January/February 2018

This Week
Monday
* Jenny training

Tuesday
* 7:40 READ Act support in the Gold Mine room
* Jenny training

Wednesday
* SD: Team planning

Thursday
* 2nd Grade team planning day

Friday
* 6:00-8:00 Sock Hop

GRE Apple Award Recipients 
Stacie Martino and Jenn Dale will be representing GRE as our Apple Award Recipients!  Congratulations girls!

Reminders
* Norms Reminders:

- If you would like Gail to help you gather books please see her on Monday or before school.
-  Please provide Gail 1 weeks notice to pull books.
- Please walk your students out of the building at the end of the day.

* If you have students who need to be put on a READ plan, we will write these together on February 6th. We will have a sub to cover your class. Libby will share the schedule with you next week.

* If you need support in updating READ plans, Libby will be in the Gold Mine room on Tuesday, January 30th at 7:40. Please bring your data and laptop.

Please welcome our new EA, Anna Woolsey. Anna will take over for Ashley Peterson who is our new RtI assistant.

Kindie Technology CoTeaching
Dot & Dash are back! Our kindie programmers used voice commands to give a sequence of steps for kindie robots to travel from one specific spot to another on a Twister board. To further understand the importance of sequencing and following commands, students explored programming Dot & Dash to make noises, change light sequences, move forward and backward, as well as turning left and right. To complete our week, kindie friends challenged themselves to program Dash to complete the same sequence of events they had on a Twister board. For those that mastered that quickly, kindergarten partners programmed Dash to make shapes on the Twister board and then self selected challenge paths for their partners.

Happy Birthday
Dixie Litzsinger - February 2nd
Jen Borchert - February 3rd

Go For the Gold
• Thank you Leadership Team for your thoughtful contributions!
• Thank you Tobey for staying late and ensuring our plumbing problem was fixed!
• Thank you Fat Friday team for a fun, delicious spread!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Dalcerri
Lounge Duty: Broecker/Dalcerri

January 

This Week
Monday
* Jenny mid years

Tuesday
* 7:30 Leadership Team meeting
* Libby mid years

Wednesday
* 7:30 Book Study
* Jenny mid years

Thursday
* 4th Grade plan day
* Jenny admin meeting

Friday
* Libby mid years
* Fat Friday - Super Bowl Party!

Reminders
* Please make sure your blogs are updated for January. Please include links to math videos for parents.

* Please send Libby the names of all students who did not meet the cut score in December for Istation by Friday. All current READ plans should be updated with MOY data. Please see Libby if you need help.

* If you would like Gail to pull books, please give her your list on Mondays and give her a week's notice.

Happy Birthday
Stephanie Braden - January 25th

1st Grade Technology CoTeaching
To build schema for our Famous Americans and American Symbols unit, first graders learned how to access assigned books within Epic Books about Martin Luther King. Jr. First graders took screenshots of pictures that illustrated important moments in Dr. King’s life. Through Spark Video, they organized their screenshots and recorded their new learning about this American Hero.

Student Sample #1



Student Sample #2

Go For the Gold
* Thank you Lauren Rayens for facilitating the Spelling Bee!
* Thank you Kristi Barta for organizing subs on a non-Barta day!
* Thank you Karen Warner and Karen Petty for the use of your spaces for the Spelling Bee!
* Thank you Jeannette Shepperd for helping during the Spelling Bee!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Hawk
Lounge Duty: Poli/Westra

January

This Week

Monday

No School

Tuesday

Wednesday

* SD: Data review, CITE rubric

Thursday

* Jenny admin meeting

* Fifth grade plan day

Friday

* 9:00 5th grade transition meetings

* 10:00-11:00 Open enrollment presentation
* 2:15 Spelling Bee

Reminders

* READ Plans must be updated in Alpine by Friday. Click here to see directions on how to do this. If you have students who  fell below the cut score for Winter, we will write these new plans together the first week in February. Please send Libby the names of the students who need to be put on a plan by Friday. See Libby if you have any questions.

