September 13, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Check out just a few of the awesome things I noticed at Dodgeland Elementary this week.

• A team rallying around a student who had an unusually rough day.
• Students filling out planners by reflecting on their day to share with their families.
• Students learning about how to strengthen their most important muscle--their brains!
• A student thanking me for helping him in the Oasis much later in the day.
• Junior Coaches becoming leaders in the school during K-2 lunch period.
• 5K students learning ways to read books.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Monday, 9/16 - 
• Fall fundraiser begins, please send home packets
• Picture Day - Marie will call classrooms down
• Tuesday, 9/17 - 
• An important flyer regarding community listening sessions to be sent home with youngest/oldest child
• Trojan Jr. Football (grades 5/6) plays at Home.  Game time is 6pm.
• Wednesday, 9/18 - 
• Workout Wednesday!
• Newsletter articles are due to Marie.  Click here for the newsletter sign-up.
• Thursday, 9/19 - 
• FFA Petting Zoo (Schedule is here.)
•  9/23, 9/25, 9/26 from 8-noon - 
• Playworks Coaching visits in classrooms,  (See below for more information)
• Thursday-Friday, 9/26-9/27 - 
• I will be leaving at 11 on Thursday to go to Lexi's wedding!  Seriously, it's in 2 weeks.  Yikes!

Nitty-Gritty

• As we learned during the Playworks in the Classroom training in August, our coach is coming back to help us implement ideas in our classrooms across the school.  She will visit all classrooms from 5K-5th grade during the same week in 35 min blocks. Jena will be modeling a brain break/game (one for the primary grades and a different one for the 3-5 grades for approximately 12 min.) . Then she will observe each classroom with a brain break you have tried this month.  The last 10 min. will be Q/A with Jena to ask questions and receive helpful feedback.  I will be coming around with a schedule to get each classroom signed up.  

• i-Ready testing - The Fall testing window is open.  Please let me know if you need any help or support to complete the testing before September 27. 

• Attendance Initiative - The attendance team is meeting this week on Wed, 9/18 at noon to plan the monthly plans for encouraging strong attendance for all students.  If you'd like to join this committee, please let me know.

PD Spotlight

I follow a blog called Two Writing Teachers.  They have a lot of really great posts every week and sometimes even more often than that.  This post that I read this summer has stuck with me for 2 reasons.

1. The book that the author highlights reminds me of a number of wonderful, lovable children that we get to teach at Dodgeland.  I felt that this title would speak to a few of our students.
2. The author interview that follows adds insight into what the child with high energy may need to be successful in a workshop model in the classroom.

Hopefully you find this helpful as well.

Friday Funny