October 30, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to the most amazing community of learners and teachers on the planet. Although I know we have the best school on the planet, that whole notion was reiterated this week for me with the #EdCampJericho experience. The day was such a huge success that I think we need to move more and more of our PD experiences in that direction! The collaborative approach to learning that was embraced on Wednesday was inspiring – people shared, deliberated, discussed and learned throughout the day and what we know from the research is that people learn a lot through intentional and focused social interactions (social learning theory), which is what happened at #EdCampJericho on Tuesday. Thank you all for making that happen and making yourselves available to this type of learning. Thank you all for taking ownership of your own professional and personal development as we all continue to work towards enhancing our skill set to support our students and their learning in the best ways possible. We will definitely continue considering ways to embed EdCamp type experiences within our FEOs... please feel free to share any ideas or suggestions with me. 

Although I know district-wide professional development presents its own challenges, hurdles and interesting exchanges, I think the more we talk across the district, the better we get at our craft. We may not always agree; we may not always be on the same page; heck, we may not always be in the same book but ultimately we are learning something from our exchanges. Maybe it is an approach, app, website or management technique that we can take away from the experience; or maybe we are reminded that what we are doing is in the best interest of students even if people in other buildings are doing things differently (not better or worse - just different). So, in the spirit of collaboration and building capacity within ourselves and our colleagues across the district, here is to a reinvigorated dedication to our personal and professional development!

Of course, with all that being said it is Friday and I am excited to share that I will be spending the night at CITIFIELD cheering on my METS as they take on the Royals in the World Series!!! Although we are down 2 - 0, I am confident we can turn things around. And thanks to Clare for reminding me that we were in the same situation in 1986 and we all know what happened then... fingers and toes crossed!


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Round 2 of our grade level literacy check in meetings went really well! It was so awesome to sit with each classroom teacher over the last week and have intentional, focused and powerful conversations about literacy instruction. I am so impressed by your willingness to openly and honestly discuss literacy practices and how we are all working hard to consistently enhance our craft. 

• Writing workshop in Ally's class and all of the children were engaged and were using their personal revising pens (red felt tip markers) to improve their pieces. The kids were so into the activity and they were dedicated to making their pieces better. Whether they were revising text or the accompanying illustration, they looked like a bunch of professional authors and it was AWESOME!

• Grade 1 in the Science Lab with Jacquie was a blast! The children enjoyed a picture book about animal ears and then were challenged to work collaboratively to explore plastic eggs and try and determine what was inside of them based on the sounds they made when the children shook them. The children were highly engaged the entire time and they had a BLAST!  

Tech Tip of the Week...
Special shout out to Matt C. who shared this awesome resource to help Improve Writing Using Google Docs - it is full of great ideas and tips.

Blogs Worth Reading...
It's Not About The Space... All Learning by Krissy Venosdale

It's Not a Technology Issue by Eric Sheninger

10 Ways To Sabotage Your Classroom Management by Jennifer Gonzalez

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Melissa (her 2nd time) who shares a personal reflection about how she took back control (and brought the passion back) in her classroom...


Since the start of this school year, I haven’t been “comfortable in my own skin” and I’ve been trying to figure out why.  At first, I blamed it on the fact that I had never taught fifth grade before, and even though I came back last year, I really missed the bulk of the school year.  Then, I blamed it on outside stress, such as moving, missing my children, finding another home, etc.  Finally, I actually thought to myself that for once in my life, maybe I didn’t love the grade I was teaching.  I’ve been moved around so much, that I’ve learned over the years to just go with the flow and fall in love with the kids, not the grade, but still, something wasn’t sitting well with me.

Then, we had the fifth grade training day with JoEllen...and she reminded me of who I am as a teacher.  When I started teaching, I was hired in New York City and I was lucky enough to be part of a literacy immersion program because I was put in a model school.  Through this program, myself and a bunch of teachers were trained all summer by Lucy Calkins.  We were then sent every month to Teacher’s College to do follow-up work, and I have to admit that this is what made me the teacher I am today.  Except, somewhere along the past year, I forgot who that was.

