August 18, 2017

Maya and Dylan started their first day of fourth and sixth grade! I can't believe how fast time is going by. I am starting my 7th year here at Suisun Valley and Chris is starting his 4th 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 8/18). This was in staff handbook :)  ALL emergency sub plans are due to the front office 9/1. Please make sure 504 plans are attached to plans when you turn them in. 

Please make sure you read pamphlets in August staff meeting folder and sign off that you read them on Kristin's desk. This must be completed by 8/25. Please make sure you complete Mandated Reporter and turn in certificate to Kristin. 
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- we are still working out the details: It is getting better every day. Do you know why??? Because you guys are AWESOME!! With a great TEAM every day we are 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! I am working on an email and a map to help parent with pick up procedures. I want to take one more day so we can iron out the glitches. I will email out to parents tomorrow. 

*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 STAFF ROOM. 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 11, 2017

August 11, 2017

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 sisters 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 and Maya tying a Rakhi on Dylan. 

Are. You. Ready? (Loved this and got it from Jeff Kubiak)

Wow! And just like that: School. Here it is. Some of our #NEU planning has already started, but others are about to begin.

Are You Ready?

For 180 days of awesomeness, fun, and laughter.

Are You Ready?

For ALL kids to be included, loved, cared for and noticed.

Are You Ready?

To be visible, honest, intentional and kind.

Are You Ready?

To make a difference. For. Every. Child. No. Matter. What.

Are You Ready?

To have a Student Lead classroom?

Are You Ready?

For failure, re-learning, unlearning and growth?

Are You Ready?

To connect with peers, admin, friends and family.

Are You Ready?

To Show Up. Every Day.

Are You Ready?

To Empower, Advocate, Play and Inspire?

Are You Ready?

To reflect every day so that kids run back to school not away?

Are You Ready?

For changes in behavior that you don’t understand, but to connect, accept, love and support?

Are You Ready?

To be all in, no excuses, every child, end of story?

Tell me.

Are. You. Ready?

I am.

Please come prepared to set your FISH goal for the year. 

Monday, August 14, 2017        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 classroom                    

Tuesday, August 15, 2017         8:00-3:00   Teacher Work Day in your classroom

August 16: First day of school

August 18: Staff social at our home in Vacaville at 137 Auburn Way at 5:00pm. Please bring your family and swim stuff :)

August 5, 2017

August 5, 2017

And we're back :) Hope everyone enjoyed their summer. The parking lot is almost done. Our ribbon cutting ceremony for our parking lot AND outdoor kitchen will be on August 9th at 1:30. If you can make it we would love to see you there.

Please place our IPR meeting on your calendar for September 20th 3:15-4:45. This is a required meeting and you will receive adjunct hours for it :)

This summer we had Marissa Grimes complete her Gold Star Project (Girl's Scout) at our school. She has cleaned up the Native Garden and has added two benches and is working on creating some individual green house covers for our garden boxes. This weekend James Baird will be rebuilding our benches in our outdoor garden for his Eagle Scout Project.

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 10^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 14^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. If you are a new teacher on campus you will meet with me in the staff room at 1:00pm on August 14^th. The meeting will last about an hour. On August 18th 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 Daniel Kimble (P.E.), Cecily Williams(2nd/3rd), Garrett Miner (School Psychologist), Larissa Sherrod (Program Specialist), Monica Berg (Speech Therapist), and Annette Cottman (Librarian) . 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 sixth 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 2017/2018 school year promises to be another 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 14^th and August 15^th, and the students will arrive on August 16^th.  The school will be open for you to pick up your keys, August 7th. 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 10^th.

