Friday November 1st, 2013

Friday is all yours, teacher workday. We're in the office if you need anything.

A big thank you to Lesa and Julie for helping to cover the office this week, with the secretary being out, as well as everybody that just jumped in to answer phones and help with other items that needed immediate attention. 

Thank you to everybody that helped provide costume pieces so every child had something for Halloween. We never have to worry about that at Harrison. We have staff with big hearts.

Last week I went through a classroom's files with Khrista to check the media forms. We found one student that was not marked in Powerschool.  I am going to go through files, classroom by classroom, on Friday. If you already have, please let me know. You might also have sent home media forms. Let me know if your classroom is all clear for media, or who individual students are that have marked no. I'll then update in Powerschool, and create a master list for the office. That will help when the district office takes pictures, the newspaper, school website, and other situations that arise.

NNU Paper is due today.

Anne has been interviewing students that applied for jobs at the Husky News.  I have to share a funny answer to one question:

Question: Why do you think that you would be a good Husky News member?
Answer: Good at eavesdropping.

Here is a great picture from lunch:

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

Last day of October, and it is Halloween!

Please remember to have Title 1 compacts signed during conferences. Those can be helpful for any discussions you have about concerns. Those go to MaryAnn after they have been signed.

Timecards for paras and tutoring teachers are due today. Come see us in the office if you need help filling them out.

I put a slide show of pictures on the front page of the school website. It can hold one thousand pictures. If you have any pictures that you would like added, just email them to me. We want to show all the great things going on at school.

Thank you for you help encouraging Box Tops. Over one thousand dollars is great! They really do add up.

Halloween Parade starts at 1:30.

                                         

Wednesday October 30th, 2013

For conferences, please remember to email me your final number at the end. For example: 28 out of 30 had a parent/ guardian attend. This is one of several parent involvement numbers we collect during the school year, and we usually are almost one hundred percent because your great persistence.

Tuesday October 29th, 2013

Please remember to meet in the library Tuesday at 8am. The capacity builder will be there ready to start on time.

Tuesday is the first day of tutoring. Thank you to those that signed up to teach.

Here are the different state tests and their testing windows from the state department website. I also added them to the right side of the blog, under reminders, as a reference:

IELA- February 18–March 31, 2014

IRI- Spring Testing Dates: April 1 - May 2, 2014: Grades K-3rd

SBAC Field Tests–Math and ELA: April 1–May 16, 2014: Grades 3rd-5th

ISAT–Science - April 1–May 16, 2014 : 5th Grade

Here is a video from a student perspective on expectations of schools. As you watch you might think of Leader in Me, Common Core, the Danielson framework for your teacher evaluation, ect...

Expectations

Monday October 28th, 2013

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Moulson
                  Garcia
                  Osborn
     PM Bus:  Kolsen
                  Warner
                  Nail
     Lounge: Dickinson

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   October 28th, 2013- Monday- RTI

   October 28th, 2013- Monday- WISE team

   October 29th, 2013- Tuesday- Staff meeting 8 am for WISE Team/capacity builder presenting

   October 30th, 2013-Wednesday- Eval Team

   October 31st, 2013- Thursday- Halloween Parade starts at 1:30.

   November 1st, 2013- Friday- NNU Reflection Paper Due

   November 1st, 2013-Friday- No Students- Teacher Work Day and End of First Quarter

It is Red Ribbon Week. A big thanks to Anne for planning that. Here is the flyer again so everybody can share with students. Great to see the Leader in Me and the Chobani food drive blended in.

Red Ribbon Week

Chobani Food Drive 

Thank you to those that have completed recess duties, as we needed Julie to help in the office with the secretary being out. The weather has been nice, and it is a great opportunity to help build positive relationships with students.

Please help remind students and families that there is no school on Friday November 1st.

Please remember to update the conference schedules in the office. That is really helpful when parents call. We then don't need to interrupt you in the middle of teaching.

Conference time is a perfect time to update contact information for the students in your classroom. Phone numbers, emergency numbers, and addresses would be great to update as you meet with families. Bring any updates to the office, or email, and we'll update in Powerschool for you.

Please also have the teacher survey ready to go for conferences. This could be in your classroom newsletter, email distribution list to families, student computers on the desktop, or on your classroom blog.

I will be in Sun Valley for Project Leadership Monday-Wednesday, back on Thursday.

                    

Friday October 25th, 2013

Here is another idea for your classroom. All you need to be able to do is take a video. You could use your phone or iPad, and the students could definitely do that as well. Paper slide videos! Here are two links with ideas:

Vimeo with Directions

Paper Slide Video Examples

Please continue to recruit new guest teachers. Thank you to Lesa for making a flier to go home. I added it as a new post to the school website.

