Putting Data On The Why Axis

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Putting Data On The Why Axis —

Data Meetings are great, but I am seeing that we might not need them every week. As teams we need to look at Common Assessments and make sure everyone is on the same page with lessons. After Annette came and I debriefed with her she loved that she was able to meet with each teacher and talk about the good things they were doing in their classes. I proposed an idea to Kim about meeting with teachers on data day for 3 of the weeks a month and then have a monthly data day to discuss assessments, Team data, WIN time needs and changes, and work with Common Assessments.

The way it would work is I would meet with 2 teachers each week for about 15-20 minutes and discuss what is working and what challenges you might have. If you would like me to come in and take some data for you we will discuss what data I take and discuss next steps after takin gate data. I would meet with EYE teachers each week for the three weeks and veteran teachers once a month, unless you want to meet more.

During Thursday data time please use this time to meet with your team members and discuss lessons and assessments that are coming up. There will be one team member missing for 20 minutes, but you can use this time effectively to plan together and prepare for upcoming lessons and assessments. We will work out a schedule this coming week. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Quote I’m pondering —

“To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.” ― James P. Carse

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Oct. 5 - Teacher Training Day Early Out 1:15 Mon. Oct. 5 - No Specials Tue. Oct 6 - PD during Specials Wed. Oct 7 - TAT 3rd Grade 8:00am Wed. Oct 7 - PTA Walk to School Day	Wed. Oct 14 - TAT 2nd Grade 8:00am Thu.-Fri. Oct. 15-16: Fall Break (No School)
October 30: Halloween Parade

What I’m Learning about Google Chrome This Week —

Master Chrome OS With These Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts

I love shortcuts on my computer. I use them all the time. Here are a few that might help you as you work your way through using Chromebooks with your students. One that I don’t tell students about but use often is Ctrl+Shift+T. This will reopen the last tab that was closed on Google Chrome. Not sure if a student just closed a tab they should not have been looking at? Ctrl+Shift+T them! You can also Ctrl+Shift+T multiple times to see more that were closed!

Video I am Watching This Week—

Student For A Day

What would it be like to be a student in our class for a day? What would we learn? Would it be what we think it would be like? A couple high school teachers found out. What would this look like in elementary school?

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

Annette Is Coming! Annette Is Coming!

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Annette Is Coming! Annette Is Coming! —

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be days with Annette Brinkman. Monday and Tuesday will be observations. Annette, Kim, ad I will be coming to your classroom and takin data for you to look at. It will be about your students ad not about you. From that data Annette will have  20 minute Debriefing sessions on Wednesday where she will coach you through the data. That is a great time to ask questions. Annette and you will work on a goal to work on over the next month or two. This is partly for Kim and I as she models coaching to help us as we work on coaching this year. So we will be looking at what we will be doing on the coaching end as we meet with her at the end of each day. We are all learning from her. 

Note: The District Foundation Golf Tournament was Friday. Start looking at what you would like to write a grant for from the foundation. It is usually a great for $500 or less. Everyone should write one. They usually fill most of those that ask.

2nd Note: My son did his DSU education observation with a student I had in 4th Grade. Can you say gut punch? Any have a wheelchair?

Quote I’m pondering —

“It is amateurs who have one big bright beautiful idea that they can never abandon. Professionals know that they have to produce theory after theory before they are likely to hit the jackpot.” ― Francis Crick

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Monday Sept.28 - Show PTA Reflections Video from email on 24th. Mon. Sept. 28-29 - Annette Brinkman observations Tues. Sept. 29 - K-1 Annette PD 1-3:30 Wed. Sept. 30 - Observation Debriefing	Mon. Oct. 5 - Teacher Training Day Early Out 1:15
October 15-16: Fall Break

What I’m Learning about Google Slides This Week —

Game Changer – Add a Feedback Slide

I did not know that using Google Slides would have so much more impact than just a Goole Doc. Imagine using video on an assignment page. Wow! And to assign a specific slide to s specific student? Wow! Wow!

What Math Strategies I’m Learning about This Week—

Splat!

