October 18, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• A first grader was reading a book to me during Literacy.  He started by saying, "This book is hard."  But he stuck with it, read every word, and was starting to use strategies to break down words and make meaning.

• Writing pieces are coming along nicely in many classrooms.  I have seen many students in the past week that have persevered through this complex task, working on coping with their frustration and ultimately feeling good about their progress.

• Staff expressing their thoughts and ideas professionally to others and myself with the purpose of making our school a great place for our kids to learn.

• Quick, caring responses to help out fellow teachers with students that are struggling or in crisis.  As a professional, it is always nice to know when there is a fellow teacher(s) just around the corner ready, willing and able to help out when needed.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

Tuesday, 10/22 -

• Optional meeting with Mindy regarding 2nd Step Resources (see below)

Wednesday, 10/23 -

• Picture Retake Day
• Newsletter article's due

Thursday, 10/24 -

• Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7:30 (Jenny's providing an early supper in the lounge for everyone!  It'll be ready at 3:00)

Friday, 10/25 -

• Professional Development Day (agenda to be coming soon)

Nitty-Gritty

• Some grade levels are looking at adding an SEL day into their WIN rotation schedule.  If your grade level is looking for resources to help with the plans for these lessons, Second Step has resources that accompany the lessons that Mindy teaches during GG.  On Tuesday, Oct 22 from 3:15-3:45pm, Mindy will have an OPTIONAL meeting in the EL PLTW lab to share and help staff members with logging in to the Second Step site, finding and downloading resources, and ideas to help both staff and students continue to work on these important SEL skills.  If you have any questions, please see Mindy.

• I received a message from the program coordinator at UW-Oshkosh Literacy Graduate program.  They are investigating interest in creating a cohort that would meet in Beaver Dam starting in the Spring of 2020.  This cohort would lead to licensure as a reading teacher (1316) and optionally, a reading specialist (5017) and master's degree. Click here for the brochure and contact info. I don't know anything about the program, just passing on the information.

• CESA #6 is looking for volunteers that may be interested in reading applications for the Herb Kohl Fellowship/Scholarship program.  Click here for more information.

• I am so enjoying the opportunities that I have to continue to learn about our DES system, routines and procedures.  This week, I learned that there is a structure to record the outcomes of the parent contacts I am making or the responses that have been completed in Educlimber.  Then Educlimber emails out the update to staff who submitted the open review referrals.  Thank you for your patience with me.  Most of the open items in my open review Educlimber list, I had already addressed, but I did not know how nice it was to keep the notes in this central location and then have it automatically sent out to staff that need to know about it.  Now that I know this, it will be a much more efficient way of keeping staff members in the loop of the incidents that arise.

• Parent/Teacher conferences are next week!  This is our opportunity to connect with our students' families.  A strong home/school connection helps our students tremendously.  If you would like my attendance for any conference please let me know.

• Garth will be here to work with us to continue our work on prioritizing and creating the DES Target-Based Grading system for part of the PD day.  The agenda will be out soon to describe the full day of learning/work that will include other pieces of the day as well.

PD Spotlight

This week's PD Spotlight is slightly different.  I am relating what I am researching and what I've learned in the past with the realities of the weekly actions of our students. I am reminded that our students have already told us that an issue at Dodgeland in every part of our district, is that students are not nice to each other.  I believe this is contributing to the culture of the building, the preoccupation with social conflicts, and ultimately, the difficulty of attending to learning tasks.


I am finding in the last few weeks that I am spending much of my time sending the same message to student after student.  I know that Mindy in GG and classroom teachers send the same message.  My simple message is this:

At Dodgeland, we expect students to speak kindly to one another at all times, to respect each other's differences and use the words "please stop" when something is happening that is bothering them.

Lately, I have been hearing many unkind words being slung around from student to student.  In some cases, this is the start of more physical incidents as well.  It is never okay for students to use their hands/feet on someone else in anger (or really anytime).  Most students that I speak to know that hitting, punching, kicking, etc is wrong, but they don't have other ideas of what to do instead.  When I ask, "What could you have done instead?" is answered with either "I don't know" or "Don't hit."