Please make sure to tell Lowe's thank you if you notice them working outside. The landscaping is going to look so nice when they are finished. I added a couple pictures to the school website as well, so families and the community are aware of Lowe's donating time and materials.

Lowe's

Thursday October 24th, 2013

Thank you to everybody for your patience with the office. With Linda gone the rest of the week, you know how things just aren't the same when the secretary is gone.

Timely article to share with recent events in the news. Safety is always something we are working on. Here is an article that was posted today about how to talk with kids about the lockdown drills and other safety items that we practice at school:

Talking to Kids About a Lockdown

Scholastic updated their website about common core. There are items that you can share with parents, and lesson ideas that you could use in your classroom:

Scholastic and Common Core

Here is information about the annual holiday card contest:

Holiday Card Contest

I'll be at a schoolnet training/common core all day on Thursday. The office is also providing October treats. Yummy!

                                                    

Wednesday October 23rd, 2013

Please let me know if you have a student/family that could benefit from the weekly food bags, and I will call the family. We have a family that doesn't need the food bags anymore, and I know we have other students that could use the help.

Chris will be attending a Common Core training on Wednesday. I'll be at Harrison in the morning. Just email or text if you need anything. 

Here is the agenda for the staff meeting on Wednesday. We are trying to have them be more professional development, and hopefully have you leave each staff meeting excited to try new things:

·         Common Core info  (Chris)

·         Foster Children in the schools  (Mary Jo Gartner)

·         Writing Prompts, graphing tools, prereferrals  (Amy K)

·         Electonic Planner (Anne)

·         Technology needs  (Chris)

  

      Lisa made a letter for students to take home regarding the new typing program. They are able to now use the program at home. She will be sending the letters home over the next week, as she sees your student during their block time. The letters will have their individual username and password. Here is a general letter that I added to the school website:

Typing Program Home Instructions

      Thank you to those that have emailed minutes/notes from your grade level teaming meetings. I have been adding them to the documents tab. There is a page for each grade level. This is a great way to know what other grade levels are discussing and implementing in their classrooms. If I am missing some notes, please email them and I will add them.

      We celebrate risk takers trying new things! For fifth grade, Julie W. attempted to add teaming minutes. Way to go! Quick little clean up and it looks fine. If another grade level would like to try adding the new document each time for your grade level teaming notes, you can look at the fifth grade page to see what it looks like. Not too hard to do, just email me your gmail and I'll add you as a collaborator with me.

Tuesday October 22nd, 2013

Please remember that Tuesday is grade level teaming day, and that there is a staff meeting on Wednesday.

Khan Academy now has a Spanish website. This could be very helpful for families that want to assist their children at home:

Khan Academy- Spanish

This article mentions social studies, but it could be applied to any content area. We also have resource, Title 1, ESL, and specials teachers teaching common core standards. Here are five strategies to help with integrating the new standards:

5 Strategies to Infuse Common Core State Standards

Monday October 21st, 2013

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Coleman
                  Miller
                  Standley
     PM Bus:  Jacobson
                  Lancaster
                  Moore
     Lounge: Goodwin

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   October 21st, 2013, Monday- RTI

   October 21st, 2013, Monday- 2nd Grade Fire Prevention 9am

   October 23rd, 2013, Wednesday- Eval Team

   October 23rd, 2013, Wednesday- Staff Meeting

   October 24th, 2013, Thursday- Kinders to Pumpkin Patch 9 am and 1 PM

   October 24th, 2013, Thursday- K PM and 1st Smiles for Kids 2:30

Conferences are quickly approaching. We have the schedules in the office, which is a big help when parents call. Please update if a conference date/time has changed. Please also let Chris, Anne, or I know if you would like one of us to attend a conference. It doesn't have to be because of something negative. We'd also love to attend conferences where there are successes and growth to celebrate.

Please remember to communicate with specials teachers and paras who work with your students. They really love the students they work with, and they feel terrible when they didn't know that a student had individual needs. There could be limited English, fine/gross motor concerns, social/emotional needs, and other items. You can use the form under documents called 'student screening form' to help guide those discussions.

The Twin Falls Education Foundation is starting something new. They will be selecting one teacher every month, both elementary and secondary, who has gone above and beyond. I put the information on the school website about the 'Teacher of the Month' program, and the nomination form. You can also click on the following link:

Teacher of the Month Nomination

School bus safety week is October 21st-25th. Here is one resource with blacklines, but there are other ideas you can google:

School Bus Safety Week Resource

Saw this comment online: By thinking of the Common Core assessments coming in 2015 as a starting line rather than an end point, doesn't that make the Common Core feel a little more hopeful and a little less doomsday?

