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.