November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

December 1st PD - you should have received (or will receive soon) an email from the person facilitating your professional development activity the afternoon of December 1st.  It will include the location of your PD.  If you do not receive that by next Monday, let Leslie or I know.

December 15th PD - An email came to your yesterday from me with a link to a survey.  This information will help us plan our upcoming building PD.  Please take time to complete this today or over the holiday break.  This is not an evaluative survey!!  We want to know how we can support each teacher where she is at now - just like you'd do for your own students.  

TechnoTip - The quiz I created above took 10 minutes to complete and post.  MyStudiyo is a tool that allows you make great looking quizzes for your website or blog.  Try it out on your own blog sometime.  The teachers who commented online liked MyStudiyo because it:

• is free.
• is very easy to use.
• has many uses across all age groups and subject areas.
• could be used to monitor and assess student learning.

The 2010 Home-Stretch - It is hard to believe we are entering December next week!  As we approach the last few weeks of school prior to winter break, please continue to push toward your team SMART goals, hold students accountable (behaviors and academics) and support your team as much as possible.  Personally, we know the holiday season can be stressful so we also need to understand that many of our students are involved in similar stressors too.  Please let Nicole, Lyndsay or I know if we can be supportive to students, families and staff members if needed.

Please review last week's FWR for other important information about the days ahead!

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

This week's thoughts were sent to me by Carrie Dirksen.  Thanks for sharing something you found that applies very well to your colleagues!!

..I believe effective educators must be creative thinkers with an ability to inspire and empower all learners. They must be compassionate, understanding and unwilling to give up on a child. They must be explicit and systematic, yet generously flexible, in their instruction. They must be knowledgeable of subject matter as well as the technologies of the day’s prevailing information landscape. They must be observant of student behavior to identify what each student does and does not understand, and how they can apply what they understand. They must be able to read and understand test data and read the faces of their learners. In short, teaching is a very difficult job and requires many characteristics to meet the needs of diversified learners. Teachers are also among the most powerful people on the planet.

November 19, 2010

Teacher Quality Plans - Gentle reminder that the TQ plans on due (via email) to me by December 3rd.  If you have questions - please ask now.

Walk Throughs - FYI for certified staff - If I do a walk through in your classroom, I am emailing the form directly from the e-Walk website.  If you do not receive that form via e-mail immediately, it is likely stuck in cyber-space so just let me know and I will get you an e-copy.  This has only happened a couple times but I assume it gets to you and do not otherwise know unless I'm told.  Thanks!

Fine Arts Dates - On November 30, our 3rd Grade will have the first Fine Arts music program for Maple Grove.  The day of their program, the students will have a practice with Mrs. Schoene and she will relay the times to the team prior to the day.  Please know that related arts classes missed during practice time will be rescheduled only if the related arts teacher reschedules the time with the classroom teacher.  We will get a sub for Mrs. Schoene during the time she is practicing and setting up so other grade levels will not miss music.

Winter Apparel PBIS Lesson should be taught by next Tuesday, November 23rd.

PTO Presentations - The sign-up sheet for teams/individuals presenting at PTO meetings is in the workroom by the mailboxes.  Thank you for signing up!!

GoodSearch Donation - Maple Grove received our first GoodSearch.com check for $17.46!  It may not seem like much but every penny counts and this was only for 2 months.  As you begin your online shopping, consider starting at GoodShop.com.  1500 top stores, from Amazon to Staples, have teamed up with GoodSearch and will donate a percentage of virtually every purchase to our school.  These merchants are also now posting thousands of money saving coupons and free shipping deals on their site.  Please pass this information on to friends and family (we will include it in the newsletter for parents).

Professional Development - December 1st early out will be a district-wide professional development lead by our district instructional coaches.  More information to come!  December 15th is a building level professional development afternoon and our BLT will provide more direction prior to the day.

