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

February 14, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• I'd really like to hope that all of us (staff and students) are going to be healthy and feeling better by Monday.  However, thank you to everyone for being flexible and picking up extra tasks to fill in for sick staff members.  I love being part of your team!
• Teachers are posting the teaching point for students before beginning the mini-lesson.  Some have even underlined or highlighted the parts of the teaching points to help students see the goal and the strategy.
• Teachers sharing difficult news with parents in a compassionate and caring manner.  Parents and teachers that work together to problem solve and have open communication will benefit our students and their progress.  

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, February 17
• PD day - Click here for the agenda
• Tuesday, February 18
• All school assembly at 2:15pm in the Elementary Gym
• Read Across America Committee meeting at 3:05pm
• Wednesday, February 19
• Work Out Wednesday
• 3rd Grade Data Meeting 12:00 in D.O.
• Newsletter articles due to Marie
• Thursday, February 20
• Jenny will be out for the day.
• Friday, February 21
• New EC/4K Playgroup using TalkReadPlay with expanded age limits (ages 1-5)
• If you have any families with younger children, please encourage them to attend the playgroup from 9-10am.
• Kids Heart Challenge Packets due today.
• Donate $1 to wear a hat for the Kids Heart Challenge.

Nitty-Gritty

• Read Across America
• Read Across America begins the week of February 24.  The theme of the week is Kindness and Empathy.  Watch for more information from the committee this week.

• Summer School Update
• Summer School courses are being finalized within the week.  Registration will be online again this year starting on March 23 at 4pm.  Students that attend summer school, not only have the opportunity to continue their learning in reading, writing and math, but they also have access to a safe, caring environment to see peers that provides a healthy breakfast for all, and lunches can be ordered for students to take home as well.  Please encourage families to have their children participate. There will be lots of options for students, including some brand new options this year too.

PD Spotlight

For the past couple of weeks, I have been reading this book.   I wanted to learn and to understand and be part of the solution.  I haven't gotten through every chapter yet, but I felt like others may be interested in his work as well.  One of the strongest pieces that he states is, "Kids do well if they can" and "Doing well is preferable to not doing well."  This made me think.  How can I be part of a solution that helps kids do well.  And I also wanted to read and reflect on whether any of my habits or responses are contributing to behavior issues at school.  Click here to read a one page FAQ page about Dr. Greene's approach, called the CPS model. (Collaborative & Proactive Solutions)

Friday Funny

This week's Friday Funny comes from the file of "Things that only happen to Jenny."  Some of you may have heard I got myself into a predicament yesterday morning before school.  I started to back out of my garage and all of a sudden, I notice the lawn mower coming with me.  Ella and I tried a few different ways to get the car unstuck from the mower, but with no luck.  Finally, we had to get Mason up.  I am certain he has not seen 7:15 am in more than a year!  Notice the look on his face below! He was very frustrated with his mom!

Eventually, we had to jack the car up to free the mower from the front of the car.  So while the normal thing would be to be stuck in the SNOW we just had, not me.  I am stuck on a LAWN MOWER!

February 7, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• 1st graders responding to the statement, "I didn't fail, I found 1000 ways that don't work."  The insight these students had in was incredible.  They were thinking very deeply and discussing SEL skills at the same time!
• MANY staff members filling in to allow the math committee to go to a school to observe a math program at their elementary school.  This was only possible because we are a team!
• Staff members communicating with parents frequently to help students to be successful at school.  When we have open communication between home and school, our students really benefit.
• Staff members vigilant at recess, before/after school, and in the hallways to address unkind and inappropriate words and actions.  It is not okay when students feel picked on and uncomfortable at school.  Thank you for everyone's help with this.
• Students are so proud of their work in PLTW!  In so many grades, students are building, creating, engaged and learning.  It is so exciting to witness.  Great job everyone!

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Friday, February 7
• Students of the Month announced (I missed it earlier this week.)
• At 2:30, please send the attendance raffle winners to the office to get their prizes. The videos are here.
• Monday, February10
• Wear Milwaukee Bucks Attire
• Tuesday, February 11
• Wednesday, February 12
• Donate $1 to bring a tech device to use at lunch recess.
• 4th grade Data meeting at lunch in the D.O. conference room
• Thursday, February 13
• Parent/Teacher Conferences - 4:00-7:30pm
• EC/4K Art Show - 4:30-6:00pm
• Jenny will provide some appetizers that night for everyone.  
• Friday, February 14
• Valentine's Day
• Donate $1 to wear PJ's to school

Nitty-Gritty

• Reminder:  
• If you or your class has not completed the National School Counseling Week Trivia, please do so before the end of the day.  The link is here. 

