March 23, 2018

March 23, 2018

                           

As we head into Spring Break, please take time to reflect, relax and rejuvinate as we are about to head into the busiest time of year with testing, activities, 8th grade promotion, stress, events, and more.  

How do we, as educators, take a step back and avoid burn out (which usually happens around this time for teachers AND students!) so that we are still on top of our game?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE for 10 EASY choices that you can make to help avoid burn out.  From choosing to be mindful to choosing to disconnect to something as simple as getting outside, it's an easy peasy read to help make your life less stressful and more focused!

The last several years we have really focused on writing. We have implemented district wide prompts and have really gained valuable feedback that have led to crucial conversations on how we can support our students and each other. The video below is very well done and touches upon the feedback that Mrs. Merodio has given us on writing. She does a great job working with our 1st-8th graders and across all grade levels she is noticing a pattern. They need help with organizing their thoughts. This video gives a great example on a very visual process for students to organize their writing. Please watch this video!! Check out this video . 

Writing aligned to the Common Core and the needs ofEnglish Learners

As we continue to focus on the needs of our English learners, it is important to continue to examine how instruction is differentiated.  This article from Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski provides an overarching view of writing.  The article discusses the three types of writing in the Common Core: Argument/Opinion, Information/Explanation, and Narrative.  The author's highlight the integration of reading with writing, especially for Argument and Information writing.

The article provides some specific implications for English learners and writing.

• Create meaningful opportunities to communicate ideas rather than focus on grammar and conventions
• Provide support for citations
• Provide modeling and guidance
• Provide many sentence starters and graphic organizers
• Use collaborative writing projects
• Support students in self-assessment and goal setting 

The article is part of a series.  Part 2 provides more specific strategies including 12 guiding questions to help students when writing.

A Letter From SCOE:  Dear Colleagues,

Following the recent school shooting in Florida, staff from Solano County Behavioral Health (SCBH) reached out to the Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) to collaborate on an informational notice about how to identify risk factors of mental health conditions, suicide ideation, and the potential for violence, as well as continuing to combat mental health stigma.

As we have seen in media reports, our youth are asking adults to take action and help them feel safer in their school settings.  One way we can respond is to provide empowerment by disseminating information to our community about how to support individuals who are suffering from mental health conditions and are a risk to themselves or others.  Additionally, the attached notice is timely because season 2 of a popular Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why focuses on a school shooting situation and is due to be released on March 30th.  If you are unfamiliar with this TV series, the first season concentrated on the suicide of the main character and contained other mature content such as graphic depictions of a sexual assault and the act of suicide.  Both seasons were filmed in Vallejo, therefore the youth in our community may be drawn to the show given the local connection.

Thank you for your assistance with this important matter.

Regards,

Lisette

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you Mr. Pringle for organizing our college guests to speak to every classroom!! Thank you Mr. Kimble for always going the extra mile and helping out whenever you can. THANK YOU to the entire staff for making our rainy day pick ups in the multi successful!!

Play: Dress up days this week were a lot of fun!!

Choose your attitude: 

To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!

Make Their Day:  Fill out a good news referral and make a student’s day. Make a positive phone call home.

THROUGH THE FISH PHILOSOPHY,

WE BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH,

THE STUDENTS WE TEACH AND THE PEOPLE WE LOVE.

March 16, 2018

March 16

We will continue on our path to refine our six systems (Culture of Universal Achievement, Standards Alignment, Data Analysis, Assessment, Collaboration and Interventions) to meet the ever-changing needs of our students/community. It is an honor to work with such a great staff that is truly committed to our children and community. We will be celebrating college week next week on campus. We have dress up days scheduled for every day. This is a great chance to share your college experience with your students. SCC college students will be visiting your classroom to share their college experience. Peter Pringle will be sending you a schedule.
College spirit next week 
 3/19: Crazy hair day
3/20: Dress for success
3/21: Wear SV spirit gear
 3/22: Dress alike
3/23: Wear college gear

JUST  A QUICK REMINDER OF OUR NEU COMMITMENT

We are BLESSED to have some of the best in the business at SV!  GO VISIT YOUR COLLEAGUES ON OUR CAMPUS!  Struggling with classroom management?  Want some out of the box ideas on student engagement?  Not sure what great academic conversations look and sound like?  Want ideas on quick and easy formative assessments to gauge what student "got" during your lesson?  JUST GO VISIT.  One period is ALL it would take and I definitely have names to give you of people to visit.  Why is this important?  Take a look at THIS EASY ARTICLE about Open Classrooms and just how awesome they are!!

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for being there for our parents and students during conference week and working TOGETHER!! Thank you Mr. Kimble for starting a co-ed 5th grade basketball team on our campus.

Play: Carole thank you for planning such a fun McTeacher's night!! So FUN!!!

Choose your attitude: 

To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!

Make Their Day:  Pick up the phone and make a positive phone call to a student who always chooses to do the right thing EVEN when no is looking.

THROUGH THE FISH PHILOSOPHY, WE BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH, THE STUDENTS WE TEACH AND THE PEOPLE WE LOVE.

