Pow Wow Principals Press
October 13, 2017
Important Reminders
- It's an exciting time of year!! A nomination form for Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year was placed in your mailbox yesterday. Please fill out the top AND bottom portion of the form and return it to Yvette by Monday at 4pm.
- Wednesday, October 18th is an early release, district PD day. We will all be going to the VBHS Performing Arts Center for a presentation by Dr. Hodge from 2:30-3:30. Please arrange to car pool with colleagues, as parking will be limited. A group of us will also be walking, so feel free to join! We will leave from the front office at 2pm.
- Please give Moree a copy of your conference sign-in sheets by Tuesday, October 17, even if you are not finished meeting with parents. As you add names, you can turn in an updated copy.
- 1st quarter Awards Ceremonies have been scheduled for November 1st. Please include this information in your report card comments (for grades 2-5 only). 5th Grade = 9:00, 2nd Grade = 10:00, 4th grade =1:00, 3rd Grade =2:00.
- Like previous years, we want to review and write inspiring messages on report cards before sending them home. Please print them and give them to your evaluating administrator by Friday, October 20th, so they can be signed before being sent home in Tuesday News Day Folders on 10/24.
- Last year, we made excellent progress in giving specific feedback to parents through report card comments. Here is an example to consider:
I am so glad Maria is in my class this year! We have had an excellent 1st nine weeks, and we have so much to celebrate! I hope you can join us for our 1st Quarter Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, November 1st at 1pm in the cafeteria. Maria asks such great questions in class and has such a growth mindset! She does an awesome job showing our VIBE! As we discussed during conferences, on our Fall iReady diagnostic assessment, Maria earned a 535 in Reading, which is a bit below our grade level expectations, and a 562 in Math, which is right on target! On the last writing essay, your child scored a 5/10 on the cold write and a 7/10 on the rewrite. Moving forward, we're going to focus on the look back to learn strategy in reading, writing a high scoring essay, and the CUBE strategy in solving math word problems. We will be taking another diagnostic assessment in the winter to see how she is progressing. I'm looking forward to seeing some great gains in math, writing, and reading this upcoming quarter!
1200 Acts of Kindness!
Dear Teachers
In recognition of anti-bullying month, the PTA is looking for 1200 acts of kindness. An act of kindness doesn't need to be a grand gesture, it can be something as simple as picking up a pencil someone else dropped. We hope that you will partner with us in our endeavor. We ask that, during your 20 minutes of morning free time, you look for acts of kindness performed from one student to the next. In your mailboxes, you will find "acts of kindness". For k-2, this will be turkey cutouts. For 3-5, it will be pumpkins. When a student performs an act of Kindness, we ask that you give the student a turkey or pumpkin and have them write their name and act of kindness on it. Please leave these acts in the PTA mailbox, And we will display them in the cafeteria. If we reach 1200 acts of kindness, our lead learner, Mrs. Emerson, will dress like a turkey for our Walk to School on 11/1, Turkey Trot to School. If you have any questions, please contact a PTA member. Thank you so much for helping breed kindness in our school!
Jose Rodriguez
PTA President 17-18
#KDIslowchat Tweet of the week with the hashtag gets a HUGE assortment of classroom supplies!
An Important Update from Ms. Navarro, Our Behavior Intervention Specialist
Monday, 10/16: Grades 2, 4, and 5
Thursday, 10/19: Grades K, 1, and 3
Please be prompt to this, as we will be going over lots of important information. If teams have additional questions or concerns after this session, I would love to meet with you as a grade level to help in any way I can!
Science Updates from Ms. Keeley
Science Fair - This week I am giving you time to start thinking about the research and the hypothesis, materials, procedures. Please make sure that you are working on log books for science fair as discussed in previous Principal Presses. Here again is a great link for primary to print or for intermediate grade levels to follow along in their log book.
Remember:
Research first - build background knowledge
Write the hypothesis as an if, then statement - if I do this, then this will happen
Only one thing is changing in the experiment - the variable.
Everything else must be controlled and remain the same that way we know the affect of the variable.
Date and record in the logbook anytime you work on the experiment.
Must be at least 3-5 repeated trials to get accurate, valid data.
Must be specific in materials - don't just say "some water" or "cup of water" - how many ml of water?
Next week: We will talk about performing the experiment and collecting data.
Science Equipment - Do you have any requests for science equipment? I am getting ready to submit an order with money we received to support STEMscopes hands on labs. Is there anything that your particular grade level uses a lot of and you would like me to possibly purchase. Please let me know ASAP so I can check prices. This will be for non-consumable items such as magnets, pan balances etc.
Fall Festival - Ragley, Keeley, and PTA
Come join us for fall festival - Thursday, October 26, 5:30 - 7:30
Please sign up to volunteer for one of the many opportunities we have available by clicking on the link. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabaf2ca4fd0-fal
Last year our students had so much fun at the trunk or treat. Please come and decorate the trunk of your car and pass out candy to our Little Indians, you can also volunteer at the dance, on the food line, running a carnival game, set up, or clean up. Even just one hour would make a difference to our students. What a great community building event and a way to connect with our families. This is also a great way for us to give back and show our support for our AWESOME PTA! Last year we had over 120 families participate. Orange flyers went home this week. Students may buy wristbands ahead of time for $5 each including all entertainment plus hot dog, chips, water, and cotton candy. Wristbands that are pre-purchased will be available in the prepaid "will call" line on the night of the event or wristbands may be purchased the night of the event. Please turn in any forms with money to the PTA mailbox and a receipt will go home with the child. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE push this event with your students.
Kagan Structure of the Week: Rally Robin (page S. 38)
Ms. Keeley is our #VBEVIP! Enjoy that parking spot, and keep making those nominations on Twitter!
Updates from Ms. Ragley
Charting a Flight Plan for Change...Empowering Students to Use Math and Think Mathematically.
Mathematical Practice #7 Look for and make use of structure
Students find patterns and repeated reasoning that can help solve more complex problems. (recognizing fact families, break apart problems and numbers). They identify multiple strategies and then select the best one. Students prove solutions without relying on the algorithm.
What it means to Teachers?
- Prompt students to identify mathematical structure of the task in order to identify the most effective solution path
- Encourage students to justify their choice of algorithm or solution path
- Continuously question students about the reasonableness of their math as they progress through a problem
What are students doing?
- Look closely to discern patterns or structure
- Understand WHY rules or properties ‘work’
- See complicated things, such as algebraic expressions, as single objects or as composed several objects
Open Ended Questions to use in classroom
- How did you discover the pattern?
- What other patterns can you find?
- Why can you use that property in this problem?
Batman, Beliefs and a Math Growth Mindset – There is no such thing as a “math Brain.”
How can you help your students learn math with a growth mindset? Our kids are our future and the world needs problem-solvers now more than ever!
http://mashupmath.com/growth-mindset-resources/
Upcoming District Unit Assessments Windows
3rd grade – Unit 4 – 10/16-11/3 – Interpret multiplication and division, Fact family fluency
4th grade – Unit 4 – 10/16 – 10/27 – Interpret multiplication equations, mult/divide problem solving
5th grade – Unit 2 – 10/2 -10/20 – Multiply multi-digit whole numbers, divide multi-digit whole numbers, multiply and divide problem solving
5th grade – Unit 3 – 10/23 – 11/3 - Decimals – add, subt, multiply and divide, and measurement conversions
Updates from Ms. Fred
Although the Literacy Lab is still disorganized, there are now check out forms as you walk in the door for people to indicate what they are taking. One is for LLI Kits and the other for Curriculum. People have already been borrowing and we need for them to sign what is being used.
Phonics Instruction:
Phonics instruction lends itself to multi-sensory teaching techniques, because these techniques can be used to focus children’s attention on the sequence of letters in printed words. Manipulatives, gestures, and speaking and auditory cues increases students’ knowledge of phonics skills. Multisensory techniques can be very motivating and engaging to many children.
Multi-sensory activities provide needed scaffolding to beginning and struggling readers and include visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile activities to improve learning and memory. As students practice a learned concept, you can begin to reduce the multi-sensory strategies until the student is using only the visual for reading.
Examples of multi-sensory phonics activities/Word Work/Centers
1. Building Words by using say, touch, and spell. Students say each sound in the word and place a manipulative (e.g., a tile with a letter or letter pattern on it, such as sh, ch, ck) to represent each sound in the word.
For example, when the teacher says fin, students move the letter tiles for f, i, and n, to spell the word, while at the same time saying and stretching the sounds orally. If the teacher then says fish, students replace the tile with n on it with one that has an sh.
Subsequent examples of words in the chain could be wish, wig, wag, bag, brag, and so on. The activity should use only letter sounds/pattern sounds that children have been taught.
Letter tiles also should represent sounds at the phoneme level. For example, fish would be spelled with three tiles (f, i, sh), because it has three phonemes, whereas brag would be spelled with four tiles (b, r, a, g), reflecting four phonemes.
Place ending spelling patterns and beginning consonants (or consonant blends) on cards. Have students work in pairs and arrange as many words as they can on a table. Do a table walk and have each pair read the words they created. Give other teams an opportunity to create a new word.
2. Organize spelling around the vowel letter. Assign a gesture to each vowel sound. Dictate a word and have students make the gesture for the vowel sound in the word.
3. Assign a gesture to /sh/ and /ch/. Dictate words. Ask students to individually make the gesture associated with /sh/ or /ch/ when they hear those sounds in a word.
4. Paddle pop: Teach letter clusters such as ing and ink. Write these clusters on card stock and staple to popsicle sticks. Dictate words and ask students to pop up the paddle containing the letter cluster in the word.
5. Sounding out words:
· Single syllable "touch and read": Students touch each letter with a finger or pencil point and say the letter sound, then sweep left to right below the word and read the word.
· Multisyllable touch and read: Students touch each syllable with a finger or pencil point and say the syllable, then sweep left to right below the word and read the word.
Writing Display Updates from Ms. Van Brimmer
Ms. Fred and I will be coming around to post our new writing display posters outside your classrooms. After each writing prompt, please choose student work that shows:
Very Best Improvement,
Best All Around,
and Excellence in Evidence & Elaboration
We display these outside our classrooms with the cold write and rewrite papers so that students can see the value of continuing to improve their writing. If you have any questions, please see Ms. Fred {K-2} or Ms. Van Brimmer {3-5}.
Next Week At A Glance
Career Day Reflection from Ms. Patterson
Vero Beach Elementary's 1st Annual Career Day was a huge success! The event connected with our commit to Kids at Hope; exemplifying that hope is "first and foremost a belief system that is supported by a cultural strategy and enhanced by programs." We are truly "Time Travelers". Career Day provided our little ones with tangible examples of what hard work, perseverance, and dedication to academics can do. We all define success differently, however this experience broadened their perspectives.
Thank you to all the 4th and 5th grade teachers for doing an amazing job preparing their students. We appreciate all the participants that took time out of their busy schedules to come spark the interests of our Little Indians regarding careers and higher education. We were honored to have a Physician's Assistant, State Representative, Business Administrator, Principal, Attorney, Entrepreneur, and Chick-fil-A representatives.
A heartfelt thank you to our very own VBE family and Tribe Members for being participants as well. Deputy May spoke as a police officer, Ms. Hearndon as a social worker, and Mr. Emerson as a firefighter. Thanks for your support and participation!