The Lion's Den
Week of August 27, 2018
Be There!!
August 27th (A)- Lesson Plans due in Google (9:00 am)
August 28th (B)- ELA PLC's
August 29th (C)- PBIS Team Meeting; Math PLC's; Elementary School Director (Ms. Siefert) School Visit (1:00-2:00 pm); Monumental Kids Marathon Practice (after school)
August 30th (A)-
August 31st (B)- Jeans/Christian Park Spirit Wear
(A,B,C next to date denotes the Related Arts schedule)
News and Notes
NEW INFORMATION
Again, thank you for another solid week! It is truly a pleasure coming to school and working with a staff dedicated to their craft! Continue this momentum and our goals will be achieved and eclipsed!!
Walkthroughs will continue this week. Remember- walkthroughs are NOT evaluative. They are designed to look to ensure we are meeting our vision for positive, rigorous, and engaging learning environment.
Overall, we are seeing positive trends in instruction and our classroom management structures. Students are engaged and activities aligned to pacing. One area we are noting for improvement is in our I CAN statements. Remember, these are not "checklist" items. Rather, I CAN statements should be the skill that students are to learn by the end of the lesson. When you have that final check for understanding, you should come back to your I CAN statement and ask "did my students master this?" The I CAN statement should drive your instructional planning.
On Wednesday, Ms. Mary Seifert, our Director of Elementary Schools, will be visiting from 1-2 pm. We will be walking the building and through classrooms at this time.
Committee information is below. Committees- please select your day and time you are going to meet and share this with me. PBIS and SBLT- I will be sharing this information with you tomorrow.
Student shirt order forms will go home on Monday. Thank you Ms. Massey for putting this together. All order forms and money should be sent to the front office each morning. Shirts will be $12. You can also order them. We will have everything due by Friday morning. Please see Ms. Massey with questions. This will be in the Monday ConnectED.
Also going home Monday will be registration forms for our Monumental Marathon Kids Running Program. Thank you to Ms. Cook for being our building champion! Registration forms will need to be returned quickly as the first practice will be held on Wednesday after school. After that, practices will be Monday and Wednesday after school. See Ms. Cook for information or if you want to help volunteer! This will be in the Monday ConnectED.
REPEAT INFORMATION
Lesson Plan link for the week is below. Click on it and drop in lesson plans. Reminder- you can use the lesson plan template that works for you. Components required include:
- Standard- Identifier is fine, don't need to write it out
- Skill being taught- explicit through the I CAN statement
- Gradual Release- how are you modeling, practicing, and releasing for collaborative/independent practice
- Checks for Understanding- how are you checking every step of the way to ensure students are "getting it"?
The Staff Handbook is still attached below. You are expected to know the information in the handbook. Please make sure you review it carefully. I cannot stress the importance of this, particularly the CPS Reporting Protocols. When in doubt, REPORT!!!
You should have received an email from SafeSchools outlining the training you need to complete this school year. Due date for all trainings is Oct. 1.
BIG ROCK LIFTS
Thank you for your attentiveness during our staff meeting yesterday. These will be designed to provide info as needed and PD towards our big rocks this year:
- PBIS- the team will be meeting this week (Wednesday). We will review how the beginning of the year has gone and establish the ROAR store and our ROAR Bash criteria. If you have questions/concerns, give these to your grade level rep. Continue handing out the PRIDE Cards and pushing the "teaching" of behavior instead of the "consequence" driving behavioral change.
- MTSS- As mentioned above, we will be focusing on Tier 1 practices (core instruction) during the first quarter. Your lesson starts with the I CAN statement. It defines the purpose and sets the goal of what you want your students to master by the end. Check out the website below about I CAN statements.
- Growth Mindset- how is the work with your "Champion" going? Remember, the growth mindset is for all of us! Think about your professional goals. What are they? Where do you want to grow? None of us are static....we just need to break our minds of this!! Take a look at the video below by Carol Dweck about Growth Mindset under the Thought Leadership section....