March 9

March 9, 2018

On Thursday I spent the day at a PBIS training. It was a great reminder of systems. Our students are forgetting the Suisun Valley way and how to be a DRAGON. I came away with great reminders. We should be teaching/reviewing expectations at least 10 times a year. We need to be make sure that we are doing this with INTEGRITY: teach character ed. lesson 10 minutes every day, circles either weekly/biweekly, always tie back misbehavior to our school rules (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, hand out TONS of positive!!! What I walked away with, if we ALL do this as a team, we will SEE a behavior shift- that is the GOOD news J

TIPS Problem Solving Elements:

The Problem Solving Process to do with your class:

·       Do we have a problem?

·       What is the precise nature of the problem?

·       Why does the problem exist, and what can we do about it? (Hypothesis and Solution)

·       What are the actual elements of our plan? (Action Plan)

·       Is our plan being implemented and is it working? (Evaluate and Revise Plan) Check in after lunch recess every day until it becomes a habit. IF WE ALL DO THIS IT WILL CHANGE BEHAVIOR

What is the goal? (What do we want to see?)

BEHAVIOR IS A MESSAGE (APPELSTEIN, 1998). WHEN CHILDREN AND YOUTH MISBEHAVE, OFTEN IN VERY SERIOUS WAYS, SUCH AS SETTING FIRES, COMMITTING VIOLENT ACTS OF AGGRESSION, OR CUTTING THEMSELVES – IT’S AS IF THERE IS A NEON LIGHT FLASHING OVER THEIR HEADS, ANNOUNCING: I NEED HELP! I NEED HELP! FORTUNATELY, ADULTS CAN RESPOND TO THESE CALLS FOR HELP WITH AN EFFECTIVE, EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGY. STRENGTH-BASED PRACTICE IS A PROVEN APPROACH TO GUIDING OFF-TRACK LIVES THAT POSITIVELY TRANSFORMS OUR MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

Overall our academic discourse for February was AMAZING!! I was able to visit 19 classrooms.  We definitely have gone up in our DOK 3 levels and DOK 2.  In your grade level meeting on March 20 you will discuss and take notes on what is the difference between DOK 1vs. DOK 2? What is the difference between DOK 2 vs. DOK 3?

WELCOME TO SUISUN VALLEY

My name is Trevor Nogueira, I graduated from Pacific Union College where I played basketball as well as Cal State Monterey Bay.  This is currently my second year in the district and love teaching PE. Younger kids know me as stitch as I frequently do the voice from Lilo and Stitch. If you see him on Monday please take the time to introduce yourself. 

Please welcome Gloria Olivares as part of our yard duty team on Monday. If you see her please take the time to introduce yourself.

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for to EVERY staff member for reminding our students to be kind and to DO THE RIGHT THING!!

Play: Have a great weekend!

Choose your attitude: 

To actually choose how you respond to life, not just react, you must be intentional. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping the people who depend on me? Is it helping me to be most effective?" NO EXCUSES!!

Make Their Day:  Fill out a good news referral and make a student’s day. Hand out caught you doing something right tickets like CRAZY!!!

March 2

March 2

I heard this on the radio this morning on my way to work. A teacher, Marcey Raymond Kusper, had her students discuss school protests to honor the 17 victims of the Florida shooting. One of her students said, "I think it's stupid. How about you make friends with 17 kids you normally wouldn't instead of walking out of school." She said a great conversation took place in her classroom. Students said smile at 17 people you normally wouldn't smile at, say a kind word to 17 people who might not have someone to speak to, open up your heart to 17 people who might be hurting, offer friendship to 17 people who might have had none. Now that could change the climate of the school. 17 reasons for change . . . 17 reasons to make a difference. What is your 17? I like that slogan. Our students at SV are reporting that students are being mean to them during recesses. How can we teach our students to be kind to each other? BTW this is happening at all grade levels at Suisun Valley :(

Check out this cool report in Illuminate. See Melissa Beck for details. 

Here’s a great info-graphic and acrostic tool to think about high-quality and effective English
learner instruction as you are giving feedback in the lessons you are observing… Thank you
Howard Kornblum for sharing this.

Meta-cognitive learning

English language acquisition (EAL) teachers can enable ELs to adopt the habit of reflecting on the process of acquiring language.  Having students think about how they gain language skills makes them active learners of English and fosters their ability to apply strategies more independently (Hattie, 2012).  Teachers can build this reflection into any activity.

Reading: What strategies did you use to comprehend the text?

Writing: How did you communicate your ideas?

Speaking: What did you do to help others understand you?

Listening: What can you do to understand what others are saying?

These two in-depth articles provide further research that suggests planning metacognitive reflection into instruction.  One is from Teaching Excellence in Adult literacy, and the other is from Prof. Bill Jenkins from the Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences at the University of California.

We will be evaluating our SPSA at our next staff meeting . Please take the time to look it over so we will be ready to work. We will then gather any feedback to help guide our SPSA plan for the following year =)  I KNOW you're excited about that!!

Here is a link to our SPSA 2017-2018:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01G0KBLi4LvZU1SQnhGaEo4TGM/view

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Be there for your students teach character education every day! It does make a difference! 

Play:  Dr. Seuss day was today! So fun celebrating reading!

Choose your attitude: Have you said anything positive about your students today? A colleague? If you did, let them know :)

Make Their Day:   Make a difference in 17 students lives that you DO NOT know.

THROUGH THE FISH PHILOSOPHY, WE BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH, THE STUDENTS WE TEACH AND THE PEOPLE WE LOVE.