Friday Focus - April 28, 2017

I have been so incredibly busy with testing, fires, and the other endless piles that I'm missing out on being in classrooms to see the great learning! Thank you to everyone who has lent a helping hand with testing, supervision coverage, etc. Your teamwork is much appreciated...no one can do this alone!


Events Next Week:
Wed/Thurs - I will be out of the building at a training
Fri - PD Day (I'll have the agenda out to you soon)
Mon May 8 is already Mid-Quarter (progress reports will need to go out)

"I heard it through the Grapevine..."
You're all talking about it...who's going where?! Well, you officially know now that Mr. Reinke is coming back (Welcome back Brad!!!!). Mrs. Chambers will be joining us in the elementary as an additional special education teacher and it is also official that Mrs. O'Toole will be joining the 1st grade team next year (making 3 classes in first and 2 in second next year).  Any other talk about people moving is all rumor, because I have no other plans unless other "dominoes fall" out of my knowledge.
 We will also be having interviews soon for our new part time music teacher. Please let me know if you would be interested in joining on the interview team.


Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*I Almost Gave Up
*Hugging a Porcupine

Friday Focus - April 21, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Our 3-5th graders showed great focus, determination and persistence while taking their first round of Forward testing. I proctored a group of 5th graders during the writing session and was so pleased to see them applying the strategies that they have been learning/practicing in class.
• 1st graders singing Japanese in music. You read that right...Japanese!
• 4th graders took a break from state testing for a STEM project--designing an invention to pick up trash for Earth Day. I noticed students working together in their teams: problem-solving, asking each other questions ("What if we did..." "Well, how will that work?")
• Dodgeland's Got Talent!  Seriously, the talent show was amazing!!!  A HUGE Shoutout to the Talent Show committee for all of their hard work leading up to this big night. A HUGE kudos to Mrs. O'Toole's mastermind behind the teacher act (seriously...how does she always come up with stuff?), Mr. Mane's artwork on the ghosts, and Mr. Muenchow's musical talents to lead our boomwacker band. It was so great to see some of our students' amazing talents. Some of them were such a surprise that I'm so grateful to get to see! I know that special events like this take quite a bit of work and can seem like "one more thing," but they sure do create such wonderful traditions and memories for our students and school community. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!
• Please feel free to share the staff Ghostbusters act with your class, which you can find HERE.

Upcoming Events:

Today - 2:25 State Send Off for HS Forensics at your normal post

Monday - Optional EP training at 3:15 in the IMC. This will be a work time on your end of year SLO's and/or Documentation Log. I will be in there to assist/answer questions. If you are a great procrastinator like me, then going to this space/time may be what you need to get some of your work done in mylearningplan.

Tuesday-Thursday -State Forward testing continues for 3-5th grades in the mornings. Please keep hallways quiet. 

Friday - Grandparents Day for K-2 in the afternoon

-Budget requests for next year are DUE TODAY!!!!

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

*A must read that I'm sure you can each think of at least one student that this pertains to: The Difference Between a Motivation Problem and a Discipline Problem

Thursday Throwdown - April 13, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Love the Talent Show bulletin board featuring the students that will be performing...I can't wait to see them on the stage!
*First graders independently applying the math strategies they've been working on for a while, all on their own to different types of problems (like "make a 10" and "doubles plus 1"). All that hard work is paying off and building numeracy!
*When responding to a question with think/pair/share, the teacher asked for students to share a response they heard from their partner that helped them grow in their learning about the question. What a great way to encourage students to truly listen to each other to learn and have a growth mindset!
*One of our non-verbal kiddos said his first sounds this week! This was a HUGE deal for him and what was more incredible was too see his peers SO excited about his accomplishment. Our kids have such BIG HEARTS!!! His mom was so incredibly appreciative of all of his teachers' never ending commitment to helping him grow (and by teachers, I mean classroom, special ed, speech, aides, ALL of you!)

