Monday January 5th, 2015

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Osborn
                  Terrell
                  Goodwin
     PM Bus: Kenyon
                  Moore
                  Hammond
     Lounge: Simson

Meetings/Reminders for the week:


   January 5th, 2015-Monday- School Resumes

   January 5th, 2015- Monday- Hot Cocoa Bar in Staff Room!

   January 6th, 2015- Tuesday- RTI

   January 7th, 2015- Wednesday- Eval Team

   January 8th, 2015- Thursday- Science Day


On Monday we will have hot cocoa, with different toppings, in the staff room during morning recess. Feel free to bring any goodies left over from the holidays. 

Thursday is our annual Science Day. All students go to the gym during their block time, and they rotate through different stations. Here is a flyer with more information from Mrs. Mason:

Science Day

We had great classroom parties! A big thank you to all the parents and family members that assisted. Here are a few pictures:

Class Parties

Have a great Christmas with your friends and family!


                                

Friday December 19th, 2014

One of the best things at Harrison would be the Christmas gifts from students. We always have gifts that truly are from the heart. Our students may not always have extra money to buy something for their teachers and special staff members, but they want to give something. We had a young man on Thursday who picked out the very best rocks on the way to school. He then gave them to different teachers as Christmas gifts. He was so proud of his gifts. He wanted to give something to people he really cared about. During the holiday season, remember the rock and the true reason for the season:

Last year we collected about 1200 items for our food drive. This year was 2,352 items! Wow!

Thursday we had the Principal's lunch with November student leaders. I wish you could have seen the smile on one of the kindergarten students. He is in the afternoon class and came a little earlier to school so he could participate. I'm not sure his smile could get any bigger. A big thank you to Chick-fil-A for the student lunches! The lunch also gave students an opportunity to provide input to what is working well at school, suggestions for changes, and new ideas:

Thursday was a busy day with Christmas items. We have class parties on Friday for fourth and fifth grade classrooms. Sometimes the two weeks off of school can be hard for kids. We always make sure to have plenty of special Christmas items at school. Please continue to send any pictures you would like to share.

We had Doug Maughan from CSI reading to classrooms, and he was engaging!

We had Santa visit! Here are third grade students:

We had Christmas parties! A big thank you to all the parents:

We had Christmas caroling from kindergarten students:

We had a special show for parents at the preschool, from Mrs. Gibbons' classroom:

Even with all the holiday activities, we still had students learning. During lunch I saw Mrs. Vandenbosch in the library helping a student with reading. We have persistent staff who ensure students are reaching their fullest potential:

Thursday December 18th, 2014

Most classrooms are having their Christmas parties today.

Thank you to those who have had students write thank you cards to our sponsor for the Leader in Me grant. If there are any more, please let Anne know so we can mail them. We would also love to have a few from staff. We have seen transformational changes in our students and building this year. I wanted to share two I saw from students. They have been thoughtful and honest, from the voice of a student:

During Idaho Leads on Wednesday, a thought was shared that is important to remember: students are the potential, not the problem.  We also had one student attend! One of the big topics was student voice, and this fits perfectly with our school. This young lady participated in activities with BSU students, and gave her input about learning in the classroom:

Wednesday December 17th, 2014

Christmas lunch! Patience is important, as we usually have several parents and family members.

This is a great article about important social skills for children.

4 Important Social Skills

We had three students compete in a U of I robotics tournament. They beat middle school students, and placed second. Wow! Here is a post from the school website with a picture:

Robotics

Our students love to step up and lead. We had two second grade students assisting with seating kindergarten students during lunch on Tuesday, and they did a great job! Here is a post from the school website with pictures:

Lunch Leaders

We will have the instructional coach leading a google class during the second half of the school year. Until that starts, please feel free to check in with upper grade teachers. We have students learning how to use google drive, sharing documents, gmail, and digital citizenship. You might even set up a time to drop in and observe. Fifth grade students are currently typing opinion papers in their drive:

Tuesday December 16th, 2014

This is an awesome story about special needs children gaining independence:

New Freedom

Here is a thought for today:

Monday December 15th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Standley
                  Coleman
                  Warner
     PM Bus: Enders
                  Garcia
                  Nail
     Lounge: Miller

Meetings/Reminders for the week:


December 15th, 2014- Tuesday- RTI

December 16th, 2014- Tuesday- Grade Level Teaming 1st-5th

December 17th, 2014- Wednesday- Idaho Leads- Melissa and Steve gone

December 17th, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

December 17th, 2014- Wednesday- Christmas Lunch- $4.15 for adults, 11:30-12:10

December 18th, 2014- Thursday- Last Day Food Drive

December 18th, 2014- Thursday- Kindergarten Grade Level Teaming

December 18th, 2014- Thursday-  Principal's Lunch and Student Lighthouse Team 11:30

December 18th, 2014- Thursday- Christmas Parties

December 19th, 2014- Friday- Early Out 1:30 and No Kindergarten

December 20th- January 4th, 2015- Christmas Break

Future:

January 5th, 2015-Monday- School Resumes

January 5th, 2015- Monday- Hot Cocoa Bar in Staff Room!



