Monday June 2nd, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Kenyon
                  Sweet
                  Webb
     PM Bus: Bloxham
                  Nail
                  Jensen
     Lounge: Mason

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   June 2nd, 2014- Monday- 5th Grade to Ice Caves 9-2

   June 2nd, 2014- Monday- 4th Grade Walking to Swimming 12:30-3:00

   June 2nd, 2014- Monday- 5th Grade Puberty Talks with Nurse 2:30-3:30

   June 3rd, 2014- Tuesday- 3rd Grade Canyon Field Trip 10-2:30

   June 3rd, 2014- Tuesday- 5th Grade Thousand Springs Swim Trip

   June 4th, 2014- Wednesday- 1st Grade Walking to Frontier Park 9-12

   June 4th, 2014- Wednesday- School Carnival After Lunch

   June 4th, 2014- Wednesday- Last day of School for Kindergarten

   June 5th, 2014- Thursday- 3rd grade walking to Frontier Field for lunch, 11:30-1:00

   June 5th, 2014- Thursday- Last day of School 1st-5th, Dismissal at 1:30
 
   June 5th, 2014- Thursday- End of Year Staff Party & Retirement for Betty Kolsen & Deb May 3:30

   June 6th, 2014- Friday- TFEA Breakfast 7 am

   June 6th, 2014- Friday- Morning is Lighthouse Team meeting and Data Day 

The last week of school is filled with several fun field trips! Please make sure someone at your grade level takes the first aid kit from the school nurse. Please try to have educational learning activities instead of movies. Students will have plenty of opportunities during summer vacation to watch movies.

Harrison is on Twitter! There is a link at the top right area of the school website, under the search box. 

Twitter

Mrs. Kenyon's class went to Frontier Park on Friday. This was such an awesome picture, and I put the picture on the homepage of school website. I recommend clicking on the picture to make it larger. Thanks Amber for the picture!

Our student tour guide leaders gave two tours of our school on Friday. The first was with Clif Bar, and the second was with our new district community relations specialist, Eva. When we walked into Mrs. Jacobson's classroom, students were engaged and practicing kindergarten skills. At the front carpet were these students learning with iPads from the CenturyLink grant. Thanks Jenni for the picture!

We had the best turnout we have ever had for our school picnic. We use several communication tools, and it was evident Friday how sucessful that was. It was a good thing Marla got extra hot dogs from O'Leary.  We had so many parents, siblings, and other family members. Thank you to everybody who jumped in to help. Here are a few pictures as the picnic was ending.

Friday May 30th, 2014

Leadership assembly as soon as school starts, school picnic at lunch, and today is the last school day in May!

Mrs. Kenyon had second grade students present PowerPoint presentations about their animal reports on Thursday. Not only were the reports great, but it was a full classroom with staff who work with each of the students. There are so many staff members who contribute to the success of each student at Harrison. We've had most of the students since they were in Kindergarten, and the growth of their speech and language skills was impressive. Habit number eight is finding your voice, and each student practiced that skill as they presented in front of adults and peers. Here are pictures:

Mrs. Kenyon's Classroom

Amber, our speech language pathologist, has provided three handouts to assist with speech and language concerns and referrals. I added them to the links tab, so you can access anytime you have a concern about a student. One resource has speech and language expectations for each grade level, including which phoneme sounds are expected for students to still be learning. The other handouts include intervention strategies for the classroom and a referral checklist; which would be very helpful for RTI.

Thursday May 29th, 2014

Our first leadership assembly is on Friday! As soon as you pick up your students outside in the morning, please bring your class directly to the gym. The assembly will be finished by 9:10. There will be leadership awards, learning the new school mission statement, and a brief review of the Leader in Me program. Attendance can be taken on your iPad, or as soon as you get back to the classroom.

Please remind students about being proactive with their garbage during the school picnic on Friday. Terry will have plenty of garbage cans outside. You might even have a couple leaders from your classroom assist with ensuring that no extra work is created for the custodians because of littering.

Please remind students that all library books are due Friday.

