Galloping Gazette
A newsletter for the Faculty and Staff - Week of 11/25
Put Students First • Seek Growth • Be Open to Change . Do Great Work Together • Value Differences
Principal Message
In April 2010, I wrote my first blog post. I am almost at the ten-year mark, and I have published over 1700 posts in that time. The sole purpose of starting this blog was to understand how students could use this medium for learning in their education. In short, I didn’t want to skip to the teaching without doing the learning. But in the process of actively reflecting through a blog, I started to love the process. It pushed me and challenged me to put my thoughts together, and I know that no one has benefitted from this process more than I have. I hope that others have benefitted from articles here and there, but I know that doing this has helped my learning tremendously. But it wasn’t just sharing my thoughts on education and learning that has had an impact through this space. I shared personal experiences like the loss of my dog Kobe and then my dog Shaq, on losing my dad, and then becoming a father myself I go back and read these posts often, and I like the thought that my daughter can go back and read them at some point. The people reading it were probably able to know me better by sharing these personal stories, but writing these posts helped me get to know myself. Why am I bringing this up? My focus in this space has often been on “innovation,” being open to change, and having a willingness to try new things. But we have to show the value to our students and our selves that there is something truly powerful in sticking with things over time. Doing consistent work over a period of time, even if it is the same thing, can also will help us grow. If you want to become better at anything, you need to do it over and over again. If you want to become better at reflection and get more value from it, you have to reflect continuously. Although this space is the same as it was years ago, I have used it differently. I used to write posts for others. I now write posts for myself, and hopefully, others will benefit. Trying and creating new things is great. But sticking through with some of the “old things” can have a significant impact as well. -Robyn
Shout Outs...
- Thank you Amy Goodman for always staying extra time in PE to help with your class. The PE department
- Shout out to Travis and Debbie! Thanks with your help with the 2nd grade Weather Expo! We appreciate you! 2nd grade teachers
- Andrew, What a gentleman! Thank you for making sure we safely get to our cars! Danielle
- Megan Z., Thank you for adding a little hurricane to my life! Danielle
- Kelsey & Ashley, Thank you!!! danielle
- Karen, Thank you for your beautiful handwriting! danielle
- Shout out to Kim Jacobs for making the hallways so festive with all the decorations she has done! Robin
- Debbie, Thank you for a splash of cream. It was very needed! danielle
- Shout out to Ms. Ratner for taking time from her busy schedule to help me fill out paperwork this week. Dorbin
- Shout out to all the wonderful ladies in the front office for the extra support you have given me this week. Dorbin
- Thank you to Ms. Zajac for coordinating the Veteran’s Day Assembly with Mr. Kenison and Mrs. Riccio for the lovely Veterans display in the main hallway. Nicole
- Belated thank you to Ms. Mounce, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Riccio and Mrs. Kowalczyk for jumping in to cover my Friday duties on the 1st when I had an unexpected absence. I sincerely appreciate your teamwork! Nicole
- Our SCA sponsors, officers and representatives are doing a great job of getting students involved in service to our community! Nicole
- Mrs. Young thank you for the amazing lesson on clouds. Adrian
- Travis and Debbie both classes had fun making weather tools. Thank you all for helping my students think outside the box. Adrian
- A big thank you to Karen Ratner for helping one of our friends calm down this week! Those walks with you are just what he has needed! Amy
- Thank you to Shacori for always going above and beyond! We really appreciate it!! The PE Department
- EXPO 2019 Grades 2 & 4
What a great job these students did on their perspective Expo’s. Not only did they work hard, but their teachers worked even harder to make a truly successful event! I made a point of asking parents their feedback, they were all very, very impressed. Many couldn’t believe how the virtual school day played into the actual Expo! Amazing, Amazing events- BRAVO 2nd grade and 4th grade!! ~Ceci~
Schedule for upcoming weeks
** National Family Week **
** PLC - Content/Technology **
Monday, November 18th
- Collaboration- 1st Grade 8:00-10:30
- Collaboration- Kindergarten 11:40-2:10
- 12:00 - 2:00 - Robyn at #Southeast9
- GOTR 2:45
Tuesday, November 19th
- Collaboration- 2nd Grade 12:00-2:30
- Faculty Meeting 3:00
Wednesday, November 20th
- Colt's Store 7:55-8:20
- 11:00 2nd PLC
- 12:45 1st PLC
- 1:35 4th PLC
- Newspaper Club 2:45-4:00
- GOTR 2:45-4:15
Thursday, November 21st
- 8:30 5th PLC
- 9:20 3rd PLC
- 10:10 PreK/K PLC
- PTA Meeting 3:00
Friday, November 22nd
- Watch Dog Dad Rudy Sandoval
- Coldstone Pie pick-up
** No PLCs **
Monday, November 25th
- 4th Grade Collaboration 8:00-10:30
- 3rd Grade Collaboration 11:30-2:00
- GOTR 2:45-4:15
Tuesday, November 26th
- 5th Grade Collaboration 9:30-12:00
Wednesday, November 27th
- 1/2 day for staff and students. Enjoy your Thanksgiving break!!
News and Notes....
- Love and Logic books will be your mailboxes on Monday. The Book study will follow the following schedule:
- Make up Session:11/26 - please plan on attending if you missed the session during pre- service week
- First Session Flipped to cover Chapters 1 and 2 - to be released 11/18 on Schoology
- Second Session: 1/21 Faculty Meeting - Chapters 3 and 4
- Formative Mid Point: 2/7
- Third Session: Flipped - Chapters 5 and 6
- Fourth Session: 3/17 Faculty Meeting- Chapters 7 and 8
- Fifth Session 4/28 Faculty Meeting - Chapters 9 and 10
- The Holiday Gift Shop begins the Monday we get back from Thanksgiving break.
- Another friendly reminder.... please make sure when you send students to the office with transportation notes that do not belong to them, make sure you write on the note how they normally go home.
Recess & Cold Weather
1/2 Planning Expectations and Data Anaylsis
Over the next two weeks, you will participate in a three hour collaboration. The purpose of this collaboration is for your grade level to dig into data and use it to plan instruction to kick off this second quarter. Grades 2-5 will spend the first hour digging into quarterlies. Patti and Jenny will lead these conversations. Administration and all of the coaches are available for support and resources. Therefore, please send in an agenda by Monday morning to lay out your time. This will ensure that everyone on your grade level can come prepared and have a clear understanding of how this time is going to be used. If you need any resources or support from us or coaches, please note it on the agenda. When you are planning your agenda consider the following quote:
Leverage Leadership 2.0 Core Idea: “Assessments and analysis are meaningless if we don’t act. Yet action without analysis is meaningless: it’s just spinning your wheels.
Teachers in grades 2-5 are expected to look through your LA and Math quarterly data prior to this meeting. The first step is to look through the data that coaches will give you, (if you want to view it yourself, you can use this video to help - Here is a walk-through ) then use Quarterly Sheet one to start your student groupings, finally use the DDIPP to highlight your classes strengths and areas of concerns. These sheets will guide our conversations. The reason for both sheets is that the first sheet narrows it down by objective and then the second sheet is of a more big picture snapshot which are both vital in understanding next steps.
Teachers in grades 1-2 are expected to look through their data (Formative, PAST, DRA, and VRKP) and fill out the DDIPP; one for LA and one for Math.
Here is the link to the Quarterly Sheet - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJqJEEQm8HmPSPlxGw7-xJZ1a4Svd8I_fKkllEJWchY/copy?usp=sharing
Here is the link to the DDIPP sheet - https://drive.google.com/a/vbschools.com/file/d/1U_KR0Pk8dkKTPlhxQx2LsNmMFmAd72JL/copy?usp=sharing
Data analysis is not anyone's favorite. However if we are going to ensure that we are reaching every student and working in the most smartest possible way - it is vital.