Curriculum Connections
8.19.16 Notes from Ms. Welch, CST
Congrats! You made it to another Friday!
Upcoming Dates:
8.22 - School Governance Council Meeting
8.22 - STAR testing window opens
8.22 - Hospitality Meeting 2:45pm Collab Room
8.23 - PLC Meetings
8.24 - Hearing and Vision Testing
8.24 - PKES & TKES Meeting 2:45 and 3:00 Media Center
8.25 - RTI Training K, 1, 2, 3 planning
8.26 - RTI Training 4 planning
8.29 - RTI Training 5 planning
8.29 - New Teacher Check In 3-3:30 Collab Room
8.30 -PLC Meetings
8.31 - Picture Day
8.31 - Curriculum Night
Tech and Training Committe?
Are you interested in serving on the Tech & Training (Professional Development) Committe? We would meet each month (or as needed) to come up with a plan to meet our staff's professional development needs in an out of the box, personalized way. If you are interested in serving on the committe, please notify me! A survey will come out soon to find out your interests and/or professional needs for this year.
Pics this Week
French Toast!
Yummy French Toast for bfast in the cafe!
Photo Bomb!
Crazy fun at Back to School Bash!
Save Fred!
Saving Fred in Ms. Smith's Science Class
Curriculum Night Resources
Here is a Pinterest board with some ideas to help you plan for Curriculum Night.
Words Their Way Resource Folder
Includes manual and instructions for spelling inventory, schedules, and other items that may be of use.
Writing Workshop & Assessments
Have you administered the "on-demand" preassessment? These assessments are found in the "Writing Pathways" book in your Lucy Calkins writing kit. The rubrics to grade this on-demand can be found on the CD that came with the units. This assessment will help you get a data baseline for your students writing ability and help guide your instruction/personalized writing goals.
Here is a refresher about the structure of Writing Workshop:
Mini Lesson - no more than 10 minutes
-Meet as a group
-Teacher focused
-Components include:
Connection - "Connect the skill"
Teaching Point - "Today I want to Teach You"
Teach - "Watch Me"
Active Engagement - "Now its your turn"
Link - "Today & Everyday remember..."
Mid Workshop - 30-40 minutes
-Conferencing
-Small groups
-independent writing
-point out great things (mid workshop teaching point)
Wrap Up/Closing - 5-10 minutes
-Share time
-Every kid shares every day (not necessarily individually but with partners or in groups)
Here is a refresher about the structure of Writing Workshop:
Mini Lesson - no more than 10 minutes
-Meet as a group
-Teacher focused
-Components include:
Connection - "Connect the skill"
Teaching Point - "Today I want to Teach You"
Teach - "Watch Me"
Active Engagement - "Now its your turn"
Link - "Today & Everyday remember..."
Mid Workshop - 30-40 minutes
-Conferencing
-Small groups
-independent writing
-point out great things (mid workshop teaching point)
Wrap Up/Closing - 5-10 minutes
-Share time
-Every kid shares every day (not necessarily individually but with partners or in groups)
Two Writing Teachers Blog - Worth a Look
Here is an amazing blog from Two Writing Teachers. This article supports the idea of using a pen during writing workshop and outlines the advantages to having an eraser free workshop zone.
Be the kind of teacher who inspires every kid to whisper "I got this!"
I love this moment. This reminded me of just how important it is to create a safe and supportive environment for students to take healthy risks. Explicitly teaching this kind of positive self-talk is really powerful!
Laurie Hernández: "I got this"