Wednesday May 28th, 2014

The school picnic will be occurring on Friday. This is a great activity to invite families to. Here is a post on the school website you can share with the families in your classroom, via email or other communication tools you are using.

School Picnic

Here is a post with the lunch menu for the last week of school. Thanks Marla!

Lunch Menu

Second grade recently had a math day. Students rotated through different stations. It was a final activity of content material students had been learning during the school year. Here are pictures from Mrs. Simson:

Second Grade Math Day

Tuesday May 27th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Jensen
                  Bloxham
                  Nail
     PM Bus: Webb
                  Kenyon
                  Sweet
     Lounge: Garcia

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   May 26th, 2014- Monday- No School Memorial Day

   May 27th, 2014- Tuesday- Lighthouse Team

   May 28th, 2014- Wednesday- Kindergarten Eats Lunch at School
      AM: 11:00
      PM: 12:30

   May 28th, 2014- Wednesday- Battle of the Books at the Twin Falls Library, after school

   May 29th, 2014- Thursday- Rocket Math Assembly 2:45

   May 30th, 2014- Friday- School Picnic Lunch 

I can't imagine not having the cloud. Anytime, anywhere. I use the cloud all day at work and at home. The staff blog, documents, collaborative sharing of resources, storing important forms and notes, and so much more. Instead of storing on a disk, in a file cabinet, or on a flash drive- it's all in the cloud. I love this article and video. The cloud is what our students are not only using right now, but also what they will be using in high school and college.

Growing Up In The Cloud

Here is an article about a successful student who arrived in the US as a refugee. We have students with a similar background.

Refugee Student Success

Friday May 23rd, 2014

We have been integrating more writing across content areas, and striving to help students understand how content material relates to real life. This is a picture of a note a third grade student wrote to the custodian. It includes details, descriptive information, and a picture to further explain information.

Well Terry went up on the roof to look for the ball. Maybe a ball that was flat like in the picture? Maybe a big ball? Nope. Just a ball exactly as was described in the note! Thanks Terry!

Have a great Friday! Have a great Memorial Day weekend with your friends and family!

                              

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

Thank you to everybody who helped with the retirement party. It was very nice.

This is a great reflection article to print and read later. Every student is different when it comes to discipline. Sometimes stepping back and reflecting on student needs, the environment, and or other factors can all be important when it comes to student discipline.

Student Discipline

Wednesday May 21st, 2014

The most important item today is Chris' retirement party. Students have been making decorations. Staff have been planning and preparing. It is going to be a great party!

Mrs. Osborn's class has been learning about literal and nonliteral language. This is a third grade common core reading standard. I brought Chris to Julie's classroom Tuesday afternoon, and this was the video they made for her. What a great video! Mrs. Jensen assisted with videotaping, thank you! The idioms are just perfect:

Video to Mrs. Gillette

The bookmobile will be at Harrison on Friday's during the summer, from 12-12:45. That is a perfect time. Students can eat lunch with the summer feeding, and visit the bookmobile. The first day will be June 13th. Thanks Nicole for setting that up!

When it comes to technology, we have high expectations at Harrison. Students went through the SBAC with very few problems, because Mrs. Long had been preparing them all year. They knew how to use the different application pieces, and other technical requirements. We have second and third graders with amazing typing skills as well. Students are taking those skills right back to the classroom for research projects and other assignments. Here are student samples from recent assessments students completed in computer lab. Great job Lesa!

1st Grade

2nd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

Many of us know Emery in fifth grade, from Ms. Hammond's classroom. English is not his first language. We have so many staff members that have worked with him over the last couple years. He has just taken off with learning this year. It was great to watch him during the Battle of the Books. He knew most of the answers. For just this quarter, he has 262.3 AR points, and 573.3 AR points so far for the entire school year. Wow! Please let him know how great that is if you see him.

Please also let me know if you have any other students you would like to recognize for growth this year, doesn't have to be AR, and I'll put something together for the school website.

Fifth grade, way to go being first with your grade level teaming notes! Those are on the documents tab.

