April 3, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I continue to get "bucket filling" messages from families about all the things you are doing to make their days.  This is a picture that came through my Dojo messages from the Soldner Family.  I can never thank you all enough for how you have stepped in to take care of our students.

• I watched a teacher encourage her students to try a science experiment in their home, with parent permission of course.  Providing them additional opportunities helps pass all this time that they have.

• Teachers creating and publishing videos and directions to help students know what to do during the day.  You are helping them to learn time management skills, independence, and patience throughout this situation.

• So many teachers are reaching out to me to work together to connect with students that are not connecting with the school.  Your professionalism and compassion is very much appreciated!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday-Friday, April 6-10
• Spring Break - Have a relaxing, safe break!

• Monday, April 13
• Virtual Learning Resumes for all grades
• Target Based Grading meetings start (see below for more information)

• Wednesday, April 15
• Staff meeting on BlueJeans at 11am

Nitty-Gritty

• Tech Tip from Christina


• Common Sense Media, the platform we use for our digital citizenship curriculum, has launched a new resource for families and educators. The program Wide Open Schools, provides some great resources for educators PreK-12 such as emotional well-being, science, reading, math, art and music lessons. Some of these resources we already use as a district, but you may find others a fun alternative as we continue our digital learning after Spring Break.  Have fun exploring!!




• Staff Resource Page
• Click here to see a Resource page for staff members to help answer common questions for students or parents during the school closure. The document shows password patterns, information about getting tech support, and other how-to options.

• Down Dog App
• Did you catch Mrs. Johnson's email about the app called Down Dog where you have access to a free membership until July 1.  It provides options to help with the increase in sitting that comes with our virtual teaching. Click in Self Service on your iPad to install the app.  The directions are here.

• Teachers Pay Teachers School Access
• Tomorrow I have a meeting scheduled to discuss TpT School Access and what it could mean for our school.  It currently is free for schools affected by the closures due to Covid-19.  After I learn about it, I will send out more details for you in case you are interested in using this.  If you have used it in the past, (I have downloaded things from TpT before, but I do not know exactly what the school access means yet) feel free to let me know what you think of it.

• Target Based Work
• Schedule a time for your grade level or department to meet with me about our Target Based grading work.  Please collaborate with each other to find a time that works for your team. The goal of the meeting is to check on what we have accomplished already, ask/answer questions your team has and discuss the next steps for your team/department.  The documents do not have to be totally completed for this meeting with me.  

PD Spotlight

Today was the first day of the Power of Positivity Summit.  What I liked best about the summit is that it had 4 links that come through my email and each one is between 7-15 minutes long, yet it packs a punch and left me really thinking.  The first one that I watched was from Jon Gordon.  His was very applicable to what is happening in our country right now about challenging situations and adapting to change.  He describes his book called The Shark and the Goldfish where the goldfish has to figure out how to survive in the ocean like a shark.  It also made me think of the hundreds of teachers including those at Dodgeland that have embraced this situation and are working to make it work for our students.  It is not the way we typically educate students, but we are making a difference.  We are connecting with students and families and we can see learning continue to take place.  Below are the two quotes from his presentation that resonated most with me and made me think.  What does this make you think about?

1. The people and organizations who thrive are those who embrace change during challenging times. 
2. Discomfort leads to growth. Embrace the challenges and get better from them. 

~Jon Gordon~

Friday Funny

March 27, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Kindergarten students excited to share their journal writing on BlueJeans.  

• Teachers navigating BlueJeans like they have taught with it for years instead of days.  The way teachers are talking students through the process and the engaging lessons they are getting through BlueJeans is very exciting.

• Students are sharing with many of us how much they want to be back at school with us!

• Staff volunteering to help out with students in a number of ways; emailing them specifically, phoning parents, making deliveries, etc.  What an amazing team we are!  When we all work collectively together, we feel supported and can accomplish great things!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 30
• Parody group meeting on BlueJeans (901415692) at 11:15
• Tuesday, March 31
• 11-1pm Optional Tech support on BlueJeans (675198037)
• Wednesday, April 1
• 11am - Virtual Staff Meeting
• Thursday, April 2
• 11-1pm Optional Tech support on BlueJeans (675198037)
• Optional: Power of Positive Summit begins online (https://www.powerofpositivesummit.com/)

Nitty-Gritty

• Email Best Practice
• Now that we are communicating so much through virtual/digital means, I wanted to remind us all of a best practice procedure for sending emails.  If you are using email to communicate to multiple families/students, use the bcc option so that families' contact information remains confidential to other families. 

