus - January 6, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Students being dismissed from intervention due to the gains they have made and others being moved in to intervention. This is a huge celebration for the work we are doing focusing on specific skills that students are lacking and providing tiered intervention. Just imagine how much growth we'll continue to have when we get back to having WIN at each grade level to have a systematic intervention system!
• 2nd graders super excited about using their "expertise" on topics to apply to their writing.
• Kindergartners learning how to write directions on how to do something as their teachers followed their directions. You can just imagine the laughter as their teachers followed each direction (leaving out very important details) on how to wash their hands or brush their teeth!
• Math talk in classrooms as students were checking in with their partners after solving each problem. They worked together to figure out where mistakes were when they didn't have the same answer (just imagine how much time that saved of individuals asking the teacher for help!)
• When a teacher randomly called on a student that wasn't raising his hand. He didn't know the answer. She gave him some thinking time, but he still responded with "I don't know." But she didn't let him off the hook...she told him to thin about the question, listen to other responses and be ready to tell her which answer he liked the best and why. 
• 2nd graders creating goals for something they want to improve on that is challenging for them, using a resource from Class Dojo. On the bottom they wrote different steps to take to reach their goal and after completing each step they will tear it off as they work towards their goal. What a great strategy to stay focused on a goal!
  

Events Next Week:
Monday - Staff meeting at 3:10
Thursday - Badger attire day (jeans too!)

Future events:
Friday, January 20th Early Dismissal day - the Geography Bee for 4/5th graders will be 10:00 - 11:00
 -Our lunch/recess time is 11:00-12:00

Wednesday, February 1st is the annual theater presentation sponsored by Juneau Electric. 9:00 for K-2nd grades, 9:30 for 3-5th grades.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Monday's Staff Meeting agenda will be on ThinkCentral Math resources.  Please make sure to bring your laptops.  Several of you were interested in learning how you could utilize the online program in the computer lab for students--Mrs. Scholfield will be showing us how to do this.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*A great article on misconceptions of growth mindset: How Praise Became a Consolation Prize.  The few lines that really stood out to me in this article were:
"Praise the effort that led to the outcome or learning progress; tie the praise to it. It's not just effort, but strategy...so support the student in finding another strategy. Effective teachers who actually have classrooms full of children with a growth mindset are always supporting children's learning strategies and showing how strategies created that success."

Click HERE for directions

Welcome to 2017!

We always go back to northern Minnesota (way, way north...close to Canada!) where it feels like the middle of nowhere with sketchy internet service. At this time of the year, it's my favorite so I can disconnect, read good books, eat northern Minnesota walleye, and enjoy spending time with family. After we were back home and unpacked I took time for myself to reflect on my personal and professional goals, providing myself with a renewed sense of purpose.


I hope that winter break provided each of you with much deserved time to relax, enjoy your family and have extra time to do whatever you enjoy to rejuvenate to bring on 2017! I know that, together, we will make 2017 awesome at Dodgeland!

No Events this Week!  (Did I forget something?)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*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.

*The support staff and I will be on the lookout for a mystery behavior each week in the lunch room and on the playground. I explain it in this video: Dodgeland Mystery Behavior  Please make sure to show your class this video on Tuesday morning so they know all about it and remind them before lunch/recess.  I will have tickets in the mail room so that you can also hand them out when on recess duty.
This week's mystery behavior is: Inside voices in the lunch room and putting equipment away at recess. Please DO NOT tell students, just be on the lookout for it and hand out tickets to those that you see displaying this.   Thank you for your help with this!
*I have moved the MAP testing window to be January 9-19th. This will allow us to use MAP data for our PD day on Monday, January 23rd. Please don't wait until the end of the window, because your students may not finish or you may have absences.