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...

Congratulations!

I have a lot for you today so please read through it all. Monday will be the start of our final announcements schedule (for now at least). You'll be able to access the Zoom announcements from your calendar Monday through Thursday. The kids have been very excited to lead the announcements. They appreciate both compliments and ideas to improve. 

Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence Nominees
Congratulations to this year's nominees:

• Outstanding First Year Educator: Jake Floyd
• Outstanding Educator, K-2: Jen McIntyre
• Outstanding Educator, 3-5: Julia Hickcox
• Outstanding Educator in a Specialized Area: Matt Villasana

Please consider writing letters of support for our nominees. I will need them by March 2. You can email them to me or bring a hard copy with your signature. Also consider having your students write letters for teachers they work with now or had in the past. I will send out a Seesaw request to families as well. 

Technology Share and Needs Session
After doing some reflection, I think that it'd be helpful to start discussing technology integration tools once again. Thanks to Jen and her student teachers for the nudge. So Tuesday the 15th after school will be our first meeting. I'm envisioning 30 minutes of simple conversations about what's happening in your room that you've found to be successful and questions about what you'd like to learn. Then based on that information, I can set up times to work with teams or individuals with targeted PD. The 15th, 3:45-4:15ish. 

February Fishbowl Activities
I have two activities to choose from. I imagine these will spill over into March since we are hitting the second wave of "no school February".

• Pop-up cards - students will create a pop up card to share with a friend or family. I thought it'd be a nice tie in to our Cardinal Cool Tools. I anticipate this activity to take about 45 minutes. Good for K-5.
• Ski Jumping - students will build a ski jumper to take on Mount Villasana using craft sticks, foil, and tape. They'll send their jumper down the ramp and see how far he or she can travel before crashing in a spectacular fashion. I anticipate this activity to take about 45 minutes as well. Good for K-5, but for the K-1 classes it'd be best if you could bring along a college helper if you have one.

I have quite a few items on my calendar already. If you'd like to do both, we'll start by scheduling one and then see how quickly things fill up. 

What's Happening?
Here's a look at some past and upcoming events that might interest you:

• We completed a Mystery Zoom in Ms. Tierney's class and Ms. Long's class recently. On Tuesday, Ms. Ziegler's class will be participating in their first Mystery Zoom.
• Breakout fever: Kindergarten is participating in Breakout Boxes, Valentines Day Edition. Ms. Kinkead and I are continuing our teamwork initiative in her class with a two-step team breakout on Monday. Finally, I'll be putting together a space themed breakout for Ms. Hickcox in the coming weeks. 
• Third grade is starting a PLTW activity with simple machines. I'll be in their rooms over the next several weeks helping students building simple machines and then designing and building a compound machine to rescue a tiger.

Media Center Programming
Read Aloud - Next week will feature the book "Meet Miss Fancy", another of the Show Me Award nominees. We'll continue to feature books by or about African Americans and point students towards our display of Black History Month selections.
These Books Need Some Lovin' - It's been fun seeing students choosing books that have never been checked out. We'll continue throughout February.
Wordle - We will definitely continue with the Wordle. It's been a lot of fun. I think Lori is enjoying it more than the kids.
Saturn V LEGO - I purchased a ginormous LEGO for students to build. If you have a student who deserves some build time, let me know and we'll get it scheduled. I'll make sure they take a space book before they leave.

CREdX Planning
Our CREdX event is back in the works after a two year hiatus. This event is modeled after TED talks and was a huge success our first year. I'm forming the planning committee now and we'll start our meetings next week. We will have a theme picked and start looking for speakers around the first of March. Here is one of the 2019 CREdX talks so you can see what it looked like. The rest of the videos are linked on the CRE home page. 

100 Cup Staff Challenge
Congratulations to the 5th grade for participating in the 100 Cup Staff Challenge on Wednesday. You have each won $100 for our upcoming book fair.

I hope you have a great weekend

We need some loving

Longest three day week ever. Can't wait for next week. I got back into classrooms this week. We completed three Mystery Zooms with classes in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Ms. Kinkead's class participated in a mini breakout activity to work on collaboration and problem solving. Lots of info below. Let me know if you have questions. 

