Friday Focus - October 26, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

• Students reflecting on how they've shown the Trojan Way, writing on a reflection page posted on their lockers.
• Students sharing brief book talks in around a small group circle. These weren't formal/prepared book talks, just a minute each to try to sell their book to their group. What a great way to get kids interested in reading something new!
• Students write on a post-it's to share on peers' writing of glows and grows to give each other feedback before publishing. 
• I wasn't here on Thursday, but heard that when our 5th grade Jr Coaches were all gone for their field trip, we had some incredible 4th graders that took over to help lead activities for our little ones. We are creating future leaders all the time at Dodgeland!

Upcoming Events:
Today - State Send off for Cross Country team at 10:40 (line up in the hallways and get ready to high five them with Trojan Pride!)

Tuesday - I will be out of the building in the morning to present about the great programs we have in place this year with the financial support of the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation.

Thursday - Special Elementary Assembly of "The Ned Show" 2:00-2:45 in the elementary gym. I will send you an email with details about this.

Friday - End of 1st Quarter (yes, already!)
Monday, Nov 5th -grades due by 7:30am
Wednesday, Nov 7th - report cards go home, Fundraiser pick-up after school

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Just a reminder that our Dodgeland Pride assembly will not include Honor Roll awards, but will focus more on celebrating hard work, character and students' approach to learning and adding in some school community building. We will be changing the assembly to just be for staff/students. Details to come soon in google doc requests for your students to celebrate.  Thank you for your patience with this! :)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins....Oh My!!!
*Honor Roll? Really? -This post by Rick Wormeli is written for middle school, but I feel applies to the changes we are moving forward with as we transition into target based learning and work to instill in our students a growth mindset and approach to learning.
*12 Ways to Deal with Chronic Complainers at Work -this post by Angela Watson is also in her podcast "Truth for Teachers"

Friday Focus - October 19, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Classroom teachers reinforcing the whole body listening from guidance lessons--using the same language, pointing to the posters, and I heard a few students singing the focus listening song in a class. Keep it up!!
*Staff collaborating/problem-solving coverage for students and an entire class (yes...2 different situations and staff pulling together...we are a TEAM!)
*Students reading many different books about spiders to write their own informational books...the low buzz of chatter between partners was incredible to hear as they kept excitedly sharing the interesting facts they were finding (although I was creeped out by all their spider info!)
*The folks from US Cellular said they were SO impressed with our students in the assembly in comparison to other schools they have been to.  Our students behave SO well from the model that you set for them. Thank you!


Upcoming Events:
Monday - Optional EP training (for SLO/survey support/work-you can use the time/space to get it done!)
Tuesday - I will be out of the building
Wednesday - Picture Makeup Day
Thursday - I will be out of the building


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Thank you so much for your continued efforts to report "all here" attendance. Our attendance rates are looking AWESOME, even with all the illnesses we've had. See below for last year's attendance rate vs this year so far (rate is what % has each student been in school. Ex: If a new student has been enrolled for 10 days, but only attends 8 days, she would be at 80%):

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*See the Small - great reminder. What small wins are happening around you that you might not be noticing, because you're not looking for them?

Just the essentials Friday Focus - Oct 12, 2018

Events Next Week:
Wednesday - drill (see Mr. Modaff's email with all the details from 10/5/18)
3:15 drill debriefing meeting for all district staff
Thursday - Special all school assembly

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Keep your SLO work on hold...I am still working on how to provide you with guidance on using the iReady data (and next week's staff meeting turned into the drill debriefing so we will have to move SLO work to our next meeting.)
• Our special assembly next Thursday 1:45-2:30(approximately) in the HS Gym is because....

Mr. Klueger made the Top 15 for the Most Valuable Coach competition!! Our assembly will be for US Cellular to present our school with a $5,000 check and celebrate #WeAreDodgeland!!!  In addition, a film crew will come to our school to highlight all of the great work happening at Dodgeland for our students. Now that the contest narrowed down the top 15, he is still in the running for first place (and $50,000 for the school!) You can keep helping spread the word to vote.  Here's how the next phase of the contest works: 

Nominee’s community impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s school impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s leadership impact (12.5%);
· Nominee’s school’s wishes regarding use of the prize (12.5%); and
· Nominee’s votes from the Prize Voting Period (50%)

I know I missed a lot this week while attending a conference. Here are some of my favorite takeaway nuggets that I tweeted out:

Friday Focus - October 5, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*1st graders incredibly engaged in partner reading. They not only took turns reading their books to each other, but were such great listeners to each other and even asked questions about what they heard from one another's books. 

*3rd graders super proud of their multiplication progress--practicing their skip counting, the 9s trick and all...at lunch! They are very excited about their learning!

*In 3 different instances I saw staff covering for one another --transitioning another's class while a meeting ran late, covering a class so the teacher could meet with a student struggling emotionally and helping out with duty when someone was running late. Wow-we make such a great team!!

*K-2 recess lines are getting quiet quicker to transition inside after recess. HUGE thank you to Mr. Lange and the Jr. Coaches to get them calm and ready to get back in for class. And to teachers for continuing to pump up the Trojan Way tickets---I saw some silent cheering (yes, silent cheers are real!) from students as they received their tickets on the way in. 

Events Next Week: Get some extra sleep this weekend, take your vitamins and pack your favorite healthy snacks to keep your energy up!

Monday/Tuesday - P/T Conferences 4-7:30 (Professional dress for conferences)

Wednesday - Bonus Workout Wednesday (I know you'll want that after 2 nights of P/T Conferences)

Friday - PD Day 

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

For P/T Conferences:

*Along with your Title 1 Parent Compact for P/T conferences, you will also be provided with another handout promoting "Strive for less than 5" absences. You will also be given a handout from Attendance Works that has some very helpful tips for information to share at conferences about attendance and the link to academics. 

*Keep track of your attendance turnout to share with Marie afterwards.  

*Please try to stick to your schedule so that parents aren't waiting in the hallway for too long. It would also be a good idea to post a sign like this one on your door:

*As you saw from Niki's email we are changing up the attendance incentive and plan to do something different each month to keep promoting attendance. For October it is trying to spell out OCTOBER for each day that all your class is here. To keep the excitement going...each day that your class is all here, please just send me a quick email with the subject line ALL HERE. At the end of each day I'll announce the classes that had everyone in school to hopefully encourage the same for the next day!

A HUGE shoutout to Niki for making the hallway bulletin board celebrating our September attendance rates by grade level! 

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

*Ok-not a blog, but this is the PT Conference w/ attendance tips that will be in your mailboxes: Making the Most of Your Parent/Teacher Conference