* For staff development this week, please bring your mid year reading data. We will also discuss the CITE rubric. 

* We are excited that Kristi will continue to work her 110 next year. This requires her to modify her schedule this spring. Please note the days she will be here on the calendar.

* The Spelling Bee will be Friday at 2:15 in the gym for grades 3-5. This date was changed from Thursday. 

Kindness Week
Kindness week is quickly approaching! This year Kindness Week will be February 12th-15th.
• On Thursday, February 15th, we will have our door decorating contest. This is an optional activity for teachers - you do not have to participate! If you would like to, have your class decorate your classroom door in a way that represents kindness. We will have a few judges walk around in the afternoon on the 15th, and pick a winner for K-2, and a winner for 3-5. Remember the door can be decorated any day that week leading up to the contest.
• Also, each teacher will have a class set of the Kindness Checklist to pass out to students on Monday, February 12th. (These will be in your copy box in the workroom.) Students will be challenged to complete as many of these acts as they can throughout the week.
• Please let Bev or Kylee know if you have any questions!

    

Happy Birthday
Catherine Graham - January 20th

Welcome


Please help us welcome Kym Koford. Kym will be supporting classrooms, supervising lunch/recess, and performing copy room duties.

2nd Grade Technology CoTeaching
Second graders researched severe storms using the app, Epic Books, and focused on the important idea of, "in my own words". They used the thinking strategy of determining importance to select and read meaningful digital resources that would provide information matching their reading purpose. In their own words, students synthesized their research about what the storm looks like, how it impacts people, animals, and the environment using Spark Video. As the last slide of their Spark Video presentations, students reflected and self assessed their ability to explain and share important ideas in their own words using a Critical Thinking rubric.

Student sample #1


Student Sample #2


Go For the Gold
• Thank you Karen Petty for the amazing assembly! What a powerful way to teach students history through images and music!
• Thank you teachers for an incredible work ethic during our PLC day. We appreciate your willingness to grow and learn together!
• Thank you Catherine Graham, Jamie Marchese, and Ashley Dalcerri for sharing your experiences!
• Thank you Allison Hawk for sharing the activity!
• Thank you Stephanie Brown and Jamie Marchese for helping with interviews!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Broecker
Lounge Duty: Holtzer/Kramer

January

This Week
Monday
Welcome back!

Tuesday

Wednesday
* SD: No staff development

Thursday
* Kindie planning day
* 2:20 All school sing along
* Jenny admin meeting

Friday
* PLC Day - Click here for the PLC Day agenda

Reminders
* We are going to have an all-school (1st - 5th grades) sing along on Thursday to teach students about Black history month through music. We want this to be a powerful experience for our students. Please bring your class to the gym at 2:20. The gym will be tight, so please remind your students to come in quietly and calmly. Music will be playing as students enter. This assembly will last about 30 minutes. A seating chart will be shared with you this week. Kindie team, we will schedule a time with you for older students to sing to your students.

* Please sign up for your 40 minute mid-year conference on the calendar on Anita's desk. The calendar will be there on Tuesday.

* Teachers in grades 3-5, please continue to track accommodations for CMAS.

3rd Grade Technology CoTeaching
Geography problems were analyzed and communicated by third grade researchers. Using both digital and paper resources students determined causes, solutions, and implications of their chosen geographical problem. To synthesize individual research, students created an infographic using Piktochart that paired text and graphics to communicate their findings to others. Infographics were then shared digitally so students can learn about other geographical problems and their implications on people and the environment. Please checkout the infographics below. If you click on them they will open in a larger screen.

Student Sample #1
Student Sample #2

Happy Birthday
Leah Clements - January 10th

Go For the Gold
* Thank you Bev Holtzer for buying 5th grade lunch!

Golden Nuggets
Morning Announcements: Lautenbach
Lounge Duty: Office Staff