Please remind families about Christmas lunch on Wednesday.

Friday was stomp out bullying day. I saw several boots! Here is a post with a few pictures from Mrs. Goodwin's classroom:

Stomp Out Bullying 

The principal's lunch on Thursday is for the grade level student leaders from November. We will have Chik-fil-A lunch. We will also be having a student lighthouse team, like a student council. These students will be able to use their voice to help plan upcoming activities at school, share successes and ideas for improvement, and anything else they want to talk about. We will meet in the library. 

I walked by the library on Friday with our Leader in Me coach, and saw the three and four year old preschoolers checking out library books. Love it! Students are able to check out more than one book, and read with their family. We will be placing the final order with the library grant money soon. Please let Agnes know if you have book ideas. The grant money has allowed us to purchase non-fiction books for the lower grades, more books reflective of diversity, hard board books, books about careers, and the more popular fiction books. 

 Here is the mission statement from Mrs. Goodwin's PM classroom: 

Here is a picture from Ms. Warner's classroom. In fifth grade students are nominating student leaders every month, and applying for classroom leadership jobs:

Friday December 12th, 2014

Our coach and consultant for today is Jennibelle. Anne and I were with her in Utah on Thursday, and she is very excited to spend the day at our school on Friday. Here is a brief background about her:

Leader in Me Coach and Consultant

Here is a handout from the Thursday principal coaching training. We will spend the two staff meetings in January learning about paradigm shifts and student leadership roles. This handout will give you a brief overview of what we will be learning. The nice piece is that most of the items mentioned are items that we are already doing at our school. This is a helpful reflection piece:

Shifts

We have a few students who have applied to be service leaders. Do you have a task that could be completed by a student? Something that involves assisting other students, assisting peers with leadership notebooks, or even something like stapling or cutting that would give you ten-fifteen minutes to use for something else? Let me know if you have ideas.

One job for students to apply for is kindergarten leader. This is a very popular job with several applicants. They take their job seriously! They love assisting students with learning letter names and letter sounds:

Thursday December 11th, 2014

Please remind students about the stomp out bullying day for Friday. Students can wear their favorite boots!

The PTA food sale on Friday has been changed to both cotton candy and popcorn, same price.

With our Leader in Me program, every classroom has their own mission statement. Here is Mrs. Owens' classroom mission statement:

We had our first advisory board meeting for the 21st century grant. We have exciting activities coming up! We had U of I, CSI. 4H, United Way, and others attend. Thank you to Ms. Warner and Mrs. Terrell for attending. Ideas discussed included plants, the greenhouse, chicks, cooking, and other fun activities.

Wednesday December 10th, 2014

Staff Meeting after school in the library. Please remember to bring items for the gallery walk. 

I think we can all relate to this article. I can't be the only one who reaches for the remote, and then realizes I am trying to change the channel with my cell phone. You all matter. Some days are harder and more exhausting than others. I can't even express how often I see people giving 110% instead of giving up.  I'm always amazed at how dedicated the staff is in our building, and all that they do for our students:

Teachers Matter

All of our students K-5 are participating in Hour of Code. Here are two pictures:

Tuesday December 9th, 2014

This quick read is a good reminder to keep innovating:

Stay Motivated

Thank you to everybody who attended the Christmas Concert, and who helped students prepare over the last month. We had a little pickle with the stage not being ready, but some awesome dads jumped right on stage and helped set up the risers. Thank you Marsha for a great concert! Here is a link to a post on the school website with a few pictures and one short video of students singing:

Christmas Concert

This young lady in third grade had a birthday party, and she asked friends to bring canned food items instead of gifts. Wow! 17 cans were collected. She was definitely caught being a super husky! Using her voice to help others:

We had a few teachers attend the app training at Perrine Monday afternoon. They would be a great resource:

I was in a kindergarten classroom, and students were cutting several pieces of paper for a writing project. I then heard a table say they needed to eat more vegetables! Who knew vegetables would help improve your cutting skills:

Here are pictures from Mrs. Lent's classroom. Nothing better than the faces of first time readers in first grade!

Monday December 8th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Triner
                  Lent
                  Lancaster
     PM Bus: Pauley
                  Moulson
                  Garcia
     Lounge: Fullmer

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   December 8th, 2014- Monday- Choir Concert 6-7:30 at Canyon Ridge

   December 9th, 2014- Tuesday- Melissa Gone- Student Records and Privacy Legal Class

   December 9th, 2014- Tuesday- RTI

   December 9th, 2014- Tuesday- 21st CCLC Grant Advisory Board Meeting 7pm in Library

   December 10th, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

   December 10th, 2014- Wednesday- Staff Meeting

   December 11th, 2014- Thursday- Melissa & Anne Gone- Regional Principal Coaching in Utah for
   Leader in Me Grant

   December 12th, 2014- Friday- PTA Popcorn .50 ¢

   December 12th, 2014- Friday- Stomp Out Bullying Day! Wear your favorite rain boots, or
   cowboy/cowgirl boots, sparkly boots, snow boots, or any other kind of boots!

