August 26, 2016

August 26, 2016

This past weekend my family celebrated Rakhi. Rakhi is the simple but beautiful thread tying around the wrist of a brother, conveying lots of love and emotions. Sisters wholeheartedly tie Rakhi on the wrist of their brothers and pray to divine for bestowing him prosperity, health with serenity. Brothers who deeply and truly understand the deep message of Rakhi, pledge to keep their sisters safe from all evil circumstances of their life and promise to stand by her in every up and down moments of life. The brothers usually give their sister gifts. Rakhi festival also has a social significance because it underlines the notion that everybody should live in harmonious coexistence with each other. OR as my nephew Riley would say, "Rakhi sucks for the boys!" and Dylan responds with, "No it doesn't. We are so lucky we get a string that tells us how much our sisters love and care about us AND they feed us our favorite sweets." He is sweet! Here is a pic of the gang at my Dad's farm. 

BTSN:  Back to School Night is scheduled on Tues. Aug. 30. Please have parents sign 3 way pledge. Copies will be placed in your boxes.

Back to School Night social will be from 4:30-6:00

ALL teachers meet in Multi at 6:00 for introductions. Teachers will be dismissed after introductions. I will have a PPT for parents in multi. until 6:15

6:20-6:50 – first classroom presentation

5 minute passing

6:55-7:25- second classroom presentation 

You know what they say, "You only have one time to make a good first impression."  So, teachers take great care in the way you set up your classrooms, dress for success, and display personal touches of love. What parents mostly want to know is if the teacher is nice and if their children will be loved during this 180 day learning journey.  

Goals for the first six weeks

Teachers are experts on curriculum and pedagogy, but parents are experts on their own children—how the children absorb information, what delights them, how they show that they’re upset, what comforts them. During the first six weeks, we can create a climate of respect, trust, and collaboration with these valuable educational partners. Here are the three main goals in this early work with parents:

Help parents feel welcomed and valued. Show that you’re excited to work with their child. Reassure them that their opinions, interests, and family culture matter to you. As one parent of a second grader said, “It’s so important to me that the teacher has a welcoming demeanor and shows that she wants you to be part of your child’s education.”

Welcome parents to play an active role. Begin sending the message that you want parents to visit the classroom, send notes, call you, and voice opinions.

Build community among families. Help parents get to know each other. When parents share positive relationships, they’re more likely to get their children together outside of school, take part in school life, and seek help if their children need it.

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: I observed colleagues being there for one another when they needed it. SUCH A FISH moment!! 

Play: I have observed well planned Ag. Lessons and students were having FUN!!

 Choose your attitude: If you cannot be positive, then at least, be quiet. 

Make Their Day:  Write a positive note to each student to make their day!!

August 19th

August 19, 2016

First day of third and fifth grade

Maya and Dylan started their first day of third and fifth grade! I can't believe how fast time is going by. I am starting my 6th year here at Suisun Valley and Chris is starting his 3rd year at Vaca High. I look forward to seeing you and you families tonight. 

Check out this video 

Great to build Academic Conversations 

News:  BEHAVIOR EXPECTATION DUE  (Your class rules are due today 8/19). This was in staff handbook :)

Have your COLLEGE chants ready for Friday's Dragon Award ceremony!! Can't wait to hear them! 

We had an AMAZING first week of school because you have done a great job working as a TEAM!! PICK UP ROUTINE: It went so well. Do you know why??? Because you guys are AWESOME!! With a great TEAM every day we were able to get our pick up process going very smoothly. I received a lot of compliments from parents and wanted you to know that they appreciated all of you!

*THANK YOU for the newsletters already!  I have seen some really cool stuff! If you send any letters or emails home I need to approve them first.

Expectations vs. Standards (Good Enough to Repeat)

Expectations should not be confused with standards.  Standards are levels of achievement.  Teachers who practice positive expectations will help their students reach high standards.  It takes just as much energy to achieve positive results as it does to achieve negative results.  So why waste your energy to fail when the same amount of energy can help you and your students achieve.

Key idea:  Expectations of students will greatly influence their achievement in school and in life.

