February 26, 2010

End of Quarter - The high school is still deciding about whether to move the end of the 3rd quarter and I hope to hear early next week.  As of today, the end of 3rd quarter is still March 10.

Focus on Essentials - With the weather-related loss of over 20 hours, teams and teachers need to revisit the essential learning outcomes and ensure the focus stays on those identified items.  Also, looking for ways to tie science and social studies content within your literacy block becomes even more important.  Continue working within your team to brainstorm ideas and help each other with this task.

Observations - There are just a few left to do!  Schedule your only/final one soon!! Spring Break is near.

Parent-Teacher Conferences - We had four classrooms with 100% attendance and 95% attendance rate overall!  We also had 81% of our students attend conferences which is an increase from the fall conferences.  Please let me know when you've made up the "missing" conferences on your roster.

Smoking Kills Lessons - Jean Nelson, “the Tobacco Lady,” will be with us next week to present her stories, data and information to our students. Jeannie has set the schedule as follows:
4th Grade:
- Same schedule as usual; location, MC
5th Grade:
- Monday: Linn and Timmerman, same schedule as usual; location MC
- Friday: Braymen and Montgomery, new day, time, and place (MC)

Celebrity Readers for Read Across America Day on March 2 have been set by Jan (thanks Jan!!). The readers will probably stay 15-20 minutes or however long it takes to read their books. You might ask them to tell a little about themselves, their profession and why reading is so important.

4th grade is 11:00 am except for 4-4 which is 11:30 am
** 4-2 Al Nelson - RO artist
** 4-3 Pat Nelson - retired RO teacher
** 4-4 John Blomstedt - YMCA
** 4-5 Terry Schmidt - Supt.
5th grade is 8:45 am
** 5-1 Fred Pilecki - First United Methodist Church minister
** 5-2 Joni Ernst - Mont. Co. Auditor
** 5-4 Dawn LeRette - Nelson Boylan LeRette Funeral Home
** 5-5 Marilyn Dietz - KCSI

Dates to Note
March 3 - WIS Students to see Cinderella (8:45-10:50 am)
March 3 - 2 hr early out - Bldg PLC; 5th Grade Speech Contest
March 4 - WIS Parent Advisory Mtg (7pm)
March 8 - YES Mentoring Tip Night @ Pizza Ranch! (5-7 pm)
March 8 - School Board Mtg @ Webster (6 pm)
March 11 - SAT (3:25 pm)
March 12 - 2 hr early out (Indv PLC)
March 13-21  Spring Break!

Website of the Week

http://arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - Great free site from link below!!
http://blog.4teachers.org/ - great resources, links and help for teachers!

February 19, 2010

PLC Gut Check - Monday's visit from Anthony Muhammad was my "PLC Gut Check" and, at least for me, a very needed February pick-me-up.  :)  A few items I noted are below - I am strongly encouraging teams to revisit Dr. Muhammad's presentation and information during this coming week's PLC time.  What should your team's next steps be?  Building?  K-5?  District?

Back to the Basics - A Professional Learning Community is a group of educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better results for the students they serve. PLC’s operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators

Nine Core Beliefs - Starting with, "Schools are places built for the education of children, not for adult employment," Dr. Muhammad's list of beliefs made me think differently about what our mission really is.  We are here to serve our students, parents and community - not vice versa.  I've decided that revisiting the core beliefs on a regular basis would be important.

I should slow down - sometimes :) - As Dr. Muhammad discussed Levey MS's three year process, I kept thinking about my impatience and "change things now!!" attitude (someone from the table confirmed my thoughts - thanks, Jeannie).  Research, collective inquiry and experimentation should be placed before implementation and I will assist teams as best I can to consistently use this process as we move forward.  How would the Tiger Behavior Plan look if we had run it through this process?  Not that what we have is 'bad,' but maybe something we can run through the process as we move forward.



Vocabulary Instruction - In Marzano's "Getting Serious About School Reform:  Three Critical Commiments," he spoke about six steps for effective vocabulary instruction (p35-38).  For those of you involved in Reading First, this reinforces our own prior learning.  MISIC standards and benchmarks identify the vocabulary terms necessary to building those the background knowledge vital to the academic success of students.  On ASCD, Marzono has additional suggestions about which of the steps are key to effective vocabulary instruction and give a great example using the terms mutualism and symbiosis.  This is a short article and well worth the read.

