April 24, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF to everyone on this final Friday of April... I don't know about you, but I am totally excited for these last few weeks of school. It means celebrations, reflections on all the amazing learning that has unfolded, end of year reading assessments, the ABC Countdown, Moving Up and Field Day just to name a few! Even things will speed by, I hope we can all slow it down and reflect on all of the amazing things we have accomplished this year... thank you all for always being willing to take a risk and try something new... BEST. SCHOOL. COMMUNITY. EVER!

Special thank you to everyone, especially Joe P., for working so hard to get our little mathematicians prepared for the NYS Math Tests! I think our kids did a really amazing job and that is because our math instruction goes above and beyond the Common Core and the state of New York. Thank you Joe for setting that bar so high and pushing our kids to think critically and reach for those deeper conceptual understandings - that is always our goal. It is such a relief to be done with the majority of the state tests... enough time wasted on disrupting learning... back to what matters... KIDS!

In other news, please note that it is Annual Review and CSE season, which means MaryAnn and I, along with many of the specialists, will have crazy schedules over the next weeks in our attempt to get to every annual review and CSE meeting. There are many classified children in our building and thus there are many meetings to attend. With that in mind, I apologize in advance for disruptions to specialists' schedules and to my own schedule... running around like a chicken without a head isn't all its cracked up to be... LOL!    


Please not this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so hold on to it for the necessary information! 


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

• I had a chance to be in Katie's room during independent reading time and I was so impressed with how comfortable and engaged the children were throughout the entire visit - they have grown so much this year! Their reading stamina has come such a long way and it was so great to watch them be so focused on their books and enjoying them so much. I don't care what NYS says because at Cantiague, we value the development of life long readers... not day-to-day test takers! BRAVO! 

• While visiting Caylie's room this week, the children were engaged in an activity connected to Earth Day... turning trash into treasures. Well, the end result was very much a Genius Hour experience because the children were taking cardboard, plastic, paper and a bunch of other types of "trash" and were creating some of the coolest new treasures. The room was buzzing with ideas and energy. The best part was, they were all immersed and engaged - AWESOME!

• While visiting Ginny's room during the shared reading experience in the morning, I was blown away by the children's ability to basically lead this experience on their own. One child was at the board with a pointer and she led the children through a reading of the poem and they were all engaged and reading the poem aloud with little teacher assistance - WOW!! Talk about lead learners! 

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to plan for our upcoming Innovation Day (May 14th), I wanted to share this interesting article piece about how any classroom can be turned into a Makerspace, which aligns with many of our efforts this year (Genius Hour, Passion Projects, etc.). So, check it out and let me know if you are interested in buying any of these materials for your space so we can start putting together our own Maker Space. How To Turn Any Classroom Into A Makerspace!


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, April 27

"B" Week
Alites & Kupferman - Earth Day Open House - 8:45am
Planbooks due by Thursday for all teachers!
PTA Shoe Drive is happening this week!

Tuesday, April 28

Moses - Earth Day Open House - 8:45am
Joint PTA Council - 9:30am - HS
Full staff FEO @ 3:30pm in the Library - Innovation Day - Meet at 3:30pm in the library to debrief

Wednesday, April 29

Happy Wednesday! 

Thursday, April 30

CST @ 1:20pm
Carvel Ice Cream Sale
Incoming Parent K Orientation - 7pm

Friday, May 1

Happy May Day... it's like a fresh start for all!
Grade 3 Trip
PTA Ladies Luncheon
Tony will be out today... I am defending my dissertation!

Monday, May 4

"A" Week
Happy Monday... 8 weeks before we close out for the summer!

Tuesday, May 5

No FEO this week!
Gr. 3 Chick Workshop
Gr. 5 Trip to Blue Man Group - district-wide trip
Happy Cinco De Mayo

Wednesday, May 6

Incoming Kindergarten Student Orientation - in Mandy's classroom - her students may be occupying the 2nd Computer Lab!

Thursday, May 7

CST @ 1:20pm
PTA Executive Board - 9:30am
Gr. 3 Spring Concert - 7pm
Gr. 4 Spring Concert - 8pm 

Friday, May 8

Happy TGIF!
Career Day... schedule and details to follow!

