February 26, 2016

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to everyone as we head into the final weekend of February during this Leap Year. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. We are excited because Paul will be with us for the weekend and he is finally feeling better. He had walking pneumonia before the break and missed 2 days of school and was sick for most of the break and then it came back even worse last weekend and he missed another 3 days of school this week. It has been a rough 3 weeks or so but he finally returned to school on Thursday after being fever free for 24 hours so we are excited about the upcoming weekend. We are in the midst of watching all of the Harry Potter movies - we have seen the first four and I expect we will be watching another one or two this weekend - I am so excited that Paul finally got into one of my favorite series! 

Meanwhile, I cannot believe that we are officially only a few weeks away from spring! Aside from the improving weather and the anticipation of the soon to begin end of year activities, the most powerful thing about spring time from my perspective is how visible the growth of our students is compared to where they were at the beginning of the year. Whether we are looking at a typically developing child (the majority of our students) or a classified student or an ELL, if they have been with us from the start of the year, this time of year is almost magical because everything seems to be clicking on all cylinders and the learning is at a maximum. It is especially evident in our primary classrooms - specifically in kindergarten and first grade - where the students' reading and writing skills have gone to another level and their ability to organize and express their thoughts is truly impressive. This is also a time where we can step back and see how much progress all of our students have made since day one. Although every child may not have made the same amounts of progress and we may still have concerns about some learners, the reality is that at least 95% of our students will have grown as a learner since the start of the year and that is an awesome thing. That is why we do the work we do each day as educators - that reward of seeing the learners in our school blossom and thrive! 

Of course, none of that would be possible without your daily efforts as the facilitators of learning. Each educator in our building genuinely puts the needs of the learners first and we will all stop at nothing to make sure that every learner has access to whatever they need regardless of their readiness levels. I think that is our reality because as educators, we value our own learning and make it a priority each and every day. Whether trying out a new tool or integrating a new resource, no two years have looked alike in our school; heck, no two days have looked alike at Cantiague and that is because of your willingness to take risks with your teaching and learning. Thank you for helping our children become the learners they are at today as they slowly blossom into the innovators they will be tomorrow. 

In other news, our families will be receiving an email from me sharing that our official start date for Try It Tuesday will be next Tuesday, March 1st. I will also share the Google Doc we created with the Try It Tuesday "menu" to give them some ideas. I do suggest each teacher follows up with their communication to parents about what Try It Tuesday might look like in your classrooms. Please let me know if you have any questions!  

Finally, since we never got to explore the Spheros at the February FEO, please take a few minutes between now and Tuesday to go to the app store and download a couple of the apps associated with the Sphero ball robots (click here for some app recommendations) because we will be playing with them at the FEO this coming Tuesday. There will be Spheros for EVERY classroom, which will be a great launch to our soon to be available Mobile Maker Space. Feel free to start Googling how different schools are using Spheros (here is one informative link) to enhance the educational experience.  


#EDUWINS for the week included...

• Enjoyed visiting Ally's room while their 5th grade buddies from Allison & Marissa's class were there to share their creations from the NOT A BOX activity. The children worked with their buddies to recreate an ordinary box into something different and the kids created everything from rockets to planes to dollhouses - the end results were great. The best part of the share was hearing the children reflect on what was challenging about the process - love the focus on problem solving!   

• Spending time in Janine's room during reading workshop and the experience was awesome. Every child was engaged in a meaningful reading activity whether they were reading independently, meeting with their book club or working with Janine or Terri in a small group! The book club was most impressive because they were working independently and were really holding each other accountable and discussing the book in meaningful and appropriate ways... BRAVO!

• While visiting Nancy and Carly's classroom, the children were engaged in a Digital Citizenship lesson and it was clear that the children had absorbed a lot as it relates to digital footprint and an online presence. They were specifically learning a lot about password security - how long they should be, what they should include, who they should share them with, etc. It was such an important conversation because it speaks to the importance of educating children so we can influence their behaviors in positive ways.  

Tech Tip of the Week...
Check out this great list... 16 Things Teachers Should Try in 2016! Lots of great tech based ideas - scroll past the infographic at the top for descriptions of each thing!

Blogs Worth Reading...
When We Harm Rather Than Help by Pernille Ripp

Creating the Conditions For Innovative Teaching and Learning by AJ Juliani

12 Things Happy Workplaces Have In Common by The Mojo Company

Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Julie as part of our ENL series of blog posts... 

ENL: Sometimes A Little is Enough

As I was sitting in a meeting today with my ENL team and Mary Ann Colucci discussing some of our new students, it occurred to me how we as teachers handle the news of hearing we are receiving a new ENL student.  Many of us have emotional reactions. The reason we have all these emotions is because of the unknown.  Will this new student have no background of English? Will they eventually require other services besides ENL in the future? Will they “mesh well” with the other kids in the class or will their language barrier hold them back from socializing in the beginning? These are the questions most of us ask ourselves when we hear the news.  A lot of the time, the transition is a very positive one, but all of the time, it requires a ton of patience and delicate timing. We talk about “the silent period” but what does that even mean? If we push too hard to get them to grasp concepts in the very beginning we may be stressing them out, if we give them too much leeway and independence to do their “own thing” they don’t feel connected to the classroom (and sometimes find trouble). If we expect them to do the same caliber of work as the rest of the class they are too challenged, however if we modify everything that is given to the class those are very high expectations to maintain. Unfortunately there isn’t one clear formula, as with lots of things in life, this too requires a balance. 

Today, Mary Ann, in the midst of me being way too emotional, told me I need to make things a little bit simpler for my kids in the beginning. She wasn’t the first to say it (thank you Christine). If all I have accomplished at the end of my period is to make my newcomers feel happy and safe, it has been a good day. This is the constant struggle for me, and we all have our own. I try to get too much done because I want my students to know what is going on throughout the day. I don’t want them to struggle, so I struggle trying to fit a lot of stuff into a 40 minute period so I can give them the best chance possible to feel confident. But am I helping them or hurting them? As teachers we put so much pressure on ourselves.  So much needs to get done, when it comes to our beginner ENL’s we all must take a breath – sit back and reevaluate what is working, what is not and what we can do collectively to make it better.  Sometimes it takes a village and that is a wonderful thing.  

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, February 29
"A" Week
Gr. 5 Open House - 8:45am
Gr. 4 Literacy Check-In Meeting @ 11:05am

Tuesday, March 1 

FEO - All Staff - Library @ 3PM - we will check out the Mobile MakerSpace & Spheros (please download the Sphero app)
Gr. 2 Literacy Check-In Meeting @ 9:30am
Gr. 5 Literacy Check-In Meeting @ 11:05am

Wednesday, March 2

Gr. 1 Literacy Check-In Meeting @ 11:05am
Shared Decision Making Team Mtg @ 3pm

Thursday, March 3

PTA Executive Board Meeting at 9am
CST @ 1:20pm
Likely Cultural Arts MAKE UP date

Friday, March 4

Happy TGIF!

Reminders... 

• Don't forget to implement lessons from our Digital Citizenship Curriculum... access it here!
• Our next whole staff FEO will be Tues. Mar. 8th - featuring student-led PD by students in Karen's class on how to use the app Adobe Voice! 
• Innovation Day is coming on May 19th! Click here to check out the plan from last year... feel free to use the same plan or change it up! We will devote the April 19th FEO to planning for this event.
• Although conferences are a few weeks away, if you want me to read any and all report card comments, please share them with me as soon as you are done; and if you want me to attend any specific conferences, please let me know so I can put them on my calendar.