Dates to note...
Monday
- BLT Mtg (8am - 2nd grade conference room)
- Conferences (4-8 pm)
- Last day of the book fair!
Tuesday
- K-2 PLC (8am)
- YMCA Fitness Day
Wednesday-Friday
- Happy Thanksgiving!
Monday, Nov 29
- district technology mtg
Tuesday, Nov 30
- K-2 PLC (8am)
- 3rd grade to HS for program practice (AM)
- Related Arts PLC+ @ 1:45 pm (early out schedule)
- 3rd Grade Fine Arts night (7:15 PM @ HS Auditorium)
Wednesday, Dec 1
- 3-5 PLC (8am)
- Early dismissal (District-wide PD)
Thursday, Dec 2
- Family Favorites Potluck
- District School Improvement Advisory Committee Mtg (6:30 pm)
Friday, Dec 3
- Staff Meeting @ 8am (4th gr - team builder; Kindergarten - treats)

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - One of my favorite traditions during Thanksgiving is to pull the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving tape (yes...we still have a VCR) out, pop some popcorn and watch the video with my family.  This week I read an interesting review of the movie and wanted to share it with all of you.  I am thankful for the staff we have at Maple Grove and do wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday break.  Safe travels.  Good eats.  Take a nap...or two each day.  Enjoy time away.



The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie is a good example of how positive moral lessons can be taught in a passive interactive format. Many times we seek to "make better" traditional holiday events only to find out it was a waste of time and that the simplest direction to fulfillment is to enjoy the time with family and friends and to [be thankful].

Charlie Brown, Linus, Pigpen, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest give visual story and example of what is most important which is simply to have family and friends who both accept you and forgive you. Each of us may have our own thoughts on how to improve Thanksgiving and often we lose sight of why we are celebrating and what we have to celebrate. The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie comes full circle only to end with the traditional appreciations, feast, and need for family which we all enjoy and should be a part of your Thanksgiving memories.

November 12, 2010

Books for BINGO is Friday night from 6:30-8:00 pm in our gym!  Come join the fun.

Conferences - If you have a student/parent conference you want me to attend, let me know.  I do like to walk around during conferences and may stop in to observe.  I will be attending my own children's conferences next Wednesday afternoon and Lyndsay will be in the building if you need an administrator or a parent would like to speak to one of us.  


Lunch/Recess Duty Concerns - PLEASE read below as there have been some recent safety concerns that need to be addressed.

• Staff on duty should be present in the cafeteria or on the playground when the scheduled time starts.
• Classroom teachers bringing students to lunch should remain in the lunchroom until both staff members on lunch duty are present.  Do not drop off at the door and leave.
• Please find your own replacement if you cannot cover a duty.

• 1+1 does not equal 2 (i.e. although tempting and much more fun, standing next to each other on duty does not work well for supervision)
• Classroom teachers may be inside the doors when picking up students from recess but need to be present at the end of recess.
• Staff members on recess duty should have students lined up and ready to come in at the scheduled ending time of lunch recess.  Students should be sent in at the ending time.   

Important Information from Dr. Buck - ***Please share this with your staff members who interact with HEART, Inform, MAP and DIBELS*** Kara Freeman's last day in the district was Thursday, November 11th.  We have been working to fill her position and have been in interviews earlier in the week.  Until the position is filled, we will not be completing updates to these various assessment systems/databases.  For example, if you have been used to sending a student name to Kara to be added to HEART, those services are currently suspended.  Please keep them on a list that you have at the ready for when these services resume.  We will alert you as soon as we have a new staff member in place.  In the interim, if you have questions, they need to come to me. :-) Thank you for your patience as this moves forward.  Brad.

PTO Learning Presentations -  Help!!  On Monday at our PTO meeting, I will be presenting information Dr. Wilkerson shared with our elementary PAC this week.  It will include information about the district enrollment numbers and futures plans.  The PTO loves when teachers share information about what is happening with their children at school.  Please email me if you or a group of you would like to give a 10-15 minute presentation about anything you're doing in the classroom or at MGE as teams of learners.  Let me know which of the dates available you'd be willing to do!   1/24, 2/21, 3/28, 4/18, 5/16.

Kudos to....

• Mrs. Grotewold and her students for putting on a wonderful Veterans' Day program. I heard a ton of positive comments from those who attended and the student presentation was great! Way to go!
• To all of you for continuing to do what you do each and every day. I know the bottom of the plate is never seen, but you continue to put your students first and do what it takes to get it done - and do it masterfully!

