Fast Friday Focus: Issue 5

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to all and hello to a wonderful weekend ahead! It is hard to believe that we are already in the middle of October - this whole "life speeding by" thing is not working for me! Meanwhile, as a follow up to our Faculty Meeting this week, I am happy to share that everything was resolved at Paul's school regarding his aide. His new aide is Mr. Luke, who is about 20 years old and wants to be an Art Teacher. He also loves everything Marvel Comics and Star Wars so Paul has a new buddy! Thank you all for asking and caring about my family - it means so much to me!

I also want to thank our amazing teacher aides for their incredible in the Library - it is totally ready for the Halloween experience. I think you should all consider opening an interior design business together as a side job! :)

I would also like to spotlight the efforts of Christina G. who is working with one of our new second graders. Her student requires significant behavioral support and academic interventions to meet with success but no matter what the challenge, Christina always handles it with a smile and an incredibly positive attitude! Thank you for all of your work Christina!

As I mentioned at our Faculty Meeting the level of instruction and learning that is unfolding every minute of every day in our building is sick (in a really good way) and like nothing I have ever seen before in my life! I have been conducting random unannounced observations throughout the last month and no matter what time of day, I can always stumble upon something amazing happening in one of your spaces - BRAVO! This week I had a chance to spend some time in the Literacy Lab with both Ginny's and Jill's classes as they were getting ready to select a piece from their writing folders for publication as part of the Writing Workshop experience. The thoughtfulness and collaborative opportunities that unfolded while the children narrowed down their choices was impressive. While visiting with Jill's children, I was blown away by the conversations that were taking place between writing buddies who were trying to help each other select the best piece for publication! Then I had a chance to watch Lesley and her kids during the Shared Reading experience and they were working on the Envisioning skill, which could be so challenging. Lesley had the children create their own "movie strip" where they sketched the images they visualized after reading a poem - really important skill for the children to master! Additionally, I had a chance to visit Risa's room while the children were engaged in drafting their writing pieces and preparing them for publication. It was so awesome watching all the children immersed in their work - not one head looked up the entire time - while both Risa and Terri were conferring with students and offering them feedback on their writing - it was truly impressive!

I also had a chance to spend time in the Science room with Laurie and the fourth graders and had a lot of fun watching them fully immerse rocks in different types of solutions to see if they would erode or start falling apart. The children were so excited and could not wait to see the results of their experiments - this is exactly what a science experience should include - enthusiasm and excitement about the scientific process! Furthermore, I had a chance to spend some time with both our FLES teachers - Milissa and Ilene - and really enjoyed watching how much fun the children were having in both 1st and 4th grades! Milissa had the children presenting various skits in Spanish and the kids did such an awesome job - not only performing, but also speaking completely in Spanish! Then Ilene had the first graders taking turns identifying the different colors in Spanish, which they all did correctly and were able to come up to the board to color in different objects with the correctly identified colors - MUY BIEN! I also had a chance to visit Allison's classroom two days in a row while the children were launching back to back independent reading time and needless to say, I was really impressed. It was their first time really experiencing their "just right" books and using a process where the books they read were in one pile and the books they still needed to read were in another pile. The children were actively engaged the whole time and were excited about reading - that is the bottom line - instilling a love for reading in our children! Finally, I got to hang out in the Library while Lorraine was reading a book to a kindergarten class and words cannot do it any justice but all I can say is if you have some free time, you have to watch Lorraine read a Piggie and Gerald book to a class - it is one of the most dynamic and engaging experiences you will ever have! Again, thank you all for sharing these amazing learning opportunities with me!

Tech Tip of the Week...

In case you haven't heard, MORE teachers in our building have started a blog as a result of the recent Blogging 101 session. Instead of spotlighting outside tech resources, I would like to share some more of the wonderful blogs started in our school...

Team Marsen- http://teammarsen.blogspot.com/

Team Montonelli- http://montonelli.blogspot.com/

Weisblack- http://teamweisblack.blogspot.com/ - still under construction!

Please check out the blogs and leave some comments - everyone would appreciate it! I also look forward to sharing more blogs in the future!

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, October 15

Gr. 5 Author Visit at JPL- 9am

Gr. 1 Trip - BOCES Outdoor Ed

Tuesday, October 16

Book Fair - Please Follow Schedule

Wednesday, October 17

CST at 1:20pm

Book Fair - Please Follow Schedule

Book Fair Evening Grand Event - 6PM - Hank and I will be doing a read aloud!

PTA Meeting - 7PM - M.S. Library for an Introduction to Math In Focus

Thursday, October 18

Book Fair - last day for any kids who forgot money during the week!
Math in Focus Staff Development- Gr. K-2

Board of Education Meeting - 7:30PM in the M.S. Library

Friday, October 19

Happy Friday!
Carvel Sale

Tony is at Penn this weekend - gone by 10:30am on Friday

Kids' Korner

The other day I was walking behind two third grade girls who were discussing being bucket fillers when one turned to the other and said, "I think so many people have filled my bucket that I might need a second one!" That totally made my week!

Pics of the Week...