Week of December 9th, 2013
Hello Bulldogs,
Yes, I admit it. I like funny cat pictures. I hope everyone had fun in the snow and stayed safe on the roads. Most everyone knows that there will not be school this Monday. There will be professional development offered at school today from 9:30-11:30. If you have concerns about driving, then please do not get on the road. Call me by phone at some point today if you can’t make it.
Schedule of Events for the Week
December 9 (M)
9:30-11:30, Professional Development with Spring Creek Elementary and Howard Elementary
12:15-2:15, Professional Development for Classified in Literacy Instruction from Marlee Litten
PTO Meeting Cancelled
December 10 (T)
11:15-11:45, Joel in pre observation meeting (Joel’s Office)
3:00-4:00, December Site Council Meeting (Room 13)
4:00-6:00, Joel to 4j Equity Committee Meeting (Cesar Chavez Elementary Library)
December 11 (W)
10:00- 11:00, Joel in formal observation (Classroom)
11:15-11:45, Joel in post conference (Joel’s Office)
December 12 (H)
No CLIC Meeting this week due to the Saphier PD Schedule change.
8:00-4:00, Joel and Christina to Research for Better Teaching Meeting (Out All Day)(Ed Center)
4:00-6:00, Joel to Nutrition Services Committee Advisory Meeting (Ed Center)
6:00-8:00, Joel at PTO Craft Night for Kids! & The Book Fair Extravaganza (Gym)
December 13 (F)
6:00-10:00 PM, Awbrey Park Winter Party at Amy Anderson’s House
Some items of note for the week:
December 13th PD/Planning Day – A quick reminder that for Friday’s PD, teachers are to bring 1 lesson in a unit, which will provide the primary focus of the day. This PD day will not be a sit-and-get session and will be one where staff will get out of it as much as they put into it. And like I said before, I don’t expect teachers to have fully written out student-teacher-style lesson plans, but do come to the meeting prepared to complete the attached form regarding your instructional practices, the lessons, and ideas to share with the Spring Creek Staff.
TalentEd and Updated SMART Goals – If you have not completed your SMART Goals yet, please block out some time to complete them before the end of 2013. Send me an electronic copy or put a hard copy in my box before winter break.
Math CCSS Resource – If there are staff looking for some math ideas and lessons geared toward CCSS. Chris Castillero has shared this site before and it’s on the curriculum website (along with other strategies/ideas)
How to Guide Parents in Homework Help – This article has some good tips on what messages teachers can communicate to parents about how to help their child with homework, such as parents should be encouraged to be less involved with the child’s actual homework task and more involved in communicating with the teacher.
Excellent Article on Writing using iPads:
Here is a great article on using iPads to teach writing that our iT3 Team will enjoy.
Argumentative Writing Link provided by Peggy Marconi: This is a great Argumentative Writing Link that Peggy Marconi shared with me before the big snow storm. You will find it very useful to formulate structures for teaching writing at all grade levels. Eventually, we will spend time discussing this link in our professional development time.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Link of the Week:
This isn’t a diversity link, but it does directly connect to the climate of our classrooms each and every day and indirectly relates to how safe our students feel. Daniel Goleman’s work on mental focus applies to our classrooms and how we structure academic time and down time. Watch the short video and read the article.
Two more weeks until Winter Break and I’ll see you some of you today.
Joel