Just a Friday

I've heard people say "the best thing about three day weekends is the four day week that follows". That's definitely wrong. The three day weekend is the best. I've made a personal decision to unplug from school on the weekend. Please don't let that stop you from sending me emails over the weekend if you want. Just know that I probably won't respond unless you're having an emergency that needs to be solved for Monday. So go ahead, Jen, hit send!

What's happening...

• 
  The "Perfect Square" activity is underway. Ms. Burlison's students did an awesome job creating rivers, cats, castles, airports, and more.
• Ms. Hickcox started Mystery Zoom prep this week. Next week I'll be in each third grade class to get them started as well. 
  
• Kindergarten is starting our building scavenger hunts. Ms. McIntyre's class completed it today and Ms. Shafer and Ms. Burton's students will take it on next week. Kindergarten always loves their scavenger hunts and breakouts!
• Next week we'll start our football catapults with Ms. Kunkel's fourth grade.

Book a Day
I'm getting quite a few Book a Day submissions. Thanks for showing your students how to submit their books. I can only post one book per day, so have patience (looking at you, Maude). Email me names of students who will get a boost from seeing their name on the board.

Wifi
I have a few work orders open asking for investigations into what I think are wifi issues. These deal specifically with Seesaw and the Studies Weekly. I intend to continue to submit those until it's figured out. To be prepared, it's helpful if you can record students and times that you are seeing issues so I can add them to the work order. That's the first thing they ask for. 

Extended absences
At this time, students who you know will be out for an extended time should not be taking home iPads. If the family requests work, it should be sent in paper form.

iPad Care

Couple of things to try to stay on top of...

• Check to make sure devices are up to date. The current version is 15.6.1. Check for updates in Settings>General>Software Updates
• Please teach your kids how to remove their headphones and charging cable. We're starting to see broken plugs. 
• Their name labels need to stay on. And remember, no additional stickers. 

Vertical Share Time
Come by the media center Tuesday after school for an informal technology integration share time. I'd love for you to share snippets of what you are doing so others can get ideas. At this point in the year, it'd be great to share how you are using Seesaw (when it uploads) with your students. I believe Seesaw is an excellent tool to bridge the gap between school and home. 

The Green Team
Ms. Brinlee has been working with a small group of fifth graders called the Green Team. They are working on restarting our lunch composting program. Next week, they will be meeting with fifth grades to introduce the system. The following week, fifth grade will begin composting at lunch. We'll bring on additional grades as the efficiency improves. Today we rescued several spools from the nature playground to convert into composting bins. Should be a fun project.

Have a great two day weekend!

Three Day Weekend!

I'd like to start by thinking Mandy for all her support with getting student iPads up and running. I know she enrolled many classes, changed passwords for 3-5, and sent me info on all the issues that were popping up. 1000 Villasana Points to Mandy!

I think (knock on wood) that all iPads are distributed and functioning. At least my list says so. Let me know if that's incorrect.

What's happening with classes

• Third graders assembled a few donated benches that are now installed in the Kunkel-Kinkead Courtyard
• We made buttons in Ms. Sales, Ms. McIntyre, and Ms. Shafer's classrooms. 
• Shoutout to Allie for leading the Apple Classroom refresher after school on Tuesday

Cedar Ridge Media Bingo

It's back. You'll find a playing card in your box. The process is simple. Complete a task, tweet out your activity with #CREmediabingo, and mark it off your board. Complete bingos to earn book fair money. It's a friendly competition, so don't get crazy. And it starts Tuesday, so anything you may have completed previously doesn't count. Which is good news for Nikki on one particular square. 

September STEAM Challenges
You'll have a couple options for September. One will be fairly active and the other is more low key. Pick whatever you think best fits your class. Email me to schedule a time.

1. "Football catapults" - It's football season! Students will design and build a catapult to launch a football through the uprights. Learning targets will include simple machines, fulcrums, launch angles, gravity, and velocity. Students will work in teams. Plan for an hour.
2. "Perfect Square" - I'll read the book "Perfect Square". Students will then get a square piece of paper and create something out of it. It'll be cute. Students will work by themselves. Plan on 45 minutes.

Literacy

I would love to come observe a Benchmark lesson in each grade level. I'd like a better understanding of what the lessons look like in action so I can think through how we can support your readers with library materials. If you are willing, please let me know so I can get it on the calendar.

Book a Day
You should have received a laminated "Book a Day" QR code for students (and you) to submit books. Please post that in your rooms and let your class know how to use it. Again, contact me directly if you have a student who would be thrilled to see their name on the board.

End of Day iPad Care
Please make sure you have a process to confirm that every iPad is accounted for at the end of each day. Devices do not go home at this time. I know there are some grades that are considering it. Let me know what you are thinking at a planning meeting and we'll work out the best process for making it a success. 

Computer Imaging

Contact Carl if your laptop has not been imaged since last school year. Email him at crobinson@cpsk12.org to schedule a time that works for you. At some point, laptops that haven't been imaged will stop working.

Arts Integration

You received an email from Carlei that included a piece from Hallie Rainwater about arts integration. I'd like to vouch for her as an excellent resource that you should utilize. She has a ton of experience with elementary students, does productions for high school, and runs my daughter's dance studio. Her musical theater numbers are pretty great. I would highly suggest you make contact with her to get something scheduled. Your students will love it. Here is her form to schedule a time in case you deleted the email. 

Media Center Scheduling
The library is open on Mondays and Fridays except for 10:30-11:00. I'd love to offer you my space to bring your class for activities. A change in venue can be a good thing, especially if your students need room to spread out. Just let me know when and I'll block it off the schedule. 

Book Purchases
I'm putting together a list of purchases for the collection. Send me titles that are new or that I just don't have. I'd like to send off the order next Friday. 

Seesaw Uploads

I've heard from a few teachers that Seesaw appears to be timing out when students are uploading work. Please let me know if you are experiencing issues as well so I can put together information for a work order. 

Chair

Thanks for reading so far down! I had to spend some expiring Scholastic dollars so I bought a new pieces of furniture. I have this blue chair that needs a home. If you would like it for your classroom, go into the Groupme and simply enter your favorite movie. If you read this, but don't need the chair, enter your favorite vacation destination. Nothing else. No explanation. I'll do a drawing next week to find a winner.

Have a great weekend!

Four down...

I'm ready for next week and the prospect of actually doing what I'm here to do. The iPads are out in bulk. I know there are quite a few issues to work through with getting devices to new students and getting everyone enrolled. Please continue to email the issues and I'll run them down one at a time. 

Updates from the Classroom
This section is always my favorite. Each week I'll highlight what I've been doing and what's coming up. Its purpose is for you to join in. Let me know when you see something you'd like to try. It's a bit thin this week...

• Buttons - all of first grade made their "All about me" buttons. Other grades might want to do the same or go with goal setting, resolutions, etc.
• Mystery Zooms - I met with third grade during their planning time and we've already started planning out Mystery Zooms to tie in to their geography unit. I'm looking forward to getting them started in a few weeks. 
• Bench building - on Tuesday I'll be working with some of Ms. Kinkead's students to assemble some benches to be placed in the picnic bench courtyard. They were donated by a family last year.

Media Center Bingo
Next week we'll be starting Cedar Ridge Media Center Bingo. Look for the cards in your boxes. For the newbies, it's a game that can get you fabulous cash and prizes. Simply complete the challenges on the bingo board and tweet your accomplishment with #CREmediabingo to check off the box. Everyone who completes a "bingo" wins. Those who complete the most win more. The only way not to benefit (both financially and from the learning experience) is if you don't play. It's optionally mandatory. 

