Weekly Update - Friday, February 14, 2020

Happy Valentine's Day!

Upcoming Deadlines:

Just a reminder of a few things that are due soon:

Staff Power Hour Feedback & Reflection (all staff) - due tomorrow, Friday.  Please cross off your name on the list (on my table) when you have submitted this.  I have a lot that gave to Steph or put in my mailbox - you need to cross off your name, too!  You can reply to this email and I'll be glad to cross your name off.

Caring School Community Fidelity Check (teaching staff) - due next Friday.  Again, please put on my table and cross off your name.  

Bowling:
On Friday, February 28, we will be celebrating our "filling the jar". I will be making an announcement at dismissal today to let students know that we will be going bowling!  Justin Lang has been working on a schedule for the day.  Each grade level will go the bowling alley for an hour - the schedule is super tight, so we will need to follow it to the minute.  Justin will be sending this out today - please look through it and provide any feedback to he and I both.  This feedback includes any major, glaring issues with the schedule.

Conferences with Fountas and Pinnell - from Ann Mikkalson:
See the note below from Ann - please, please, please take some time to read this.  Just another reminder - students' levels are a teaching tool, not a label.  Our conference time should be spent focusing on the strengths, the instructional goals, and our plan to move them forward as a reader... not their level.  

I hope this message finds you all well! Heinemann recently shared an hour long webinar in regards to grading and reporting. To find the webinar, head to fountasandpinnell.com, click on the "Community" tab and login with your online resources login.  Once you've logged in, type "grading" into the search bar. The recent webinar is called "Tips for Grading and Reporting within Fountas and Pinnell Classroom." 

If you aren't able to take a listen, I'd like to leave a couple of the many great points from the webinar below as you're preparing for conferences! 

• Thinking, talking, reading, and writing are all intertwined in Fountas and Pinnell Classroom through all of our instructional contexts. Share things you're seeing in all of these areas with families! 
• Reading levels are a teaching tool, not a label for a reader. Be sure to use language that reflects the child's progress towards expectations ( is meeting expectations, is not yet meeting expectations, is above what we would expect at this point in time.) Letter levels help us choose books for instruction (best entry point!) and our students experience many different levels of text throughout the day in Interactive Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. Reading levels are not designed to be a way to label students. 

Report cards show a point in time for the students in your classroom- their current progress. Below are some ideas shared in the webinar for helping families understand how far their child has come this year and where you expect them to go as the year progresses. 

• Running Record/Guided Reading Notes- Share examples of books the student read at the beginning of the year and types of books they're reading now in guided reading. What are some specific things you've been working on from the Systems of Strategic Actions Wheel and how have you seen them grow over the course of the year?  
• Independent Reading Conferring Notes- Share examples of conversations you've had with students. Talk about reading engagement both in school and at home. What are some examples of what students love to read at school? Ask parents to share what they notice about their child's reading engagement and types of books they read at home.  
• Reader's Notebooks- This is another opportunity to showcase beginning to current writing, reading logs and note students' progress. You can clip certain portions to share or have students choose some of their favorites from the beginning of the year to now. 

Again, take a listen to the full webinar if you can! I know that time is limited and your time with families is brief, but wanted to be sure you're aware of the webinar and information above if you're looking for ideas. Please reach out to your Teaching and Learning Coach or myself if you have any questions. 

Wishing you the very best in connecting with your students' families in the weeks ahead! 

Educational Assistant:
Joni Oeltjenbruns has submitted her resignation; her last day will be next Thursday, February 20.  Joni has been a wonderful addition to our EA team.  We are sad to see her go!   The position is posted online if you know of anyone who is interested!

Building Weekly Newsletter:
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Have a great weekend - stay warm! 
-Justin