Author Visits, Summer School Tech, and a Sale on Plastics

Congratulations to third grade for finishing up their week of fun! Now it's 4th and 5th grades' turn. Thanks to everyone for your support during testing. I've heard several kids tell others to stop talking (politely!) in the halls because they know classes are working on the test. 

Author Visit
We had a nice morning with the author Javaka Steptoe. He spoke to fourth and fifth graders about his books and artwork. The art is pretty cool. I was really impressed with our fifth grader who greeted and welcomed Javaka. He worked all week on his introduction and despite some serious nerves, did a fabulous job. And he got to walk away with an autographed copy of Radiant Child, Javaka's Caldecott and Coretta Scott King winning book! We'll have Javaka's collection on display in the library for students to enjoy starting on Monday. 

CREdX Updates
It's been a busy week for the CREdX Committee. We had two representatives present their grant proposal to FTO on Tuesday and were able to secure funding for the event. Yeah! They also decided on the lineup of speakers for the event. We have 16 speakers ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade. They are (hopefully) working on their talks now and we'll begin revision and practicing in the coming weeks. Look for promotional materials in your mailboxes soon. Thanks for your support! 

Devices for summer school
I've had a few people ask about iPads for summer school. Here's the plan. K-2 teachers may keep the iPads you are currently using for summer school. You'll need to check them out before May 28th. If you are not going to use them, you'll turn them in to me before the last day of school. All iPads in grades 3-5 will be turned in and locked up for summer. Since those are used in 1:1 classes, we need to make sure those are ready to go for the new school year. We will have all three laptop carts and the lab available for checkout during the summer. How do I check them out, you ask? Well, that's not up to me. I'll be on the golf course with a cooler of icy cold...ah...Diet Cokes, so you'll have to talk to your summer school principal! 

The Old Bookroom...
Is no more. And I couldn't be happier! Someone will be coming to remove the boxes of books in the coming weeks. If you are needing any plastic containers/bins, then you should head to 343 and shop while the selection is good. 

Book returns
Please let me know if you would like updated lists of students with overdue books. I'll likely wait until the week of May 6th to run physical copies again. Students who don't turn in materials or pay fines from this year will only be allowed to check out one book at a time next year and will have to keep it at school. We want to give everyone access to good books, but we also have to protect our resources. 

I think that's about it. Have a wonderful weekend!

Spring Updates

Last four buttons earned!

It's been a while since my last post. I'm sure at least two of you have missed them. We have a lot going on this time of year, so check out the info below to stay up to date. I wanted to brag on Kaitlyn. She has read all 12 Mark Twain Award nominee books this year! If you see her around, give her a high five! 

CREdX 2019
Thank you for letting the student planning committee (or me) take some time to recruit speakers. As of 10:30, we have twelve applications turned in! Today is not a hard deadline, so keep encouraging students to apply who you think have a great story to tell. The event will be held on May 23 at 1:00 in the media center. The planning committee is looking at ways to invite some students to watch live. I'm also considering a live stream so you can watch in the classroom. Look for more updates soon! 

Last checkouts
We'll have our last week of checkouts the week of May 6th (this is the date that most elementary schools are using). Please collect books the following week to return to the library. We're contemplating having your classes come the next week to do maker stations. I have a bunch of books to give away for those students who have all materials turned in. On May 20 we'll start marking those books as "lost" and issuing fines. With about 100 books still out and the average replacement cost around $15, that's a big hit to our collection. Please encourage your students in any way you see fit!

Device Collection
The week of May 20th will be Device Collection Week. Get excited!! I'm willing to wait that along because I know you are using them and are more than willing to help out with the processes in your room. I'll give you specific directions in the coming weeks, but I wanted to make sure you have time to plan accordingly. If you are leaving the district or switching schools, I'll get with you to repo all of your technology before you are able to sneak away...

Book Room
I've started to box up the leftover bookrooms materials. Those will be shipped off to the farm. The professional books are now in the conference room by the media center. 

Have a great weekend!

Who's Counting??

Several times in recent weeks I've found myself mumbling "spring break is coming, spring break is coming" when walking the dismissal line. I'll probably make this one my last update before break, so make sure you read all the way through.

Book Fair
Thanks for your support during book fair week. We did around $4700 in sales, which nets us nearly $3000 in Scholastic dollars. Even after redeeming the coveted Matt Dollars, we still have a ridiculous balance. Here is Scholastic's Online Catalog. Look through it and let me know if you are interested in anything for your students. I also purchased seven book sets from the fair and hopefully I have time to get those cataloged today!

Old Bookroom
I know that many of you are pillaging the old bookroom. Just a reminder that anything left in the room at spring break will be removed. I've talked with FTO about the possibility of a used book sale next August. I'm also looking into setting up a "leave one, take one" book display somewhere in the building. So the books will go to good use if they are left abandoned by spring break. 

