January 29, 2010

Board Meeting - At the Wednesday night board meeting, Mr. Laughlin and I shared our staffing plans for the 2010-11 school year. No decisions were made that night and the board will meet next on February 8 to take public comments and possibly make decisions. As mentioned in our staff meeting, our admin team hopes to have final staffing decisions in February. If you have specific questions or did not get a copy of the staffing proposal, please see me.

Rooms & Computers – We have had several evening activities at Washington the past few months – including last night. Before I left yesterday, six rooms were unlocked and all the rooms had laptops and/or computers in them. After some recent theft issues in the district, this would be a good time to remind all staff to lock your doors when you leave for the evening. Thank you for making sure this happens.

Grant - The Pepsi grant application is on Google.docs for anyone to edit. So far, only one person has added ideas!!  Please help when you can!

Parent-STUDENT-Teacher Conferences  - A reminder that I would like for all your students to be involved in conferences by making an effort to get the students involved. Info about student led conferences can be found here. See last week’s memo, but I will not be available the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of conference week.  I do want to attend at least one conference with each teacher. Thank you!

Valentine’s Parties -Have you called your parent helpers yet? The party is scheduled for Thursday, February 11 – after lunch recess.

PLC Update - February 3 will be a building PLC day. We will meet as a building team at 1:45 pm in Mrs. Timmerman’s room – please bring your Anthony Mohammad book with you as we will share out some of our “ah-hah’s” in preparation for his February 15th visit. Since both teams were close to having the MISIC benchmark work completed, I would like for teams to complete that during your weekly PLC time if possible. Our administration team and/or ICC team will discuss when we will find the time to come back to the curriculum work. The weather has not been kind to our PLC work this month!!

Scheduled your last or only observation with me yet? If not, please do so today.

Upcoming Dates to Note...
Feb 1 - Barry at ICC meeting
Feb 3 - Bldg PLC; TQC Mtg @ 4 pm
Feb 8-10 - Barry, Kunze, Guerra & Graber at ICLC (DSM)
Feb 8 - PT Conferences (Early Out)
Feb 11 - PT Conferences (Early Out)
Feb 12 - No School
Feb 15 - No School (All day PD @ HS)

Anthony Muhammad Resources

Dr. Muhammad's Facebook page

Very interesting "Focused Conversation with Anthony Muhammad"

Every Child Can Learn

"The whole concept of PLC is to bring teachers together, structure that conversation and to share those ideas that work in someone else's classroom so you can use them and they'll work in your classroom and of course to "work" means to get every kid learning," McNeece said.

And in the end, Dr. Muhammad believes it's going to take belief among each school team to do whatever it takes in assuring all students learn at the highest level possible.

"If you follow a traditional method and nobody learns, but you've taught them, then teaching doesn't necessarily mean learning, Dr. Muhammad says. "In the PLC movement... we strive to mesh the two that good instruction is justified by student learning."

January 22, 2010

Board Meeting - At Monday night's board meeting, Mr. Laughlin and I will be presenting our proposal for elementary staffing next year. After school on Monday (3:40-4:00 pm), I will meet with any staff who would like to hear what will be proposed that evening. Mr. Sherman will be presenting their proposal for the high school the same evening. Our presentation will begin after 6:30 pm and is open to anyone.

Grant - The Pepsi grant application is on Google.docs for anyone to edit. Anyone should be able to edit - if you cannot, see me. Please begin to put down your ideas and or improve on other ideas if they are already written down. I would like to submit it the first week of February. After I submit it, we can begin to promote it!  **Remember, anyone who gets this memo can help work on the grant - not just those who came to the meeting Wednesday!**

Parent-Teacher Conferences letters were sent home with students Monday and should be returned by Wednesday, January 27.  Scheduling with the IPS staff will the same day at 3:45 P.M. in the WIS media center. Please bring with you the information needed for scheduling purposes. I will be at the Iowa Culture and Languge Conference Monday morning through Wednesday afternon of conferences so please schedule any conferences you want me to attend during the week prior or Wednesday/Thursday of conference week.  I want to attenda at least one conference with each teacher.  Thank you!

