PIONEER TRAIL NEWS
READING MAKES YOU BRIGHT!!!!
OCTOBER 21 - OCTOBER 25, 2019
Gray Wolf Mission
Creating a community of learners where students' are actively engaged to reach their full potential and display positive character.
WE are a school that looks out for each other and takes care of each other! Together WE got this!! #GRAYWOLVES
PT STAFF CELEBRATIONS AND CARE CORNER
Special Services Director, Bridget Frank, lost her father in a farming accident this week. Keep her family in your thoughts.
LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE NEWS TO SHARE WITH THE STAFF!
2019-2020 PIONEER TRAIL S.M.A.R.T. GOALS
MATH: BY MAY 2020, WE WILL MOVE FROM 66% OF STUDENTS SCORING PROFICIENT OR HIGHER ON THE iREADY MATH DIAGNOSTIC TO 75% OF STUDENTS SCORING PROFICIENT OR HIGHER.
ELA/MATH: BY SPRING 2020, WE WILL HAVE 50% OF STUDENTS SCORING PROFICIENT OR HIGHER ON THE MAP TESTS IN GRADES 3, 4, AND 5.
BEHAVIOR: BY MAY 2020, WE WILL DECREASE THE NUMBER OF MAJOR OFFICE REFERRALS FROM 337 EVENTS TO LESS THAN 250 EVENTS.
POSITIVE OFFICE REFERRALS TO DATE ..... GOAL 500 BY THE END OF FIRST QUARTER!
MAJOR/MINOR REFERRALS
MINORS - Aug/Oct to Date = 135/ Previous Year (Aug-Oct) = 194
Second Steps Lessons for OCTOBER 21st - 7:50 - 8:10 AM
First Grade: Lesson 4 Self Talk for Learning
Second Grade: Lesson 4 Being Assertive
Third Grade: Lesson 4 Planning to Learn
Fourth Grade: Bullying Prevention Unit - Intro Lesson Class Rules
Fifth Grade: Bullying Prevention Unit - Intro Lesson Class Rules
Review PBS Matrix Lessons as needed
IMPORTANT: A MIND-SHIFT IN OUR THINKING ABOUT WORKING WITH BEHAVIORALLY CHALLENGING STUDENTS
"Challenging kids are lacking the skills of flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, skills most of us take for granted. How can we tell that these kids are lacking those skills? One reason is that the research tells us so. But the more important reason is this: because your child isn't challenging every second of every waking hour. He's challenging sometimes, particularly in situations where flexibility, adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving are required. Try to think of the last time your child had an outburst and those skills were not required.
Complying with adult directives requires those skills. Interacting adaptively with other people - parents, siblings, teachers, peers, coaches, and teammates - does too. Handling disagreements requires those skills, so does completing a difficult homework assignment or dealing with a change in plan. Most kids are fortunate to have those skills. Your behaviorally challenging student was not so fortunate. Because he's lacking those skills, his life - and yours - is going to be more difficult, at least until you get a handle on things.
Challenging behavior occurs when the demands being placed upon a child outstrip the skills he has to respond adaptively to those demands.
When your child has the skills to respond adaptively to demands and expectations, he does. If your child had the skills to handle disagreements and changes in plans and adults setting limits and demands being placed on him without falling apart, he'd be handling those challenges adaptively. Because he doesn't have those skills, he isn't. But let there be no doubt: he'd prefer to be handling those challenges adaptively because doing well is preferable. And because - and this is, without question, the most important theme of this book - kids do well if they can.
While it's understandable that up until now you've primarily been focused on the behaviors your child exhibits when he is upset, those behaviors are actually the least important thing to focus on. The most important things to focus on are the skills your child is lacking and the specific conditions in which those lagging skills are making life difficult.
The primary strategy you'll be using to reduce challenging episodes is problem solving. Not putting stickers on a chart. Not sending your child to time out (and holding him there when he won't stay). Not screaming. Not berating. Not lecturing. Not sermonizing. Not depriving him of privileges. In fact, as you may noticed, these strategies sometimes cause more challenging episodes than the prevent.
Let's go back to kids do well if they can. This philosophy is important because a different philosophy, the belief that kids do well if they want to, has guided adult thinking for a long time. If you believe that your kid isn't doing well because he doesn't want to, then you'll be inclined to use conventional reward and punishment strategies aimed at making him want to do well.
I encourage you to put aside the conventional wisdom and strategies and consider the alternate view: that your child is already motivated to do well and that his challenging episodes reflect a developmental delay in the skills of flexibility, frustration tolerance, and problem solving. The reason reward and punishment strategies haven't helped is because they won't teach your child the skills he's lacking or solve the problems that are contributing to challenging episodes. Your energy can be devoted far more productively to collaborating with your child on solutions to the problems that are causing challenging episodes than in sticking with strategies that may actually have made things worse and haven't led to durable improvement.
We have to talk with kids, connect with kids, help them move through the process of what happened, how they were feeling, the impact the choice had on others, what they could do next time instead - help them see and understand - validate their feelings and frustrations, but help them see a better more appropriate way. It may take 10-15 minutes of your time, but how much time are you losing by handling it the other way and what is your end result?