Keyboards
While iPads are scarce, keyboards are plentiful. If you would like to have a set of keyboards in your classroom, contact me and I'll get them delivered. 

iPad Case Care
I've spent a lot of time handling iPads this week. The cases ranged from nearly new to obscenely disgusting. We need to do better with regular monitoring and cleaning of the cases because we need to assume they will be ours each year. I would suggest you do not allow stickers on the back. If you do allow it, you'll need to be prepared to spend time in May with a putty knife and gallon bottle of Goo Gone to get them off. When you check out at the end of the year, I will be very picky about the cases when you sign out. Consider yourself warned.

Grade Level Planning Times
I will be planning on attending our scheduled grade level meetings next week. Here's what I have on my calendar:
Monday - 5th grade at 9:20
Tuesday - Kindergarten at 2:10
Thursday - Fourth grade at 10:10
Thursday - Third grade at 11:00

Computer Imaging
If you still need your teacher computer imaged, contact Carl Robinson (crobinson@cpsk12.org) to schedule a time. 

Apple Classroom
Tuesday after dismissal I'll be in the media center to do a demo of Apple Classroom for our new teachers. Everyone is welcome to attend to get a refresher. 

STEAM Challenges
Next week I'll start planning out September's STEAM challenges. Look for an update next Friday on the activity and for scheduling.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to your last weekend

It's been a long week! I hope you are able to recharge over the weekend. If you need me, tough. I'll be on a play date with Rachel's husband all weekend. 

One Read
If you only read one paragraph of my updates this year, let's hope this is the one. My job is to offer instructional support to teachers. Over the last 20 years, I have been involved with countless projects with grade levels ranging from preK through 8th grade. So I'm here to help you plan, teach, reflect, and adapt. I'm not an evaluator. I know things don't always go well the first time. I've had many activities blow up despite the best planning. It happens. But we learn and move on, just like we expect the kids to do. So please use me.

Team Planning
Thank you to kindergarten, third, and fourth grades for giving me your planning periods. I anxiously await news from first, second, and fifth grades. 

Laptop Imaging
If you don't need your laptop this weekend, bring it to the media center before you leave today. Carl will be back over the weekend to image as many as he can. Your laptop may have an updated wallpaper screen. That does not mean it's imaged. Carl has to take it and image it manually. If you don't leave it with me this weekend, you'll need to schedule a time for it to be imaged. It takes about two hours and will have to be done at some point. Don't hold off. 

Document Cameras
You can come to the media center to pick up your document camera. We are short three right now, but those are on order. Once you have the camera, you can install the software yourself to get it going. Simply open or search for "Software Center". The application is called iPEVO Visualizer. 

iPads
I have our plan in place to get the year started with devices. It's not ideal for all grade levels, but it's the best we have considering we are 80 devices short. After I finish sending this out, I will start organizing the devices and bring them to your room. You might get them today or Monday. Most likely, they are dead unless the previous user powered it off completely. Of course we don't have chargers for all of them. So we'll need to charge in waves. It's going to be a major undertaking to get everyone up and running.

Student Passwords
The default password at this time is "22cps123456" ("123456" being their student number. Allie, please don't put in "123456"). Students in K-2 will not change their password. Mandy will work with grades 3-5 to change theirs during media. She'll give you a hardcopy of your class's new passwords. 

Library Checkouts
Will start on Tuesday. Let us know if you have conflicts. 

Have a great weekend!

End of the year prep

Congratulation to everyone for finishing up MAP testing. It was an excruciatingly long week of questions, white spinning screens, and rain. If you're a member of the Cedar Ridge FTO Facebook page and have enjoyed this week's treats, please post something. It was a big shift from previous years and I know they'd appreciate the feedback.

CREdX Updates
All of our talks are revised and ready. Speakers have now entered the "practice every spare minute of your life" stage. Myself and our committee members will begin pulling speakers from class next week to practice. I don't have a set schedule, but it will a time when they aren't at specials or lunch. If one of us arrives to practice and it's not a good time, we can always come back. A reminder that the event is May 24 from 1:30 to 2:30. Please do not schedule anything during that time. I will most likely use Zoom webinars to stream to your classrooms because it's what we are used to.

Last week of checkouts...
Is next week. We will start sending you lists of checked out books after your last checkout to start the collection process. Just a heads-up, we might need to make some changes to our checkout schedule for next week. I'll email you ASAP if that needs to happen. 

iPad Collection
I've decided to have each teacher schedule your own iPad collection. I know what you're thinking: less work for Matt. But other schools are collecting during Media class starting the week before and I think that's too early. I want you to have time to finish projects that might still be in progress. So my only hard deadline is that I need all iPads in the Media Center on May 25. You can complete the collection earlier if you want, but please keep them in your rooms. Once CREdX is over on the 24th, I can redirect my attention to iPad collection. Here's the basic process:

• During the last full rotation of Media, Mandy will walk students through the backup of files.
• You will pick a time from May 20-24th to prep your devices for summer. I will give you detailed directions next week for that process. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.
• Keep your prepared iPads in your room.
• On May 25, I can come around with my cart to pick them up from your class and get them prepped for summer school or next school year.

I will be happy to help out. But I will be spending a lot of time working with our CREdX speakers during that timeframe. It'll mostly involve physically cleaning and then erasing the devices, so I'm not too worried. 

Teacher books
I'm trying something different this year for end-of-year checkout. I'm asking all staff to turn in your library books and bookroom materials by May 20. Of course, if you are finishing a read aloud, just let me know. I would like to avoid the last contract day scramble to find materials. This change also gives us time to complete our inventory before the last day of school. 

Video streaming
Sorry to be a downer, but I feel I should include a blurb about showing videos. Copyright is a complicated issue. I'm not a copyright lawyer, but these issues come up each year. When I saw Netflix was open last week, I contacted my coordinator to make sure I wasn't missing out on some big change. At the very least, you are violating your terms of agreement if you are using streaming services in class. I have no idea why Netflix isn't blocked on the filter anymore. It's not because it's suddenly allowed to be shown. Netflix does offer free one time use of some of its documentaries. You can find more information here: Educational Screenings of Documentaries. Maybe that's why is open now. Amazon Prime is open because if it was blocked, we couldn't purchase on Amazon. Disney+ is blocked because they sue. There is a process to determine "Educational Fair Use", but that does not apply to streaming services. That is for physical copies that are owned and only shown for specific purposes and for specific durations. With that being said, I'm not the copyright police and I'm not going to tell on you if I see you streaming something in class. With that being said...

Have a great weekend!

Spring is here. I think.

Longest. Week. Ever. I think our arrival at home at 2am on Sunday after travel delays completed jacked up my week. As evidenced by all my date mixups. I hope to spend the weekend cutting wood, watching golf, and sleeping. And maybe enjoying a Truly margarita or six. 

I want to send a shout out to my Mark Twain book group members. These 24 students finished all 12 books this year. That's a pretty big accomplishment. If you see any of these students in the halls, give them a high five. 

The future of the flock
I have decided it's time for me to remove items from my plate. The first will be caring for the chickens. Let me know if you are interested in taking over that task. I'll be happy to train you and get you up and running. The coop will need an overhaul this spring if we are going to keep them. That's going to require funds and time. Again, I'm happy to assist. If nobody wants to take it over, then I'll work with the science department to find them new homes at another school. 

Spring Projects
I have talked to several of you about implementing projects this spring. We have six picnic benches onsite now. I'll be working with Ms. Kunkel's class to assemble and place those. Ms. Kinkead has big plans for a garden that her class has helped plan out. Ms. Hickcox's class has also spent a great deal of time researching and planning outside spaces. If your class has plans that need my help, please let me know so I can start planning with you. 