Even though Ryleigh was my second child, I didn’t really take a “leave” the first time around.  When I came back in April of last year, I was someone else’s classroom with my name on it, which was how it should have been.  I kept the routines the same, followed the plans as they were so that I would cause minimal disruption to the children, as I had already rocked their world by coming back.  So, in the beginning of this year, I tried to keep following those plans and continue what I was doing at the end of last year...only they weren’t my plans, they weren’t my routines.  They were wonderful ones, but it’s kind of like wearing someone else’s shoes.  They just didn’t fit me.

The day we met with JoEllen, her words brought me back to life.  She reminded me of how I used to do things, of what worked for me for the past 12 years, of what made me fall in love with literacy and teaching.  Sometimes, all it takes is a reminder to revive who you are and why you love what you do.  I’m back and I’m me again, and I’m loving my kids...because I guess for me, it’ll never be about the grade.

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, November 2
"B" Week

Tuesday, November 3 

Election Day - there will be strangers in the building!
FEO at 3pm for teachers - district-wide grade level!

Wednesday, November 4

Shared Decision Making Team Meeting at 3PM

Thursday, November 5

CST @ 1:20pm
PTA Executive Board at 9am
Lynda Mullaly Hunt visiting 5th Grade (auditorium)!
Cultural Arts BEGINS!

Friday, November 6

Happy TGIF!
5th Grade Sports Night - 6:30pm to 8pm

Reminders... 

• Don't forget that we are switching to our old dismissal process starting on Monday - fingers crossed!
• Next FEO meeting (after Nov. 3rd) will be November 10th for all staff where Jessica's kids will be teaching us about Google Slides!
• Planbooks to be submitted next week; remember, there are alternatives - ask me about them!

October 23, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy TGIF to everyone! It is hard to believe that we are about to embark on the final week of October - the first two months of school have ZOOMED by - at least from my perspective! More importantly, it is the best October in a LONG time with our Amazin' Mets heading to the World Series for the first time in fifteen years - WOOOOO HOOOOO! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this postseason, especially because I have been able to share it with Paul and Felix who are becoming quite the baseball fanatics. So, as we prep for the next week, which also happens to be PARP Week, let's not forget to cheer on our local team... LET'S GO METS!!! #LGM

I am also excited about the upcoming weekend - it will be a busy one! Friday is my mom's birthday so we are having a family dinner. Saturday is the Fall Festival and then in the evening my family and I are going to PA to be in the audience at a taping of The Price is Right... I am SO EXCITED about this because I have always been a fan of the show!! I am so hoping to get picked to get on stage. Finally, on Sunday, I am teaching a course, through Skype, at Penn - it is such an honor to teach in the program I just graduated from and connect with a batch of new doctoral students. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful week filled with meaningful learning opportunities, exciting teaching experience and some happiness! It is always so amazing to walk our hallways because our children get so much individual attention and instruction and I cannot say enough about how much 1:1 instruction can impact a child - thank you for dedicating yourselves to meeting the needs of our children. With that in mind, please be conscious of the amount of HW being given each night to each child... less is more and not everyone needs the same HW! Finally, please do not assign ANY HW over the Halloween weekend - we want our kids to have lots of fun!


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Small group/station math games in Rosanna and Alex's class while Joe was pushing in - it was awesome to watch! Every child was engaged with their math game/activity and each adult in the room was facilitating a group and it was awesome to watch. The power of small group instruction, even when there is only one adult in the room, can be transformational. Proximity matters!

• Reading workshop in Allison and Marissa's room was really impressive this week! I had the chance to observe a lesson where the children were challenged to determine the theme of shared classroom texts and then their independent reading books. It is such an abstract concept to teach and the teachers led the conversation that pushed the children to notice how the characters responded to challenges as a way to determine the theme. After the mini-lesson, there were two small groups, independent reading conferences, a mid-workshop check-in and then a wrap up at the end. It was a thorough and complete workshop that met the needs of the readers - WOW!