Valentine’s Parties are scheduled for after lunch recess on Thursday, February 11.  Please begin talking to parents now so they can make plans if they need to be here.  See Mr. Haufle for party ideas as this is his favorite holiday of the year. 

PLC Update - Thanks to the wonderful weather, our PLC schedule has been changed multiple times. To find the current schedule, visit the Curriculum blog.



Printing - We are printing lots of unnecessary material. Please monitor your own printing and that of your students. Sending students to the lab is great but please do with specific data/information collection tools and directions about what they can and cannot print. Student should also be given specific sites to visit.

Graphic organizers (there are 1000's out there on the web)

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/geography/

My favorite one - an editable word document that forces kids to give credit to the source!

Scheduled your last or only observation with me yet? If not, please do so today.
 
Iowa Core Curriculum Update - Our ICC team (Gilbert, Allensworth, Sims, Sonntag & Fast) will be meeting several times over the next few months as we continue to learn the state's expectations for the implementation plan due this summer. I have an afternoon planning session this afternoon and a full day Iowa Core meeting on Monday, February 1st.  Thank you for your work with the MISIC standards and benchmarks. Our ICC team will be using this data between now and the end of this summer!


Upcoming Dates to Note...

Jan 25 - WIS Staff Mtg (3:40 pm)
Jan 27 - Curriculum PLC & 4th grade Life Skills Discussion
Jan 27 - PT Conference Planning with IPS (3:45 pm @ WIS)
Feb 1 - Barry at ICC meeting
Feb 3 - Bldg PLC; TQC Mtg @ 4 pm
Feb 8-10 - Barry, Kunze, Guerra & Graber at ICLC (DSM)
Feb 8 - PT Conferences (Early Out)
Feb 11 - PT Conferences (Early Out)
Feb 12 - No School
Feb 15 - No School (All day PD @ HS)

Fluency Norms & Levels

I'll be posting student scores in the lounge today. Below is the levels you may need when you share data with parents at conference. If a student was not assessed it was because they were at or above grade level in the fall or last spring. Please have your own classroom data or information to share with parents of these students during conference time.

Click Image to Enlarge

January 15, 2010

January Observations - If you're not on cycle, you should schedule your one observation soon!  If you're on cycle and you have not completed your 4th observation, this needs to be scheduled too.  
Daily Announcements - See the next post below or the email I sent out yesterday regarding the announcements going online next week!!  Steph will continue to post a copy by the copier too.  EITHER WAY - read the announcements prior to lunch!
PLC - I appreciate the work you completed last week!  This coming week, 5th grade will wrap up the curriculum work and 4th grade (+ Jeannie and I) will be working with Anthony from Iowa State to help prepare for the delivery of the Life Skills Training.  He would like the 4th grade to have a proposed schedule completed by Wednesday.  Please look at that during your Monday PLC meeting.
MLK Jr. Service Projects - Ms. Bates and student advisors have introduced a community service to students this week.  Please encourage students to take part in this project by brainstorming ideas - remember this is a class-vs-class contest!!  Students need to have their projects signed and returned by February 5th.  
DonorsChoose.Org - Angela informed me her first Donor's Choose request was filled and delivered!  All of her students have dry-erase marker boards and markers!  She is the 6th teacher in the district to have a request filled!!  
Walkthroughs - Mr. Laughlin and I will be doing walkthroughs over the next week.  This is our second round and data will be shared when we have compiled the data.  We continue to look for high student engagement and higher order thinking activities and conversation.  
Reading List - Nothing but the best as selected by children. Here is a wonderful site with lists of books that children have chosen over many years. The lists begin quite a ways down on each page. Each has a description.

http://www.reading.org/Resources/Booklists/ChildrensChoices.aspx

Bittersweet Congratulations - As mentioned Wednesday, Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Guinn have both made the decision to retire at the end of the 2009-10 school year.  Although this has now put Mrs. Burnison into "panic-mode," I know Nita and Sandra are excited about the wonderful opportunities this brings to their lives.  Congratulations!!

