Good morning and HAPPY TGIF to all! I hope everyone has an excellent upcoming Spring Break next week - it is our last chance to get some rest and relaxation before the push towards the end of the school year. Kelly, Paul and I will actually be taking a little trip to DisneyWorld to celebrate Paul's successful surgery and amazing recovering - I cannot wait to have breakfast with Mickey and go on Space Mountain for the first time - he finally reached the 48" height limit needed to ride it (so important to celebrate the small things in life)!
I hope everyone had an awesome week as we celebrated our annual PARP Week. Thank you all for working so hard to make this week such an incredible success. From the classroom teachers who kept the tone positive and light during PARB, to our many specialists (including Pam and Joey) who stepped in at the last minute to read during our Community Read-In event, to Lorraine who booked Jester Jim and helped plan the whole week - BRAVO Team Cantiague because the overall experience was extremely well received by the community and the end result was that the children grew as readers. The PARP Week experience ends today with PARB for students in Gr. 4 & 5. Meanwhile, in regards to Jester Jim, the children were buzzing for the rest of the day about how much they loved the whole performance and experience - it was engaging and fun! On a personal note, thank you all for cheering me on while on stage during the whole juggling experience - I was so stressed about messing up! :)
Please note that you should keep this Fast Friday Focus because it will cover the next two weeks (the weeks before and after the Spring Recess)!
Also, if you have not done so yet and would like to drop the PTA a Thank You Note for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon please feel free to leave a note in their mailbox in the Main Office or you could email Mrs. Lefkowitz or Mrs. Lorber who oversaw the whole experience - I know they would appreciate it! In the end, they did a great job because the food was delicious, the dessert was unreal and the opportunity to just get together and enjoy each other's company was priceless!
On another note, I want to thank all of our classroom teachers for the amount of hard work dedicated to generating such amazing report card comments. You all know your children so well and you were able to spotlight the positive growth and acknowledge the areas that need to approve. BRAVO to each of you - even though reading the comments is time consuming, it is an incredible experience - thank you!
Additionally, if you have not done so yet, please take a few minutes to read our Six Word Educational Mission Statements (click here) and then leave a comment about how YOU INSPIRE children (inspiration was a word that showed up in many people's mission statements)! This is a wonderful opportunity for us to qualify how we, as a learning community, inspire children to learn and grow so lets seize the opportunity!
I hope everyone had an awesome week as we celebrated our annual PARP Week. Thank you all for working so hard to make this week such an incredible success. From the classroom teachers who kept the tone positive and light during PARB, to our many specialists (including Pam and Joey) who stepped in at the last minute to read during our Community Read-In event, to Lorraine who booked Jester Jim and helped plan the whole week - BRAVO Team Cantiague because the overall experience was extremely well received by the community and the end result was that the children grew as readers. The PARP Week experience ends today with PARB for students in Gr. 4 & 5. Meanwhile, in regards to Jester Jim, the children were buzzing for the rest of the day about how much they loved the whole performance and experience - it was engaging and fun! On a personal note, thank you all for cheering me on while on stage during the whole juggling experience - I was so stressed about messing up! :)
Please note that you should keep this Fast Friday Focus because it will cover the next two weeks (the weeks before and after the Spring Recess)!
Also, if you have not done so yet and would like to drop the PTA a Thank You Note for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon please feel free to leave a note in their mailbox in the Main Office or you could email Mrs. Lefkowitz or Mrs. Lorber who oversaw the whole experience - I know they would appreciate it! In the end, they did a great job because the food was delicious, the dessert was unreal and the opportunity to just get together and enjoy each other's company was priceless!
On another note, I want to thank all of our classroom teachers for the amount of hard work dedicated to generating such amazing report card comments. You all know your children so well and you were able to spotlight the positive growth and acknowledge the areas that need to approve. BRAVO to each of you - even though reading the comments is time consuming, it is an incredible experience - thank you!
