Important Dates

Please see the right side of the blog for a complete list of February’s important dates!

Cooperative Learning

The administration team will be looking for Cooperative Learning in your classroom this week. We understand that it’s not possible to observe Cooperative Learning every time we come into your classroom, so if you have a certain time that you would like to be observe, let me know during your O3 this week.

We are back to following the regular O3 schedule this week. I look forward to meeting with you again!

Name Tags

I appreciate all of those teachers who have been diligent and consistent with ensuring that all students are following dress code.

Just a friendly reminder: please make sure that all students wear their name tags throughout the day, especially during lunch. It makes the lunch line move quicker and Mrs. Kittendorf’s job easier. J

If you have a student that forgets their name tag, please contact the parent by an email, a note, the student’s planner, or talk to the parent at dismissal before you send them to the office. If you have a student that lost their name tag, please send home an ID Tag Replacement Notice from the “forms” folder in the U-drive. Thanks!

Rescheduled PLC Meeting

Our PLC meeting has been rescheduled to February 5^th!

· Everyone will be presenting their Individual Sharing sheets with a picture, work sample, and/or video of either strategy 1, 2, or 4.

 

· Boe, Brown, Gyulveszi, and Heires will also be presenting their strategy on the Presenter form.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Congratulations

CONGRATULATIONS to Jenny who got engaged to Teddy on January 21^st!
The wedding is scheduled for 2014!

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Nikki and Tom who are expecting their first child on August 7^th!

 

Achievement Boards

I walked down the Intermediate/ALP Hall and viewed the Achievement Boards. Achievement boards looked great! The creativity and hands-on approach to learning that Dena, Nikki, Janelle, Kristin, Sandy, Nicole, and Stacey displayed demonstrated that learning can be FUN as well as rigorous! Setting high expectations that were obtainable was evident in the quality of students’ responses on the scoring opportunity that Jenny, Alicia, Susan, and Tim created. I enjoyed the written feedback that each of you provided to your students in regards to things done well, in addition to, areas for growth! Keep up the excellent work Intermediate/ALP Hall!  

New TOP Skill

The new TOP Skill that the administration team will be observing is Cooperative Learning. If you have not completed Wait to Start, you will continue to do so, in addition to Cooperative Learning. We will discuss this further at your O3 next week. Some of the criteria that the administration team will be looking for in regards to the implementation of Cooperative Learning are listed below. Don’t forget we will be visiting random classes as a team observing that skill. In addition, I will be looking during my observations. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cooperative Learning

Definition- I utilize pre-planned learning activities in which students’ process newly introduced information in groups using an instructional strategy specified by me (e.g. compare and contrast, summarizing key information, practice problems). Each group consists of 2-5 students. The end goal can only be reached when every member of the group contributes effectively.

Rational: This strategy of social interaction in a group provides for active participation and engagement as students reason, process and think critically with their peers to deepen learning with an opportunity to learn different perspectives and learn with others.

Implementation: Consider:

o   using a variety of groupings to facilitate Cooperative Learning opportunities

o   the activities being engaging and fun for students

o   clear academic purpose for Cooperative Learning activities

o   monitoring the learning through Circulate and Questioning

o   providing opportunities for groups to learn from each other during the lesson

o   advanced learners being utilized to help struggling learners

Cloze Reading

I thought that this article from Marshall’s Memo included great question prompts to use with Cloze Reading. Let me know if you do too!

In this Educational Leadership article, Nancy Boyles (Southern Connecticut University) suggests ways to bring “close reading” – a major theme in the Common Core State Standards – to the elementary grades. “Essentially, close reading means reading to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deep comprehension,” she says. Boyles is critical of the “ho-hum” text-dependent questions suggested by David Coleman and his colleagues in their Student Achievement Partners handbook. All of the questions have a right answer and none of them will generate real discussion, she says.

Boyles urges teachers to take students beyond the text and ask deeper questions that they can apply to other texts on their own:

-    What is the author telling me here?

-    Are there any hard or important words?

-    What does the author want me to understand?

-    How does the author play with language to add to the meaning?

“If students take time to ask themselves these questions while reading and become skillful at answering them, there’ll be less need for the teacher to do all the asking,” she says. “For this to happen, we must develop students’ capacity to observe and analyze.” Delving deeper, she suggests getting students to ask themselves questions like these:

-    Who is speaking in the passage?

-    Who seems to be the main audience for this text?

-    What is the first thing that jumps out at me as I read? Why?

-    What’s the next thing I notice? Are these two things connected? How?

-    What seems important here? Why?

-    What does the author mean by _______? What exact words lead me to this meaning?

-    Is the author trying to convince me of something? How do I know?

-    Is there something missing from this passage that I expected to find? Why did the author leave it out?

-    Is there anything that could have been explained more thoroughly for greater clarity?

-    Is there a message or main idea?

-    How does this sentence or passage fit into the text as a whole?

“Students who learn to ask themselves such questions are reading with the discerning eye of a careful reader,” says Boyles. The next step is to look at passages with the eye of a writer, analyzing:

-    Imagery, including similes, metaphors, personification, figurative language, and symbols;

-    Word choice;

-    Tone and voice;

-    Sentence structure: short sentences, long sentences, sentence fragments, word order within sentences, and questions.

 

“Closing in on Close Reading” by Nancy Boyles in Educational Leadership, December 2012/January 2013 (Vol. 70, #4, p. 36-41), www.ascd.org; Boyles can be reached at nancyboyles@comcast.net.

Important Dates

January 15^th-Achievement boards completed

January 15^th-School Council meeting

January 17^th-Intermediate Hall Award Assembly

January 21^st- NO School-MLK Day

January 22^nd-PLC Meeting

Please check the right-side for a complete list of important dates for January!

Thank you

 

Thank you to Sandy and Stacey for covering Intermediate Hall lunch on Thursday!

Stacey, Nicole, Sandy, Kristen, Maragret, and Nikki for completing their snowman for the teacher brag board!

Pictures

I promised some of you that I would include pictures of me from the ball that I attended in December. 

 

Jason and Jorvonna

(we were going for an "Old Hollywood" look)

 

 

Mom, sister, and Jorvonna

O3s

With MAP testing beginning and ending at different times for everyone, I will be taking the time to observe you in action once over the next two weeks. As far as O3's go, I will be giving you feedback electronically. Please feel free to stop by my office during your O3 time or any other time you may need me.

Brag Board

STUDENT TEMPLATE:

The brag board will be changing for the month of January. I’ve placed the new brag board template in your mailboxes. Please make sure to send them home by Tuesday. I forgot to include Monday, January 14^th as the return date, please inform your students.

 

TEACHER TEMPLATE:

In addition, I’ve also put a different snowman for you to complete in your mailbox! If you have a picture of yourself participating in a winter activity or holiday please include it with your snowman by Monday, January 14^th! Thank you for taking the time to complete it!

PLC-January 22nd

Our next PLC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 22^nd.

·         Everyone will be presenting their Individual Sharing sheets with a picture, work sample, and/or video of either strategy 1, 2, or 4.

 

·         Boe, Brown, Gyulveszi, and Heires will also be presenting their strategy on the Presenter form.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Congratulations, Stacey!

Congratulations to Stacey who will travel to Africa this summer. She received a full scholarship to explore ecosystems. Below Stacey describes some of the things that she will be experiencing...

“I am looking forward to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, going on an African safari through the Serengeti, as well as visiting African schools and orphanages! I am so blessed to have this opportunity for an experience of a lifetime!”

Important Dates and Reminders

• Please see the right-side of the blog for January's Important Dates
• Please remember to email me your newsletter every week and to wear your name tag everyday!