Issue 22 - Apr. 26

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to everyone! All I can say is that this day could not have come soon enough... LONGEST couple of weeks EVER! Between the state testing, various meetings, some student behavior issues and other stuff, this has been quite a busy time. Fortunately, the weekend is upon us and the opportunity to rest and unwind (in my case, doing HW for Penn) is finally here. I am hopeful that everyone can come out to Happy Hour for a little while today because a Cantiague celebration (for Dr. Sapienza, Joey's birthday, etc.) is always a fun time! 

As this week, and the majority of the NYS Testing comes to a close, I would like to extend a special thank you to Pam who came in early each day of state testing to help me package the tests! Also, thanks to Kim Kelly who stepped in to man the Main Office while Pam was helping me - there is nothing like the team work here at Cantiague - this is what makes us a special place! I also want to take a moment to commend our students and each of you for all of your hard in preparing our students for the Math assessments! Our children did an outstanding job and it is because of each of you. I had the pleasure of administering the assessment to a bunch of students and I was blown away by their understandings of concepts and how critically they were thinking throughout the process—BRAVO team Cantiague and especially our Math leader and expert— Mr. Joe P.!


As the weather improves, spring kicks into full effect and our children become less focused in class, lets try and remember a few important things:

1. We need to keep the children engaged at all times—the longer children are engaged, the more productive and positive the tone of the building will remain!

2. This is an opportune time for project/passion based learning activities where children have a chance to apply the different skills and strategies they have learned throughout the year in the different areas. This is also a great way to infuse the iPads and let the kids create! If you are doing anything, please let me know and I will be happy to help your initiatives!

3. Reinforce the need to be safe, positive, responsible, kind and respectful everyday!

This week also allowed me the opportunity to publish two new blog posts... one related to state testing and my frustrations - How Will This Help? ... and a second one that I wrote with a friend of mine, Tom, who is a principal in Wisconsin entitled Everything We Need To Know We Learned on Twitter (we wrote this together using Google Docs- the power of collaborating is AWESOME)! Check them if you have time and are interested!

Please note that you should keep this Fast Friday Focus because it will cover the next two weeks!

Unfortunately, the state testing took up so much of my time this week so I had limited time in the classroom but I know there are still so many amazing things happening in our building! This week I got to see some limited stuff...

• Laurie engaged the third graders in a really fun hands-on activity where they had to construct resources to support the pollination of a seed! The kids made boats, helicopters, parachutes and other stuff so they could see how a seed physically travels for the purposes of pollination - AWESOME! 

• The kids in Meryl's class were working in groups using laptops, iPads and desktops to create their own little music videos to songs where they wrote the lyrics! It was so awesome to watch the children engaged in this opportunity to collaborate and create!

• I got to hang out in Carolyn's room during independent reading time and the children were so excited to share the books that they were reading. They were engaged, focused and engrossed in their reading. All the while, Carolyn was using her iPad to confer with students and make notes of her observations - great use of that resource!

• I got to see Christine and Donna's class with Clare in the auditorium preparing for their upcoming Recorder Spring Concert and they were doing such an excellent job and they were having fun at the same time. 

• Finally, I got to visit Joe's room during the Grade 2 Math Enrichment period and I was in awe of their work. The children were engaged in some awesome games and they were applying all their problem solving and critical thinking skills all while having a blast- BRAVO!

Tech Tip of the Week...

Thanks to some of the response I got last week, a couple of people shared some great resources...

Dawn Camilleri shared the link to this great blog that is rich in resources for teachers... Teaching Blog Addict 

Jeanne Boyle used this cool app with her students - check it out - Educreations

Lisa Palmieri highly recommends this app - Running Record Calculator


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK...

Monday, April 29

"A" Week
Planbooks due for ALL staff by Wednesday morning!