Lost/Broken/Milk iPads
Please institute a check system to monitor your student iPad status. Students are given an insurance of one free break a year. Maybe not something to advertise, but it's the policy. I would highly suggest that any student with a broken screen does not take the iPad home going forward. Maybe if you tell them that policy now, they might take better care of them. Like I mentioned in my email on Wednesday, you are free to modify your class's procedures for taking iPads home. As long as you have a plan in place to get paperwork or the iPad home in the event of a long term absence, you are covered. 

Let me know if you have students who aren't bringing their devices to school. I will lock the device so it's not usable and include a friendly reminder to return it to school. 

Library Checkout
We are returning to a "normal" checkout next week. Regular times and a 30 minute slot. Fingers crossed that we can keep it place for the rest of the year. It would be great if students in grades 2-5 can continue to bring their devices to utilize Destiny and check out items in Sora and Flipster. 

Student Announcements
We are transitioning to student-led announcements starting next week. It'll be a slow process so we can try to get it right, but eventually students will handle Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I thought it'd be good to have a rundown of what announcements will be like for next week:
Monday - Mrs. Epperson
Tuesday - Students in Ms. Hickcox's class
Wednesday - Me
Thursday - Mrs. Epperson
Friday - Mrs. Epperson
You should have received an outlook invite for Tuesday's announcements. I'm using the same link as Wednesday, but I thought it'd be easiest if you had a calendar event for each day. So eventually you'll receive invites for Monday and Thursday as well. Hope that makes things as clear as possible.

February Media Center Promotions:
We have a lot going on next month...

Black History Month
Our read alouds in February will all feature African American authors, characters, and/or history. We will have a display on the semi circle shelves. Our collection has a ton of great books so we hope to get the students to experience them. 

"These books need some loving"
Starting on Monday, the Media Center will be featuring "books that need some loving". We are in the process of pulling all our books that have never been checked out. They'll be displayed on all the stands, end caps, and book board for the month of February. We are going to encourage students to check them out. There are a lot of really great reads so feel free to check some out yourself.

Media Center Wordle
Look for our media center Wordle next week. Each class will be able to enter a guess during your library visit. It will be displayed so everyone can see the progress. Winning guesses will earn your class 153 Villasana Points. Correct letters will receive 22 Villasana Points. Good luck!

Chickens
I'm in the process of evaluating our flock of chickens and their place at Cedar Ridge. I don't feel like I have done a good job of sharing ways for you to utilize them. We had a great outpouring of classes in the fall to help with food, water, and egg collection. I decided to have one class take care of them during the winter to keep it simple. As the year has progressed, I've realized that our coop will need to be overhauled. Before I commit to that process, I need to know that we want them here long term. I also want to know that our staff is on board. We can't only have one person invested in their care in the event that one person were to leave. So I'll be working on coming up with some integration resources for you to use with your students. I'll also be sending out a survey next week to get your overall feedback on the flock.

Have a Great Weekend!

January 14

Are you looking forward to a three day weekend? Tuesday morning might come quickly, but there is good news. The Upton family will be providing bagels for the staff for breakfast. Come by the media center after 7:30 to enjoy. Just watch your crumbs. 

Masked Reader
Thanks to Allie, Jake, and Colleen for participating in the second annual Masked Reader event. It looked like we had 79 participants on the call, but I know many of them represented multiple viewers. Hopefully everyone got on the call. I'm not sure why it was asking some to register because that was definitely turned off and the chat was too. Oh well. 

iPad transportation reminder
Now that students are taking devices home, it's important to remind them on how to get the iPads home. Students should leave the classroom at the end of the day with the iPads in their backpacks. They should also arrive with them in their backpacks. There's not much we can do about the time on the bus. If you see a student holding a device during arrival or dismissal, please have them stop and put it away before moving on. 

Readathon
The FTO Read-a-thon is next week. FTO put an informational sheet in your box a while ago. I'm assuming they put reading logs in your box as well. Encourage students to record their reading on those logs which are to be turned in on January 24th. All students who turn in a log will get a ticket to enter into the "Teacher Time" raffle to win an experience with a staff member. 

There's also a door decoration contest. It's supposed to start on Tuesday. Don't stress over it. If you did it, great. If you didn't but still want to participate, have it done sometime next week. The judging isn't until the 27th. Maybe have the students draw their favorite book covers, scenes, etc. Slap some colored background on the door, tape up the pics, and call it a day. 

STEM Planning
I'm working on planning out the STEM activities for the rest of the school year. Our first events will be Olympic themed challenges. I think those will be ready to go the week of the 24th. Look for scheduling information in next Friday's update. 

