Friday Focus, December 22, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:

*Students spending the first 10 minutes after recess in silence around the room, each with their own choice of a guided meditation using the Breathe app in their headphones (this was my favorite, calm 10 minutes of the day!)

*4th graders incredibly engaged in putting together their Public Service Announcements for weather, their culminating project for their non-fiction writing unit.

*2nd graders each organizing their many topic ideas into different chapters of their book inside of a file folder, making it incredibly easy to open up and see their their brainstormed notes ready to reference as they write. (I just had to share with them that this is the same exact strategy I use when I'm writing!)

Beginning events of 2019:
Wednesday - Elementary Staff Mtg

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:
*One final request for you to please complete Miss Ganser's mid-year survey on Second Step HERE.

*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.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*Our Kindergartners just finished their reading super powers unit and they definitely have the powers to read with  pointer power, snap word power, sound power, book talk power, and persistence power (and yes, they know what persistence means!)
*1st graders were super engaged and excited as engineers building structures  to haul rocks in their PLTW Pushes & Pulls unit.
*3rd graders applying non-fiction text features they found in mentor texts to their own writing: compare/contrast, timeline, diagram. It is incredible when it's hard to recognize if it is reading or writing workshop, because they tie together so seamlessly!
*5th graders providing feedback to 3rd graders to help them with behaviors.
*An incredible music concert led by great teamwork to make it all fall in place so wonderfully!!

Events Next Week:
The reading weather forecast is calling for reading blizzards, which means you all need to be prepared with a good book to take cover and read! I will announce this forecast on Monday morning for students to know and then will email a link for you to play in your classroom whenever you want for a reading blizzard in your classroom, each day if you want!  Please go ahead and bring your own good book to enjoy reading!

Tuesday - Ugly Sweater Day -we will also have the green screen set up in the IMC. PLEASE go down with your team/colleagues to take some fun pictures together. I'll get the pictures printed for you again for a fun holiday memory gift.

Wednesday - Workout Wednesday

Thursday - Polar Pajama Day

Friday - Movie Field Trip day (I will be out of the building for a DAC meeting, so I will be crossing my fingers that everyone enjoys the trip)

Blogs, Tweets & Pins...Oh My!!!
*Helping Students Make New Years Resolutions

Friday Focus - Dec 7, 2018

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*A class making plans for how to pay it forward with kindness to others.
*Students having great math dialogue in partners as they corrected their answers by comparing their answers and then having conversation when their answers were different to try to determine who had the correct answer and what the other one's mistake was.
*A teacher problem solving with a student and parents about recognizing how the child feels when strong emotions are coming and coping strategies to calm down.
*Our Tech Ninjas (with the guidance of Sensai Abegglen) put a great deal of preparation into their Tech Ninjas Student Leadership presentation at the SLATE conference. The room was filled with about 30 teachers, tech directors and administrators and our students wowed them with their creativity, responsibility, and leadership. Kids can do incredible things when we nurture their strengths, give them voice and choice and empower them!

Events Next Week
Monday - Professional Development Day - PLTW will be in ICE room and Pyramid Model will be in the Distance Learning Room

Thursday - K/2/4th grade music concert 6:30pm

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:

"Nuts & Bolts" Notes:

*Thank you to everyone for trying to keep things as normal as possible (I know that's a challenge) while we get closer to Christmas break. The more we stray from the routine, the more our students get off track. Many of you already see students struggling to cope with added stressors at this time of the year. We can't take away the things happening in their lives outside of school that contribute to their stress, but we can always model how to remain calm, set the example and help students learn strategies to cope. 

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.

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

*Chase Growth, Not Perfection