CREdX Event
We are taking on a big undertaking this spring. Cedar Ridge will be hosting our first CREdX Event (think TED, but with a CRE twist). I'm looking around May 23 or 24. The planning committee will consist of 6-8 fourth graders. They will be in charge of everything: theme, recruiting, logos, advertising, invitations, donations, recording, publication, etc. We'll have the talks in the afternoon followed by a reception for the speakers and guests. It's a big deal. What does this mean for you? We will be deciding on a theme the week before spring break. We'll also be determining a plan to recruit speakers at that time. I'm fine with students of any age. I'm guessing the talks will range from 2-5 minutes. Once we get the theme nailed down, I'll send out info about choosing speakers. I wanted you to know now so you can be thinking about students who might be great for this opportunity.

PLTW
Great news! We were able to secure funding for Project Lead the Way kits. I purchased kits to cover one unit in each grade level. My goal for next year is to team teach at least one unit with each grade level. Here's the rundown:

Kindergarten: Pushes and Pulls
First: Light, Observing Sun, Moon, and Stars
Second: Form and Function
Third: Science of Flight
Fourth: Collisions
Fifth: Robotics and Automation

We also have 14 VEX construction kits now which serve several units such as simple/compound machines. 

I think that's it. Sorry to disappoint if you were looking forward to a clever meme. 

Have a great weekend!

And the Winners Are....

Happy Friday! Just when the possibility of a full week is staring us in the face, weather happens again. Good thing we have five day weeks the rest of the month. Here are a few of the pictures using the green screen on the "MAKE" day this week. Talk to me if you'd like to do something similar with your students as part of a research project. I'd love to help you take videos of your students sharing their animal/space/history/etc learning in front a cool picture.

Cedar Ridge Nominees!
Put your hands together for our colleagues who got the nod as our school's nominees for the Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence award:

Outstanding Teacher PreK-2: Lori Huhman
Outstanding Teacher 3-5: Taryn Wall
Outstanding Specialist: Annette Renwick
Outstanding First Year Teacher: Samantha Flowers

The next step is for us to write recommendation letters to show our support. PLEASE consider writing one for at least one of our teachers. You can send them to me in PDF form and I'll put together the packets. Student and parent submissions are encouraged as well. Let's all get behind our nominees!

Book Fair is coming...
We only have a few short weeks until the book fair hits me in the face. Next week will be a normal week in the media center. In two weeks we'll be showing the preview videos to all classes and the students will be able to preview the book fair once it's set up. We'll most likely do wish lists in the same format as in the fall. And the exciting news! Everyone will be getting a huge gift card so you can buy books for your classroom. Look for those in your mailbox in a few weeks.

Maker stuff
I think my devious plan to add maker time to checkout in order to show teachers what we have is working a little. I see many of you looking over your students' shoulders to see what they're doing. Remember that everything we have in the media center is available for classroom use. Including the OSMO (numbers, words, coding, Monster, Pizza (great for fractions and making change), tangrams). Just let me know if you are interested and we'll get it on the calendar.

Bookroom Reminder
I'm excited to say that I'm about 30 titles away from having all the new materials cataloged and in circulation. Remember that the old book room (with all the books all over the floor) needs to be cleaned out by spring break. Bring any books you want me to catalog and I'll handle them. Take any books you want for your room and never show them to me again. 

100 Cup Tower Challenge Winners
Here are the winners from each grade and the teacher challenge. Every winner will receive a coupon for a free book at the book fair:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Hawf's Table 1 at 77 inches
First Grade: Mrs. Gonzalez's students at 75 1/2 inches
Second Grade: Mrs. Heath's Maggie, Evan, and Dante at 80 1/2 inches
Third Grade: Mrs. Mantle's Zac, Robert, and Josiah at 75 inches
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Kunkel's students at 90 inches
Fifth Grade: Mr. Higgin's Cami, Claudia, Madison, and Brenna at 86 1/2 inches

Teacher Winners:

All teachers who played will get a free book! Technically there was a tie between 5th grade and Nikki/Christie at 95 inches. But 2nd grade and rest of 4th will also get a free book. Thanks for playing!!

Valentine's Buttons
Make your reservation now if you'd like to have your class make buttons for Valentine's Day.

Have a great weekend!

You MUST read this post

When it comes to important stuff, this is right up there with a home robot vacuum. I'm going to skip right to it.

Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence
It's time for us to nominate Cardinal teachers for this great recognition. You should find a nomination form in your mailbox. Fill out the nomination form and return it to the ultra secret ballot box in the library behind the circulation desk. The deadline is Monday at 3:30. It's a short turnaround, I know, but we need time to gather recommendation letters to support our people. Once we have our nominations, I'll follow up with an email about the next steps. Let's represent!! 

