Week 3

Great Things I Noticed:

• Judid Esquivel organizing and starting The 100 Mile Club!  She has worked hard to make the process easier for all of you!  
• Students engaged in our discipline classroom conversations!  Thank you for all of your front loading during the first few weeks of school, it has been a pleasure to be in your classroom! 
• Danielle organizing our Read 180 and reading intervention and getting those up and running for our students! 
• Team leaders coming together and inspiring me with their collaboration and great ideas!  
• Clarissa organizing the Character Counts curriculum and with Lorenzo's help hanging the new banners! 
• Kindergartner's in Mrs. Little's class working with pattern blocks and academic language (asking for more "trapazoids")!
• Mrs. Lasak's Kinders going on a music parade after reading about Jazz music!  

Nuts and Bolts:

• The Leadership Team along with Clarissa and myself will be attending the Excellence Through Equity Conference on 9/21 and 9/22.  You can find out more about the conference at: http://www.rcoe.us/leadership-institute/excellence-through-equity-conference-2017/ .  It is my hope that we walk away from the conference with a renewed sense of purpose and a starting point for our discussion about equity and access for all of our students.

• Mr. Hara will be Admin Designee while we are away.  Please handle any non emergency issues for those two days.  Clarissa and I will be available through email and phone, and will follow up on any discipline Monday. 

• Please calendar the Team Meeting on September 27th  - we will have Janet Sewell (K-2) and Andy Stekevich (3-6) presenting "We've Dieble'd, now what?" to primary and upper grade levels.  

• International Day of Peace will be celebrated at Hawthorne on Monday, 9/25.  Watch for an email with more details next week.  Here is the link for the pinwheels: http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/pinwheelsforpeace/home.html

• REEF Grants are due October 9th - Here is the link: http://www.reef4rusd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/REEF-2017-Teaching-grant-application-1.pdf

• K-6 ELA/ELD Writing Assessments The Writing Assessment sequence for 2017-2018 is:
• 1st Trimester: Informative/Explanatory
• 2nd Trimester: Opinion/Argument
• 3rd Trimester: Narrative
• It is recommended that results of each trimester writing assessment follow Cycle of Inquiry to analyze results to plan meaningful instructional responses. Access K-6 2017-2018 ELA Assessment Table here. Contact Marie Coover if you have any questions.

• Dibels scanning deadline is 9/29

• Kellie Nunez will be joining our school as a student teacher in Marian Lasak's class - she starts on Monday!  

• Please let me know if you are interested in using (or have used) Discovery Education Streaming in your classrooms.  

• Continue to collect Packet and Miles of Smiles information (Miles of Smiles can be turned in daily) from your students.   

• Please review recess duty schedule - it has been revised and please ensure you are on time to your duty.  

• Shared Leadership Team's first meeting will be 9/29 - watch for an email next week with more details

It is crucial that our students attending Read 180, System 44 or Band are arriving on time.  Please do everything possible to ensure the students are prepared and leaving your class early, so they can arrive on time.  Thank you. 

Friday Focus

     It was such a pleasure to walk the classrooms with Lynn Carmen Day today.  Everyone was so gracious and present, even though we were about two hours later than expected.  Thank you.  as I was walking I was reminded of the power of student collaboration and voice.  The video above is an excellent example of a school intentionally teaching oracy (the ability to express oneself with fluency) to their students.  This school is in London, and most of the students are second language learners.
     I was also reminded of the 10-2-2 strategy today.  This format advocates that the teacher speak for no more than 10 minutes, then provide 2 minutes of group processing time and 2 minutes of individual processing time.  This strategy has been shown to increase student engagement and in turn student outcomes and achievement.  It also provides equity in the classroom by providing all students opportunities to express themselves and use their voice.  Try the 10-2-2 strategy this week and let me know how it goes, or better yet, invite us to come and watch!

Upcoming Events:

9/18 - Constitution Day

9/18 - Family Literacy (9:00-10:30)

9/18 - School Board Meeting (6:30)

9/19 - Discipline Training Class (Carrie and Clarissa) (12:30-3:30)

9/20 - PTA Breakfast (Carrie)

9/20 - Staff Meeting (2:55)

9/21 - Equity Conference (Leadership, Carrie and Clarissa)

9/22 - Equity Conference (Leadership, Carrie and Clarissa)

9/25-9/29 - BOOK FAIR MPR

9/25 and 9/27 - Carrie at Pro-Act Training

9/28 - All Day Principals Meeting (Carrie)

9/28 - Student of the Month (MOVED TO THURSDAY)

9/29 - Shared Leadership Team Meeting (All Day)