February 15, 2013

 

ALL STAFF - Maple Grove will host Instructional Rounds next Thursday! Fifteen principals and district office personnel will be engaged in their own learning and collaboration around Danielson Component 3d: Using Assessment in Instruction (learning targets, feedback, student involvement and mindsets). Leslie and I are excited to have all MGE staff members be resident experts and resources for our visitors as they use inquiry learning to expand their own knowledge. Team members will be out immersing themselves in our building: talking to staff members/students and parents, collecting information and building upon their own knowledge from 9:15a until 10:45a. Thank you in advance for accommodating our visitors!

Updated Progress Reports/Conference timelines are included below. We had nearly 330 parent made conferences in the first day! Please remember to log in to check your parents' progress and send out parent reminders to those specific parents who have not scheduled their conference. The online scheduler closes next Friday.

• Feb 11-24 – Parent window open for scheduling
• Feb 15 - Close PS Parent portal closes by 4pm 
• Feb 22 – Teacher workday
• Feb 25 – Parent window closed; teachers contact/schedule parents who have not scheduled
• Feb 25 - Related Arts complete progress reports by 4pm 
• Feb 26-Mar 1 – All remaining conferences scheduled by classroom teacher and parents notified
• March 1 - Progress Reports completed by teachers; PS Parent portal opens at 4pm 
• March 2 - Conferences begin!

Last District Math PD - Our next PD will be on Feb 20 from 2:15-4:00p. Please read through the information below from Lyndsay Law. Related Arts will meet at their regular locations to continue where they left off with their PLC work and please utilize the Google.doc for your PLC notes.

• Kindergarten Team - Brookview Media Center
• 1st Grade Team - Waukee Elementary Media Center
• 2nd Grade Team - Shuler Media Center
• 3rd Grade Team - Walnut Hills PD Room (412/414-upstairs)
• 4th Grade Team - Maple Grove Media Center
• 5th Grade Team - Eason Elementary Art Room

Lyndsay Law shares: The focus for our meeting will be around the 8 mathematical practices and sharing assessment/communication resources across the district. 

The curriculum committee reviewed your feedback from our January meeting, and we have built in some time to discuss assessment and communication tools during this meeting. Please bring an artifact or tool that you will be using to assess or communicate progress for an upcoming unit. Please bring a hard copy of your artifact/tool. We will display these on tables for others to view. Make sure each member of your team has a copy as we will be in mixed teams. Coaches have grade specific items to discuss as well. Please check with a coach, committee member or e-mail Lindsay Law if you have questions. 

ESL Endorsement Opportunity - Want to be like Kirby?? Interested in earning an ESL endorsement? The AEA is offering some informational sessions regarding a great opportunity to earn your ESL endorsement with the chance to earn up to $2500 in tuition grants. More information can be found here (link opened at home for me on Safari or Firefox at school)

Next PTO meeting is Monday night. The learning piece will be hosted by 5th grade as they share their own learning and application of mindsets. We start at 7pm in the library.

Looking ahead...

• Feb 15: Staff Potluck! Valentine's Party day (2:30-3:15p). RA district PLC 2-4p
• Feb 18: 5th grade Band Solo Night (after school); PTO MTG (7pm)
• Feb 19: 2nd and 4th switch lunch; 4th grade Fine Arts Night (@ WHS)
• Feb 20: Early Out; last day of across district math PD
• Feb 21: MGE will host district Instructional Rounds. 
• Feb 22: No School (work day)
• Dr. Suess Reading Celebration Week is 2/25 through 3/1. More info to come.

Website of the Season

Make your own candy hearts. Start with this one to practice your skills:

February 8, 2013

Valentine's Parties are next Friday and will run from 2:30-3:15 pm. Parents who are helping with the parties will be allowed to come down to the rooms at 2:20 pm. Please do not tell parents otherwise so we provide a consistent message. We will run an early out schedule that day as well.

Staffing Update - Kelly Coffman has accepted the 1st grade position for the 2013-14 school year. We are excited to have her as part of the team next fall. At this point, we have all certified positions for the upcoming school year filled.

Iowa Assessments are next Tuesday through Thursday AM. Please remind students to be as quiet as possible in the hallways (2nd grade team - leave notes for subs to remind students!!)

Related Arts will cover bus duties on the Wednesday and Thursday of conference week again so teachers can get a bite to eat and get ready for conferences. THANK YOU RA TEAM!