MAP Preparations
Mandy has been working hard this week on getting iPads setup for MAP testing. Students spent time this week cleaning up devices. During this current rotation, she is testing all devices to make sure the DRC app is working correctly. Once confirmed, students are going through the online tools training sessions to get familiar with that functionality. 

CREdX Updates
Speaker applications are due on Monday. Please talk to any students who you think would be a great speaker. We have about 8 applications right now. I'd like 20-25 total. If you have a student who turns in an application, I will be pulling them next week to present their letter to the committee. I'm looking at Tuesday from 1:30 to 3:00, but will let you know as soon as it's finalized. 

Jerry Craft Author Visit
As part of the Unbound Book Festival, students will be able to meet virtually with author Jerry Craft. He wrote the popular book New Kid and Class Act. The preliminary time is 10:00 to 11:00. Connie is working on adjusting specials so our 4th and 5th graders can watch the talk. 

Geography Bee
For some reason, I signed up to facilitate the geography bee. Thanks to the fourth and fifth grade teachers for giving the first rounds in their classrooms. Next week, I'll be giving the second round of questions via Schoology. The top 12ish students will move on to the final school championship that will take place in a couple of weeks. I hear there's hardware for the winner. 

Document Cameras
At this point, all general ed classrooms should have a document camera installed. I think there are more on the way, but the purchasing card couldn't handle it. The goal is to have them in all classrooms by the fall. I know the setups are a bit tricky, especially if your computer is to the right of your board. I wish the usb cables were three feet longer so it'd be easier to set up. I might look into some extensions next year to see if that's a feasible expense. Give 'em a try if you haven't yet. I've heard from several of you already about ways you've used them. 

Tech tip of the day
The "mute" feature is a way to quickly turn the sound completely off and back on again. If you can't hear sound coming from your flat panel, try toggling the mute button first to see if it's turned on.

Hope you have a great weekend

March Monday Updates

I hope your week is off to a good start. I figure this will be the only update for March. First, FTO has asked that I share a survey with all staff. They are looking for feedback for setting the budget for next year. This is your opportunity to share how you think money should be spent, so don't miss out: 2022 Staff Survey

CREdX
The event will be held May 24th at 1:30. After Thursday, our committee should be getting with 2-5 teachers to schedule a time for them to come in and talk to your classes. I'd like that to happen before spring break so students have time to work on their writing over break if needed. Applications will be due by April 8th. 

iPad Returns
All iPads should be in the building and stay in the building by this Friday. If you have students that do not have their iPad on Friday, send me a list of names and I will lock down their device. I also need a list of names of students who did not return the chargers you gave them this year before the Covid break. I asked for you to keep a list of who received them. I will be submitting a fine for anyone who didn't bring them back. I'm down to less than 20 chargers right now. Because of the small inventory, I may have to pull chargers from the K-2 classrooms during MAP testing so that our 3-5 student devices are fully charged for testing. 

Media Class
iPads need to be charged for Media class. That is the tool they use for instruction, so please have a plan so they are useable during that time. 

March Reading Madness
Here's this round's link one last time: Round One Voting. I get the impression this activity is causing some stress. It is for me. I don't have an answer for those of you who are wanting to read them to your students but aren't getting them. If you have suggestions on how to make the process run smoother, I'm all ears. At any rate, please send the books back to the media center at the end of the day today so I can redistribute starting tomorrow. 

I will announce what books are moving on in March Reading Madness tomorrow during announcements. Voting for the Elite Eight will take place this Friday. I'll send you the link at that time.

Show-me Award school winner
Madeline Finn and the Shelter Dog was our K-3 student choice for the Show-Me Award this year. I doubt it was because it was the one we read to them during voting week. I submitted our selection to MASL last week. This week we are voting for the Mark Twain Award. I sent 4th and 5th grade teachers an email on how to get that done. They'll announce the state wide winners for both awards later this spring. 

I hope you have a great week...