Friday Focus - February 24, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Students revising in writing partners, giving each other a "glow" and a "grow." It was great to hear students also asking their partner specific questions like, "How does this sentence sound?" "Do you think I should take this part out, what do you think?" Their conversations were amazing to hear!
*Reading mini-lesson on making inferences about characters, using their schema in 2nd grade. Students first identified things the character did and said, then applied their schema to make an inference.
*Students working on building their oral reading fluency by taking turns timing each other to see how much they could read from a passage in one minute, made a small mark, then reread for a minute to see if they could read more words and did this 3 times. Everyone grew with each rereading minute which helped make the point to them that the more they read, the better readers they become!
*I was a part of several parent/teacher conferences that had concerns to be shared, but each started out by sharing the positives and gains that have been made so far this year.
*I am already starting to see some of the ideas learned from the One Best Thing get started!  The google doc of ideas shared on Monday can be found HERE.


Events Next Week: Read Across America Week
Wednesday: Graduation Year grade level pictures in the elementary gym
8:30 3rd
8:45 1st
9:00 K
9:15 4th
9:30 5th grade
9:45 2nd

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

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*How To Break Free of the Dreaded Teacher Slump

Friday Focus - February 17, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Student scientists learning about volume, mass, density, and buoyancy with hands-on experience. what a great way to sneak in the measurement standards that usually come in the math book after the state test!
*Writing celebration -students were listening to each others' pre-recorded essays that they had read to publish them.
*Students on a top secret mission to spread kindness throughout the school.
*Students working together on a special mission to solve puzzles to be able to unlock the #breakoutEdu box.  If you're wondering what #BreakoutEdu is, check this out: Introducing BreakoutEdu
*Many 5th grade student leaders to run the JRFH table and chess tournament during recess. It's amazing to see these young leaders in action!

Events Next Week:
Monday - PD Day -PowerSchool will be shut down on Monday to switch to a new server so you will be unable to do anything in PS.
Tuesday - Thursday - Seals on Wheels will be be providing dental services to our students this week
Thursday - Mid Quarter and PT Conferences. Please send home mid quarter reports for those you are not meeting with for conferences.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*A Few Ideas to Teach Inference

You can read about this HERE

Friday Focus - February 10th, 2017

Events Next Week: Box Tops Battle Week
Monday - Staff Meeting 3:10
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
Thursday - Badger Attire Day
Friday - Students can bring $1 for JRFH to have a stuffed animal


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Monday's staff meeting agenda includes the next step of coding from the Tech Ninjas. Please bring your laptop or iPad. We will also be talking about the Feb 20 PD day. 
• As always, please make sure that your class Valentines party is just 1 event and not the entire day. There are many ways to integrate the Valentines theme into different subjects, but if you turn it into a party day with a movie and treats all day, you will get crazy little Valentine monsters! 
• As I'm not coming out of my ACCESS testing cave (and February's worst sinus infection/cold) I'm excited to get back into classrooms! I am also planning to meet with individuals in the summative year to discuss your SLO's. You can expect an email from me soon to try to schedule these. 
• As you complete mid year F&P benchmarks, please add them to the google doc. (I have a script in it the google doc that sends me an email when you update it so I can add them to Educlimber.)
• It seems we have every virus/bug going around...take care of yourself! Get plenty of rest and take your Vitamin C!

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!

*Grass Greener, Whiter Snow - a great reminder for our own mindsets

Friday Focus - February 3

Upcoming Events:
Today - 2:20 Dance state send off...then take your class to the gym for the Pride Assembly to START AT 2:30.
Monday -JRFH begins
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday ($5 for the month)
Thursday - EC/4K Art Show 4-6pm
Friday - Hat Day for JRFH

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Please let me know if you have any students that you have major concerns with and would be considering possible retention. 

*For February and your healthy hearts: For $5 (to the American Heart Association) you may wear Workout Wednesday attire each Wednesday. For $10 you may wear jeans each day during the week of February 6-10^th.

*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 happen to share some great pictures on your Class Facebook page that you would like to be re-shared to the school page, please let me know. It is a quick and easy way for the school Facebook page to spread the awesome things your students are doing!

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Do you love Kahoot? Maybe you've used it, but you get bored with it?  Well, Kahoot has added some new answer types to level up the types of questions you can ask: 6 Creative Ways to Use the New Jumble Feature on Kahoot

*A great article on dealing with "Nasty Backtalk" from students. I can't tell you how many times that I've found it may be easy to give a quick consequence for misbehavior, however, if you spend time to dig into what's really going on, there's a deeper connection to be made to help a student with their situation to have a better impact for the long run.