Children by nature are mimics.  They mimic what they see, what they hear, including responses to stress that they have witnessed.  They are also impressionable and ready to learn new ways of behaving and responding.  We have the opportunity, and yes, the challenge of helping them to develop healthy social skill habits, regulation skills and coping strategies.   This is part of our work.

I am aware that GG lessons have centered around kindness and bucket-filling.  I believe that students understand what this means and can discuss these ideas in detail in classrooms.  The generalization and application is where the breakdown seems to be occurring.

So, I have been thinking about how I could piggy-back off of Mindy's GG lessons.  Is there another way that I can send the same message, but through my lens?

One thought I have is to prepare a short lesson that I can deliver to your classroom in the coming weeks.  Or, I could prepare a video to show students with my message.  Behind the scenes, I have been and will continue to send the message of expecting kindness/respect.  I will share the same message with every parent that I interact with and consistently ask students to practice tone of voice, kind words, and resolving conflicts using the problem solving wheel.

Please speak to me if you'd like my assistance with this in your classrooms.  In the meantime, thank you for continuing to expect kindness, praising students that exhibit kind words and actions, and modeling for them how to treat all people in our school with respect and kindness.  Remember, there is always a student (or 2 or 3...) that is watching us.  What a fantastic job we get to do each day!



Friday Funny

You may already know I like Marvel Comics and the SuperHeroes genre, but did you know I am a HUGE Golden Girls fan too?  This is why I love this picture/caption below!

October 11, 2019

What a week huh?  :-)

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Students teaching Mrs. Huelsman all about their routines in their classrooms.  Every class I got to be with this week knew the routines and procedures.  Great job everyone!!!
• Problem-solving as a team to help students in crisis.  Teamwork will yield results for the whole system, not just that student.
• 4th grade Jr Coaches are getting our 5K students to follow the lunch dismissal routine quicker and quicker every week.  They may be teachers in the making!  They are consistent and kind and calm!
• A new guest teacher to our district told Marie and I how much she likes coming to Dodgeland.  She stated that everyone is so kind and helpful to her.  (Of course, we knew that, but it was nice to hear!)

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Tuesday - Field trips for 5K and 1st grade
• Wednesday - Field trip for 4K and Grade Level meeting for grade 2 and WORKOUT Wednesday!
• Friday - 3rd grade field trip
• Is that all???  (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Nitty-Gritty

• The bus company contacted me this week with a concern.  While they are dropping off in the morning, there often are balls rolling across the bus lane. No one wants a student to get hurt, so if you are on bus duty outside, students can start to play with basketballs, kickballs, etc after 7:40am to avoid this issue. 

• I could still use one more person to help me with the fundraiser pick-up after school on October 30 at 3pm for 45min to an hour.  If you are interested, please let me know.

• WIN should be starting soon.  If you need any help with planning, please let me know.

• CESA 6 President's Day Proposals - Dr. Thompson emailed out earlier this week details about proposals to present at this year's President's Day Spring into Success PD day.  If you would like to present, please submit a proposal to me by Friday, October 18. Below are the details sent from CESA.
• The expectations for presenting include:
• If selected, you will present up to four times (same presentation) at two different locations.
• The presentation time is one hour.
• Your presentation should be motivational with the following structure:
• Story hook
• 1-3 strategies participants can walk out with and use immediately
• Turn and talk time

• The directions to batch print the i-Ready reports for families is here.

• To follow up from the staff meeting, if you want to look over the discipline flow chart, click here. (It is on page 11-12.)

PD Spotlight

Earlier this week, I shared this video at the Mentors/Mentees book study.  It is only 2 min. but it has stayed with me all week.  It's the very end of the video that gets to me.  I reflect on this in my home, with my family and yes with our students.  This is why it is so important to me that we work together to help our students build SEL skills and problem solve around what our students need.  What is their behavior communicating to us?  We have the opportunity and a compelling reason looking at us each and every day!

