Wednesday February 1st, 2017

Please remember that Dr. Dobbs will be speaking to our staff on Thursday. We'll start at 7:40 am in the library.

Please help remind students and families about the Friday fun activity that involves wearing clothing from a favorite sports team, and about the candy sale with student leaders.

This quote could be about any staff member, especially when jumping in to assist when a teacher is needed for an immediate need. The last sentence is really common at Harrison, meeting individual needs and teaching at the same time. Anybody who works in education has to have flexibility and creativity, often at an immediate moment. School staff members are amazing:

Tuesday January 31st, 2017

The best part about ending a month, is recognizing our colleagues. We had several nominations and very kind words. It was hard to narrow the list, so some categories had more than one person:

January Staff Oscars

We also recognized our January student leaders on Monday, and they give so much hope. Our kids are so accepting of others, but we have dealt with occasions of the outside entering our school. It's reflective of what we are seeing in the news. Sometimes students say things that they really don't understand how hurtful the words or comments are. We just keep on the positive and proactive side, as we encourage and celebrate the strengths that every student has. Every student and staff member matters:

Monday January 30th, 2017

Duties for the week: 
     
     AM Bus: Kenyon
                 Lancaster
                 Schroeder
     PM Bus: Enders
                 Rodriguez
                 Bender
     Staff Room: Music/STEM/PE
 
 
  Meetings/Reminders for the week: 


   January 30th, 2017- Monday- 4th Grade Teaming
 
   January 30th, 2017- Monday- January Principal's lunch with leaders of the month
 
   January 30th, 2017- Monday- Eval Team

   January 31st, 2017- Tuesday- Intervention Meeting

   January 31st, 2017- Tuesday- 2nd Grade Art lunch in library

   February 1st, 2017- Wednesday- Student Lighthouse team- 7:40 am

   February 1st, 2017- Wednesday- 5th Grade Arts on Tour at CSI- Afternoon and Walking

   February 2nd, 2017- Thursday- State of the District with Dr. Dobbs- 7:40 am in Library

   February 2nd, 2017- Thursday- Staff Lighthouse/BLT- Leadership Day check in- 3:30 pm

   February 3rd, 2017- Friday- Friday Fun is to dress like your favorite sports team

   February 3rd, 2017- Friday- Air Heads sale with student leaders- 50 cents each
                                       

Habit of the week/Classroom leading morning announcements:
 
  Alexander- Habit 6: Synergize


The snow pictures with friends will make you smile. We also had the STEM assembly, the Spring Musical try outs, and learning throughout the building. Here are pictures from this last week:

Pictures This Week


Here is a short weekly note to share with families:

Weekly Note and Schedule for Families


Panda Express is our main funding for Leader in Me. Here is a link from them for the start of the Chinese New Year:

Chinese New Year


Thought to start the week:

Friday January 27th, 2017

This is a nice positive story as we end the week. There are pictures of Girl Scouts reading to homeless animals:

National Reading Day with Animals

Have a great weekend.What would we do without our friends:

Thursday January 26th, 2017

Grade level teaming continues today: K, 3, and 4.

This is a great post with a few tips for how to be more active at work. Who knew that only having one or two printers working in the building would be a good thing. Thinking positive, it creates more opportunities for exercise, when you have to walk farther to a printer. Collaborative work spaces, walk and talk, and more:

Being Active at Work

Every classroom has students who wiggle and students who struggle with focusing. The only tips mentioned in the following post that we haven't tried are numbers 13-15, due to cost. There might be an idea that catches your eye:

17 Ways to Help Students With ADHD Concentrate

With it being kindness week, this image would be great to share and discuss with students this week:

Wednesday January 25th, 2017

We have a staff meeting after school in the library. Our goal is to start by 3:25. We will be hearing from our school academic team, culture team, and leadership team.

We have grade level teaming over the next few days, due to the snow day.

A big thank you to our custodians for shoveling snow, many times, in conditions that have been less than desirable. Many hours have been put in, and it is greatly appreciated. Please thank them when you have a minute.

A big thank you to Mrs. Sweet and Mrs. Terrell for their help with Winter assessments. We have great growth to celebrate.

This thought for the day is a great reminder. Kids are smart. They know if you care. Time spent knowing our students is dividends earned later, such as more time for learning:

Tuesday January 24th, 2017

We have grade level teaming today.