There is absolutely no research correlation between success and family background, race, national origin, financial status, or even educational accomplishments.  There is but one correlations with success, and that it ATTITUDE!

Humans have a success instinct.  They want success. They strive for success. 

Knowing what you can or cannot achieve is called expectation.  An expectation is what you believe will or will not happen.

Classic Research on Expectations

Robert Rosenthal in the 1960’s fed erroneous information to a group of South San Francisco elementary teachers.  In the spring of the preceding year, the students at a school were pretested.  The researches and administrators told the teachers they were special teachers who were to be part of a special experiment.  They were told, “Based on a pretest, we have identified 20 percent of your students who are special.  They will be ‘spurters’ or ‘bloomers’ and are a designated group of students of whom greater intellectual growth is expected.  The names were really selected at random.  The teachers were told to not tell the students or the parents.  “Thus we expect and know that you will do extremely well with these special students.”  Eight months later all students were tests again.  The results showed a significant gain in intellectual growth for the 20 percent who were designated as special.  The teachers were quite surprised to learn that neither the teachers nor the students were “special.”  The expectations, however, made all the difference.

Students tend to learn as little or as much as their teachers expect.  Teachers who set and communicate high expectations to all their students obtain greater academic performance from those students than teachers who set low expectations. 

(Taken from The First Days of School:  How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry and Rosemary Wong

Here’s to high expectations for all students and ourselves! As a No Excuses School we have committed to teaching our expectations for the first 10 days of school. 

• I HAVE NEW SCHOOL T-SHIRTS FOR YOU IN MY OFFICE. COME BY AND PICK ONE UP :)

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

I have really appreciated how everyone has volunteered their own time (BEING there) to either help out a new staff member  in such a short amount of time. Staff members are really CHOOSING their attitude when there was SO much to do before Wednesday. Keep smiling :) YOU are MAKING someone’s day just by offering a helping hand or just by listening. You make me proud!!

August 3

I would like to take some time to introduce new teachers to our site!! Here is a little about each of them: 

I am so excited to join Suisun Valley staff this year!  My teaching career started in 1998 when I began subbing in Napa as I finished film school. In 1999, I accepted a long term 1st grade position with FSUSD and fell in love with teaching.  In 2000, as a brand new teacher not yet credentialed, I was fortunate enough to work as Patty Raina’s partner in kindergarten at Tolenas for 4 years. After leaving kindergarten, over the next 12 years at Tolenas, I taught 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades.  This year, I am eager to start out on a new path as an Instructional Specialist.  I am also thrilled to return to kindergarten as Patty’s partner once again!  
    As for my personal life, I have an adult daughter and currently live in Davis with my two younger children (10 and 14), my two chickens, and two dogs.
- Michelle Quinton (Kinder teacher)

My name is Jennifer Barnett (6th grade teacher) and I am very excited to be teaching 6th grade at Suisun Valley Elementary School.  Most of my friends call me Jen or Jennie. (Jennifer is what my mom would call me when I was in trouble.)  I have been working the past 4 years in Vacaville Unified as a Para IA while going to school and completing my BA and getting my teaching credentials.  Though I have plenty of experience in the classroom, this is my first time being “The Teacher”.  In addition to working in education, I have worked in construction as a project manager and managed a bookstore.  I have done a great deal of volunteer work with the Girl Scouts of Northern California and coaching my children’s sports teams.  

I am a California girl, born and raised in San Jose. I watched the city change from an agricultural mecca to the Silicon Valley.   My fondest memories from childhood are playing in the apricot and plum orchards next to my home with my twin sister and cousins. Today, I live in Vacaville and enjoy working in my small garden and working on projects around the house.   My husband, 23 year old son and 11 year old daughter are the center of my world.  We spend much our free time with our extended family camping, hanging out on the lake or just simply enjoying some good music.  Without the support of my family I would have never been able to go back to school.  They are all amazing people!

I am looking forward to meeting the staff and students. I can’t think of a better place to be then Suisun Valley Elementary!

Greetings Suisun Valley Staff!