Thursday, August 10, 2017        8:30-3:30pm                 Ag PD Bring your Life lab books and laptops or ipads 

                                                                      Coffee, breakfast treats, water, and lunch will be provided

August 10: Buy Back Professional development here at SV Ag Lifelab/NGSS standards; wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and a hat if you need. We will be going out to the garden

8:30-12:00

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-3:30

Monday, August 14, 2017        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 15, 2017         8:00-3:00                       Teacher Work Day in Your Classrooms

August 16: First day of school

August 18: Staff social at our home in Vacaville at 137 Auburn Way at 5:00pm. Please bring your family and swim stuff :)

Best Regards,

Jas Bains Wright

July 24, 2017

August 10: Buy Back Professional development here at SV Ag Lifelab/NGSS standards; wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and a hat if you need. We will be going out to the garden

8:30-12:00

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-3:30

August 14: Welcome back. Staff meeting 8:30-12:00 in staff room

August 16: First day of school

August 18: Staff social at our home in Vacaville at 5:00pm. Please bring your family :)

NEU institute will be held at Rodriguez High School located at 5000 Red Top Road, Fairfield, CA 94534. Daily schedule for July 31 and August 1 will be 8:30-3:30. CLICK HERE for more information

I would like to take some time to introduce two new teachers to our site!! Daniel Kimble will be teaching P.E. and Cecily Williams will be teaching 2nd/3rd grade. Here is a little about each of them: 

Hi all! My name is Cecily and I am so excited to begin my journey here at Suisun Valley Elementary with all of you! I live just over the bridge in Martinez. I have experience in grades K-5, most extensively in 3rd and 4th. I am looking forward to the excitement of teaching a 2/3 combo class here at SV!
I love watching cooking shows, cooking, and eating, so I'm very excited about the garden and the potential of cooking with the students! I look forward to meeting you all and working with you. Go Dragons!

Great looking black eye after a rugby game

Hello Suisun Valley Elementary Staff! My name Daniel Kimble, and I will be teaching our students Physical Education this coming year. I recently graduated at Sacramento State University, with a major in Liberal Studies and a minor in Kinesiology. This past May, I received my Single Subject Teaching Credential in Physical Education (at Sacramento State).  My whole life, I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps and be an Elementary school teacher. The passion I have for sports, fitness, and health lead me to focus solely on Physical Education, and I could not be happier with that choice. My favorite sports include rugby, basketball, football, swimming, triathlons and weightlifting. Participating in these sports have brought me friendships, taught me life lessons, and even taken me around the world. One of my favorite memories is living in New Zealand for a year, playing rugby and experiencing a new culture firsthand.

            Within the program that I have designed, our students will be encouraged to have fun and enjoy PE. They will be introduced to a variety of movement skills and sports which will help them develop competence and confidence participating in physical activity. My goal is for our students to learn to love these activities, and develop a passion for movement and staying healthy for the rest of their lives. I completely understand that our students will come into my classroom with a variety of fitness and skill levels. My lessons will accommodate every student’s individual needs and interests, challenging those who need to be pushed a bit further and providing opportunities for every student to experience success in a comfortable environment. A successful student in my classroom is one who tries their hardest and shows a positive attitude while doing so; winning and competition are not something that I will stress on.

            I am extremely excited to meet everybody, and look forward to making this year the best it can be. Please, feel free to come introduce yourself to me! I am eager to collaborate with other teachers, and am open to any ideas or suggestions to make our students time in PE productive, fun and most of all, a lifelong learning opportunity. 

June 2, 2017

June 2

Ending the Year on a Positive Note

The Responsive Classroom had a couple of great ideas that gets our students to those higher levels of thinking and requires a performance task. (Think Common Core!) Here are a couple of great ideas….which you can revise and use with your class!

A few years ago I decided to make sure my class would have time for saying goodbye on the last day of school. To help them prepare, the night before I gave them “thinking homework,” asking them to reflect on what they remembered about the school year and to be ready to share their memories with the class.

Near the end of the next day, I shut the door and posted a "Do Not Disturb" sign on it so we wouldn’t be interrupted. People knew what we were doing must be important—it was the first time during the whole year that I’d closed the classroom door!

For about thirty minutes, we shared our "I remembers,” and I jotted down what the children said, everything from “learning to read” to “singing on stage at the holiday concert.” We hugged, laughed, and cried. Before the children left for the day I gave them copies of everyone’s “I remember” to take home. I have done this every year since. It has become a cherished way to end the year on a positive note.

