Couch Comet Dust
October 15th
GLAD Implementation
Politics in the Classroom
As we approach the mid-term elections, the Social Studies department would like to
provide the following best practices and suggested guidelines for discussing elections
with students and conducting mock elections on your campus.
The overarching goal of all political activities on campuses must always be to maintain
impartiality.
Strive for impartiality
Regardless of your personal political beliefs, you have to remain straight down
the middle in front of your students. As a role model, you have incredible
sway on their growing and somewhat impressionable minds. Advocating for
your political preferences in the classroom is unethical, and should be avoided.
Encourage civics (and civility)
Today’s raucous political discourse sets a poor example for our students. As a result,
they may jump into personal attacks and mocking behavior when discussing politics. Your
expectations should not change regardless of what you’re doing in the classroom: Insist on
appropriate language, decent treatment of each other and respect at all times.
Establishing these standards before controversial topics come up enables you to move into them easily without worrying about the class sliding into inappropriate behavior. To help support these conversations, model expected dialogue for the students.
Facts, facts, facts
Political campaigns have always relied on facts to shore up their positions. Sometimes these facts support conclusions that are overly broad, badly misinterpreted or flat-out wrong. When your students begin to share their beliefs, let them know that they must offer facts to support their positions — and make sure the facts come from reputable sources.
The Internet is a treasure trove of information, a lot of which is more akin to propaganda than
truth. Help your students’ select appropriate and accurate information, and help them learn how to find sources that can be defended.
Don’t surrender to cynicism
The vitriol and personal attacks in this campaign cycle, along with the downright childish
behavior of the candidates, threaten to discourage voters from participating in the process. This is particularly troublesome in young people, whose withdrawal from being active, informed citizens can result in decades of detachment. The one cue that gives them permission to detach will be the language and behavior of the adults they watch carefully. In all your language choices, be relentlessly positive about the good things you see in the process. This can include more and more Americans following the election, greater turnout in the polls or attention being paid to issues that were ignored in previous elections.
Remember, we’ve overcome much worse
Our republic has faced tremendous challenges over the years — wars to fight, economic
downturns to survive, and major social unrest — but we’ve also done tremendous things like
curing diseases, leading the global economy and spreading representative democracy.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking we are a nation in decline. Remind your students that we’ve
had contentious elections in the past and everything turned out just fine, and that this time will be no exception.
Social Studies Classrooms
One of the greatest privileges we have living in a democratic republic is the power to vote. Our
students can learn much about the process and participating in a “Mock Election”. If your school chooses to hold a mock election, focus on the process and not the individual candidates. “Who” to vote for is a topic of discussion with families.
Focus on the following 4 areas:
• How do we elect our leaders?
• How do we register to vote?
• What is the purpose of “Checks and Balances” within our system of government?
• The importance of the secret ballot.
Secondary students may also focus on the history of the process of voting and the special events surrounding elections, as well as the beauty of living in a country with the tradition of “peaceful transference of power”.
We will be having our Fall Festival on October 26, 2018 from 6pm-8pm. Teachers are asked to donate something to the silent auction.
This can be anything you choose - something as simple as 'lunch with Mrs. Shields' or something more elaborate as a movie day, spa day, read-aloud time - anything! The choice is yours.
Please complete the Google Form below to let me know what you are donating by October 21, 2018 so I can get the auction ready.
ALSO- grade levels are required to create games for the students to play (duck pond, fishing, ring the bottle, ring toss, bean bag toss, etc). We are working on having volunteers to run them but they need to be made! Make sure you are signing up on the sign in sheet posted by POP AND POST so we do not have duplicate games.
Staff members are to sign up for a 2 hour shift. The sign up sheet is on the wall outside the lounge.
Balanced Literacy Training Presentation
The Couch Read Aloud Presentation
Remember that the expectation is that all teams/classrooms are implementing the trainings provided. Should you or your team need support, please reach out to us.
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
Translation tool
Translation (on paper) Interpretation (speaking)
Go to the INTRANET on the GISD webpage.
Click departments/programs at the top
Click on student services
At the bottom of the left column you will see REQUEST TRANSLATION OR INTERPRETATION SERVICES (click)
Click log in to request service
You will login using your GISD login (no @garlandisd.net)
You will then fill in the information you are required to fill in (you will need student ID)
You should always select Language Line Service (will be done over the phone)
Once the request has been submitted, you will get an email verifying that the request has been approved. You will get instructions on how to make the phone call.
