Rockdale Elementary Tiger Talk
November 6 - November 10
Growing Little Minds to Achieve Big Dreams!
At RES...
- We believe in spreading kindness!
- We believe it takes a village!
- We believe in a growth mindset!
- We believe in instilling a love of learning that extends beyond the elementary years!
Just a Few Thank Yous...
- Thank you to everyone for joining in the fun of our 2nd Annual RES Spooktacular and making it such a success. I received many compliments from families!
- Special thank yous to Mrs. McDaniel, Mrs. Weaver, Mrs. Alexander, and Mrs. Konarik for joining us at Trunk or Treat! It was such a wonderful family event! We all ran out of candy because of the incredible turn out!
- Huge shout outs to all teachers for making Friday's pd successful. Ashley and I heard such rich conversations filled with many ideas to help create more student-centered classrooms! We hope you will invite us in when you decide to try out a strategy you discussed with your peers!
This Week's Instructional Focus
Student Centered Learning: The Productive Struggle
- By practicing productive struggle, students go beyond passive reading, listening or watching. Their brains actually produce myelin – the protective covering surrounding nerve cells that control thinking and muscles – which helps with retaining new skills.
- Building robust, lasting connections between new and old information requires conscious effort to repeatedly pull the newer information from memory, including making mistakes along the way and correcting them through feedback and further practice.
Motivation, persistence, and scaffolded support through targeted explanatory feedback are key elements of productive struggle.
Key Elements of the Productive Struggle
- Communicate to students that not knowing how to solve a problem at the outset is not a failure, but instead an expected part of the process.
- Encourage out-of-the-box thinking.
- Allow students to share their reasoning and support each others’ processes.
- Reinforce that the trial-and-error process could come with feelings of discouragement — and that’s okay!
A productive struggle must:
- Challenge a specific weakness, not just overwhelm a student
- Exist in specific activities and assignments, not throughout the entire school day
- Provide space for students to use metacognitive skills
It becomes unproductive when:
- Students are overwhelmed by frustration because they are unclear on or unable to achieve the goal
- Students are left on their own without support
- Missteps along the way are not presented as an option
Articles:
What is Productive Strategies + Strategies for Teachers
Roaring with Information...
- Grades are due in Skyward Monday, November 6. Please review the linked timeline to esure grades are completed on time.
- Christmas Roundup is upon us. We begin collecting donations of canned vegetables, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soap on Monday, November 6. The top collectors from each grade level classroom will receive an ice cream party and the grand prize will be a glow in the dark party! Add items using this link.
- Friday is busy. We honor our Veterans at 10:00 at the high school, and celebrate our 60 PAWS Friday afternoon. We will provide Friday's schedule later this week.
- Lesson plans should be linked in Eduphoria by Sunday, November 5 at 8:00.
- Lorena's family is making tamales to help raise money for Lupe. Order using this link.
What's Happening This Week...
Monday, November 6
- 2nd 6 Weeks Grades Due in Skyward
- Christmas Roundup Begins
- CEC/DEC: RHS Library 4:30
- PTO: Virtual 6:00
Wednesday, November 8
- Veterans Day Program @RHS: 10:00
- PAWS Celebration
- Report Cards Go Home
Looking Ahead...
Tuesday, November 14
- Pre-K Dress Rehearsal 9:30
Wednesday, November 15
- Pre-K Program
- Thanksgiving Luncheon
- Thanksgiving Holidays
- Winter Wonderland: RHS 5:30 - 7:00
- Jingle Mingle
Rockdale Elementary School
Shannon Pourmanafzadeh: Principal
Ashley Willard: Assistant Principal
Julie Hutton Brown: Counselor