Tuesday, April 30

Faculty Meeting for TEACHERS ONLY
Gr. 3 Planning Meeting with Lisa D. - Lit Lab Closed!
Staff Luncheon

Wednesday, May 1

Incoming Kindergarten Student Orientation - Literacy Lab CLOSED for the day!
NO CST - Meeting to Plan for next K Orientation
Gr. 3 Chicken Incubation Experience

Thursday, May 2

Happy Thursday!
Tony is out all day - religious holiday!

Friday, May 3

Happy TGIF!
Tony is out all day - religious holiday!

Monday, May 6

"B" Week
Co-Teaching Consultant Visits 

Tuesday, May 7

Faculty Meeting for all staff
Gr. 5 Planning Meeting with Lisa D. - Lit. Lab Closed 

Wednesday, May 8

DNA Trip - Alites
CST at 1:20pm
Gr. 3 & 4 Spring Concert - details to follow!

Thursday, May 9

Incoming Kindergarten Student Orientation Pt. II - Library CLOSED for the day!
Final Compact Committee Meeting of the Year!

Friday, May 10

Happy TGIF!
Career Day - schedule to follow!
Pre-Paid Carvel Ice Cream Sale

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...

WEEK IN TWEETS - APRIL 26

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

• Thursday, May 23rd
• Thursday, June 13th

Issue 21 - Apr. 19

Curriculum Connections...

Happy TGIF to everyone - I, for one, am THRILLED that it is Friday! This has been one of the longest weeks of the year for me (and many of you)! 

I apologize for my crankiness on most mornings this week - please know it was not directed at anyone but it was a sign of my frustration with these ridiculous state assessments. We are not supposed to talk or write about the tests but this is all I will say... in what other area of our lives do we expect 8, 9, 10 and 11 year olds to sit quietly for almost two hours just reading and writing without a break for three days in a row? Sitting quietly is hard enough for two hours but to have to read and then try and answer questions that are completely set up to trick them (THREE DAYS in a row) is RIDICULOUS! You want them to read a text and then show an understanding? FINE - then give them questions or opportunities to show their understandings and new knowledge. Don't ask them to describe which paragraph BEST supports this, that or the other... who reads for those purposes? NOT ME! And guess what, I turned out ok (I think) - I went to college and I have a job that I love even though I am not the best reader in the world! This whole experience angers me as a parent, educator and advocate for kids because I do not believe there is a crisis in the world of public education today - this crisis is being generated by politicians, commissioners of education and the media and I don't think it is rooted in facts or research! If "they" really want to fix the crisis in our educational system, then address the issues of race, class and segregation - those are the problems that the Common Core and these tests will NEVER fix! Ok - that is all I will say - I am stepping off my soap box now - thank you for letting me rant and rave! 

On another note, I want to thank all of you for your incredible work at our Faculty Meeting this week. I thought the conversations that filled our Library were AMAZING, RICH and REFLECTIVE of our growth, development and the direction were are headed. I really enjoyed the perspectives shared from each group, the development of ideas in a vertical way from one grade level to the next. I also value the work that we still have to do - teaching and learning is an ongoing process that never ends and our curriculum is a living "document" that can be modified, enhanced and enriched. For me, it was clear, that two things we want to address, school-wide, next year, is developing an "argument" in writing using evidence and faithfully using the Shared Reading platform to support all reading (close reading too) strategies and skills. 

Furthermore, a special thank you to all our amazing teachers, aides and specialists who proctored the torturous exams this week - your positive and supportive approach made such a difference for the children!

Unfortunately, the state testing took up so much of my week that I had limited time in the classroom but I know there are still so many amazing things happening in our building! This week I got to see some limited stuff...

• Ilene was nice enough to let me hijack her read aloud of the Spanish version of Hungry Caterpillar in Lesley's class and I had such a blast! I was really impressed with the childrens' developing vocabulary in Spanish - they knew colors, adjectives and certain nouns - MUY BIEN! 

• The fourth graders are doing some awesome work with animal research projects! The kids are learning as much as possible about each animal and are working on different presentations - I saw a couple of really cool Prezis - WOW!

• I got to hang out with Karina and her small Kindergarten group while they were playing Subtraction Bowling to help them build their basic number skills and their automaticity with different subtraction facts!

• I spent time in both Kindergarten classrooms this week and was impressed with their literacy work. For example, the children were being introduced to digraphs and they were working on identifying and building compound words. Mandy and Allison found ways to make these learning experiences hands-on and in some cases enhanced with technology. 

• I got to visit in Jen and Joe's room during their math instructional block and was impressed with the small groups that were running and the children's ability to employ different mental math facts - cool stuff!

Tech Tip of the Week...

Thanks to some of the response I got last week, a couple of people shared some great resources...

Janine Maione shared - Reader's Theater Scripts - her kids LOVE this creative way to expand the reading experience!

Jeanne Boyle shared a link to the following blog - iPad in the Classroom and it has a lot of awesome resources for iPad usage in the classroom!

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, April 22

"B" Week

Tuesday, April 23

Happy Tuesday!

Wednesday, April 24

CST at 1:20pm
MATH TESTING Gr. 3-5

Thursday, April 25

MATH TESTING Gr. 3-5
Happy Birthday Joey!

Friday, April 26

Happy TGIF!
MATH TESTING Gr. 3-5

Kids' Korner

While testing a fourth grader in my office, he says, "Mr. Sinanis, I think I am smarter than the people who made up the ELA!" AMEN to that! 

Pics of the Week...

Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...

WEEK IN TWEETS - APRIL 19

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

• Thursday, May 23rd
• Thursday, June 13th

Issue 20 - Apr. 12

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a wonderful week. I want to begin by congratulating Daisy and Jackie again on their impending bundles of joy - we know you are both going to be great moms! Thank you to Sunshine for throwing such a great baby shower - the cake was delicious! Thank you to Joey, Joe and crew for getting everything set up and cleaned up afterwards. I also want to officially welcome Caitlyn, who is working in Jen and Joe's room - we are so happy to have you. Also, Ashley will be taking over for Jackie while she is out so please say hi when you see her in either Ginny's or Lesley's room next week! 

On another note, I also want to thank all of you for indulging me in allowing me to share my experiences from Tuesday - the share was extremely cathartic for me and I hope it was somewhat interesting to you. Tuesday was a reminder that no matter how stressful and crazy things get, staying calm and looking for the humor are great coping strategies for me. I am looking forward to our Faculty Meeting next week as we begin to unpack the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts (please remember that one person from every grade level should come to the meeting with their iPad to take notes - I recommend using Evernote).

Additionally, a special thank you to Mandy, Allison and Joan who helped me welcome our incoming Kindergarten parents at Orientation the other night. We officially have 52 munchkins registered for September, which means we are definitely going to have three classes next year. Also, a special thank you to Ally G. for putting together an amazing video, featuring our kids, that we shared with the parents at the Orientation experience. Check it out here...

KINDERGARTEN VIDEO

As we all know, state testing is coming up next week. It means that every free room in the building is being occupied and it is important that we try to keep the building as quiet and calm as possible to support our students being tested. Please review the email with all the scheduling changes and if you are proctoring the test, please read the directions in advance so you know what the children will be experiencing! I hope you will all join me in making next week a NO HW Week, at least in grades 3, 4 & 5 - they need a break! Just so you know, on the days of the state test, I will be in by 6:30am to package them so they are available for pick up by 7:30am. Remember, no one is allowed to score their own tests - just administer the test, collect them, put them in alphabetical order and submit them to me. An email will come out early next week for all the scheduling changes for the Math State Tests, so be on the lookout for that email.

Fortunately, it is not all about state testing in our building. There are so many amazing things happening in our building and I am lucky enough to see them during my many visits. This week I got to see...

• Kim use a "Verbal Exit Slip" at the end of her speech session with three students. The children were encouraged to reflect on what they practiced and reflect on what they did well. It was so awesome to hear them reflect on their learning. Check out this 10 second video clip of Alex sharing his learning...

