December 20

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• So many wonderful memories made this week at school...Thank you to all of you for providing a structured learning environment, yet still taking a few short moments of time to provide experiences for them that they will remember for a long time!
• 4K students excitedly telling me that they are looking for the Gingerbread Man!  (When I asked a student today about whether they ever found the gingerbread man, she said, "He's gone. We ate him!")  This age group is teaching me SO much this year! :-)
• Impressive 3rd grade writing pieces about a informational topic of their choice.  I read about Nerf guns, fishing, comic books, candy corn, Dodgeland, Roboblox, dance, etc.  There were great leads in them, and so many text features including pictures with captions, a Venn diagram, charts and glossaries.  So great to read and hear about their excitement in pride in their work!
• 4th graders practicing how to start a conversation with others.  They learned they can ask questions, notice and comment on something, compliment others, use their knowledge of the other person.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Winter break!  I sincerely hope you have a relaxing, peaceful and safe break.  Please take care of yourself and spend time with those that make you happy!

Nitty-Gritty

• iPad Updates: Please update your iPads to the latest software version before heading off to break.  The latest iOS version is 13.3 as of today.  Please check your software today.
• Class DoJo: In a continued effort to communicate and share the awesome learning and activities that happen in our building, please share your class DoJo pages with Christina Abegglen from the IMC.  This will give her another way to communicate with families.
• FaceBook Features - This is the other way we can get information out to our community about the students' experiences and learning in our building.  In January, I will begin the Staff Member Feature for the week.  I will be coming around to get information from you. (This is my heads up!) . Thank you to those that have already sent me the information for this upcoming post feature.
• Literacy - I have read all SLO and PPG forms that have been submitted by Elementary Staff.  The majority of you are working on individual or team SLO goals related to reading.  In an effort to support this work, I will be sharing information through the weekly blogs, in person, through feedback and tapping into staff member's expertise to share at Staff meetings.  The goal of this communication is to help us all elevate students' reading achievement, learn and grow in our own teaching craft, and ways to reflect on our classroom and student progress.
• i-Ready - Looking ahead: The winter i-Ready testing window is from January 7 through February 1.

PD Spotlight

This week's PD spotlight is more about a topic that is timely for me right now.  Click here to read the article on the importance of sleep.  Sadly, the part I am looking forward to during break is getting more sleep.  However, I have to figure this out for every week, not just trying to catch up.  It is a myth anyway.  You never actually "catch up" on sleep,  This article just made me think.  I share it with you as so many of us have had an exhausting week.  Take Care everyone!

Friday Funny

This week it is a short video clip.  I saw this online on Monday, and Ella and I enjoyed it so much I felt I had to share!  (It is a 3 year old video, but I had never seen it before.  Be sure to watch all the way to the end.)