• Reading workshop in Rande's room was really engaging to watch! She focused the mini-lesson on making inferences using WONDER as the anchor text to practice the skill. The children were then challenged to make inferences using their independent reading books. While the children were reading independently, Rande was able to pull a small group for a strategy lesson and she was able to confer with each child in the group and give them specific feedback on their development as readers! She also managed to check in with individual students and then brought the class together for a whole group share - it was a robust and complete workshop... and there was only one adult in the room - AWESOME!  

Tech Tip of the Week...
Check out these awesome (& short) video tutorials on all things Google! They are listed by topic and generally run just a few minutes. And if you are like me, you will appreciate the visuals to support the step by step guide... Google Tutorials 

Blogs Worth Reading...
3 Things Students Desire To Hear From Teachers by Dr. Desaultes

60 Things Students Can Create To Demonstrate What They Know by Terry Heick (this is AWESOME)!!!

Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers by Sarah Muthler

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Nancy and Carly (Team Marsen) who share a personal reflection on the importance of digital citizenship from a young age...

Growing up in today’s digital world is fun and exciting yet challenging for kids, parents, and let’s face it, for us teachers too.  Think about it-Social Media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, texting, Facetime, email and about a million other ways to connect with people are on a larger scale) bring people closer together, but also create everyday  challenges for people of ALL ages.    

Let’s talk about #HaveTheTalk! It is this week’s hot topic on Common Sense Media and also seems to be on our brains as well.  We can’t tell you how often we say things like “We are so glad we didn’t grow up like these kids are today!” or “Life was so much easier before technology.” Yes- the benefits are truly amazing- connecting with people all over the world, shopping at the click of a button, access to a world of literature, music, coupons, movies and so much more.  Yet, the struggles that accompany all of this weigh heavy on our minds.  

Carly’s 3 year old daughter is completely infatuated with YouTube. Her favorite thing right now is to click on that red button and watch girls open eggs to find toys, watch kids play with Play-Doh and create things, or watch people playing with Shopkins.  It’s all innocent and in good fun through Ava’s eyes. Until one day, the suggested videos led Ava to watch grown up princesses playing flip cup at a party and chugging beer.  Is this really what we want our young children exposed to at such a young age? How does YouTube allow this to be a suggested sight connected to something so innocent?  Not exactly! This particular time was most likely harmless, but what if the next time it’s not so harmless? Ava’s growing up in a world, where even at the young age of 3, she needs to learn to be a Digital Citizen.  As a parent, I also need to be monitoring, more closely, what she is doing on the iPad.  It’s easy to use it as babysitter. It keeps her happy and quiet (which is rare), but that comes with dangerous consequences.  

Nancy’s 14 year old daughter is connected to friends through various social media sights such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and possibly others that she may be not aware of.  Rachel has enough challenges growing up as teenage girl on Long Island, in addition, to the academic pressure, hormonal changes, friendship struggles and clicks, and comparing herself to her “friends!”  Parenting her is a full time job! As parents, we always try to be our child’s tutor, doctor, therapist, friend, and role-model.  Now, we also need to be tech savvy/sneaky to ensure the safety of our children.  It’s a fine balance between giving your child privacy, but also being “in the know.” In Rachel’s world, it’s all about the amount of “likes” she gets within a certain amount of time.  She equates her self-esteem with these numbers and comments that go along with the pictures posted.  With Snapchat, she constantly knows where her friends are and who they are with.   Being included or left-out is taken to a whole new level with social media.  Kids today need “tough skin” and parents that listen and guide them. The conversation after school is, “Put the phone away! It’s interfering with your homework.” Or “Are you using your phone to help you with your homework?”  