An interactive number sense strategy that can be used on a computer or on paper. Students might like the computer one.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

Progress Monitoring

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Progress Monitoring —

We are starting Progress Monitoring(PM) next Monday. This week we will go oversaw to Progress Monitor and put our groups together. If we have time we will set our Pathways Goals in mClass. The reason we do Progress Monitoring is to see the progress of our students, but to also see what is workin and what needs adjusting. This is an important part of our WI time. We will PM the skills the students are working on in WIN time and see how they are progressing. We will make the adjustments as we look at these reports each month. 

Quote I’m pondering —

“What is troubling is being average and settling for it.” Adul Gwande

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Sept. 21-25 - Friendship Week	Mon. Sept. 28-29 - Annette Brinkman observations Tues. Sept. 29 - K-1 Anette PD 2-3:30 Wed. Sept. 30 - Observation Debriefing
September 21-25: Start With Hello Week

What I’m Listening and Amazed by This Week —

Marble Machine

I am enamored his 4:30 minute video of the Marble Machine. How do people ever think about doin this?

What I’m Learning about This Week—

The ‘What’ and “Why’ of Social-Emotional Learning

We have opened the Wellness Room and students are able to use its calming effect. We keep track of who goes and when they go to get a sense of a pattern with each student or when there is a need for Amanda to take a little extra time with a student.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.

Scheduling Is Fun

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Scheduling Is Fun —

I hope the schedules are starting to feel a little easier to follow and that you are getting into the swing of things. Just a reminder that the names on the schedule are home room classes. If you have your partner’s class and they are the homeroom teacher, please make sure you go to their Specials class. We want to make sure the students are getting each special class they need and not doubling up on one they already had. To recap, Check the schedule, look at which homeroom class you have, take your class to the right special. Thats all I have to say about that.

NOTE: I had a request for the parent emails to be sent to the teachers. That will start next Friday. You will get the emails and texts we send home to parents.

Quote I’m pondering —

“The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows — a wall against the wind.”

― Frank Herbert, Dune

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Sept. 7 - Labor Day (No School Tue. Sept. 8 - PD Day - Goal Setting Wed. Sept. 9 - SEP Conferences 4-7pm Thu. Sept. 10 - SEP Conferences 4-7pm	Mon. Sept. 14 - Early Out Teacher Training Day- Red Bird Training 1:30 Mon. Sept. 14 - WIN Time Starts Tues. Sept 15 - Emergency Drill-Shelter in Place Tues. Sept. 15 - Picture Day Thu. Sept. 17 - Egg Drop Build Day Fri. Sept. 18 - Egg Drop Day
September 21-25: Start With Hello Week

What I’m Learning about Google This Week —

Google Contacts

Click on the link above and you’ll see something I haven’t accessed for a while. The frequently contacted will tell you who you have emailed the most. I wanted to know whom I’ve emailed most often from the inboxes. I am cleaning out some of my emails and contacts.

What I’m exploring On The Line This Week—

Walt Disney's Chili

Disneyland sent out a few recipes during the World Closure in April and May. I am going camping this weekend and this is our dinner. I like it. My kids like it. Chili over a bowl of rice and topped with sour cream and cheese is a great meal.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

I Have A WIN Dream

 Teachers,

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

I Have A WIN Dream —

As we start WIN time Monday for 1-3 grades and Tuesday for everyone, I want to share my dream with this program. I think we can get the students that need WIN time to about 10% of our school. When this happens we can have the aides pull students into small groups and teachers can work with the rest of the class on some differentiated activities or small group work. Once that happens we just need to maintain it. To do this we need our Tier 1, what everyone needs, lessons to remain great.  Engaging students, differentiating as students need it, reviewing and assessing to see what each student needs and assessing our lessons, and sharing our success criteria. We have the most amazing teachers in our school. We will always have a couple students in each class that can benefit from a WIN time. And hopefully the beginning of each year we will only need WIN time during the first months. Our next step is to start on Math WIN time. That is a plan we will be working on this year. 