Tuesday May 20th, 2014

All the dates from the 2014-2015 district calendar have been added to the staff google calendar on the staff blog, and the school/parent google calendar on the school website and school app. Even open house has been added, as staff have been asking.

There are several end of the year field trips and activities. Please remember that we need volunteer background check forms filled out, and a copy of their driver's license. We have the forms in the office, and here is an electronic form you can print out. I also added the form to the documents tab so you can access anytime.

Volunteer Form

Please remind students about Chris' retirement party on Wednesday. Here is a post from the school website if you would like to email it to the families in your classroom.

Retirement

I read this article about a U of I student and thought it would be a great item to share with your students. Math, music, perseverance, and problem solving.What a great example to share with students.

Article

Here is another great thought about listening:

Monday May 19th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Taylor
                  Triner
                  Miller
     PM Bus: Moore
                  Davis
                  Simson
     Lounge: Anderson

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   May 19th, 2014- Monday- Choir Field Trip AM- Singing at Care Centers

   May 19th, 2014- Monday- Staff Meeting & State of the District with Dr. Dobbs

   May 21st, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

   May 21st, 2014- Wednesday- 5th Grade Careers on Wheels 11:45-2:30 at EXPO center

   May 21st, 2014- Wednesday- Chris' Retirement Party 4-6

   May 22nd, 2014- Thursday- 4th Grade Boise Trip 7:15 am- 6:30 pm.

   May 22nd, 2014- Thursday- 2nd Grade Math Day in Lunchroom 9-11

   May 23rd, 2014- Friday- Kinder Graduation Pictures 9am and 1pm

   May 23rd, 2014- Friday- 2nd Grade Swimming 12:45-3:00


Please make sure Marla in the kitchen knows about any needed sack lunches for upcoming field trips.

The new district calendar for 2014-2015 has been added to the middle part of the home page on the school website.

Please notice the change for the staff meeting on Monday. Dr. Dobbs will be speaking and everybody is invited.

Please sign up to help with carnival stations. There are just a few left without somebody. 

We have about 14 languages at our school. We have field trips and other important activities occurring during the last few weeks of school. We need important fliers translated as much as possible. We do fine translating Spanish thanks to Mrs Nail. For the other languages that our students speak, we need to use the multilingual border that states the paper needs to be translated. Families can then find someone to assist with that, such as someone at the refugee center.

Here is the border in both a Word document, which you can type right on after you download into Word, and in a PDF if you want to simply print it out. I also added it to the documents tab so you can access it anytime.

Border- Word

Border- PDF

Here is an article about an elementary school that received the technology pilot grant last year. There are great ideas mentioned.

Technology

Friday May 16th, 2014

The 2 week summer enrichment forms are continuing to come in. Our instructors from CSI are busy planning STEM activities. The theme they have chosen is 'Survival of the Fittest.' Definitely will be fun!

Here are the 4th grade winners from the Battle of the Books:

Here are the 5th grade winners from the Battle of the Books:

Here are a  few more pictures from fifth grade:

Battle of the Books

Have a great Friday!
                 
                          
                             image from: delectablesugar.wordpress.com

Thursday May 15th, 2014

Here are the summer feeding fliers. They are also on the school website and schol app. If you have a classroom blog or an email distribution list, the links would be great to share with families.

Summer Feeding- English

Summer Feeding- Spanish

This is our first year having students participate in the Battle of the Books. A big thank you to our librarian Mrs. Hall, for organizing and encouraging students! Thank you also to teachers and block teachers for being flexible with schedules so students could participate in the competition on Wednesday.  Fifth grade will be having their competition today.

Here is a post with pictures from our school website:

Battle of the Books

Wednesday May 14th, 2014

This article reminded me of all the nice things our staff does behind the scenes that others do not see. Not just for each other, but also for students and families. People may not see who completed the actions, but the thoughtfulness is truly felt. What a great lesson to share with our students as well. I had to google some of the stories listed. Really inspiring:

Acts of Kindness

Here is your image for day.

