Bobcat Bulletin
Week of September 23, 2019
This Week's Events
- Devon at 1:15 meeting
- PTA Meeting 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Tuesday 9/24
- Social Committee - 8:20 am
- MTSS 10:00 am
- Math Coach at Winchester (8:30 - 11:30 2nd, 12:50-3:50 4th)
Wednesday 9/25
- Green Team 8:20 am
- ET 3:50 - 5:35 pm
Thursday 9/26
- Credit Union Training, MPR - 9:15 am
Friday 9/27
- Devon at 10:00 am Meeting
- ROAR Assembly (4th & 5th - 2:10 - 2:40 K-3 - 2:45-3:15)
Next Week's Events
- Devon at 1:15 meeting
Tuesday 10/1
- Picture Day
- MTSS 10:00 am
Wednesday 10/2
- Walk to School Day
- Collegial Chairs Meeting - 8:00 am
- Math Coach at Amerman (4th and 5th full day)
Thursday 10/3
Friday 10/4
Due Dates
Friday 9/20 - Daily Schedule - Get this in ASAP if you have not done so already please
Friday 9/27
- Growth plan completed in Pivot
- All of the Habits have been taught in your classroom as a review. Specific lessons should occur throughout the year.
- Furniture Inventory
Curriculum Night - Thank You!!
Thank you so very much for everyone's hard work preparing for our curriculum night! I heard so many positive comments from parents. The building looked fantastic! It's hard to believe that three weeks ago we were in the middle of a construction mess.
Although it's a year away, since it is fresh in our heads, we should think about how we want to structure Open House/Curriculum Night next year. We do not have to do the same thing K-5. Lower El and Upper El can have two different formats. Collegial Chairs, let's plan on discussing this at our October chair meeting.
The Force is Strong at Amerman! Spirit Week
Let's celebrate the first month of school and show some spirit. Please see the flyer below for more details.
- Monday - Star Wars Day
- Tuesday - Pajama Day
- Wednesday - Wacky Day
- Thursday - Bahamas Beach Day
- Friday - Amerman Spirit Color Day - wear your blue and yellow Bobcats!
Bringing Hope to the Bahamas!
On Thursday all Bobcats are encouraged to bring in at least $1 or some spare change. The money collected will be donated to help bring relief to those impacted in the Bahamas by Hurricane Dorian.
When Anxiety in Children Looks Like Anger, Tantrums, or Meltdowns
This article was shared with me and I thought it was a great read. It is related to our work with SEL. Anxiety is an emotion many of our students don't understand and it can present itself in many forms, usually it is anger. Click here to read the article.
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
Thanks Dave for putting this together!
Furniture Inventory
Extended Time
ET this week! ET will be September 25th from 3:55 - 5:35 p.m.
I am looking forward to finally being able to meet with the entire staff as a whole! I spoke with collegial chairs this past week to discuss the agenda. Formal agenda to come soon. Here are the topics we will cover:
- Devon Into Stuff
- Leader in Me Update
- NaviGate Prepared
- Bridges - Standards & Assessments (from the Assessment Guide)
Collegial Meetings
If you haven't read it yet, you might spend some time reviewing the Office of Instruction Memo with your grade level team. Also, please make sure you are sharing your notes with me. For your convenience, below you will find all the collegial meeting times for the building.
Individual Teacher/Staff Meetings
Observations
I plan to start observations this week. I know I pop in and out of classes often. But, if you see me with a laptop or iPad, you can assume it's an observation instead of a friendly visit. I know observations can bring some apprehension and nerves. Please teach like you always do and don't worry.
“Listen to what you know instead of what you fear.”
– Richard Bach
Lesson Plans for Observations
Please remember to have your lesson plans out so I can get a picture of them when I am in your classroom during an observation. When you are filling in those boxes with your lessons, something to think about is the importance of planning ahead and what you are planning for. Research shows that there is a strong correlation between the level of planning and student outcomes. This is going to be particularly important this year as we are learning the new resources.
We will have to be intentional about our planning to make sure that we are thinking about learning targets, success criteria, instructional strategies, questioning, performance task, and assessments because they might be different than what we have done in the past.
Therefore, please make sure the learning target, performance task, and any assessment plan is in your plans as I am looking to see what the intended learning is and how you and your students will determine if they met the target.
