The Gator Tales
The weekly staff newsletter for Glenwood Elementary School
Week of December 10
This week at Glenwood
Dec. 10- Achieve 3000 Rep visit grades 3-5 during PE time in Pirate Room
Dec. 14- Workshop for select Special Ed teachers
Dec. 14 - PTA Winter Wonderland 6 PM
Friday December 14- FOOTBALL FRIDAY
Upcoming Important Dates and Events
Dec. 19- ALL Staff Meeting in LLC 3pm
Dec. 20- PIRATE DAY
Dec. 21- POLAR EXPRESS DAY
Dec. 21- Adjusted Dismissal
Dec. 24- Jan.1- Schools closed for Winter Holidays
Dec. 26- Jan. 1- Kwanzaa
Jan. 4- Citizen of the Month 9:30 am
Grateful Gators!
Shout out to Stephanie Marshall for sharing some new and exciting ideas with third grade after attending the VSTE Conference! The ideas that you shared seem simple to implement but will make an impact on our learners. Lindsey Recine
Thank you Shelia Johnson for your willingness to jump in and assist with the students and families at GES without hesitation, especially in some challenging situations. Your efforts are most appreciated!- Andi Sinues
Dina D is awesome! She took time to teach me something new in Schoology. Melissa Cummings
Big kudos to Mrs. Dykes for the additional tech tools!
Malit and Fargo for their real time sharing of VSTE18 resources!
Merce for the kind words of encouragement and initiative! (I think you'll get your wish of seeing me present at a conference soon!)
Amy Doss for lending a loving heart to a student in need! Driestadt
KUDOS to Nancy Cuppett for keeping my class together for eight days! KUDOS to Pam Buchardt for completing paperwork for me while I was away. KUDOS to Amanda Agreste and Pam Buchardt for training our First Grade volunteer with the Reading Room procedures. KUDOS to Dina Dreistadt for her continuous pushes to get me to the top of the technology mountain. Paula Gee
Thank you to Mrs. Harder and Mrs. Dykes for sharing their paint with our little gators so that we can create holiday art. Danica Petko and Jennifer Hernandez
Kudos to Tina Repa for handling difficult situations with grace, poise, and compassion. Your love of Glenwood students shines through your positive interactions and warm smile. Thanks for all your hard work!
Kudos to Sheila Johnson for jumping right into the Elementary level. Your passion for students is evident in all you do. Thanks for putting student interests first even if you get some push-back. Jenn Haws
I have been enjoying all the amazing artwork posted on the walls. Thank you Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Harder for making our school look beautiful and allowing the children show off their wonderful artistic side. Mrs. Levine and Mrs. Silvey, Thank you for you dedication and your patience. You're both amazing C. Karpovich
Thank you so much Pam Jones and Tammy Hogan for packing and taping up all of the Foodbank donations! You are both simply amazing! And thank you everyone else who offered and showed up to help, and for all of your donations! Glenwood collected 1,803 pounds of food, which equates to 1,500 meals! Special thanks for Diane Dykes for her connection to the Foodbank and helping with the smooth process. Many thanks to Caroline for setting up a fun coding playground, and for spreading the love of technology! I had fun trying some new things! I appreciate all your help making fun things happen in my classroom as well! Jen Malit
Happy Birthday!
DECEMBER
Fields, Virginia December 14
Hood, Tina December 14
Palmer, Jessica December 14
Merce, Elizabeth December 19
Goshert, Rebekah December 21
Hill, Lisa December 22
Neal, Andrea December 25
Denham, Jessica December 26
Hankinson, Sandra December 28
VBCPS Calendar Updates
Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) will use Feb. 18, Presidents’ Day, to make up instructional time lost during Hurricane Michael.
Given the length of time out of school thus far, the division will also extend the first semester from Monday, Jan. 28 to Thursday, Jan. 31. Consequently, the division’s previously scheduled staff day/virtual learning day will now be Friday, Feb. 1 and the second semester will begin Monday, Feb. 4.
Report cards for the second nine weeks/first semester will be sent home Monday, Feb. 11. The 2018-2019 school calendar has been updated to include the makeup day and semester changes (see link below).
Don't Expect Kindness in Schools -- Teach It!
Kindness to Oneself
At the core of mindfulness is self-awareness. Mindful practices build our capacity to be present in the moment and open up space for us to recognize and honor our feelings, even the feelings we often judge as less desirable: frustration, jealousy, disappointment, etc. One crucial component of mindfulness is the practice of kindness, not only for others but also toward oneself.
In this Mind Shift article, James Butler, a teacher in Texas, shares his experience of focusing on kindness as a mindful practice to interrupt the patterns of increasing stress levels and social conflicts he was seeing in his classroom. Be sure to scroll to the end of the article for student recommendations on books, websites, and apps that support practicing mindfulness across elementary, middle, and high school.
If you are curious about implementing mindfulness in your classroom, please watch these 5 tips from Mr. Butler.
Glenwood Students were SUPERSTARS at VSTE 2018
The 12 Days of Kindness Twitter Challenge
Many thanks to Leslie Lehner at Green Run High School for helping make this idea a reality!
Five Tips for Giving More Meaningful Feedback to Students
Teachers give students tons of feedback, and there ARE steps that they can take to make the feedback given to students more useful. Here are five tips followed by quotes from the educational experts who have pushed my thinking about the quality of the feedback that I provide in my classroom.
“Students often find teachers’ feedback confusing, nonreasoned, and difficult to understand. Sometimes they think they have understood the teacher’s feedback when they have not, and even when they do understand it they may not know how to use it.” – John Hattie
“Students differ in their capacity for responding to correction, and too much corrective feedback at one time can cause a student to shut down, guaranteeing that no further learning will take place. In such cases, consider letting go the urge to provide all correctives necessary to make work perfect and instead provide as much guidance as the student can reasonably act on.” Jan Chappuis
“Whether your feedback is oral or written, choose your words carefully. Describe the work’s strengths and give at least one suggestion for a next step that is directly in line with the learning target. Use words that suggest the student is an active learner and will make decisions about how to go forward, not words that suggest a student should use the feedback by complying with a request.” Susan Brookhart
“When students receive both scores and comments, the first thing they look at is the score, and the second thing they look at is someone else’s score. Being compared with others triggers a concern for preserving well-being at the expense of growth.” – Dylan William
“When students get feedback on a performance that’s not followed by an opportunity to demonstrate the same knowledge or skills, feedback will fail. Feedback ‘so they will know better next time’ is a waste of energy. This isn’t the student’s fault, and it doesn’t mean they didn’t take your feedback seriously. It’s just a characteristic of how people learn.
~ William Ferriter
Thanks ROFO ES