Thursday Thriller: Thursday Thriller

Thursday Thriller

November 18, 2021

Fish mummification! The students had a blast! It may have smelled a little but the activity will definitely be one students remember!

Art class was very relaxing. Coffee shop music, painting, sketching AHHHHH :)

NUTS-n-BOLTS

1. December 10th we have reserved Quirk Brewery from 3:00-5:00 for a staff get together. We are working on a food plan.

2. Next week is a short week. :D Wednesday we will 'speed date' through classes.

3. Thank you for the great attendance at our Tuesday morning staff meeting with Wade. Appreciated it!

4. Please mark your calendars for January 5th. We are extending our building staff meeting 2:45-4:15. We will bring great snacks!

5. iReady tickets will be in the staff lounge. We will keep it stocked! Students have already begun to turn in tickets! Kara and the library TAs have created grade level boxes for students to place their tickets for the Tuesday drawings. The boxes are in the office.

Q & A regarding the iReady Log:

1. Can students do more than 8 lessons? Yes. We can get them an additional tracker.

2. Who is monitoring students who are not completing any iReady lessons? Between the counselors and admin we will be checking. Students who are behind or not completing any lessons, we will devise a plan for them to work after school, during WIN, morning time; partnering with parents.

3. Students who do not complete any lessons or only a few, do they get to participate in the activity day? I think we try are best to help students see the value in completing the lessons, work with families, provide opportunities. If students choose not to take us up on our opportunities than I do think they sit out of this activity day. I am open to discussion on this.

4. Do parents know about the iReady lessons? Yes. We sent a note home with students on Friday the 12th. Amy K and Kim have created videos in Eng/Sp about the tracker, the 'why' and how to log into iReady. These videos will be sent as link via School Messenger and put on our webpage.

5. This week our 6th and 7th grade math teachers participated in a second round of a Math Lesson Study. Shout out to Jen, Robin, Nancy, Brooke, Nate C, Diane and Christy K!! They planned for subs and then worked all day planning and teaching a math lesson. The Math Lesson study right now is math. With new curriculum and our partnership with iReady and Megan Free (consultant), the opportunity of a lesson study came to fruition. This also came about based on CEE data in which staff members from both Pioneer and Garrison wanted job embedded PD which included watching each other teach. The goal would be to do an instructional cycle maybe next year with ELA or other content areas.

Something to Ponder

Daniel Bauer is one of my favorite educators and podcasters. I think sometimes podcasts find us when we need them the most. "The Third Day" hit home in respect to personal and professional life. I started a new eating and workout program a few weeks ago. Like many of you, the morning is when exercise needs to happen or before we know it the day is over and it's time to hit the sack; at least that is the case with me. The Third Day is about showing up even when we don't want to. Showing up to exercise when we want to sleep more or our body is screaming because it's so sore. Showing up to work and giving it all you got even when you don't want to! It's not faking it until you make it because then you aren't being true to yourself. You are showing up for yourself, your colleagues and kids each day. It's hard right now but you are doing the damn thing!

Hope you find a gold nugget in either the podcast, TedTalk or both!

Dre “All Day” Baldwin: Do You Have a “Third Day” Mentality? Here is Dre Baldwin giving his Third Day talk on TedTalk.

Quote