Behavior/Classroom Management Corner: The Role of Emotion Co-Regulation in Discipline
LEARNING/TEACHING CORNER....FROM TERRI MILLER'S DESK
JC Schools Words Their Way Implementation
Expected:
Words Their Way groups occur daily including small group instruction
Shared Reading/Read a Rhyme (for Emergent-Early Letter Name, Letter Name, & Within Word Pattern groups)
Introduce the Sort (teacher-directed interactive sort) & Reflect
Assign various digital sorts to groups of students
Administer on-going Spell Checks
Optional:
Add in writing by having students record the sorting they did digitally on paper to add in fine motor (consider doing once per series of sorts)
Assign texts from digital Classroom Library
Print game boards and allow students to use for reinforcement during WTW time
Use crosswalk (on literacy site) to utilize WTW print resources you may still have in your classroom
Linked are the WTW Teacher Navigation and Student Navigation packets for you to print if needed. They are also located on our JC Literacy site in staff links. If there is anything else that you need, please let me know.
TWW~Agendas are linked. See the agenda for items to bring and discussions to prepare for.
Pineapple Calendar~How are your observations going? First quarter is almost over. Have you done at least one 15 minute observation in a colleague’s classroom? When you visit a classroom, please fill out a note card in my room with a positive comment on the learning that you observed. Put the note card in the basket on top of my bookshelf so that I can mark your name off. Make sure that you put your name in the top left corner of the envelope so that I know who the card is from.
Come see me if you have any questions or concerns. Let me know how I can further support you and your students in your classroom.
Pineapple Calendar for Observations October 21st - 25th - Culp, Hutchison, Kampeter, Bopp, Beck, Siebeneck, and Dampf
Don’t forget to visit your colleagues to see all the wonderful learning that goes on in our building! PT students rock!
What's New with PBS? (See Team Member for Details)
- When to write a referral...
- Ideas for Matrix Market
- Consistency in lunch room expectations/duties
- Practice "Gray" "Wolves" procedure - make sure it is respectful call back
- SEL groups started for Top 10
- Punishment v. Consequences
Next Meeting: Monday, November 18th
What's Up with PLC? (SEE TEAM MEMBER FOR DETAILS)
- Reading Counts - Third and Fifth Grade will share with Second and Fourth following PD on Oct 16th
- Grade levels need system of tracking student progress toward priority standards for all content
- Grade levels need to complete team survey and set two goals for improving their work surrounding the Four Corollary Questions
- PD requests require TWO Week notice - make sure you submit to Kelly when doing MyLearningPlan
- MAP DATA - Dawn will be offering training dates; teams are to review data and look for ways to track and enhance lower scoring standards throughout teaching
- Teams will discuss how to best use John Harrison on his October 23 visit
- W.O.L.F. Time - will will continue with iReady focus - will begin in November; groups have already started for select K/1 students
Next Meeting: Monday, November 11th!
What's up with Climate/Culture? (SEE TEAM MEMBER FOR DETAILS)
- STAFF ACTIVITIES: BRING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN FAMILY EVENT (OCT 27)
- SECOND GRADE CONCERT AND LITERACY NIGHT (OCT 29)
- WALKING WEDNESDAY WITH A BUDDY BEGINNING SOON
Next Meeting: Monday, October 21
Pioneer Trail Building Health/Wellness Update for September - Jessica Bax
October 22 at 5:30 PM - Yoga class for staff at the Yoga Studio
There are lots of points options coming up! Remember to keep logging your points!
WEEK AT A GLANCE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21
- Jolly out PM
- 8:00 Tier 2/3
- 8:30 Oswald Service Plan
- 3:05 Climate/Culture
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22
- Kindergarten out AM/Second Grade out PM
- Salmons and Miller out ALL
- Lit team meetings for grades 3-5
- 5:30 Staff Yoga at Yoga Studio
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23
- Reinkemeyer out ALL
- Teamwork Wednesday with John Harrison
- 3:00 Hiatte/Strutton IEP
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24
- Brauner, K Bax, Meyerpeter out PM
- Oswald, Prenger, Adams, and Strutton out ALL
- JCPS Payday
- Elementary grading window opens
- Severe Weather Drill
- Flu Shots for students that signed up
- 8:15 Mahan/Spurgeon
- 9:15 Davis/Beck
- 12:50 Shields/Brewer
- 3:00 Tellman/Hansen
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25
- Spurgeon and Verslues out ALL
- Conference notes sent home
- End of First Quarter
- Fire Drill
- 8:00 Monthly assembly (altered specials schedule)
Things to Take Care Of or Keep in Mind......
- Parent newsletters must be posted to your website each week!
- When inviting the media or special guests from the Board/Board Office, make sure you clear with Scott first.
Grades/scores need to be entered into Infinite Campus by Tuesday of each week.
Filter Friday - please make sure you clean your projector filter each Friday. If you need a tutorial on how to do it, please check with Robin.
Kelly Services number is 1-866-535-5998. Calls need to be made before 6:00 AM. Send Scott a text (573-619-2852) if you are getting a sub along with the confirmation number.
Happy OCTOBER Birthdays!! (Lounge Duty and Treat Day)
Oct 9 - Kaitlyn Davidson
Oct 13 - Jill Speckhals
Oct 16 - Jade DePue
Oct 18 - Christina Brauner
Oct 26 - Lora Moore
If we missed you, please let us know!
Lounge/Treat Duty: Salmons, Oswald, Bosch, Barbour, Wilson, Koestner
Treat Day: Friday, Oct 25