Friday Funny

 This week's funny is a true story from my life.  Below are two screen shots of a conversation between Lexi (green) and my son (gray) who is in Milwaukee.  The conversation was just before 11pm last night.  Enjoy!

October 4, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Staff giving high fives and hugs to our students as they leave for the day.  This helps our students want to keep coming back every day!
• Staff working together to plan WIN groups based on student need so students have what they need each week.
• Communication about concerns and celebrations in a professional and problem solving way.
• Staff working together to create and follow plans for students that are struggling in school.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

HOMECOMING WEEK! (Dress up day schedule)

• Monday (10/7) - 
• Mentors/Mentees Meeting at 3:15 in the IMC
• Read180 starts in grades 4-5
• Tuesday (10/8) - Jenny will be gone until 10:15 am.
• Wednesday (10/9) - 
• Grade Level Meeting for 3rd grade
• Staff meeting at 3:10 in the IMC
• Thursday (10/10) - 4th grade walking field trip to Juneau Utilities
• Friday (10/11) - 
• Homecoming assembly @1pm
• Early Release at 2:20
• Parade Line-up starts at 3:30 to start at 4pm

Nitty-Gritty

• Homecoming Friday:  Next Friday the Pep assembly is starting at 1pm.  If 3-5 teachers can meet us in the commons at 12:55 to escort students to the gym, we can alleviate extra transitions.  The assembly is scheduled to finish around 2:00-2:10.  This year, students will be sitting on the floor in front of the bleachers in front of the MS/HS students.  Students in K-2 will need to be dismissed from recess early as well in order to get to the  HS gym on time for the assembly. More clarifications will come next week as well.

• As you complete your WIN groups, please record them on the WIN document. Along the side indicate the plan for the week.  Which days will be reading, which days are Math?  Who is in a SEL group?  What is the focus of that SEL group?  Are any students getting EL support during WIN?

• Student of the Month - So I may have overlooked this earlier this week!  Click here to fill in the Student of the Month for your class.  I plan to announce this on Wednesday, October 9. 

• XPD's - Have you registered for XPD's for this year?  If you need to change or want to add any courses, just log in with the password you created when you first registered.  It will give you the option to remove courses you have already registered for, or the check boxes to add courses.  If there is a limit to the number of participants, it is listed next to the course.  The site is:  www.regpacks.com/XPD

• Attendance Initiative - If your class fills in each box of the October attendance chart, please take a picture of the class with the sheet and send it to me to use for an attendance collage.  If you have any questions or concerns or need help with the classroom prize, please let me know!

• Thinking ahead:  Fundraiser pick-up is on October 30 after school.  If there are 2-3 people that would be willing to help for 45min-1hr after school, I would very much appreciate the help.  The company sorts it well, we just have to find the numbered box for each family as they come in. 

PD Spotlight

This week for the PD Spotlight, I decided to share this video.  The video is about 8 min. long.  If you do not have enough time to watch the whole thing, watch from 5:40 to 6:50.  The purpose of this video is to share ideas of how to help parents reinforce and teach SEL skills within their homes.  Many of our students will mimic things they see or experience in their homes.  I found some of the pieces of this video to be helpful as I interact with parents as well.  During Parent/Teacher Conferences later this month, you may choose to share about our SEL instruction this year.  The 5 ideas presented here may give you ideas to talk with parents about.  

As we continue our work this year on learning about our own SEL skills, and how to help our students gain and improve their skills, I am reminded that this learning is not just a 30 min. weekly lesson in GG.  This is how we interact with each other, with all students, and the overall culture of our building.  Without this carry over, students will struggle to consistently use healthy and positive SEL skills when under stress.  I believe that over time, our students will not only thrive in the culture we are creating together at Dodgeland, but also be ready to learn.  Their achievements in school will continue to improve as well.

