November 27, 2013

TOTALLY TERRIFIC TUESDAY TIMES 

(special edition of the Fast Friday Focus)

Curriculum Connections...

I would like to begin by wishing you all a Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving holiday - a much needed four day weekend before report cards and conferences! May it be filled with delicious food, great memories with family and friends, some fun, and some much needed rest and relaxation (no Black Friday for me... Hello Cyber Monday)! Aside from the holiday festivities, we will be celebrating Paul's 9th birthday on Saturday with some laser tag and stuff with his buddies. Should be a fun time!

This time of year always makes me happy (I think it is my favorite holiday) because I am reminded that I have so much to be thankful for – my incredible family, supportive friends, personal well-being and of course, each of you (I could never survive the Penn experience without each of you)! I cannot really express how much you all mean to me and how honored I am to be the Lead Learner of this incredibly special community of learners (teachers, students, parents, etc.)! Not a day goes by that I don't walk around this building with a smile on my face. Although the daily pressures and demands can be extremely difficult at times, one could never tell while walking around this building because each of you handles everything with such grace, high levels of professionalism and pride for our craft as educators. Each of you manages to put the needs of our students and colleagues at the forefront and that is what makes Cantiague so special! I have worked in several other schools and have visited many more and all I can say is that Cantiague is rare... it really is the exception to the rule about schools... Cantiague is the model for all other schools - I wish Dr. King would just visit already! For example, after the Literacy Forum last week, at least 15 different visitors commented to me about the tone in our building - the sense of joy and enthusiasm that permeates our community. That is rare and awesome!

Thank you again for all that each of you do every single day. THANK YOU for your making our Curriculum Fair so awesome last week; THANK YOU for your presence at the Board Meeting last week – it meant the world to me; THANK YOU for your support in my current studies at Penn – I could never do this without your support and encouragement; THANK YOU for your support of my family and for always asking about Paul – that means the world to me; THANK YOU for all that you do and know that I am extremely thankful that each of you are in my life because you make me a better father, educator and person!

Finally, as I mentioned in last week's Fast Friday Focus, I attended my first EdCamp (EdCampNJ) and the experience was AWESOME! If you are interested, I wrote a blog post about it and I am hoping that next year some of you will join me to attend either EdCampNJ or EdCampNYC - maybe we can rent a bus or something! Anyway, check out my take on the whole experience... My First EdCamp: Epic

Please note that this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so please hold on to it for the schedule of the weeks!  

 
Over the last week, as I walked around the building, I spotted these awesome things...

• Rosanna & Alex's kids were playing different games on Friday afternoon that were the same games kids played during the pioneer days. The kids played games like jacks and pick up sticks and they were having such a great time. Even I had the chance to join in but got my butt kicked at jacks! Love the way Alex and Rosanna were able to make this lesson in history a connected one for the children - AWESOME!  

• Rande facilitated a robust shared reading experience that focused on the idea of synthesizing what the children had learned throughout the week. The class had been analyzing a nonfiction article about rainbow loom bracelets and Rande kicked off the shared reading experience by showing them a news clip about a school that banned the bracelets. The children were then challenged to reflect on their opinions about the bracelets based on all the information they had accessed during the week and the discussion they facilitated on their own was AWESOME!   

• Meryl had her students present their state research projects using the technological resource of their choice and all I can say is that the end results were beyond impressive! The children took turns coming up and sharing their presentations and in the end they had used a bunch of sites, apps and resources that were great (I learned a lot watching them) and they were so proud of their work - it was AWESOME! It was such a powerful experience that Meryl and I will be planning to have her students present mini-workshops during a Faculty Enhancement Opportunity in January for our entire staff. Instead of teacher led sessions, there will be student led sessions... so excited! 

• In case you missed it, here is the special Thanksgiving videos our kids made - the first one just features our kids and the second one is our collaboration with schools from Jersey and Minnesota - please show them to your class...

NATIONAL THANKFUL VIDEO

Tech Tip of the Week...

As an alternative to the typical tech tip, this week I want to share a video that I think is worth watching featuring a Twitter friend of mine George Couros. This video inspired me and I hope it does the same for others...

  


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, December 2

"B" Week
Happy December

Tuesday, December 3

Faculty Enhancement Opportunity (all staff) - discussion of a Problem of Practice- bring it to the space!
Holiday Boutique
REPORT CARDS ARE RELEASED!

Wednesday, December 4

Holiday Boutique 

Thursday, December 5

CST at 1:20pm
Parent/Teacher Conferences - PM
Holiday Boutique

Friday, December 6

Happy TGIF!
Parent/Teacher Conferences Continue - School Closed for Kids!
Tony out of the building at Penn!

Monday, December 9

"A" Week

Math Benchmark this week Gr. 3-5! 

Tuesday, December 10

Faculty Enhancement Opportunity - please let me know if you are interested in leading a mini-PD session!

Wednesday, December 11

Happy Wednesday!

Thursday, December 12

CST at 1:20pm

Cultural Arts

Board of Education Meeting at Jackson

 

Friday, December 13

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

During the EdCampNJ experience last weekend, one of the people who sat through my presentation came up to me afterwards and asked how much coffee I drank to stay so energized. When I explained that I do not drink coffee she said, "Oh gosh, your poor teachers!" LOL! Sorry I am so wired..     

Pics of the Week...

No pics this week because it is such a short week!