TGIF to everyone! I hope we all had a wonderful first week back after spring break - in spite of the ELA testing that unfolded. Thank you to our amazing teachers in Grades 3, 4 & 5 who worked so hard this year to implement sound instructional strategies to address the standards and give the children meaningful learning experiences. I think the tests were ridiculous and "unnatural" - who reads without stopping for 70 minutes and answers dozens of questions in the real world??? NO ONE except for our kids... it frustrates me beyond belief but that is a whole other newsletter!
In the end, I can honestly say the amount of formal test prep that took place this year was the least amount that I have seen in my seven years here and I am really proud of that trend! Thank you for taking risks and incorporating ideas like Genius Hour, Shared Reading and Book Clubs, which, if implemented faithfully, will accomplish the same goals as any test prep! Also, a special thank you to our Grades K, 1 & 2 teachers for laying such a solid foundation in the areas of reading and writing workshop - our kids could not meet and exceed expectations without your efforts, which built upon one another each year! BEST TEACHERS EVER!!!
Next week is an important week because on Wednesday we celebrate Administrative Assistant's Day. In honor of this special day, I must send a huge shout out and thank you to Laura and Pam who hold down the fort each and every day. The greet everyone with a warm smile and hello, they put the needs of the children first and always figure out a way to get things done. Thank you both for being you and for taking such great care of me and our entire school community. Finally, a special thank you to Debbie, Elaine and everyone else who helps out in the Main Office each day - we are a better place because of the collaborative efforts in the office!
Finally, the Math State test for students in Grades 3, 4 & 5 will be unfolding next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Please make sure you review all the testing accommodations and scheduling changes to ensure a smooth and successful week for all. Here they are again in case you misplaced the links...
This week, as I walked around #Cantiague this week, I spotted the following #EduWins...
- Reading workshop in Jill's classroom this week has been AMAZING! I had the opportunity to visit twice this week during this time and the children have been immersed in exploring nonfiction texts and the results have been impressive. At one point hey were discussing "NL" post-its, which they were going to use to document New Learnings in their books, while at another time they discussing cartilage, which is found in sharks and they made the connection that it is also found on our noses... WOW!
- While visiting Jen and Jeanne's room during Weekend News time, I was really impressed with how much they were pushing the kids to add volume and depth to their writing with appropriate mechanics. All of the children were actively engaged and most of them were able to generate almost two pages of text about something they did over the vacation with some great descriptive language - AWESOME!
- While visiting our entire second grade team - Carly, Nancy, Katie and Adam - they have been working so hard with their fractured fairy tale unit in writing workshop. Their ability to manage small group conferences to scaffold the children and help them generate meaningful and appropriate fractured fairy tales has been impressive to watch. It is clear to me that small group writing conferences can be powerful - BRAVO!!
Tech Tip of the Week...
As we continue to explore different types of exit slips to serve as formative assessment opportunities, check out this article: 10 Smart Tools for Digital Exit Slips!
SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK...
Monday, April 20
Wednesday, April 22
Kids' Korner
Pics of the Week...
SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK...
Monday, April 20
"A" Week
M.S. Counselors Visit Gr. 5 in the PM
M.S. Counselors Visit Gr. 5 in the PM
Tuesday, April 21
Grade 1 Author Visit - Library Closed
Full staff FEO @ 3pm in the Library to discuss Innovation Day... May 14th
Full staff FEO @ 3pm in the Library to discuss Innovation Day... May 14th
Wednesday, April 22
Happy Administrative Assistant Day - Thank you Laura & Pam!
Happy Earth Day!
Gr. 2 Field Trip
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Happy Earth Day!
Gr. 2 Field Trip
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Thursday, April 23
CST @ 1:20pm
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Board of Ed Meeting - LEGO Robotics Presentation - GO JOE!
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Board of Ed Meeting - LEGO Robotics Presentation - GO JOE!
Friday, April 24
Happy TGIF!
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Gr. 3 - 5 MATH State Test
Kids' Korner
After the testing, one of the third graders said to me, "Mr. Sinanis, I love independent reading but hate reading for the state tests because the stories are so boring and hard to understand." From the mouths of babes...
Pics of the Week...
Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...
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