I wish you could have seen the classroom being used after school on Monday for play tryouts, the Spring musical. It was packed, and with family members supporting. Every time we have a different type of activity, we bring out more families and student talent. There were even several Kindergarten students. There will be tryouts again Tuesday after school for anybody that didn't make it on Monday.

Here are a few videos about kindness. There might be one that fits for your classroom or group of students:

Kindness Videos

Students really are listening. Kind words matter:

Monday January 23rd, 2017

Duties for the week: 
     
     AM Bus: Porter
                 Hammond
                 Garcia
     PM Bus: Sorensen
                 PE/Music/STEM
                 Nail
     Staff Room: Nail
 
 
  Meetings/Reminders for the week: 


   January 23rd-27th, 2017- Monday-Friday- Great Kindness Challenge

   January 23rd-24th, 2017- Monday- Tuesday- Leader in Me Training 
 
   January 23rd, 2017- Monday- Discovery Center of Idaho Assembly from Grant: 9:15 am

   January 23rd, 2017- Monday- Eval Team

   January 24th, 2017- Tuesday- Intervention Meeting

   January 24th, 2017- Tuesday- Grade Level Teaming 1st-5th

   January 24th, 2017- Tuesday- 3rd Grade Art lunch in library

   January 25th, 2017- Wednesday- Staff Meeting

   January 26th, 2017- Thursday- Grade Level Teaming for Kindergarten



All is the Great Kindness Challenge, which is the opposite of bullying and unkind behavior:

Great Kindness Challenge
                                       

Habit of the week/Classroom leading morning announcements:
 
  Garcia- Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood


Monday starts with the Discovery Center of Idaho assembly. This is from a grant, so it is free. Everybody pre/k-5th is invited. This is a great opportunity for students.

We will have Leader in Me training Monday and Tuesday, with several people from our local community attending. Please help them feel welcome. This will be in room #17.

The staff meeting on Wednesday is all about Leader in Me. Each of the school task groups will be sharing. This includes leadership, academics, and culture.

This is the post on our school website from pictures this last week. You have to love the young man from second grade who just popped out of his seat to check on his friend, to make sure he understood the math lesson. This would be great to share with students:

Pictures This Week

This post is all about school culture and Leader in Me. Leadership is for everybody, students and staff:

School Culture

We love volunteers and family involvement, including our community members and organizations who provide great opportunities for our students. Valentine's Day parties will be here soon. Please help remind people about completing a volunteer background form. This is our current message on the reader board outside, and you could share this with families:

As part of family involvement, frequent communication is important. Here are a few tips:

10 Messages to Send to Families

This is a great thought for the week:

Friday January 20th, 2017

As we end the week, remember to love yourself. Be yourself and stay positive:

Great Advice

Next week is the Great Kindness Challenge. This is a great week to spread kindness.

Please help remind students about the Musical try outs and choir starting again next week.

Have a great weekend:

source: @sarahdateechur

Thursday January 19th, 2017

Thank you to everybody for patience on Wednesday with the office, and jumping in to help wherever you saw a need. We have a great staff!

Here is the Leadership Day flyer you can share with people in the community. Students and staff are super excited:

Leadership Day 2017


Look for those that help provide the spark:

Wednesday January 18th, 2017

We have a building leadership team/staff lighthouse team meeting after school in room 16. The main topic is leadership day. If you have updates on the area you are assisting with students, please let a rep know so they can share at the meeting.

A big thank you to Mrs. Kenyon for leading the spelling bee! We had 5 awesome grade level winners competing, and any of them would have been great examples to represent our school in a few weeks at Roper. They all did a great job at our school spelling bee. Our top two winners were from second grade and fourth grade.

This is a great thought for the day. We need all of our students to feel that they belong and that they matter. Every student contributes to the global education piece we talk about often, and the global piece we strive to include with learning. The world isn't going to be less global in the future, but in fact more global. The differences our students bring to the table, is a great positive and asset that adds to learning every day. This fits very well with Leader in Me, student voice, student driven learning, and more:

Tuesday January 17th, 2017

The school spelling bee is after school in the library. We will start between 3:30-3:45. Everybody is welcome to attend.

