Fast Friday Focus: Issue 9

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...