Sipley School Weekly Howl
Week of Monday, October 10, 2016
Sipley Staff - What a Team
I can't tell you enough how proud I am of our team. We have worked so well together and we have grown professionally together. I want to compliment our staff on their care for one another. Whenever a team member is in need of something, we have staff right there to help. Thanks for the continued care of our staff in moments when they need someone the most.
I am also proud of the collective response on National Walk to School Day. I applaud Lisa for getting things going and for everyone who walked students to school. Kudos to staff who want to continue this on Wednesday mornings. Things like this leave a very positive impression on our parents.
Poverty Matters, But Not the Way You Think
Please take time to read the Education Week article below. Here is an excerpt from it:
According to John Hattie,
"The Flaxmere study found that, when children started school 98% of the parents considered that education was very or extremely important to their children's future. Two-thirds of these parents expected their children to attain diplomas and degrees. By the time they left elementary school, these aspirations had been dowsed and parents mainly wanted their children to get a job (Clinton et al., 2007)."
So, as we already know, if we want to reach the students we also have to make an effort to reach parents. Perhaps this means getting a home-school liaison to help engage parents, but it also means addressing the way we talk with parents. It means that we have to:
Drop the Education Lingo - We need to either teach the parents what the words or acronyms mean (every profession has acronyms) or we have to drop the educational lingo and acronyms to better engage the parents.
Adjust expectations - I never really liked the "High expectations" movement because it got too political. However, we do need to focus on helping students exceed the expectations they or their parents have for themselves, which means that we do have to have higher expectations for them, regardless of what family they come from. This happens in rural, urban and suburban settings.
Provide adequate resources - Make sure that schools have adequate resources to add at least a year's growth for a year's input NO matter where the child starts, and ensure that teachers, parents and students know how to use them.
Respect the contributions from home - Hattie's research found that the home environment has a .57 effect size, which means that we have to engage all parents, regardless of whether they live in poverty or not, and that parental involvement has an effect size of .51, so we should make sure that we are talking with them about learning instead of talking at them about behavior. Sometimes we need to teach the parents the language of learning so we are all working together to encourage and help students exceed what they think is their potential.
BD Mongolian Grill - Come on Out on Tuesday
I would love for staff to come out and hang out at BD Mongolian Grill on Tuesday Night.
We have Kathy and Ryan on the grill fro, 5-6, Christine and Nicole from 6-7, Brittany and Lisa from 7-8. If others want to join in on the grill we can shrink the times to 30 minutes. If you want to come, but don't want to grill, stop by to mingle or bring your family for dinner. The Sipley parents love seeing staff out. It means a lot to them! Please let me know if you are interested in joining on the grill or if you want to stop by and visit.
Family Reading Night
I invited staff to join me on Thursday at 11:20 - 11:45 to talk about a Family Reading Night.
I was hoping this event can occur on Wednesday, November 2, from 6:30 - 7:45.
We need to come up with a solid plan.
Purpose: I propose that we do a Family Reading Night First with the purpose of helping parents understand the Readers Workshop Model while also giving them options of attending more specific sessions surrounding reading that they might be interested in. I think that it would be great to give parents a menu to choose from.
For example:
Readers Workshop in the Primary Classroom (K-2) - What will students know and be able to do in these grades/units? What reading level should students be at and what does that text look like?
Readers Workshop in the Intermediate Classroom (3-4) - What will students know and be able to do in these grades/units? What reading level should students be at and what does that text look like?
Readers Workshop in the Upper Elementary Classroom (5-6) - What will students know and be able to do in these grades/units? What reading level should students be at and what does that text look like?
Ways parents can engage their readers at home
Understanding Parent Reports (PARCC, STAR)
Challenging the gifted student through Readers Workshop
Sharing how interventions used at Sipley support our readers
English Language Development
I think it would be best to stagger sessions, such as 6:30 – 7:15 – An introduction to the workshop for the three grade spans, then 7:15 – 7:45, allow parents to choose a more specific option to attend.
Stop by the LRC on Thursday if you are interested.
Dismissal
Close and Lock Unoccupied Doors
Formative Assessment Tip
A Glance at the Week Ahead
Monday - No School
Tuesday - I will be out of the building in the morning
Tuesday - No Cook Night at BD Mongolian Grill 5 - 8. - Stop over, please
Wednesday - Lisa Goldman's Birthday!!!
Thursday - Follow a Monday Schedule
Thursday - Family Reading Night Discussion - 11:20 - LRC