RNNE: Team and Family Launcher
Goal-oriented and intentional.Intervention.Authentic Team.
Academic Focus Areas
Thank you for your awesome engagement and excitement about implementing the strategies that we focused in PD last week! I'm SO excited to see the impact of your execution of these strategies on student confidence, growth and development!
Below, are recaps of each focus area we discussed in whole group PD.
Also, use the links to access the PPT decks for each focus area.
Expect the Error - when teachers show that getting it "wrong" is a normal, positive part of the learning process.
Teacher Mindsets:
- Students making mistakes are not a failure on our part. To the contrary, they're an opportunity for them and for us to move closer to mastery.
- Mistakes are valuable because they reveal how we can help students.
Teacher Actions:
- Prefacing questions with expectation that errors will be made
- Asking open-ended questions that allow students to reveal misunderstandings
- Calling on students who may not have the right answer
- Circulating/using TTT to identify common errors
Teacher Phrases (there are additional ones that have been added!)
- “This is going to be a hard one! I expect to see some mistakes!”
- “I’m so glad you made that mistake! It’s going to help me help you.”
- “I’m really glad that you made that mistake. It’s going to help me to help you.” • “Wrong answers are really helpful because we learn from the mistakes we make.” • “Which of these options do you think this is my favorite wrong answer?” • (After students point out a teacher’s mistake) “Oooh, you all just caught the best mistake I ever made! This is great!” • “I suspect there’s going to be some disagreement here.” • After scanning the room to check which answers students picked, say excitedly,“We have a lot of disagreement on this one!”
Mindsets
- Students will take on more risks and embark on more challenges when they're acknowledged for doing so
- Students will value taking risks and putting in effort if I do
Phrases [with additional phrases added!]
- “Wow, [student] worked so hard on this challenging problem.”
- “Look how [student] tried 3 different strategies on this question.”
- “[Student] is getting right to work even though it’s hard.
She’s not afraid.”
“I love the fact that this is a hard question and that I see so many brave hands in the air. Thank you for taking a risk.”
• “People have debated this question for centuries. Who even knows if there’s a right answer. What’s important is that you’re really grappling with it.”
• “This is a tough question. If you’re struggling with it, that’s a good sign. Now, who will be bold and start us off?”
• “Romele has been brave enough to offer to share his work so that we can revise it because he made a mistake that a lot of us made. So, give him two claps on two. One…two!
Using the data that you collect during the Targeted Teaching Time to bring the class back together for 10-15 minutes to discuss a common error/misconception from the group.
“Break it Down” is a method for correcting a student’s error or helping a student get the answer so that he or she can learn from the mistake and fill in the information that was missing beforehand. The technique works by guiding the student to the correct answer by providing hints in the form of examples, eliminating false choices, repeating the error back, providing a rule for the question, or providing context for the question; anything to help the student fill in the missing pieces without giving them the answer.
Break It Down
- Rollback (the answer or the question)
- Provide an example
- Provide context
- Refer to a rule/key points
- Provide the missing step
- Eliminate false choices
Dress Code
Students are able to wear any color jacket or coat to school (from car or from bus), but if they would like to have something to wear inside of the school building while in class, it can only be purple.
Students are allowed to wear a sweater, hoodie, zip-up jacket, cardigan, etc. inside of the classroom/throughout the building as long at it is purple. It does not have to be purchased from Rocketship as long as it is purple.
Transition to Recess/Lunch
Also, plan to build in extra time coming back from lunch so that students can put their coats/jackets back on their backpack hooks. Heavy coats/jackets should not be worn or brought inside of the classroom.
Substitute Plans
Please refer to this e-mail that Mr. Song sent this past week regarding the process to request subs for an absence.
First and foremost, always remember to take care of yourself. Take time to just focus on TLC'ing for your body and your personal needs.
For those unanticipated times when you need to take off for illness, the last thing that you want to have to think about is creating plans, while sick, to send in for a sub. That's miserable.
Therefore, spend time this week in your planning time to create a set of emergency sub plans and place them in your white DDI binders so that your sub has easy access to them.
In your sub plans, include plans for at least 3 days that are review for students only; no new material should be introduced. Additionally, be sure to include:
- Class rosters for each cohort that you teach
- Your schedule
- Instructions for taking and submitting attendance to the front office
- Procedures and routines for your class
- Student helpers
- Seating chart
- Who To Go To For What (walkie channel to use, how to call for a school leader/support staff, etc.)