• BlueJeans/Content of Lessons
• If you have any questions about your planning for lessons, activities, etc or anything really, please reach out to me.  I want to make sure that you are all doing well too.  If I can relieve stress or clear up confusion, I definitely want to do that.  

• Telling our Story
• Don't forget to share video clips, photos, etc of your experiences with providing learning for our students.  How can we share with our community the amazing ways that we continue to connect with our students and provide learning opportunities for them?  I have seen a number of wonderful things to highlight.  Everyone has multiple things they can share.  Please help make the video Christina is creating tell our story with lots of awesome details.  I have seen science experiments, read alouds, art projects, math games, students reading their writing aloud, and I could go on and on and on.  All submissions should be put in the Google Folder by Monday.  See below for a copy of her email.

In order to share our story, I am in need of photos or videos of all the great things you are currently doing by Monday 30th. This could include part of a lesson or video you already made and shared with students, a video of delivering lunches or supplies to families, or a video of you answering or talking about one of these ideas: 

• • What ideas or topics are you reviewing with your students?
  • What future plans or lessons do you have planned?
  • What have you been surprised about during this process? 
  • What tools have you used and how have they helped you teach virtually?
  • How are you maintaining relationships with students?
  • What is one thing you want to share with Dodgeland students, families, and the community during this time of uncertainty? 
  • Share a great moment you’ve had with students during this virtual learning experience. 
  There are no secret superhero teachers here, so share all that you’ve got no matter how “small” you think the idea or video may be. What does math, reading, art, science, or physical education look like online? Our goal is to help the general public understand “Our doors may be closed, but Dodgeland is still open” and to tell our story in the midst of this global crisis. I can even just use your voice if you would prefer not changing out of your flannel pajamas!
  
  
  How to submit this amazing work:
  Please drop your photos or videos to this Google Folder by Monday 30th. If you would like to answer one of the above questions, please film your response on your district iPad. This will help keep the video quality consistent. Let me know via email if you have any specific requests for your video: perhaps it is a lesson shared with students but minute 7 is the really good stuff or perhaps it is “Please don’t use my face, just the audio.” 
  
  
  The final product will be shown on the local cable access channel, our district website, and our social media. Thank you so much in advance for taking time to help with this special project!
  
  
  We are Dodgeland!

PD Spotlight

• If you are like me, it may be getting difficult to keep one day from running right into another lately.  It is a conscious effort to focus on positive parts of this situation.  This is why Jessica's email about the Positivity Summit is of interest to me.  It starts this next week.  Click here if you'd like to sign up too.

Friday Funny

This week's Friday Funny fits in one of two categories; either it's the "One should always listen to their Mom" or "Procrastination does NOT pay off"

These two pictures are about a year apart.   Now a-days, Mason spends much of his day complaining about his hair and flipping it out of his face.  This makes me laugh out loud now because I believe I tried to warn this was going to happen!

March 20, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• So many staff members have taken on our new reality within the short time that we have had to prepare with enthusiasm, creativity and empathy.  Maintaining a calm presence in their lives, even if it is virtually, allows our students to mimic our resiliency and flexibility.
• Collaboration at a very high level.  Staff members working together to determine schedules and even students needing 1:1 check ins.
• The awesome videos I have watched are entertaining, but have a really great message embedded in them.  Students and parents appreciate them.
• Our first virtual staff meeting on BlueJeans worked!  The way you helped each other, found resources later to help out, and participated in the follow up is professionalism at the highest level.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 23
• Office Hours officially begin for staff.  The majority of students will have their supplies and their iPads for grades 3-5.
• Meals will continue to be delivered all week.
• Tuesday, March 24
• online tech bluejeans support 11:00-1:00pm if you want to drop in for help
• Wednesday, March 25
• Virtual Staff meeting at 11am
• Thursday, March 26
• online tech bluejeans support 11:00-1:00pm if you want to drop in for help
• Friday, March 27
• Last day for students to turn in anything for 3rd quarter grades.  Grades will be finalized next week.
• Monday, March 30
• Grades will be finalized at 4pm.

Nitty-Gritty

• Staff Questions
• Click here to add or read the answers to the staff questions that have been submitted.  We check this document often and we meet daily to check in with each other about the needs of our students/staff.  Let us know questions that you have!

• One Drive
• Amanda Beaudo created a 3 min. tutorial on using OneDrive to share videos with students.  Google is getting lots of video uploads and is takes a number of days to complete the rendering process.  Feel free to try this option too!
• Using OneDrive to post videos (thanks Amanda!)

• Staff Resource to help your families
• Watch your emails to a link to a Google Doc that has resources about common questions that students or families may ask about.  This may help you guide them to get their needs met.