Events Next Week:
Monday - I will be involved in interviews in the District Office for most of the day
Tuesday - Thursday 3/4/5th graders will be taking the state Forward test in the mornings. Please keep hallways quiet!
Wednesday - Tornado drill in the afternoon (the state wide drill is Thursday, but we have a conflict with that...)
  6:00pm Blue Zones Kick-Off event hosted at Dodgeland. What is Blue Zones? Check this video out: Blue Zones Project Overview or this video that features our 5th graders! Blue Zones Project Walkability
Thursday - 4K Screening taking place in our 4K classrooms
6pm Talent Show (Yikes....we forgot to schedule a preview show for all K-5...that news may be forthcoming!)
Friday - 4K Screening taking place in our 4K classrooms


Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*5 Techniques to Help Kids Relax
*Mindful Mantras for Teachers

Friday Focus - April 7, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• I couldn't believe how many classrooms I visited on Monday morning and students were right back into the groove and hard at work. You would have never known they had just had a full week off! 
• Teachers taking time in each morning to greet students, welcoming them to class. Such an easy way to build relationships and start each day off positive!
• Students reviewing their 3rd quarter grades and creating 4th quarter goals. What a great way to provide ownership and focus for the remainder of the year!
• 2nd graders learning how to use Chatter Pix as a means of presenting information they would are learning as they read informational text. Seeing their laughter at what Chatter Pix can do was the best part of my day!

Events Next Week:
Monday - Staff meeting 3:10 (see below for agenda)
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
Thursday - Boy Scout presentation during noon recess for K-4th graders (brief, not entire recess)
 2:30 3rd Quarter Dodgeland Pride Assembly
Friday - NO School

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Staff meeting agenda includes: Information from Mr. Lange on his new role/planning for next year and "hanging in with challenging students." You read that right. It's the time of year where behaviors can get even more challenging and we want to thrive for last quarter of the year, not just barely survive. I ask that you just come to the meeting with one student in mind, thinking about what is challenging. What is challenging for that student, for you and for his/her peers. Be prepared that you will NOT be sharing the name of the student. And if you have no students coming to mind, then you'll have to make up a fictional scenario. (If you just laughed at that, then you might be a teacher!)

*Here's a new Badger Brain break, could be perfect for Workout Wednesday! This one is featuring Banke Oginni – women’s track and Mariah Watts – softball!: May 2017 Badger Brain Break

*School Supply lists are due by April 17th.  Please be mindful of if there are any student supplies that haven't been used. And think about parents shopping for everything and how specific those details can be. I can tell you from my own experience that it is a pain to go to several stores to make sure you have all the right colors, sizes, etc.

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*It's On Us

Welcome Back!

Raise your hand if you accomplished everything you set out to over Spring Break??? Me either:):):

I hope you're as refreshed and rejuvenated as I am to come back and ROCK 4th QUARTER!!!  Remember that for many of our students, coming back to school on Monday is better than being at home...our job is to welcome them back with smiles and open arms and make school amazing! I'm SO glad you're here to make Dodgeland that special place for our students! #CelebrateMonday (Yes...that's a real hashtag. Check Twitter if you don't believe me!)

Events this Week:

Monday - Brewers Opening Day attire!!

Tuesday, April 4th -end of 3rd Quarter (Can you believe it?!)

Wednesday, April 5th - GRADES DUE at 7:30!!!!

Friday, April 7th - report cards distributed

 *I will be out of the building with the Tech Ninjas and Robotics teams at the UW Madison Engineering Expo.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Many of you may know that Mrs. Jaeckel had been working on classes to complete her degree at Moraine Park. Well, she did (Congratulations!) and is applying her new degree to a new position at CESA 6. Her last day with us will be April 20th. We are still in the works on figuring out recess supervision and other duties for the rest of the year. I'll let you know when I figure it out. 

Blogs:

Just wanted to share with you a couple of blog posts I wrote as I reflected on what I learned at the ASCD conference: 

Visible Learning for Literacy

Disrupting Poverty in School