Friday Funny

https://www.gocomics.com/offthemark

September 27, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• WOW!  I saw some awesome brain break activities this week in every grade in the school.  Coach Jena mentioned over and over how impressed she was with our students and the routines that are so well established across the school.  That is all because of teachers' hard work this month!!
• So many people ready, willing and able to step in wherever needed, whether it was covering a short time in the Oasis, helping out in classrooms with sick teachers or students, and even helping out in students in other buildings.  I am so grateful for the teamwork we are building here.
• Coach Jena made a mistake in a few rooms when teaching the Ninja Master game.  (It previously had a different name, and she slipped into the old name out of habit a couple of times.)  When she explained her mistake, one classroom had a bunch of students that told her that mistakes are the opportunity to learn and that she doesn't have it YET!  She about fell over as they were encouraging her!

What's Happening at Dodgeland


Tuesday, 10/1

• Fundraiser Packets due
• Flu Shot clinic 2:30-4:30
• Attendance Initiative starts for month of October

Wednesday, 10/2

• Vision Screening (Click here for schedule.)

Thursday, 10/3

• Literacy discussion at 3:15 in the IMC (open to all staff that want to express concerns, ideas, etc regarding literacy and students' strengths and challenges in this area.)

Looking ahead: 

Homecoming starts Oct 7.  There will be an all school pep assembly on Friday at 1:10 followed by an early release at 2:20, parade is at 4pm.  The elementary parade line-up will include students in grades 3-5 this year. 

Nitty-Gritty

• Attendance Initiative:  The goal of the attendance challenges is to encourage students to be in school everyday, on time.  For October, you received a sign that says Trick or treat.  Each day that everyone in your class is present, cross of one letter.  When the entire word is crossed off, your class earns a prize that your class determines. Some options might be:  an extra recess, lunch with the teacher, popcorn for everyone on a Friday, etc.  
• In November, there will be a staff vs. students challenge.  Which group has the highest attendance rate?  Stay Tuned for more details.
• WIN: Click here for the WIN document.  If your grade level needs my assistance with planning or creating WIN groups, please let me know.  The document is a place to record each group for each grade.  This will help me as I plan for grade level data meetings. The groups may include students that will be seeing Rose during WIN as well. Thank you in advance!
• Schedules:  As the month is winding down, our routines and schedules are becoming more and more solidified.  If you haven't shared a classroom schedule with me yet, please give me a paper copy or make sure it is on our grade level document.  If I have any questions about your schedule, I will let you know.  Otherwise, I just plan to use it to help me keep track of what our students are doing across the school and when.
• XPD's:  If you are interested in any of the XPD's in this year's catalog, the registration for it is online this year.  Click here to register for courses. 

PD Spotlight

• This week for the PD spotlight I wanted to share a post about picture books that can be used to teach certain SEL skills.  I find using literature to be a great way to illustrate a theme or skill that is sometimes abstract to learn.  When I came across this list, I thought, "Hey, this would be really helpful."  I have used the book Enemy Pie by Derek Munson with 4th-5th graders in the past.  It is an easy and fun book to read aloud, but also a book that helps students learn how to make connections with others.  If you have used any of these books in a lesson that went well, I'd love to hear about it!

Friday Funny

This described many, many of my teaching days!  :-)

https://s18670.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/questions.jpg

September 20, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Teachers helping students in crisis, and creating proactive schedules as a team.
• 1st graders quickly and quietly finding new books in the library.
• Flexibility by students and staff with a Plan B for the Petting Zoo!
• Students working hard on their i-Ready assessments and teachers working together to provide a positive testing environment for everyone.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Monday, 9/23 - 
• Playworks Coach visit 8-noon (Schedule)
• Effective Project Training at 3:15 in the IMC (Click here for specifics.)
• Tuesday, 9/24 - 
• 5th/6th grade Trojan Jr Football plays at home @ 6pm
• Wednesday, 9/25 - 
• Playworks Coach visit
• 5th grade level data meeting (D.O. conference room) @ noon
• Staff Meeting at 3:10 in the IMC
• Thursday, 9/26 - 
• Playworks Coach visit
• Jenny is leaving at 11am
• Friday, 9/27 - 
• First Popcorn sale of the school year!
• Jenny is gone all day.
• October 1st -
•  Fundraiser money is due
• Flu Shot Clinic
• Mid-Term for Qtr 1

Nitty-Gritty

• Attendance Committee - The attendance committee met this week and worked on monthly challenges for the year.  September is a surprise treat on Friday, 9/20.  October will be a classroom challenge.  Watch for more details to come.

