Friday Focus - December 22, 2017

I just want to thank you all for your overwhelming generosity to help support our student in the hospital, along with his family. Mom knows they will be receiving gifts this weekend and she is so grateful for our help.  I recognize that this is in addition to the many gifts that had already been donated by you for our county toy bank. 

We had a former staff member (Mr. Sullivan from long, long ago) visit yesterday. He didn't know about this current situation, but talked to me about how he knows the needs in our district are great, but remembers teachers "back in his day" always doing whatever was necessary to help our students have what they need so they would be ready to learn. I told him that I would bet that our teachers are even more supportive today, because you do so many things to help care for our students. This really is an amazing place to work...together with all of you to help make a difference in the lives of our students and their families. 

Events after winter break: 3 more weeks of 2nd quarter!

Tuesday, Jan 2nd - back at it! 

Wednesday, Jan 3rd - Elementary staff meeting 3:10

"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.

*Notes from the PBIS committee (this was in Mr. Lange's email):

Winter Attire Expectations:

K-2: snow pants / boots for wood chips and grass; blacktop if they only have shoes.

3-5: snow pants and boots for grass; boots for wood chips; blacktop if they only have shoes.

Character Trait:

We will close out this month's character trait of "Kindness".  Thanks for supporting this.  Next month's trait will be "Being Safe".  Looking forward to February, some staff suggested "Compassion" as our trait along with a possible class door decorating contest.  More detail to follow....

Trojan Trail:

The Trojan Trail is closed for the season.  We now have kids not wearing boots outside so they don't have to run :(

Friday Focus - December 15, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
I appreciate the work that you each put in to highlighting the literacy work in each grade level for our literacy alignment activity. It was great to see the work happening at each grade level and to hear the discussions across grade levels/teams about supporting all students. The deep thinking work that our students are doing in reading and writing is incredible at each grade level. I cannot wait to see the stronger readers and writers we are creating together!

Events Next Week:

Tuesday - Bring a good book for YOU to read too during the Reading Blizzard
K/2/4th grade concert
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
Thursday - Pajama Day
Friday - Festive Holiday Attire

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Thank you to everyone for trying to keep things as normal as possible (I know that's a challenge) while we count down the days to Christmas. The more we stray from the routine, the more our students get off track. This is also the time of year to keep in mind parent perceptions...if students come home saying all they did was watch movies, do crafts and have parties then parents will be more likely to take students out of school on these days in the future. We can still learn a lot while tying in the theme of the year.

*You were all SO creative with your holiday photo booth pics...I had a blast getting to use the green screen app and add backgrounds to your pictures. I can't wait to share these with you next week! If you haven't ventured to use the green screen with your students I will tell you it is super easy to use the app to add in backgrounds and you know first hand it is fun to get in front of the camera too.  If you ever want to try the green screen to put students right into the setting of their story or history for whatever they are learning, researching or presenting, let me know if I can help. I'm sure Ms. Abegglen or Mrs. Porter would too. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Helping Students Make New Year's Resolutions: A Step-by-Step Plan

Friday Focus - December 8, 2017

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*4th graders writing a paragraph about the main idea and supporting details about the nonfiction passage they read. I was so impressed with how well written their paragraphs were, I felt I was in a high school classroom!
*A specific student being incredibly attentive and engaged in his work while working from a standing desk in class (when he usually puts his head down and often nods off). It was great to see him being successful!
*4K students independently identifying numbers up to 20...wait, they're 4, when did they learn that??!!!
*The longest line in the lunch room...not for lunch, but to sign up for days to wash tables. I couldn't believe that many students wanted to help!
*One of our practicum students shared how impressed he was with how our students behave, as well as our curriculum in comparison to other schools he has had practicums in.

Upcoming Events:
Monday - PD Day
Wednesday - Christmas Photo Booth Fun (We will have the green screen and props ready for staff fun holiday photos...please feel free to bring anything extra that will be fun for you and your colleagues!)
Thursday - Badger Attire Day (jeans too!)
Friday - I will be out of the building

Monday starts the 10 Days before Christmas break. You know I don't like countdowns, but I love using these days to give you something fun or yummy each day. My hope is that this will help you feel like you're not just surviving these days before winter break, but to keep you thriving! I won't tell you all the days, but you've likely already seen the parent newsletter calendar that gave away the special dress days and I'll also let you know a couple of extras, so you're prepared:

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*8 Ways to Refocus after a Stressful Week in the Classroom
*Positive Words Go a Long Way

Friday Focus - December 1, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Students focused on their research to apply to their non-fiction writing. They were each so passionate about the topic they were reading about, eager to share new facts they were learning. 
• 5th graders partnering with 4K students for a counting/number writing activity. It just melted my heart to listen in to each set of partners as I heard the 5th graders talking with their little buddy, encouraging them and helping them to count and trace their numbers. Given the opportunity, our students can be great leaders!
• 3rd graders self-reflecting on themselves as readers as they looked at the learning progression of applying a non-fiction strategy. They taped a copy of this in their reading journal and wrote where they think they are at on the progression (2nd or 3rd grade) and why. I was impressed with how many students wrote honest reflections and identified what they could do as a reader to move up the learning progression. 

Events Next Week:

Monday - Mentors PLC meeting 3:15

Wednesday - I will be at CESA 6 in the morning

 3:10 Elementary Staff meeting ---support staff are invited too!

Friday - it is already mid-quarter!!! Time to send home progress reports to parents. 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
Staff Meeting - our staff meeting will start out with treats to celebrate our incredible gains main on the report card, because we have so much to celebrate. Support staff are encouraged to join us too!  We will have an activity and then I will share information regarding our upcoming PD day. You won't need to bring a device. 

Recess - please remember to "move, scan and interact" when you're about. Some students are starting to create those zombie or ninja games that get too rough when we're not nearby. But, if we are doing our part and encouraging students join in appropriate games we can hopefully prevent any accidental injuries that come from rough play. Thank you for your monitoring!

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

*Are you enjoying reading The Energy Bus? I've heard some great thoughts and conversations from some of you reading it. Here's a great Positive Teacher Pledge on the author's website (and I will share in your mailboxes):

Click HERE to read the pledge online