Hackberry Howl
Vol. 2 No. 36
How the Wolves Changed the Rivers- a reflection of the week
As I walked the halls this last week I reflected on how our school has changed since the first week of school. In last week’s edition Mr. Richardson asked us all to reflect on “how wolves could change the rivers”, as they were reintroduced into the wild. I have to say I really have been impressed with the work that has been done this past year by our pack. I truly feel our students have grown, many more than a year’s growth. We have the data to prove it too!!! With all the new tests we asked you to administer to check for growth, with our PLC’s, our lesson planning, the planning of common assessments, and breaking down the TEKS to see exactly what we want out students to know has provided our students with tremendous gains. We held more SST meetings and provided more prescriptive plans for improvement for students than any of the last three years. Our documentation of our students has vastly improved over past year. Our goal focus and determination to survive, and thrive is evident. Our teamwork has improved tremendously and I love the collaboration I see each day.
One of the other big things I’ve noticed is the smiling faces we have each day. I can honestly say, I have noticed a change in this respect as well. Our Love, Serve, Care motto is making a difference in everyone’s lives here at Hackberry. Reading our howl outs to each other this year has been great. We seem to be taking time out to thank one another. Seeing and hearing of the kind things we do for each other has been heartwarming. I feel as though our pack is gaining strength as we work together as one to leave our mark. Our students appreciate it as well and are smiling and working hard. Our overall climate and culture has improved and we are striving for even more in the future. I see our school making the gains and improvements and are leading the way to becoming the destination school in a destination district.
After seeing our new little ones this past week as we went through PreK and Kinder roundup, and to see other grade level teachers helping pitch in a hand to ensure a successful night of registration. We are truly embracing “all of our kids are all of our kids.” We are beginning to plan to kick off this next school year and continue to make improvements in everything around us as we change our landscape for the betterment of our lobos. Always remember that the strength of the wolf comes from the strength of the pack. Let’s continue to help one another become stronger and more effective in everything that we do for the sake our our little lobos as we welcome them into our pack here at Hackberry.
My challenge to each of you is to come up with a howl out to at least one person who impacts you each week from now until the end of the year. Can you make that committment to thank someone? HOOOOOOOWWWLLLLLL Be on the look for the chance next week. Have a super weekend!!!! TS
Countdown the 10 BIG Ideas from the Carpenter!
#3-Are You a Pretender or a Contender?
Failure tests us and it shakes out the pretenders from the contenders.
Via The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All:
“I have worked in the homes of many successful people and have seen firsthand that everyone fails in life, but failure can be a gift if you don’t give up and are willing to learn, improve, and grow because of it. You see, failure often serves as a defining moment, a crossroads on the journey of your life. It gives you a test designed to measure your courage, perseverance, commitment, and a dedication. Are you a pretender who gives up after a little adversity or a contender who keeps getting up after getting knocked down?”
Recommended Reading
Vocabulary in a SNAP
Vocabulary in a SNAP
Elementary educators face crucial questions when shaping their vocabulary instruction—what words to target and how to foster self-directed student learning. This innovative resource provides more than 100 research-based mini-lessons that help teachers efficiently shape instruction, each taking no more than 20 minutes of instructional time. Teachers can modify these flexible, effective templates to fit their curriculum and their students’ needs.
- Explore more than 100 short, memorable mini-lessons for vocabulary instruction that can be adapted to fit diverse curricula.
- Obtain suggestions for scaffolding and accelerating each mini-lesson to meet students’ individual needs.
- Target the most crucial root words, prefixes, and suffixes in the English language to best employ instructional time.
- Find helpful resources for vocabulary instruction, such as websites and applications.
- Peruse appendices that alphabetically list all the words featured in the mini-lessons and detail the research-based instructional strategies used.
Quote of the Week!
Article of the week:
Lobo Spotlight-Dora Biggs
What is your position at Hackberry Elementary? Third Grade Dual Language Teacher
How many years have you been with Little Elm ISD? 1 year
What college did you attend? What are your degrees? Texas Woman's University Interdisciplinary EC- 6 Bilingual
Hometown? Bogota - Colombia
Do you have children? No
Do you have pets? Yes, One Beagle
What is your favorite color? Fuchsia (Strong Pink)
What is your favorite quote or saying? "Learning how to learn is life's most important skill" by Tony Buzan
Where is the farthest you have traveled? Bogota-Colombia- South America
What organizations are you involved in? Prestonwood Baptist Church
Howl Outs!
Hatcher sends a howl to Conley, Melchi, Brodsky, Zaidi, and Wood for teaching small groups for 3rd STAAR Reading Bootcamp.
Hatcher sends a howl to Holguin, Wells, Zaidi, and Northcutt for teaching small groups for 3rd STAAR Math Bootcamp.d you are we love having you back!
Parra Howls to Myers for making it to my class all week! I know how stretched you are we love having you back!
Parra Howls to Mrs. Ratliff for the awesome work on book fair.
PTA ROCKS!! they did a great job with Donuts with Dad. Julie has done an awesome with Book Fair. Everybody that helped with Kindergarten Round Up didn't skip a beat.
Wagner- Hoooowls to Mrs Ratliff for all your hard work on the bookfair!
Wagner- Hooowls to Ms Cruz, Nurse Lay, Karla and Swartz for all their work behind the scenes to make choir field trip (and all field trips) possible.
Wagner- Hooowls to Ms Warren for all your help on the choir field trip.
Wagner- Hoooowls to Mrs Thomas and all the pretty new artwork in the halls and at the art shows (at Zellars and the community)
Wagner- Hooowls to Richardson and Karla for our staff and community newsletters every week.
Ratliff- Howl out to Brandon for once again being an amazing Clifford.
Ratliff- Howl out to Ana for helping me in the book fair each and every day.
Ratliff- Howl out to Erin for checking on me every day and seeing where I needed help.
Ratliff- Howl out to Lecrecia for doing our duties single handedly all week.
Ratliff- Howl out to Karla for organizing all the book fair events this week.
Second Grade howls out to Carol, Karla, and Sylvia you are all the best! Thank you for everything you do every day.
Escamilla sends a HOWL to Mrs. Ratliff for the awesome book fair.
Zaidi- Howls to our wonderful secretarial staff. They are the best, Carol, Carla, and Slyvia. Happy Secretary Day! You are Awesome!
Big howl to Jenny Conley for her hard work creating stations for our fourth grade reading bootcamp! Thank you again, Jenny!!!
Alonzo- A HUGE howl to all that volunteered and helped out with PK & Kinder registration!!
Alonzo- A BIG howl to Karla for helping me plan and organize registration :)
Alonzo- A BIG howl to Sylvia for always giving me a helping hand :)
Alonzo- A BiG "Birthday Howl" to Lecrecia!
Phan sends a huge HOWL out to our wonderful PTA and everyone else who helped out with Donuts with Dads this week! What a great turnout!!!! Loved seeing all the dads on campus!!!
Measles howls to Kelsey for covering my class on Tuesday morning!
Measles howls to our front office ladies for all their hard work all year long! We appreciate you!!!
Measles howls to Webber for organizing our first grade field trip! You rock!
Measles howls to Masai for being willing to share kiddos with me in our reading groups!
Measles howls to Ana for always being a friendly face in the hallway each morning!
Measles howls to Ratliff for all her hard work with the book fair! We are so lucky to have you!
Swartz howls to Vergara, Warren, Mathews, Figueroa, Alonzo, Cruz, Robinson, Northcutt, Wells, Ratliff, Richardson, Granados, Phan, Daiz, Martin,Sawhney, Gomez, Moya, DelValle, Torrence, and Branch for helping make Kinder and Pre K round up a success.
Swartz howls out to Ms Cruz for helping with the PTA meeting Wednesday night.
Swartz howls out to Ms. Martin for her help with PTA on Wednesday night.
Swartz howls out to Ms. Wagner for doing an amazing job on the choir contest with the choir receiving superior rating from all judges!!!
Richardson howls to Sylvia for her help with STAAR testing.
Richardson howls to Warren and Ziadi for help covering classes for PLC's.
Hackberry Calendar
TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
Monday, May 1st
-2nd Grade PLC- 7:30
-STAAR Boot Camp
-Grades Due
- Swartz Out- Job Fair Arlington, TX
Tuesday, May 2nd
-3rd Grade PLC- 7:30
-Kinder PLC- Swartz 1:50
-STAAR Boot Camp
-All Day faculty meeting- STAAR nuts and bolts- Specials, Specialists, 3,rd, 4th, & 5th
no kinder, first, or second
Wednesday, May 3rd
-4th PLC- 7:30
-STAAR Boot Camp
-Progress Reports go out
-Dual Language Meeting @ Hackberry 6:30-8:00 cafeteria
Thursday, May 4th
-5th PLC- 7:30
-STAAR Boot Camp
Friday, May 5th
-1st Grade PLC- 7:30
-STAAR Boot Camp
-PreK- 2 Pack Rally 8:00AM
-STAAR Pep Rally 3-5- 1:15 gym
Saturday, May 6th - NO STAAR SATURDAY
STAAR testing Campus Closed to Visitors May 8-10
Lunch Provided daily for teachers