Week 8

                                              

Wear Blue Monday for Bullying Awarness

Please plan to address Bullying in your classrooms this month as it is anti-bullying awareness month.Lots of age appropriate content online and Brainpop

  Great Things From the Week!

FOSS SciecneTraining - Thank you for your professionalism. I know we are overwhelmed and trying to make it all fit. You are rock stars. I will ask Carlos to return the kits. Please email me if you have some additional items you need for Science. 

PE- Students are loving the direct PE instruction. We are still waiting on basketballs but other than that, everything should be here.


Footballs and flags
Bases, bats, rackets, tennis balls, (Kick ball or baseball)
Rackets and birdies
Volleyballs
Scoops and balls
Soccer balls

Bus evacuation drill- thank you for your patience and grace on what can be a chaotic activity.

All in Perfect Attendance Day- thank you Amy, Lori, Roe, PTA, and recruits from RCOE for helping serve 500 root beer floats!

Thank you Anne, Sanci and Roe for keeping everything going while I am offsite.

Thank you to the office staff for your positive attitude on tough days. It is imperative that we never forget we are here to serve kids. It is the responsibility of the support staff to support teachers, parents and students. Thank you to teachers for showing grace when we get overwhelmed.

Thank you Carlos for getting us through the Fire Inspection. We need to make a few corrections, if it impacts you Carlos will talk with you and create an action plan.

PMF- Thank you Shanda and Roe for attending PMF and bringing back the information. Training for those who need it is coming. (Project Moving Forward is the ELD program for TK-2)

Thank you for everyone who attended ELAC/SSC. I know your presence means a lot to the community.

Thank you 3rd grade for the lounge treats!

Thank you PTA and Nora for packing bags of food for kids. Every week we are able to send home a bag of food for the weekend for 30 students.

If you have a needy student, please let the office know. Sometimes we have extra food and we have several programs that can help get our students shoes, school supplies, and even clothes. 

Teachers

Saturday School invitations will be placed in your boxes for distribution on Monday, October 7th. Grades K - 6 are being invited this year.  You will receive a printout with the names of the students that are being invited along with the invitations. Please make sure that each of these students takes home an invitation on Monday as their parents will be receiving an autodialer message that evening advising them of the invitation. Students wishing to attend Saturday school must return a signed invitation by Thursday, October 10th. All signed invitations need to be sent to the office each day. Please let me know if you have any questions.

A quick story from my week:
This week I had a parent complain that her daughter was being bothered by a young boy. I immediately took action and talked with all of the students. In the middle of all this, the mother of the boy wanted to share that her son was also being bothered by the girl. Right away, I was dismissive and assumed the parent was deflecting the issue and trying to get out of trouble. And then I had to stop. I had to reflect. It doesn't matter what the attempt of the parent was. I had to see the student. Both students. As beautiful, intelligent, emotional humans with needs. 

It is so important that we don't jump to conclusions and make judgement. Even the most challenging student needs us, all of us to show up for them, care about them and advocate for them. Students make poor choices, we need to show them grace and forgiveness as we foster their growth and development. Our brain grows from mistakes, let's keep a growth mindset for all students, academically, behaviorally, socially and emotionally. 

This video struck me this week so I wanted to share.  As I watched this video I reflected on my judgement and behavior, towards families, and students. It left me feeling sad and raw, wondering how many times I gave someone "a look".

Instructional Rounds Communication:

Currently it appears that we will only have 2 round, instead of 3. Which means you will be out four days instead of six.

This is the first set of Instructional Rounds-

Final dates through December:

10/31 - Instructional Design - Both 

11/12 - Instructional Rounds - Harrison

11/22 - Instructional Rounds - Hawthorne 

12/16 - Principal Cohort Meeting (am or pm) - Both, Principals Only 

*I know 10/31 is not ideal, but truly it was the only day that worked...we tried hard to find an alternative but it really was the only day. Sorry for any challenges that presents to you and your classroom. 

PE:-

If you need to change your PE times due to rotations/interventions, etc. Just go to the Hub and change on Google Doc. The purpose of the document is simply to keep track of your schedule when we are tying to find you or your students. 

                                         

CLARIFICATION:

I wanted to clarify my language and my conversation about small group instruction. We will visit this conversation again at the upcoming staff meeting. 

When we are addressing every student, every day, by name and by need that means that we are getting every student want they need each day. THIS DOES NOT MEAN 1:1 everyday. It means we are looking at data and making instructional discussions as to how to get every student what they need. Academically, behaviorally, socially and emotionally. 

