October 8, 2021

 

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 5th graders using their experience with problem strings to help them solve problems later in their math book.  The more our students get to ask questions and practice thinking critically, the easier it will become for them and the stronger their math skills will become.

• A Jr. Coach was modeling for our youngest 4K/5K students how to use roshambo during a game of Switch on the playground.  It was handled so well.  It was awesome watching our students' leadership skills in action.

• A teacher talking with a student about the size of reaction related to the size of the problem.  It was a successful conversation with the student able to verbalize that his reaction did not match.  This is a hard skill to learn for young students as they work on self regulation.

• Teachers that are advocating for their students and what they need.  Some days our jobs are so challenging, but every day is so important.  Our students need your advocacy.  Even if you feel like things are not happening fast enough, please know that I hear you and know that you are looking out for our students and their needs.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, October 11
• Bus Duty for the week (Schwoerer, Piekarski, Johnson)
• Mentee Meeting (Year 1 Teachers Only) 3:15-3:45pm

• Tuesday, October 12
• Social Media Posts due to Josh (Mook, BCaine, Schweitzer)

• Wednesday, October 13
• Workout Wednesday
• Academic Grade Level Mtg (2nd grade - 12:05-12:55)
• CANCELED staff meeting

• Thursday, October 14
• FFA Petting Zoo
• SEL Mtg (5th gr. 12:35-1:25)
• Parent Teacher Conferences 4pm-7:30pm
• Book Fair 4-7:30pm
• Jenny gone at a conference all day

• Friday, October 15
• Jenny gone at a conference all day
• Book Fair 4-7:30pm

Nitty-Gritty

• FFA Petting Zoo
• Watch for an email this week to sign up for the FFA Petting Zoo.  It will be located in the grass on the far end of our playground/soccer area.  There will be 2 morning slots and 1 afternoon slot for classrooms.

• Fast Bridge Assessment
• Earlier this week a video was sent out to classroom teachers regarding how to complete the teacher portion of the SEL assessment. (SAEBRS). This next week will be the directions for how the students in grades 2-5 will take the mysaebrs assessment on their iPad.  This will provide us with data on strengths / opportunities as well as possible interventions.

• Calendly Link
• If you need or want to meet with me about anything, please sign up on my calendar.  Click HERE for the link.  I attempt to respond to emails as quickly as I possibly can, but I'm not always as timely as I would prefer.

• Soda Machine
• The soda machine in the Elementary staff lounge/office will be removed by Pepsi in the next few days.  It has been very temperamental for a long while and doesn't work more than it does. If you are looking for a soda, there will still be one in the High School lounge that is working well.

• Laminating Services from Skills USA
• Last Friday, 10/1, Anna Vitale shared information about the laminating services located right here at Dodgeland. Click HERE for the flyer.  If you have things that you need/want laminated, please consider supporting the SkillsUSA team.

PD Spotlight

The final competency area is called Responsible Decision-Making.  To me, this is the competency that brings the others all together to apply to a variety of situations.  This is using skills to analyze data and information to reason through problems or difficult situations.  This is about being open minded to analyze multiple perspectives and making a responsible choice that would be best for them. It also relates to how to come up with possible solutions.  This is an area that will always be important for the rest of our lives.  The old saying, bigger kids means bigger problems, may be just a saying, but it really means is that the skills of responsible decision making will always be important.  Click HERE to watch a 4 min. video that explains it in more detail.

Friday Funny

I don't know why, but this makes me think of my son.  He had a way with words!  :-)