March 28, 2014

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF to everyone on this final Friday of March... that is right my friends... starting next week we are in April, which is unreal. We have less than 3 months of school left and before we know it, we will be kicking off our awesome ABC Countdown - I cannot wait! Unfortunately, before then, we have to get through the state tests for ELA, Math and Science (for Grade 4). Next week is the ELA on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, which means that some services will be cancelled and many rooms will be used for testing - but, I am happy to say that it will be less disruptive than last year. Please make sure you review all scheduling changes for the upcoming week so we are all where we are supposed to be at the right time!

I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your hard work over the last week or two with getting report cards done and handling the onslaught of conferences this week... you all AMAZE me! From all the specialists who attend every team meeting, to all the classroom teachers who facilitate every conversation, to all the aides who provide the specific data and information, the feedback from our families is always positive. They know that we put children at the center of our work here and our kids are happy, they feel safe and are supported by each of you until they meet with success. BRAVO! I am honored to be associated with this learning organization. 

In case anyone is interested, and has a few extra minutes, click on the link below to read an article I wrote with two other principals based on the book Teach Like A Pirate - those of you who were part of the book club definitely served as an inspiration for this piece... my first official "published" piece, which I am excited to share...

LEAD LIKE A PIRATE

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

• While visiting Carolyn's classroom, I had a chance to watch the children come up to the SMARTBoard during math and explain the different ways that the solved the various problems. I was so impressed with their thinking and their ability to explain their problem solving strategies - they are ready to teach 2nd grade! 

• Hanging out in the hallway by Janine's classroom, it was awesome to watch a small group of students working together using the iPad to generate their latest class blog post. It was great to see the children empowered to take control of the class blog and use student voice to tell the story of their classroom. AWESOME! 

• Finally, I spent time with Rande's class in the computer lab and enjoyed watching them put their Canada presentations together. The students had free choice of what platform to use so there was everything from PowerPoint to Prezi to Glogster - AWESOME!

• In case you missed them, here are the last two Video Updates of the Week featuring Mandy's and Ginny's students - please show them to your class...

Tech Tip of the Week...

In thinking about the different ways to assess our work and the students' work, one of the words we discuss a lot is RUBRIC! So, check out this list of 6 different online rubric generators that come highly recommended... 6 Online Rubric Makers!  


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 31

"A" Week
Planbooks due for ALL TEACHERS!
Tony in Syracuse (Presenting at a Conference)

Tuesday, April 1

Faculty Enhancement Opportunity for all staff!
ELA Testing - Grades 3, 4 & 5 (AM - many rooms will be used)!
Happy Tuesday!

Wednesday, April 2

ELA Testing - Grades 3, 4 & 5 (AM - many rooms will be used)!

Thursday, April 3

CST @ 1:20pm
ELA Testing - Grades 3, 4 & 5 (AM - many rooms will be used)!

Friday, April 4

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

While doing the Video Update this week, while the children were sharing what was happening on each grade level, the boy who was talking about the Mo Willems author study initially said they were doing an author study of MoMo Williams! LOL!        

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 - MARCH 28