• Popcorn sale will start next Friday, September 27.  This year, cheese popcorn will be the last Friday of each quarter.  I'm still working on getting some helpers for picking up the supplies and delivering it to classrooms.  If you have any ideas, please let me know!

• Looking for 2 volunteers to help out with lunch duty on Friday, September 27.  One for K-2 and one for 3-5. Please let me know if you can help out with this.

• PALS testing - (Grades K-2) Jessica is working on this part and will have all of the forms in your mailboxes by Monday.

• WIN - When the results of our fall assessments are ready, we will begin planning for WIN.  The goal is to start WIN for all students the first week of October.  RtI bootcamp will continue until then.

PD Spotlight

I know I have referenced Daniel Pink's short videos called The PinkCast before.  I love how he is able to drill down and give information to make you think, it's practical and in a short amount of time.  Click here to watch a 2-min. video that describes how to best take a break.  At our last staff meeting, we discussed how the Oasis provides a break to help our students get back to their upstairs brain and ready to learn.  We related it to ourselves and our own need for a break sometimes.  Many of the things in his list are provided to our students in the Oasis.  How can we use these ideas for ourselves too?

Friday Funny

This week's Friday funny is a story from years ago when I taught 1st grade.  I truly love having conversations with children every day, but sometimes a conversation just sticks with me.  This one makes me laugh and also makes me think.

One day, a little girl in my class came in to school with a patterned skirt, knee socks, a bright colored shirt, a vest and about 20 barrettes in her hair, none of which matched. She proudly walked in to the room and said, "Hi Mrs. Huelsman!  Look at my outfit!  I picked it out all by myself!"  Of course, I responded with a smile and an enthusiastic "WOW! You are so independent!" (Yes, I was used to working with Middle School students still!)

She then said, "Ya, my dad said that it was SOME OUTFIT!"  She was all smiles and skipped to her desk.  So while her dad knew that it was not necessarily a matching outfit, she took his words as a compliment and was a happy girl all day.  Her dad let her bask in her accomplishment and didn't diminish her happiness and pride.  

Wouldn't it be nice if we could have moments like this as adults too?  Someone notices our work, gives us a sincere compliment, and we are safe to feel pride in our own accomplishments. I can't wait to see what we all accomplish together this year!

September 13, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Check out just a few of the awesome things I noticed at Dodgeland Elementary this week.

• A team rallying around a student who had an unusually rough day.
• Students filling out planners by reflecting on their day to share with their families.
• Students learning about how to strengthen their most important muscle--their brains!
• A student thanking me for helping him in the Oasis much later in the day.
• Junior Coaches becoming leaders in the school during K-2 lunch period.
• 5K students learning ways to read books.

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Monday, 9/16 - 
• Fall fundraiser begins, please send home packets
• Picture Day - Marie will call classrooms down
• Tuesday, 9/17 - 
• An important flyer regarding community listening sessions to be sent home with youngest/oldest child
• Trojan Jr. Football (grades 5/6) plays at Home.  Game time is 6pm.
• Wednesday, 9/18 - 
• Workout Wednesday!
• Newsletter articles are due to Marie.  Click here for the newsletter sign-up.
• Thursday, 9/19 - 
• FFA Petting Zoo (Schedule is here.)
•  9/23, 9/25, 9/26 from 8-noon - 
• Playworks Coaching visits in classrooms,  (See below for more information)
• Thursday-Friday, 9/26-9/27 - 
• I will be leaving at 11 on Thursday to go to Lexi's wedding!  Seriously, it's in 2 weeks.  Yikes!

