Thursday November 12th, 2015

Empathy is an important soft skill for students. Students are engaged daily in conversations and activities with peers from different cultures, and empathy assists with building a school and classroom culture that supports and welcomes all students. One day our students will be leaders in the community, and empathy will be an important skill that they will use daily:

Empathy in the Classroom

This is a great article that goes with sharpening the saw. We have to take care of ourselves, in order to give to others:

Mindfulness for Educators

This is a great thought:

Tuesday November 10th, 2015

We have a family note going home this week. Several reminders about fun upcoming activities:

Family Note Front Page

Family Note Page 2

Family Note- Upcoming Dates

An often under used google app is google drawings. Here are great ideas for how to use google drawings with the chromebooks, such as graphic organizers:

Google Drawings

The young lady in the front, left side, she's in Mrs. Moore's classroom. She won the Idaho Jr. Elementary pageant. Her platform is preventing bullying. Mom came in after school to share the exciting moment, and the young lady is interested in briefly visiting with classrooms:

Miss Idaho Jr. Elementary

Please help remind students and families that there is no school tomorrow, Wednesday. Here is a great reminder to give thanks to our veterans, from our students who receive speech and language therapy:

Monday November 9th, 2015

Duties for the week: 
     
     AM Bus: Pauley
                  Warner
                  Garcia
     PM Bus: Moulson
                  Lent
                  Triner
     Lounge: Ardito
 
 
  Meetings/Reminders for the week: 
   
   November 9th, 2015- Monday- Grade Level Teaming 1st-5th with resource, Title 1, & ESL
   
   November 9th, 2015- Monday- Get Ready for Kindergarten with United Way, for 4 year olds

   November 10th, 2015- Tuesday- Intervention Meeting
   
   November 11th, 2015- Wednesday- No School- Certified and Classified Training 

   November 12th, 2015- Thursday- Grade Level Teaming K with resource, Title 1, & ESL    

 
 
Habit of the week/Classroom leading morning announcements: 

   Porter- Habit 4: Think win-win



Here are the October student leaders, and they are awesome. This would be great to share with students:

October Student Leaders

So many great activities this last week. Here are pictures, and these would be great to share with students:

Pictures This Week

We are starting the process for our student lighthouse team this week! We will have student applications rolling out this week and I am super excited for the opportunity to ignite student voice.

Friday November 6th, 2015

What an excellent Leadership event on Thursday! I loved sitting back and watching students lead. Thank you to everybody who assisted, helped practice with students, and other behind the scenes tasks that people didn't see. What a great opportunity for students to shine. 

Friday has both crazy hair day and the caramel apple sucker sale with student leaders. We also will have nurses giving students the flu mist, for students whose families were interested. 

Have a great Friday!

                                    

Thursday November 5th, 2015

The big event today is our Leadership Day, from 1:30-3:30.

Picture retakes are today, in the outside portable.

Please remind students about the caramel apple sucker sale on Friday with our student leaders, and crazy hair day.

As we are working with students today, and watching them grow in their leadership skills, this quote relates very well:

Wednesday November 4th, 2015

Preventing bullying starts with kindness. This is a great article geared for adults, but the article has ideas that would be great for classroom and student discussions. I love these two quotes:

"Bullying is far less likely to take root in school cultures where kindness, empathy, and responsibility for others are the norm, where students care about and feel responsibility to the school community as a whole, and where a critical mass of students model positive behavior for other students. "

"Ask your kids to think about peers who are outside of their immediate circle and challenge them to try to understand, appreciate, and show kindness to those who seem different or might be having a hard time."

Prevent Bullying

We're spreading kindness with our October staff Oscars. Each staff member received a Kind granola bar with their statue. I wish you could have seen the two young men who are office leaders, as they presented the awards. They walked into classrooms and announced, "You've won an Oscar!" Such a priceless and fun moment. Every person working in education needs to hear and experience that more often. Here is the list, and be thinking of people to nominate for November:

October Staff Oscars

Please try to find an opportunity to thank our custodians. It was a busy day Tuesday, and after school, keeping up with all the drips and leaks. They all did a great job.

There are several great restorative justice resources listed on the following link, and a video towards the bottom. This would be great to save and refer to later. We use several of the strategies mentioned. This is a great alternative to traditional discipline that usually involves suspensions and police:

Restorative Justice Links

Tuesday November 3rd, 2015

This is a great video from another school implementing the Leader in Me. Student voice is a powerful tool, and we can learn from students. During the Principal's lunch on Monday one young lady shared her favorite leadership role at school. She said she liked being a birthday leader, because people smile when she enters classrooms. She has learned that leaders can spread kindness. That kindness is an essential piece of the community we are building at our neighborhood school:

Building a Neighborhood School With Leadership

Great reminder about being proactive and positive: