Who is Doing the Talking?

Thank you again for your engagement in the professional Development during the Early Release. I want to thank our Digital Learning Team for giving us an overview of the expectations around digital portfolios, and Tara and Fran for working with us on Close Read- Alouds. Hopefully you have been paying attention to who is doing the talking in your classroom this week. I know as a teacher, I sometimes had the feeling that if students did not all hear the same thing directly from my mouth, they weren't learning it. We know now that students learn better when they are interacting with information and collaborating with their peers.

The third video video in the series on Close Read Alouds can be found here, and was sent in Tara's follow- up email.

https://eleducation.org/resources/behind-the-practice-close-read-aloud-in-the-primary-grades-with-sara-metz

In the video Sara Metz also talks about Total Participation Techniques that she keeps " in her back pocket" to use when students seem like they need to move. These offer yet another way for students to interact with the material and make meaning.

Here is a link to a website with a couple of ideas for Total Participation Techniques and a podcast with an interview with the author of a book on Total Participation Techniques.

https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/total-participation-techniques/

From the Classroom:

Fifth graders demonstrate their knowledge of biomes in different ways

Ms. Philips and Ms. Patterson wearing 100 well!

Mrs. Parrot's beautiful Point of View anchor chart

Mrs. Crabtree's class plan the autobiographical chapter books they will be writing

5th graders did an amazing job presenting on art careers!

Always a great mix of goods and services at the 2nd grade Economics Fair!

What principal doesn't need a stress ball?!

Thanks for playing with us!

I had a hard time even standing up on this so a certain fifth grader decided to show me how it's done.

               Seeing all of our students play on Wednesday was the highlight of my year! Thank you for embracing this initiative.  It was so great to see you playing right alongside of them and how some of you shared special things that your own child had played with when they were young. Some of you requested boxes that became cars or forts. Ms. Hampton may have the prize for the largest fort! I saw all of the four C's and play ranging from dramatic play to building, puzzles, and board games! We would love to be able to incorporate more play in our year. As I walked around I heard lots of great ideas about how we could keep it going. Please comment below with funny stories, or quotes from Play Day or suggestions or reflections you had as a result. Thank you again for being such a special group of teachers and staff!

Hampton's epic fort!

Thank you Angie and Teri for all you do everyday!

Reminders:

Monday February 11th

SIP Team- Meeting 8:00 am Media Center

Please see Karla's email

Tuesday February 12th

IEP Meeting Day

Friday February 15th

Early Release Day - (More info to come)

This has been a great week! Thank you all for your openness and caring as we work to serve all students, and for embracing the Global Day of Play! My Principal message, which went out Wednesday and is posted on our website explains this day to parents.  Please remember we are hands off as our students learn to be creative. Please also reiterate to parents that should they choose to send in toys, those toys should still be safe and appropriate for school.


Data doesn't bite : Thank you all for engaging in discussions around your EVAAS data. We have a lot of celebrations and you all did an excellent job of defining next steps for yourselves as communicated by your SIP representatives. Planning is a good time to review those next steps with your teams and determine how you are planning with that in mind.


Guidelines for Valentine's Day in light of food policy💓
I know that students will bring in Valentine's that will have candy attached. Because students will be taking these home and not consuming them here at school, it is fine to let students pass out whatever they bring in.

A nice way to learn how to use a Venn Diagram!

First graders learn where they are in the world!

Thank you Mrs. Driggers for this timely and important art lesson!

Kindergarten celebrates 100 days!