Winter Break is almost here! We can do it!
Just a reminder - please be sensitive and aware of the upcoming winter break. First, we should not be celebrating Christmas. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier this month, this is not always a positive time of year for some kids. It's stressful - they don't know if they are getting presents, if they are going to eat, what their time away from school will look like, etc. Please be sensitive to this as we finish up December.
Also, please be aware of behaviors increasing next week. A lot of the anxiety and uncertainty of break can result in behaviors. This is the time students need us, more than ever.
Positive Office Referral:
In January, we will be starting a "positive office referral" for students. This office referral is meant to bring students to the office for positive things - above and beyond the normal expectation. When a student comes down, they will ring the "gong" below (it will be located in the office). Then, I will take a picture of the student holding their positive office referral. Then, every week, we will tweet out a collage of the students who received this.
This is NOT meant to take the place of a McKinleyStrong slip. This is meant for the "above and beyond" situations, not the day to day successes. Think of it like behavior - is it classroom-managed or office-managed? We obviously want to celebrate students with the positive office referral; however, we can't have all kids getting them, every day. I would say one every week (or even every two weeks) would be a general rule. This really comes down to the amount of time and this losing it's impact if we issue too many.
I'm excited to see how this works out!
Below is a blog entry written by Jess Zupansic, Jen Schlauderaff, and Liz Stitzmeyer about the work they are doing with co-teaching in 1st Grade. There is some awesome work in the building going on around co-teaching, particularly with EL and Special Education. It's been powerful to see the "all hands on deck" approach happening with this model.
We attended an exciting co-teaching training session this summer with Martina Wagner and were introduced to many new co-teaching models. We had a chance to brainstorm how we could integrate these models into our reading block. We loved a lot of her ideas and used them to create a hybrid model that we thought could help meet the kids’ needs in guided reading. Here is a snapshot of a day in the life of first grade co-teaching!
We have really enjoyed the co-teaching experience so far. The first graders really are benefiting from having two reading teachers that are there to notice their strengths, gains and areas where they may need support. The students are showing such great growth and we feel like we know our students as readers better than we ever have because of the meaningful conversations we have about each one each week.
Where? We take turns with space. Liz spends a week teaching at our guided reading table in the classroom and we work in the glass conference room with the other group. The next week, we switch spots and groups.
When: Liz co-teaches with Jen for 1 hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon with Jess
Why? We noticed that 45 minutes of independent time for six year olds was leading to some issues with disengagement. The hybrid that we created helped make independent time more guided and purposeful. We are now free during their independent reading time to confer with students and are gaining even more information about them as readers.
How: Liz meets with Jen and Jess each once per week during prep time. We sometimes meet as a group of three when we have a writing project we want to collaborate on. During our planning time we go over any reading record data, anecdotal notes, set new guided reading and language goals, and have really purposeful conversations about each child.
Revisiting Expectations with Student Buy-In:
As we know, this time of year can get hard - lots of indoor recess, little sunshine, etc. Our approach with PBIS continues to remind me of the importance of continually revisiting and reviewing expectations, and teaching these expectations (much like we would teach reading or math skills on a daily basis).
I came across this on Twitter - a great way to involve students in problematic behavior in your classroom. Are students too loud during transitions? Room is left messy? Below is a tool to bring students together and pose the problem- and let them own the work toward a solution. As our work with Eric Jensen's "Engaging with Poverty in Mind", we know that a classroom management issue is our issue. However, this is a great way to bring the issue to students' attention and involve them in the process.
Important Assessment Information:
Fastbridge benchmark assessments are just around the corner.
Our CBMr (fluency rate - grades 1-5) and e-reading (K&1) assessments will take place January 10th for ALL students. We are training the team of retired teachers to administer these assessments right after break. A schedule of your specific time will come back right after break.
A-reading and A-math assessments will be administered by the classroom teacher in the classroom. We are utilizing the window of January 14-25, so that students are back in routines. The Fastbridge window closes the 25th, so you will want to leave time for make ups if students are absent. You may want to have a conversation as a grade level about when you'd like to schedule these and reserve the computer carts soon, as we know those times fill up quickly.
F&P Benchmark Assessments have a window of February - March to reassess each student grades 1-5.
Libby will send additional information about all of these closer to the time, but wanted to give a heads up to the date ranges now. Please let me know what questions you have.
Building Weekly Newsletter:
Click here to access the building weekly newsletter
McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week:
Our McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week goes to our Cultural Liaison, Sylvia Zavala! Sylvia "wears" many hats at McKinley - supporting families, students, and staff. Sylvia is supportive, compassionate, and flexible with everyone she serves. One of the things that impresses me most about Sylvia is the relationships she builds with everyone around her, particularly with families. She is always serving our McKinley families, even in her "outside of work" life. We are happy you are McKinleyStrong, Sylvia! Keep up the great work!
Enjoy the weekend- it's going to be a nice, warm weekend!
-Justin
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