As adults, we also face challenges of feeling accepted and envious of others and the things they are posting. We may not be as concerned with number of friends we have, or the number of “likes” we get on a photo, our main focus on Facebook is to connect with family and old friends.  We see the positive aspects of social media. We need to teach our children to be digital citizens early on, so they can enjoy the benefits social media truly has to offer.  Think about the impact Twitter has had on our school. At first, it seemed as though taking pictures and posting them to Twitter was an inconvenience.  However, we have truly come to love and embrace it.  It allows parents, other educators, and friends and family (near and far) to see exactly what is going on in our classrooms.  It gives others a lens into our classroom and lets our followers know what, how, and why we are teaching students.  We can’t tell you how often we say how much we wish our own kids’ teachers had Twitter. We would jump for joy to see a picture of them learning, or in action on the playground! It is a powerful way to communicate and connect, and we are so thankful to have been encouraged to try it.  

This week is called “Digital Citizenship Week-It’s Time to have the Talk!” and we are doing just that in our classroom and in our personal lives. Take a few minutes to think about yourself, personally and professionally, in the digital world.  Are you “in the know”? Are you a “Digital Citizen”? Is your child/student a “Digital Citizen”? www.commonsensemedia.org for information and lesson plans to help educate and learn to be an advocate for kids, families and schools. 

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, October 26
"A" Week
Specialist Read Aloud - first period
PARP Week 
Gr. 4 & 5 Literacy Check-In Meetings with Tony

Tuesday, October 27 

BYOD Literacy Day - please allow your children to bring devices in for tech based literacy!
FEO at 3pm for teachers only in the Library!
Gr. 1, 2 & 3 Literacy Check-In Meetings with Tony

Wednesday, October 21

EdCampCantiague - Sup. Conf. Day at Cantiague... get your awesome sessions READY!

Thursday, October 22

CST @ 1:20pm
Jester Jim Assemblies

• Gr. 3 - 5 at 8:45am
• Gr. K - 2 at 10:15am

Friday, October 30

Happy TGIF!
Students & Staff are welcome to dress up for Halloween
PARB is happening today... 

• Gr. K & 1 - 8:40 to 9:10am
• Gr. 4 & 5 - 9:20 to 9:50am
• Gr. 2 & 3 - 9:55 to 10:25am

Reminders... 

• Please limit the HW during PARP Week and NO HW on Halloween weekend!
• Next FEO meeting will be November 10th for all staff!
• Planbooks to be submitted next week; remember, there are alternatives - ask me about them!

October 16, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday! Hope everyone had an awesome four-day week! It was a busy week filled with PD from JoEllen, an author visit, the Fire Prevention Assembly and incredible learning opportunities! Thank you all for your hard work in making every minute of learning count - it is always so impressive to walk around this building and see the innovative and student centered practices unfolding.

One of the pieces that has really stood out to me is the integration of the new TC Units of Study for both reading and writing across the entire building. Although the only expectation that existed was that teachers experiment with these resources and integrate a sprinkling of lessons or activities throughout the year, many of you have embraced them and are integrated either the reading or writing (or both) units on a daily basis. A feature in the new units that many of you have tried already is the mid-workshop check-in and I think that can be a really powerful teaching and learning moment. Stopping the children, in the midst of their work, to clarify something, add something or introduce a new layer to an activity (in about 7 minutes or less) can be quite powerful. I really appreciate the willingness to enhance practice and in some instances totally revamp units because you see the value in this new resource - that is an important type of innovation when it comes to our instructional practices, which is such a great way to model for the children.

With that in mind, we are at a point in the school year (about 6 weeks in) where the workshop should be in full gear. There should be reading and writing everyday; there should be some type of literacy mini-lesson everyday; there should be conferring with children (1:1 or in small groups) everyday; and there should be as much small group instruction as possible on a regular basis and that can come in the form of a guided reading group, a strategy lesson, a book club or a group conference. Although it is difficult to integrate all these components on a daily basis, it is imperative to make it our goal because research shows that children grow as readers and writers by reading and writing EVERY SINGLE DAY! Check out this graphic that might be helpful in thinking about the structure and timing of the workshop...

The most important component to making the above a reality, is being tight on time. Keep the mini-lesson short; keep the conferences short (5 minutes or less); and keep the small group conferences short. Timing is EVERYTHING! 


