September 20, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Teachers helping students in crisis, and creating proactive schedules as a team.
• 1st graders quickly and quietly finding new books in the library.
• Flexibility by students and staff with a Plan B for the Petting Zoo!
• Students working hard on their i-Ready assessments and teachers working together to provide a positive testing environment for everyone.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Monday, 9/23 - 
• Playworks Coach visit 8-noon (Schedule)
• Effective Project Training at 3:15 in the IMC (Click here for specifics.)
• Tuesday, 9/24 - 
• 5th/6th grade Trojan Jr Football plays at home @ 6pm
• Wednesday, 9/25 - 
• Playworks Coach visit
• 5th grade level data meeting (D.O. conference room) @ noon
• Staff Meeting at 3:10 in the IMC
• Thursday, 9/26 - 
• Playworks Coach visit
• Jenny is leaving at 11am
• Friday, 9/27 - 
• First Popcorn sale of the school year!
• Jenny is gone all day.
• October 1st -
•  Fundraiser money is due
• Flu Shot Clinic
• Mid-Term for Qtr 1

Nitty-Gritty

• Attendance Committee - The attendance committee met this week and worked on monthly challenges for the year.  September is a surprise treat on Friday, 9/20.  October will be a classroom challenge.  Watch for more details to come.

• Popcorn sale will start next Friday, September 27.  This year, cheese popcorn will be the last Friday of each quarter.  I'm still working on getting some helpers for picking up the supplies and delivering it to classrooms.  If you have any ideas, please let me know!

• Looking for 2 volunteers to help out with lunch duty on Friday, September 27.  One for K-2 and one for 3-5. Please let me know if you can help out with this.

• PALS testing - (Grades K-2) Jessica is working on this part and will have all of the forms in your mailboxes by Monday.

• WIN - When the results of our fall assessments are ready, we will begin planning for WIN.  The goal is to start WIN for all students the first week of October.  RtI bootcamp will continue until then.

PD Spotlight

I know I have referenced Daniel Pink's short videos called The PinkCast before.  I love how he is able to drill down and give information to make you think, it's practical and in a short amount of time.  Click here to watch a 2-min. video that describes how to best take a break.  At our last staff meeting, we discussed how the Oasis provides a break to help our students get back to their upstairs brain and ready to learn.  We related it to ourselves and our own need for a break sometimes.  Many of the things in his list are provided to our students in the Oasis.  How can we use these ideas for ourselves too?

Friday Funny

This week's Friday funny is a story from years ago when I taught 1st grade.  I truly love having conversations with children every day, but sometimes a conversation just sticks with me.  This one makes me laugh and also makes me think.

One day, a little girl in my class came in to school with a patterned skirt, knee socks, a bright colored shirt, a vest and about 20 barrettes in her hair, none of which matched. She proudly walked in to the room and said, "Hi Mrs. Huelsman!  Look at my outfit!  I picked it out all by myself!"  Of course, I responded with a smile and an enthusiastic "WOW! You are so independent!" (Yes, I was used to working with Middle School students still!)

She then said, "Ya, my dad said that it was SOME OUTFIT!"  She was all smiles and skipped to her desk.  So while her dad knew that it was not necessarily a matching outfit, she took his words as a compliment and was a happy girl all day.  Her dad let her bask in her accomplishment and didn't diminish her happiness and pride.  

Wouldn't it be nice if we could have moments like this as adults too?  Someone notices our work, gives us a sincere compliment, and we are safe to feel pride in our own accomplishments. I can't wait to see what we all accomplish together this year!