   December 12th, 2014- Friday- Leader In Me Consultant in Building, from Leader in Me Grant

There are two weeks left in December, and they are very full weeks. Students will be watching plenty of movies, and playing plenty of video games, over the break. Please continue to maintain a focus on learning.

Here is a great project from Mrs. Jacobson. Kindergarten students added voice to their turkeys,  speaking and listening standards!

Turkeys

Here is the agenda for the Friday Leader in Me all day training with the consultant. There is time built into the schedule for all staff, certified and classified. If you are not a grade level teacher, feel free to attend where ever it fits best in your schedule.

Consultant Training Schedule

Please remind students about the stomp out bullying day on Friday. Students can wear any type of boots.

This week is Hour of Code! All students kindergarten-fifth grade will be participating in coding when they go to their computer class with Mrs. Sorensen. She has already been working with some students, and they love the coding lessons.

Hour of Code

The staff meeting on Wednesday will start with Dr. Eller from ISU sharing information about student placements. We will then have an opportunity for you to show off all the great things you are doing in your classroom. As we've talked, look at domain 4 from your teacher evaluation form. That domain often has the behind the scenes items that are often not seen. You can also share from other domains. Each grade level, and certified block teachers, will have a table to display items. We will have a gallery walk to share, learn, and collaborate with each other.

Domain 4:

Professional Responsibilities

a. Reflecting on Teaching

b. Maintaining Accurate Records

c. Communicating with Families

d. Contributing to the School and District

e. Growing and Developing Professionally

f. Showing Professionalism

We've been talking about digital citizenship. Here is a link with several resources. If you use a technology device with students, digital citizenship should be a seamless piece integrated with instruction regularly:

Digital Citizenship

Friday December 5th, 2014

Please help remind students about the Christmas concert at Canyon Ridge on Monday.

Second grade students in Mrs. Simson's room were editing the animal writing papers of their peers. It was a great lesson that integrated science, reading, and language arts. I was impressed with the seriousness of the editing. Students were having collaborative conversations, asking for clarification, and even pointing out sloppy handwriting that looked better than mine. We have writers!

Here is Mrs. Standley's third grade students using the chromebooks. They were extending a math lesson with additional practice online:

Thursday December 4th, 2014

Please remember the technology meeting after school. Please have at least one person from each grade level at the meeting, but everybody is invited.

Here is the family note going home this week. Copies will be made for your classroom:

December 5th Letter

Wednesday night our school had a great representative at Canyon Ridge. It was the district strategic planning meeting, and we had a young lady from fourth grade participating. Student voice at the elementary level is sometimes forgotten, but she represented very well. She was contributing to discussions, providing ideas, and very professional. When the meeting was over, she walked right up to the facilitator and said thank you:

 

Music to my ears is this young man from third grade walking into my office asking for assistance with gmail. He had a chromebook with a document in his drive, and he wanted to email his writing paper to Mrs. Sweet. We had a quick tutorial on how to share a document and how to type an email. When a student asks for this request, everything else is set aside:

This is great example of blended learning, Title 1, school improvement money, 21st century skills, and more. He had worked at home typing the paper, and at school, and used his google drive for the writing assignment. He even added a great background to his gmail to personalize:

Wednesday December 3rd, 2014

The once a month meetings with resource, Title 1, esl, and the instructional coach are so valuable in our pursuit of increasing student achievement. We are limited at times due to older computers and programs like Imagine Learning not being able to work. During the teaming meeting on Tuesday, teachers all sorted through the data and plugged students into interventions wherever their need could be met. It was impressive to watch and listen to teachers collaborating, and offering classrooms and computers to meet the needs of all students. Always an awesome staff!

During third grade teaming, I looked over and heard Mrs. Taylor sharing data from Milepost using her iPad. Great job modeling for the team!

A big thank you to Mr. Matlock for assembling the new carts for the chromebooks! They are all ready to use. Please remember to use the online calendar to sign up, so we can continue to increase integration with instruction.

Here are two pictures from the after school program. Synergy in action! Students worked on team building skills as they made a paper wheel, and rolled the wheel with themselves in it. You could hear the laughing all over the school. Fun!

Tuesday December 2nd, 2014

Talent show try-outs are Wednesday-Thursday after school. Please remind students that they do need to have a plan of how they are going to get home afterwards.

Several great little nuggets in this post about leadership and being thankful. One great one is 'real leaders love the success of others.' That could apply to both staff and students. This goes well with the current holiday season too:

Leadership and Thankfulness

Two teachers received iPad grants! Here are Ms. Porter and Mrs. Lent with their new classroom tools: