Wednesday October 8th, 2014

Walk to school day!

The after school program will be walking to CSI on Wednesday for the planetarium. Fun!  We are so close to the college and want our students to experience being on a college campus. Please help remind students to meet in the lunchroom promptly so the group can leave by 3:45. CSI security will be helping to cross everybody on Falls. Backpacks will need to stay in the lunchroom, or let me know if your students chooses to leave them in their classrooms. I can help them get them when they get back.

Staff meeting is after school. Please bring a pen and paper to take notes. With our school improvement indicators, we have professional development and building leadership in others included.

With conferences quickly occurring, the before and after school program is a great option for students. They are working on academics, but also really great enrichment opportunities. One area right now is writing. This is often a hard item to integrate during the school day. We have several groups focused on writing, and here is a kindergarten and first grade group:

The after school robotics group started on Tuesday. Thanks Steve and Michelle for leading! It's a great collaboration opportunity.

Hovercrafts are almost ready! What an awesome hands on experience for creativity and STEM. A big thank you to Bill from CSI for leading.

Tuesday October 7th, 2014

Today is grade level teaming day for first-fifth grade. Intervention groups may be a little different as this is the once a month meeting with resource, ESL, and Title 1.

We made it through a first day back after four days off. Please remind students about school and classroom procedures and expectations. On to Tuesday, with excitement like this picture:

Monday October 6th, 2014

Duties for the week:

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

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   October 7th, 2014- Tuesday- RTI

   October 7th, 2014- Tuesday- Grade Level Teaming 1st-5th with Resource, Title 1, and ESL

   October 7th, 2014- Tuesday- After School Robotics Starts

   October 8th, 2014- Wednesday-Walk to School Day

   October 8th, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

   October 8th, 2014- Wednesday- Staff Meeting & American Fidelity Rep & Federal Programs Info

   October 9th, 2014- Thursday- Kinder Grade Level Teaming with Resource, Title 1, and ESL

   October 10th, 2014- Friday- PTA Meeting at 11:40

   October 10th, 2014- Friday- Two School Board Members Visiting at 2 pm


This is a full week!

Here is walk to school information I posted on the school website. Please share the link with families. We have three locations:

Walk To School Day

Mr. Fullmer and Ms. Hammond are starting the after school robotics on Tuesday. We even have a waiting list. A big thank you to O'Leary for letting us borrow kits so we could have more students participate. Here is the robotics Post with more information:

Robotics

Staff meeting will have the American Fidelity rep, information about federal programs in our district, Idaho Leads activity, short Leader in Me video, and update from Jenny/MaryAnn about our upcoming Family Night activity.

Our Title 1 staff does such an awesome job meeting students where they are, and assisting them through intensive intervention groups. You should see their writing papers! We are trying a few new strategies, and one is ensuring LEP students have access to Title 1. Here are two great pictures. One has MaryAnn with the iPad using videos to extend the learning of natural disasters, as they use the new Wonders reading intervention materials. They were having a great discussion using speaking and listening standards.

We are trying student lunch leaders to assist with speeding up the lunch line. Here are the first two young ladies who started on Wednesday. The lunch staff said they were very impressed with them.

A highly coveted leadership job is assisting the custodian at lunch! Here are three students, but we have so many that love that leadership job.

Even in PE, we have leaders leading! Doesn't matter who the student is, every student has the potential to lead.

Wednesday October 1st, 2014

Habit #8 helps students to understand that their voice matters. This isn't accomplished only orally, but also through writing. This was one of the main themes at Idaho Leads the last two days. Many items mentioned at the training went perfectly with Leader in Me and other activities we are already doing in our building. We'll use some of the ideas with upcoming staff meetings, teaming meetings, and our school improvement plan to help fine tune our direction. Student voice is a powerful tool, and we definitely have seen that with our students.

One of the other topics mentioned was belonging. This is something we are always striving to improve with students, staff, and families. Think also about books and images, and then the diversity we have at Harrison. We need students to see pictures that they can relate to. Even our library has more multicultural books this year. Here is a reflective article that illustrates both student voice and belonging:

First Grade Student

Here is an image from Mr. Fullmer. This picture would be great to discuss with students, or for a writing activity, using the topics of student voice and belonging:

Have a great 4 day weekend with your friends and family!


                                                   

Tuesday September 30th, 2014

Tie Tuesday is coming in October! Girls can wear ties or a scarf.

We had a request for crazy sock day, so please put Friday November 14th on your calendar. Get the crazy socks ready!

Collaboration is embedded in everything we are doing this year. We also are striving to include this more with our students. This image is a great reminder of the importance of collaboration:

Monday September 29th, 2014

Duties for the week:

     AM Bus: Owens
                  Osborn
                  Taylor
     PM Bus: Warner
                  Anderson
                  Coleman
     Lounge: Ardito/Matlock

Meetings/Reminders for the week:

   September 30th, 2014- Tuesday- Choir Starts 8:10-8:40

   October 1st, 2014- Wednesday- Eval Team

   October 2nd-3rd, 2014- Thursday and Friday- No School- State Inservice


The week is short, but we still have three days for significant instruction. Please remember to progress monitor this week, and we will then have data for next week when we meet for grade level teaming.

I will be at Idaho Leads Monday and Tuesday, and Mr. Fullmer as well. Tyler will be taking care of two schools with no principals. Patience is appreciated!

Here is the flier that was sent home with students:

Upcoming Dates 

Here is a great picture from bus duty on Friday. She said she was doing what her teacher does- teaching others how to read:

The lighthouse team had a great training on Friday. We used the community room at the Farmers National Bank on Poleline, and it was a perfect location. They were very good to work with.

We will update staff shortly with the school goals:

We even had Daysha going to the restroom, and running back in with an idea. So funny!

Friday September 26th, 2014

It is an all hands on deck kind of day. We have several teachers out today because of our Leader in Me training today. Please assist the guest teachers at your grade level and help them feel welcomed. This is the trainer, and she has quite the experience in her background. We are really lucky to have her:

Trainer

Here are two parent notes I posted on the school website about creativity. These would be great to share on your classroom blogs and or email distribution lists to families. We have several great pieces of student work and student art in the hallways.

Creativity Note in English

Creativity Note in Spanish

Ms. Warner's fifth grade class has a student leader greeting the class every morning as they walk into their classroom.  Here is a picture and a video of the awesome welcome from Pablo. What a way to feel welcomed! You'll also notice Thursday was pajama day.

Welcome Video

We are so lucky to have chromebooks this year. These are pictures from Mr. Fullmer's fourth grade classroom. Students were learning about changing landscapes and natural disasters, from the new reading curriculum. Students then were extending their learning as they researched about landscapes and natural disasters on the internet.

I looked at the students, most we have had since kindergarten, and knew some have had really difficult home situations. We are high poverty, but here they were with a chromebook on their desk! We are closing the digital divide and leveling the playing field. They might not have access to technology at home, but we do at school.

Here are two pictures from the after school program with students learning morse code. They were sending messages back and forth and were so engaged with the activity, as they synergized with their group to decipher the messages.