• I also had a chance to visit with Christine, Donna and Melanie's classrooms as they were launching Shared Reading. The children were all provided an excerpt from a graphic novel that they are in the process of dissecting over the course of the week. It was such a powerful and appropriate way to expose the children to a different genre and then model how to navigate this very different type of text. This definitely speaks to the power of Shared Reading - thank you!

• I also had a chance to visit with Lesley's class while they were in the Computer Lab and they were working on their Planet PowerPoints. I was so impressed by how well they were navigating PowerPoint and how thoughtful they were about the information they included and the details they were attending to in order to enhance their presentations - great to watch!

• I also spent some time in Ginny's room and was so inspired by the stories the children were publishing as part of the Writing Workshop experience. The stories were well written, had a clear beginning, middle and end and also featured beautiful illustrations - we have some serious authors on our hands!

• Finally, I hung out in Risa's room where Risa, Jeanne and Terri were all working with different groups of children to help them generate science themed mathematics word problems. The children were so engaged and Jeanne found a way to seamlessly integrate the iPad into the experience - it was an awesome site!

I know I said it at the Faculty Meeting but it warrants being said again - the quality of instruction in our building far surpasses any amount or type of test prep - KUDOS TO YOU!

Tech Tip of the Week...

To continue building on our work with the iPads, one of the great things you can do is create videos of your students participating in various activities within the classroom. Once these videos are created, which can be student produced and directed (remember, kids collaborating and creating is a great way to use the iPads), you could upload them to a secure site where you can then easily share links to the videos with the parents. By doing this, you dont have to worry about trying to email the actual video, which may be too large! The two best options that I know about are...

YouTube - where you can create your own private account (links to a gmail account if you have one). You can then download the YouTube app to your iPad and once you shoot a video, you merely click on the arrow at the top of the video and one of the choices that will come up is YouTube (along with emailing or texting the video directly). You can then upload the video to YouTube and just click on the setting that says UNLISTED as the way to load the videos and then, only people who you share the link with can actually see the video. The other great feature about YouTube is that connects perfectly to Blogger if you use that for a class blog!

Vimeo - another web based video hosting site (that also has an app for the iPad) where you can upload videos and then email links to parents!

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, April 15

"A" Week
Tax Day!

Tuesday, April 16

ELA TESTING Gr. 3-5
Faculty Meeting at 3PM

Wednesday, April 17

CST at 1:20pm
ELA TESTING Gr. 3-5

Thursday, April 18

ELA TESTING Gr. 3-5
Board of Education Meeting at 7:30pm

Friday, April 19

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

While playing handball at recess with some kids earlier in the week (and beating them all), one of them said, "Mr. Sinanis, if handball was an Olympic sport, you could win a gold medal!" LOL! I think this is seriously my only chance at Olympic glory - assuming my opponent is a 3rd Grader! LOL! 

Pics of the Week...

Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...

APRIL 15 WEEK IN TWEETS

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

• Thursday, Apr. 18th
• Thursday, May 23rd
• Thursday, June 13th

Issue 19 - Apr. 5

Curriculum Connections...

HAPPY TGIF! I hope everyone had a wonderful first week back from Spring Recess. It was a really busy week and I can't wrap my head around the fact that we entering the final stretch of the school year - this has been the fastest year ever! The next few weeks are going to fly by between state testing, literacy planning meetings with Lisa D., end of year trips, WRAP testing, Reorganization Meetings and a bunch of other things. With that in mind, I am hoping we can all stay as stress-free as possible - the tone we create in the building directly impacts our kids!

