Happy Friday Everyone!
Forefront
I am really sorry about the forefront training (or lack of) on Tuesday. In a perfect world it would have been much simpler (and less anxiety-provoking) to show you the system rather than try to talk to you about it.
Here is a little more background on the “why”; One crucial component to any RTI system is systematic way to examine student progress/performance across entire classes and grade levels. There is nothing that says that the system must be in Forefront, however this is far better than trying to create our own system and it much more organized than paper-pencil methods, especially when you consider all our differences in how and what we record. The broad perspective on student performance allows us to identify gaps and blind spots in both our own instruction and the materials being used and it is a necessary component of our profession.
Kerry will be back here on Tuesday and Wednesday morning (8:05-8:35) to provide training on Forefront. We are hopeful everything will be loaded and ready to go. I will try to provide another reminder on Monday afternoon.
Tech Tips
Christie Boen asked me to share the following links with you and I would encourage you to explore this application. I sincerely wish this program had been around years ago when I first explored the one-to-one iPad world in elementary schools, but it’s better late than never. Also, Marina is rapidly becoming an expert on this application and she asked me to let you all know that she is eager and more than willing to help anyone build their experience.
Getting Started with Apple Classroom for Elementary
Using Apple Classroom for Elementary
In addition to this program, I would also like to encourage you to explore Google Classroom and the app Marina demonstrated on Wednesday, Classkick. If you are feeling adventurous and want to give it a try just reach out to Christie, Marina or me.
Cafeteria Behavior
Terry Cashmen and Garra Schulter came to observe our cafeteria for the day and they gave us high marks for the student behavior and flow of everything. In spite of the low-ceiling and smaller space our students demonstrated great self-control and manners. Kudos to everyone contributing to this effort – this is definitely a team effort.
Playground Supervision
With the removal of the fence we will be enjoying some much needed space for our recess time. The tent is going to provide some challenges to our supervision, but I think we can all agree it’s worth the challenge to gain some space back. We cannot fence off the back of the tent because this needs to remain open for emergency evacuation of the tent. We will make it off limits however we are going to allow students to use the four square courts when they are open. We will need to adjust the “patrolling” to be certain we are checking that area frequently. One person will need to move around to monitor the area from the four-square courts to the swing set. The other person will need to move around to monitor from the field to the swing set.
Thriving Citizen Meeting Recap (aka PBIS)
Here is a quick recap of our meeting earlier this week. For more details feel free to see your grade level rep at the meeting, Lorin or me.
- Please remind olders (2/3 & 4/5 ) that they are role models in our school (please walk in hall, don’t laugh at inappropriate kinder behavior).
- Agreements around hallway behavior
- When coming to and from recess our expectations is no talking. Teachers will try to meet their kids when they are able and at least meet them at their doors.
- When working in the hallway the expectation is kids are talking in level 1-2 –
- When walking to and from specialists our expectation is level 0 (silent). Please stay on the right side – many kids need to be taught/re-taught about how to walk on the right side.
- More Voice Level Posters are on the way so we are all speaking the same language!
- PSI kids will be out on the playground during the 10:30 recess starting on Tuesday. I, Lorin, will meet with them on Monday to talk about this year’s plan.
- We will send out a seating plan and traffic flow plan for our first assembly on Friday, October 6th.
- First student store was a success today thanks to a student/staff team effort. Future student store dates are on the google calendar.
- I shared a slideshow with photos of the different items to help the kinders and 1st graders come to the “shop” a little better prepared to make those tough choices – I hope that helped.
Leadership Meeting RecapWe had a discussion on Active Shooter Response & Training. There really are no changes to be communicated however a recent article prompted me to ask some questions and gather a little more information for future plans.
Our second topic was Messaging and Challenges around School Design. I want to continue to revisit this topic in an effort to make this process fit our needs and push us (without overwhelming us).
One goal (also related to messaging) I will work on for future Weekly Updates is to make things more concise to make it easier to scan.
Once again, please see your grade level rep for more details.
Parent Newsletter
If you have not already seen it, the parent newsletter is going out in a slightly different manner. You should be receiving a brief email message with a link. The link takes you directly to the website where all the newsletters are archived and easy to access. If you have not received these email prompts each Friday, please let me know. Thank you to Shawna and Deb for making the new process work.
If you ever have any special messages of gratitude or appreciation you would like to include in the newsletter, please send it to us (Shawna, Deb, and me) and we would love to add it in.
Click below for a quick look at the calendar;
There is much more to share, but this message is long enough, so I am pulling the plug for now. I’ll end by reiterating my appreciation for working with each and everyone of you. I am so fired up to come to work each day and I love watching this community learn and grow. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Brian