Kids' Korner

While visiting Ginny's classroom, one of her little munchkins came up to me and said, "From now I am going to call you Dr. Mustache!" Not only was the title funny but he said it with an evil voice, which made me crack up! So, I have my new personal hashtag... #DrStache!!  :)        

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

April 17, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

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...

Testing Accommodations

Testing Scheduling Changes  

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

"A" Week
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 

Wednesday, April 22

Happy Administrative Assistant Day - Thank you Laura & Pam!
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!

Friday, April 24

Happy TGIF!
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...

WEEK IN TWEETS

March 27, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF to everyone on this final Friday of March... that is right my friends... April arrives next Wednesday, which is unreal. I want to wish everyone a happy Spring Break and happy holidays for anyone celebrating anything. This break will be my final chance to finish the dissertation... I hope I can return on April 13th sharing that it is all DONE!

Meanwhile, we have less than 3 months of school left and before we know it, we will be kicking off our awesome ABC Countdown - I cannot wait! Unfortunately, before then, we have to get through the state tests for ELA, Math and Science (for Grade 4). The week after the break is the ELA on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, which means that some services will be cancelled and many rooms will be used for testing - but, I am happy to say that it will be less disruptive than last year. 

Also, all of the children OPTING OUT will be supervised in the Library where they will be encouraged to read, write or draw quietly - no massive hangout! The children will be supervised by Matt, Debbie C. and Alana as their students have also OPTED OUT - thank you in advance to the three of you!

Please make sure you review all scheduling changes for the upcoming week so we are all where we are supposed to be at the right time! Click on the links below to access the scheduling changes and test modifications...

Scheduling Changes

Test Modifications

I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your hard work over the last week or two with getting report cards done and handling the onslaught of conferences this week... you all AMAZE me! From all the specialists who attend every team meeting, to all the classroom teachers who facilitate every conversation, to all the aides who provide the specific data and information, the feedback from our families is always positive. They know that we put children at the center of our work here and our kids are happy, they feel safe and are supported by each of you until they meet with success. BRAVO! I am honored to be associated with this learning organization. 

Finally, best of luck to Amanda Longo on her new job! Welcome back to Melissa Cerullo! Congrats to Janine Maione! And best of luck to Christina G., Gina and Mallory on their new gigs after the spring break... we know you will all be awesome!

Please not this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so hold on to it for the necessary information! 


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

• Last week, while visiting Jen and Jeanne's room with some guests, we were blown away by how engaged each child was using the Epic site/app for the independent reading block. The children were exploring nonfiction text features and they each had a device or desktop computer to access the site. They were doing such a great job and were completing the task with high levels of success and minimal reading support needed from the teachers - thank you for taking such a different type of "risk" with technology - BRAVO!! 

• This week I had the chance to spend time in our Learning Center with Karina, Harriet and Kelly and all I can say is... WOW! Each teacher did such a different type of lesson but the common features included different instructional approaches throughout the forty-minute period to keep the students engaged and tap into their strengths. They also used such wonderful techniques for reinforcing the behaviors they wanted to see in the children and the results were impressive. Clearly we have an AWESOME resource here so please don't hesitate to ask the Learning Center for ideas and strategies you can use in your classrooms!

• While visiting Mandy's room I was blown away by their work as poets. The children were working in small groups and generating poems about someone they love and hearing their exchanges to help generate ideas was not only adorable but really impressive. At the same time that most of the children were independently working in their groups, Mandy pulled a small group for a writing conference while Terri supported another group... it was writing workshop at its best! 

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to plan for our upcoming Innovation Day (May 14th), I wanted to share this interesting article with suggestions on how one could HACK their classroom! Hacking is really about disruption, which is ultimately a form of innovation. So, check out 7 Ways To Hack Your Classroom!


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 30

"A" Week
Grade 5 DNA Lab Trip - Garrison/Malone
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep - Final Day!

Tuesday, March 31

Grade 5 DNA Lab Trip - Levlons/Siper
Full staff FEO @ 3pm in the Library - Review Testing & open common planning time

Wednesday, April 1

Happy April Fool's Day... and Welcome Spring Break!
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep - Final Day!

Monday, April 13

"B" Week
Happy Monday... Welcome Back!

Tuesday, April 14

Gr. 3 - 5 ELA Testing... approximately 9am to 11am
No FEO this week!