• Safety Updates:
• The Safety planning team met last week and there are a few updates/reminders to share.
• Please make sure that your Go Kits, class lists, binder, sub plans are all update with the most up-to-date information.
• Specials teachers, please make sure to go over safety procedures for your class.  Some students get confused when a drill occurs outside of their homeroom classroom.
• Please remember to wear your District ID badge every day.  If you do not have one, please see Kimi in the district office.
• Likewise, if you see visitors in the hallway during school hours, they should have a pass/sticker on.  If they don't, please ask if they need help or if you can assist them getting to a location.
• *NEW*  Finally, during emergency drill events, students need to be quiet.  If they are in the habit of staying quiet with no talking during drills, they will be ready to hear directions in the case of a real emergency.  At our next drill, please help to enforce this as it is new to us all.

• PD day is Monday, Feb 17
• Just a friendly reminder that we will be moving to the next step for the Target Based Grading system.  Below is the list from last month that needs to be completed before then.
• A completed learning framework with domains, priority standards, and learning targets for each domain.
• Reread chapter 2 (pgs. 13-29) to prepare for our work
• Review the report card draft and the citizenship examples that were handed out last month

• Parent Teacher Conferences
• If you would like me to attend a conference for one of your students, please let me know soon.  As a thank you, I will have some appetizers in the staff room after school for all staff members. 

• FaceBook Updates
• You may have noticed that all of the Dodgeland pages have been merged to one district page so that our families can find all of our information in one spot.  If you have a classroom page, please let me know so that I can follow it too.  I may share some posts to the district page so that even more people can see what awesome things our students/classrooms are doing.  The Staff Feature has started and will be out every Friday. (If you have pictures to share, please email them to me.)  
• Another weekly feature we are starting is a student spotlight feature.  If you have an idea for a student to highlight/nominate, please see me!  The first student was a former student from DES.

PD Spotlight

If your days are like mine, it seems like the to-do list gets longer and the finished tasks never seems to move.  However, sometimes I feel like I am in the middle of something and can't remember what I was about to do, or type or look up, etc.  I came across this 1-min video explaining something called a micro-break.  I am going to see if this will help me maintain focus and feel more accomplished.  Let me know if you try it too.  I would love to know how it works for you. 

Friday Funny

I think this is funny.  It might show my age a bit though.  This symbol was on a lot of stuff when I was growing up on our family farm.  I learned early to stay away from this "emoji."  :-)

January 31, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• Classrooms took advantage of the free Virtual Field Trip to the Omaha Zoo about sharks.  We learned that there were some HUGE pre-historic shark ancestors!  They were very engaged.
• PLTW is going strong all over the building.  Our Dodgeland student engineers are building compound machines, exploring sound, and coding/programming.   
• A parent of a new student to Dodgeland emailed me yesterday to share how pleased she is with the education that her child is getting at Dodgeland.  Her last line was, "Thank you so much for everything your school does every day."   This is all because of the incredible, caring staff that make Dodgeland great!
• The guests in our building on Tuesday, including Wi First Lady, shared how inspired they were by the work the Dodgeland staff has implemented to help students build SEL skills. In fact, I wish you all could have heard them praising your work.  It brought tears to many of our eyes!

What is Happening at Dodgeland?

• Friday, January 31
• Last day to add attendance tickets to the grade buckets.
• 1:30pm - Dance Team run for state
• 2:30pm - 2nd Quarter Pride Assembly (Please have kids packed up before arriving)
• Monday, Feb. 3
• 5th Grade Field Trip to Schauer Art Center (11:30-2:30)
• Jeans for Heart week starts (Add your donation to the envelope in the mailroom)
• Tuesday, Feb 4
• Jump rope for Heart Packets distributed to students.
• Wednesday, Feb 5
• Math committee observation out of the building from 11-3:30
• NO Grade Level data meeting
• Thursday, Feb 6
• 4th and 5th grades on Field Trips
• Referendum Update meeting for Staff 3:20-4:00
• Friday, Feb 7
• National Wear Red Day

Nitty-Gritty

• Survey - Last minute reminder...
•  If you haven't completed the Employee Engagement survey, please do so today.  It ends on January 31.  The link is below.
•  Dodgeland School District Employee Engagement Survey
• If your students have not taken it yet, please have them finish it today.  Let me know if you need the QR code again.  I sent it out last week in an email.

• Referendum Update meeting for Staff
• All staff is invited to attend a meeting in the IMC on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 3:20pm to receive updates to the referendum and facts related to the ballot question for the April 7th referendum. 

• Lunch Reflection
• Just a clarification.  Students with Educlimber incidents that require a lunch detention, often will meet with Kevin (sometimes they meet with me if there is a schedule conflict) as a lunch reflection activity .  The lunch reflections are usually coordinated by Erich or myself with Kevin's schedule.  The purpose of this 1:1 time is to talk through what happened, and help the student reflect on another way to handle this situation as well as ways to help make it right.  If a student is doing a reflection more than once, the student will call home to talk with parents about this incident.  Parents should be communicated with frequently so that this phone call is not the first time they are hearing about incidents at school.  If you need help or support with this, please let me know.  Students benefit from open communication between school and home.