Quote I’m pondering —

“The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows — a wall against the wind.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Sept. 14 - Early Out Teacher Training Day- Red Bird Training 1:30 Mon. Sept. 14 - WIN Time Starts Tues. Sept 15 - Emergency Drill-Shelter in Place Tues. Sept. 15 - Picture Day Thu. Sept. 17 - Egg Drop Build Day Fri. Sept. 18 - Egg Drop Day	Sept. 21-25 - Friendship Week
September 21-25: Start With Hello Week

What I’m Learning about what Parents can do with their Students This Week —

Dreme Family Math

Homework. What to do for homework. Can’t be drill and kill because not all parents know how to help when a student gets lost. Can be review questions to see what the students remember from the lesson. How do we include parents on the lesson. Dreme Family Math. Real life activities with a math spin on them. Cooking is what they have right now. Geared to adding, subtracting, and measurement right now, but more are in their way.

What I’m watching On The Line This Week—

Pandas help zoo keeper sweep their pen

This reminds me of teaching a lesson in Kinder or First grade. Or just trying to prep while there are students in the room.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

Diagnostic Grouping Tool

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Diagnostic Grouping Tool —

We will be getting a Spreadsheet that we can use to help group our students. It will take the information from the Diagnostic Assessment Spreadsheet and give us the two skills each student needs to work on.  Hopefully, it will be done this weekend and ready to use next week. I appreciate Steve and Michael Eves for all their hard work on this task. We will adjust it to fit your boards you have created. It will also have links to the lessons for each of the skills they will need taught. 

When we start WIN time we are trying to minimize the movement of students into other classrooms. It will be a challenge, but we will do our best as we make our groups. We will have some of the groups work in the Reading Room with the Aides. They will be cleaning desks sanitizing reading materials. I hope to have a better idea about what this will look like on Tuesday or Wednesday before our Data meeting on Thursday. 

Remember our Data meeting is only 40 minutes so the more you have done as a team before Thursday the easier it will be to assign groups and get the lessons ready to teach.

I really appreciate your patience with all the testing we do at the beginning of the year. Somehow we need to simplify this process.The information is great through and very helpful. We will start progress monitoring the 21st. We will have the grouping sheets ready so you know who to monitor and when. We will review Progress Monitoring the week before we start so everyone knows why and how.

Quote I’m pondering —

"Low self-confidence isn't a life sentence. Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered -- just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better." -- Barrie Davenport

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. August 31 - Annette Brinkman Mon. August 31 - Acadience Testing Gr. K-1 Tue. Sept. 1 - Acadience Testing Gr. 2-3 Wed. Sept. 2 - Acadience Testing Gr. 4-5 Fri. Sept. 4 - Egg Drop Kick-Off Video Presentation	Mon. Sept. 7 - Labor Day (No School Tue. Sept. 8 - WIN Time Starts Wed. Sept. 9 - SEP Conferences 4-7pm Thu. Sept. 10 - SEP Conferences 4-7pm
Sept. 14 - Teacher Training Day (out at 1:15) Red Bird Training Sept. 8 - WIN Time Starts

What I’m Reading This Week —

Less Jargon, More Grace: Using Language That Parents Understand

Since we are sending emails home to parents to let them know of everything that is going on, this is an article that might help parents understand what we are saying better.

What I’m exploring On The Line This Week—

Week of Inspirational Math(s)

Youcubed is a math site built by Jo Boaler from Stanford. You can download specific videos, mindset resources and tasks or you can make a week-long play list of your favorite activities. These playlists can be shared so others can use your design. This is one part of the site.

Thank you for all you do for students. I really enjoy working with all of you. I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

Specials, Emergency!

 Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Specials, Emergency! —

Specials start on Monday. Please be at your Specials on time and stay with your class until they are sat down. Once they are sat, please come to the conference room and we will make sure you are able to get into R4R and My Math/Redbird through Schoology. One we are done you will need to pick up your students from specials. Please be on time so the specialists can clean their rooms for the next grade level. Please help them each day this week of specials.

