Cordata Weekly Bulletin
10/8/2018
Good morning, Cordata team!
The Pumpkin Fun Run was a wonderful event on Friday - thank you to all of you who helped communicate with families, cheered, walked or ran alongside students, donated, and made it a successful day!
Now, the PTA will need our support to bring in pledges. Pledge Sheets, money and raffle tickets are due by Oct. 15. Please remind your students in person, and remind families through Seesaw and other ways that you communicate!
The week ahead - 10/8 - 10/12
This week . . .
- Classroom teachers - review dismissal and bus expectations. Consider reflecting as a class about bus experiences and linking to you recent SEL lessons.
- Classroom teachers - continue Zones lessons, including Comfortable/Uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, pp.50-53
- Classroom teachers - also continue CSC or Positive Discipline lessons. note that this is the week for the Bugs and Wishes lesson, which is useful when specialists and support staff are helping kids problem solve. Please consider including the Bugs and Wishes lesson for your class this week.
- Specialists - review and reinforce hallway behaviors, which classroom teachers reviewed last week.
Classroom teachers, if this sounds like a lot for one week, you can think about how to address some of it next week, as there are no new school-wide expectations lessons or Zones lessons to teach next week.
Upcoming Dates
- October 15 - Pumpkin Fun Run pledges are due
- October 15 - PTA fundraiser and community event at Mod Pizza
- October 15 - Deadline to complete DESSA mini and DESSA full. Mini is required for all students K-5. Full is required for students in K-1 who trigger the full and/or receive support from Carissa and team; encouraged for kids in other grade levels where you need more info or would like to plan for Behavior Team support or CST.
- October 18 - Sunshine potluck
- October 18 - 1:00-3:00 - First grade SGC meeting
- October 19 - no school for students, PD and collaboration at Cordata focused on SEL, Inquiry, and technology integration
- October 24-26 - 5th graders to Mountain School
- October 25 - 8:45 am all-school assembly
- October 25 - 1:00-3:00 - 2nd grade SGC meeting
- October 29 - Unity Care mobile dental clinic at Cordata
- Nov. 1 - 1:00-3:00 - 3rd grade SGC meeting
- Nov. 2 - all day parent-teacher conferences (other Thursday afternoons in November are available as well)
- Nov. 8 - afternoon and evening parent-teacher conferences
- Nov. 12 - No school for staff or students
- Nov. 15 - 1:00-3:00 4th grade SGC meeting
- Nov. 22 - 1:00-3:00 - kindergarten SGC meeting
- Nov. 30 - Family Glow Dance Party in the cafeteria and gym - a family fun event sponsored by our PTA
Other News and Information
Physical movement and brain breaks help children's bodies and minds to be ready for learning! Recess is important, and today's news and info is all about making recess successful!
- Starting Tuesday, Oct. 9, the cafeteria will be open in the morning as an inside recess option for all students, from 7:30-7:55 am. Teachers, please announce this to your students with the following reminders:
-Students choosing to be in the cafeteria are expected to be seated at cafeteria tables, connecting with friends and doing a quiet inside option such as drawing or board games.
-Being on the stage is not an option.
-Students will be dismissed just before the 7:55 bell to go line up on the playground. They should not go directly to class from the cafeteria. - A few reminders to teachers to help recess go smoothly for all:
-Please walk your students all the way to the cones for the anticipation chat with recess supervisors.
-When your students are a bit late getting to recess (we get it, this happens sometimes!), and the recess supervisors are no longer waiting at the cones, please give the anticipation chat to your students yourself in order to maintain this important routine. It can be as simple as a reminder to be safe/responsible/respectful, and a quick moment of visualizing what that will look like in whatever they are planning to engage in.
-Please be on time to pick your students up from recess! We have eliminated the bells to reduce disruptions during the school day, which means we all need to watch the clock.
-If you are giving your kids some extra recess time, please have them line up with other classes anyway, and then you can release them for the additional time. When they simply continue playing, it is confusing for other kids. - If you take your children outside for additional motor breaks, consider how you will use this as a teaching moment . . . even an inquiry moment! It can be an opportunity to teach a new game and practice social skills, or to build a physical exercise habit, set goals, and measure change over time (stamina, heart rate . . . ).
- Please be aware of the recess schedule for other classes and plan accordingly. It is okay to take your class outside during another recess, but please make sure you are preparing your students for what to expect, actively supervising your own students, and checking in with the recess supervisors or other teachers to intervene if problems arise.
- If you have a child on an alternative recess plan, you will need to have a plan for how you will ensure safety during these additional breaks!
After school clubs begin this week! Please look for additional information in emails from Robyn Johnston!
- Monday, 2:30-4:30 – First day of after school clubs: Color and Chillax, Cribbage/Card Games, Futsal, Leadership, Soccer, and Ukulele clubs begin
- Wednesday, 2:30-4:30 - First day of after school clubs: Gardening and Cooking, Lego, Tennis, and Woodworking clubs begin
- Thursday, 12:45-2:30 – First day of after school clubs: Club de Lectura, Girls On The Run, and Story Creation with Technology clubs begin
In closing . . .
Edutopia recently published an article written by a high school teacher about the power of student choice and agency, as well as student self-reflection and assessment as components of an inquiry approach. High school is a long way away for our Bobcats, but what she describes sounds like the independent learners we are committed to developing! We can certainly think about how these skills apply in a developmentally appropriate way, and lead to the opportunities she's talking about!
I encourage you to read the full article. Here is a quote from the article to get your started:
My most engaging lessons are ones where I introduce a complex idea or problem and then turn it over to my students for further inquiry. These lessons generally consist of concepts that challenge students’ thinking, call into question their preconceived notions, invite controversy, and have multiple pathways. While students are busy searching for answers, I join conversations, ask probing questions, and provide guidance and feedback as they draw their own conclusions.
We can empower our students to be in charge of their own learning by creating interesting, open-ended tasks that target real-world skills, meet our learning objectives, and enable students to make choices and then measure and reflect on their progress.
-Beth Pandolpho, Edutopia, May 4, 2018