Additionally, if you have not done so yet, please take a few minutes to read our Six Word Educational Mission Statements (click here) and then leave a comment about how YOU INSPIRE children (inspiration was a word that showed up in many people's mission statements)! This is a wonderful opportunity for us to qualify how we, as a learning community, inspire children to learn and grow so lets seize the opportunity!
Finally, as you know, I devoted as much time as possible to traveling around the building to capture the AMAZINGNESS! During my visits this week, I...
- Watched Dawn working in a variety of capacities in the Sanderly's Grade 1 Co-Teaching class! From running small learning groups, to managing several behavior plans at one time, to implementing consequences and rewards depending on specific student behaviors, Dawn does it all with a smile on her face and with grace and patience - BRAVO!
- Observed several awesome things happening with the Montonellis! I had a chance to observe the children during the Book Club meeting time and I was blown away by their level of engagement and independence - WOW! The children were also doing some impressive work earlier in the week with equivalent fractions where they were fluidly using multiples to come up with equivalent fractions! Finally, they participated in the first Mystery Skype experience in our building (that I know of) where they connected with another class in the Northeast and kids from both classes were interviewing each other to figure out exactly where they were located on a map - AWESOME! Check out this short video clip from the start of the Mystery Skype experience...
- Had the chance to hear Skylar (from Team Marsen) read her winning essay about why school makes her feel good - check out a short video clip from last night's Board Meeting...
- Hung in out with the Levermans while they were working on their social studies projects related to their study of Colonial America. One partnership, who had been researching the clothes from Colonial Times, was mapping out a plan to create a diorama where they would simulate a Colonial Times Fashion Show - their thought process and planning was IMPRESSIVE!
- Had the opportunity to cover Meryl's class for about an hour on Wednesday and I had a blast! Meryl let me break the rules and do something fun so I challenged the students to create brochures about Cantiague for incoming K students and they did an AWESOME job! Thank you Meryl!
Tech Tip of the Week...
To build off last week's focus on our iPad implementation, being that most classrooms only have ONE iPad at this point, check out this great piece to check out 6 Tips for the 1 iPad Classroom...
Schedule of the Week...
Monday, March 18
"B" Week
Co-Teaching Consultant Visits Marsen, Sanderly & Montonelli
Planbooks due for ALL staff by Thursday morning!
Co-Teaching Consultant Visits Marsen, Sanderly & Montonelli
Planbooks due for ALL staff by Thursday morning!
Tuesday, March 19
NO Faculty Meeting
Suzy Kline visits with Gr. 2 - Library CLOSED
Report Cards Go Home!
Gr. 4 Class on a Trip
Suzy Kline visits with Gr. 2 - Library CLOSED
Report Cards Go Home!
Gr. 4 Class on a Trip
Wednesday, March 20
Star Lab in the Auditorium with Gr. 2
CST at 1:20pm
Gr. 4 Class on a Trip
CST at 1:20pm
Gr. 4 Class on a Trip
Thursday, March 21
Parent/Teacher Conferences - Afternoon & Evening
Friday, March 22
Happy TGIF & Happy Spring Break!
Tony goes to Penn & leaves by 10am
Tony goes to Penn & leaves by 10am
Monday, April 1
"A" Week
Welcome Back!
Welcome Back!
Tuesday, April 2
Faculty Meeting MIGHT happen!
Wednesday, April 3
DNA Trip - Alites
CST at 1:20pm
CST at 1:20pm
Thursday, April 4
Tony will be shadowing a student all day!
Friday, April 5
Happy TGIF!
Tony is at a Conference all day!
Tony is at a Conference all day!
Kids' Korner
While discussing the Jester Jim experience with a 4th Grader he said to me, "So, can I call you Tony from now on? I mean, we do go way back and you're not that much older than me!" LOL - I almost said OK because he didn't think I was that old! :)
Pics of the Week...
Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...
Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...
- Thursday, Apr. 18th
- Thursday, May 23rd
- Thursday, June 13th
Hey Tony! Thanks for the shout out! We had a great time skyping!
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