Ram Express
Salem Elementary Staff Newsletter
June 2, 2017
Kudos Column
Thank you to Debbie Drennan for your dedication to entering student information into SWIS. Salem ES would not be recognized as a leader in MTSS-B without your help!
-Peggy Muse
- To the entire Salem team for your continued support and flexibility with testing this week. Your positive attitude and spirit of teamwork are amazing.
- To our remediation recovery rock stars for strategically teaching and building student confidence. Thanks to JoAnn, Arlisa, Teri, Andrea, Patty, and Debbie A for going above and beyond for our students.
- To David Evans and Kathy Rheinhart for getting the library set up for the Aquarium Outreach program today.
- To Debbie Drennan for so many reasons. You will be missed.
-Ann Shufflebarger
I Make a Difference Award
I would like to pass the praise on to a co-worker who works tirelessly all week long. She has a tremendous job to do each day because she and her team are responsible for helping all of the Salem students exert their energy in a positive, productive, and appropriate manner. Mother Nature can bring on the rain, snow, sleet, or sunshine. It doesn’t matter because Mrs. Jennings and her team will always be ready. Mrs. Jennings’ efforts and care extend beyond her formal responsibilities. She is a check-in check-out mentor has been supporting Salem’s Pre-K program all year long. She shares her materials, time, and smiles with all of my students. Mrs. Jennings, we appreciate you and all you do for the Salem family!
Staff Changes
Sending our best wishes to our PreK team of Jennifer Stadsvold and Tiffany York as both will be leaving Salem at the end of the year. What a wonderful job they have done kicking off our PreK program!
EIGHT WAYS TO GROW AS A TEACHER
Maybe you’re not thinking about it yet, but perhaps this summer you will begin to reflect on the school year and your teaching practice. We all need to change in order to continue to improve. Here are eight strategies from teachthought.com that might get you off on the right foot.
1. Start Small – Don’t reinvent everything you do, even if that new “thing” you’ve found suggests you do exactly that. This needs to be sustainable. Start small even if you’re starting small so you can change everything.
2. Start Right Away – Within reason. Soon your perception of that new idea or resource will change - lose its shine, or become vague somehow. Start small and start right away.
3. See Learning as a System – With new changes, adjustments need to be made. Your new assessment strategy, learning app, social media tool, or clever use of analogies will change the ecosystem of how you teach. Which is good. Go with it, not blindly, but with the understanding that if you’re not adapting, you’re likely withering.
4. Reflect, Reflect, Reflect – Reflect on what you learned, reflect after further reading, reflect after discussing it with students or colleagues, then reflect after giving it a try. Consider using: How did it go, and how do you know?” to help frame that reflection, which forces you to both confront how you think things went, and then consider the “data’ or evidence of that assessment (whether formal or informal).
5. Collaborate Meaningfully - Speaking of sharing it with colleagues, collaboration not only opens up new thinking to further thinking, revision, and extension (a colleague offering up an excellent literacy strategy to go with your new spin on blended learning, for example), but also “puts you on the hook” to see the idea through (unless you want to be known as the teacher who starts a million projects without seeing any through).
6. Stay Curious - One change to your craft of teaching will undoubtedly lead to another. Stay curious, respond to new thinking with a critical eye and a heart full of possibility.
Just as you encourage your own students to stay active, engaged, and connected, you too can keep reading about new ideas, connecting to new communities, participating in twitter chats and collegial conversation in order to reflect, and in the process continue to refine yourself professionally, making lasting change in the way you teach.
7. Listen to Students - They’ll let you know how you’re doing, and how any changes to your teaching are “going.” You just have to be willing to listen with an open mind.
8. Celebrate Learning - Because that’s why we’re here. Without celebrating success – the success and growth of your students and how you helped them are it happen – your job is unsustainable. The same way your students need to see progress and believe what they’re doing is working, so do you.
Tech Notes from Jane Harvey
Did you use Google Classroom this year? If so, then you need to do some cleanup at the end of the year. Check out this site for tips on closing out your Google Classroom for the year: End of Year Google Classroom Cleanup
Check out this Pinterest board on ideas for using Google Classroom next year! 250 Ideas for Using Google Classroom
Can you do these things in Google Classroom? 10 things teachers should be able to do in Google Classroom
ELEMENTARY SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKs
On June 30, the division’s contract with Five Ponds Press will expire, at which time the social studies electronic textbooks and teacher resources will no longer be accessible. All elementary school social studies courses will continue to use the Five Ponds student editions for the 2017-2018 school year, which will continue to be referenced in the elementary social studies curriculum.
Got stuff?
Don't forget to check out our online clearing house for items you no longer need in your classroom. It's a great way to share without having to dig through piles!
Genius!
Happy Birthday
June 1 – Jane Harvey
June 6 – Emily Barbachem
June 20 – Kelly Harrison
June 21 – Regina Palasz
June 27 – Gwen Mawhinney
Looking ahead
June 5 @ 3:40 - Baby Shower for Desiree Lacerna (Library)
June 6 - SOL Grade 5 Science
June 7 - SOL Grade 5 History
June 7 @ 3:40 - MTSS-B Tier I and II (Summit)
June 8 - STEM Trifecta Challenge
June 8 - 4:30-6:00 - Retirement Celebration (cafeteria)
June 9 - 3:30-5:00 - Fifth Grade Social (cafe)
June 12 @ 3:40 - Bridal Shower for Ashley Polychroni (Library)
June 13 - Primary Elections
June 14 @ 7:00 - Chorus and Strings Concert
June 16 - Last Day of School - Early Release
June 16 @ 9:00 - Grade 5 Promotion Ceremony
June 16 @ 1:00 - Staff Luncheon (Library)
June 19 - Flex Day