Tuesday May 13th, 2014

We started walk through observations today with the instructional coach and capacity builder. We are looking for speaking and listening standards, with the depth of knowledge levels.With testing all finished, now is the perfect time of year to complete those level three and four projects.

Here is a video with audio that I did today with Elsie in Jen's class. Less than ten minutes. She was working on habit #8, finding her voice. Not too fast and not too quiet. She was awesome after a few practices. She was also working on speaking and listening standards, and writing standards with digital tools. The video can be viewed on this post from the school website, just click on the square:

Report with Audio

Monday May 12th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Enders
                  Garcia
                  Fullmer
     PM Bus: Moulson
                  Jensen
                  Standley
     Lounge: Lancaster

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   May 12th, 2014- Monday- 3rd Grade and Choir Patriotic Performance 6:30-7:30 at Canyon Ridge

   May 14th, 2010- Wednesday- Kindergarten to CSI

   May 14th, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Meeting

   May 14th, 2014- Wednesday- Staff Meeting & State of the District with Dr. Dobbs

   May 16th, 2014- Friday- PTA Kiwi Loco for $1.00 

Wednesday's staff meeting is important to attend, as Dr. Dobbs will be speaking. Everybody is invited. 

Here is a great website about technology, innovation, and other awesome classroom resources:

Tech Ninja

Please check the school calendar and school app to ensure that all the end of the year field trips are up to date.

We have four weeks of school left. That is one month of learning, as well as fun end of the year activities. This is a great time to remind students about behavior expectations, the 7 habits, and other important routines and procedures. 

Did you know that our PTA has a facebook page? Here is their link, and it is also on the top right of the school website by the search button. Here is one last pig picture from PTA. Students were still talking about the pig on Friday.

PTA Facebook

Here are two great images. The first image goes right along with our implementation of the Leader in Me this year. The fifth habit is great for remembering to seek first to understand, then to be understood. Listening deeply is important. The second image, well that just reminded me of myself. Life is short. Be willing to try new things, and be positive with a great attitude:

Friday May 9th, 2014

We had one of our best turn outs for kindergarten open house. Thank you to those that assisted with the planning and also attending.

Please make sure to let PTA know how appreciative we are of all that they have done this week. They have spent all week ensuring we have had a great Teacher Appreciation week. On Thursday they started early in the morning getting the pig and washing him, two math-a-thon assemblies, watching and caring for the pig between the assemblies, and then kindergarten open house. They are amazing!

Oh the pig. That definitely was a highlight for the day. Not the best smelling animal, but we were good friends by the end of the day. Here are pictures:

Pig Post

Have a great Friday!

Thursday May 8th, 2014

Well, the pig will be arriving in the morning. The email from PTA asking for a harness, for a 25-30 pound pig, was pretty funny. Not exactly something on my bucket list, but I know students are very excited.

Math-a-Thon Assembly times:

AM K, 1, 2, & 5- 9am
PM K, 3, & 4- 1pm

Kindergarten open house is tonight. We will start in the library at 4:30, and will end visiting the classrooms until 6:30. We have the CSI coordinator for grandparents as parents and PTA attending. Please help welcome families if you are in the building.

Kindergarten students went to Great Harvest Bread Company. Not only were they learning about bread and healthy eating, but they were also working on common core speaking and listening standards. Here is post from the school website:

Kindergarten Field Trip

Please help remind third graders about the Spring Concert performance on Monday at Canyon Ridge, starting at 6:30. The school choir will also be singing. Did you hear the choir singing during breakfast on Wednesday? It was such a great way to start the school day. Here are some pictures:

Choir at Breakfast

Wednesday May 7th, 2014

Lunch from PTA will be in the library.

Here is the most current list of summer school dates for the district. It is also on the right side of our school website under the May menus, as well as on the school app.

