Hillcrest Hawk Happenings
The official newsletter of Hillcrest Elementary Staff
Supporting, empowering, & championing every single student, every single day, in every single way.
January 26, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES
TO ACCESS THE MONTH-BY-MONTH CALENDARS for the whole year, click HERE. Please know that these are still works-in-progress, so check back often to see the updates.
MUST READ
PRINCIPAL'S PARKING SPOT: RACHEL MOCZARSKI
Last year, the monthly winner of the PBIS Hawk Hero Award received the honor of parking in the Principal's Reserved Parking Space. This year, in order to extend that privilege to more people, we will honor an individual each week who will have the honor of that parking spot for the week ahead.
This week, January 27-31, that honor goes to RACHEL MOCZARSKI. Rachel has very quickly become an invaluable asset to our staff, students and families here at Hillcrest. Last week, she met several challenging situations with skill and grace, and without hesitation. Thank you, Ms. Moczarski, for all that you do for Hillcrest!
To nominate an individual for this special privilege, click HERE.
Reminder -- Bulletin Board Dates
Please adhere to the due dates for the bulletin boards. Refer to the memo in the Staff Handbook for more information. Bulletin boards should have a title, should have the name(s) of the teacher(s), a description of the Task, grade level standards addressed, and a copy of the rubric. Because feedback is so important, please provide feedback, which may be in the form of a glow/grow.
Grades 4/5 Bulletin Board Schedule
(Subject to change)
Due Date
September 13th
September 27th
November 1st
December 6th
January 10th
February 7th
March 6th
April 3rd
May 1st
June 5th
Messages from the Technology Department
All buildings have at least one demo interactive display. Once ours is set up, we encourage teachers to try using the board in our building. Janice is setting up an afternoon with all displays in one room for staff to evaluate and provide their input as we make the choice of interactive display for the district. She is still trying to confirm the logistics, but at this point the plan is for Monday, February 10th from 3:00 - 5:00. The sales reps will be present. She will send out an invitation flyer to staff next week once all is confirmed.
Clever Issues
Any teachers who are having Clever issues, please continue to use the form to report them. Janice is working with Clever and the companies to figure it out. It is a process.
LITERACY HAPPENINGS
PORTFOLIO PROGRESS
How are your student portfolios taking shape? Take a look back at the Hawk Happenings from earlier in the year if you need a reminder about what the expectations for Reading & Writing portfolios are for each student. Keeping them organized throughout the year will pay off in June, especially since you can't go back and recreate the F&P or drafts of student writing after-the-fact.
FISH IN A TREE:
- Mr. Harrison had some discussion/comprehension questions for Fish in a Tree, and I know he was kind enough to give out some extra copies he had (January's value of "collaboration"!). If you didn't receive them, you may want to ask him about them, as at least one teacher commented on their effectiveness. Thanks, Phil!
- How is the book study going in your classroom? Literacy Leaders will be sending some questions your way this week to elicit some opinions/thoughts from your students on the themes of the book. If you haven't already done so, please let us know where you are in the book by submitting it HERE.
- As you read, continue to have students describe the characters and prove it with evidence on cards, and add them to the bulletin board in the hallway.
FEBRUARY 12 Family Book Kick-off
We will launch our first Family Book Project on February 12. Stay tuned for more details under s separate email.
NOMINATIONS FOR SCHOOL-WIDE READ-ALOUDS for next year can be submitted by clicking the School-wide read aloud link. Titles should be 4th-5th grade level chapter book that reflect a theme of kindness or anti-bullying.
The Ziegarnik Effect
As you may have heard me say recently, I have been really interested in how we move our students from "compliance" to "engagement" to "investment" in school. I think that part of the answer lies in:
- helping kids understand the "why" of the lessons we are teaching
- creating hands-on, real-world, inquiry-based learning opportunities
- setting goals and making action plans to move students and get them invested in their own progress
- providing timely, specific feedback to students with opportunities for "fix-ups" and "revisions"
- utilizing exemplars and rubrics that students reference as they complete longer tasks
- explicitly teaching the executive function skills students need in order to commence and complete tasks
- helping kids feel that "they can" when they often have felt "they can't"
I know -- that's a lot. And some of those are things we have on our "to do" short list, and others are maybe more long-term. However, I recently have been pondering how we get students to get started on tasks. Several teachers mentioned the problem of students not initiating and following through with classwork during data meetings, and I initially suggested a "goal plan" with them, similar to a BIP, where they could earn 2 points if, after a mini-lesson, they get started and complete an assignment independently, and they could earn 1 point of they ask for assistance or a refresher before getting started and completing the assignment, and zero points if they do not start/complete the assignment. SEVERAL teachers brought this to my attention, and after our conversations, I really started to wonder whether it was a result of students not being motivated to begin the assignment, whether it speaks to the student's readiness/ability to complete the assignment, or whether it is related to the student's investment in school and learning. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, and yesterday I remembered a blog post I saw about 2 years ago, and I was reminded of the Ziegarnik Effect. I searched and found the post, and while it is entitled "The Best Way to Motivate Students to Complete Complex Tasks" may seem like it may not pertain to your math problem set or reading reflection because of the "complex" qualifier, remember that what seems complex to one person may not be complex to someone else (see the image above regarding students with ADHD and their Executive Functioning age, for example). There are a few tips in the article that you might think about introducing for some of our students to promote the Ziegarnik Effect.
The Best Way to Motivate Students to Complete Complex Tasks
https://howtoteachanovel.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-best-way-to-motivate-students-to.html?m=1
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH HAPPENINGS
SEL Focus:
How to Teach Frustration Tolerance to Kids
https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/how-to-teach-frustration-tolerance-to-kids
Culturally Responsive Teaching
An article shared by Dan Callahan and Mary Foster for all of our teachers about how Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!
MATH HAPPENINGS
- The 100th Day of School (barring any Snow Days!) will be February 27th. Please be thinking of developmentally appropriate and fun ways to celebrate and engage students. Think about what might happen for students in lower grades and let's build upon that so they aren't doing the same kinds of activities they did in lower grades, and how we can use multiplication, division, fractions and decimals to explore the number 100 and our base 10 number system.
If you are having any issues with Zearn, ST Math, or Problem Attic, please let us know.
- Whenever possible, please have students log on to Zearn through Clever, as that is how we can see data on their progress/challenges/setbacks, and how much we are using it.
PBIS HAPPENINGS
The SEL theme for the month of January is COLLABORATION. Please look for opportunities to connect classroom learning to the district's monthly theme. Coming in February: LOVE.
HONORABLE HAWKS FOR JANUARY
Honorable Hawk Link :teachers please remember to add your Honorable Hawk for January using this link.
INDIVIDUAL REWARDS
Members of the PBIS Committee met before the break and began to explore the idea of enhancing our individual rewards for students. We will be looking to implement a "ticket" system in the near future where students will be immediately rewarded with tickets by staff members when they demonstrate Honesty, Ambition, Wisdom, Kindness and Safety. Tickets would be collected, and can be redeemed on Friday mornings with Rachel. Stay tuned for more information coming your way soon!
SPECIALS HAPPENINGS
The 4th grade beginning band students are taking an assessment this week and next week to show their readiness to participate in large group rehearsals. The rehearsals will begin on Friday, January 24th. More information to come!
To submit something for this section of the Hawk Happenings in the future, submit it by clicking HERE and it will appear in the next Hawk Happenings.
WHO'S THAT?!?!?!
I received a few entries this week, but I wonder if you can guess:
WHO's THAT?!?!?!
Submit your guess using this Google Form.