Hello All!
I hope you had a fantastic weekend! It’s been a busy first 36 days of school (yes, only 36!), and we have lots more fun coming in November, starting this week! I know it can be hard sometimes to appreciate the fruits of our labor in the moment, but know that all the extra efforts you put in make a big difference–we are helping to raise really good humans, and nothing could be more important!
Grade 4 went on a field trip to the landfill last week, and Angela Spaid (Benji and Finn’s mom) captured this on the bus:
A few notes to get you going on this Fall Monday:
1) November is now officially Kindness Month. Please be sure you read the email I sent last week.
2) Tomorrow is the Jammie Jam! As a reminder K-2 will be on the course from 10 to 10:30, 3-5 from 10:30-11. Volunteers have it organized and ready, we just need you out there cheering the kids on! We will need to do Choice Time from 9-9:20 on Tuesday in order to give volunteers time to get the course set up.
Plan B due to weather will be to set up a course in the gym and hallway. Should be fun…
3) Tomorrow is also PJ and movie day. I am hoping you are all set with plans for the day. Please let me know what movies will be watched. Thanks!
4) Please, please make sure kiddos have everything they need for lunch recess when they leave for lunch (jackets, hats, gloves, stuffies, etc). We have lots of kiddos asking to be let into their classrooms to get jackets and we’d prefer to avoid this (it’s a pain!). Thanks!
5) We’ve had a Staff Meeting on the books for Tuesday but I’d like to give that time for people to finish prep for the Student Success Meetings.
6) SIW this week is teacher directed.
7) Student Success Meetings on Thursday–please take time to prep early this week: Student Success Prep
Schedule:
8:30-9:00am: Lauren
9:00-9:30am: Frans
10:00-10:30am: Amanda
10:30-11:00am: Brian
12:00-12:30pm: Lindsey
12:30-1:00pm: Ray
8) I’ll be out all day on Wednesday at an admin PD in La Pine. Call or text if you need anything!
9) As decided at SIW last week we will continue with current Buddies and will plan to switch it up in January.
The following was posted in the latest TLC update and I thought it might be useful for you in understanding the difference between Lexia and Reading Playground. I think it’s important that we consider how each of these can be used to support individual needs.
Lexia vs Reading Playgrounds – who wins? Both…they serve different purposes!
Lexia provides differentiated guided practice and feedback in both word recognition and language comprehension, which helps move learning forward. Lexia is more comprehensive than Reading Playgrounds. Lexia is meant to work on all reading and language standards, not just the word recognition subset.
To increase students’ growth toward grade level standards, it is important for students to meet units gained. This is most important for students who are currently below grade level. When thinking about the use of time, the best instruction for a student is when they are in a small group receiving direct, explicit instruction. The next best instructional method is to be working in a program like Lexia that provides guided practice feedback that moves learning forward. Lexia should take priority over other independent tasks.
Reading Playgrounds is a formative assessment that provides the teacher feedback on whether students learned what was taught that week in core instruction. It is meant to be used to practice the current skills students are working on and also to assess mastery of skills. The first three games assess content taught so far and the rest of the games are just practice. Consider what is most important with the time you have.
Upcoming
November 1: Jammie Jam! Also PJ and Movie day!
November 1: Staff Meeting, CANCELLED
November 3: Student Success meetings
November 8: Skip (my boss) will be visiting classroom
November 10: Secure Drill, 9:20am
November 11: Veteran’s Day, No School
November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break, No School
November 29: Fire Drill, 9:20am
November 30: Picture retakes
Here’s to an amazing week ahead!
Andy