Monday Memo October 19, 2014
Lovely Sunday morning Everyone,
Do we have the coolest weather up here or what! It is so foggy this morning its like a scene from the Jack the Ripper movie, minus the violence! More Peaceful.Hoping everyone got to take in some valuable sessions at the PD on the 14th. I went away with a saying, " Better Bad than Stupid." That is the fall back for some of our kids, its way less embarrassing to be bad, than it is to look stupid. Our kids get embarrassed in front of their peers, so they will snap back if we discipline them in front of a crowd. Thought that an interesting reminder for me, "Better bad than stupid."
Congratulations are in order;
Someone on staff is donning a sparkler today. It is a super shiny gorgeous princess cut ring. Our congratulations go out to this mystery girl. Can you guess who is getting married next year? We are so excited for her. Celebrations are so nice!
Staffing
When you need something you will get it. A new sub appeared to us on Friday. Esther De Boar is available to sub so I booked her in for some days. What a relief that was. She's full for next week though!!!
Debbie is out for the week. She is in Kamloops by her step dad Ervin's bedside. He is in OCU still and we have all been sending positive thoughts to the family. Ervin is the most stand up guy I know, his family needs him for many more years to come.
Tuesday Cheri and Sara are out for Balanced Lit. Emily and Koteah are in for them.
Thursday Andrew is out for the pm for BL. Emily is in.
Susan is out Thursday afternoon. Not sure who is in there yet.
Friday Sheila is out, as of now I only have Emily in the pm. We will have to steal a TA for the morning.
Susan is out I have Erica down for that day. We may have to close library for the day, you can go with your kids to sign out books its easy.
Hannah is out Friday too and there is no sub.
So this Friday will be our worst day yet for subs, but we will get through it and perhaps another sub will drop into our laps by week end.
Events
Speak Q PD after school. Monday at 3:30.
Metis Aerobics Classes on Wednesday. Beverly Lambert will be in teaching your kids the dances and it will seem like aerobics to our kids and to us too. This is Wednesday so no gym classes that day. Go outside and enjoy a lovely fall walk. I will put this schedule in your mail boxes.
Metis showcase- Beverly will work closely with twenty kids and they will then put on a show in period 8 on Thursday. I will confirm the times with you. I will put the names of the kids given to me on the staffroom board. This is a tremendous opportunity for those kids. Thanks to the staff who gave me their kid names for this you are giving the kids an opportunity to have a day of cultural and personal growth.
Friday is exploratory day- It is our last one for this round.
Other than that its a quiet week.
What needs to be done:
Ipp's need to be signed by parents and guardians.
Halloween Activities need to be relayed to parents. We have kids dress up at noon then the class activities are from noon until 2:00. We will have an indoor recess that day. periods 7 and 8 will be a school wide Halloween extravaganza. I will put a sign up sheet for organizers of this. They will meet this week.
Electronic Reading challenge- Please let your kids know where they stand with this. On Friday a child returned to school after dismissal. I asked what he was doing and he said, " I'm getting two books to read Mrs. Roberts so I can make the electronics challenge. That poked my heart!!!
Put in some marks so you are ahead of the report card game. Do up course descriptions so that is out of the way.
Tell me what date you will get your report cards into me. So Shane and I can plan around that. I know some of you need part of that weekend. Others are going to party and have tons of fun that weekend cause theirs will be done, kudos to you. Remember good detailed comments about each subject- a nice story about that child as a learner.
PGP meeting times will be posted for next week please sign yourself into a slot. Thanks!
What We stand for:
Kids learning to the best or their ability .
Kids taking responsibility for their education!
Literacy
In provincial PAT tests we beat the province in the acceptable reading and are well below the province in writing. Our excellence rate is very low, our high kids aren't stepping it up. We need to push them to excellence okay isn't okay!
Mathematics
In PAT tests we are well below but all data points to an invalid test.
Science
We rocked the province beat them soundly. We have scientifically spry students.
Social
We are below the province by 3%. But our excellence rate went up significantly.
Healthy And Active Living
KC kids are having kids hand out oranges done up as jack o lanterns. A child will get a jack o lantern mandarin and must go find that child and present it to them. A great way of getting kids to know each other.
Many clubs are starting up, These kids can use some direction from the person on supervision. Just watch and see if they need pointers.
Lunch times are chaos in the grade four and five wing. Those kids need retraining as to what is acceptable lunch time behavior. Kids are wandering everywhere, standing by the door and not being very kind. Let's Shut that down. I will be there each day this week in Lunch 1 and I am taking recesses away from the wanderers and the door holder uppers. Let them know the gauntlet is coming down. Great saying before Halloween!
