Sunday Shakedown
Weekly Memo for Washington Elementary
Principal Post
This week, our students in grades 3-5 have an opportunity to show all they have learned. We have poured our hearts and souls into preparing them both mentally and academically. They will have the opportunity to show tenacity as they face a challenge. We have been teaching about tenacity all year through class meetings and classroom discussions. It is my hope that all of our students know that they can persevere and achieve. I hope you will gather your students each morning or afternoon to reflect/and or prepare by having a class meeting and using the following reflection questions as stems for discussion. We certainly do not want students to go into this thinking their entire future as a student relies upon it, but we do want them to know they CAN do it and that WE believe in them. I hope you find these useful, certainly you know your students best, please feel free to adapt. K-2 teachers, I know your students are not testing, but these may apply to challenging work you face as well and of course you can adapt or rely on your typical procedures.
- What is one thing that you can tell yourself if you encounter a tough reading passage?
- What strategy can you rely on to help you stay focused during the test today?
- Share a positive message with the class to help us be ready to persevere today.
- Pretend your friend in class is having a hard time mid way through the test, if you were able, what positive thing would you say to them to help them keep going?
- Without telling specifics of the question, did you answer a question this week that made you feel really confident about your ability to do well on this assessment? (student's answer likely yes or no) Now, I want you to close your eyes and remember that feeling. Remember how you felt when you knew you got that answer right. Think about it....hold on to it. Now open your eyes. I want you to work hard today and feel that feeling again about your work today.
- What advice would you give to a younger student in this building who isn't taking this test about perseverance and not giving up so they can be prepared when they face something difficult or hard to do at school.
- What have you learned about yourself in completing the TNReady test? Did you learn something new about your ability to persevere? Did you discover something about yourself that you didn't know before you stated testing last week? What are you better at now that you realized that you can do something that might be difficult and not give up on yourself because the task was challenging.
- What was the best part about trying your best on this test? How do you feel knowing that you gave this test your all and tried your best every day?
Thank yous, appreciations, and celebrations:
- Thanks to our PTA for hosting a great yard sale on Saturday, giving their weekend up to raise money for our school.
- Thanks to Howard and his team for preparing for the art show, the work looks terrific!
- Thanks in advance to all for being flexible with schedules this week. I know your IAs may be consumed with testing and we know that is temporary, but we appreciate your support.
- Thanks to Kristian and his team of parents for giving the stage a great ocean feel!
- Thanks to all for giving Vicki your surplus lists
- Thanks to Lauren for covering in the office to provide a break for Candice each day
- Thanks to all for helping with the craziness of Friday the 13th
- Thanks to Sue and Amy Ardire for getting everything TNReady! Your work has not gone unnoticed.
- Thanks to Reagan and Stephanie Edwards for being great ambassadors for Washington to our rising K parents
- Thanks to Kristian and Megan for calling cars a day each this week
- Best wishes to Lisa H as she travels for the Boston Marathon this week
- Congrats to Philip and Virginia Marshall on the birth of their baby BOY this weekend. He was 8lbs 2 oz and looks terrific! He didn't have a name at the time of publication.
Week of April 16-20
Bagel bar in the office 7:45-??
Tuesday:
TNReady testing
LCB Celebration of Learning and GWES Art Fair (2:00 and 6:00/6:30 art fair)
Literacy collaboratives
Wednesday:
TNREady testing
Wolf at principal's collaborative 9:30-12:30
LCB field trip
Thursday:
TNReady testing
Wolf at Safety Council 10-1
ECLC Art Walk
Friday:
Jeans day to raise funds for Mountain Trail (GWES only) -money to Candice
A look ahead:
Action teams meet April 23
TNReady April 24-26
Birthdays with the Principals April 25
Jeans for Stream on the 27th-$5
Professional Learning: New Resources to Share
Professional learning calendar:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TnP8coW70cUnlW0gLTJ6H4Oy5FNS8Sbw/view
Time Off:
Certified employees: This time of year our schedules, both personally and professionally, can get very busy and demanding. Our system is gracious enough to allow us to find coverage for times when we are out of the classroom for one hour or less. However, as you plan for award days, promotion celebrations,etc. please be reminded that these often take more than an hour and should result in the use of personal time. Most of these events have been on your calendar for quite some time and you should have saved the time needed for these days.
Playground
WSIC News
Link to the WSIC, please be certain to watch each day: https://goo.gl/vjw2eP