If we are starting with the needs of the students first, I could not possible know what 500 students need. You are the professional, I trust that you look at data and make instructional decisions that meet the needs of all students. This includes thinking about UDL (Universal Design for Learning), Best First Instruction (whole class, small group, rotations, sentence frames, student collaboration etc), monitoring for understanding, adjusting the lesson, reteach as necessary, student proximity to the teacher, intentional partnering/grouping, family communication, etc.

 Some days you may decide you need a direct instruction math lesson, and another day may be a small group rotation. You are the professionals, you need to make those decisions based on student need. 

Many of you are doing small group rotations/small group activities for ELD, intervention time, math, reading groups, etc. The goal is to maximize teacher efficiency. When students are working (at their level) what is the teacher doing? Be intentional. I know there is always paperwork, email, prepping for the next lesson, etc. But what can you do to make the biggest impact for all students every day. 

The list is designed to give you some ideas for how to support small group rotations if that is the instructional practice you chose to use. In the Instructional Guide and Danielson - there is a clear call to get students engaged in the work. Students have the ability to rise to whatever expectation you set for them, if we lower the bar, they will meet our expectation. If we raise the bar, they will meet our expectation. We have to push them, fill in their gaps so they can access core, and present engaging lessons that keep their attention. 

Instructional Guide Pages 11-18

Danielson Domain 2 and 3

Rotation/center ideas for independent activities while you work in a small group (sample, not exhaustive list):

Dreambox

Lexia

Reading Plus

Zearn

AR

Read Works (at level)

Brain Pop 

Writing 

Independent Reading (at level)

Math centers

Audio Book station

MyOn Reading

Student collaboration opportunities

Math Fluency skills (with/without timers)

Reading Fluency skills (with/without timers)

Sight word practice

Math games

Phonics games

Art projects

Research projects 

As we move closer to a student centered classroom, remember it is important for students to problem solve and Productive Struggle is good. The person in the classroom learning is the person doing the work..... 

Think about a coach, where do they stand during a game? 

The students, the kids are the ones in the game, they need to do the work, we trust that they can take our guidance and go out and dominate. We give them the plays, we require them to practice, we shout and scream at them encouraging words to keep them motivated until they believe they can do it. We want them all to give 100% so they can win!!! We believe they are talented and are capable of victory. 

The success of a coach is as good as the players they coach. WE need to cheer from the sidelines and stop carrying  the ball. 

Video Example of MTSS 

SST schedule for November

(Tentative)

Tuesday, November 5

                2:15                        Marvin Ortiz                       Voss

                2:45                        Mateo Gonzalez               Voss

Thursday, November 7

                2:15                        Aaron Garcia                      McConnell

                2:45                        Nathan Garabay               McConnell

Thursday, November 14

                2:15                        Miriam Beardemphl       Hawthorne

                2:45

Tuesday, November 19

                2:15                        Tamara Garcia                   Fortin

                2:45                        Barluku Hoff                       Egana    

October is upon us, and the pressure if mounting. Thank you for all you do. The students are so lucky to have you. Take care of yourself and others.

Upcoming Event:

THIS WEEK:

10/7- Fire Drill 8:15 am   (Due to the false alarm on Thursday this is cancelled)
10/8- SART Meetings for those who need them 2:15-3:00 pm (Roe to attend)
10/8-PTA Meeting 2:20-3:00 pm (Brown to attend)
10/8-Roe offsite after 3:00 pm
10/9-Staff Photo 2:00pm
10/9- Staff Meeting 2:05-3:15
10/10-Roe and Brown offsite after 3:00 pm
10/11- SLT all leadership plus offsite all day- Sanci, Brown offsite
10/11-Vision and Hearing Screening

10/11 and 10/14 - Roe Non-Duty Days

10/12- Saturday School 8:00-12:15 - PLEASE ADVERTISE!!! We get back a lot of money that goes right back to students. Please make sure you advertise and send home fliers. Last time we had only about 20 kids. We need 50!!!

NEXT WEEK:

10/14- Brown and Roe offsite all day (Sanci and Anne Peterson Admin Designee)
10/15-Brown offsite all day
10/15-Roe offsite until 12:00 pm
10/16-Classified Meeting 1:15-2:15
10/16- Team Meetings (45 min. following collaboration to work based on SLT)
10/17- State Wide Disaster Drill - Drop and Cover
10/17-Brown in Principal meeting after 3:00 pm


Grade 6 IAB 1 enter by 10/11
GALLUP Survey Grades 5th and 6th - Complete by November 15th. 

Happy Birthday!!

10/10 Denisse Lupercio
10/18 John Pofahl