Fast Friday Focus: 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Holiday Party Fun

Thank you so much to our amazing Sunshine Team for planning such an awesome holiday party - it seems like many people had a great time - I know I did! Here are some pictures from the wonderful event...

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Issue 11 - Dec. 14

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful, productive and positive week - I know although it was busy for me, it was awesome because I saw such incredible stuff (see the details below)! Please hold on to this newsletter until after the break because it covers that first week back!

I must begin by extending a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Melanie and her FIANCE Matt!! It was so awesome that Cantiague served as the backdrop for this special moment - may you both always be happy and remember to always communicate and never go to sleep mad each other (that is what my dad told me the night before our wedding but its harder than it sounds). On another note, thank you again to everyone for asking about Kelly - her back is feeling great and she is back to normal! We have officially reached Paul's actual birthday weekend - tomorrow is the big day and he is so excited to be celebrating all over again but this time with his family (we actually get to be included this time).

I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season - regardless of the holiday, I hope everyone takes the time to celebrate, rejoice and rejuvenate as we prepare to usher in 2013. It is hard to believe that we are entering our 6th year of working together -time does fly when you're having fun! Thank you for giving me the honor of being the Lead Learner of this incredible learning community -I learn so much from each of you as I walk around this building each day! Just this week I learned from Lisa P. that I could write on the tables/desks in our classrooms using dry-erase markers and then everything can be erased - AWESOME! I also learned how to correctly place my tongue to make the "S" sound from Lois - thank you! Finally, Meryl stumped me this week with an awesome poem about a safety pin that I thought was some sort of sea creature- thank you all for helping me grow!

Meanwhile, just some important reminders for the next few days...

SLO Targets due for all K-2 teachers in Math & ELA in early January- please see me if you have any questions or need any assistance completing the information!
Monday morning, at 7:55am, will be our Staff Photo - please join me for some fun! We may also take a school-wide picture either indoors or outdoors depending on the weather; that picture will take place right after morning announcements!
Holiday Luncheon and Party on Wednesday- lets get ready for some fun!

I also had a lot of time to spend in different classrooms and spaces and cannot express how much I value and treasure this time with each of you and our kids - I learn so much! During my visits this week, I...

Spent some time in Mandy's room where the children were learning about how to add one to a number within the Math In Focus program. During the math period, Mandy had the children create a human number line, pulled a small group for additional support, had the children play a game using dice and had the children come up to the SMARTBoard to show their work - it was awesome!

Spent some time in Lesley's class while she introduced the concept of personification within poetry as part of their unit of study in Writing Workshop. After introducing the concept with a short video clip of SpongeBob (awesome connection for the kids), the children left the rug with enthusiasm and generated some awesome poems - their use of personification was impressive!

Spent some time in the Learning Center and have really enjoyed watching the work that Jeanne and Karina do with our children - they are a wonderful team; while visiting, Jeanne was working one to one with a 1st grader to help him build his literacy/reading skills with explicit instruction. Karina was working with a small group of kindergarten students and they were working on developing their literacy skills - the small group works so well for them!

Finally, I have had the chance to sit in on two grade level planning meetings with Lisa DeRienzo and the conversations have been impressive. Both grades 1 and 3 spent time thinking about how to increase the amount of time devoted to small group instruction, which is so important in this day and age of Common Core Standards!

Tech Tip of the Week...

Magisto.com is an often used web tool for quickly taking video from an activity such as a field trip or class project and mashing it together with music to create a nice, professional-looking video that is interesting and can easily be shared. Even better, while Magisto is a web tool, it is also a fantastic app for the iPhone or Droids, so now you can shoot video with your phone and have the video ready to go in mere minutes.

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, December 17

Happy Monday
"A" Week
Planbooks Due This Week for ALL Staff (in whatever form)
Staff Photo at 7:55am - please join me!