• Parent Communication
• Friday, March 20, there will be a communication sent home to all parents to explain how to connect with teachers using BlueJeans, including the link for that classroom.  In addition, it will include some tips of how to navigate this new experience for their family.

PD Spotlight

I am sharing two resources that Jessica shared with me that you may find helpful during our School Closure.  One is from our very own Cesa 6, the other one is from the digital summit that she has shared with all of us in the past. Enjoy!

Ditch that Textbook online digital summit is back open :)

CESA webinars - two a day :)

Friday Funny

March 13, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Teachers giving direct feedback respectfully and kindly to parents this week to problem solve as a team.  The student was at the forefront of all decisions.
• Flexibility shown with unexpected news that allows are students to learn from our responses to  unexpected schedule changes.
• Teachers stepping in to help out at the last minute to provide a productive day for our students.
• Opinion writing in 1st grade is a multi-sensory experience.  Students told which Doritos they preferred this week and why.
• A couple of 3rd grade students continue to be good citizens of our school community by assisting Kari everyday with the lunch table chairs in their sections.  It is much appreciated!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 16
• PD DAY!!  :-). I'm so excited for our work. Click here for schedule

• Tuesday, March 17
• 5th grade Field Trip to Riveredge Nature Center
• Bellxcel training in the PLTW lab all day (Jenny will be with them for a majority of the day.)
• Beginning Band Parents Meeting 6:30-7:30

• Wednesday, March 18
• Workout Wednesday
• 5th grade Data Meeting at 12:05 in Rachael's room (Hope this is okay Rachael)

• Thursday, March 19
• Dodgeland Dress up like a DES staff member

• Friday, March 20
• End of 3rd Quarter
• TalkRead Play Group from 9-10am in room 109

Nitty-Gritty

• Teacher Recommended Courses for Summer School
• The summer school booklets will be coming out next week.  Late Friday, there will be a stack of forms to include with students that you would like to recommend for a remedial math or reading class.  Please send me a list of students that you are recommending for a remedial course so that I can watch the registrations as they come in.

• Popcorn Fridays
• As Dr. Thompson shared in her update regarding precautions we are taking in response to the COVID-19 situation, we will be not have popcorn available on Fridays for the foreseeable future.  Please share with your students.

• Assembly
• Please click here to let me know what your preference is about the Pride Assembly on April 2.  The Staff v. Students Basketball game will be held in the MS Gym on Friday, April 3 at the end of the day.

• Thank you
• Thank you all for your feedback on Wednesday.  I very much appreciate your thoughtful critiques.  Feel free to add anything that you think of later through email or rounding.  I am always open to feedback.

PD Spotlight

This week the PD Spotlight is going to be just a bit different.  This week the learning that I have spent the most time on (besides Powerschool, which we will talk about on Monday) is on the COVID-19 virus. In case you are like me and needed to read up on this, the link here has some information from the CDC.

Friday Funny

March 6, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 5th grade students sounded so great at this week's Band-O-Rama.  It was fun to listen to their excitement for the concert on Monday night.
• Staff members collaborated to provide needed services for students in crisis.
• Jr. Coaches modeling for younger students how to walk in the hallway.
• First grade students are adding with some BIG numbers this week!
• Fifth graders are very excited to choose and start their Fantasy Book Club unit for reading.
• A third grade student finished his first Harry Potter book in a single day!  A new generation of book fans is growing at Dodgeland!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 9
• Mentors/Mentee Meeting in the IMC at 3:15pm
• Jenny is in an online training for Powerschool from 9-3:15.
• Tuesday, March 10
• Day 2 of online training for Powerschool for Jenny from 9-4pm
• Wednesday, March 11
• 5K Grade Level Data meeting at 12:10
• Staff meeting in the IMC at 3:10
• Thursday, March 12
• Dress for Success Day
• Friday, March 13
• Coach Jena from Playworks visits recess.

Nitty-Gritty

• Gum
• I know that many students rely on gum to help with concentration/focus or for calming strategies.  I believe that it can be especially helpful for many students.  However, I need your help.  Can you please reinforce the expectation of placing gum in garbage cans?  We have a couple of young students that are finding it on the floor in other places like the playground or in the bathroom.  It becomes a distraction and irresistible for them.  Thank you in advance for your support.

• PLTW
• Now that it is March, it is time to check in on your plans for PLTW.  Do you have the units/modules scheduled in your plans for the rest of the year?  Do you need to sign out the PLTW Lab in the elementary?  
• In addition, there is a training for staff members (some from here and some from an outside district) in the PLTW lab on March 17 from 8-3pm.  This may affect any PLTW plans for some classrooms so I wanted to make sure you knew ahead of time.

