School Design Visit
Our school design visit did not go as planned. Some significant student issues at both Ensworth and Pine Ridge threw a few wrenches into our plans. Dana Pederson was able to make it over here for a little while, but we spend the majority of our time supporting one of 1st grade buddies here. We are chalking it up to full-moon residual after-effect.
Hallway Behavior
I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge your work on managing the hallway behavior. It’s a challenging task as you have a lot of uncontrolled variables working against your goal, but I want you to know your efforts are obvious and the impact is there. A huge thank you to Lorin and the Thriving Citizen team for coming up with a fun way to promote the behavior we want to see with the tickets!
Field and Playground improvements:
- Wood border replacements – As you probably already noticed, we replaced the borders of the play equipment to get rid of the large, sword-like splinters and metal spikes. As fun as those items were, it was time for them to go.
- Border Configurations – We also changed the shape of the border and the pattern of irrigation to enclose the space between the big toy and the fitness structure within the bark area. Prior to his change, the area was either dusty, dirt bowl or a mud/ice nightmare on a day to day basis so this change will allow us to utilize this space for a new purpose. That new purpose is explained below.
- Ga-Ga – Our 4th/5th graders were able to get a little experience with a Ga-Ga Pit while at camp this past Fall and this sparked some interest in bringing the game here. We (district maintenance) are researching the materials and costs associated with this structure and looking to use the $1500 from the energy savings contest toward this fun addition to the playground. There will be some training involved with the Ga-Ga pit and I’ve asked Scott to do a little research and plan on training all our students on the rules of the game and expectations during PE. I have not been sharing this with students, as I feel it would be a fun surprise, but I wanted to give you a heads up once I knew it might be a reality. I still don’t know the exact timeline for installation, but it’s in the works and it should happen relatively soon.
- Field Lines – We also added some field lines to provide some more appropriate boundaries for the different games. We are hoping this will increase the safety and also decrease the balls launching over the fence. We will change the orientation of these lines every few months or so to change the wear patterns on the field, but the visual boundaries are already helping tremendously.
Gym Plans
If you are curious to see the plans for the gym, I have an updated set in my office. The design was pretty much decided and set in the spring, but I realize it’s been awhile since many of you have had any opportunities to view the plans or drawings, so if you would like to take a look please let me know and I will pull them out and share. I put yellow sticky notes on the pages that give you the best views of the building from different perspectives.
Construction is rumbling along… it’s rockin’ and rollin’…in fact you could say, we are movin’ and shakin’…. Sorry, my head is getting a little rattled lately.
Everyday Math
The following information came to me from Everyday Math, so I am just passing it along. Click on link below for the pdf. Digital News & Updates – The digital newsletter outlines the updates from the November release, which includes updates to Reporting features, Data Dashboard, and ePresentation bug fixes. The newsletter and pop-up will appear for all grades within ConnectED.
TAG Students’ Needs
The following article was shared with all TAG coordinators, so I thought I would pass it along in the interest of sharing. It’s a tall order to ask teachers to individualize education for so many diverse learners and wide range, so please know I appreciate every move, effort and thought you put into designing lessons for all our students’ needs.
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-scientists-learned-about-genius-2016-9
Free Books– Free always gets your attention.
The Literacy Empowerment Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, invites your school or other literacy project to apply for FREE books for Read Across America Day. During the past year, LEF has distributed over 3,000,000 books to schools all across the country for Read Across America Day and other literacy projects.
These books are free. Educators only pay shipping and handling. Resources are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Orders must be received by February 12th, 2018.
Please share this information with your fellow educators!
Free Books for Read Across America Day: Order Form at http://www.lefbooks.org
Calendar
Please take a moment to glance at the calendar. – Calendar Link