                                       
 

Friday October 18th, 2013

I have the website updated for the surveys that parents fill out during conferences, like we did last year. Information is gathered for domain 4 on your teacher evaluation. You can also add your survey to your newsletter, classroom blog, or email distribution list that you send to parents. Please also remember to have families fill out one additional survey on a specials teacher or the counselor. If they attend ESL, Title 1, or Resource- they could fill out that teacher survey for their second one.

Let me know if your would like help turning the long url for your teacher survey into a tiny link; which would be easier for a newsletter. We can also add a shortcut to the desktop of your classroom computers for when parents fill out during conferences.

Teacher Survey

We do have a bug with Milepost. I called and they just had a person from another district call as well. Your monitoring caseload might have students from last year, duplicates and triplicates of students, and other quirky items. They are working on a solution.

Thursday October 17th, 2013

The newspapers in education have been ordered and should be here starting Thursday or Friday.

Thank you to those who have offered to do tutoring. We have ten teachers at last count.

Please remind students about the PTA popcorn sale on Friday. Box tops are also due. 

Wednesday October 16th, 2013

The annual Scratch for Schools will be after school. Our school will be represented by Bev, Lark, and Sally. Wish them lots of good luck!

Here is a recent document from ASCD that has some myths and facts and common core standards. We're not only teaching them, but we're also educating people about the new standards.

Myths versus Facts

Tuesday October 15th, 2013

I'll be at Harrison in the afternoon on Tuesday. 

Not sure if everybody has noticed that Apple made an 'apps for teacher' area. On your iPad you can go to the app store, then click on 'more' at the top, and then choose 'education'. You will then see a banner that says 'apps for teachers.'

 Here is a brief description of the new feature:

The section is broken down into the following sub-categories:
The Basics: No surprises here as the first few featured apps are the iLife suite of apps from Apple. Also includes popular apps such as Explain Everything, Evernote, Dropbox and iTunes U.
Time Savers: This list is aimed at improving your organization, productivity and classroom management. Leading apps include OmniFocus, Showbie, GoodReader, Pocket and ClassDojo.
Get Inspired: It's difficult to understand how they defined what qualified to be included the list of apps that would inspire teachers but featured apps include Final Argument (presentation), PBS, ShowMe, Popplet and more. 
Class Projects: Another loosely defined category, this list includes Toontastic for creating cartoons (for teachers?), Haiku Deck for presentations, Subtext for reading collaboratively, Sparkvue for scientific measurements, Educreations and more. 
Reference: One of the main ways in which iPads are used is to access information and this list presents apps for educational research. It includes popular apps such as Wikipanion, The Elements, Star Walk, WolframAlpha and Khan Academy.

If you go to the app store, click on 'more' at the top, choose 'education'- you will then see a banner at the bottom that says 'apps for every grade.' You can then click on preschool/kindergarten, or elementary. It is then broken down into content areas.

Come see me if you need assistance, and I will walk you through both of those features.

There is no such thing as failure. It's just a first attempt in learning:

Monday October 14th, 2013

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Lent
                  Fullmer
                  Triner
     PM Bus:  Jensen
                  Hammond
                  Moulson
     Lounge: Jacobson

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   October 14th, 2013- Monday- RTI

   October 14th, 2013- Monday- WISE Team

   October 15th, 2013- Tuesday- Patrols Fundraiser 5-8 at Arbys

   October 16th, 2013- Wednesday- Eval Team

   October 18th, 2013- Friday- Box Tops Due

   October 18th, 2013- Friday- PTA Popcorn sale- .50 cents each

We have had questions about the common core assessments in schoolnet. There are two assessment options. There is one assessment option with Discovery Ed, and one with Schoolnet. It can be confusing. You log into Schoolnet for both types. Both directions are under the links tab for you to reference at anytime. Here are the directions for Discovery Ed and the directions for Schoolnet.

Discovery Ed Assessments

Schoolnet Assessments


Saw this picture on twitter:

Friday October 11th, 2013

Friday!

October 11th is International Day of the Girl. Including English, this year at Harrison we have 14 different languages. We have girls from here in Idaho, and from around the world. We have a great opportunity every day to help all students, boys and girls, realize that they can bring change to their local community and the world. An education can significantly change lives. 
                                  

Thursday October 10th, 2013

Here are Walk to School pictures that PTA and Anne took. They are also on the school website so you can share them with your students.