This post fits for all students. It's important to teach important background information, such as with videos and visuals, and providing multiple ways to demonstrate understanding of content information. This fits very well with our teaming last week with Mrs. Buschhorn:

Engaging English Language Learners

Mr. Fullmer received a Target field trip grant. This will go towards the Boise field trip:

Target Field Trip Grant

Mindsets and paradigms can completely change situations. From the culture and climate in a classroom and school, to how behavior is handled, to the learning and growth of staff and students, and more:

Monday January 16th, 2017

Duties for the week: 
     
     AM Bus: Terrell
                 Lindquist
                 Bender
     PM Bus: Alexander
                 Wolden
                 Rice
     Staff Room: Sweet
 
 
  Meetings/Reminders for the week: 


   January 16th-19th, 2017- Monday-Thursday- Pizza Pie Cafe fundraiser, lunch or dinner

   January 16th, 2017- Monday- Student lighthouse interviews 

   January 16th, 2017- Monday- Eval Team

   January 17th, 2017- Tuesday- Intervention Meeting

   January 17th-19th, 2017- Tuesday-Thursday-Delta Dental Free sealants continues, 1st & 2nd
                                                                  - on the stage

   January 17th, 2017- Tuesday- 4th Grade Art lunch in library

   January 17th, 2017- Tuesday- All School Spelling Bee 3:30 in Library

   January 18th, 2017- Wednesday- Staff Lighthouse/BLT Meeting 3:25 


Next week January 23rd-January 27th: : Great Kindness Challenge
                                       

Habit of the week/Classroom leading morning announcements:
 
  Anderson- Habit 4: Think win win


Monday-Thursday is our Pizza Pie Cafe fundraiser. Students were given cards on Friday to take home. If you are interested, please check with the office for a card. A portion of the meal cost goes to Harrison.

Tuesday after school will be the school spelling bee. If you are able to attend and support students, that would be great. If you want to see a success story, the fourth grade winner is a student who is a refugee, Burmese.

This is a great article from Mr. Brulotte. It reminds me of a situation Mrs. Reichel shared on Friday. We moved the special ed buses to the preschool and front of the school because of the water in the back. On Friday, there were students being dropped off in front of the school for Ms. Shea's classroom, and there were crossing guard students welcoming the little ones for the day, spreading kindness and smiles as they made those little ones feel pretty special:

STEM and Special Needs

We take a STEAM approach to learning. As part of the arts, we will be having a school wide play/musical in May. A big thank you to Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Schroeder for leading this, and for those who have jumped in to help lead different areas, like the set and background with Mrs. Kelly. More information and try-out information will be coming this week. Please talk with students and encourage them to participate. We have many areas for students to be involved, in addition to the individual parts, like with the background set and costumes. Here is the play, and a big thank you to Starr Corporation for covering the cost. Friendship and diversity:

We Are Monsters

Here are a few pictures from this past week:

Pictures This Week


Here is the weekly schedule and a few notes for families. Please email and share:

Weekly Schedule and Notes for Families


We had a great learning opportunity with Mrs Buschhorn on Friday. It's a school wide team effort to assist our second language learners. This was during grade level teaming and optional for classified, but you wouldn't know that if you saw the first grade teaming time. A big thank you to our Title 1 and ESL paras for attending:

Thought to start the week:

Friday January 13th, 2017

We have grade level teaming today with Mrs. Buschhorn. Student leaders are selling smelly pencil erasers, and it's a Friday fun day to dress up like a favorite character from a book.

We were able to surprise Ms. Shea on Thursday with a grant that she received. The grant will purchase an app to assist with non-verbal children finding their voice. Here is the post on our school website, and the app that was funded for two devices:

Grant Funded

Proloquo2Go App

Have a great Friday. All staff:

Thursday January 12th, 2017

Please share the updated lunch menu from Mrs. Marona with families. Lunch today is spaghetti.

This article fits with our staff meeting on Wednesday. Empathy is an important social-emotional skill, especially when working with diverse backgrounds. We're all practicing this daily with our students, like sharing in the success of a peer who met a goal. Understanding different perspectives, and sharing similar emotions:

4 Strategies for Teaching Empathy

Collaboration and synergy are important, and we model that everyday for students. This includes all staff, not just teachers:

Wednesday January 11th, 2017

We have a staff meeting after school in the library, and the goal is to start at 3:25.

Please help remind students and families about the Friday fun day and the smelly erasers that student leaders are selling on Friday.

This article expresses the importance of positive teacher/staff relationships with students. The article mentions a study where children had no intervention, or one on one time with an adult, or an intervention more specific and referred to as banking time. Even just a few minutes matters. We need all of our students to have at least one adult that they have built equity with.  Here is a great quote mentioned:

“When you ‘bank time’ with a child and that relationship, you’re building equity,” Bridget says. “Then if a conflict arises, you can make a withdrawal.”

