Friday Focus - November, 30, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*I noticed so many staff welcoming students back to school Monday morning after break...it felt like a family reunion. Our kids were so happy to see you!
*Students reviewing sample student writing to see what they could notice to use in their own writing, with the teacher helping to point out what they could use in their writing too.
*During Guidance with Ganser, students were brainstorming ideas for giving compliments and challenged to give compliments to someone else.
*Several staff members pitching in and helping in many different areas--classrooms, hallways, lunchroom, recess to help cover in others' absences.  Your teamwork is incredible!!!
*A Christmas elf put the tree up before I even remembered to try to find which closet it was in. Thank you!
*Our Family Fun Math Night committee put together an incredible night for our families to see that practicing math can be fun. Thank you Ms. B, Mrs. O'Toole, Ms. Zemlicka and Mrs. Fobes! For our first time to have this event--it was a HUGE success and we will definitely be doing this again and looking for staff to represent different grade levels.


Events Next Week:
Monday - New Teachers Meeting 3:15
-I will be out of the building in the afternoon

Tuesday - I will announce students of the month in the morning

Wednesday - I will be out of the building most of the day (I'm taking our Tech Ninjas to present at a conference)
3:10 Elementary staff meeting

Thursday - it is already mid-Quarter!!! Time to send home progress reports to keep parents informed.


"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

• Wednesday's staff meeting agenda includes an update from the PBIS committee and PLTW information to prepare us for our Dec 10 PD day.
• We are currently short staffed in our evening custodial crew, so please be understanding if some things get missed. This is a great opportunity to make sure students are helping to keep their classroom they way they want to live in it at the end of the day (i.e. picking up scraps off the floor, cleaning up after any messes, etc.)
• The latest book from ASCD, called Engage the Brain just came in my mailbox and I know I won't have the chance to read it for quite a while (I have a large to-read stack that I'm working on first.). Here's more about this book: http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Engage-the-Brain.aspx  Let me know if you would like to borrow this. :)

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

*Can Learning Social Skills in School Pay Off Beyond the Classroom?

Friday Focus - November 16, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Several teachers greeting kids at their doors-I saw hugs, high fives and heard such welcoming messages. Such a small gesture that makes a HUGE impact on starting each student's day out right and providing them with a safe and welcoming place to be each day!
*Students SO engaged in their books during readers workshop that when the teacher rang the chimes, kids groaned!!!!
*Staff brainstorming/problem-solving how to revisit lunch room procedures. We are a team and all the ideas and support make a difference!
*A grade level data meeting with many points of student gains (measured by iReady growth monitoring) to celebrate! I personally enjoyed connecting with individual students at lunch time to tell them about their gains--each of their faces lit up!
*Students reflecting on/writing things they are thankful for.

For Today's Assembly:
Just a reminder that after we pass out awards, we will give a minute for transition to spread out a bit more in the gym to circle up as classes. Teachers- you might want to make up a team name with your class before coming to the gym, because when you get onto Kahoot with your iPad you'll have to enter your team name first. Have fun with this!

Events Next Week:
Happy Thanksgiving Break (Wed-Fri) - Please take time to relax, rejuvenate and enjoy your families, because I know you've been spending a lot of time here taking care of your classroom family! It's time for you all to Balance Like a Pirate! Do something for yourself to fulfill your personal quadrant in life. Do something totally fun to fulfill your passions quadrant--read for pleasure, go see a movie, craft, whatever makes you happy....do it! :) 
(*I will be up in the middle of nowhere northern MN where the internet hardly exists so I will not be checking emails.)

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Some of our students are already telling us that it's that time of the year...when stress from home with winter and holidays on their way affects them in ways that we don't alway realize. It could be overhearing the adult conversations about money to buy winter gear, arguing over where they will be for Thanksgiving, etc. Many of our students will enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving break filled with family and good food, but think of how many of our students would rather be at school than at home for five days. Just around that corner is the countdown to Christmas...another major stressor in their lives. Some of our students will be feeling the adult stress of everything that has to get done before Christmas, they might hear threats that "Santa won't be coming." For students in these situations, we are likely seeing the affects of this on them manifest in their behaviors/emotions.  We can't control what's happening in any of our students' lives, but we can control our classrooms to still be consistently structured (to not add more chaos to their days) and show them the caring relationships that they may not be getting at home right now. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*5 Questions to Ask Yourself about Unmotivated Students
*3 Things Teachers Focus on in High Poverty Classrooms that Get Real Results (great tips to read, but this is also a podcast you could listen to on a long car ride over break!)

Friday Focus - November 9, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Kindergartners with independent reading focus during workshop time for a full 15 minutes and then another 15 minutes reading with partners. Wow, I cannot wait to see how they grow as readers if they have this much stamina already!
*A few teachers sharing the message together to a couple of students (with difficult behaviors) that they believe in them and will not be giving up on them. Do your students know you believe in them?
*Students applying the word "yet" when they were practicing yo-yo tricks at recess ("look Mrs. Johnson...I can't do 'rock the baby' yet, but I almost have it!") This actually happened a lot this week! ;) I hope you're continuing to reinforce students adding YET to their vocabulary!!
*4th graders taking turns in each classroom to read each others pieces, providing thoughtful comments on post-it notes for their peers. It was amazing to see how quiet and focused they were in reading each others' writing in each classroom.

Upcoming Events:
Tuesday - I will be out of the building with several others for a workshop on trauma invested practices.
Wednesday - Workout Wednesday
-staff meeting at 3:10 in IMC - (please bring your target based learning work so we can continue our conversations and figure out where we need to go next)
-have any student nominations for the Pride Assembly submitted by 4:00 today
Thursday - Packer attire day
Friday - 2:30 Dodgeland Pride assembly


Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Noticing the Good Stuff: A Suggested Practice

click HERE for details

Friday Focus - Nov 2, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*4th graders identifying things in a story that get repeated multiple times and discussing what the author's purpose or deeper meaning was for repeating those.
*4th graders memorizing their part of the Veteran's Day medley....they are semper paratus (always ready).  We are in for a treat at Veterans Day!
*2nd graders reviewing their narrative writing with the Lucy writing checklist.
*1st graders identifying the teacher's modeling of bad reading habits, calling them out when they recognized them (do you know what "Don't do the Elsa!" means? 1st graders do!) and then also applying the good reading habits they've learned.
*A student that often struggles with losing his temper realized he was mad in flag football and sat down to take a break all on his own....our efforts to help students learn to notice and regulate their emotions is helping them do that! :)

Upcoming Events:
Monday - report card grades/comments due by 7:30am
New Teachers and Mentors meetings (separate meetings) at 3:15
Tuesday - our Playworks Coach, Atoi, will be here outside observing to give us coaching feedback
Wednesday - Report Cards to be sent home
 -Fundraiser pick-up in commons 3:00-5:30
Thursday - I will be out of the building for a training
--feel free to wear your Friday jeans on Thursday
Friday - Veterans Day Assembly 9:30 in High School gym - Please dress professionally on Friday as we will have many community members in our building for this event.

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*Please review behavior expectations with your students before taking them down to the gym for the Veterans Day Assembly. Please also make sure to be there prior to 9:30 so they are not waiting for us to get started.  

*Thank you for your efforts in helping promote attendance...it is working. Our overall attendance rates are improving!!!  If you didn't get to see the parent letter I had in this week's newsletter addressing attendance, you can read it here. You will see in that letter that we added hat day to the Monday after Thanksgiving break---something to look forward to and want to come to school for after 5 days off (I know I'm looking forward to that coming back!) 

*You will also see that we have added a Family Math Night to Tuesday, November 27th. Our goal for this evening is for parents/kids to have fun with math, everyone leave with activities they can do at home to have fun with math and for me to share some information with parents (addressing "why is math so different these days?").  We are hoping that you will help promote this night to encourage your students to attend. You are also welcome to attend if you would like!  This night is being planned by: Mrs. O'Toole, Ms. Braunschweig, Ms. Zemlicka and Mrs. Fobes so let us know if you have any questions. 

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*A Lesson from the Leaves - a beautiful reflection on student behaviors