Wednesday, April 15

Gr. 3 - 5 ELA Testing... approximately 9am to 11am

Thursday, April 16

CST @ 1:20pm
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA Testing... approximately 9am to 11am
Jericho Alumni Hall of Fame - 7pm JPL

Friday, April 17

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

This one actually comes from a parent... he stopped in on her way to a conference and said, "Mr. Sinanis, I cannot thank you and your teachers enough for all that you do - from the secretaries to the custodians to the classroom teachers I have never seen a more positive group of people who clearly love their jobs and love the kids!" And that, my friends, is the absolute truth... #Cantiague is a special place!        

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

March 13, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday to everyone! Hope everyone has some great plans for the weekend especially with the temps finally above the single digits- I know I am THRILLED!!! As you are reading this, I am in Washington D.C. participating in Digital Learning Day, which is the kickoff for the Teaching and Learning Conference. I am so excited to be presenting and representing our school community alongside people like Linda Darling-Hammond, Andy Hargreaves, Randi Weingarten and Martin Luther King III (check out all the speakers here and if you scroll down in the ABC order, you will see me) in an event supported by the Department of Education and the White House under the umbrella of the #FutureReady initiative. It is pretty exciting to bring the work we are doing at Cantiague to the national stage... GO #CANTIAGUE!!

In other news, the good ole dissertation is coming along... about 115 pages written so far and nearing the end. It is such a consuming and laborious process but it will be done soon - I could not have survived the last three years without all the support from my Cantiague family - thank you. I am scheduled to defend my dissertation on Friday, May 1st and assuming I get it all written and that goes well, I will unofficially be done! Graduation is on Saturday, May 16th and I am super excited for that event too. I am hoping that Paul will be able to join me too - part of this whole journey has been about him and him understanding the importance of working hard for something you value! 

Finally, a special thank you to everyone who came out to the PTA Game Night Event - it meant the world to me to see so many of your faces in the crowd from all the tweets - you all ROCK!

Please not this Fast Friday Focus will cover the next two weeks so hold on to it for the necessary information! 


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

• Carolyn took the whole Genius Hour experience to another level this week with a snowman building challenge! That's right - Genius Hour went outdoors and it was awesome. The children were challenged to work in groups and their task was to build the tallest snowman possible and the results were impressive. This whole experience was important for so many reasons... not only did the kids get outdoors and move around for the physical well-being but they also worked collaboratively and accessed their critical thinking skills during the challenge and that is all at the core of 21st Century skills... BRAVO! 

• Melanie and her kids for trying Google Presentation/Slides as a way to share the children's passions and interests. Giving our children access to collaborative cloud based resources like Google docs or Google classroom will make them a lot more college and career ready than any multiple choice based test! I also have loved watching the book clubs unfold in Melanie's classroom - the kids have had some great discussions and seeing them build their levels of independence are impressive!

• Genius Hour is on FIRE at Cantiague and I thank you all for even taking a risk and incorporating this hour into your classrooms in some way, shape or form! I can tell you that I have gotten a LOT of positive feedback from the children and families and when we get positive buzz, it is a great sign that we should keep doing it! So, please continue to share your Genius Hour ideas across the grade levels... the results have been AWESOME! 

• Finally, if you didn't see it in the email I sent out earlier in the week, check out the Student-Led PTA Meeting because they were truly awesome. It is about 10 minutes but well worth your time... 

Tech Tip of the Week...

To shift gears a little this week, I wanted to share this 2 minute video that Christina B. (thank you) shared with me last week. It is such a positive reframing to dealing with a bullying situation and I would LOVE to try something like this at #Cantiague... Maybe Thursday, March 26th? Check it out and let me know what you think...

SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 16

"A" Week
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep

Tuesday, March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Grade 5 Articulation Meetings - All Day- Faculty Room
Full staff FEO @ 3pm in the Library - 5th Graders Teaching us about Google Classroom, Docs & More! 

Wednesday, March 18

Suzy Kline visits with Grade 2 - Library Closed!
Kindergarten Field Trip - Hofstra
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep

Thursday, March 19

CST @ 1:20pm
Budget Review Meeting - Board of Ed. at 7:30pm
PTA Staff Appreciation Luncheon - Library closed!

Friday, March 20

Happy TGIF!
Tony's LAST WEEKEND of classes at Penn!

