Welcome back! Larry said I had thirty minutes to yell at staff. Because most of what you'll hear
will be soon be forgotten, here's a rundown topics I'm covering...The Team
Stormi Pryor - Lover of powdered doughnuts
Stephanie Criblez - Nicest Media Center staff member
Lori Huhman - Just working for beer money
Carl Robinson - Building technician
Communication
I try to write a blog post each Friday. My goal is to keep your inbox clean by summarizing information and sending it out at the end of the week. I'll only send out blasts if the info is critical. If you don't read my posts, you won't know what's going on and your kids will miss out on opportunities...
Checkout Schedule
Library checkouts will be available Tuesday through Friday. This year will feature a friendly competition to determine checkout times. Visit the media center Wednesday morning from 9-11 to partake in a fun game set up by Jake. Best score will get first pick of times. Worst score will pick last. Fun! Checkouts will start on day 1 unless you want to wait. But why would you? Come pick up a library return cart from the media center. Have your students decorate it and you could win $50 to the next book fair!
Library checkout is not release time. It's important to have all hands on deck to support their browsing and for active supervision. I'm still working on details for how the process will work this year in regards to Covid protocols. I'll send out directions later this week.
Collaboration
My job is to support your instruction. I will attempt to get back to meeting with grade level teams each week. No, I will not be talking at you. I'll be there to listen to what's going on, offer integration ideas when applicable, teach you new skills you are curious about, share updates if needed. If I know what you are teaching, then I can better support your students. Team leaders, please let me know what day/time you'd like for me to join you.
Schoolwide Literacy Focus
For those of you who weren't scared off by Larry, you'll recall we instituted several vertical activities such as Friday announcement read alouds, "The Masked Reader", and "March Reading Madness". We loved how many students in different grades talked books with each other. Here are some things we have in motion...
- Monthly genre/author/topic focus
- "Book a Day" board will be making a comeback. Prizes for those classes/students who participate.
- "Mark Twain Nominee" book groups with 4th/5th graders.
- Student book recommendations in Destiny
- Other ideas from you!
What have I put into it for this year?
- I purchased $950 worth of Flipster magazines (The Week Junior, Zoobooks, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Ranger Rick Junior, Girls' World, Baking Heaven, How it Works, Cobblestone, Brainspace, All About Space, Eco Kids Planet)
- I purchased $1300 worth of new books for the library
- I submitted a $2000 grant proposal for additional eBooks and audiobooks for Sora (fingers crossed!!)
I'm asking for your help in supporting the resources that I've put into our program. Epic is fine and all, but there so much good content in Sora and Flipster. You'll be hearing us promote it frequently, you'll start to see posters in the hallways, but we need you to be a promoter as well.
Makerspace - The "Fishbowl"
Our new and improved (and hopefully permanent for as long as I'm here) Makerspace is ready for action. I'm envisioning starting with three ways to use it:
- Monthly maker challenges
- Daily "open lab" times for grade levels
- Special integration projects for grades/classes
Visit with your grade level team sometime Thursday or Friday for a super-duper fun activity! You'll be tasked with making an item to display in the Fishbowl. Plan on 30 minutes or so.
We will continue with STEAM checkout kits. Look for information in a few weeks.
The Flock
A classroom rotation will be set up to care for the chickens this year. Look for an email signup from me later this week. Once signed up, I'll work with your class to make the process as smooth and clean as possible. I'll also reach out to classes to help with more involved coop maintenance once the year gets going. Nikki, you'll be in charge of performing chicken physicals.
Bookroom
Reminders about how to use the bookroom:
- Walk to the bookroom located in the art hallway (I can give tours to our new folks)
- Select the books you want. Grab the chapter books or the entire bag of books.
- Walk to the library to check them out. This step is important. I will be looking at weeding materials every year so if they aren't getting checked out, I won't know you're using them. If nobody is there, either leave a post it on the materials (Rachel is a pro at this) or you can write your name and the barcodes on a post it.
- Use them in the classroom
- Put all the books back in the bag and put the papers so everyone can easily see the front.
- Return to the blue crate located just outside my office door.
Important: if you are skipping step 3, do not bother to return them to the blue crate. Put them back on your own. I don't want to spend time shelving materials you didn't bother to check out :)
Technology
Ready, set, go...
- I will meet with your teams later this week about iPad distribution
- iPads labels for all with passwords for K-2
- Charging solutions
- Plan for taking home or not
- Students in grades 3-5 will be required to change passwords. I'll work with Stormi to handle that process in Media. You'll get their password information once it's changed. We'll set a convention for each grade to help them remember.
- There is no computer lab. We have two laptop carts
- One will be housed with Stormi for Media class needs
- The other will be available for classes to checkout for use
- We won't be able to support handing out loaners to students who don't have iPads, so we'll figure that into your iPad take home plan
- Seesaw - I haven't received any updates on how classes will turn over for next year. I'm working on getting information.
- I need to check out all teacher devices. At some point Thursday or Friday, bring your iPad and laptop to me to check out.
- If you need your laptop imaged, bring it to the Media Center with your name and room number on a post it. Carl will get to them as soon as he can.
Tech Integration Training
I know that teachers new to CPS don't get any real training anymore. I'm thinking we'll tackle your learning a few different ways.
- Grade level meetings
- 1 on 1 walkthroughs
- After school technology specific training, probably on a set day of the week
- Upcoming sessions in the media center:
- Thursday 1:00 - Getting families connected to Seesaw
- Friday 1:00 - Apple Classroom
Outdoor Learning Spaces
A reminder about all the outdoor learning spaces that are available to you:
- Outdoor deck classroom near the fourth grade wing - look for a schedule for sign up
- Folding chairs
- Buckets, lots of buckets
Composting
Yes, we will continue our composting project. Emily is in charge of putting the compost bins back together. If students eat in the cafeteria, it will all be done there. Look for information for students to join the "CRE Green Team" to help support our sustainability efforts in upcoming blogs. Might I suggest telling room parents that we don't support single use plastic bottles??
I'm done