• Student Behavior
• In the last week or two, there have been many reports brought to me about students being unkind to one another, using inappropriate language including swear words, threatening others, disrespect towards staff and other disappointing choices.  In some cases, the situations have been going on for quite some time. Our expectations have not changed at school.  Please be vigilant and observant throughout the day but especially during recess (before and during school), lunch and any unstructured time periods.  Students should not feel uncomfortable by the words that others are using around them, or afraid that they are not safe at school.  It is not okay with any of us for students to feel like this and it does not fit with our vision of how we want our school to feel and be like.  Thank you in advance for your support and for being consistent messengers of our expectations.  Our students can be kind, respectful and responsible, and they deserve our high expectations for their behavior.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

• Students of the Month
• Please fill in the student of the month chart for your class before Tuesday, Feb 4.  I will be announcing them on Wednesday morning.  Click here for the student of the month chart.

• Jump Rope for Heart
• February has lots of opportunities to participate in this fundraising program.  Please see Mrs. Scholfield's email for a list of all of the exciting plans the committee has in store for our school.

PD Spotlight

This is not a new graphic, but this week I wanted to review it again.  After spending the last week or so reflecting on all of the things we do at Dodgeland to help address SEL needs of our students, I found myself needing to return to the foundations of this work.  At some point in the near future, I want to be able to know these competencies so well that I can use them in conversation and in problem solving for student needs.  However, I am not here yet.  I was asked to take a survey this week regarding them as well, and one of the questions asked me to tell which of the 5 competencies was the most important and why.  I found it to be a very difficult question.  As soon as I thought I had it in an order, I second guessed myself.  I think it is because they are all so connected that it is hard to say that one is more important than another.  What do you think?  Click here to reread the descriptions of these competencies.  It is a good reminder of what skills we are trying to help our students develop while they are going through our system.

Friday Funny

It's only funny because it's true!  (Except I would rather have a book!)

January 24, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• An "escape room" math activity using Google forms provided a hands-on problem solving math task for groups of students to apply the math learning targets taught that day.
• First graders working on their PLTW unit drawing a picture to describe the problem they are investigating.
• 4K students successfully making "The Serious Goose" smile in their story during library. (This is a new book in the IMC.  Check it out!  It's a great book!)
• Jr Coaches describing for me the problem solving wheel and how it helps them and other students during recess.  It is so awesome to listen to the language that they are using and their opinions of how it helps younger students at recess.

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 27
• Soup-er Bowl starts at DES with donations benefitting The Gathering Source
• Geography Bee Finals for 4-8 grades at 10:56-11:30
• School Board Meeting at 6:30
• Tuesday, January 28
• Visitors to our school to observe our SEL initiatives 10am-1pm
• Would there be anyone interested and available to help out in the lunchroom on Monday and Tuesday (1/27 & 1/28)?
• Wednesday, January 29
• Thursday, January 30
• Friday, January 31
• 2nd Quarter Pride Assembly at 2:30 (Have students packed up before the assembly please.)
• Last day of the Soup-er Bowl
• Make sure to complete the Employee Engagement Survey before today. (Link is below)

Nitty-Gritty

• Summer School
• Last call for interested summer school staff...  I will be working on this over the weekend and don't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to join us this summer!  It is a wonderful way to try new activities and provide students with a safe learning environment.
• After School Y-Care
• This week the director of the After school program from the Y shared that they have 2 full-time openings for after school.  Please let me know if you know of any families that need after school care.
• Also, they have openings for employment to work right here at Dodgeland in the after school program through the Y.  Click here and here for more information regarding this opportunity.
• Featured Staff Friday
• Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the staff members that have submitted sheets for me to feature you this spring in our FaceBook feature.  If you have pictures you'd like me to use, please email them to me.  I plan to start sharing them on Friday, Feb 7.
• Attendance Initiative
• There is one last week for students to earn tickets for the Attendance Raffle for the month of January.  I will have a short video to give one final push for students to be present all week.  The attendance committee will be making a video where we draw names there.  Prizes will be handed out on Friday, Feb 7 at 2:30pm.
• February's Attendance Challenge will be a classroom challenge using the words Valentine's.  When your class fills in all 10 letters, please provide a class selected reward and post the class chart near the attendance chart in the hallway near the mailroom door.
• TalkReadPlay
• The Foundation is collaborating with us bring the TalkReadPlay initiative into our playgroups here at Dodgeland.  The initiative has a wealth of resources for parents of children from birth through age 5. The goal of the initiative is to bring awareness of brain and language development and provide ways to enhance everyday routines by stretching the routine by adding in language and learning activities.  This includes asking questions like, "How many _____ do you see?"  "What do you see that is red?" etc. This includes a free app for ideas to use with young children as well as other resources for parents. When young children have opportunities to build brain synapses early in their life, they enter school ready to successfully take on the academics and social situations at school.  Please see any of the 4K teachers for more information or click here for the website.
• Survey
• Please take a few minutes to complete the Employee Engagement survey that Dr. Thompson sent out this week before Friday, Jan 31.  We value feedback so that we can continue to grow and make our school and district even stronger.   Dodgeland School District Employee Engagement Survey.
• In addition to employees, we also would like to get feedback from our students.  Please plan a time for students to take this survey before Friday, January 31.  I will send out a QR code and link for students to take this survey.  The survey is similar to the one that students took last year.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