Have a great weekend

Last of the year!

We're almost there! Not much to report this week. I feel like I've spent a lot of time with your students this week doing all kind of activities: breakouts with kindergarten and buttons, hot chocolate, and circuit cards with all. 

The hammock forest was popular the first part of the week. If you'd like to utilize the forest (and I'm sure we'll have many unseasonable days this winter), review the schedule to see if it's available: Hammock Forest Master Schedule. Then email me with the time you'd like. If you are scheduling in advance, Ms. Hickcox's class will be happy to set the hammocks up in the morning for you. If it's an impulse event, the hammocks are housed in room 322. You can grab them on the way down and put them back when you're done. 

Kindergarten completed a gingerbread man breakout activity. Unfortunately, they all broke out and I wasn't able to eat their cookies. And apparently I offended at least one student to the point where she didn't deliver a cookie to me like her teacher told her too. She's definitely been added to my naughty list. Let me know if you're interested in trying out a breakout when we return. I tailor them to your students' needs. 

Festivus is near!
Don't pack a lunch on Tuesday! We'll have an array of delicious soups, salads, breadsticks, desserts, and school appropriate drinks in the media center for your enjoyment. There will be prize drawings for gift cards and merch. There might also be a selection of Villasana Designs woodcraft in case you're looking for some classy gifts (cash, check, Venmo). Be sure to fill out your Airing of the Grievances form by Monday. Those will be on display for almost everyone to enjoy. And for the record, the grievances can be about staff other than me. 

Have a great weekend!

Darren is awesome!

First off, congratulations to Darren for an amazing performance last night. Your passion for music is definitely rubbing off on the students. You surely deserved a day off today!!

It's been a huge week. The Fishbowl was buzzing with circuits, buttons were created, and hot chocolate was poured. And there was a bit of construction happening on the grounds. Shoutout to Kara and her wonderful selection of lotions that are keeping my hands supple! 

Hammock Forest
The hammock forest is scheduled to be open on Monday. The weather is looking pretty great the first part of next week. Email me if you'd like to take your kids out there. I'm still thinking through logistics but the idea is that student helpers will set up the hammocks in the morning and take down in the afternoon on days where it's scheduled to be used. Our families have dumped a good amount of money into this project, so we need to teach students how to use it. When you are using the area, please review the expectations with students:

• The forest is a relaxation area
• The hammocks are for sitting and laying in only
• Gentle swaying is encouraged; they are not swings
• You should only be touching your hammock; if you need to move, duck under your neighbor alongside the post

Document Cameras

I was ambushed by third grade today over document cameras. If you currently have a document camera and find you aren't using it much, or for only a part of the day, please let me know. It would be great to share the love and then perhaps Taryn will buy more for all to use. 

Festivus
Our celebration of Festivus will be on December 21 during your lunch time. We have parents signed up to bring in delicious soups and cold school appropriate beverages. FTO is giving desserts and Taryn is supplying OG (apparently that's the abbreviation for Olive Garden) salads and breadsticks. To prepare for the Festivus "Airing of the Grievances", start thinking about all the ways your coworkers have disappointed you this past year. I'm using a spreadsheet because I realized I needed more space for Jen and Lori. 

Have a great weekend!

Happy Festivus!

I hope you are enjoying the treats in the fridge. We'll try to keep it stocked as much as
possible to keep you energized for this holiday season! To clear any confusion, the spreadsheet and Christmas Movie Bingo cards were intended for your personal use, not with students. 

December Activities
Thanks for the interest in the three December activities! I'm now fully booked for the rest of the month. I have 63 events scheduled the next 12 days. Should be fun!

Hammock Forest Update
The hammock forest project is heating up. We have raised the necessary funds to purchase all the building materials and we nearly have all 30 hammocks donated as well. Tomorrow, a parent will digging our post holes. Installing the posts will take some time and will be weather dependent. I will likely reach out to 4th and 5th grade teachers to coordinate student groups to install posts. With any luck we'll have it ready to go just in time for winter. 

Festivus is back!
Mark your calendars for December 21 at lunch time. Come to the media center to enjoy a meal, watch a traditional Festivus show, air your grievances, and participate in feats of strength. Families will be providing soups or chili, Taryn will be providing Olive Garden salad and breadsticks, and FTO is giving dessert. There might even be attendance prizes...

Library Checkout Request
Please have students leave water bottles, toys, or other distractions in the classroom.

Have a great weekend!