I look forward to joining your team and being a part of such an amazing school. I'm an Education Specialist and have my masters in special education. I love working with students and learning from them as well. I taught children with mild to moderate learning differences in Marin for seven years, was a Director of Education at Sylvan Learning Center and even started my own learning center here in Fairfield. I live with my husband and two boys. My boys are in the dual immersion program at B.Gale Wilson and I love hearing them speak Spanish:). I enjoy running/walking/hiking, skiing/snowboarding and spending time with family and friends.

Cheers to a successful school year!

Leigh Biega (RSP Teacher)

My name is Lindsay McCulley (1st grade teacher) and I am new to California! I was born and raised in Georgia, and this is my first year as a teacher. I love to read and my favorite thing in the world is Disney. I am very excited to start my new adventure in California, but mostly at Suisun Valley!

Hello Suisun Valley Elementary Staff,

My name is Melissa Beck (7th grade teacher) and I am so excited for my very first year of teaching!!!!!  I have earned my Bachelor of Arts Degree from Cal Poly, Pomona and where I also received my Multiple Subject Teaching Credential this summer.

I have lived in the SoCal my whole life with my loving parents and my older brother. My brother is currently serving our great country in the United States Air Force.

Fun fact about me is that I am an accredited pet training instructor. I have worked at Petsmart for over 8 ½ years. This experience working as a trainer allowed me to learn how to teach families the essential tools needed to make their new dog a member of their family. Training a dog is not easy and it takes patience and consistency just like teaching.

I am making a huge change in my life moving up to Fairfield to begin my new career and achieve my dreams of becoming a teacher.  I cannot wait to meet my new Suisun Valley family and begin my first year of teaching.

Always,

Melissa Beck

Dear Dragon Staff,

I hope your summer is going great and that you are relaxing and enjoying your time off. It has been a busy summer at school with getting our school ready. Thank you Carlos and Anthony for making our rooms SPARKLE!!

Our retreat is scheduled for August 11^th. We will meet at Suisun Valley at 8:30am in the staff room. Buy back is available. If you are unable to attend please email or call me. Wear comfortable clothes, sun block, and/or a hat. We will be spending some time in the garden. On Monday morning August 15^th we will have our first staff meeting from 8:30-12:00pm in the staff room J. I WOULD LIKE ALL STAFF TO ATTEND FOR THE FIRST 30 minutes. Come ready to discuss one thing you want to stop, one thing you want to start, and one thing you want to continue doing this year in your personal life. If you are a new staff member on campus you will meet with me in the staff room at 1:00pm on August 15^th. The meeting will last about an hour. On August 19th at 5:00pm we will be having our staff social at my home at 137 Auburn Way Vacaville, 95688. Please bring your family and your swim stuff. We hope to see everyone there.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to some new staff members on our site Brandon Klein (8th), Melissa Beck(7^th), Michelle Quinton (K), Arica Henry(School Psychologist), Jennie Barnett (6^th), Leigh Biega (RSP teacher), Alee Litvinchuk (6^th/7^th), and Lindsay McCulley (1^st) . If you see them on campus please introduce yourself and help them in any way that you can.

I want you to know that I think we had an exciting fifth year together. You are an amazing staff and I feel fortunate to be able to work with you. I am excited about our new year, our new teachers, staff and just being back!!   

The 2016/2017 school year promises to be a great year. We will continue to work on our Ag/Tech focus for the upcoming school year. We will also continue to support our efforts of being an NEU school. As a staff we will work together to learn NGSS and Common Core I know that through our continued hard work, we will see our students grow academically and socially.

The school calendar has been approved and the teacher work days are August 15^th and August 16^th, and the students will arrive on August 17^th.  The school will be open for you to pick up your keys, August 3rd. We have been working very hard to ensure that your rooms are ready.

Have a super rest of the summer and I will see you on August 11^th.

Thursday, August 11, 2016        8:30-3:30pm                 Ag PD Bring your Life lab books

                                                                      Coffee, muffins, and lunch will be provided

Monday, August 15, 2016        8:30-12:00       Staff Meeting-  in staff room

                                                1:00-2:00     Orientation for new staff on site- in staff room

12:00-3:00                     Teacher Work Day in Your Classrooms

Tuesday, August 16, 2016         8:00-3:00                       Teacher Work Day in Your Classrooms

Best Regards,

Jas Bains Wright