PD Spotlight

• A couple of weeks ago we learned how the teaching points are written and ways to help make our mini-lessons, mini.  Each teaching point has a goal and a strategy written into it.  Each lesson has a connection, teaching point with demo, active engagement, and link.  Sometimes the q/a section of a class gets away from us during the lesson.  Everyone wants a chance to answer, and before we now it, our mini-lesson has gone twice as long as we planned.  This article was shared with me from Mrs. Andrea Schulte.  It made me think about how often this happened to me when I taught Read 180.  Hopefully you will find this article thought provoking and helpful for your practice as well.

Friday Funny

A joke that can be shared with our students.  It just makes me laugh.  :-)

January 17, 2020

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

• It was exciting to talk with so many students that were proud of the progress they made on their i-Ready winter tests.  I can't wait to see their gains at the end of the year!
• I am grateful to the quick responses to emergencies by staff members. I am so grateful to work alongside this elementary team.
• Our 4K students' executive functioning skills improving every week.  Have you seen them transitioning in the hallway lately?  They have grown so much!
• Flexibility with schedules this week to respond to student and staff needs, including covering for ill teachers.  (Let's hope this flu bug goes away soon!)

What's Happening at Dodgeland?

• Monday, January 20
• Grades Due at 8am
• Click here to let me know you are interested in teaching Summer School!
• Optional EP training in the IMC at 3:15pm
• Tuesday, January 21
• Coach Jena visiting Recess from 9:15-1pm
• Wednesday, January 22
• Self-Care Academy in the IMC from 3:30-4:30
• Newsletter Articles due to Marie
• Report Cards sent home
• Thursday, January 23
• Attendance committee meeting at 12:10 in the D.O. conference room
• Friday, January 24

Nitty-Gritty

• GG Survey
• Don't forget to take the GG survey by Wednesday, January 22.  Click here to get to the survey.
• i-Ready Reports
• Please print off an i-Ready report to send home with students once your testing is complete.  If students are completed with the testing, the reports could be included in the report card on Wednesday.  Click here if you need a refresher on how to print the reports.
• WIN
• With mid-year testing almost completed, revisions to the WIN groups are probably ready to be determined.  When your team has the groups revised, please share them with me.  We will return to weekly data meetings in February.  If you need any help, feedback, or support on this process, please let me know.
• Curriculum Pacing
• It is hard to believe, but the school year is half over.  It would be a good time to take stock on where you are in the curriculum for the year. Earlier this school year, we talked about planning the Units of Study for Reading and Writing.  Are you on track for completing your plan?  How about Math?
• New Faces
• On Monday, a student teacher, Ms. Chrissy Mueller, will be joining Kathy Miller in 2nd grade.  She is currently a student at Maranatha and will be with us for all of 3rd quarter.  Please make her feel welcome!
• Also this week, Ms. Stephanie Wild will be returning to Trisha Caine's class to teach during her maternity leave. Please welcome Stephanie back to our team!

PD Spotlight

I came across this article and thought I would share it with you.  I hear this a lot when I talk to students about behavior incidents.  Of course, sometimes in my case, kids say this because they don't really want to discuss what happened.  However, I still found the chart at the bottom of the article to be thought provoking.  Perhaps you will find these details helpful as well.

Friday Funny

A couple of staff members know this story, and a special couple even got to witness this event, but this week's Friday Funny is a true story about me.

Last week, I was in Amber's room helping with a student that had entered the room.  I needed to call Marie in the office for assistance and saw this phone on the shelf.  I said, "Is this really her phone?  Why does it look so weird?" 

However, I needed Marie's help so I picked up the phone and embarrassingly dialed the first 2 numbers before I realized that this is a TOY in the EC room.  I then started laughing so hard at myself (along with the unfortunate witnesses to my error) it took me a little while to find the actual classroom phone.  It worked MUCH BETTER when I used the real one!  :-)