PT Conference Data - I still need conference data from 4 teachers (you know who you are!). Please turn it in to Steph today!!

Monday's Board Meeting - The board will be making final decisions about 2010-11 staffing Monday night. They are welcoming input from staff, parents and community members so please attend if you want to share your thoughts. The meeting begins at 6:00 pm.

Observations - As mentioned, some teachers have 1 observation to complete before Spring Break which is only three weeks away. If you're not on cycle, you must still complete one formal observation and it is your responsibility to schedule the observation.



Gifted Conference – Thursday, I attended the first day of the NAG’s (Nebraska Association for Gifted) annual conference. In addition to some great information about encouraging achievement in the 21st Century (parent workshop coming!), humorist, T. Marni Vos spoke about the research on creativity, humor and laughter. I wanted to leave you with a few of her quotes…

- Research shows that when people fall in love, their immune system is at it’s highest.
- When people love what they do, they have a much higher immune system.
- Studies show the most common time for a heart attack to occur is Monday morning (heart attack victims usually indicate a dissatisfication in their work)
- Students indicate humor in the classroom helps them learn better.
- In a recent study, 284 teachers were evaluated. Those that ranked at the top in teaching ability averaged 3.95 on the humor scale. The poorest teachers ranked 2.36. Through incorporating more humor into the classroom, both teacher and student will benefit. It is not just about a subject. It’s about relationships.
- Stress is not an event, it is how we choose to perceive an event

Upcoming Dates:
Feb 24 - 2 hr early out - Bldg PLC
March 3 - 2 hr early out - Bldg PLC; 5th Grade Speech Contest
Mar 12 - 2 hr early out (Indv PLC)

Board Meeting Update

I did not include the summary of the February 8 Regular Board of Directors Meeting in my FWR, but had several ask me about the outcome on Thursday.  The board listened to Mr. Schmidt and some public input but chose to table the personnel decisions until February 22.   These topics will be discussed further at the Feb. 22nd meeting in order to maximize input from staff and community since there were several conflicts (parent/teacher conferences & bad weather conditions) which kept some people from attending tonight’s meeting.  The entire summary is located on our website.

Friday Humor...

Received this from a parent this morning...   (click to read)

...I know we all feel like Mr. Doyle sometimes.  :)  Keep laughing & learning.

February 12, 2010

Guidance Surey - Thank you to the 6 WIS staff members who completed the Guidance survey for our K-12 Guidance team.  We only had 3 of 7 classroom teachers complete it even after an additional reminder - this information would be extremely useful as they begin to plan for next year and determine where support is needed.  The survey is located here.

Anthony Muhammad’s Visit – An email will be sent out later today with Monday’s agenda and details. Please review it before you head home for the weekend.

Absences – Ms. Bates will be at a TAG conference on Thursday & Friday of next week (Feb 18-19). I will be at the same conference on Thursday. In our absence, Mrs. Sims would be ‘on call’ if the need arises. You are all very effective classroom and building managers so I assume the need will not arise!

Holland Center Field Trip – 4th Grade will be traveling to the Holland’s Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 19. This has become a WONDERFUL annual field trip and experience for our 4th graders. We could not do this without the PTO’s support!!

Speech Contest – Jill McManis of Modern Woodmen, spoke to 5th grade students on Thursday about our upcoming speech contest. This year’s theme is “If I were the President” and will be held after school on March 3rd. Jan Burnison and Elizabeth Dilley (board member) have already ‘volunteered’ to judge again this year. We hope to have several open houses after school over the next two weeks to allow students to work on or practice their speeches. If you’re interested in helping them (anyone can!!), let me know.

 
A Rebirth of Commitment to Children

from Who’s In Charge?: All of Us!

by Anthony Muhammad

We live in a day and time that demands that we pay close attention to the development of our children. The ever-shrinking world has become more complex and a nation’s ability to prepare their children for this new world will determine the viability of the community for the future. The old, divisive hierarchy of schools, which oft-times placed the concerns of the adults ahead of the concerns of children, must die. Our organizations have to be quick and nimble, and change will probably be the only constant in schools for some years to come. Don’t fight it, embrace it! Schools have to look and operate very differently than they have in the past and our future is counting on our coöperation. We can no longer waste time arguing about who is in charge because the answer has to be All of Us.