Our first fire drill is on Friday morning. Yeah. I want to review the procedures so everyone is on the same page. Before the fire drill, please talk with your team to decide which yellow dot you will take your class too. There are 5 yellow dots on the West side of the track for each grade level. I will have grade level numbers on them Monday. Each dot is 6 feet apart. Please keep students an arm away from each other the best you can. Walk it through with your students before Friday.

When the bell rings, line up with masks/shields. We will have the fire drill early so it will be in the 80’s and not the 100’s.  Shut your locked inside door, turn off the lights and make sure your students walk in line to the Yellow Dot. It is not a race. Remember to take a minute to listen outside to make sure everything is ok before you walk out the door. If you are a sweeper, please make sure your team knows who has your class.

At the Yellow Dot, take roll to see if there are any students missing. If your class is all there, tell your team leader everyone is accounted for. If there is a student missing from your class and you know where they are, please tell your team leader and they will text it to Kim/Kelly/Annette/Glen so we can check. If there is a missing student and you are not sure where they are, tell your team leader and they will text that to Kim/Kelly/Annette/Glen to check where that student may be.

Please keep your classes calm and at a low roar so we can talk to the student if needed. You should be able to give them directions quickly, if needed. If you would like to have them sit in their line on the grass after you have taken roll, that is fine.

Please wait until A whistle is blown by an Office member. Once the whistle blows, please walk your students back to class. Boom, there it is. 

Even though it is a drill, we want students to know they are safe and they should treat it as an emergency.

Quote I’m pondering —

"She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails." -- Elizabeth Edwards

What’s Going On —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. August 24 - First Day of Specials Mon. August 24 - Training during Specials Tue. August 25 - Acadience New Assessor Training Wed. August 26 - Acadience Assessor Review Fri. August 28 - Fire Drill	Mon. August 24 - Annette Brinkman Mon. August 24 - Acadience Testing Gr. K-1 Tue. August 25 - Acadience Testing Gr. 2-3 Wed. August 26 - Acadience Testing Gr. 4-5 Fri. August 28 - Fire Drill
Sept. 7 - Labor Day (No School) Sept. 8 - WIN Time Starts

What I'm Reading This Week —

The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home

This strategy will end most behaviors and bring parents to your side every time. It is also a great habit to get into at the beginning of the year. A couple a week does the trick.

What I'm Watching This Week—

8 Secrets to Success

A quick 4 minutes of great thoughts and fun, with a little colorful language. I have his book if you want a quick read.

Thank you for all you do for students especially during this unprecedented time. It has been a stressful week because of the spreadsheet experience, but we got through it. I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

What is the Difference?

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

What is the Difference? —

I went to a new doctor yesterday and after my check-up we go to talking about stuff. I was his last appointment of the day. We talked about places and people, then he asked what I did. After I told him I was a teacher he went on about how important teachers are. He felt that teachers make a difference in every person's life. Every person has a teacher they related to, remembered, and made a difference in their life. He went on about how his profession just keeps people comfortable and moves them along in life, but do not make the impact teachers do. He has always felt we need more support and pay. I just wanted to relate that to you. Teachers do make a difference. You make a difference in each student’s life. You control what students can and cannot do. You matter in each child’s life. You are the difference. Thank you. Happy Valentine’s Day

Quote I’m pondering —

“Gardening is not outcome-oriented. A successful harvest is not the end of a gardener's existence, but only a phase of it. As any gardener knows, the vitality of a garden does not end with a harvest. It simply takes another form. Gardens do not ‘die’ in the winter but quietly prepare for another season.”

― James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Feb 17 - President’s Day  Feb 18-21 - White Ribbon Week Feb 19-20 - Dixie College Students Practicum	Feb 24-25 - Kinder SEP’s (No School) Feb 42-27 - SEP Week Feb 24-27 - Book Fair
March 16-20 - Spring Break

Favorite Video This Week —

What Teachers Make

What do teachers make? A Difference. 3 minutes of truth and enjoyment about teachers. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Kelli, Annette, and Julie. To keep Kim and me on track is quite a job, but to work with the students and parents to keep the school going is almost superhuman like. It is true that the administration comes and goes, but the secretaries are the ones that keep the school moving in the right direction. Thank you for all you do for the students, teachers, staff, parents, and for Kim and I. You are amazing and deserve to hear it more than once in a while. Thank you for all your help. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful three day weekend.