Tuesday, December 18

Faculty Meeting at 3PM for all staff

Wednesday, December 19

Staff Holiday Luncheon - A Thank You from Tony
CST at 1:20pm
5th Grade Bake Sale
Staff Holiday Party

Thursday, December 20
SECRET - 5th Grade Student vs. Staff Volleyball Game
Cultural Arts

Friday, December 7
Happy Friday & Happy December Break!
Payday

Wednesday, January 2

Happy New Year! Happy 2013!
CST at 1:20pm

Thursday, January 3

Cultural Arts

Friday, January 4

Happy Friday!

Kids' Korner

If anyone needs a smile, just come outside during Kindergarten recess and watch them playing on the sandy playground - it is a special experience!!

Pics of the Week...

Check it out - dry erase markers work on our tables/desks!

Sam practicing his sight words using the iPad- awesome!

Lisa P conducting a 1:1 conference with special reading glasses!

Nancy doing a small group math lesson while Carly teaches the rest of the class

Julie pushing in & working with a small group in Kindergarten

Rande working with a small group to teach PEMDAS

Max, in Allison's class, learning to read!

Country Volleyball Fiesta in the gym!

Chase, author in Mandy's class, sharing his work!

Alex reading to Buddy - the kids love the Reading to Dogs program!

Gr. 1 partnerships practicing Fundations Trick Words (I think...)

2nd Grade Spanish Fun with Ilene!

1:1 reading work with Jeanne!

Karina working with a small group from K!

1st Grade planning meeting with Lisa D!

Jill working to catch a pair of students up after returning from reading!

Melanie & Josh in a 1:1 reading conference!

Allison & Bryan involved in 1:1 literacy work!

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

Thursday, Jan. 17th
Thursday, Jan. 31st
Thursday, Feb. 7th
Thursday, Mar. 14th
Thursday, Apr. 18th
Thursday, May 23rd
Thursday, June 13th

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Issue 10 - Nov. 30

Curriculum Connections...

Happy TGIF to the most amazing team of professionals I have ever had the honor of working with in my entire career! As you all know, last week, before Thanksgiving, I was out for two days with the worst cold/fever/sore throat I had in years. In fact, I had not been out sick from work in almost six years so the whole experience was stressing me out (you know - so much to do, so little time). In the end though, the thing that really meant most to me (besides Kelly putting up with me being cranky and whiney) were all the text messages and emails from each of you. Your genuine concern and care seriously made me feel better - thank you so much for your unending support! Meanwhile, Happy December to everyone - that is correct- tomorrow is the start of the last month of the year! We are actually celebrating Paul's 8th birthday tomorrow with some laser tag with 40 of his closest friends (ok, first of all, these birthday parties are going to make me broke and second of all, 40 friends? Really- I don't think I have 4 friends- but thats a whole other story!). I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and please note that this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so please hold on to it because there is a lot going on!

This week featured a lot of great stuff happening in our school. Our 3rd Graders had an amazing day yesterday with Brian Heinz, who literally had every 3rd grader hanging on his every word for over an hour while he told stories that inspired his writing. His passion and enthusiasm was truly inspiring to everyone sitting in the room. Watching him and the kids react to him solidified for me that our Author's In Residence Program is something that will resonate with our children for years and is worth every penny. A special thank you to Lorraine for making it happen - you are the best Library and Media Specialist around - hands down! I also had a lot of time to spend in different classrooms and spaces and cannot express how much I value and treasure this time with each of you and our kids - I learn so much! During my visits this week, I saw...

Jen and Joe conduct math stations, where the children were immersed in various activities related to geometry. They were learning about things like lines of symmetry, corners and sides. Within the station experience the children worked with everything from 3D shapes to 2D folding activities where they created new shapes - it was awesome to watch this transference and evolution from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract- impressive! And their management system was tight and effective - highly recommend people check out their transitions from one station to the next!

