Gator Run Friday Focus - November 14, 2014

Last week I put the call out to those of you who have something to share.  At our Team Leader meeting last week this idea evolved into a Classroom Showcase on the Early Release Day before Winter Break.  This will be a good time to gather some new ideas before we head off to rest and reflect.  The Classroom Showcase is an opportunity for teachers to share your best practices from their classrooms and for the rest of us to learn from you.  We are looking for volunteers to open up their classrooms.  Possible topics might be Edmodo, blogging, writing, enrichment, remediation, math centers, QR codes, gallery walks, and any other strategies that you feel that you would like to share.  Those of us not presenting will have an opportunity to visit several classrooms of interest to us.  Please let me know ASAP if you would like to be a presenter for this event.  

• Next week we will be taking a group of 50 of our 5th graders to Washington, DC for an amazing field trip.  Wish us well!  We will let you know how it went when we return.  
• NESS Meeting next Monday at 2:15 in Mrs. Heyman's classroom.
• Student of the Month names are due to Ms. Felton by next Tuesday.
• Interim Reports go home next Thursday.

Video of the Week - Chocolates  You will have to have YouTube activated for you computer to watch.  I'm sure that a lot of you have seen this one before but I want you to view this with the following in mind: think of each of the chocolates as one of the items that has been placed on your shoulders this year (formative assessments, BAFs, new standards, DOK levels, PLCs, Marzano, etc.).  Do you feel like Lucy and Ethel this year?

Quote of the Week - 

Gator Run Friday Focus - November 7, 2014

I WANT YOU...to present your "Innovating" ideas at our next Faculty Collaboration!  Are you doing something in your classroom that your fellow colleagues could benefit from?  Do you have a strategy that all of our Gator Run teachers need to know about?  This is your time!  I need your help in making our next Faculty Collaboration truly a collaboration.  I heard from some of you that our Collaborations haven't lived up to their name this year and now it's time to return to our goal of teachers collaborating with each other.  Please visit with me or email me with your idea and we can discuss how you can earn "Innovating" points. 

• No school on Tuesday.
• Field Days: 2nd Grade on Monday, 1st Grade on Wednesday and Kindergarten on Friday.
• Interim Reports are due to Team Leaders on Monday and Ms. Felton on Thursday. 
• Team Collaboration is scheduled for next Wednesday.
• Report Cards for the 1st quarter go home on Thursday.
• Friday is our Honor Roll Breakfast.

Quote of the Week - "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller.  This seems like the perfect quote at the right time for us.  We are so overwhelmed with everything that's been placed upon us this year that we really have to rally together so that we can accomplish our goal of ensuring that each of our students receives a high-quality education.  We really just need to focus on the 1. standards and the 2. DOK levels and let all the other things fall where they may.  Let me know what I can do to help keep you focused on those two items.