Golden garbage can is being resurrected. We will hand it out this Friday with cool treats in it. One garbage can for each grade. The cleanest classrooms get these yummies.
Recyclables- Please have your class reps bring them down to the shed. Our new fancy shed!!! We are going to sort this week and earn some money for our sponsored child and the merry go round.
Sorry guys, No video this time!!! WTF- Want the Facts- tried to embed a video but I just lost this blog for 45 minutes, was just going to redo it when, I clicked the right thing! Almost went to the roof and ended it all. I would probably have ended up on the new shed though!
On Thursday one of my students found out I was going to be away Friday.
ReplyDeleteHe asked "you are not going to be here?"
I said "yes I will be gone"
He asked "where re you going? Why are you going to be gone?"
I said "I have to go and get my eyes checked but I will be back Monday."
He then asked "do you have to go? Can't you stay and be here tomorrow."
This wasn't last week, but when we went to the museum. The boys were dressed like voyageurs and the girls as settler women. One little guy said "This is awesome Mrs. Pickrem, thanks!" He had never gone before and had the biggest smile. It was really nice to see. That stands out to me ��
ReplyDeleteMy moment is much less sentimental but a teaching moment for me...in that I was taught! My Grade 6 class was working on Making Words. We had just moved from 2-3 letter words. As we worked through them we built the word "cod." Being a proud and true Maritimer, I was sure I was going to school these western children on the matter. So I ask, "how many of you know what a "cod" is???" I was surprised to see the number of hands in the air, even more surprised that the majority of hands belonged to boys...hmmm??? So, I ask one of them to tell us! I was the only one who was surprised by the response
ReplyDelete"call of duty!!!" Not one student even blinked an eye at this response! After an emphatic response from me on the fact that a "cod" was a fish, I started to think...in today's world of technology a "cod" is not a fish, it is indeed a "call of duty!" While the need for clarification and expanding vocabulary was necessary I realized I that moment, with that one word, I learned just as much as they did...maybe more. And as always, my cool factor plummeted and I aged myself just a little bit more. ������ Have a wonderful week everybody!!!
i had a great comment and it disappeared. technology wins again!
ReplyDeletei had a moment at the end of the week before last where a student was sent to me in the office because he was not behaving in class. i didnt lecture him or give him a consequence, but rather began to tell him a story. His little guy was in Jenny's class two years ago. She asked about him not two days before this happened. i told him that she asked about him and i told her that he seemed sad this year. i told him this and asked him why he was so sad. as he opened his mouth to talk, he began to cry. he sat at my table with me for 20 minutes bawling telling me that he missed his Dad and his home life was pretty rough right now. I did nothing but ask questions and let him talk. I formed a connection with this little guy just by listening...we need to take the time to listen to kids. I know it is hard when you have 26 other kids, but we need to ensure that we take the time to connect with our troubled kids and listen...thats how we connect! i had a video game play date friday at lunch with him...i think we are buds now! See you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteThis is something I don't do enough, looking back on the week and remembering those moments we had with students. Especially focusing on the good moments!!
ReplyDeleteLast week on Thursday during library one of the girls in the class came and excitedly showed me the book she was going to take out. Later that day she had it and told me how much she was enjoying it! At one point she brought it over to me and wanted to give me a chance to read some of it as well. Then on Friday she informed me on how far she had made it through the book, and that she was planning on taking it home and finishing it! I loved how excited she was about this book and how she shared her excitement with me, and other students in the class!
I'm sure you can all agree, but I love seeing kids that are excited and love to read!
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ReplyDeleteI have to say I really enjoy my end of the day hug from Ivy, such a good way to end the day! As well, I have to admit it always feels like a success when I see a smile on Ashton's face; I look forward to seeing more this year.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comment Kim!
ReplyDeleteMine happened at lunch 2 on Friday. I was on supervision outside on pave one and Kaeleb and Kirsten were playing 4-square by themselves. They asked me to play. I loved it when Kirsten told me I was playing cheap because I didn't move my body to let her know the ball was coming to her. Fun times!
ReplyDeleteMine wasn't with a specific student but just being with Valyne's class on Friday. I know this can be a tough class but they were so great on Friday. I feel like I am really making forming a connection with a couple of the students in her class and its so rewarding when you see students especially out of school, and they run up and hug you and cant wait to tell you about their weekend or something exciting going on in their life. I keep referring back to the exercise we did last year in the gym with all the students names and I am really trying this year to form a connection with as many students as I can.
ReplyDelete