This is a great tool that we can use to conference with parents. I hope you are as excited about it as I am!
~Lauren
Door Greeters!
Visitor Greeter Procedure
1) When you hear the knock, get up and walk quietly to our door.
2) Facing visitor, hold out your hand and shake hands firmly.
3) Say, “Hello, my name is __________. Welcome to Teacher’s name (i.e. *Stupendous)
College Bound (2nd) Grade Class. How may I help you?”(*Select a high level superlative to describe class)
4) If the person wants to visit the class and you do not know them, ask,
“May I have your name so that I may introduce you?” or “How may I introduce you?”
Options:
a) Have a “Special Visitor Log” on a clip board. The greeter would askthe visitor to print his/her name on the log which would then serve as a tool to
remember the name for introduction to the class.
b) Have a signal that the visitor greeter can use to respectfully get the teacher’sattention if the teacher is teaching and unaware that there is a special visitor present who
needs to be introduced and welcomed by the class.
5) To introduce the guest, wait patiently until the teacher is ready and then say,
“ Teacher’s name and class, I would like to present visitor’s name .”
6) The teacher leads the class in acknowledging and welcoming the special visitor to their class, and together they welcome him/her. For example,
“Boys and girls, let’s stand and welcome visitor’s name to our class.”
7) The greeter then shows the guest/s to a seat.
Class Greeting of Visitors Procedure
1) When the greeter announces that there is a special visitor, look at the greeter and visitor.
2) Listen for the visitor’s name.
3) When the introduction is over, as a class we will GREET our visitor.
(Use an appropriate welcoming statement/chant/song.)
Visitor Talking to Teacher Procedure
1) When a visitor comes to our room, we will give the class greeting.
2) If the visitor needs to talk to (teacher’s name), then work quietly at your desk on your
assignment.
3) If finished with your assignment, get out your library book or your _________ and begin
working.
4) If we are in group time, then the greeter will begin the quiet game and everyone will sit quietly
until (teacher’s name) is finished.
Chatter Pix
Failure Information
~Lauren
Why O Why Didn't I Take the Blue Pill
National School Lunch Week October 15-19
Fair Day Student/Staff Holiday
National Boss’s Day October 16
PLC CBA 4th October 16
Faculty Meeting Targeted Reading October 16
PTA Board Meeting 4:30 - 5:00 October 16
Title I Meeting 5:00 October 16
PTA Meeting - Hispanic Heritage 6:00 - 7:30 October 16
GISD HS Mariachi performance as well as K/1, 2/3 and 4/5 (All Teachers should be in attendance. If you cannot, please speak to your supervisor)
PLC CBA 5th October 17
Lucy Calkins training K - 2nd October 17
Birthday: Lisa Miller October 18
Data Conversations October 18
PLC Plan K October 18
PM: Guided Reading October 18
Lockdown Drill October 18
Data Conversations October 19
PLC Plan 1st October 19
National School Bus Safety Week October 22-26
PLC Plan 2nd October 22
PM: New Teacher Meeting October 22
Red Ribbon Week: “Life is your journey. Travel drug free” October 23-31
PLC Plan 3rd October 23
Faculty Meeting Targeted Math October 23
Field Trip - 4th to Symphony October 24
PLC Plan 4th October 24
PLC Plan 5th October 25
PM: Stemscopes and Word Work October 25
Shelter Drill October 25
Book Fair October 26 - November 2
PLC Data 1st October 26
Deadline: Pop & Post: Vocab Inst October 26
PTA Fall Festival 5:00 - 8:00 October 26
PLC Data 2nd October 29
Scary Halloween Food Luncheon October 29
CogAT Testing K, 1st and 5th October 29 - November 15
GLAD Demo Days K-2nd at Bullock October 30-November 2
Couch Hearing and Vision Screenings October 30
PreK, K, 1st and 3rd
PLC Data 3rd October 30
Faculty Meeting: Behavior: Lost at School October 30
Birthday: Morgan Carney and Patricia Mulholland October 31
PLC Data 4th October 31
Dress Like Character Day October 31