May 15, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• First graders having lunch together and having a dance party!  What a great way to stay connected!

• Staff members celebrating connecting with kids that they have been missing for awhile!

• Teachers advocating and looking for resources for parents that are struggling with their children.

• A class participating in Read to Self on BlueJeans.  What a great way to add in dedicated time for students to spend reading during the day! 

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, May 18
• Start of Color Week! Wear Red today
• Talent Show Recording @ 11:00 on elem. staff mtg BlueJeans link 901415692
• School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm

• Tuesday, May 19
• Wear Orange or Yellow today
• Kahoot with Ms. Hudson at 11:15am at 510888687

• Wednesday, May 20
• Wear Green today
• 11am Virtual Staff Meeting at 901415692
• Virtual Talent Show Debut on FaceBook at 6pm?  (if it is ready)

• Thursday, May 21
• Wear Blue today

• Friday, May 22
• Wear Purple Today

Nitty-Gritty

• Color Week 
• Each day students and staff encouraged to wear a certain color.  Thank you to the 1st grade team for sharing!

• Budget
• The Google Form for submitting budget is here. Originally it was due today, May 15.  If you need a little more time, please let me know.  To clarify, this form is to help us know what you need for next school year.  It doesn't have to be super specific with item numbers, page numbers, etc, but it should have a description for the items that you are adding to the budget.  (like Happy Birthday pencils, visual timer, etc) The goal is to use this at the school level to budget for next school year.  Later, you will also use this to fill out the purchase orders.  If you have questions, please let me know.

• Citizenship Rubric
• If you have not had a chance to take the survey regarding the citizenship rubric, please let me know.  I will take the feedback and combine it so that you all can see it.  We will finalize this rubric on Wednesday.

PD Spotlight

This week I have been reading a lot about virtual fatigue.  I'll link some of them here if you want to read them too, but the one that I found the most helpful was this one.  I know that it is about Zoom, but really it's the format not the specific application. Zoom could be replaced with Google Hangouts or BlueJeans and the article would still fit.  In fact, I identified with the very first paragraph instantly.  After reading it, I can totally understand why all of us are getting tired, but especially our students.  We have to focus on so many things, the delays affect how we perceive the conversation and the person we are speaking to.  Plus the added dimension of our work interactions have collided with our home.  At the end of the article, it has a few hints to help us.  Can any of these ideas help our families and students?  Hmmm, I wonder.
Other articles if you are interested:
Zoom is "taxing" our brains.  Why?
Learning during COVID-19

Friday Funny

At first when I saw this, I thought it was a screen shot from the "My Talking Pet" app.  But upon closer inspection, I realized it is a bone.  It makes me giggle!