JMQ Flash
December 7 - 11, 2015
Notices and Highlighted Events
Sing-Along, Dance-Along Santa
Is this Santa for real?
Super Hero Tree
Here's the Scoop for the PTA Christmas Store!
- When: Dec. 7-11 from 8:00 - 2:00 daily
- Where: Room 232
- How: Call the room (*232, non-Cisco phone - PTA will provide escort if requested/needed)
Choir News
The Honors Choir and Signing Choir will perform at the ESC and around town on Friday, December 11th, to share songs of Christmas with others in our community. Thank you Kristi Grimes, Amanda Dunnavant, Whitney Reardon, and our fabulous interpreters for your leadership!
Can you smell popcorn in the air? I haven't bought my bags yet, but I have already been approached, and I have committed. I can't think of a better way to support our students, our music programs, and my craving for a good snack with just a few dollars!
Refrigerators and Microwaves
SpEd Common Assessments and 3-Week Tests
Professional Development
To Help You Prioritize
* Inspiring Literacy Connections and Conversations
Most of our 21st Century students require motivation and inspiration to read books. Gone are the days when one purposely slows the pace of reading a good book in order to lengthen the pleasurable experience. Were you one that never wanted certain books to end? I sure was!
When I introduced beets to my eldest son when he was a baby, he returned a projectile of the bright red vegetable with force and accurate aim. It's a moment I've never forgotten. Similarly, some students push back forcefully when we try to make them read. We have to cajole, tempt, and woo many students to engage with a text that can be navigated independently only as fast as their decoding and comprehension skills will allow. It requires them to be fairly sedentary to boot! How can a book compete with a video game and the immediate gratification it offers?
First, we have to know our students and know their interests. We try to present books we think will interest them. I love the way Donalyn Miller makes that happen (See the button link to her blog below.). How we inspire literacy and all that it entails varies from teacher to teacher and reader to reader, but it certainly helps us to learn from those who have created successful literacy models in their classrooms.
What would happen if you offered your favorite quotes from books to students? Could you start a "favorite quote" anchor chart from shared read alouds? Could students find words/phrases they love in a book because they connect with those words? Might they share those favorite book quotations on post-its, Padlet.com, or on a Google Classroom blog? Once your children begin to "own words and phrases" from books, they will be ready to make them "gifts" to share with you and others. I challenge you to think of ways we as a staff can inspire our students to read and get excited about reading.
We have a plan to establish a green room in the library to help take our JMQ Live announcements to the next level and to enable students to create video projects. Both Allison Glenn and Mesha Harris, a former television reporter, are helping Dara and me to accomplish this. I see our students becoming the ones who inspire their peers to read a book through some pretty cool book talk videos that they create using an iPad, a green screen, and some imagination.
Below I share with you some of my favorite words from children's books along with a few reflections.