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Jill facilitated a powerful writing workshop experience for her first graders. The focus of the mini-lesson was helping the children zoom in from a watermelon idea (huge) to a slice of the watermelon (more focused idea) to finally getting to a seed idea (the small moment) and the flow of the workshop was outstanding! In 40 minutes, Jill completed the mini-lesson, conferred with almost every student, did a mid-workshop check-in where the children shared a seed idea inspiration with their partner, gave the children time to write independently (where she and Sara S. conferred again) and ended with a whole group share. The whole experience was AMAZING and I only wish I videotaped the whole thing to share... BRAVA!

• Lois Z facilitated a great activity with first graders where they created a cityscape using markers. The children then sprayed their drawings with water and folded the paper over to create a reflection and the results were AWESOME! The most impressive thing was how much independence Lois gave the children and how successfully they navigated the whole experience - it was impressive! 

• 1:1 instruction has permeated our second grade classrooms! This week, during one walk through of the building, I walked into each second grade class, one right after the other, and in each instance, a teacher was working 1 on 1 with a student in either math or writing. The direct instruction was critical and the learning was clear as a result of the proximity and differentiation - AWESOMENESS!!  

Tech Tip of the Week...
3 Tricks to Try in Google Docs by Alice Keeler

Blogs Worth Reading...
Sketchnoting for Beginners - this is a slideshow by Sylvia Duckworth and focuses on this growing practice of combining notes & sketches using a device... something to consider with our kids!

What is ADHD? by MaryAnn Colucci (this is EXCELLENT)

Unleashing The Power of Positivity in Your School by Donna Wilson

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Lisa Palmieri who reflects on sarcasm and kids and how the two don't go together...

My son, Dean, was playing defense during this weekend’s homecoming football game.  It was the end of the fourth quarter.  A runner from the opposing team ran towards Dean and then right past him with the football. My son stood on the field, frozen. He didn’t tackle the runner.  The runner scored the winning touchdown, and the game ended just like that. We lost. After the game, Dean’s coach walked up to him, smiled and insincerely said, “Hey Dean, I love when you don’t tackle the runner and he scores. Great job.” 

My son braved it out until we got into our truck. As soon as the door slammed shut, he started crying.  My poor baby (Okay, he’s 7 but still my baby) was the victim of sarcasm from an adult. In theory, an adult he is supposed to admire.  Comments just like that have been a common thread throughout this football season, and it’s slowly killing my son’s passion for football, and way worse, it’s slowly killing his confidence. 

Yes, there is a time, place and age/maturity level where sarcasm can be well received. Sarcasm can be funny and entertaining.  I can definitely hold my own with sarcastic comments during Girls’ Weekend! It can be a clever and amusing way to get a point across.  There is a dark side of sarcasm though. I feel the dark side is when it’s used with children.  It’s toxic. It slowly shapes and impacts the way kids function, and the way they view themselves. We know that most children appreciate a good joke. They love to kid-around and will often repeat a joke or mimic a funny adult. Using humor with children is a wonderful way to build a relationship and to make connections! However, sarcasm that is camouflaged as a joke can be mean and insulting.  Children can feel the mean tone, they understand the contradiction in the words and they see right through the pun.  It’s harmful, not humorous.  It’s mean, not uplifting, and it certainly isn’t filling anyone’s bucket! 

My 13 year old daughter has been the receiver of sarcasm and is capable of being the deliverer.  Okay, she’s a teenager.  I think that many teens might display some varying degrees of sarcasm now and then.  However, it’s not a pretty side.  At times, when Sarah is feeling sassy, it changes the energy in our house, and it can bring negativity into the conversations. It can be unkind and condescending. The same can happen in the classroom and on the field.  The sarcastic teacher, coach, parent etc., brings negativity into their relationships, and in-turn, this seems to give permission for the other children to use it with each other. Sarcasm can be perceived as a form of bullying. It can be used to make fun of someone, to point out flaws, or to belittle a person. 

