Hi everyone ~ Is it just me, or did this seem like an unusually long break?  I think it may have to do with the couple of snow days we had before break.  Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready for 2017.    We have a lot going on as we begin the new year.  First,  I wanted to acknowledge all of the hard work each team is doing in Thriving Citizens, Academic Excellence, and Future Ready.    Each team continues to design PD and activities in each area that help each one of us and our students grow.   Our teams meet once each month and I recently sent out a list of team members if you need to check on that.  One thing I am very proud of is all the efforts we are making in our Academic Excellence goal, which is to implement small group instruction (SGI) in all content areas and all grade-levels.  This is a very challenging goal and implementation varies with content & grade-levels.  We are having some very good discussion and questions around the school about when is SGI the most effective?  When is it not?  How can I make it work in my class?  What will classroom management look like when kids are working independently?  SGI is such a good way to differentiate your instruction at all levels and develop a deeper understanding of student’s needs that you may not get from whole group instruction. Let’s keep the conversations going and support each other to take risks and learn from what works and does not work.

This week is looking to be very cold with temps forecasted to not even get out of the teens! Unfortunately, that means some indoor recesses.  Our supervision staff will cover your classes as usual, but please know that if you need to take your class out at some point and get some fresh air, make sure all the kids are dressed appropriately, use your professional judgement, and take them out!  I will be checking every recess to try and get the kids out too.

A couple of reminders:

• Safe Schools On-Line Trainings need to be completed this month.  Please try and find a time to get this done.
• SIW this week:  Meet in library at 2:30 for a quick discussion about Science Curriculum with Heather R.  Then move into GLTs for team time and science follow up.
• No staff meeting on Tuesday.
• EBISS 5th grade on Weds. @ 7:45

Please remember to check the WW calendar for more information.  There is a technical glitch with recurring events in the calendar that I am trying to fix with tech, so you may see a repeat when there shouldn’t be here and there.

Thanks and I am looking forward to seeing everyone and getting the new year off to a great start.

~Dan

Thanks Eilean for hosting a really fun Staff Christmas Party!  It was so great to see so many of you and meet new spouses, etc.  This week, we have our Family Luncheon on Thursday.  This is always a huge event and Marna will be leading the choir with some great music.  The cafe is always packed with family and it is a great way to celebrate the week before break.  Many people will be volunteering to help and serve food.  Thanks in advance for that.

The Future Ready Team met on Thursday and continued the great work we are doing at Juniper.  We will be purchasing Spheros and other tech gadgets to bring some of the coding practice into the classroom in a robotic way.  You can go here for more info about Spheros.  We will also be reviewing the Tech Expectations as a team, so we all have a better understanding of what we are to be doing tech wise at Juniper.   I hope the Hour Of Code is going well for you and you are getting some exposure to your students in some way.  Remember, you can extend this into this week.

Hot Topics for this week:

• No staff meeting or training on Tues.
• District SIW on Weds.
• Academic Excellence meeting on Thursday am
• Scholastic Book Fair in the library

You can check the calendar in the sidebar for all the scheduled activities.

Please remember to wear your vests and IDs.  Also, remind students about Learning Zones.  As I walk through the halls, I notice this is something we are going to have to keep reminding our students about and I need your help to keep that going.

Thanks and have a great Sunday!

Hopefully you made it down to the Christmas Parade on Saturday.  Heather was the Grand Marshall this year and our Juniper Choir sang Christmas songs on a borrowed USFS truck/trailer that was converted into a float.  That’s Shay Mikalson, BLPS supt. riding with Heather.  Huge Shout Out! to Marna for all the hard work getting the choir prepared and all of the extra work in float decoration.  Many parents helped out too and there was a good turn out from our Juniper Families!

Check out this video of the choir: Rockin’ Choir

As we think about our learners and the daily practice, we have to ask ourselves, “how are we preparing our kids for the 21st century and beyond?”  Fortunately, it’s not all on us, but we play a part in our student’s learning with every interaction we have with them.  Moving from Student A to Student B is a monumental task, but the shift is happening.  The below video is inspirational in thinking about today’s learners.  It’s 11 minutes long, but worth a watch.

The Adaptable Mind

Wednesday’s SIW was very good.  We had excellent participation and staff asked some great questions.  Amy commented to me afterward that it was the first presentation she had done with so much interest, involvement, and hard questions.  She was very moved by it.  Thank you all for your participation in this very serious issue.  I have contacted the district about the cameras and will continue to work on that.  Please continue to wear your vests at supervision, wear your IDs at all times, be vigilant and aware.  We are planning on a evacuation, lockout, lockdown, and earthquake drill sometime over the next two weeks.  I will send out more information when we finalize plans.  Also, take a look at this link for BLPS safety guidelines: BLPS Safety

Of course, with the snow on Sunday, it’s a good time to take a look at the guide.  Inclement Weather .  It’s supposed to get cold and snowy later this week.  Just a follow-up.  If we have a two-hour delay, I want to emphasize that you come in when it is safe, your kids are safe, and you can make it in.  That might be as close to 8am as possible or at 10:30am because of circumstances in your morning.  Use your professional judgement.

We will be switching over the Weekly Wildcat calendar full time and not using the Outlook calendar.  We are finding there is too much confusion with the two calendars and we don’t want to lose information.

Christmas Party this Friday at Eilean’s House!!!

Thanks and have a great week!

~Dan

Hi everyone ~ Welcome back and I hope you had an amazing week off.  I’m feeling refreshed, recharged and ready to go!  I am going to keep this post very short with a few quick highlights about the week:

• EBISS KG on Wednesday @ 7:45
• Activity Kit Training with Katie Ahern, Tuesday @ 8, Library
• Staff v. Student BBall on Wednesday – Two games
• SIW: Safety Training with SRO Amy Ward
• Dan @ School Law Conference TH & F.
• First Friday – location TBD.

Please check the sidebar calendar for more information about the week.  You can click on any event and get all the pertinent information you need.  For example, we have two basketball games on Weds.  Click on the event and you can see the times.  You can also check the Outlook calendar to see the same events.  If you are having trouble seeing that calendar, let Marlene know.  She can send you an invite.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

~Dan

Hi all ~ This quick read has some good instructional strategies to keep in mind when working with our ELLs.  ~Dan

Source: Do’s & Don’ts For Teaching English-Language Learners | Edutopia

Esteemed Staff ~ The last week was an emotional week for the entire nation.  The feeling at Juniper was calm and solid and I am thankful for that.  Other schools here and across the nation have not been as fortunate.  Shay’s email addressed the seriousness of this.  One thing I want to say is to be very careful what you put on social media.  The public (and media) are picking up on what educator’s are saying and broadcasting that out.   We are all representatives of Juniper and BLPS and what you say matters!  Please maintain professionalism all the time.

Gary Timm’s message below eloquently  sums up how many of us are feeling.  Please take a moment to read this and watch the inspirational video.  Both are moving.

I thought I’d take a minute to piggy back on Shay’s earlier message to staff. Different emotions have risen up for people over the last few days and I’ve had a few questions and discussions about how we should navigate. Really, the only answer I have is, the same way we always do. We are fortunate to be in a position to help and care for and love kids everyday. No matter what child walks through our door, our job is to do our best to help them no matter what they need. Whether they are at our school for a day, a week or six years, we do our best to help, love and care for them as long as they are there. If they are scared because their parents are divorcing, we help them. If they are scared because they are moving to a fifth school in the last year, we help them. If they are scared because of an election, we help them. If they have a hard time reading or writing or solving math problems or talking in front of a group or making friends or controlling their emotions or being humble or being kind or covering their mouth when they sneeze or walking in the hall…we help them. We help, love and care for our students no matter who they are and what they need. I think this is a message we can reiterate with staff as well.  The video below is a great example of someone who helps, loves and cares for.  Thank you for doing that every day.

Wright’s Law

New Staff: On Weds., we will introduce two new teachers to the Juniper Family.  Angela Szymanski, who is teaching the .5 5th grade position and Stacy  Wilhemsen, who will be taking over for Ryan in 1st grade.   Please welcome them to the Juniper Family and introduce yourself.  Also, Devon Halvorson is a new addition to Juniper.  You may have trouble seeing her in that she is based in KG providing behavioral support from 9 – 12 each day.  Welcome Devon!

Administrivia for the week:  Grade-level teams on Tuesday am and SIW.  I will push Bridges Implementation Guides for SIW to help guide discussion.  However, we will meet in the library first for a short meeting.  Please check the WW page for more scheduling info.

College Day on Thursday!  

Thanks for all you do each and every day ~ Dan

Source: How to Record your iPad Screen

Hi everyone ~ A lot has been happening at school.  Ryan made his announcement and we are sad to see him leave.  We will be doing interviews this week and get the new teacher ready to take over on 11/28.  Have you had a chance to meet Devon Halvorson?  She is our new EA working with KG for behavioral support in the am.  Also, I know she wouldn’t want me to mention it, but Bobbi Crane is retiring at the end of this year!

Tuesday am, representatives from the United Way will be talking with you about all the community projects they have going on and how you can help.  They would like us to watch the below 2m video in preparation.  I watched it and there is some interesting research on resiliency.

Science of Resilience

This week for SIW, Kerry Morton will be working with small group instruction in Bridges with primary grades and Heather A. will be working with 3 – 5 on small group instruction in writing.  Both workshops will be interesting and informative.

Please remember to complete your SLGGS and get them to me before we leave before Thanksgiving break.  Thanks Mary and Becky for being the first two to get them in.

Maria and I will be at Digital Leadership Academy from 2 – 5 tomorrow.

Thanks

I was reading an article about Data-Driven instruction and some of the things to be aware of.    The below quote really struck me, when thinking about EBISS, grade-level teams and making shifts in our instruction based on data. Have a read…

Be data-informed, not data-driven. Grade-level teacher teams should regularly look at students’ work to inform instruction, asking themselves, “What are our key teaching points for the coming week?” and then the next week asking, “Were we successful?” and if so, “How do we build on students’ learning?” These meetings are all about fine-tuning instruction to make all students successful. Neuman and her colleagues saw some of this kind of collaboration in the New York City schools – but not enough.