Green Valley MS- Home of the Vikings!: October 2017

Friday, October 27, 2017

October 27, 2017

We FINISH our mission to Teach LIKE A PIRATE! The last part of the book or even anything we do: DON'T let critics STEAL YOUR SOUL. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, "It's not the critic who counts...the credit belongs to the man (or woman!) who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by duts and sweat and blood...." He goes on to say, basically, DO NOT GIVE IN TO THE NEGATIVE. Take a risk, think outside your comfort zone, try a new lesson delivery, take kids outside to learn, GIVE UP A WORKSHEET, do SOMETHING. Yes, we are a fantastic school with some of the smartest, kindest, hardworking students and teachers I have ever encountered. Does that mean we get to rest on our laurels? Nope, do/say/be/act/try/give/care/love just a LITTLE more. Just like Nike says: JUST DO IT! Don't our #kidsdeserveit by now?

ENGAGEMENT is a topic that we will ALWAYS be addressing.

LIGHT A FIRE UNDER IT! Whether "IT" is your lesson, your attitude, your demeanor, or your students! ANY ONE of these has HUGE payoffs! Check out THIS ARTICLE for 10 unconventional ways to motivate middle school students! Some of these we have repeated NUMEROUS times and they are worth repeating until the levels of engagement in crease exponentially! C'mon people! Let's bring OUR A GAME!!! Don't you think our #KIDSDESERVEIT already??

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??

Check out some of the NEW Tweets that are ALWAYS going on around campus! Stop by and see what's happening in your colleague's classrooms! These pics below are updated WEEKLY! Aren't following everyone yet? Follow US @GVMSVIKINGS and we have everyone's Twitter handle! =)

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS! KEEP THEM COMING! We love the "I Noticed..." and will add as many as we can!

Click HERE to add! (70)

SUPER awesome shout out to TO OUR STAFF for supporting one another during the fires and everything that was going on! GVMS ROCKS! ~Paula

SUPER awesome shout out to Mimi for holding down the fort in Rosa's absences, along with Brenita! ~KC&CL

SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for holding the first coffee gathering! We are TOTALLY open to ideas on staff socials so PLEASE PLEASE let us know! ~K&C

SUPER awesome shout out to Alex, Jason, Dave F., Lorraine, Aubry, and Heather T. for offering their help during the week of the fires and reaching out! ~Dalal

SUPER awesome shout out to Christen and Kristy for checking on me during the week! ~ Sue

SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for reaching out to SPED for help with accommodating tests for students! ~Christen

SUPER awesome shout out to Christen for creating our first ONLINE feedback form to make life even easier!! ~K&C

SUPER awesome shout out to Brenda for always taking care of the calls to maintenance for lawn issues! ~Sarj

SUPER awesome shout out to Karen and Annette for helping with alternative assignments for PE! ~Nate

SUPER awesome shout out to Mimi for getting my opinion on IDs! ~Anonymous

SUPER awesome shout out to Rosa, Mimi, Susan, Elizabeth, Ken, Dustin, Cristina, Alex, Tamia, Don, Alisa, Sue, Lynn, Jamie, Katherine, Dave M., Lorraine, Josiah, Peckham, Nate, Lacey, Julie, Christen, Amy, Aubry, Allison, Heather T., Carol, Barb, and KC/CL for writing 199 GOOD NEWS REFERRALS for OCTOBER ALREADY!! Let's keep this party GOING!!

SEE BLOG AS IT HAS WAY MORE DATES

Wednesdays are College Days

Thursdays are wear PINK Days for the month of October!

*Mondays/Fridays are GVMS Spirit Days!

Friday, October 20, 2017

October 20, 2017

We continue our mission to Teach LIKE A PIRATE! I realize that "starting" this is the hardest part of the job. Once you do that, you can build and use the "tools" in your toolbox. Quiet the negative thoughts, tell them to shush. Don't believe you have it ALL figured out before you even begin- be open to ideas. Some strive for perfection....Holy moly, just try and it doesn't have to be perfect to engage students, bring your A game, and hold their attention. Just take the FIRST STEP!!

ENGAGEMENT is a topic that we will ALWAYS be addressing.

Do you ever sit in a meeting and check Facebook, Twitter, email, etc? Have you noticed that our KIDS do the SAME THING when in class sometimes? It's true and I know many of you have seen it!

Over the weekend, I found THIS ARTICLE on more EASY PEASY ideas to engage our middle school students. From encouraging talking (they learn more from their peers than they do from us anyway!), to creativity, to being abstract, there are TONS of ideas to help you make sure that they are engaged. Remember, more engagement= less behavior issues and higher academic achievement. I mean, isn't that why we are all here anyway?

How do you feel when you aren't engaged in a PD or meeting? Checked out and bored? Imagine how our students feel when THEY aren't engaged?

We have asked these questions over and over AND they're worth asking again:

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??

SUPER HERO SHOUT OUTS! KEEP THEM COMING! We love the "I Noticed..." and will add as many as we can!

Click HERE to add! (66)

SUPER awesome shout out to Dalal who will be missed!

SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for his positive attitude in spite of all that is going on in his life! ~Aubry

SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin for coming to work daily with a smile on his face and always ready to lend an ear! ~Dave M.

SUPER awesome shout out to Lynn and Katherine for thinking outside the box and joining the club =)! ~Sue

SUPER awesome shout out to Elizabeth for a ROCKIN' student store with our leadership kids! Check out the pics on Twitter!