Sunday’s incident was a good reminder for me as to why sarcasm shouldn’t be used with children.  A chance for me to pause and reflect on the way I interact with my own children and my students. I have certainly been in situations where I feel overwhelmed, or I feel frustrated or I’m just having a bad day.  There are days where I may have repeated the same directions or instructions over and over again.  And then the sarcasm seeps out. I can hear myself saying, “Really?!”   or “Come on.” or “Are ya kidding me?”  I suppose many of us have been there.  This weekend was a reminder for me to remember that every single word counts, and the tone used is equally important. 

Coaching Dean with sarcasm certainly hasn’t made him a better football player, quite the opposite. In actuality it has made him very sad, and now he wants to quit the team.  It didn’t make him admire his coach. In actuality, it made him afraid of him.  In my opinion, sarcasm can be detrimental to a young child’s self-esteem and self-worth.  We know that children thrive in positive, happy, classrooms filled with joyful, funny teachers and coaches. These same teachers and coaches are careful with their words and they save the sarcasm for the adults in their lives.  They make a conscious choice to use it outside of the classroom walls and beyond the fenced-in football fields. 

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, October 19
"B" Week
PD with JoEllen for Gr. 2 & 3 at Cantiague
Monster Art Week (small change... instead of asking children to bring anything in, you will just create a monster mural as a class)

Tuesday, October 20 

District-wide ENL Family Meeting at 9am in the auditorium
FEO cancelled this week!

Wednesday, October 21

Happy Wednesday!

Thursday, October 22

CST @ 1:20pm
Kindergarten Trip to the farm
Ice Cream Sale

Friday, October 23

Happy TGIF!
PTA Fall Festival Tomorrow from 12pm to 3pm!

Reminders... 

• PARP Week is coming! Please send out a reminder to your families about PARB on Friday, October 30th - we want as many families as possible!
• Next FEO meeting will be October 27th for all staff!
• Planbooks to be submitted soon; remember, there are alternatives - ask me about them!
• I will be doing more formal observations in the coming weeks... starting with unannounced ones... with a primary focus on literacy

October 9, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday! Hope this week was a wonderful one for everyone - the weather was definitely better and more comfortable! This past week was great and it all started with EdCamp Long Island last Saturday, which was hosted at Jericho MS and organized by Don Gately. I know several of our teachers were in attendance and it was a powerful learning opportunity for me. Two of the highlights were a session on Makerspaces and a conversation about Book Love with JoEllen. I learned a lot and came to work this week with some new ideas. I am looking forward to the development of our #Cantiague Makerspace, which should be starting to evolve over the next few weeks with our $10,000 from our amazing PTA! If you are interested in learning a little more about Makerspaces or accessing some resources, scroll down and check out the links in the Tech Tip section.  

With that being said, and with our ongoing conversations about technology, please understand that I am firm believer in the idea that technology and innovation are not synonymous! I have seen many innovative practices in our building that do not always involve technology and I thank you all for taking those risks. In my mind, innovation is about disrupting the norm and trying to creatively solve a problem! This graphic reinforced that notion for me...

#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Adam successfully integrated one of the lessons from the new TC Writing Units of Study and one of the components that really stood out was the mid-workshop check-in point - what a powerful (& necessary) stopping point! Adam was able to scan the room during the independent work time & assessed what most kids were struggling with and that became the focus of the mid-point check-in & it helped support some of the students who were struggling and kept them all highly engaged!

• Karen S. has done an amazing job with a little boy in Ally's kindergarten class. This little boy, who happens to be homeless and living in a difficult situation, comes to school tired, angry and sad a lot of the time, which makes learning and staying with the class difficult at points. Well, Karen, through her patient, loving and kind approach is able to engage him, help him get his "angrys" out and eventually rejoin the class to learn. I know I have said this before but a happy child is a child who can learn - thank you Karen (& Ally)! 

• Donna and Christine successfully launched their MakerSpace this week and I highly recommend everyone visits their classroom to check out the simple yet powerful approach they used for this experience. There were several bins with different themes and resources included and the children worked in small groups to explore the bins. For example, there was an Art bin, Math bin, a bin with Tinker toys and the kids were incredibly engaged throughout the block. Definitely check it out and scroll down to learn more about MakerSpaces! 

