Pow Wow Principal's Press
December 2, 2016
Holiday Treat..
#VBEVIP
Keep making those nominations on Twitter to recognize our faculty and staff for the awesomeness going on at VBE!
Celebrations!
Want 20 Warrior Wampum?
Flipped PD
Please go to the link below.
http://tntp.org/room-to-run/math-is-everywhere
We are always looking to learn and grow in our pedagogy. I hope you find this meaningful and valuable as we are honing in our tier one instruction school wide.
Questions to consider-
How is our TRIBE using math informally on the daily bases?
How are we holding our teams accountable to keep our standards high and set expectations for our students that challenge them to meet mastery and rigor of the standards?
WE WILL BE USING THIS STORY AND REFLECTING ON THE VIDEOS IN OUR UPCOMING SCHOOL -WIDE MEETING DURING PLANNING ON NOV. 7th. Please make sure you have become familiar with the story and are ready to share out how we can use this to help improve our Tier-One Math Instruction.
Walkthrough Data from November 30th
Brag Flags!
The Brag Flag is now going to the teacher with the HIGHEST Reading iReady usage in each grade level for the last 4 weeks! Congrats, and keep up the great work!
K-Ms. Martin
1-Ms. Singewald
2-Ms. Cisneros
3-Ms. Walters
4-Ms. Fiori
5-Ms. Rochon
A Look at the Rest of December!
Messages from Mrs. Van Brimmer
Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning: As we continue to grow in the two week writing process, we need to give students the opportunity to develop their reasoning. This builds elaboration but also relates directly to our reading standards with RI.3.8. Students as young as Kindergarten and First Grade are expected to identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. One way we can help build this skill is by engaging in Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning collaborative conversations. This teaching channel video gives a great example of a third grade class using this strategy in a STEAM unit.
http://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/support-claims-with-evidence-getty
Students don't naturally support their claims with evidence and reasoning. We must teach them this skill. Here are some strategies that will get them proficient in using evidence and reasoning to support claims.
Resilience: This can be a very joyous time of year, but for many families it is filled with stress, chaotic schedules, and conflict. When students bring this trauma to school it can lead to very challenging behavior in the classroom. Add in benchmark testing, report cards, special events and you have the perfect "stress" storm. As educators we need to build our resilience and model that for our students. Without resilience we will never get to the top of our summit even if we have a meaningful goal, a perfect map, and laser focus -- simply because we will be too tired! This week I challenge you to focus on creating a plan for self-care. Talk to your students about ways you de-stress or deal with conflict. You might consider the following suggestions from Elena Aguilar, a well-known and respected instructional coach:
· Take a 15-minute walk every day. Walking is enough. Fifteen minutes will make a big difference.
· Sleep -- please sleep. I'm obsessed with sleep as a foundation for wellbeing, happiness, resilience, and school transformation. I think we might be better able to change the world if we all slept for eight or nine hours a night
· Stock up on nuts and dried fruit, and stash them in your desk, car, and bag.
You can also connect the idea of resilience to our Brain Smart Start routine by adding in GoNoodle mediation, yoga, or breathing exercises.If you'd like more ideas about how to build your resilience, check out this article by Ms. Aguilar.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/ways-cultivate-your-emotional-resilience-year-elena-aguilar
iReady Usage: You can check your individual students' iReady usage by accessing "Reports" and clicking on "instructional usage." You can select Reading or Math and view the number of minutes your students have been engaged in iReady during the week. Just a reminder that the minutes are updated nightly. You can offer rewards or additional practice time based on the students' usage. I hope this helps!
Messages from Ms. Fred
RtI/MTSS/LLI
Don’t you just love all these acronyms? It’s actually easier to lump them all together since they all fall under the same umbrella of Intervention. Just for clarification, RtI is Response to Intervention. MTSS is Multi-Tiered Student Support and LLI, Leveled Literacy Intervention is the reading intervention being used with our lowest quartile and beyond students in RtI.
RtI: If you feel that you need to switch students into a group other than what they are currently working in, please let me know. It is important that I keep a record of where each Little Buddy is.
If you have a Friend that is working in a LLI Group but they are being referred to MTSS, then we need to be certain that we are doing an extra Progress Monitoring piece, such as an ORF or MAZE weekly so that we have enough data to move forward.
** We will have an overview/training on Running Records on Monday, December 5 from 7:45-8:15 in the Front Conference Room. **
MTSS: Please note that if you have been to a meeting since November 7, your Meeting Notes that I placed in your box will indicate a week delay in the next scheduled meeting due to one of our canceled meetings. I will always notify you when you have an upcoming meeting with one of your students. Be sure to open the attachments in the invitation to know which one of your students we will be meeting on. Also, please be sure to get with the Interventionist that is working with that student for all applicable data from RtI if you are not the Interventionist for that student. Please be sure to bring all current data.
LLI: Please, please, please…KEEP THE MATERIALS ORGANIZED!!! This is truly one of the biggest challenges in the program. We have lots of people sharing. Take only what you need and be sure to check out what you are using. Make copies of the activites as needed and return the black line to the folders. Green and Blue Kits…Please do not allow students to use the black and white books freely. I am already noticing many misplaced books. They need to be filed in the baskets by the lesson numbers so that teachers can locate when needed. We cannot afford to replace these materials. I will be visiting your rooms to ensure that the LLI Kits and the Running Record assessments are being done with fidelity. It took us awhile to get this off the ground so let’s be sure that everyone feels confident in the delivery of the program.
THANKS TO ALL FOR SUPPORTING OUR INTERVENTIONS!!!!
Math Language
Teachers and students should use academic math content language when teaching, practicing, and working in math. This math language is vital to using Math Practice MP6 Attend to precision.
Mathematically proficient students try to communicate precisely to others. They try to use clear definitions in discussion with others and in their own reasoning. They state the meaning of the symbols they choose, including using the equal sign consistently and appropriately. They are careful about specifying units of measure, and labeling axes to clarify the correspondence with quantities in a problem. They calculate accurately and efficiently, express numerical answers with a degree of precision appropriate for the problem context. In the elementary grades, students give carefully formulated explanations to each other. By the time they reach high school they have learned to examine claims and make explicit use of definitions.
Messages from Ms. Segroves
Thank you to those who participated in the Relay For Life salad and sandwich lunch. There were so many delicious dishes! Your support is greatly appreciated! The next lunch will be Wednesday, December 14 (casseroles and fruit).
Don't forget to sign up for VBE Relay For Life Team! www.RelayForLife.org/IndianRiverFL
Social Committee Challenge!
We are coming upon several activities that need your support. So the Social Committee has a challenge! The team that has everyone pay their Social Committee dues first, will win a lunch for the team! There are several teams almost there!
Reminder to also turn in your Secret Santa form by Wednesday, December 7th.
(Here at VBE, we enjoy celebrating the holidays!
We have a Secret Santa exchange for those who would like to participate. The week of December 12-16, we will do the Secret Santa gift exchange. Here is how it works:
Pick up a Secret Santa form in the teacher’s mailroom (available December 1) Fill out the form and put the form in Segroves' box by Wednesday, December 7. Go to Segroves' room on Friday, December 9 to pick a Secret Santa. The week of Dec. 12-16, bring a gift for your Secret Santa each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday gift value of $3- Friday gift value of $8) Be creative! Put the gift in their box, or in their classroom, or ask a patrol to give it to them or whatever you want! One year someone had Santa’s reindeer sprinkle magical dust by their desk! Another year someone experienced snowflakes on their floor! The ideas are endless!)
Science Fair by Ms. Keeley
Wow! How exciting it was to hear the students speaking with the judges about their projects. All of the judges remarked how polite and eloquent our students were when presenting. It is so apparent how invested and excited students were when they discussed their projects. Thank you for a great turnout! The winners were announced in the cafeteria during the end of their lunch period. All of our winners will move onto the District Science Fair Level which is in February. More information to those specific students and teachers will follow. I loved seeing our students congratulating other students in classes!! Here are our science fair winners.
Kindergarten-Ms. Martin’s Class – “Growing in the Dark” Lavaris Minus, Isabella Camisano
First Grade-Ms. Sitkowski’s Class – “What is your Super Sense?” Jervone Jordan, Emery Greer
Second Grade-Ms. Cisneros’ Class – “I’m saying: Language v. spoken” Ashlyn Klein, Brandon Holland
Third Grade-Ms. Beuten’s Class – “Your brain on Music” Adyson Greer, Ki Jon Ingram
Fourth Grade –
1st Place – “Chill Out!” Jayden White, Ke’Iya Woodard -
2nd Plave – “Keeping it Cool” Million Smith, Jennfier Gavarette
3rd Place – “Boiling Flash” Jonathon Hartzke, Omar Trujillo Mendez
4th Place – “Soft and Hard Water” Carlo Gomez, Aleesha Pierre
5th Place – “Boil the Rainbow” John Paul Ruggeri, Julius Rodgriguez
5th Grade –
1st Place –“Cooling Mints” Damaria Woolfork, Saul Casillas
2nd Place – “Pendulum: Madeline Gusaeff AJ Calabrese
3rd Place – “Cool and Heat Absorption” Mieca-Eeja Ferguson, Angeline Jolibois
4th Place – “Egg Drop” Jade Joseph, Elizabeth Williams
5th Place – “How to Sink a Boat” Siliali Recarte, Aidan Loudermilk