SUPER awesome shout out to David O. for making sure I had the Chrome Books! ~Barb

SUPER awesome shout out to Sue for utilizing the phone tree and updating it with Susan when some of us were in the fire area! ~Lynn

SUPER awesome shout out to Christen for working on the electronic feedback form for IEPs! ~KC and CL

SUPER awesome shout out to Rosa, Mimi, Susan, Elizabeth, Cristina, Alex, Tamia, Don, Alisa, Lynn, Jamie, Katherine, Dave M., Josiah, Peckham, Nate, Lacey, Julie, Christen, Amy, Aubry, Allison, Heather T., Carol, Barb, andKC/CL for writing 193 GOOD NEWS REFERRALS for OCTOBER ALREADY!! Let's keep this party GOING!!

SEE BLOG AS IT HAS WAY MORE DATES

Wednesdays are College Days

Thursdays are wear PINK Days for the month of October!

*Mondays/Fridays are GVMS Spirit Days!

Friday, October 13, 2017

October 13, 2017

Wow. It's kind of all I can say. It's been a heck of a week and an emotional one for many of us....Thank you for coming together to support one another as we support our community....We are SO relieved that GVMS and so many homes of our GVMS families have been saved. We know it's because of the awesome support from all of the first responders from ALL OVER THE US!. So amazing! We know that there are SO MANY families that have lost their homes and we will do anything in our power to support. We are currently running a donation drive that we are working directly with Napa and Sonoma to support their schools. If you can help, please let Elizabeth know ASAP!

***Please read THIS ENTIRE PAGE for all of the answers to some of the FAQS that we believe you will have. We will see you on Monday at 8:10 in the library for a voluntary meeting and debrief.***

A message from Kris:
Dear All Staff,

At this point, we anticipate resuming classes and all student activities on Monday, October 16. Currently, all previous evacuation advisories, orders and road closures remain in effect. At this morning's Emergency Operation Center briefing, however, we learned, that if all goes well, the evacuations will be lifted for our attendance area prior to Monday. Please keep in mind that this can change.

The good news is that the additional personnel support provided to fight the fire has resulted in some containment, as well as an increase in the ability to prevent the fire from spreading. (Bulldozing, fire retardant, air support, and back fires) Much of the smoke can be attributed to the controlled back fires. I cannot express enough my appreciation for the various county and city agencies and those who joined us from other state that have worked tirelessly around the clock to keep our county safe.

We will be sending out an all call to parents and staff in both English and Spanish later this afternoon and again on Sunday regarding the status of school on Monday.

This morning, I was able to get a Highway Patrol escort out to Suisun Valley. Mike and Ken from maintenance joined me. They checked out the classrooms, and things seem pretty good. We will continue to monitor the air quality. Currently, the air quality is a bit worse in the Cordelia area.

I do want to thank our administrators who have also been working tirelessly throughout the week to react, strategize, and plan during this crisis. I also want to Nancy Dunn who joined us the last two days for meetings. We have all learned a great deal.

Our goal is to resume all classes and student activities on Monday. Staff members who are concerned about air quality may consider bringing a face mask to work. We anticipate that the air conditioners which pull air from outside may be off on Monday. Some staff members are bringing fans from home to help with air circulation. Our maintenance team has some fans, but they will be responding to larger areas such as multi-purpose rooms or cafeterias that need additional air flow. Again, all of this is based on Monday's outside air quality.

I have been in communication with superintendents from around the area. Napa Valley Unified will be closed on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week. They are in a very different situation that we are. They had schools that lost power, internet and phone systems down, students and staff members who lost homes, and fires raging on both sides of them. All Solano County schools anticipate being open on Monday. Solano Community College is scheduled to resume classes on Monday. Vallejo Unified has a previously scheduled staff development day so students will not be present on Monday.

Unless something changes, this will be my last ALL STAFF update until Sunday evening. Sorry folks, no Friday letter this week! :-)

#BeSafe #BeKind #BeAware

I TRULY LOVE SEEING HOW OUR COMMUNITY AND OUR SCHOOL HAVE COME TOGETHER!! We look forward to seeing everyone Monday!!

Friday, October 6, 2017

October 6, 2017

We continue our mission to Teach LIKE A PIRATE! ENTHUSIASM is a CONTINUED focus on our site and bringing your A GAME to the classroom is the ONLY way to go. Transitions and down time seem to be the area when our students can get un-engaged so, when you are forced to have a transition, try to make it as quick and seamless as possible! Much of our successes as educator as to do with OUR attitude towards teaching and towards our students. The rest of OUR success is based on OUR willingness to relentlessly search for what engages OUR students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it (page 81-84). So, seriously, HAVE THE GUTS.

ENGAGEMENT is a topic that we will ALWAYS be addressing.

Obviously, we have mentioned over and over again, how IMPORTANT student engagement is in our classrooms and EASY ways to make it happen without stressing you out! Check out THIS ARTICLE with simple ways to evaluate what's going in your classroom, including the academic and behavior impact along with 8 tips. We know it can be hard AND we know the pay off is TREMENDOUS!!

How do you feel when you aren't engaged in a PD or meeting? Checked out and bored? Imagine how our students feel when THEY aren't engaged?

We have asked these questions over and over AND they're worth asking again:

WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS???

IF YOUR STUDENTS DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN YOUR CLASS, WOULD THEY SHOW UP ANYWAY??