Lorraine working with our Kindergarten students and introducing them to the Sad Book and Glad Book paper puppets. The children's enthusiastic engagement with these puppets was amazing to watch and they clearly communicated their understandings of how to correctly handle a book so that they never encountered Sad Book again - it was hysterical. Needless to say, the highlight of the period was listening to Lorraine's dynamic read aloud- so AWESOME!! And to hear the conversations throughout the read aloud where she challenged the children to make inferences based on the pictures was terrific!

Ginny lead a fun and engaging writing workshop experience where her class has recently embarked on a study of FUNctional writing. It was great to watch the lesson from start to finish because Ginny seamlessly employed the gradual release of responsibility for learning from teacher to students. She used an anchor text to model how to create a list; she then guided them through discussions with their partners about what they observed in the text; next the children worked in small groups to generate their own lists; and finally, she brought the whole class back together for a whole group share- it was so great because the children were so excited and the room was buzzing!

Some fun independent reading time in Jill's classroom. The children were in their comfortable independent reading spots and I had a chance to read with a couple of the children and was impressed with their use of post-its and their growth since the beginning of the year. While the children were reading, Jill was conducting several independent reading conferences. Being that this was happening at 2:30pm it could have been chaotic but it wasn't because all of the children were engaged and Jill clearly laid out the expectations - AWESOME!

I got to watch some awesome math work when I visited with Carolyn, Meryl and Janine! Carolyn had gathered all of her students on the rug and they sat in a circle as they practiced subtraction with regrouping, which can be challenging but having the kids sit so closely together, Carolyn maintained close proximity and was able to monitor each child's progress. Then Meryl was reviewing various concepts related to division as the children were preparing for a test the next day. The review session was comprehensive and allowed for both independent practice and partnership work where the children played a game - the kids had so much fun! Finally, Janine also did work with subtraction with regrouping that also involved zeros, which could be challenging but Janine broke it down step by step and the children successfully tackled the work. When the children worked in groups, Janine quickly pulled a group to support their understandings - what a great time for a small group!

Finally, I had a chance to spend time in Carly and Nancy's room during their Scientist of the Week experience where Ethan N. showed the children the salt water test. He was so adorable and thorough - he tested using different liquids to complete a circuit and conduct electricity based on how much salt is in the liquid. Be careful - there is salt in chocolate milk and apple juice - I learned a lot from Ethan!

Tech Tip of the Week...

This week I would like to offer two great tech resources...

1. Check out LearnZillion, which Tali shared with me. This is a great resource for Common Core lessons and resources - it is an impressive collection of lessons - check it out!

2. Check out Find It! which can be found on the home page of the Library page on our website. Lorraine is really excited about this one because it is an easy way to find resources on any subject that can quickly be gathered because it accesses various databases. See Lorraine about this one!

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, December 3

Happy Monday
PTA Joint Open Council
Parent/Teacher Conference Week

Tuesday, December 4

PTA Holiday Boutique
Faculty Meeting Cancelled
Report Cards GO HOME!!

Wednesday, December 5

Picture Retake Day

Staff Photo at 7:50am - please join me!
5th Grade Photos at about 9:25am

PTA Holiday Boutique

CST at 1:20pm

Thursday, December 6
PTA Holiday Boutique
Parent/Teacher Conferences: 3-5pm; 7-9pm

Friday, December 7
Happy Friday!
Payday
Tony is Penn and leaving at 10:30am

Monday, December 10

Co-Teaching Consultant visiting Teams Marsen, Montonelli & Sanderly
Happy Monday!
Ed Friedlander's Retirement Party - 4:30pm

Tuesday, December 11

Faculty Meeting at 3pm in the Library

Wednesday, December 12

CST at 1:20pm

Thursday, December 13

Board of Education Meeting at Jackson

Cultural Arts

Friday, December 14

Happy Friday!
Carvel Ice Cream Sale
Nancy Krulik Author Visit with Grade 4- Library Closed!

