Thursday Thoughts on Learning
CIA & PD Newsletter for Meramec Valley R-III School District
February 11, 2016-3rd Edition
4th Grade
Student Technology Panel
3rd Grade Writes Letter to PSC
In last week's edition of Thursday Thoughts on Learning we were reminded that February was a time to tell our Professional School Counselors how much we appreciate all they do. At Nike Elementary, students in Mrs. Schneebeli's 3rd Grade Class wrote letters to Mrs. Moore.
Governor Proclaims February is Lifelong Learning Month
Missouri Lifelong Learning Month
Governor Nixon issued a proclamation designating the month of February as "Missouri Lifelong Learning Month" and recommends that it be observed with appropriate activities in the public schools to promote public awareness of the importance of ongoing education throughout each person's lifetime.
Survey for Elementary Math Specialists
The Department is gathering information about the new K-6 Elementary Math Specialist degree and certification programs. The survey should only take about five minutes. The deadline for completing the survey is Feb. 16.
Survey LinkDistrict Updates
Since February is Lifelong Learning Month....check out something interesting to read!
Leading with Focus
Author Mike Schmoker's (2016) newest book guides teacher leaders and admin leaders through three key areas of focused leadership: curriculum, literacy, and instruction. This book balances theory with practical examples and an implementation guide.
School Culture Rewired
Uncommon Learning
Lighter side of Learning
Writer's Workshop
All MVR-III teachers of literacy follow the DESE Comprehensive Literacy Plan guidelines. The district's elementary literacy series embeds writing into the daily literacy block for all 1st through 5th grade students and supports a two week writer's workshop model at the end of each unit of instruction. Two 2nd Grade Zitzman teachers, Rhonda Lee and Dena Dewitt, attended a training on December 10, 2015, to learn more about effective, explicit writing instruction and research-based strategies to incorporate into the existing Writer's Workshop Model.
MVR-III Presence at METC
Thank you to the following staff members who attended the Missouri Educators Technology Conference in St. Louis, February 8-10, 2016:
Debby Haley-Technology Director
Scott Kovis-Instructional Technology Facilitator
Dawn Bristow-RB ELA and Odyssey Teacher
Kim Milani-PHS FACS Teacher
Katherine Wayne-PHS Science Teacher
Jackie Selle-PHS Foreign Language & ELA Teacher
Cathy Tate-ZE 5th Grade Teacher
Amy Reed-TE/ZE Library Media Specialist
Christine Syron-PHS ELA Teacher/Department Chair
Carmen Carter-RB Science & PLTW Teacher
Terri Eggers-NE 1st Grade Teacher
Nina Pape-BE Kindergarten Teacher
Growing Confident and Responsible Students
Professional Learning Teams from Nike, Robertsville, and Truman elementary have been expanding their knowledge and growing their character education programs using the Leader in Me Model. Stephen Covey's work can be seen in place at Riverbend and also at PHS in the ROTC program described as the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. The Leader in Me theory also develops the habits in elementary-age students by teaching them to hold themselves accountable for their learning (District PBTE Standard 7.2-Student Assessment).
On February 5th, the following staff members attended a site-visit to Brennan Woods Elementary School to see the strategies in action:
Brittany Jasper-RE Kindergarten Teacher
Monica Moore-NE/RE Professional School Counselor
Stephanie Bray-NE/RE Title I Reading Teacher
Susan Livingstone-TE 2nd grade Teacher
Jennifer Boyce-TE 4th grade Teacher
TECH 4 LEARNING NEWS
Student Panel at February Tech Committee Meeting
Students from Meramec Valley Middle School and Riverbend attended the February 1 Technology Committee Meeting to discuss the 1:1 implementation plan beginning in the 2016-17 school year. Following are answers/comments to some of the questions that were presented to them (keep in mind that students are very honest with their answers!):
1. How are you using technology in your classroom now?
- Using it a lot for Google Classroom and Drive, some classes more than others (Social Studies)
- Not using it as much, due to lack of resources. Need to get cart or go to lab, which limits time of use
- Projects in Health and Social Studies
- Not as much use as I would like to
- Using Google Classroom a lot for projects and keyboarding
- ELA to write and read stories
2. Do you feel having your own Chromebook that can be taken home would be a positive thing?
- Positive - everything is in one place
- Families that can’t afford would have a device, less paper & textbook costs
- Not losing paperwork assignments (x2)
- More interested in assignments
- Don’t have to bother parents for device
3. Do you have any concerns about having your own Chromebook?
- Forgetting CB would be a problem
- Some of older teachers may not be as comfortable using technology
- Negative might be breakage or loss
- Could cause distraction
- Some irresponsible students may lose device
4. What questions do you have for us?
- Any way to prevent or reduce damage?
- Will likely purchase case or sleeve
- Will students be able to bring own tech in?
- Still working on policy, but BYOD would have to do same things as district CB
- Will there be places to charge the devices?
- Student responsibility, but there will be some charging stations
- Will it monitor Internet so kids don’t get off-track?
- Yes, Lightspeed will block the same sites at home as they do at school
- What about students who don’t have WiFi at home?
- Work offline on CB, and upload when return to WiFi
- When asked if students would take advantage of public WiFi hotspots, most said yes. One 8th grader said that dedicated students would
CIA News
Library Media Program Evaluation
Writing Self-Assessment
Conferring improves writing of all students.
Conferring on writing or using a Writing Conference Form is a strategy commonly found in most ELA classrooms. Student/Teacher writing conferences are one of the most effective ways to improve student writing because of the feedback piece. However, students can also self-assess their own writing and then confer with a peer for feedback. This example is from a 2nd grade classroom that uses this method during the Writer's Workshop process.
PDC News
PDC is looking host a book study beginning in March
Writing on the Walls Week...only three weeks away
Check out the following guests who are spotlighted at events across the district throughout the Week of February 29-March 4, 2016. Ask your building WriteON Committee Member for more information!
Antony John
Speaking at Riverbend on Monday, February 29th.
Born
in The United KingdomWebsite
Genre
Member Since
May 2009
URL
Babaloo
Babaloo writes his own acts, songs, and scripts.
Performing for students at Zitzman on Tuesday, March 1st and Coleman on Thursday, March 3rd.
"He is in a league all by himself...his songs are hilarious, and every show's a party...Babaloo is redefining children's entertainment."
~Show Me St. Louis
Bella & Lily
Singer/Songwriters Bella & Lily to perform at MVMS and Riverbend.
First album, Count To Ten has been licensed to 14 different television programs, including MTV’s Real World and Teen Wolf. In 2014, Chase The Moon, written by Lily Ibur, finished 3rd in the International Songwriting Competition. More than 19,000 songwriters entered the competition.
Two of MVR-III Singer/Songwriters will also appear at MVMS during WOTW
Free Webinar to support Student Writing
Free webinar: Using Discussion to Inspire Writing
Join Terry Roberts, director of the National Paideia Center and co-author of The Better Writing Breakthrough, for a discussion of how to use formal classroom discussion to inspire student writing that is more clear, coherent and sophisticated. In particular, Roberts will show you how to use Socratic Seminar Dialogue to help students generate both new ideas and language with which to express those ideas in their writing. Register now for this Feb. 25th webinar. Register here.
MVR-III School District
Email: DistrictCO@mvr3.k12.mo.us
Website: www.mvr3.k12.mo.us
Location: 126 N Payne St, Pacific, MO, United States
Phone: 636-271-1400
Twitter: @DistrictMVR3