Monday, March 23

"B" Week
PTA Joint Council - 9:30am at Jackson
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep
Tony is out because Paul is having surgery

Tuesday, March 24

Report Cards posted today
No FEO this week!

Wednesday, March 25

Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep

Thursday, March 26

CST @ 1:20pm
Board of Education Meeting at 7:30pm
Parent/Teacher Conferences - 3-5pm; 7-9pm
Positive Post-It Day??

Friday, March 27

Happy TGIF!
NO School for Students... Parent/Teacher Conferences

Kids' Korner

On my birthday one of the first graders said to me, "Mr. Sinanis, you look good for an old man!" LOL... thanks, I think!        

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

March 6, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

TGIF to everyone (and Happy Snow Day because technically it is Thursday when this is being published). I hope we all had a wonderful first week of March! It was a busy week with so much great stuff happening. I hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend. It is great to see the weather starting to warm up a little bit... maybe some of this ice and snow will finally start to melt (after this last snowstorm of course)! 

In other news, congrats to Caylie, who will be taking over for Janine during her leave. Caylie, we know you will do an AWESOME job and Janine we will miss you!

I am not sure how many of you watched the Oscars a couple of weeks ago but the one speech that resonated with me was by Graham Moore, who struggled with being gay in his teens, but framed it in such a positive way here...

Let's remind our kids that it is OK to be WEIRD! Thank you to my friend Jay who shared this quote with me last week and was the inspiration for sharing it with you today. 

One of the focal points we need to be considering for next year is the idea of teaching our children about digital literacy and citizenship. This will be a critical opportunity and focus for us as our integration of various technologies, including devices, Google for Education apps and students digitally publishing their work, increases, we need to be proactive and teach our children the skills they need to be successful in a digital age... that continues to grow and evolve. I would like to make a few suggestions... 

• One would be putting a vertical team together (one representative from each grade level & any interested specialists) to help develop our own digital citizenship curriculum using the many online resources that already exist (we are NOT reinventing the wheel). This team could meet a few times during the remainder of this year to come up with a rough plan, which will continue to evolve... this won't be something set in stone... it will be a living document. Although I know we barely have room to "add anything else" this is another aspect of character development and social and emotional literacy we need to be addressing that can replace other "stuff" or be incorporated into reading workshop, writing workshop or even social studies. It can also happen in the computer lab during your scheduled times or in addition if that works better... whatever the case, we will figure it out but it is imperative that we are proactive in this area;

• A second component would be increasing the opportunities for us to model appropriate digital citizenship for our children - our modeling is critical. Whether we walk our students through composing a tweet (they can all do this with a little supervision) so they can begin sharing the stories in our classrooms or allow them to comment on each other's work using Google Docs (some of our kids are already doing this too) or showing them how to write an email, we need to model for our kids whenever possible!

• Finally, I am suggesting everyone check out the Common Sense Media Scope and Sequence for Digital Citizenship and maybe even try a couple of lessons. This is broken up between Grades K - 2 and then Grades 3 - 5 and beyond. It is some basic stuff and not that many lessons - definitely worth trying a lesson or two at some point during the remainder of the year to see if it is something that would work well for our children.  

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

• Karen took a risk and took her kids outside to play in the snow this week - what an awesome time! It was so great to see the kids just being kids and having fun running in the mountains of snow, building snowmen and just having a good time. In my mind, these are the moments that define the elementary school experience... I hope more of you might be willing to try some fun in the snow (please inform the parents in advance so the children are prepared). 

• Kudos to our Grade 3 team for taking the #GeniusHour experience and making it a family event during their Open House this week... it was really AWESOME! Although all the families were experiencing Genius Hour, it looked a little different in each room, which is what makes it even more awesome from my lens. Whether the families were redefining a brown bag, transforming a paper plate or taking on the marshmallow challenge, they were all really actively engaged. I can honestly say, it was one of the most engaging Open House events I have ever witnessed... families were not allowed to sit back and be passive audience members. They were building, cutting, pasting, discussing and having a GREAT time. BRAVO! 

