Trantwood Times
"Captivating Every Student, Every Day!"
Kudos - singing the praises of our staff :)
Many thanks to our leadership team for their collaborative efforts with our parents to develop a strong Plan for Continuous Improvement. Terry, Becky, Anne, Catie, Jen M., Jan, and Nancy, your commitment to our school is deeply appreciated.
Kudos to all of you for inspiring our students amazing Reflections entries. Our students are so talented and creative thanks to you!
November: Native American Heritage Month
Nov. 16 - 20
Monday, November 16 -20: Anti-Bullying Week & American Education Week
Monday, November 16: Grade 5 Field Trip
Monday, November 16: Coach Learning Walks, 12:30 - 2:30
Monday, November 16: Safe Schools Meeting, Library, 3:00
Monday, November 16: Mad Science, 2:40 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Monday, November 16: Plaza MYP Info Night, November 16 or 18 @ 6:30 p.m. (pick one)
Tuesday, November 17: School Improvement Team Meeting, 11:30
Tuesday, November 17: Faculty Meeting 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., MANDT Training
Wednesday, November 18: Education Support Professionals Day
Wednesday, November 18: Mrs. Metzger OTB 1:00 - 4:30
Wednesday, November 18: Art Club, 2:40 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 18: STEM, 2:40 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 18: Plaza MYP Info Night, November 16 or 18 @ 6:30 p.m. (pick one)
Thursday, November 19: National Parental Involvement Day
Friday, November 20: Substitute Educators Day
Friday, November 20: SCA Pizza Party, 2:40 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Friday, November 20: Grade 2 Field Trip
Nov 23 – 27
Monday, November 23: Mad Science, 2:40 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 24: Grandparents’ Luncheon
Wednesday, November 25: Adjusted Dismissal
Thursday & Friday, November 26 & 27: Thanksgiving Holiday
Due Dates and Reminders
The United Way campaign runs from October 19 through November 19. Please return your form to Nancy by November 19
Please have students go to the bathroom before going to lunch.
Student Absences – If a parent has contacted you with the reason a student is absent, please let Terry know the reason for the absence as soon as possible.
MIDDLE SCHOOL INFO NIGHTS SCHEDULE:
Plaza MYP Info Night November 16 or 18 @ 6:30 pm (pick one)
LMS Info Night December 2 @ 6 pm
Kemps Landing Info Night December 2 or 3 @ 6:30 pm (pick one)
VB Middle Art Info Night December 8 @ 5 pm
GNMS Info Night December 16 @ 5:15-6:15 pm or 6:45-7:45 pm (pick one)
Do you need some assistance?
VBCPS Core Values
Student-Centered Decision Making
Continuous Learning
Innovation
Collaboration
Respect
Captivating Every Student, Every Day
At our recent Principal's meeting, Dr. Spence passionately spoke about his vision for VBCPS to become the premier school division in the world. How will this happen? Interestingly enough, not by emphasizing test performance. I couldn't agree more!
He went on to say that becoming a premier school division will happen if we intentionally create discovery and inquiry based schools filled with classrooms where learning is innovative and whimsical. Classrooms where caring and joy spark engagement so high that test scores happen despite the fact that we chose to intentionally plan learning opportunities with our students in mind.
Why is having creative, innovative, caring classrooms so important? First, because this kind of learning environment inspires kids be better citizens, learners, and friends. It inspires students to think of others and to want to be a part of something greater than themselves. When this happens, I've noticed that their inspiration becomes contagious and uplifts us all!
Secondly, our student's future careers demands that they know how to be innovative. To paraphrase Ted Dintersmith, he says there's a mismatch between a world that's begging for creativity and innovation and what our school system expects students to do each day. As we've noticed, innovation is rapidly advancing. "One of the byproducts of that is, if a job is structured and routine, if it's following instructions, if it's doing the same thing over and over again, that job will not be done by a person."
He goes further to say that "studies show that when students just memorize content and then take a test, that information is not retained. Sometimes even for as little as three weeks later, that content is gone." He thinks "it's better to get kids excited about learning a particular thing. Once they start diving into it, they learn a tool set that they can take with them into the next grade. That tool set can be skills like collaboration, leadership and communication, all talents today's employers are looking for." I couldn't agree more!
So after reading about Ted Dintersmith and then hearing Dr. Spence's vision, I thought about the book Teach Like a Pirate. Author Dave Burgess suggests that if you want to provide students more opportunities to be creative, here are some questions to consider when planning:
- How can I incorporate art into this lesson?
- What can my students draw or make that could help them retain this information?
- Can they make some kind of non-linguistic representation of the material (A photography project or 3-d Art, for example)?
- Can I create an art-based option that students could choose instead of another assignment?
I encourage you to give it a go and watch what happens. Are your kids smiling more? How many times did you have to remind them to manage their impulsivity? Did they get lost in the moment of learning like never before? If so, then you are on the right track to captivating every student, every day. There's more to come on the topic of innovative and creative classrooms but in the meantime, if you give any of this a go, kudos to you for taking responsible risks!
Knowledge is having the right answer. Intelligence is asking the right question. Unknown
What do you think?
Why do you think that?
How do you know this?
Can you tell me more?
What questions do you still have?
Edutopia
Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need
7 HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS THAT GUARANTEE LEARNING AND THE SECRET SAUCE THAT MAKES THEM WORK
Yard Sale
DECEMBER 10
9:00 AM – 2:30 PM
The Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Distribution Services are partnering for the second annual “yard sale.” The “yard sale” will be held Dec. 10 as a means of streamlining instructional materials available for distribution and use by elementary schools. In preparation for this event, boxed materials labeled T&L Yard Sale may be sent to the Distribution Center until Nov. 15. Principals, specialists and teachers are invited to attend the “yard sale” at the Distribution Center. The doors will be open Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Surplus language arts, math and consumable science materials will be available on a first come, first served basis.