Gator Run Thursday Focus - April 2, 2015

Next Week at a Glance:

• Our 3rd and 4th grades continue with FSA testing next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Please adhere to the schedule sent out by Ms. Felton and know that Specials will come to classes until we give the all clear.  
• We will have a Faculty Collaboration next Wednesday afternoon in the Media Center.
• Report cards are due to Team Leaders on Tuesday and Ms. Felton on Thursday. 
• Next Friday is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Quote of the Week - Saw this last night on Twitter - "Time doesn't exist.  Clocks exist."  Appreciate each moment.  I beg you not to count down the days remaining - please don't wish away time that you will wish that you had back later in life. 

Gator Run Friday Focus - March 13, 2015

Next Week at a Glance:

• Spring Book Fair continues through Wednesday.  
• Team Leader Day is Monday.  We will begin a discussion about the 2015/16 school year that we will continue at next Wednesday's Faculty Collaboration. 
• Spring Pictures will be on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Please refer to the schedule sent out by Ms. Felton.
• Kids of Character names are due to Ms. Felton by Wednesday.  
• CoGat testing for 2nd grade will be Monday through Wednesday.
• Thursday is an Early Release Day and it is also the last day of the 3rd Quarter.  Friday is a Planning Day.  Please meet with your grade level teams on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. 
• Two takeaways from this week's author visit: 1) we need to move the cafeteria tables so that students face the stage rather than each other; 2) teachers need to sit with their students.  This will help with keeping them silent during presentations. 

Quote of the Week -

Website of the Week - Newsela  Newsela is an innovative way to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. It's easy and amazing.

Gator Run Friday Focus - March 5, 2015

What You Might Have Missed on Social Media this Week (Instagram and Twitter):

I saw a lot of learning about text features and text-based evidence this past week.  The great thing was seeing this happen throughout the grades.  As we begin to think about what our writing plan should be, let's begin by ensuring that K through 2 focus heavily on conventions.  Third grade needs to be writing actual essays with several paragraphs that includes indenting.  This will really help with where our students need to go in 4th and 5th grade.  Here are some examples of what I saw this week:

Ms. Siegel in 1st grade also invited me to her class for a Mystery Skype session.  We played a number guessing game where we practiced number sense with another class.  At the end of the session we found out the class was from Kansas!  Mystery Skype can also be used as a guessing game for geography for you to determine where the other class is located.  We will definitely be holding a Wired Up Wednesday session about this soon.

Next Week at a Glance:

• NESS Meeting next Monday at 2:20 in Shari Heyman's classroom.
• I appreciate those of you who have attended our Wired Up Wednesdays so far.  Thanks to Melissa Lopez for leading this past week's training on Class Dojo.  We understand that the timing on the same day as the FSA writing test might have prohibited some of you from attending.  Melissa will hold an alternate training sometime in the near future. 
• Team Collaboration is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon.  Please remember that this is time to work on your lesson plans collaboratively. 
• Our Spring Book Fair kicks off next Wednesday.  I would appreciate anyone who can make it to our Evening Book Fair beginning at 5:30 on Wednesday.  Our students and parents love to see all of you at these type of events.  Thanks to those of you who volunteered to assist the PTA that night.  

Quote of the Week -  "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" - Dr. Seuss.  Wise words from a wise man.  Be awesome everybody!

Cool Article - How Children Learn to Read

Gator Run Friday Focus - February 27, 2015

What You Might Have Missed this Week on Instagram:
Mr. Heyman's class using protractors to measure angles.

Wired Up Wednesday was a big success.  We had 12 of our Gator Run family members in attendance as Ms. Hollander demonstrated two websites with tools for teaching and learning.

Jump Rope for Heart was amazing.  Thanks to Coach Cliff for organizing this event and to the other Specials teachers for assisting and joining in the fun.

Next Week at a Glance:

• We are hosting Clinical Education training next Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in Ms. Davis' classroom.  
• 4th and 5th grade will be taking the ELA Writing portion of the FSA next Wednesday.  Our teachers and students have been working hard all year and, while we know this is a different type of assessment than we have taken before, I feel extremely confident that our teachers have prepared our students for this challenge.  Way to go 4th and 5th grade teachers!
• Team Collaboration is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon. 

Quote of the Week - "If plan "A" doesn't work, just remember: the alphabet has 25 more letters." - Anonymous.  Perseverance is a quality that we all need.  Let's teach our students that the struggle is what makes the reward worth it (and let's remember that for ourselves as well).

Gator Run Friday Focus - February 20, 2015

Thanks to Elayne Hollander for this week's first Wired-up Wednesday training.  Only a few teachers took advantage of this opportunity this week but I hear they learned a lot.  I encourage more of you to attend as we go forward and the topics become of interest to you. It's rare to have this type of professional development available at your own school. Take advantage!

Next week at a glance:

• SAC meeting next Tuesday at 2:15.  We will be discussing the addition of a dual language program next year. 
• Next Wednesday at 2:15 is Team Collaboration.  Please work on your lesson plans. 
• There is an Early Release Day next Thursday.  There will be an FSA Writing training for 4th and 5th grade that afternoon.  

Quote of the Week - "You don't win by being more average than other people in your industry.  You don't win by being more compliant than your fellow co-workers.  Being more obedient at what you do every day is not going to make you more indispensable.  What makes someone indispensable is that they do something that other people can't do.  We go to work every day trying to not do that.  We go to work trying to be just like everyone else, because that feels safe." - Seth Godin.  How do you make yourself indispensable?  Don't be boring, be awesome!

Gator Run Friday Focus - February 13, 2015

Each week a large number of our students suggest Wonders of the Week to me.  One of the main reasons that I am posting a weekly Wonder is to get our students thinking and coming up with their own questions.  These are questions that they should be answering for their own Genius Hour projects.  I am again imploring you to include Genius Hour in your classroom.  This is such a great way to get students excited about school and to become an expert in something that interests them.  I would love to visit your rooms when students are presenting. 

• No school Monday.
• Team Leader Day on Tuesday.
• Jump Rope for Heart on Wednesday.  Please refer to the email sent by Coach Cliff.
• PLCs are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  Please remember that this is time for your team to discuss the results of your most recent formative assessments.  
• PTA General Meeting on Thursday morning.  Our awesome chorus will be performing.
• Kids of Character names are due to Ms. Felton on Friday.

Quote of the Week - "Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind." - Henry James

Happy Valentine's Day!

Gator Run Friday Focus - February 6, 2015

     I appreciate everyone's efforts this year to participate in meaningful PLCs centered on discussion of common formative assessment results.  I think that this video really showcases how beneficial learning and growing from common formative assessments can be - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FldnHUgjTcM (you will need to have your YouTube configuration set). 
     This is only the first year of this process for us and I know that we will grow and become a school that is a model for how PLCs should be run.  You are all part of an amazing faculty and I am so proud to work with each of you.  A true sign of a great teacher is one who continues to grow not because they have to, but because they want to become better for their students.  

• NESS Meeting Monday at 2:20 in Shari Heyman's classroom.
• Principal's Honor Roll Breakfast Tuesday at 8:30.
• Interim Reports go home on Tuesday.  
• Class pictures will take place next Wednesday through Friday. 
• Faculty Collaboration for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade only on Wednesday at 2:15 in the Media Center.  I have some information on the FSA that I will send out to those teachers beforehand for you to preview so that we can focus our time on a lively discussion. 

Quote of the Week - Thanks to Carrie Velasquez for sharing this one with me!  I just had a discussion with one of our 5th graders about this very concept.