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