Kids' Korner

While visiting Nancy and Carly's classroom for their Scientist of the Week, I asked a child to speak louder because I am old and deaf to which one of the students responded, "Oh no- we have problems - our principal is deaf!" LOL!!

Pics of the Week...

Abby & Kareena playing during center time - such an important part of life in Kindergarten!

K students enjoying their time in the Library! Lorraine has really created an amazing space!

Ethan, who is Scientist of the Week, and showing everyone the Salt Test!

Brian Heinz showing our 3rd Graders how to enhance their writing- they hung on his every word!

Fun independent reading time in Jill's room!

Oliver is too cute & he did such an awesome job reading this book to me!

Allison discussing the idea of labels during the read aloud experience.

Mandy encouraging David to identify Word Wall words in their Shared Text!

Rosanna conducted a small group game experience to help reinforce division skills!

Alex with a small group playing a fun math game on the SMARTBoard!

Brian Heinz holding the attention of 75 3rd Graders for almost an hour- IMPRESSIVE!

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

Thursday, Dec. 13th
Thursday, Jan. 17th
Thursday, Jan. 31st
Thursday, Feb. 7th
Thursday, Mar. 14th
Thursday, Apr. 18th
Thursday, May 23rd
Thursday, June 13th

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Faculty Meeting Information

Hello everyone! Here are some of the links discussed at the Faculty Meeting today...

1) Common Core Sample Tests – click on the following link (and please feel free to email this link to your parents or include the link in an upcoming BLOG posting if you are blogging – this is an important resource) and scroll all the way done for the different grade levels… http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/common-core-sample-questions/

2) Engage NY Teacher Guides – these were also distributed at the Faculty Meeting but here is the link if you are interested in using them in some way… http://engageny.org/resource/test-guides-for-english-language-arts-and-mathematics

3) QR Code – here is the link for creating one of those cool bar code/scanner things - http://www.delivr.com/ - remember, this is a web based resource so you must link other websites to it. Check out the one below…

4) Print What You Like – click on this link to try out this resource where you can box out exactly the things you want to print out from specific websites. Could be a great resource for Shared Reading – showing just the text for a few days and then including the whole page as the week unfolds… http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/

Also, here are some fun pics from my visits in the classrooms yesterday and today - ENJOY because I know I did...

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Issue 9 - Nov. 16

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to everyone as we reach the mid-point of November! Please note that this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so please hold on to it because there is a lot going on after Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. It was a great week in the Sinanis household. We had an awesome time in Washington DC (I highly recommend it as a little family get-a-way) and Paul had a wonderful report card followed up by a great Parent/Teacher Conference. It is always awesome to hear that other people love your child and are devoted to his success. Also, I am proud to share that Paul was elected to be Student Council President at his school - he is so excited! It is great to watch him grow up and want to represent the other kids and advocate for their rights - I am so proud to be his dad!

This week also featured the Blue Ribbon Ceremony, which was really nice as well. Thanks to MaryAnn for joining me (and Kelly & Paul - Paul thinks he has a new best friend in MaryAnn and can't wait to hang out with her again- LOL!). Although it was a hectic week, it was so amazing to celebrate our school community last night during the Curriculum Fair and the Board Meeting. First off, all of our teachers did an AWESOME job with the Curriculum Fair experience this year. Walking around the building from 6pm to almost 7:15pm was an incredible experience for me. Watching parents read with their children or do science experiments with their children or play literacy games with their children or even learn how to create a blog with their children was a night I will never forget. And to think it was put together in less than a week makes it even more impressive! A special thank you to Lois Z. for transforming our school into a Museum of Art. The Faculty Room looked amazing and the Board of Education Members could not stop raving about everything they saw in that room and throughout the building - BRAVO LOIS! Another special thank you to Joey, Joe, Lisa, Omar and Edwin for getting our building ready to host yet another Board Meeting. Our building looked spotless and I repeatedly heard people commenting about how it looked like we could eat off the floors - BRAVO Joey and team because no matter what the request, you always make it happen with ease and grace - THANK YOU!!