Staff Meeting October 9th, 2013

Here is the agenda for the staff meeting. I added resources for you to look at on your own time:

Staff Meeting Agenda

Wednesay October 9th, 2013

Please remember the staff meeting after school. I'll have an agenda posted online in the afternoon. I'll have a question for you to respond to from Socrative as we wait for people to arrive, so please bring your iPad.

Please remember to print class lists with emergency contact info for the specials teachers and the office. Thank you to those that have already done that.

I'll be at Harrison for a little bit in the morning, and then back for the whole afternoon.

Tuesday October 8th, 2013

For the staff meeting on Wednesday please bring your iPads.

The CenturyLink grant is available again. January 10th is the last day to apply. Here are a few comments about it:  

'Idaho teachers can apply for up to $50,000 in grants from the CenturyLink Clarke M. Williams Foundation to fund innovative technology projects. Last year, grants funded classroom technology to create time-lapsed videos in a science class, laptops and robotic sets in an elementary school, and digital cameras and other tools to help students create video textbooks, among other innovative projects. Prek-12th grade.'

CenturyLink Grant Application

Here is a first grade classroom with one idea for technology in the classroom. I love the pictures in the first article, and the video in the second article.

Article 1

Article 2

Monday October 7th, 2013

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Kolsen
                  Osborn
                  Taylor
     PM Bus:  Warner
                  Anderson
                  Coleman
     Lounge: Ardito

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

  October 7th, 2013, Monday- RTI

  October 9th, 2013, Wednesday- Eval team

  October 9th, 2013, Wednesday- Staff Meeting

                                       

Thursday October 3rd, 2013

During the teaming meetings on Tuesday, how special education and ELL addressed common core standards was asked. I had an article and a video today in my email that discussed this. Perfect timing. We all have students in our rooms that are not at grade level, or who are improving language skills.

Scholastic Administrator Article

The video is from PD 360. Some states have included universal design for learning in their NCLB waiver applications, and that is discussed in the video.

PD 360 Video

Thank you to the grade levels that have emailed their meeting minutes from the teaming meetings. I have started a page under documents for each grade level, and added the minutes that have been sent so far. First, second, and third grade were the first! You will be able to see what other grade levels have discussed so everybody is aware. We are all working together on the same WISE tool, our school improvement plan.

Anne looked at the number of write ups for September, and compared the number to last year. We are seeing nice improvements as everybody is incorporating the Leader in Me program. We saw a drop of 48.5%! Here is the chart from Anne:

September Write-Ups

Please remind your students about lunch room behavior expectations. It was a little rough on Wednesday. Big items were staying in their seats, cleaning their own messes, and manners.

We are always working on school safety. If you haven't already, please remember to print your class list. This should be by the classroom door so you can quickly and easily grab it when exiting. You can print from power teacher a class directory, 8 students per page. You can also print a class roster from your grade book, 11 students per page. It should have phone numbers and emergency contact information. Please also remember to print a copy for each of the specials teachers, as well as for the office. Amy L. and I are both happy to help you print the copies if you need any help.

Some of you are attending conferences, and some of you are enjoying the time off. Have a great 4 days!

                                         

Wednesday October 2nd, 2013

Thank you to everybody for your patience with interventions on Tuesday. We had great teaming meetings, and our capacity builder was able to attend. She was very complimentary about how positive our staff was, and how willing everybody was to try new things.

Food service isn't using the online menu website this year. It is expensive. I have been adding the monthly breakfast and lunch menus to the school website, and the lunch menu to the school app. We do send home the paper copy with students, but many prefer checking online as well. You can share that with parents if they ask.

I changed the school website to a three column layout. On the left are classroom blogs, and blogs from the specials teachers. Some have asked for ideas as they want to start their own classroom blog. You can look at the ones listed on the left side to get ideas. You can also check Perrine's school website. Their classroom and specials blogs are on the left as well. Parents like knowing what their child is learning in the classroom, where they can look to see homework and test information, where to see the classrooms rules, and other important information. Engaging families with the instructional program is big this year as we are using common core standards.

Time cards are due by 9am.

If you have a parent who says they are not able to access Powerschool, please have them contact the office. There are some little spots to check to add parent access, just takes a few seconds, and we can fix that for them.

The WISE team will be in the outside computer lab for the morning half of the day on Wednesday.

The October PTA spirit day sale has been changed to popcorn. Please let students know. We are waiting for the new cotton candy machine to arrive. It will be nice to have our own. PTA is hoping to put cotton candy on the calendar for November.