Tech Tip of the Week...

What is a Makerspace and how can we set one up?

Link to many Makerspace resources!



Blogs Worth Reading...
Using The Stories of Others To Begin Conversation On Race With My Students by Jessica

The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergarteners of Finland by Tim Walker

What's The Point of School? by Bill Ferriter 

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from a student (Darien) in Team Levlons as a follow up to last week's post about the power of creating a HAPPY classroom (remember, it's all about relationships)...

#yearofhappy

How does it feel to be happy?  I’ll answer that for you, it feels really good. I am a fifth grader at Cantiague Elementary. I wake up in the morning and I just want to be at school with my amazing teachers and friends. In my classroom I love when we have morning meeting. Everyone gets a chance to share and laugh with each other. The same goes for our read aloud. Everyone can connect to the story and the characters and we all wonder what’s going to happen next.

But, my classroom isn’t the only place that is happy in the school. Everywhere, in the gym, in the music room, or on the playground, all you see are smiling faces.  Kids, and teachers. Dr. Sinanis is especially happy. He comes into my classroom almost every day, excited to see what we are doing. Sometimes he raises his hand to answer questions. This makes everyone laugh and smile. Dr. Sinanis named this year the Year Of Happy. I definitely agree. This is the #yearofhappy!

-Darien Schultz, an extremely happy 5^th grader at Cantiague 

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, October 12
"A" Week
School Closed - Happy Columbus Day!
DEAR Week (see email from PTA)

Tuesday, October 13 

2 Gr. 4 classes on a Trip
Fire Prevention Assemblies (11am) for Gr. K - 2  
FEO - different teachers going to different places!

Wednesday, October 14

PD with JoEllen for Gr. 4 & 5

Thursday, October 15

CST @ 1:20pm
PD with JoEllen for Gr. K & 1
Peter Catalanatto (author) visits Gr. 4 in the Library

Friday, October 16

Happy TGIF!
2 Gr. 4 classes on a Trip
Jericho Homecoming Weekend!

Reminders... 

• Next week is D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything & Read) Week - this is sponsored by the PTA as a lead up to PARP Week! So, just Drop Everything & Read at least once this week!
• FEO on October 13th is for teachers only; Gr. 5 meeting with Eric; Gr. 4 meeting with Dan; details to follow for everyone else
• Planbooks to be submitted soon; remember, there are alternatives - ask me about them!
• I will be doing more formal observations in the coming weeks... starting with unannounced ones.

October 2, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy TGIF! I hope all is well and that everyone had a wonderful first FULL week of school. I don't know about all of you but I am totally ready for Friday!  :) 

Although it was a long week and I came back from LA congested and under the weather, it was one of the best weeks I have ever had here at Cantiague. The highlight for me was the opportunity to sit with every grade level and have these important conversations about literacy. The thoughtfulness, consideration and passion that went into every one of these conversations (and the decisions we made) was really inspiring to me and I am already looking forward to our next conversations later this month! Thank you for allowing me to participate in this journey of refining and enhancing our literacy instruction here at #Cantiague!


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Thank you to Julie and Alayne who did an awesome job with the ESL/ENL/ELL presentation during our FEO this past week. The one thing that really resonated with me is the importance of us developing our cultural literacy so that we can make informed choices to engage our English Language Learners. Let's not forget that our ENL team of teachers are an amazing resource we can access for all of our students - THANK YOU!

• Alex and Rosanna were having such important literacy conversations with students. Each of them was meeting with a child and were doing a "book talk" to try and find the "just right" book to hook each child. The thoughtfulness and enthusiasm that they projected was awesome to watch and each of them successfully paired the children with a book. This really speaks to the importance of "book talks" with kids - if talk about a book and make it sound awesome, there is a greater chance our students will enthusiastically engage in reading that text. 