• Mystery Science
• I am receiving emails about our free trial for Mystery Science for this year.  Have you used this with your students?  If you have used it this year at all, please give me feedback through email to tell me how you used it, what the strengths of it was, and your hope for it for future school years.

• Science Materials in the Lounge
• There are many, many science materials currently stored in the staff lounge.  A small group of teachers would like to organize the lounge and particularly the science materials.  If you would like to help with this process by looking through and organizing the supplies, please contact Mandy.

• Summer School Opportunity for students
• The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation is sponsoring a new program that will be utilized in our summer school programming for remediation and preventing summer slide for students going into 1-2 (and some 3) grades.  The program is called Bellxcel. Mitch Wedel and Rose Fobes will be working with students in this morning course called Scholars on the Move.  The program provides a curriculum for SEL, Math and ELA.  This course will replace the Jumpstart to 1st and 2nd grade courses and will be by teacher recommendation only.  In the coming weeks, more information will be shared to help teachers determine students to recommend for this program.  We have a strict limit of 24 students total. 

PD Spotlight

This week the PD spotlight is centered on this book that I have been reading.  There was a study that was discussed in the book that almost 80% of parents agreed with the statement "it's more important that my children are kind to others" than "academically successful." However, when children were surveyed about what their children's top priority was for them, 44% of children said they wanted them to be happy, 33% said it was doing well in school and 23% said it was to be kind.  The hypothesis from the authors and researchers that they were citing is that kindness must be taught.  I think about all the work that we are doing at Dodgeland surrounding SEL and focusing on kindness.  It will be a long process, but I believe that we are on the right track.  It is important that we continue to expect students to be kind, model how to do this in the classroom and create habits where we practice affirmations and kindness to others with our coaching.  If you would like to borrow this book, please let me know.  It has some very practical pieces that I found useful as well.

Friday Funny

This made me laugh because at this point in my life, I just wait until the whole season is done so I can watch them when I want to.  (Or how about using the commercial break to go to the bathroom and rushing so much because you didn't want to miss anything!  My children have no idea the stress of watching TV back in the day!). Lol

February 28, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The Read Across America's planning and kick-off assembly this week was so great!  A shout-out to all the members of the committee! --Sue, RaChelle, Brenda, Elizabeth, Mitch & Mandy--
• 5th graders are adding text features to enhance their informational pieces on the Iditarod.  Not only do they include them, they are explaining how the feature teaches more information and improves their writing piece.
• Vocabulary Parade - Need I say more!  So many adorable vocabulary outfits.  This was my first experience with this and I loved it!
• Many of us have stepped in again this week to help with students that need us, fellow staff members that need help covering in different places, and even just providing a calm and friendly ear to someone that needs to talk.  Thank you for taking care of each other and even me!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, March 2
• Hat Day/ Dr. Seuss' Birthday
• EP training - Documentation Log (optional) @ 3:15 in the IMC
• Band-o-rama for 5th-12th grade @ 7pm
• Tuesday, March 3
• LUNCH TIME CHANGE for grades 5K-5th - 11:30-12:30
• ACT test day at the High School - HS TA's will probably not be present in your rooms
• Dodgeland Referendum Open House @ Clyman Town Hall from 6-7pm
• Wednesday, March 4
• Step Up to Your Bright Future Day (wear neon/bright colors)
• Jenny has a GWCF meeting in Watertown from 9-11
• Grade Level Data meeting for Grade 1 @ 12:05
• Thursday, March 5
• Students of the Month announced @ 8:10am
• Submit the Bridges survey
• Friday, March 6
• Talkread Playgroup @ 9am in room 115
• Consumable packets due to Marie

Nitty-Gritty

• New Face:
• Please welcome Ms. Amara Hartmann.  She will be working with Shanalyn V. for the next month or so as a substitute.  She may look familiar to some of you.  She is also the after school Y-Care teacher as well.

• Students of the Month
• It's time to announce student of the month!  Please click here to fill in your nominee for this month.

• Bridges Math Input
• I am looking for your input on thoughts from your exploration of the Bridges preview and the scope/sequence.  Please complete the quick survey before March 5.

• March 3 Lunch time
• Due to the statewide ACT testing on Tuesday (that lasts until 12:30), our lunch times will change to 11:30 for K-2 and 12:00 for 3-5.  If you have a special at 11:30, please see Sue, Elizabeth or Justin to make sure that it still works for 12:30 that day instead.

