This and That:
1/29 SIW Plan: During our next SIW, we will continue to focus on the first of the 4 PLC questions, “What do we want our students to learn?” Last week, we worked as collaborative teams to create a first draft of the essential writing standards at each grade level. This week, we will be looking at the vertical alignment of these essential standards and tweaking our first draft accordingly. For those of you who would like a little more time to study the vertical alignment before Wednesday, here is a link to the first draft of our work from Wednesday 1/22 with the chosen essential standards highlighted in yellow.
Report Card Questions:Â I believe that I have been able to provide answers to most of your report card questions. The only remaining questions I am aware of are all based around Lexile scores. The answers to these questions are a little more complicated and I will share at the start of our SIW on Wednesday. The short answer (that is probably going to cause more questions than answers) is DON’T use Lexile (no, I’m not kidding… %#!@). If it would help you, feel free to chat with me individually before Wednesday. PLEASE remind me ASAP if there are other questions that you are awaiting answers to.
Safety Drill Language: I want to make sure all of you took time to read the safety drill information that I sent home to parents this week (see below) regarding the language we use during safety drills with students; please ensure your language during safety drills matches these ideas. See Kelle if you have any questions or concerns.
One of the questions I hear from parents most frequently regarding safety drills is how staff talk with students about this hard topic. First and foremost, our goal is to approach school safety in a way that helps our children feel safe and we avoid feeding fears of danger. We aim to communicate that “We are concerned about your safety,” rather than, “We live in a dangerous world.” Just as we teach students how to respond in the rare case of a fire, we also teach students what to do in the rare case that we need to have a lockdown or lockout. We don’t suggest at the elementary level that an intruder with a weapon is one reason we might practice lockdowns and lockouts; instead, we provide other possibilities such as a stray dog on the playground or a police issue in the neighborhood. If a student brings up the topic of a school shooter, the teacher might reply with “We might have heard about those on the news but there are millions of schools open every day all over the world where there has never been a problem and we have done lots of things to keep our school as safe as possible. Practicing safety drills is one of those things.” Ultimately, teachers are alert to student emotional responses and respond accordingly.
Relationship, Responsibility and Regulation Quotes:
Safety refers to two big ideas; physical safety and emotional safety. The reality is, if we don’t feel safe, we can’t lead, parent, teach, partner, or learn effectively. Our need to feel safe supersedes everything else. Our students need to know that we, the adults in the building, see each one of them as valued, capable, and awesome. Many things can negatively affect a student’s ability to feel emotionally safe. Such as an adult who does not understand him or her, others belief systems that portray that student in a negative light, or being misunderstood by others because of cultural differences.
What Happens in Your Brain When You Make Art:Â A short Read.
Valentines Day Idea:Â Mary let me know that she would be interested in using a couple of the titles from last week’s post, so I purchased them, Amy barcoded them, and they are already in Mary’s hands (just in case anyone else would like to use them. See two titles below.
To Do:
Staff Assignment Survey: ALL STAFF… Please complete the following survey by Thursday, February 6th. Link here.
District SIW series: Please ensure that you are signed up for your district SIW series:
District SIW options are now available on Performance Matters and ready for registration. Our dates for the sessions are February 5th and March 4th.  You are signing up for a two part SIW series. You will attend one class that will meet twice. Click here to go to Performance Matters then click on the “sections” tab to view all class offerings. Locations for each class can be found by clicking on the section title of each course. Classes fill up fast so please sign up as soon as possible!
Reminders For This Week:
- Monday:Â Yellow, DIBELS make-up day (no RE/ME)
- Tuesday: Red, earthquake drill
- Wednesday:Â Yellow, ICCL Meeting
- Thursday:Â Red, Eagle Spirit Assembly, Gr. 5 EBISS
- Friday:Â No Students: Report Card Day
SIW Schedule:
- 1/29 PLC
- 2/5 District (choice)
- 2/12 PLC
- 2/19 Individual Time
- 2/26 PLC
- 3/4 District (choice)
- 3/11 PLC
- 3/18 Individual
- 3/25 Spring Break