December 11, 2020

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• First graders created "moving" pictures with a pencil and a rolled up piece of paper.  It was so awesome to see their excitement!
• A 3rd grader came up to be at bus duty to share that he already had 200 correct questions for the tournament!
• Teachers using every minute of their day for learning.  Time is our most precious resource every year, but especially this year.  Thank you for teaching with a sense of urgency!
• Adults showing patience, but also caring consistency with behavior expectations.  Students thrive in situations when they know what is expected, even if what is expected is a direct consequence or reminder as a result their choices/behaviors.
• Adults celebrating students returning to in-person learning to help students feel like they are part of our school community.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, December 14
• Tuesday, December 15
• Tree Topper Tuesday - Wear holiday head gear

• Wednesday, December 16
• Work out Wednesday

• Thursday, December 17
• Friday, December 18
• Jenny has online mtg from 9-10am

Nitty-Gritty

• Lock Down Drills
• As we discussed in this week's staff meeting, it is important that each classroom walk their class through the lockdown procedures so that students and staff know what to do.  However, please keep our covid procedures in mind so that we are safe for that as well.  Below are some resources that Brad Modaff, our safety coordinator, shared with me to help.
• 2018 Lockdown Presentation - https://youtu.be/vDQgGLU9_2s
• 18-19 Staff Inservice Safety Training - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvUGYAdZmXPilzpav3ZvIle16ZnGo7GJ/view?usp=sharing
• Please complete this drill in your homeroom classroom before winter break.  When you finish the drill, please complete this google form so that we have documentation that this drill was completed this month.
• For more information on the important procedures see these resources below:
• Active Shooter/Active Killer
• Lockdown
• Evacuation
• Off Campus Evacuation 
• Go Kit Items

Prodigy Tournament

Today I participated in a webinar regarding pieces of the prodigy program.  Lisa (our rep) recorded the session and when I get the link I will send it out to you.  This would work for a webinar towards alt. comp too.  There are so many pieces of Prodigy to make this program tailored directly to your students' math needs.  If you have not used it yet, please consider introducing it to your students.  In addition, the tournament will continue to go on for another couple of weeks.  If we can get our kids excited about it, they will want to keep practicing even during winter break! I will have another short video for students on Monday about our prodigy tournament.  Lisa is announcing something surprising tomorrow.  I can't wait to find out what it is!

•  The Triple P 
• This year we are in partnership with the Greater Watertown Health Foundation to bring the Triple P to our Dodgeland Families. Triple P stands for Positive Parenting Program.  At all times, parents need advice or help.  When my kids were very young, I called my mom constantly.  Later, I would ask questions of the friends I had with children a little older than my own.  When they got even older, I asked other parents of teens and so on.  This is totally normal.  Triple P was created to bring normalcy to parenting education and provide practical tips, advice and help for parents.  Later this spring, we will be sponsoring virtual parenting seminars.  In the meantime though, there is a referral process I can use for families that would like to work 1:1 with a parenting coach.  Please check out the seminars, discussion groups, and classes that are available for your own information or to share with families as a resource.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

PD Spotlight

• This week I was able to participate in a training that relates to our ongoing partnership with the Greater Watertown Health Foundation and the TalkReadPlay initiative.  While we can not hold our regular play groups, we are still preparing for them for next year.  The training that I was a part of used brain development and interactions with caregivers and stress in order to provide ways for "coaches" to lead play groups of parents/children from birth through age 5.  Click here to watch a 4 min. video that I found fascinating.  While we are not working with infants at Dodgeland, we do have the advantage of working with our young students and our emphasis on social-emotional learning is paramount for our students' future.  Thank you to everyone for all that you do to support our students and their emotional health at school.

Friday Funny

I hope your get this feeling this weekend!  :-)