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...
Kids' Korner
Pics of the Week...
- 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...
Also, check out these links for different iPad apps shared by Casey Carey, one of our outstanding Teacher Aides...
Schedule of the Week...
Monday, April 8
"B" Week
PTA Exec. Bd. at 9:45am
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
iPad Tutorial during both lunch periods - Library
Faculty Meeting at 3PM
Wednesday, April 10
CST at 1:20pm
Incoming Kindergarten Parent Orientation - 7pm
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
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
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...
Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...
- Thursday, Apr. 18th
- Thursday, May 23rd
- Thursday, June 13th
I love seeing all the positive things that are going on in our building. It inspires me and makes me feel confident that we are being the best educators that we can be!
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