Check out these examples of sub plans left by Mrs. Harriel and Mrs. Salls!
Also, here is a link to other sub resources that can be used in creating emergency sub plans for your classroom.
For pre-planned sub plans, you can of course make it specific to what you're teaching that week while also including all of the same logistical information. Emergency plans are to help prevent you from having to pull together materials while you are sick.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, November 10th: 10:00-11:30pm
DC Donor School Tour
On Tuesday morning, Preston will be visiting RNNE with a donor family based out of DC. They will be observe classroom instruction and as well as the Learning Lab.
Tuesday, November 17th: 5:30pm - Dinner| 6:00-7:30pm Community Meeting
We've added a new community meeting date to the calendar. During this community meeting, we will have parents/families choose travel to different sessions to hear more about: the increased rigor on TN Ready, guided reading and how they can support at home, ways to engage and volunteer at RNNE and a "meet and greet" with Ms. Thomas and Mrs. Welch. If you are interested in helping to plan and support one of these sessions, please reach out to me.
Thursday, November 19th:
The Sunshine Committee has arranged a service opportunity for our staff on Thursday, November 19th after dismissal. More details will be coming your way! Thank you Ms. Sanders and the Sunshine Committee for arranging this opportunity for our staff!
Friday, November 20th:
DATE CHANGE: So that our staff has an opportunity to engage in our service opportunity on Thursday 11/19, we have rescheduled our staff Thanksgiving Potluck to take place on Friday, November 20th. A venue has been secured and a DJ has been confirmed. Be on the lookout for specific details about what your team is responsible for bringing as we take time to enjoy the Thanksgiving season as a team and family!
Operation Christmas Child
Hey Teachers,
I know we talked about OCC a few weeks ago, and last week I put a letter in your boxes to go home with the kids. If you haven't gotten a box yet please see Ms. Littleton ASAP to get your box, also if you want more than one box please respond to this email by EOD and let me know how many boxes you want so that we can ask to have more delivered. Please start putting your boxes together and we can add more stuff/ more boxes if students decided to contribute. But remember that these boxes must be packed up in 10 days. Thanks again everybody, please reach out to myself or Ms. Littleton with any questions!
Best,
KWK
RNNE Girl Scout Troop| Coat Drive
Please see this flyer on ways that you can help support them! Also, please spread the word to any of your networks outside of Rocketship as well!
The flyer will go home to families with the Rocketship Report for next week.
Operations Update from April
As we start to prepare for our food service audit in a few months, I will begin observing during breakfast in classrooms to identify any areas of focus and celebration for the team so that we can ensure that we are aligned with what the auditors will be looking for on their visit.
Thanks in advance for your support of our food service passing our audit with flying colors!
PBIS Team Updates!
PBIS Announcements:
Based on feedback through the classroom needs survey around the Habits of Excellence, the PBIS team has created a plan to reintroduce our Core Values and teach them in tandem with the Habits of Excellence. RNNE’s four core values are Responsibility, Respect, Persistence, and Empathy. Each week we will have a focus Core Value and a focus Habit of Excellence that relate to one another. As someone shared in the survey “a community is a group of people with shared values, interests, and goals.” By teaching both habits and values together, we share what we value as a community as well as the habits we demonstrate to show our values. This week our focus will be responsibility and urgency. We will be introducing our focus during whole school Launch and then dive deeper into the focus during lower/upper school Launch and community circle. Be on the lookout for the weekly poster to display in your classroom next week as we bring both our habits and values into more classroom conversations! Also, be looking for students who are showing responsibility and urgency next week to take pictures of. A google folder will be shared so you can upload pictures of these students to celebrate them on our PBIS bulletin boards and in Landing.
Lunch Bunch: If you are interested in hosting a “Lunch Bunch” once a week during your grade level lunch time please reach out to Ms. Hickey! This is not only an opportunity to facilitate conversations with students to help them build social and emotional skills, but also a great way to build relationships with students outside of the classroom.
Launch
Students outside of the Classroom
If a student has a reached a point where they need to be away from the class, utilize a buddy classroom to send them to another teacher or call for a School Leader.