As some of you may know, yesterday I spent the day shadowing a student in Rande's class. I made the choice to do this because I felt it was really important for me to see our school through the eyes of a student - our most important "clients"! I wanted to see what we were doing well, what we could be doing better and I wanted to get a feeling about how our kids see our school. Well, the experience was unbelievable for me. First off, a special thank you to Rande for hosting me for the day and making me feel like one of her students - they even called Tony for the day (that hasn't happened since I was a fourth grade teacher in the city where all the students called the teachers by their first name). During my day in 5th Grade I had a chance to play Math Jeopardy, practiced the Chorus songs in Music class with Clare, experienced Pink Shirt Day (a special day in Canada commemorating an anti-bullying effort), wrote a poem about being a Bystander, had lunch and recess with the kids, participated in the independent reading experience and made my way to the Computer Lab to do some research on Canada. Overall, it was an AWESOME day and I confidently went home (exhausted - sitting on the rug wasn't easy on my legs) knowing that we do right be kids here at Cantiague and they feel it and know it. They feel safe, secure, confident, respected, valued, appreciated and most importantly, they are HAPPY! Our kids have a good time during the day because they are immersed in meaningful, powerful and important learning experiences. THANK YOU all for making that possible for our kids! I know that we aren't perfect and there are things we will continue to do better but the bottom line is, Cantiague Elementary is an awesome place for kids!

LAST CALL - 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)!!

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 saw a lot of great stuff including...

• Book Clubs in Jill's class and the kids running their club were really impressive and mature! Check out this video and listen to them go through the process of selecting a book...

• Grade 5 General Music/Chorus with Clare was a blast where the children excitedly sang their songs and rehearsed for their upcoming spring concert. Clare makes the experience fun and personalized - it was so much fun! Check out this video of them in action...

• I got to spend some time in Carly and Nancy's room during Independent Reading time and I cannot say enough amazing things about the work that goes on in that room during independent reading time! Each child is engaged in a meaningful literacy activity whether they are reading independently and tracking their thoughts, conferring with their teachers or participating in a Book Club (click here for my latest blog post about the Book Club experience in our school) - the children have really grown as readers this year!

• I got to listen to MaryAnn speaking with Mandy's class (with a special volunteer - Linda Schiffer) about mindful behavior with an emphasis on PERSPECTIVE! It was so impressive to hear the children talk about what it means to look at things from someone else's perspective - so sophisticated and important - WOW!

• I have watched children Book Shopping in different classrooms and the experience is such a positive one. The kids love looking through the different bins to find a "just right" book. It was so awesome hearing them think aloud about what they liked about the books and which ones they might pick!

Tech Tip of the Week...

To build off our continued focus on our iPad implementation, being that most classrooms have at least ONE iPad at this point, check out this PINTEREST BOARD that offers tips for the iPad Classroom...

iPad on Pinterest

Also, check out these links for different iPad apps shared by Casey Carey, one of our outstanding Teacher Aides...

http://www.studentcec.org/blog/2012/07/24/ipad-apps-for-special-education/

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/mobile-app-lists/math-apps-and-learning-tools-for-kids

http://bestappsforkids.com/

Schedule of the Week...

Monday, April 8

"B" Week
PTA Exec. Bd. at 9:45am

Tuesday, April 9

PTA Meeting at 9:45am
iPad Tutorial during both lunch periods - Library
Faculty Meeting at 3PM

Wednesday, April 10

CST at 1:20pm
Incoming Kindergarten Parent Orientation - 7pm

Thursday, April 11

Gr. 2 is on a Trip
Peter Brown visits with Gr. 1 - Library closed
iPad Tutorial during both lunch periods - Library
Compact Committee at 3pm
Jericho Hall of Fame at 7pm

Friday, April 12

Happy TGIF!
Tony goes to Penn & leaves by 10am!
Bake Sale
Gr. 1 Planning Day

Kids' Korner

While shadowing a student in Rande's class yesterday, one of the kids told me that being at Cantiague was the place that she felt happiest, aside from camp! I consider that an awesome way to end the week! 

Pics of the Week...

Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...

WEEK IN TWEETS - APRIL 5

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

• Thursday, Apr. 18th
• Thursday, May 23rd
• Thursday, June 13th