Happy Para-Educator Month! 
Thanks to all our paras who make the world (and school) go round!
We couldn't do what we do without your VITAL support!!

Quote of the week - from the KCSI.FM interview Monday morning.

Barb Sims:  "We couldn't get along with out you (para educators)."

Jan Burnison:  "You could, but it wouldn't be very good."

Proof: The Monkey isn’t always in the middle.

…but does she REALLY need a mic?

DATES TO NOTE:
Feb 12 - No School
Feb 15 - No School – PD
Feb 18 - SAT Mtg
Feb 19 - 4th Gr field trip; Holland Center, Omaha, 8:25 – noon
Feb 24 - 2 hr early out - PD
March 3 - 5th Grade Speech Contest

February 5, 2010

*** Next Monday through Wednesday ***
Ms. Bates is the 'go-to' person in the building if needed. 
Mrs. Sims is available also. 
Thanks for taking care of business while I'm out of the district!

CONFERENCE WEEK REMINDERS

1) Specials - Wednesday will be a “Friday” schedule. Classroom teachers need to work with the special teachers if you are attempting to schedule or make-up a class next week on an early out day. COMMUNICATE!!!...please. . Monday and Thursday's only scheduled special is PE. Click on the image below to enlarge.

2) Time - I want to make sure we are all on the same page about times that week. Many of you set up conferences outside the times on the calendar to meet the needs of parents. I appreciate this and I'm sure the parents do too. Know that Friday is an 8-hour comp-day so you must be in conferences or be working within the building that week for 8 hours outside the 8am-4pm work day.

3) Schedules - I do need your conference schedule and "office hours" (see #2) before you leave this Friday. Emailing them to Stephanie and I would be fine. Please let me know if you need me at a specific conference - otherwise, I will drop in at random.

4) My Schedule next week is crazier than the specials’ schedule! Linda G, Sonia K, Debbie G, and I will be leaving early Monday morning for the annual Iowa Culture and Language Conference. We will be returning Wednesday afternoon/evening. If you need a sub for any of those three days, please contact Stephanie.

5) Needed Data - Last fall's conference data can be found here.  I would need the same data turned in to Stephanie after conferences.  Shoot for 100% student involvement!

Skills Tutor Reports - Sharing student reports and progress from the Assessment Center or Skills Tutor at conferences is a great idea! Jim Lippold sent me the following about Assessment Center reports (specific to math and literacy benchmark tests): To look at a single student's progress, you want to log in as the teacher and choose the "Student Performance" report, NOT the Overall Student Performance report. Choose the two assessments you want to compare and click on show report. If you want to look at all of the students, you want the "Compare Assessments" report.

Deb Karwal Needs Our Support!!  - A letter from Deb Karwal was placed in classroom teachers' boxes on Thursday.  She met with me to request letters of support for her program as budgets are tightened and we do not want to lose her programs in our schools!  I would hope that you find time over the next week to write a letter to our Montgomery County Board of Supervisors in support of Deb, Anderson Conservation Area and of the Environmental Education and Interpretation programming we have in our classrooms. If you ask any student in our district what they most remember about school and science, I know Deb’s name would be at the top of the list. She is vital to our science education and has been a wonderful partner for our school district. Please send the letters to Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, PO Box 469, Red Oak, IA 51566. 

Belin-Blank Fellowship Program - is a unique opportunity for teachers to learn more about the area of gifted education. Its purpose is to help teachers learn better methods for working with gifted children in their classrooms. This is an awesome opportunity to learn from the Who's-Who in education and gifted education in our own backyard (Iowa City) and do so at minimal cost (paid for!)!  Teachers may enroll in 2 graduate credits and receive an automatic tuition scholarship that covers half the cost. The program is designed to:
• help teachers provide appropriate education for gifted students;
• develop in students a heightened sense of social responsibility in the use of their talents
• provide leadership in gifted education.
To learn more or apply, visit their website.

Dates to Note…
Feb 8 - 2 hr early out – P-T conferences; Board Mtg @ 6pm
Feb 11 - Valentine parties – after lunch
Feb 11 - 2 hr early out – P-T conferences
Feb 12 - No School
Feb 15 - No School – PD
Feb 18 - SAT Mtg
Feb 19 - 4th grade field trip to the Holland Center, Omaha, 8:25 – noon
Feb 24 - 2 hr early out - PD
Feb 25 - Country Critters (PM); Board Mtg @ 6pm