Cordata Weekly Bulletin
3/25/2019
Happy Monday!
The week ahead - 3/25 - 3/29
· Teach the lessons in Class Meeting format and Agenda in the Positive Discipline book
o Introducing the Class Meeting Format p. 150
o We Decided: Guidelines for Class Meetings p. 151
o Our Class Meeting agenda p.152
Upcoming Dates
- April 1st through 5th - Spring Break
- April 9 - Cordata staff meeting
- April 11 - 1:45-3:00 - Choice Tech Meeting (this can be a choice towards your 2.5 choice hours, cert staff) (note that this time was originally published incorrectly, 1:45 is the correct start time)
- April 18 - 2:00-3:00 - Cert staff collaboration/PD time
- April 19 - Spring Social, hosted by Cordata PTA
- April 22 - Promise K Family Night
- April 23 - 2:45-2:00 - FOURTH Tech Integration session for all Cordata cert staff
- May 21 - 2:45-4:00 - Choice Tech Meeting (this can be a choice towards your 2.5 choice hours, cert staff)
- May 24 - Bike Rodeo, grades 3, 4 and 5
- June 7 - 5th grade track meet
- June 19 - Field Day - this is tentatively being planned with the support of Cornwall Church volunteers . . . much more info to come. If you have ideas, send them to Analisa.
- June 20 - last day of school - morning assembly followed by all-school recess and yearbook signing
Other News and Information
Team, our PTA needs your help! we are in need of names of potential parent PTA members. Please send names of families you know who love our school and might help in this way! We will do the contacting! These may not be parents who are currently dedicating time to PTA work and volunteering at school, but people who you believe could help build up our PTA. We know they're out there, and need your help identifying names. Please challenge yourself to send me at least one name this week.
A few notes about spring time recess . . .
Some teachers are sending a few students (strong self-managers!) out to recess ahead of the line. This works well to reinforce appropriate hallway behaviors, but please watch the clock and be sure they aren't arriving to recess early. Our supervisors' schedules are tight, they arrive on the playground as the recess start time.
If you and your students are enjoying extra recess time, please ask them to line up with the bell, and then release them to play longer after other classes have begun to go inside. It is confusing to all when a group of kids continues to play when the bell rings or the whistle blows. Alternatively, you may want to take your class to the far end of the field for group games during extra recess, in which case they may stay there when the bell rings. Either way, please think of that extra recess as instructional time! This is a great opportunity to teach games and problem solving skills that will carry over to all of our recess times, and make them more safe and fun!The image below is from our Tech Integration time last week. I want to keep this image in our minds as you continue to plan tech use this spring, and look forward to additional tech resources next year. As we discussed earlier this year, when a student is using technology, they should be able to answer the questions "what am I learning?" We could broaden that question to include, "how am I creating, collaborating or communicating?" More and more, as I connect with students using technology, I am asking these questions. I find that when they are planning an online game, they are frequently unable to answer those questions. Now is the time to shift these habits, so please keep these questions in mind, particularly if students are exercising choice while using technology.
A note from Dan in closing . . .
Today’s posting is a gentle reminder to recharge yourself. We all know that the work we do with children is stressful. It is especially compounded by the degree of trauma and stress experienced by many of our students. Psychologists have begun to identify the effects of working with traumatized children and adults on the caregiver/teacher/therapist/crisis responder etc. There are various names for this, vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue or secondary traumatization, however, the impacts are the same despite what we might call it. The impacts are essentially they same symptoms as those experienced by our students. With our own stress, our families and our busy lives, how can we find healthy ways to fill up our own buckets when we are giving so much away? Well…. Try these five happiness habits!
Pick one or try all five daily and see how it makes you feel! I’m going to commit to the gratitude exercise and practicing stillness daily. What will you try?