Dates to Note…

Jan 20 – Curriculum PLC (Day 2); 4th Grade LST w/ Anthony
Jan 21 – SAT Mtg (3:20 pm)

Jan 27 – Building PLC (4th grade Day 2 curriculum)

Mt. Tiger's Summit Expedition

Student Quote of the Week
...after reaching the 'summit':  "I've haven't worked out this much before!"


I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!
Tom Lehrer (1928 - )

WIS Announcements Online

Stephanie will email out the announcments the rest of this week, but starting next week she will only post it online at http://wistigers.blogspot.com.   Please be sure to check the announcements at this page prior to lunch.  That way, annoucements for students can be shared in the AM. 

To set http://wistigers.blogspot.com as one of your home page tabs (loads automatically when you open the internet), do the following

1. With the internet open to the above page, click on “Tools"
2. Click on bottom option “Internet Options”
3. http://wistigers.blogspot.com should be listed in the top box.  If not, you can add it.  You may have multiple tabs (see my example below in which I have the Red Oak CSD page, the announcements and Goodearch) set as your homepage.  This will load up multiple tabs when you open internet.

See me if you need help.

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY

Ever seen Groundhog's Day?  With the winter weather and snow days, I sometimes feel like Bill Murray!  Maybe reading Jon Gordan' 20 Tips for a Positive New Year will help you shake those winter blues.

January 8, 2010

Pink Think Sheets - If a student earns a Think Sheet from you, please jot down some notes on the student Think Sheet after it is filled out by the student. This helps immensely when the student takes the sheet home to be signed - sometimes the entire 'story' is not described within the student's writing. :)

The Media Center will be closed for book checkout January 11, 12, 14, & 15, from 9:30 to 10:30. Students may usethe computer lab with teacher supervision. These times may be extended to the following week - please stay tuned.

MLK Jr. Day of Service - December Student Advisees will work with Ms. Bates next week during guidance to introduce a community service projects.  Please stay during the first 5-10 minutes of guidance so you're aware of what the project entails. 

PTO Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, at 5:30 P.M. This will be held in the IPS media center.  You should have received an email this week about the agenda. Please attend if you are able to make it.

Parking - If you are an all day or end of the day staff member at Washington, please do not park on the north side of Washington Street! We are having some pick-up/bus issues and this will help ease the problem.

Welcome to Gaby Morales as she begins her student teaching experience with Sue Chelsvig. To help her learn names, we have placed her with Sue Timmerman during her second experience this semester! We are all excited to have her with us this semester and I know we learn much from Gaby too!

Speech Contest - We will be receiving information for the Modern Woodmen of America Annual Speech Contest in early January. This year we will have plenty of time to get our local 5th grade contest completed before the regional contests. More information to come!

Dates to Note…
Jan 8 – 1st Semeser Report cards go home
Jan 8 – End of Boxtop Contest
Jan 11 – School Board Mtg (6 pm)
Jan 12 – Language Acquisition Team ICN (12-4 pm); PTO Mtg
Jan 13 – Curriculum PLC (Day 1)
Jan 20 – Curriculum PLC (Day 2); 4th Grade LST w/ Anthony
Jan 21 – SAT Mtg (3:20 pm)

 (-: Non-Educational Websites of the Week :-)

 10 of the Year's Coolest Gagets

Ten gagets I don't have, but if you get one - let me know.  :)

KaraokeParty.com

Who doesn't sing at home but Karaoke Party scores your efforts!
I'll admit it - 5922 points on "Eye of Tiger."  Beat that!!

Where do you want your child to be when the reality of
challenge hits him/her in the face?

- Susan Winebrenner