Green Valley MS- Home of the Vikings!: March 2018

Thursday, March 22, 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. I know it may seem silly, but watch the video and follow along to calm and center yourself. It truly does make a difference....=)

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!

As said above, we are not the only ones that can get burn out. How do we continue to motivate our students so that they don't lose focus?!?! That definitely can be easier said than done! Take a look at THIS ARTICLE for simple ideas to change your focus of your lesson so that EVERYONE in the room is still motivated!!

HERE ARE SOME OF THE SHOTS FROM TWITTER AND AROUND OUR CAMPUS THIS WEEK! SEND US A TEXT TO COME VISIT AS WE LOVE IT!!

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

Click HERE to add! (206)

SUPER awesome shout out to Karen for being on top of AR Tests and possible cheating! ~Julie

SUPER awesome shout out to Admin for help with behavior issues! ~Julie

SUPER awesome shout out to Carla for balancing two schools with a huge case load! No idea how she does it! ~Christen (K&C too!)

SUPER awesome shout out to my students for rising to the level of rigor I am throwing at them! ~Don

SUPER awesome shout out to Heather T for covering me during 6th when I needed a break! ~Megan

SUPER awesome shout out to Michele S., Susan, and Michele R. for helping with incoming 6th grade orientation!

SUPER awesome shout out to Mr. Frank for ALWAYS being here before and after school to direct our traffic! Not sure what we'd do without you! ~Admin

SUPER awesome shout out to Sarj for helping with all the Spring picture chaos! ~Rosa

SUPER awesome shout out to Olvera, Montz, Pozzesi, Cristina, Barb, Sue, Aubry, Megan, Julie, Carol, Fulton, and Lorraine for helping with SBAC testing locations! ~K&C

SUPER awesome shout out to SPED Squad, PE Peeps, and Admin for their flexibility with the ever changing Speech schedule! ~Karyn

SUPER awesome shout out to Alisa for taking the lead and teaching the kids to dance on a rainy day! ~Nate

SUPER awesome shout out to Carla for going above and beyond to track down info for our student from Napa! ~Carol

SUPER awesome shout out to Dave F for going above and beyond to make connections with students who sometimes feel lost! You are the best! ~Carol

SUPER awesome shout out to Dave M. for going over depth and complexity charts with students! ~Carol

SUPER awesome shout out to Ken, Rosa, Elizabeth, Cristina, Alex, Tamia, Fulton, Don, Sue, Lynn, Ryan, Jamie, Katherine, Lorraine, Nate, Julie, Christen, Aubry, Allison, Heather T., Carol, Barb, and Admin for writing Good News Referrals for March already!!

Friday, March 16, 2018

March 16, 2018

We are BLESSED to have some of the best in the business at GVMS! We have stressed this over and over again: 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 WE 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!!

You may have noticed that there is additional feedback on the walk through form, including the different LEVELS of academic conversations. I know that many wrestle with the student chatter (and we have sent NUMEROUS ways to make it productive) so how do we channel that into productive and academic chatter? How do we, as educators, go from a Level 1 (much of what we see) to a Level 2 or 3? Take a look at this article for an easy read. Also, please remember it MUST BE STRUCTURED!!!

HERE ARE SOME OF THE SHOTS FROM TWITTER AND AROUND OUR CAMPUS THIS WEEK! SEND US A TEXT TO COME VISIT AS WE LOVE IT!!

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

Click HERE to add! (193)

SUPER awesome shout out to Jamie, Liz, Alisa, and Nate for an AWESOME Picture Day that ran very smoothly! ~Sarj

SUPER awesome shout out to Alex, from TSS, for installing our chrome books and helping me with a program for our elective test! ~Ken

SUPER awesome shout out to Lynn for her help with a parent conference and supporting me last minute! ~Don

SUPER awesome shout out to K&C for maintaining a smile even with all of the craziness and parent demands here lately! Christen

SUPER awesome shout out to ALL TEACHERS who are hosting and welcoming to our Chinese student teachers! They were/are so impressed that they told ALL of their friends to come over to GVMS! ~Sue, KC, CL

SUPER awesome shout out Josiah for all of your hard work with our ELA Boot Camp! We appreciate you! ~Kristy

SUPER awesome shout out to the staff support that Nevaeh got at our Student of the Year Board Meeting~ Sue and KC

SUPER awesome shout out to Rosa for taking the lead with our Watch DOGS and the supervision with the walk out! ~KC and CL

SUPER awesome shout out to Cloud, Walton, and Love for putting themselves out there and being fun to support our kids! ~Sandy

SUPER awesome shout out Anita for checking in with me during yard duty! Nice to know someone cares! ~Kristy

SUPER awesome shout out to Dustin and Carol for not letting me be the only one getting water dumped on me! ~Kristy

SUPER awesome shout out to Admin, Fulton, Bates, and Robinson for working to coordinate the events of March 14th! ~Sue

SUPER awesome shout out to

SUPER awesome shout out to Ken, Cristina, Tamia, Sue, Ryan, Jamie, Katherine, Lorraine, Julie, Aubry Allison, Heather T., Elizabeth and Barb for writing 69 Good News Referrals for March already!!

Friday, March 9, 2018

March 9, 2018

Just another thank you for all of the care, concern, patience, hugs, love and such that you all have shown and given to me and my family over the past few days. It has truly been appreciated.....

I could not resist posting this! Check out this EASY read on PD and the ways that WE, as adults would MUCH rather have PD versus the old school way of sitting and getting! Seriously, take these ideas and use them in your lessons with our kids! It's everything from having "unconferences" to choice boards to blended learning and more! We are DEFINITELY on the right track as I think back to our own GVMS PD Retreats and cannot wait to incorporate even more of these ideas!

Seriously, who wants to continue to teach a "bad" lesson where none of the students actually got the standard taught? NOBODY. We must ensure we are providing Good, no GREAT, instruction for ALL. In order to do this, it takes careful lesson planning, collaboration with your colleagues on ideas and/or successes they may have and a conscious effort to remove any and all barriers that get in the way of students accessing the standards and content. Two of the MOST successful and effective strategies are incorporating Academic Conversations and Universal Design for Learning (Do it ONCE, do it RIGHT!) into your daily lessons! Click on the links for ideas!

HERE ARE SOME OF THE SHOTS FROM TWITTER AND AROUND OUR CAMPUS THIS WEEK! SEND US A TEXT TO COME VISIT AS WE LOVE IT!!