--Arlene Flye, preK and kindergarten teacher

Old Treasures and Pearson Materials:

All site Treasures, dictionaries, thesaurus, and Pearson materials will be recycled. You have a few options:

OPTION 1: Send ELA books home with students at the end of the year and stamp discard in them

OPTION 2: Remove the cover of the book, stamp as discarded and recycle

OPTION 3: Stamp as discarded, box the textbooks and place in a central location. Notify Kristin and the warehouse will pick up the books for recycling

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you TO ALL STAFF for being there for each other and our families and especially our students!!!

Play: Thank you Brandon and 8th graders for an AMAZING field day! So fun!! Thank you to those teachers that promoted Caine's arcade the students had so much fun making the games and playing them.

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:  You still have time- make a positive phone call home! Students and parents LOVE this!!

Upcoming dates:

June 5 AR Party

June 6 Staff meeting/social 3:15 at Mangels

June 7 Fire Drill 9:05;

June 8 8^th Grade Promotion 10:00 am

June 9 Report cards go home

June 13 and 16 Genentech work days at SV from 9:00-2:00

SAVE THE DATES:

July 31 and August 1: NEU Conference at RHS

August 10: Buy Back Professional development here at SV Ag Lifelab/NGSS standards; wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and a hat if you need. We will be going out to the garden

8:30-12:00

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-3:30

August 14: Welcome back. Staff meeting 8:30-12:00 in staff room

August 16: First day of school

August 18: Staff social at our home in Vacaville at 5:00pm. Please bring your family :)

Set up check out appointments through google docs that Kristin will send out

May 25, 2017

May 25

I always look forward to Memorial Day weekend. We start off our weekend on Saturday to watch Fiesta Days parade in Vacaville and remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. For the past 11 years we have a party with at least 60 of our close friends and family at our home that evening. I enjoy catching up with everyone since our life is HECTIC!!  As many of you know I LOVE dinner parties!!

C'mon!  We know it is the end of the year and this is the time to TRY NEW strategies to keep our kids engaged!  How can you avoid burn out?  How can you put an end to kids "resting" in your classroom?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE about easy hacks to incorporate in your classroom including small groups, moving, learning stations and more!  There are even classrooms on our campus that are already ROCKIN' with this so go SEE THEM IN ACTION!!  Our kids deserve it!

CLICK HERE

I would like to take some time to introduce a new teacher to our site!! Denise Brown will be teaching 7th/8th grade. Here is a little about her: 

I’m a math geek and learning junkie. My family of educators has its origin in rural Oregon.  Growing up, I knew my function in life was to be a teacher. I began my teaching career in a school that I loved, and parallels SV in its agricultural setting and community involvement. Our family translated to Erie, PA for nine years where

I added Career School Administrator to my set of skills.  In 2004 we converged back on our west coast roots. My job iterations here in FSUSD have included MS and HS Math Teacher/Department Chair, Math Specialist and Consulting Teacher. Additionally, I distribute my love for math through my role as teacher-leader with UC Davis Math Project.

My interests are quite divergent. I love plotting around in the mountains, as well as sitting home quilting, I get equal enjoyment out of sliding down an Olympic bobsled
track and baking cookies with my granddaughter. My calculated moto is,  “Life
is short, eat dessert first.” I see Infinite possibilities at SV and am excited to be joining the middle school team!

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you for sharing so many classroom/student presentations. It was so nice to see the students be respectful of one another and take a true interest in what was being presented! Way to be a DRAGON!!!

Play: Thank you Lindsay and Melissa for putting on an AMAZING talent show! 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:  You still have time- make a positive phone call home! Students and parents LOVE this!!

Upcoming dates:

May 26 and May 29  No School

May 30-June 2 Report cards due to Jas

May 31 9:00-11:00 am Field day- Lunch will not be provided by PC

June 2 Last day for MAP testing

June 5 AR Party

June 6 Staff meeting/social 3:15 at Mangels

June 7 Fire Drill 9:05;

June 8 8^th Grade Promotion 10:00 am

June 9 Report cards go home

June 13 and 16 Genentech work days at SV from 9:00-2:00