LC Corner - Curriculum, Literacy & Learning...oh my!
BALANCED LITERACY & the 5 PILLARS
Throughout the year, we will return to the practice of reading inventories and running records and share strategies along the way. With the influx of new curriculum resources from F&P classroom in K-3 and the arrival of pilot materials for 4th & 5th it seems appropriate to pause and reflect on how all these pieces fit within the framework of Balanced Literacy and what we have always known about the 5 Pillars of Literacy.
This term Balanced Literacy is having a moment recently. It has been featured in the latest Instructional Newsletter (NPS Balanced Literacy Framework) and been a part of discussions in relation to the new curriculum adoption for K-3 and the pilot for 4th & 5th grade. One way to think about Balanced Literacy is as a framework of instruction that incorporates best practices and strategies to deliver engaging and responsive literacy instruction to our students with the purpose of supporting their development as independent readers, writers, communicators and thinkers in the 21st Century.
Balanced LIteracy is connected to the 5 Pillars of Literacy - Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Reading Fluency, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension in that these pillars are what we teach and Balanced Literacy is the framework for how we fit it all in during the day and week.
The Pillars are the foundation for literacy. Literacy Pillars FAQ
Follow this link to see how the Fountas & Pinnell’s Classroom System addresses and aligns all these pieces. F&P Design for a Responsive Classroom Do you see any similarities between how you have taught reading in the past? How does this framework allow for differentiation? What ahas! do you have for how the new materials might fit within your Literacy Block? Which resources do you want to know more about?
As the year continues, we will revisit this framework, best practices and even start to weave in the Essentials.
To be continued…
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Three Signature Practices
Here are the links to access the CASEL Playbook for Three Signature Practices. I think you will find several ideas to use in your classrooms. I am also including links with additional ideas for welcoming routines and closure activities. Have fun!
Brain Breaks
I love that you find the time to get your students up and moving throughout the day! Research indicates that movement throughout the day increases focus, memory retention, and cognitive processing is faster. According to an article in Education Week, Learning in Motion: Bring Movement Back to the Classroom, (August 9, 2017) "A quick 15-minute break helps adults tackle the rest of their day, and the same is true for children".
Keeping this in mind, I have found some resources, including the article mentioned above with ideas that you can do during your brain breaks. The CASEL SEL 3 Signatures Practices Playbook has several ideas as well. Remember brain breaks are intended to be breaks from learning when needed and should be no longer than 15 minutes in duration. You must let the office know if you are going outside for a brain break so they know where to find you or your students. I understand your students may earn a celebration of extra recess at times, but it should not be every single Friday at the end of the day.
Thank you all for your continued commitment to providing the best environment for our students!
Additional Brain Break ideas:
Testing Tidbits
Fall NWEA-MAP testing continues this week. 19-20 AE Fall NWEA MAP Schedule
Thanks to everyone who has made the first week of testing run very smoothly! Thank you for working together to get the carts/devices where they need to go. Please remember that because of our ramps, only adults can move a cart from one side of the building to another.
Several of you have already started make-ups too. Many hands make light work, right? If you would like to know how to have students finish up a test from earlier in the week, just ask. It’s fairly simple to do.
For those of you testing for the first time this week, here are a few things to d0 before your test sessions:
Review the Proctor Testing Tips Document
Check to make sure you have a working username and password for login at www.nwea.org
Double check your scheduled times.
Review the steps to find your saved testing sessions.
Remember if you have any questions, just ask. LaManna’s new extension is 2144.
Reminders and Requests
- If you would like to copy your growth plan from last year...please click How to Duplicate a Growth Plan for the directions
- ALICE Lessons will be taught on Monday, September 30th. Here is the link for the ALICE lessons folder: ALICE Lessons
Dismissal Duty
Week of 9/23
- Bus - Wilson
- Loop - Warum, Mooney, C. Thomas, Segerstrom/Bush/Lenahan
Week of 9/30
- Bus - Hanes
- Loop - McDougall, Babich, Hartnett, Isenberg
Random Useless Facts
A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 mph.
- The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.
- Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
- Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
- It’s against the law to burp or sneeze in a church in Omaha, Nebraska.
- A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
- Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.