• Target Based Grading Update
• The last two Thursdays have been so helpful and informative.  I can't wait to share all of my new learning.  However, I do have to say that the biggest thing I have learned is that we are on the right track!  There were many times in those two days where Mrs. Johnson and I looked at each other and said, "We are doing that."  That felt good.  I also have some answers for some of the questions you left for me last week.  Our next PD day is on March 16.

• FaceBook Faculty Feature
• I have lots of faculty features to use for the upcoming weeks.  If you have not sent me 3 pictures to use for the post, please do so.  Or I can come to take pictures of you in your classroom, just let me know!

PD Spotlight

On Wednesday, I referenced this article during the staff meeting.  Click here to read (or listen to) the entire article.  After spending a couple of weeks focusing on kindness in our school through the random acts of kindness week or the Read Across America week, I find this article to make me think.  I like to think that I am kind, but when I read this I thought, "What are my 'rules' and does this affect my actions/words and my quest to treat others kindly and with respect?"  She says that when you understand others' perspectives, the behaviors become far less frustrating.  At the end of the article, she talks about how to deal with these types of "secret rules."  I don't know if I can do all of these things, but I do know that I want to follow the path of "Judge Good" that Greg Wolcott and Ted Neitzke described.  I feel that these two ideas complement one another immensely.  Telling myself a new story about others' behavior allows me to be more at peace and calm.  However, with that being said, in the workplace, I do want feedback from our team.  It is important to me that I keep growing as a person as well as a professional.  Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Friday Funny

This week's Friday Funny feels like me this week.  I still remember my own name as of the posting of this week's blog!

February 21, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• The collaboration on Monday was energizing and productive. I heard many in-depth conversations that ended with consensus as well as clear success criteria rubrics.  Great Work!
• Students were so excited to receive tickets for showing kindness at recess this week. They seemed so proud of themselves when they were recognized for their kind actions.
• Students were engaged and followed assembly expectations at this week's assembly.  It was music to my ears to hear their laughs and giggles!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, Feb. 24
• Read Across America Week Starts with Assembly at 11:30 in the elem. gym
• School Board meeting at 6:30pm
• Tuesday, Feb 25
• Wear Red Day - Clifford the Big Red Dog Day
• Wednesday, Feb 26
• Vocabulary Parade at 8:15am
• Grade Level Data meeting for Grade 2 @ 12:05
• Elem. Staff meeting @ 3:10 in the IMC
• Thursday, Feb 27
• Author Visit, Stef Wade
• 8:30-9:15 for 4K-2nd grade, and 10:15-11:00 for grades 3-5
• Kindness Day - Do a Kind Act - Piggie & Elephant Day
• Jenny is gone for the day
• Read Across America Family night 6-7pm
• Friday, Feb 28
• Pajama Day - Good Night Moon Day

Nitty-Gritty

• PD Day Follow-Up
• Our last full PD day is on March 16th.  Before the day, please complete success criteria for 3 of the domains for ELA.  Art, Music and PE - Complete success criteria for 1 of your grades.
• Next steps for our Target-based grading planning is:
• Finalize our report card format (I'll take your information from Monday's grade level discussions to bring a second draft to analyze.)
• Brainstorm and create success criteria for the Citizenship grading rubric
• Finish the rest of the domains for ELA.

• Reminder:
• Please look over the scope and sequence documents and sign up to preview the Bridges Math from the email that was sent on Monday.  On March 2, I will be sending a survey to get your input and opinions. If you have any trouble getting on the site, please let me know.

• Assembly Follow-up
• In case you are interested, there are some follow-up activities to our energy conservation assembly from Tuesday.  Click here to see activities that you can use in your classrooms.

PD Spotlight

This week was Random Acts of Kindness and next week we start Read Across America with a theme of Kindness and Empathy.  There is a lot of research that has been reported regarding the benefits of kindness.  What I find interesting is that the kindness does not have to be given or received in order to benefit a person.  In fact, observing others being kind to others has noticeable benefits to the observers as well.  I watched this Ted Talk called "Kindness is the Cure."  The whole video is about 16-17 min. long and I realize you may not have time to watch the whole thing in one sitting.  However, I would encourage you to check it out.  So as we emphasize kindness and encourage our students to create habits of acting kind, it is also important that they are observing kindness as well. The past week (and this upcoming week), we have been (or will be) focusing our attention on kind acts.  Just as Cindy Grimes states, "Energy flows where our attention goes and it grows in your conscious awareness, whether it is objectively true or not."  I challenge us as a team of educators that are working hard to help our students develop strong SEL skills and habits of kindness, to pay attention to the kindness we see around us every day and allow our students and colleagues to benefit from observing kind acts that we participate in too. 

Friday Funny