Nitty-Gritty

• As we learned during the Playworks in the Classroom training in August, our coach is coming back to help us implement ideas in our classrooms across the school.  She will visit all classrooms from 5K-5th grade during the same week in 35 min blocks. Jena will be modeling a brain break/game (one for the primary grades and a different one for the 3-5 grades for approximately 12 min.) . Then she will observe each classroom with a brain break you have tried this month.  The last 10 min. will be Q/A with Jena to ask questions and receive helpful feedback.  I will be coming around with a schedule to get each classroom signed up.  

• i-Ready testing - The Fall testing window is open.  Please let me know if you need any help or support to complete the testing before September 27. 

• Attendance Initiative - The attendance team is meeting this week on Wed, 9/18 at noon to plan the monthly plans for encouraging strong attendance for all students.  If you'd like to join this committee, please let me know.

PD Spotlight

I follow a blog called Two Writing Teachers.  They have a lot of really great posts every week and sometimes even more often than that.  This post that I read this summer has stuck with me for 2 reasons.

1. The book that the author highlights reminds me of a number of wonderful, lovable children that we get to teach at Dodgeland.  I felt that this title would speak to a few of our students.
2. The author interview that follows adds insight into what the child with high energy may need to be successful in a workshop model in the classroom.

Hopefully you find this helpful as well.

Friday Funny

September 6, 2019

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

This week there were so many wonderful things to celebrate.  

• Teachers stepping in to help out with crying students.
• The extra help in the lunch room as we work through a successful procedure was very much appreciated!
• Students participating in playworks in the classroom activity already.  I even received a Sky Dive clap this week!
• Hugs and encouragement for nervous and scared students that are entering school for the first time.  Calm, kind voices help students feel safe.
• Flexibility and problem-solving as a team.  

What's Happening at Dodgeland

• Monday, 9/9 OR Tuesday, 9/10 - Optional listening session for staff about the facility study from 3:30-4:30 in the IMC
• Wednesday, 9/11 at 3:10pm - Staff Meeting--New Location - **IMC**
• Thursday, 9/19 FFA Petting Zoo (Click here if you haven't signed your class up yet.)

Nitty-Gritty

• Don't forget to sign up: Newsletter articles, Reading to your class, Event Committees and Lunch duties.
• Dance:  A number of students and parents have asked about elementary dance.  There will be handout for Newsday Tuesday next week.
• Speaking of Dance:  The dance team is looking for some teachers to help out with their Wizard of Oz dance for Homecoming. (See below)
• We need 6 to 8 teachers to be "flying monkeys" and dance a short 15 to 25 second segment for our Wizard of Oz Assembly performance.
  
  
  We need 1 'Wizard' short dance down the yellow brick road.

  
  

  We need a teacher or two who will help assemble our "munchkins" 

  (mini's/preteam ) dance team and help them be prepared for their part.  ( keep back stage, get them on stage on time and ensure they are dressed etc. with helper parent..)

  
  

  Also if anyone is Good at costuming and or prop creation we'd love extra hands!!
• RtI Bootcamp starts this coming week during WIN.  If you have any concerns or questions, please see your interventionists for Rdg/SEL.
• The i-Ready window for fall is Sept 11-27.  Please work special education teachers and/or interventionists for accommodations for any students that may need them.
• Newsletter Articles due to Marie by Sept 18.

PD Spotlight
Many of you have heard me talk about the idea of asking for help last week. As I was reflecting on this episode of the PinkCast, I think about how hard this is for me and many others.  I truly value collaboration and working as a team, but even then, I find it difficult to ask for help for things even when I feel overwhelmed with the number of items on my to-do list.  Educators traditionally have been in a career that was very isolating.  Teachers had their class, closed the door and had to do everything on their own.  Thankfully, we don't teach during this time period anymore.  As you all have demonstrated with your feedback and work this week alone, when we work together we come up with systems and plans together.  This video packs some thoughtful ideas in just 109 seconds.  I hope you find it as useful as I did.


Friday Funny

Where are average things manufactured?

The Satisfactory!  :-)