Dates to Note...
Monday
- Second Term begins
- Book Fair begins
- PTO Mtg @ 7 pm (Library)Tuesday
- K-2 PLC (8am)
Wednesday
- 3-5 PLC (8am)
- Early Out / Conferences
Thursday
- Barry at Instructional Rounds @ the HS
- Character Council w/students (8am)
Friday
- Problem Solving Core Mtg (8am)
Monday (Nov 22)
- Conferences (4-8pm)
- Every one help pack up book fair at 8:00 pm!!! Please!
Tuesday (Nov 23)
- YMCA Fitness Day with Whipps
- Barry wears a dress...do you have one that will fit me??

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Dress Shopping and Student Motivation - A student asked me at lunch today, "Mr. Barry, have you been dress shopping yet??" I've been asked more questions about what I'm going to wear (color, size, shape, accessories, etc) than I've been asked about anything else this year.  The kids are excited and they ask me - "Are you excited, Mr. Barry?"  I can't honestly say I am excited about the wearing-of-the-dress but I am excited to see kids motivated, inquisitive and hungry to know more - even if it is about my choice of attire.  You see that same motivation and hunger with students on many occasions - sometimes with the whole class (i.e. student projects I hear about and see in the classrooms) and sometimes with individual students (i.e. how they talk to me about what they are reading when I'm walking through rooms).  You've had experiences this year that get you excited about being an educator.  It reminds you why you chose to be an educator.  You all have many tricks to stimulate that excitement and it gets me excited when you share those talents and ideas with others.  I'm looking forward to continuing to see the collaboration, the planning and the delivery of wonderfully engaging and exciting projects and learning as we continue through the last 2/3rds of our school year.  "Oh....and no, Rachel, I have not been dress shopping yet.  I assumed that since I'm working with 40 women, spmeone would have at lease one extra one for me to wear." ;-)

November 5, 2010

Thank you for your hard work and being a part of our MGE family, Alice Hahn!

Welcome back Allison Costa!

Box Top Contest - Heather Doocy, PTO President, left boxtop collection sheets and contest overviews in your boxes to send home with the kids Friday (today).  She will be bringing in collection envelopes for the teachers on Monday with more details.  Winning classes from each grade level will earn an extra recess or gym time (weather pending). Heather appreciates your support with this contest.


Fall Fundraiser - Fortunately for kids...and unfortunately for me...students reached the goal of 575 sold books and donations!!  I will announce this at our assemblies on Friday and will be sporting a dress the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I cannot wait.  ;-)   ...anyone have something that might fit?


Books for BINGO - Books for BINGO is on Friday, November 12th.  It will be held in the gym from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  The PTO still needs 3 more teachers to help call out numbers - please contact Carrie Foster (<--click to email) to volunteer only 15 minutes of your time for this great event.


Inform - The fall 2010 MAP assessment results have been imported into Inform. Both the overall RIT score and the goal/strand RIT scores (Inform refers to them as _concepts_) have been imported into Inform.

DIBELS - reminder from last week...We will not be getting or giving out DIBELS reports to parents - DIBELS does not have that report ready yet for the DIBELS Next version.

Progress Reports - At this time, the progress reports are not 'printer-friendly.'  They print in a narrow column and are 6-7 pages long - definitely not something worth printing. We are going to recommend that you not "advertise" the printing option to parents, unless they request it. Teachers may want to pull up each students' progress report during the conference for the parent, teacher, and student to view together.  The original plan was to not print any progress reports this year. Due to the PowerSchool printing glitch from the parent portal, we will print 2 progress reports for each student at the end of the school year. One copy will be placed in the cum and one copy will be sent home. District office will work on building the parent-friendly and professional-looking progress reports that we will print in May. Until then, progress reports are all electronic. We will communicate this in our newsletter this week.  


But what if...the parent does not have internet access at home and wants a paper copy?  The records in the office indicate we have a few parents without internet access. We believe teachers can do a "print screen" from the teacher's view of a child's progress report.  You may do this for parents who do not have access to the report at home and who request it.  The comments will not be included in this view so you can handwrite or type those for the parents if needed.