Child Teacher Interactions


We all are part of telling the story at our school. There are always trials learned, but there is much to celebrate. From pictures, to positive chats in the halls and bus lines, and communication sent home:

Tuesday January 10th, 2017

We had students showing up on Monday with their families, eager to have routine again. I think most staff would agree with that feeling. We will be having the hot cocoa bar in the staff room during morning recess.

This is a great article with tips for anybody who works with students at a school, not just teachers. Standing at your door, loving the hardest who need it the most, and more tips:

Advice for a Younger Me

Here is an article on recent refugees:

Living in America 101

Here is another great article for the start of a new year. The ideas listed are to help prepare for a successful day:

8 Things Successful People Do Every Night

We have a Box Tops note going home this week, with updated dates on the back:

Upcoming Dates

Here is a great reminder for today. We need every kid, every staff member, to know that they matter. The world might look at backgrounds, where someone is born, income, any other dividing items. Inside our school we see people who all have importance:

Monday January 9th, 2017

Duties for the week: 
     
     AM Bus: Hammond
                 Garcia
                 Nail
     PM Bus: Moore
                 Anderson
                 Kenyon
     Staff Room: Kenyon
 
 
  Meetings/Reminders for the week: 


   January 9th, 2017- Monday- Staff Hot Cocoa Bar during morning recess

   January 9th, 2017- Monday- Staff Lighthouse/BLT Meeting 3:25

   January 9th, 2017- Monday- Eval Team

   January 10th, 2017- Tuesday- Intervention Meeting

   January 10th, 2017- Tuesday- 5th Grade Art lunch in library

   January 11th, 2017- Wednesday- Staff Meeting

   January 12th, 2017- Thursday- Delta Dental Free dental sealants starts for 1st and 2nd grade
                                                                  - on the stage

   January 13th, 2017- Friday- Teaming K-5 with Mrs. Buschhorn, Title 1, ESL, and Resource
   
   January 13th, 2017- Friday- Friday Fun- Dress like the favorite character in a book

   January 13th, 2017- Friday- Student leaders selling smelly ice cream pencil top erasers, .50 cents
                                       


Habit of the week/Classroom leading morning announcements:
 
  Hammond- Habit 3: Put first things first


We have a staff meeting this week. The agenda is all Leader in Me, particularly about WIG's and Leadership Notebooks.

This article references the arts, but the content area could be anything. Growth mindset is important for students:

Growth Mindset Through the Arts


Here is the weekly post to share with families, and you have to love the picture of unique seating for writing in Kindergarten:

Weekly Post with Schedule


As we continue the new year, here is a short wish list. We could add items like the drawer of dry socks always being full, that the tardy line is short, library books returned, and for the new playground balls to last until May:

Friday January 6th, 2017

It will be very cold today, so we are looking at an inside day for recesses. That includes before school, so please put books and hands on activities out in the hallways as students start arriving. Let us know in the office if students need warm weather attire.

Our building leadership team meeting/staff lighthouse meeting has been rescheduled for Monday after school, and our grade level teaming with Mrs. Buschhorn has been rescheduled for Friday next week.

This thought includes several items that would also be great to share with students as well. Great reminder as we start a new year:

Wednesday January 4th, 2017

We have grade level teaming on Thursday with Mrs. Buschhorn. We all work with second language learners, and the information provided will be helpful for all students. Everybody is welcome to attend. You can choose any grade level team during their block/specials time. The information provided and discussed will be really helpful.

This post is a great reminder of the importance for diversity in classrooms and schools. Harrison reflects the real world, and that is a good thing. My favorite part of traveling is the experiences and learning gained from being around diverse people, and in diverse places. Our students and staff are very lucky to have that provided every day, and our students are very lucky to have such qualified staff pushing them everyday:

Diversity in Schools and Classrooms

We have a building leadership team/staff lighthouse team meeting Thursday after school. Let a rep know if you have something you would like added to the agenda.

This post is a great reminder of the importance for diversity in classrooms and schools. Harrison reflects the real world, and that is a good thing.

This picture of a pizza not only looks delicious, but is also a great reminder for differentiation and including student voice. We are all working towards the same end goals, but the paths along the way might look different: