November 26, 2019

Thanksgiving Week Quick Blog Update

This two-day week is a whirlwind!  Thanks for keeping the focus on learning.  When we return it will be a fast 3 weeks before our winter break.  When we keep our focus on the routines/procedures and the learning we get to do, our students' behavior and/or anxiety stays in check.  The more we disrupt their routine, the more struggles our students seem to have.  Thank you in advance for helping them to stay regulated during this time of year.  For some students, this time of year is more difficult and stressful.  Continuing to be the consistent, caring people and places in their lives will help them tremendously!

Nitty-Gritty

• Sharing with our Community - FaceBook and beyond
• FaceBook is a wonderful social media tool that reaches a large portion of our community.  It is a way to showcase our celebrations and get important information out to stakeholders in our community.  However, it can also be a place where others can spread negativity or complaining.  DES has a lot of things to celebrate.  The education and experiences that our students get while in our care are important to share with everyone.  Let's fill our school's FaceBook page with the awesome learning that is happening here each and every day.  Many of you already do this on your DoJo site or your class FaceBook sites.  
• If you have pictures from your classes, please share them with me and a sentence or two to describe the learning.  I will place it on the DES FaceBook page.  If you have a classroom page, allow the DES page to Share it on theirs.  This can be any learning; experiments, collaboration, reading, problem-solving, etc. 
• The goal is to have something to share each and every day.  Our students are constantly learning!  Let's make sure everyone knows about it!!
• In addition, another way to connect with the community is with a Staff member of the week.  This means we would highlight one staff member each Friday on Facebook.  Here's our chance to connect with our community and share why we work at Dodgeland.  Please share with me:
• Your hometown/where you graduated from
• Your Career experience (this could be years taught, previous positions/schools, etc.)
• Family, hobbies, fun Facts that you are comfortable sharing
• Why you love Dodgeland
• Pictures of you, your classroom, your family...again what you are comfortable with (I can take pictures here at school if you like too, but you might have fun pics that would work even better.)
• Taylor graciously allowed me to play with this idea.  Below is a sample of what it would look like.  (Thank you Taylor!) -Click here to see the whole feature.

Also, check out what happened in the Elementary office while we were gone...No more running in to someone at the copy machine in the mail room!  Thank you to the custodial staff and Brad for coordinating this project!

Last but not least, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday week that is full of relaxation and all the things that fill your bucket.  I have all three of my kids home for the weekend and we are planning a Toy Story marathon on Black Friday.  See you all in December!