• In kindergarten the children are in the midst of a poetry study in writer's workshop and this week I had a chance to hang out in Ally's class and work with a small group while they tried to generate a poem about a marshmallow (lots of marshmallows going on this week)! The children were challenged to create a list poem and I was so impressed with the words they were using to describe the marshmallow... squishy, tasty, yummy, soft and white just to name a few. I was totally blown away by their vocabulary. They were having such a great time coming up with the words and of course, in the end, they had a blast eating the marshmallows (yes, I had some too)... AWESOME!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to consider the ways we can use Google in the classroom, check out this resource: 5 Ways Google Tools Can Make Education More Exciting!




SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 9

"B" Week
Happy Monday & Happy World Language Week!
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep

Tuesday, March 10

PTA Meeting at 9:30am - Our kids will be talking debate/argument writing!
Full staff FEO @ 3pm in the Library to finish our activity from last time and discuss Innovation Day... May 14th 

Wednesday, March 11

Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep

Thursday, March 12

CST @ 1:20pm
PTA Game Night @ 6:30pm - please join us!

Friday, March 13

Happy TGIF!
End of the Second Marking Period

Kids' Korner

Last week I had the chance to play CandyLand with some kindergarten students (definitely one of the highlights of the week) and during the game they were clearly kicking my butt (I never came out of last place). Anyway, right before I left, one of them said to me, "Don't worry Mr. Sinanis, I think you're a winner!" That might have been one of the sweetest things EVER!        

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

February 27, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday and Happy March to everyone... that's right... adios February and hello to March! Hard to believe that we will soon be having our second parent teacher conferences and the next batch of report cards is going out... this year is ZIPPING by! Thank you all for your hard work - your passion, dedication and willingness to employ innovative practices is unparalleled! This was crystal clear to me on Tuesday during our F.E.O. based on what was shared... the love and respect that defines our staff filled the air. Meanwhile, several people shared that they did not have an opportunity to leave a comment for everyone... so, with that in mind, we will continue this activity at either the March 10th or 17th FEO so come with your ideas and pens ready to go! I will let you know as we get closer to the date. 

In regards to the report cards, if there any comments you want me to read (either a specific child or the whole class) please print out a hard copy and leave it in my office. I have difficulty reading the comments online so a printed out hard copy would be helpful. Please don't forget to touch base with families if there is something negative or concerning going on with a specific child... don't let the report card comment or conference be the first time the family is hearing about our concerns.

Finally, I am not sure if any of you saw my last blog post but I wrote a letter to Governor Cuomo expressing my concerns about his suggested revisions to the educator evaluation plan - he wants test scores to count for 50% of the evaluation and he wants an outside "independent" evaluator to be part of the teacher observation process for 35% so that 85% of the evaluation process would be out of our hands on some level and I don't think this is ok... it is not in the best interest of kids so I wrote this... Dear Governor Cuomo.



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

• Katie facilitated an awesome writing workshop experience with her kids this week. The children are immersed in the start of a fairy tale unit of study and they were learning about the various text features of fairy tales. After a read aloud, where Katie had the children identify the text features, the children worked in partnerships to explore different texts. During their explorations the children identified the text features to determine if the books would qualify as fairy tales and they did this really well. WOW!!! What an awesome activity that not only fostered collaboration but also critical thinking. 

• While visiting Janine's room during writing workshop time, I observed one of her students sitting next to another student and basically facilitating a peer writing conference. The little boy in need of assistance is still developing his English skills and his classmate got down right next to him and helped him stretch out words so he could spell them correctly in his piece. I was so in awe of this moment because not only was it great that Janine has created an environment where kids feel comfortable supporting each other but this little girl was doing a phenomenal job and it was clear to me that our building is filled with Lead Learners!

• While visiting the science lab with Jacquie, I happened to observe a fifth grade class in action and the children were doing an impressive job constructing DNA! The kids were so engaged and they were working collaboratively, which allowed them to problem solve so they could create structures that actual twisted like DNA and in the end, they all met with success - it was pretty awesome! A special thank you to our science team for creating such appropriate and engaging hands-on activities in the science lab!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to explore how we can harness the power of social media, check out this great article with some useful suggestions... How To Use Social Media as a Learning Tool. Please touch base with me if there is anything here you want to try!


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 2

"A" Week
Happy Monday & March to everyone!
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep

Tuesday, March 3

Gr. 3 Open House at 8:45am
No F.E.O. this week! 