My Teacher Forever (revisited)

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

My Teacher Forever —

I was participating in a #youmatter chat on twitter and a comment came up that interested me. It was from Justine Tarte from St. Louis Missouri. He said "Highly effective teachers don't just have students for one year; they have students who view them as 'their' teacher for life...". I thought about this for a moment and it is true. The teachers I remember that I consider "my" teachers are the ones that really had an impact on me. Mrs. Durbin my kindergarten teacher took time with me and helped be start out to be a pretty good reader. My third grade teacher Mrs. Fanning really helped me understand math and we had some great waffle parties. Sixth grade was Mr. Neighbor and he pushed me to do better. I wasn't fond of him because he was mean, but he was "my" teacher because he pushed and I grew. I had others but the one teacher I call “my teacher” was Mr. Frieberg. High school music teacher. I had him for 3 years and my friends and I got to know him pretty well. He took time to explain life to us. He scolded us when we were making bad choices. He praised us when we were doing well. He took time to find out who we were and we found out who he was. He took time. I don't remember most of my teachers. I would have to look back to see what they even looked like. So who are "your" teachers? Who made an impact on you? And what are you doing to make an impact on your students so they will consider you "their" teacher after they leave? What a badge of love to get from a student. My teacher forever. 

Quote I’m pondering —

“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Feb. 3-7 - Family Life Week Mon. Feb 3 - Teacher Training Day, our at 1:15 - meet at Crimson View Elem. @ 2pm.  Wed. Feb 5 - Dudes and Donuts 8-9 am Thu. Feb 6 - AES Culture Night 5:30-7 Fri. Feb 7 - Divas and Donuts 8-9 am	Mon. Feb 10 - PTSA Mtg 12:15 pm Fri. Feb 14 - Science Fair Assemblies
Feb 17 - President’s Day Feb 24-28 SEP Week  Online Scheduler is up for you to make changes as needed. Feb 10 parents can start setting appointments.

Favorite Article This Week —

8 Leadership Lessons from a Symphony Conductor

My dad was a music teacher. I always loved watching him conduct his orchestras and bands. We are conductors in our classrooms. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you to our Chinese Language teachers. I am always amazed when I come into your rooms, or even just stand outside your rooms and see the work you do. All the activity and engagement students do in your rooms. I am amazed at how well students speak, read, and write in Chinese. I hear parents talk about how they love that their student speaks and writes so well. I then think about all the work you put into your lessons and activities to help your students learn. That you for all you do for the students. To give them this opportunity and help them know they can accomplish hard things. Thank you for making our school amazing because you are here. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you.

Bonus Video

“This is incredible. Time to take another vacation from my excuses…”

This man is Blind. Inspiration for the new year. Anything is possible for us and for all our students.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

Ignorance Project (revisited)

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Ignorance Project —

I watched a video this week from TED Talks. It talked about data and how we look at it. There was some great information that I think needs to be shared and discussed. Hans Rosling is a Data guy from Sweden and he talks about misconceptions we have as a society. Hans talks about how we as a population look at data and think things are getting worse. The kids are getting worse, or are they? He shares a couple graphs that show that the world is not getting worse, but it is getting better. It is all about how we look and think about our situations and the situations in our world. He discusses misconceptions society has and how we need to change how we look at things. In a nutshell the video taught me that I need to look at things more positively. The data does not show that things are getting worse. I constantly look at my situation I was in when I was younger and I have to remember that life is different now. There is so much more happening and we are so much further than I thought we would ever be. Life is better. We have so much more at our fingertips. Attitudes are better around the world. We are closer to every part of the world. We know so much more. Life is good. The bonus is that we are in the trenches making it better. You are a huge part of the progress happening in our world. Check out the video here TED: The Ignorance Project.

