What's News At Magee?
#3 - November 2017
Building Habits for Success
Through this process, students are analyzing, evaluating, thinking flexibly, and making decisions. Each student is contributing something, students are communicating with each other about the best way to get their message across to their intended audience. They will need to persist when the work gets messy, think flexibly when someone else presents stronger information than theirs, strive for accuracy and think interdependently, so their ideas together accomplish the end goal.
Habits of Mind are habits we employ each and every day of our lives. They are mental dispositions we employ to do thoughtful work. And, they do not just happen overnight!
I am just going to say it, managing impulsivity takes years to develop. Even as adults, managing impulsivity is a challenge in different situations. You are in a meeting and your computer is open, it can be a challenge to focus on the meeting and not your email. You are at a birthday party, but the Badgers are on and you REALLY want to check your phone for the score. The list can go on for all of us. We begin working with students early in school to building an understanding of what managing impulsivity is, and then work on applying it in different educational and social situations. Feedback plays a very important role in developing any habit. At school, we work to incorporate feedback around the Habits of Mind that help students know how to handle situations in the future!
A Growth Mindset - who needs it and why is it important?
Having a growth mindset is the belief that even the most basic of human abilities can grow and be developed with dedication and hard work - including brains and talents! It is this type of mindset, that when fostered in all of us, that creates resilience and a love of learning for successes in the many venues of life!
The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that intelligence level is set, and it can't change. That success is due to talent alone, not hard work. A person with a fixed mindset feels like their traits are set and no amount of hard work will change that.
Cultivating a growth mindset in school helps students make the connection between hard work/effort and success. That success may not come on the first try, or the second try, or the tenth try and that is ok! Success is learning something each try to make the next try better - which means failure is not a bad thing!
People are not wired to be all growth mindset or all fixed mindset. Mindsets will vary depending on situation or subject. A person may have a very fixed mindset about trying new food - being very certain that they do not want to try new foods and they are not missing anything! On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset about new foods may always be on the hunt for new recipes and/or incorporating new ingredients into the recipes.
Fixed and growth mindsets are definitely something students have control of. Supporting student effort and learning, and failing forward, helps students develop a growth mindset to apply in their daily lives. This short video sums it up well, Keep Moving Forward!
This VIDEO is the first in a series of Growth Mindset videos from Class Dojo. A great introductory video for students - they may have seen this in class. :)
Winter Concert Reminder - Mark your calendar!!
Is your child ready for winter?
As a staff, we have landed on the following guidelines for outdoor recess:
Dress warmly as students are generally not allowed to enter the building during recess.
All students are expected to participate in outdoor recess. Children need to come prepared with warm winter gear as recess is outside at zero degrees windchill and above.
The following recommendations have been set and will be enforced for students in grades 4K-2. Students in grades 3, 4 and 5 are strongly encouraged to follow these guidelines for safe and appropriate attire specific to temperature - with the exception of long pants when the temperature is under 50F when student leave home.
Please remember, students can store appropriate recess attire including long pants, sweatshirt, jackets, snowpants, boots and shoes at school to have available when needed.
Jacket/Sweatshirt less than 50F windchill
Winter coat 32F or below bundle up! (wear layers)
Long pants less than 50F windchill - when you leave your house. (ALL STUDENTS)
Please Be Safe!
Birthday Treats
Can food treats come to school in baggies to be sent home with students? No, food treats will of any kind are not covered under the policy.
Can I send a delivery to school for my child's birthday (balloons, flowers, etc)? If a delivery does come to school it cannot include latex of any kind. The student will be able to come to the office to see what is delivered, but the delivery will be kept in the office until the end of the day as to not disrupt the school day. A balloon bouquet in a room of students can definitely make it hard to focus on the lesson!
Dates to Remember...
11/22 - Fine Arts Day and HALF DAY for students - dismissal at 12:35 PM.
11/23-11/24 No School - Thanksgiving Holiday
DECEMBER
12/1 Packer/Popcorn Day
12/4 Magee Spirit Day
12/5 5th Grade Field Trip 9:00-1:30PM
12/8 Packer Day
PTO Meeting 9:00AM
12/9 PTO Community Breakfast 8:30-10:30AM
PTO Community Fair 8:30-2:30PM
12/15 Packer/Popcorn Day
12/18 Magee Spirit Day
12/22 Packer Day
12-25 thru 1-1 No School - Winter Break
About Magee...
Email: sterners@kmsd.edu
Website: https://www.kmsd.edu/Domain/10
Location: W313 S4134 Hwy. 83 Genesee Depot, WI 53189
Phone: 2629686450
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mageeelementary
Twitter: @kmmagee