Colt Round Up
Friday, October 6, 2017...but really Monday, October 9, 2017
"The wisest mind has something yet to learn." - George Santayana
With Appreciation:
- Kudos to Karen! Pam C. wanted to acknowledge how much she appreciates Karen. "She has been emailing me each time one of my parents have a Live Scan come through. I did not ask her to do this...and it has been great getting that info so fast. :-) Also, she is always happy, positive, and helps me all the time. :-)"
- Encore! Encore! for Shelly & Darren for putting together an amazing cast for the Musical Theater production of Lion King Kids. Next steps - getting the kids ready, costumes, staging, the ensemble (any 4th and 5th grader can participate!), and continuing to use the LK curriculum in music class.
- Hip Hip Horray for 4th and 5th grades - they are developing an enrichment block on Fridays where students will rotate around 3 week mini-classes with different teachers as they learn about things like origami, engineering, coding, physical fitness and more!
- Give Leadership Ambassadors a high five - what a great assembly they constructed and put on!
New Information/Things to Do:
- PTC CARNOWEEN: It will take over our school on Saturday, 10/21. We'd love to have our staff stop by to join in on the fun! Here is the event flier and the online sign up (http://signup.com/go/XqstXcB). Please share this info with families in your newsletters/emails/communication channels.
- COPIES: staff has made over 128,000 copies between August and the end of September. This comes at a cost of $624. We budget $5000 annually for copies, so at this rate, we'll be out of funding for the copier in eight months (March/April). Please make copies if you need them, but please be thoughtful...and make copies that are essential only, please.
- COLT PRIDE TICKETS: Please be sure your students put any tickets they've earned into a bucket (let Jen know if you need one) - we'll ask every staff member to pull 2 tickets on Friday, 10/13 in the morning; winning ticket holders will be invited to the red tables at 2:30 on Friday to enjoy a special treat!
- OCT. 16-20 is FALL DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP WEEK: the focus is on evaluating sources/fake news, social media, smart device use/gaming and positive online presence. Click here for resources and curriculum ideas you can incorporate into your classroom.
- SCHOOL BOARD MEETING: LCES is hosting the school board meeting on 10/17 at 7 pm. We'll be showcasing our VAPA programs - with an emphasis on our art docents. We'd love to have you join us!
Focus on Best First Instruction - October is about beginning with the end in mind
We know this is a new expectation. We are looking for PROGRESS, not perfection...so give it ago and aim to be adding targets for ELA and Math daily by the end of October. Several eachers reported to Jen and Will this week that posting the statements gave them better focus during the lesson and allowed them to engage their children in new and unexpected ways.
Want to learn more about the value of a stated or posted learning target?
- John Hattie YouTube video about how to establish learning intentions & success criteria
- Mike Mattos YouTube video about how to get "insanely clear about learning outcomes"
- Summary of John Hattie's book Visible Learning for Teachers
- A connection between learning targets and PLC work
Older Stuff/Reminders
- WORK ORDERS: Staff can access the work order for Markus on your staff drive under “CUSTODIAL WORK ORDER” folder. It is a typeable form then you can just email it to Markus.
- TEAM SELFIE: Please take a team selfie for our staff room wall. You can email it to Tricia or text it to Jen (702 324 6884).
PBIS Corner
GAMES to PLAY!
Each month, we'll ask you to incorporate a new game into your PE routine so we can use that game at recess. This month, it's HULA HOOP TIC TAC TOE! Check out this fun relay game! Here is a website with the rules and a video showing the kids playing. Here's a video with way fun music!DOCUMENTATION - WHEN?????
We'll be talking about our PBIS forms at our staff meeting...we plan to make an adjustment to them to clarify when you document...if you provide a tangible consequence (i.e. a time out or loss of privilege), then you SHOULD fill out a form AND you SHOULD make a contact home (in person, phone or email).
Upcoming Meetings/Activities:
Where are Jen & Will the week of 10/9?
- Will is at LCE in the morning on 10/10 and 10/13; he'll be at a PBIS conference on 10/11 and 10/12
- Jen will be on campus all week
- Skip Langdon will be doing walk throughs with Jen & Will on Tuesday morning
LCES is hosting the School Board meeting on 10/17 at 7 pm. We'd love to have you join us!
To Consider:
- Ever heard of the Ron Clark Academy? Interesting ideas. I'm going to check out a couple of his books to learn more.
- Some of our team has set AR to the side in favor of something else...I'd like to submit that the 40 book challenge might be that something else. I got some amazing resources around how to make the challenge work in your classroom in terms of creating a love for reading, using that love to engage in academic discussion, see growth in ELA, all the while exposing children to new genres, authors and ideas. Let me know if you'd like more info!
- I met a teacher whose passion is minimizing test anxiety - especially in math. I culled some wonderful resources from her and I hope to invite her to speak at a staff meeting later in the school year! Here is a text anxiety inventory designed to help people identify the root cause and how the anxiety manifests itself. It's designed for older kids, but maybe could be used in a modified way for our own students.
If you'd like to attend the conference next year, or even present some of the amazing work you are doing in your classroom, let me know!