PBIS Calendar Sign-Up can now be found online!! We realize many of you want to sign up but don't find the time (or like me, forget!!) to go to the Owl's Nest to put your name down. The PBIS sub-committee will transfer your name from the e-calendar to the hard copy. CLICK HERE to access and make sure to click on the correct month. :-)

Planning a field trip? Be sure to get bus request forms in EARLY and indicate any special needs on the form. Also be sure to work with Jill and our nutrition department at least 2 weeks in advance.

He who laughs, lasts... Ran across this article and thought I'd share it with you: What's So Funny About Teaching?!? If you don't have time to read the entire article (not a long one), I'll leave you with this quote:

Being able to survive and thrive in these contexts depends on the ability to detach, see the absurdity, not take oneself too seriously, not personalize, not become defensive and, as much as possible, laugh with some degree of frequency.

Looking ahead...

• Feb 11: BLT 8am in the library
• Feb 12-14 is Iowa Assessments; 
• Feb 12: 2nd/K PLC+
• Feb 12: SMS 5th Grade Parent Night (6-7p)
• Feb 13: 1st PLC+
• Feb 15: Staff Potluck! Valentine's Party day (2:30-3:15p). RA district PLC 2-4p
• Feb 18: 5th grade Band Solo Night (after school)
• Feb 19: 4th grade Fine Arts Night (@ WHS)
• Feb 20: Early Out; last day of across district math PD
• Feb 21: MGE will host district Instructional Rounds. More to come!
• Feb 22: No School (work day)
• Dr. Suess Reading Celebration Week is 2/25 through 3/1. More info to come.

Online Literacy Coaching Certificate
Iowa State University

The School of Education at Iowa State University is now accepting applications for the Online Literacy Coaching Certificate program that starts this summer.  This 17-credits, totally online program is designed to prepare classroom teachers, instructional leaders, and other school personnel to serve in literacy leadership roles with the goal of improving teacher practices and student achievement in diverse Pre K-12 school settings.

It is a unique opportunity to develop deep expertise in literacy research, policy, practice, and leadership skills. The admission process is limited. 

Application deadline for Summer Cohort is March 1, 2013. 

Detailed application information can be found at the program website (http://www.education.iastate.edu/literacy-coaching) or request additional information at literacy-coach@iastate.edu.

February 1, 2013

So cold you need to laugh?

I found 400 "It's so cold..." jokes on this site. 

Enjoy...and stay warm

Assembly today! Reminder that our 3rd-5th will be going first (2:10p) and K-2 later (2:45p). Early out schedule too!

Please send home the MGE Family Movie Night flyers with students (in your boxes) on Friday!! A correction was emailed to parents and posted to Facebook (changed movie to Madagascar 3 but the time remains the same). If you or your family want to come watch the movie, please join PTO that evening!

Iowa Assessments will be Feb 12-14 for grades 3rd-5th. Please be quiet in the hallways between 9:00-10:30am as students will be testing all over the building!

Conference Scheduler Update - Special education and ESL students (and their siblings are being scheduled until February 8. From February 11th -24th, parents will be able to schedule online. An email will go out next week with directions for parents. More information can be found on the Conference tab above.

Update from ELA Curriculum Team: We just finished our 2nd curriculum meeting and wanted to share a few updates from our work.

1. We have completed our work on the writing supporting documents.  They are ready for use within PLC teams. 
2. The Common Core Language Standards have been placed on the wiki by grade level.  A position statement has been drafted by the committee for integrating these into reading, writing, speaking and listening. This statement will be finalized and posted on the blog in April.
3. Our revisions for progress report statements and rubrics will be finalized in April.  Any suggestions that you find during the next reporting period will need to be shared with a committee representative or your instructional coach.

Let us know if you have any questions.Thanks, K-5 Curriculum Team

4th grade will be using the Star Lab in the 3rd grade pod on February 7th. This will be in use all day. Students should keep a zero to whisper voice in the pod when classes are in the lab. Restrooms in the pod will still be in use that day.

Looking ahead...

• February 4th will be our 2nd Pizza Ranch Night (1st/4th grades). Thank you in advance for helping!
• February 5th will be the last day for Pennies for Patients.
• Feb 12-14 is Iowa Assessments. 
• February 15th is our Valentine's Party day (2:30-3:15p).
• February 21st - MGE will host district Instructional Rounds. More to come!

Another Mindset Video - Maybe a bit more fixed....

I was told that this exact teacher-student interaction took place

in one of our classrooms when the teacher emailed me this 

video. ;-) I've seen it before but still laughed-out-loud. I'm guessing

this teacher has started a PS packet...