Quote I’m pondering —

“To a disciple who was forever complaining about others, the Master said, ‘If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.’”— Anthony de Mello

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Jan 27 - Community Council 12 pm Tue. Jan 28 - 5th grade to Lava Ridge Wed. Jan 29 - English teacher DLI Training grades 4-5 Wed. Jan 29 - English teacher DLI Training grades 1-3	Feb. 3-7 - Family Life Week Mon. Feb 3 - Teacher Training Day, our at 1:15 - meet at Crimson View Elem. @ 2pm.  Thu. Feb 6 - AES Culture Night 5:30-7

Favorite Article This Week —

100 Percent is Overrated

I revisited this article last weekend. It reminded me not to call students smart and why. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you Jen, Jo, Julie, Stacie, and Alma. It is tough to have the same sounds, letters, stories, and answers read to you a hundred times. I appreciate your help with Acadience. Getting every student possible tested. I know it is time consuming and monotonous, but with each child there is a smile and a cheerfulness to help them feel comfortable as they sound out letters, read and summarize. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your work. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work.

And Now A Thought About Fluency

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

And Now A Thought About Fluency —

I have been at a lot of trainings this week. There was a part of the training that was an ah-ha moment for me. It reminded me about the literacy training I did a couple years ago. In the training I read about Fluency and how important it is leading up to comprehension. Fluency is not only how fast a text is read out loud, but it also includes accuracy and prosody. Students should read as fast as they talk. There is a WPM guide that tells us how fast that should be according to grade level, but a generally it should be as fast as a student talks. Faster than that, they are just reading as fast as they can and comprehension suffers. Accuracy brings in words, vocabulary and context and provides meaning to words students recognize as well as context to the text. If words are missed or misread, the meaning of the story could get lost. Prosody is the way stories are read. The voice fluctuation, the raising and lowering of the voice, sounding like the voices that are speaking the words on the page, and reading not only the words, but the punctuation. Storytelling. Put all these things together and we get fluency. Without each of these things, comprehension goes down. Now to the ah-ha moment. As we learned about all this, we thought about how we read books with students and listen to them stumble over words, help correct them if they say a words or sentence wrong, and in the end have them tell us what they read. If the student is reading a book they are not fluent in and are struggling reading words and do not know the vocabulary, should we expect them to understand what they read each time? They need to work on comprehension, but fluency is a big part of being able to understand the meaning of a text. So what do we do? If they do not comprehend what has been read, is the fluency getting in the way? Would choral reading help them understand better as they listen and read? Just a thought. If a student does not comprehend what is going on in a story, it might be because of their fluency. I know you are all working on amazing things with your students. This was just an moment of clarity for me. You just happen to be on the reading end of my thoughts. Thank you for bearing with me.

Quote I’m pondering —

“In order to change skins, evolve into new cycles, I feel one has to learn to discard. If one changes internally, one should not continue to live with the same objects. They reflect one’s mind and psyche of yesterday. I throw away what has no dynamic, living use.”
— Anaïs Nin

What’s Happening —

This Coming Week	In Two Weeks
Mon. Jan 20 - MLK, Jr. Day No School Wed. Jan 22 - Acadience Testing at Santa Clara (aides gone morning) Thu. Jan 23 - Acadience Testing at Santa Clara (aides gone morning)	Mon. Jan 28 - 5th grade to Lava Ridge Wed. Jan 29 - English teacher DLI Training grades 4-5 Wed. Jan 29 - English teacher DLI Training grades 1-3
Coming up: Cultural Night beginning of February. More information to come.

Favorite Article This Week —

Quality and Effort

I love Seth Godin. There are some thoughts that have made me think about my systems.

A Big Thank You —

Thank you k-3 grade teachers for your flexibility with the Acadience testing. It is always a nightmare trying to gauge how long the testing will take for each grade level. I understand the inconvenience it places on you when these tests come up. I really appreciate third grade for moving your test to the next week. It is nice to get through these needed things and everyone just works through it. Thank you for your help and understanding. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work.