Bookroom closeout sale!
All books in the old bookroom must be gone by spring break. What's that mean for you? Well, a couple of things. First, we need to get anything we want to move to the permanent bookroom in my hands. Many of you are following directions and bagging up "old" books you are using and bringing them to me for cataloging. Yeah! Keep it up! I'll get in there early next week and grab good-looking books as well. You can also take any books you want to your room. If you go that route, I don't want to see them again. Ever! They are officially your problem. Whichever you choose, have it done before you hit the beaches for spring break.

You may have noticed I've rearranged the books in the bookroom. Now that I'm closer to having everything cataloged, I think we can spread out to make it easier to find resources. The new arrangement should help those of you who are shorter than me. 

100 Cup Challenge
Thanks for your flexibility with the crazy week. I'm sorry I missed the first day of building but really enjoyed watching your students problem-solve to build their towers once I got back. Look for a February challenge soon. 

Teacher 100 Cup Challenge Monday! 
Get a team together and come compete in the 100 Cup Challenge on Monday. No more than 4 staff members per team. The winning team members will be able to pick out a free book from the book fair. And have bragging rights until the next challenge. 

Have a great weekend!

A Robot for your Classroom?

Take a second to check out the new bulletin board outside the media center. It only took me a few months to get to it. I just wanted to put up a reminder to students about all the great reads we have available through OverDrive. And so you teachers remember that there are books for big people too! Chad, I'm sure there are some great off-season fantasy football reads out there as well...


Teachers needed!
We are looking for some teachers to participate in a pilot experience that will be totally awesome. The goal is to structure a process where you can record lessons in your classroom to reflect on your teaching. So who is making the recording, you ask? A robot of course! After recording, you'll be able to upload your video to shared space where others can learn from you. Sounds great, eh? Let me know if you are interested.

Resources Reminder
We have lots of great stuff here. I've enjoyed watching the students (and teachers) partake in the "maker-infused checkout" recently. All of those materials and more are available to use with your classes. Here is a list of really great resources we have here at the Ridge. Let me know if you want to try something out or you don't know where to start. I'm pretty good at coming up with ideas. And if you aren't named "Mantle", you only have to ask me once! 

Up-cycling opportunity
I was cutting out some pictures the other day and realized I was about to throw out some perfectly good bookmark-sized scraps. If you find yourself in the same situation, send them to the media center. I'll have a container on the counter to house them.

#CREreads
I need help with our "Book a Day" board! A few of you email me your books which is awesome. Take a second to tweet out your read alouds to #CREreads so I can add them to the board. We get to tell our story, so let's get the word out there! 

Have a great weekend!
PS
To answer your question, yes, I spend as much time picking out memes as I do writing the entire body of my post. It's purposeful. This week I just want to see if Josh or Chad read it. 

Happy New Year!

I could get used to this 13 days off, 2 days on gig! Check out the notification I got late on Christmas Eve. It's nice to know that Santa keeps up with the latest technology. Maggie was impressed that he was able to get out in under a minute after leaving presents, eating cookies, drinking milk, and gathering the carrots she left for the reindeer. Impressive indeed! 

Here's a long list of short updates and announcements. Enjoy your well-deserved weekend off! 

Maker Try It Out Day
Next Friday the 11th will be the first annual "Maker Try It Out Day" in the media center. Come down any time you have a spare minute to play!  I will have a ton of really cool activities set out for you to try. Bring your iPad with you so you can record things you want to do with your students. Special thanks to Mrs. Villasana who spent no fewer than 6 hours over break "testing" OSMO pizza. SMH. 

Maker time during checkout
I'm going to be piloting some new activities next week during your checkout time. Students who have no overdue books or fines will be given the opportunity to make/code/experiment after they have checked out new books. Students who can't check out will stay at the tables and can still read borrowed books. It's a pilot, so I'd welcome any feedback or suggestions. 

eLearning Courses open
If you are someone who doesn't automatically delete my emails, you would have seen that there are free eLearning courses available through PD Express. The courses are all online through Schoology. It's a great way to get some new learning and to earn 32 hours of inservice credit. Let me know if you'd like suggestions on what courses might be right for you. 

Curiosity Fair
The Curiosity Fair is set up in room 304. I sent out the signup yesterday. Here's a link to the schedule in case you forgot what you signed up for: Curiosity Fair Schedule

Shoutout to 4th and 5th
I tallied up our current number of Mark Twain Award buttons earned and we are at 113. That means that not only have our 4th and 5th grade students read that many award books, 113 have passed a quiz about their reading through Schoology. That's a huge increase over last year! 

Have a great weekend!