Wednesday, March 4

Shared Decision Making Team Meeting at 3pm
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep

Thursday, March 5

CST @ 1:20pm
PTA Executive Board Meeting at 9:30am
Board of Ed Budget Workshop & Joint PTA Council @ 6pm

Friday, March 6

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

While talking to a group of third graders during dismissal the other day, they could not stop talking about how much they love Genius Hour and how it is one of their favorite things about this school year. That was totally awesome news... thank you all for taking a chance this year and incorporating Genius Hour - the kids clearly love it!        

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

February 13, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday and Happy Winter Break to everyone! I hope you all enjoy a restful and relaxing break that will allow us an opportunity to recharge for March, which is always such a busy month with report cards, parent teacher conferences and the looming state tests. This week will be a busy one for me as I have to make some serious progress with my dissertation. I have class in Philly next week... only one more weekend of classes in March and then I am done with classes. Before all that business though, I am excited for this weekend because I am going to be celebrating Valentine's Day with Paul- the best valentine a dad could ask for! With that in mind, thank you all for the beautiful heart notes listing the things that you love about Cantiague - it is an honor to work with you each, learn from you each day and call you extended family. Happy Valentine's Day! 

In other really important news, I want to officially congratulate and recognize two of our amazing colleagues... Lorraine Tedesco and Ginny Lindner. For those of you who have not heard, both Ginny and Lorraine will be retiring at the end of this year. Congratulations to two of the most amazing, passionate and dedicated educators I have ever worked with in my career. We will miss you terribly and please know that you have left your mark on Cantiague! 

I want to begin by thanking Rande for helping me to facilitate our first every student-led Faculty Enhancement Opportunity. It was such a positive and powerful experience that really captured what Cantiague stands for - empowering students and amplifying their collective voices. Thank you Rande for giving them the time to prepare and thank you to each of you for being such a supportive and encouraging audience. The feedback many of you shared will be extremely helpful as we begin to plan for our next student-led professional development session. More details to follow on that event but we are aiming for early March. As a quick follow-up, if you want any of the students who presented to come to your classroom to either share with you or your students, please reach out to Rande - I am sure the kids would be thrilled!

Finally, whenever you get a chance, please reach out to either Donna, Christine, Melanie, Meryl, Jessica, Allison or Marissa (and there are others) to see the incredible digital publications created by their classes using Google Classroom and specifically Google Docs. The third graders generated newspapers about Brazil while the fifth graders wrote nonfiction pieces based on their own research. All I can say is... WOW! Thank you for pushing the kids to publish for a much broader audience!  


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

• Congratulations to our amazing 5th graders who worked diligently to digitally publish their latest nonfiction research pieces. The majority of the children published using Google Docs (from within Google Classroom) and they finally began to see the power of publishing for an audience beyond the four walls of our school. Thank you Marissa, Allison, Christina, Jessica and Rande for taking a risk here and pushing our kids out of their comfort zones... AWESOME!

• Adam and his munchkins did an amazing job exploring the power of QR codes to share their video book reviews of their favorite books. The children did such an incredible job sharing their quick video reviews of their favorite book from 2014 and then creating the library of QR codes in the hallway took the experience to another level... BRAVO!

• Special shout out to Nancy and Carly who turned their classroom over to a group of Chinese parents to immerse the children in a rich and meaningful Chinese New Year Celebration. There were a few parents parents who facilitated a read aloud, handed out red envelopes, included the traditional dragon and encouraged the kids to make their own paper lanterns for a beautifully comprehensive experience... a true home/school connection!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to steam ahead in 2015, I thought you might be interested in this resource that spotlights 52 Of The Best Apps for the Classroom for 2015 - how many are we already using?


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, February 23

"B" Week
Happy Monday & Welcome back from the break!
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA & Math After school Test Prep starts today
All teacher planbooks are due to Tony by Thursday!

Tuesday, February 24

F.E.O. @ 3pm - Full Staff 

Wednesday, February 25

Happy Wednesday!
ELA & Math After School Test Prep

Thursday, February 26

CST @ 1:20pm
Cultural Arts... FINAL ONE!

Friday, February 27

Happy TGIF!
Adios to February... March here we come!
This might be the date of Paul's surgery.

Kids' Korner

While walking through the lunchroom, a kindergarten student ran over to me, wrapped his arms around my leg and screamed, "Mr. Sinanis, I love rubbing my face on your pants!" Of course, it was ice cream day and you can guess what was all over my pants. Good times!        

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