• Genius Hour in Melissa's room was so much fun. The children were so incredibly engaged and they were working on such diverse topics - from making jewelry to exploring origami to figuring out how to make glow in the dark goo - and each child was excited to share what they were working on and what they wanted to accomplish. It definitely reinforced the idea that it is imperative that we let our children pursue passion projects. 

Tech Tip of the Week...

Check out this blog post about using voice dictation within Google Docs - Google Docs Now Lets You Type Without Typing At All!



Blogs Worth Reading...
Resources for Connected Educator Month 2015 by Edutopia

What Makes a Master Teacher by George Couros

The Curse by Tony Sinanis

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Team Levlons about the power of creating a HAPPY classroom...


Perhaps Winnie the Pooh said it best when he stated, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Dr. Sinanis has declared the 2015-1016 school year, #yearofhappy. We have been thinking a lot about this phenomenon and realized some important things about what motivates our students, what motivates us, and about our classroom environment in general. It is really quite simple. Kids perform better when they are happy. If they look forward to coming to school, have positive learning experiences while they are here, feel connected to their teachers and peers, and leave each day with a smile, they WILL be more successful. They are more open to learning, they are motivated to succeed, and their confidence soars. After all, don’t you perform better when you are happy? So now that we know happiness promotes success, how do we make it happen? Let’s begin with our morning meeting. The Levlon morning meeting has been compared to the Kelly and Michael show (LOL). We bring humor to the meeting, engage our audience, and make sure student voice is heard and valued. Each day our students look forward to this casual and comfortable experience. A benefit to co-teaching is that we are able to model positive social interactions all day every day. The Levlons take this opportunity to model compassion, kindness, and humor. We are constantly laughing at ourselves, and WITH each other and our students. We create a safe and happy environment for our kids. We often refer to math instruction in our classroom as “group therapy”, which lets our students know that we are “all in it together”. They feel comfortable making mistakes, and this motivates them to try harder, and enables them to be more successful than they knew they were capable of. Our students really enjoy our daily read aloud. After lunch is a sacred time in our classroom where we read books to our kids strictly for enjoyment. There is no mini lesson attached or hidden agenda. We simply read to read! We choose relevant books that we know the kids will relate to, connect with, and enjoy hearing. During these read alouds, we laugh together, cry together, and definitely grow together. Another happy time in room 26 is Genius Hour. This is a time each week, where the kids can explore their passions and interests. It enables EVERY child to be successful and feel good about what they’re working on. We all look forward to this special weekly experience. Most importantly, throughout each day we talk to our students. Not just about what we are learning in Social Studies or Reading Workshop, but about what’s going on in their lives. We make connections with them and follow up with them about how things are going. We’ll ask how a new soccer team is working out, or if they received that special robot for their birthday. We also share information about our lives; our kids and our weekends. It’s not a surprise when our students follow up and ask us about what’s going on in our lives as well. We care about each other and respect each other as individuals. So, if you ask us what makes our kids so happy, we can list a whole bunch of activities and experiences that occur in our classroom on a daily basis. We believe it really boils down to the way we treat our kids. We make every decision with their best interest at heart (and they know it!). We listen to them and empower them. We hug them and love them. The best part is that in return, our kids love us back and add so much joy to our lives. We come to work HAPPY every day and we are motivated to be the BEST we can be for “our kids”.

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, October 5
"B" Week
Happy Book Fair Week (hopefully we avoided the hurricane)!

Tuesday, October 6 

Book Fair Preview Night @ 7pm
FEO @ 3pm for all teachers - Auditorium

Wednesday, October 7

Book Fair

Thursday, October 8

CST @ 1:20pm
Book Fair

Friday, October 9

Happy TGIF!
Tony will be out of the building at LIASCD

Reminders... 

• Book Fair is NEXT week so please make sure you fill out YOUR TEACHER WISH LISTS early in the week!
• Keep spreading the HAPPY around your room!
• Next FEO on 10/6 - Teachers ONLY to Discuss EdCamp (watch this short 2 min video)
• Let's try and avoid HW on the weekends
• Please let Lisa P. know if you need to replenish your classroom library!