But what if...the parent wants to discuss the progress report, the changes to reporting and how it cannot be printed, etc. during our conference time?  We hope the information already sent out and additional information I will send out at the end of next week help parents understand that conferences is a time for you, their child and the parents to talk about needed progress and/or the student's academic achievements.  Lyndsay will be available during the Wednesday conference times and I will be available the Monday time so you can refer parents to us to answer questions about the online reports.


But what if...a custodial parent lives outside the metro area and wants access to the child's online progress report?  First, we hope custodial parents will share their login information with each other, but if that is not the case, please refer the parent to Paula or I.  They will have to mail a notarized copy of their driver's license and we will discuss this with them.


Visitor - Rob Wedebrand from Griswold CSD will be shadowing me on Friday and Monday as part of his practicum hours.  


Dates to Note...
Monday
- PBIS Core Team (8am)
- Allison Costa returns
Tuesday
- K-2 PLC (8am)
- Elem PAC Mtg (4:30-6:00 pm)
Wednesday
- 3-5 PLC (8am)
Thursday
- District Lang Arts Mtg
Friday
- Progress reports are due (live @ 4pm)
- BINGO for Books @ MGE (6:30-8:00 pm)
Monday (Nov 15)
- Conference begin
- PTO Mtg @ MGE (7-8 pm)

Final Thoughts for the Week

...where I keep talking/typing and you 

don't necessarily have to continue listening/reading. 

Throw Away Your Reading Logs - There is a great blog-post by Nancy Ehrlich on reading logs and the attempt to instill the love of reading in our students....and our own kids.  I think about the differences between my own three boys and how it can be a fight with one to get him in a book and a fight with another to get him to put down the book (the kid who sits on and attempts to peak at his reading book during math class).  What happened?  Did we suddenly parent differently?  Did I not read the right books to one son?  How can I light that fire??  From my very short time on the other side of the educational desk - working on my 13th year - I have seen many kids get turned off of reading during school. As a whole, I think we are doing many things very well to get kids to enjoy reading, but I'm sure you all have your half-dozen or so that do not enjoy it.  I don't have all (or many) of the answers, but Nancy has some great insight and thoughts...worth a read sometime this weekend.  What has worked for you?  Post a comment to share.

MID-WEEK EMAIL - SENT 11/3/10

Please help us welcome Cindy Bugg, Pamela Swanson, and Kelley Neumann to Maple Grove.  We also are excited to announce that Nancy Anderson will move from the preschool room to the kindergarten room next door as our 4th kindergarten associate! They begin as our kindergarten classroom associates this morning and will be with us from 8:45 - 11:45 am each day.  In addition to assisting kindergarten, they may be available to other grade levels for student interventions during kindergarten lunch & recess.  More to come on that...

Conference reminder forms will be in your boxes this afternoon.  If the 1/2 sheets do not come in Central Print this morning, I will go pick them up so you have them during work time today.  

Recess clarification:  Recess teachers/associates on duty should line kids up 1-2 minutes prior to the scheduled end of recess and send students in the building at the scheduled ending time.  Classroom teachers may wait for students inside the doors.  Since the teachers outside cannot see if teachers are present inside the doors - the expectation is for classroom teachers to be present at that time.  If it becomes a concern, we will have teachers pick up their students outside.  This is for the safety of our students.

Associate Hiring - Update

Maple Grove Staff,

As of Sunday evening, we are still in the process of filling open
associate positions.  We have four 3-hour associates that will be in the
kindergarten classrooms in the morning.  Three candidates have have
accepted offers but the associates cannot start until we have background
checks back.  The fourth position has not been offered yet and interviews
are still pending.  I am also in the midst of interviewing for the one
2.5-hour recess associate.  This position has not been offered yet.

To help help with some high-needs in our kindergarten rooms and holes we
have in our recess schedule, we will be bringing in 2 sub-associates this
week.  These two associates will help until we have the positions filled. 
The associates will be in the kindergarten rooms except for when they are
covering 1st, 4th and 5th grade recess duty - and taking their own lunch.

Except the 4th & 5th grade classroom teachers not having recess duty, all
current duties for staff will remain the same at this point.  I will have
an updated recess/lunch schedule for staff before the recess associate
starts his/her first day (sometime in the next 1-4 weeks).

Thank you for your patience during this process!  The extra support will
be great when we get it in place.

He who laughs, lasts
Doug