November 21, 2014

Curriculum Connections...

I would like to begin by wishing you all a Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving holiday next week - 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 (a certain someone will be working on his dissertation all weekend)! 

This time of year always makes me happy 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 or book writing experience or major shift in my personal life 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 (some days it does feel like we might be getting Punked), one could never tell while walking around this building because each of you handles everything with such patience, 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! 

Thank you again for all that each of you do every single day. THANK YOU for your making our Curriculum Fair so awesome tonight; THANK YOU for your support in my current studies at Penn – I promise to get this dissertation done ASAP; 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 man!

This week, as I walked around #Cantiague this week, I spotted the following #EduWins...

• This first shout-out goes to the Middle School, Elisa Waters and Don Gately for organizing and hosting the 4th Annual LGBT Forum last Friday and it was amazing. It was a day filled with passionate keynote speakers, incredible learning sessions (Joe Sapienza did an awesome job presenting on the intersection of LGBT and Special Education) and powerful conversations. The highlight of the event for me was the panel of students that kicked off the day - WOW! The way these high school students (including a former Cantiague kid) talked about coming to the realization of their sexuality and how they shared the information moved me to tears. Their maturity, insight and perspectives were amazing and the event in it's entirety made me even prouder to be a gay man within the Jericho community. 

• Christina G. for facilitating an amazing conversation during the class read aloud. The kids were literally hanging on her every word and their conversations were impressive. Christina has also done an amazing job with her EdLine HW postings (yup, those have to get done) because she presents the information in an organized and easily accessible way. AWESOME! 

• Rob and Phil for doing an awesome job during our annual 5th Grade Sports Night last week. The children had fun, the families in attendance were really happy and no one got hurt so overall, it was an AMAZING NIGHT! 

• A final huge shout out to our fifth grade team on the APPY HOUR that they staged this week. All of the fifth graders had the opportunity to visit with each teacher who presented a workshop on a different app. So, the kids learned things like iMovie, PicCollage and Haiku Deck to name a few. AWESOME idea and BRILLIANT EXECUTION! 

Please refer to this post (especially for the Schedule of the Week below) for the next couple of weeks! 

Tech Tip of the Week...

Looking for that awesome app to prepare a presentation using your iPad? Check out this list with links to some pretty awesome apps that you can then mirror on your SMARTBoard...

16 Presentation Tools for Educators Using iPads

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, November 24

"A" Week
Happy Monday... on this three-day week!
School-Wide Assembly - 8:45am Auditorium - Kids & I!

Tuesday, November 25

PTA Round Table Discussion - Digital Citizenship - 9:30am; please join us if you are free!
F.E.O. at 3pm in the Library - all staff!

Wednesday, November 26

Staff Potluck Breakfast at 7:45am in Library (Tony will provide coffee and bagels)!
Report Card comments should be completed!

Thursday, November 27

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Monday, December 1

"B" Week
Happy Monday... it is only a 4 day week w/ munchkins!

Tuesday, December 2

Report Cards Posted Online
NO F.E.O.

Wednesday, December 3

Happy Wednesday!

Thursday, December 4

CST at 1:20pm
Parent/Teacher Conferences - ALL DAY!

Friday, December 5

Happy TGIF!
Parent/Teacher Conferences - NO SCHOOL for KIDS!

Kids' Korner

During STEM Day this past Saturday morning (I attended with Paul), one of the fifth graders came up to me and said, "Did you sleep here in the gym last night?" because 5th Grade Sports Night was in the same space the night before! LOL... trust me, some days I do feel like I sleep here!

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

November 14, 2014

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF to all! Hope everyone had a wonderful four-day week- I could definitely get used to working four days a week and really enjoyed having a little break on Tuesday. As you know, Paul has been with me over the last week and that has been such an awesome experience. I have really enjoyed getting him ready in the morning, dropping him off at school, putting him to bed and just being with him. Of course, some moments I feel like I am running around like a chicken without a head but I wouldn't trade it for anything. A special thank you to each of you for asking about Paul and his grandma. I am happy to share that her surgery was a success and she is slowly on the road to recovery.   

The next week will be a busy one with our Curriculum Fair but I am really excited for the families to see all the wonderful and meaningful ways we are integrating technology into the daily experiences. Seeing the various meaningful ways that technology has been integrated in our school has been an awesome thing to watch - I really applaud your willingness to take risks with technology and keep moving forward even when there are glitches! Meanwhile, when you do encounter a glitch, problem or issue, either Google or YouTube the question and there will almost always be a solution to your problem.


This week, as I walked around the building, I spotted these #EDUWINS...

• Janine did an AMAZING job facilitating the reading workshop experience. From the mini-lesson on the rug where the children were challenged to make a 3 Star Connection (using text evidence) to the three groups she facilitated afterwards - one group was working with iPads to create Word Clouds to describe the main character from the read aloud text; a second group was reading independently and marking their text to self (specifically to the characters) connections on post-its; and the final group was working with Janine and exploring quotation marks - to the wrap-up at the end where one child shared her Word Cloud with the class, it was AWESOME! 

• Katie has done an amazing job helping to turn around one of the most challenging students we've had this year. His frustration levels were high, his mood was inconsistent and his willingness to engage in work was terrible at the start of the year. But, by working with Karen, MaryAnn and trusting her gut, not only has Katie won this little guy over but she has helped him regain his confidence, focus and ability to learn - BRAVA Katie! 

• Meryl did an AWESOME job during writer's workshop where the focus was revising entries to include dialogue. After modeling with an excerpt from Thank You Mr. Falker, she had the children take out their iPads and using Google Docs, they revised their pieces. Talk about a meaningful way to integrate technology - WOW!  

Tech Tip of the Week...

Check out this link for some suggestions on how to support the ADHD child in your learning spaces. It is chuck full of great ideas and a wonderful video worth watching...

5 Creative Ways To Help The ADHD Child

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, November 17 

"B" Week
Happy World Peace Day! Let's encourage our kids to be KIND to others... KINDER than necessary!

Tuesday, November 18

F.E.O. at 3pm for all teachers - JoEllen McCarthy & the Seaman teachers will be joining us!
SEPTA Meeting - 7pm

Wednesday, November 19

Kindergarten has an Author Visit - LIBRARY CLOSED!
Photo Retake Day - Staff Picture at 7:50am!

Thursday, November 20 

Curriculum Fair - 6pm for Gr. 3-5; 6:45pm for Gr. K-2
Board of Education Meeting at Cantiague - 7:45pm
CST Meeting at 1:20pm

Friday, November 21

Happy Friday!
Gr. 5 Bake Sale

Kids' Korner

While visiting Mandy's class, one of her students asked me if I was the father of one of the other students in the class - specifically if I was the father to a little black girl. Ummm... no! 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