You are all such an inspiration for me and being the lead learner in our school is an incredible honor that I value and treasure. Please know that I meant every word last night at the Board Meeting about all the amazing things that happen in our building each day - this is a special place for all teachers and learners! Finally, thank you all for coming out last night for the Board Meeting - the strong Cantiague presence filled me with such pride and knowing that Board of Regents Tilles was there to watch it all, made even more special... thank you for making our school a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School - WE ROCK!!

Even though its been a crazy last couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to observe some terrific things throughout the building. This week, I am going to try a bulleted list for sharing my experiences and observations, which I think will make them easier to read! During my visits this week, I saw...

Allison's students were involved in various centers, such as math and writing, which were impressive because the children were working independently and were actively engaged. In one group they were developing their basic number sense and solidifying their work with numbers 1-10 through a Bingo game - it was great to watch!

Lorraine, Alex and Rosanna worked collaboratively to create an amazing environment in the library (see the pic below) where children were beyond excited about picking new books. Our library is such a special place and while I was there, I saw Lorraine and Rosanna going from shelf to shelf with different students to pick the perfect books while Alex was checking out books - another example of the awesome team work that permeates our building!

As we know, the Common Core Standards are really pushing exposure to nonfiction texts and resources and throughout my visits I saw many students interacting with nonfiction texts. For example, both Karen and Melanie (see the pics below) were both doing read alouds with nonfiction texts as the anchors and the conversations in the classroom were impressive - who needs Common Core Standards when Cantiague goes way above and beyond??

Some amazing small group work that helped re-teach, pre-teach or create extension opportunities for our students. We know the affects of small group instruction and how positive they can be for children and over the last week, I have seen an abundance of small group activities, which is awesome! I watched Joe, Karina, Donna and Christine use small groups and manipulatives to help teach specific math concepts. Additionally, I had a chance to watch Tali, Marissa, Nancy and Carly use small group to help solidify different literacy/social studies concepts, which is awesome! The presence of small group instruction is critical and seeing it throughout the building speaks to the fact that we are meeting our kids' needs!

Finally, I had a chance to observe some 4th graders in the gym during a Cup Staking activity and I was really impressed with the collaborative efforts being employed by the children to create the tallest and sturdiest towers - it was fun and meaningful at the same time - nice work Rob & Phil!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As I mentioned in one of my October newsletters, I had the opportunity to attend the Long Island Tech Summit and I was exposed to some really great resources and tools that can enhance the classroom experience. One site you may want to check out is www.ujam.com, which is a great site for letting kids create their own music that they could even add to a presentation - let me know what you think!

Also, I want to share the link to Tali and Marissa's blog, which made its debut last night at the Curriculum Fair - please read it and leave them some comments...

http://levermanlearners.blogspot.com/

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, November 19

Happy Monday - 3 day week

Tuesday, November 20

Faculty Meeting Cancelled

Wednesday, November 21

Payday

CST at 1:20pm

First Marking Period Ends

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Monday, November 26

Planbooks Due for All Staff by Thursday

Tuesday, November 27

Faculty Meeting at 3pm in the Library

Visitors will be in our building from UPenn - we look forward to visiting different rooms!

Wednesday, November 28
CST at 1:20pm
SEPTA Meeting at 7pm

Thursday, November 29
Brian Heinz visits 3rd Grade - Library is Closed
Compact Committee Meeting at 3pm
Cultural Arts

Friday, November 30
Happy Friday!
Literacy Forum taking place in the Library all morning

Kids' Korner

Last night, during the Curriculum Fair, while walking around, I heard one parent say to another, "I am having such a great time tonight - school was never like this for me growing up!" And I think that says it all about our school - the experience at Cantiague is unique and powerful - THANK YOU ALL for making that our daily reality!

Pics of the Week...