Summer School Dates

I want to share successes with the Spring IRI. Kindergarten had a very steep climb, from almost half of the students starting in the Fall with a 1, zero letter sounds. We now have readers! A big thank you to everybody who has worked with all students in every grade. The growth is reflective of the hard work by staff, students, and families. Here are the scores:

Kindergarten- 91% had a 3, and 6% had a 2
1st Grade- 75% had a 3, and 13% had a 2
2nd Grade- 80% had a 3, and 8% had a 2
3rd Grade-  88% had a 3, and 10% had a 2

Here is a Soul Pancake video about teachers, you! Teachers matter and what you do everyday is appreciated.

Video

Tuesday May 6th, 2014

Grade level teaming with ESL, Title 1, and Resource will be discussing Speaking and Listening standards with depth of knowledge. Khrista has a handout that we will be using for classroom visits. Testing is almost over, but we still have one month of school. This is a great time for project based learning and depth of knowledge lessons for levels three and four.

Here is a rubric for students to use when reviewing apps. This might also be great for you as you are reviewing different apps to use in the classroom with iPad's and other tablets.

Student App Review Rubric

Here is post from the school website from Jen's second grade classroom.  They have been creating PowerPoint presentations with their research projects.

Post from Second Grade

Monday May 5th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Pauley
                  Lancaster
                  Osborn
     PM Bus: Coleman
                  Nail
                  Anderson
     Lounge: Miller

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   May 5th-9th, 2014- Monday-Friday- Teacher Appreciation Week

   May 5th-9th, 2014- Monday-Friday- Kindergarten Registration Kick Off

   May 5th, 2014- Monday- RTI

   May 6th, 2014- Tuesday- Lighthouse Team Meeting 

   May 6th, 2014- Tuesday- Grade Level Teaming with Resource, Title 1, & ESL

   May 7th, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

   May 7th, 2014- Wednesday- PTA providing Teacher Lunch from Cafe Rio

   May 8th, 2014- Thursday- Math-a-Thon Assembly
     AM K, 1, 2, & 5- 9am
     PM K, 3, & 4- 1pm

   May 8th, 2014- Thursday- Fall Kinder Open House 4:30-6:30

   May 9th, 2014- Friday- PTA Meeting 11:45 & School Lunch Provided

It is going to be very busy in the office this week due to Fall 2014 kindergarten registration. Please be patient with the office. We also have a short skills test to help balance classrooms, so please avoid sending students to the tables by the front office. 

If you walk by the office and Linda is busy with a family, please help pick up the phone if it is ringing. As your classes walk by the office, you might have your classroom greeter leader welcome any new families registering. One day they will be greeting people when they interview for college or jobs, or when they work with customers at future careers. Practicing now is part of developing leadership skills.

Kindergarten students starting this Fall will graduate from high school in 2027. What might education and learning look like in 2030, and what might job requirements entail for future careers? We do know students need to be learners, and to possess skills that can be used with any career. They need to be critical thinkers, have communication skills, and collaboration skills. Here is an article about the possibilities for what 2030 might look like for kindergarten students starting this Fall:

Education in 2030

Linda has a green team with student leaders helping to beautify the outside of the school. A big thank you to our custodians! Steve and Terry assisted students with planting new flowers, and were teaching them gardening skills. Here are a few pictures:

Who knew that intense passion would come from staff in regards to how a word is spelled?! It was quite funny to listen to the evidence, supporting reasons, and even shirts! Then google came to the rescue. Even PTA came out of the lunchroom to join in on the conversation. This picture just has a few people, but there were several more involved in the synergizing moment of determining how to spell huskies:

Sometimes teacher appreciation week is thought of as just for teachers. In reality, every person at Harrison is a teacher. We have such an awesome staff that goes above and beyond as they put students first, and we are so lucky to have a school team that demonstrates that every day. From our custodians, to kitchen staff, to para-professionals, and our support staff. Every person is lighting a fire of learning in our students:

Friday May 2nd, 2014

Innovation is a word we often hear about in education, and it isn't necessarily technology. Innovation is mindset, and being more effective and efficient. Here is an article about innovation:

Innovation

I love this quote. It illustrates exactly how our year has been at Harrison, our vision of empowering others to be leaders. We have been developing leaders in both our students and staff. We are definitely creating future leaders: