undefined
Gattis Gossip
Volume 6, Issue 16____Dec. 9, 2013
This Week at Gattis....
Monday
- 8:30 2nd grade assembly
- 1:50 Formative conference
- 3:00 - 4:00 Interviews
Tuesday
- Jennifer - Principal/superintendent meetings
- 3rd & 4th grade Math CBA
- 8:00 504
- 8:55 ARD
- 9:50 Inital Ard
- 11:55 ARD
Wednesday
- 3rd & 4th grade reading CBA
- 5th grade CBA
Thursday
- 8:00 ARD
- 8:50 ARD
Friday
- 7:35 Morning assembly
- SST All grade levels
A Look Ahead....
Dec. 2-11 Math, Science, Reading, Writing CBA window
Link for grade level details: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av8uBrq1672EdDZMXzZHZ25NM0gwdEVHeF9obmRrYlE&usp=sharing
- Dec. 10 3rd & 4th Math
- Dec. 11 3rd & 4th Reading; 5th Math
Dec. 9 8:30 am 2nd grade assembly
Dec. 10 6:00 pm PTA/6:30 Family Science Night
Dec, 13 Fire Dept. Assembly
- PK-2 9:00-9:30
- 3-5 9:45-10:15
Dec. 13 Ridgeview Choir - cafeteria
- 1:30-2:30 Performance for 4th and 5th grade
Dec. 13 Extended Plannning 5th grade am/2nd grade pm
Dec. 16 Extended Planning 4th grade am/ Kinder pm
Dec. 17 Extended Planning 3rd grade am/1st grade pm
Dec. 17 6:30 pm Gattis Choir Performance - Cafeteria
Dec. 18 Craigo's Pizza Night
Dec. 20 Classroom Holiday Parties/ End of first semester
December Birthdays
Dec. 4 Annette Jones
Dec. 8 Judy Buckles
Dec. 9 Heather Nerhood
Dec. 11 MaryAnn Murry
Dec. 13 Claudette Barker
Dec. 14 Amanda Brown
Dec. 17 Gayle Gould
Dec. 26 Amy Hoffman
Dec. 29 Roxanna Alvarez
Professional Resource of the Week - Teaching Writing Conventions
If you are having trouble reading this newsletter, click here for a Web-based version.
Come On, Man
Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords.
Robert Louis Stevenson
There's this great show on ESPN.
Keep in mind, I am not an ESPN fan. It's on in my house for what seems like 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I largely tune it out, and I don't complain about it because I value my marriage. But the channel infuriates me -- the commentators judge, criticize, pontificate, and generally make grand statements as if they are watching from the heavens. The channel jumps on a story, works to create a scandal out of it somehow, and then talks about it. All. Day. Long.
But there's one great show. When it comes on, I stop what I'm doing and sit down to watch.
It's called "Come On, Man."
There are generally four or five commentators seated around a bright, shiny broadcast table. Each selects a sports clip from the week that shows something ridiculous, unfair, mean, illegal, or hilarious. The clip runs, and then one of the commentators summarizes why the situation showcased was . . . .well, uncool. He finishes with his segment with some variation of "Come on, man."
The pronunciation of the phrase changes every time, depending on the sports clip. Sometimes it's "Come ON, man."
Or, "Come oooooooon, Man!"
"Come. On. Man!"
"COME on, MAN!"
"Commeon, Man."
"Come ONman."
"Comeonman."
It's hysterical. Those three words, changed each time with the accent on different syllables, can mean countless things, depending upon the scenario. The commentators always seem to get it right; they can summarize a situation perfectly by how they say three simple words.
What does that mean to us as literacy educators? The words showcase a simple fact: how we write and how we read others' writing can change simply by the grammar and emphasis we use. That's why teaching students to read fluently matters so much -- our meaning can change simply by having an emphasis slightly off-kilter. That's why teaching students to be mindful about punctuation and grammar matters so much -- we need our readers to know exactly what we mean when we write. And we need them to know how to read it.
This week we're featuring resources to get you thinking about conventions in new ways. Plus more as always -- enjoy!
Jennifer Schwanke
Jennifer Schwanke is a principal in Dublin, Ohio. She also blogs about her personal pursuits at http://jengoingbig.blogspot.com/
Free for All
[For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links, followChoice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ChoiceLiteracy or Pinterest:http://pinterest.com/choiceliteracy/]
Here are some essays from the Choice Literacy archives to help you teach conventions.
Heather Rader finds almost everyone (no matter their age) brings trepidation to the task of convention instruction in Grammar Insecurity:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=998
Franki Sibberson enhances her teaching of conventions with children's books in Similes, Metaphors, Homophones and Synonyms: Children's Books to Teach the Language of Words:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=813
Our Quote Collection on Punctuation includes some thoughtful and funny quotations from famous writers and grammarians:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=270
If you're looking for more children's books for minilessons, you might enjoy our Pinterest board of Children's Books for Grammar and Mechanics Instruction:
We've started posting our 2014 online courses and live workshopsfor those of you making plans for professional development in the new year:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/workshops.php
Lead Literacy is our new subscription website focused on professional development tools and perspectives. You can get a sense of the range of content available at the site in this free sample newsletter:
http://www.leadliteracy.com/it-list/4