Green Valley MS- Home of the Vikings!: November 2019

Friday, November 22, 2019

November 22, 2019

Thanksgiving is such a time of reflection and being thankful for what we have. I am SUPER thankful for all of our hard working staff, who put their heart and soul into GVMS on a daily basis. From the smiles, to words of encouragement, to cheerful notes, to anything else that puts a smile on someone's face, to the support for our students, to the bending over backwards to see them successful and safe and happy: I AM THANKFUL.

I am also VERY thankful for our two girls who (yes, they do drive us nuts sometimes....) are the light of my life and Joe's. Thought I'd share this homecoming pic as MANY of you will recognize MANY grown up faces =)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!

Talking LESS, as a teacher, may actually benefit our students! Who knew?!? We know that teachers are the only to dispense the information and that our students are the ones that are supposed to absorb it. Think about this: TRAIN your students and PROVIDE them the tools to do and think like you want them to so that you are doing less of the talking and they are doing more of it!

Read THIS ARTICLE of some easy ways to train your students, give them the needed tools, and get them MORE ENGAGED!!!

Ahhh the holidays....A time for family; a time for loved ones; a time for ADDED STRESS on everyone, including the parents of our students. How can we remind calm when responding to emails, text, and phone messages to parents? Trust me: It's something I STILL continue to work on, I promise.

While these moments always seem to come at the wrong time, there are ways to help. Take a look at THIS quick read on simple ways (that I need to remind myself of!) to calm down and not matters worse =)

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SUPER AWESOME SHOUT OUT TO DAVE FULTON FOR BEING OUR TEACHER OF THE YEAR!!
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON for taking morning yard duty for an IEP!
SUPER awesome shout out to HEATHER for letting KC and CL join in the math facts race!!
SUPER awesome shout out to KC and KAREN for their help at the College and Career Night! ~Peter P.
SUPER awesome shout out to ELIZABETH for putting on the 2nd Annual Chili Cook off! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to KARRON for always telling hilarious stories!~ Elizabeth
SUPER awesome shout out to SPED SQUAD for attending History meeting! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to DAVE! You are an amazing person to work with! Thank you for all you do! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to HISTORY DEPT for inviting SPED SQUAD to their dept. mtg!~ Tamia
SUPER awesome shout out to KC for getting subs for SPED to get caught up on ALL.THE. PAPERWORK!! ~Tamia
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSE for joining the SPED SQUAD! You are awesome and we are thrilled to have you here! ~Tamia
SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA, MEGAN, LORRAINE, and KIMBERLY! ~MARLYS
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA, BRENITA, and CRISTINA D. for stopping the sand fight on Wednesday. Sigh. ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to LARISSA for always helping me with my computer questions! ~Kimberly

Thursday, November 14, 2019

November 15, 2019

Everyone loves to get positive feedback (even adults!!), even if they don't admit it out loud... =)

Sometimes, when giving it to our students, it can be easier said than done. Studies have shown that giving negative feedback without anything positive can discourage student effort and achievement (duh)

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE to start using some of these ideas to provide EFFECTIVE (did you catch that key word there??!!?) feedback for students from different ways it can be given to the focus that it has. Our students THRIVE off of positive feedback and encouragement. Don't you? =)

POSTING ONE MORE TIME, just in case.....You all know I LOVE Kid President and he is all grown up (well, sort of) and he is STILL spreading love and kindness and pep talks. Take a few short minutes to put a smile on your face and watch him! It's worth it =)

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SUPER awesome shout out to KARYN for being the golden standard of IEP best practices! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to the LEADERSHIP TEAM for their thoughtful work with the "fishbone"!
SUPER awesome shout out to THERESE for helping TAP class with behaviors when we are short staffed! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to BRENDA for always being amazing and super helpful! ~Megan and KC
SUPER awesome shout out to ELIZABETH for all of the pick me up treats and a wonderful smile! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON for covering my yard duty! ~David N.
SUPER awesome shout out to ANITA and CHRISTINA for helping me! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to SIXTH GRADE for doing a park day!
SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE for dropping work off to me at home and holding down the fort while I am out! ~Lynn
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA and RIC for their helping nature! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX, JAMES M., LIZ, and SARJ who all came to support our Cross Country and Volleyball teams!!! THANK YOU!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY for tacking Movie Night with Leadership!
SUPER awesome shout out to DAVE F. for getting soooooo many cans donated!!

Thursday, November 7, 2019

November 8, 2019

We talk A BUNCH about student engagement, academic discussion, and facilitating better/more effective discussions with our students. In fact, our "Ideal Classroom" activity at our faculty meeting on Tuesday had the common theme: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT....

How do we get away from the BLANK STARE when you ask a question to the class or to your small group? How can you train yourself to get our students more engaged with your questions? How can you increase participation and avoid awkward silence?

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE which gives you some quick and easy fixes to avoid those awkward moments and get a MUCH higher participation rate!!

You all know I LOVE Kid President and he is all grown up (well, sort of) and he is STILL spreading love and kindness and pep talks. Take a few short minutes to put a smile on your face and watch him! It's worth it =)

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SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA for leading our quick PD during our faculty meeting!
SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA, KARRON and ALEX for helping with volleyball and supervising!! THANK YOU! ~Sarj
SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE, AMY, RYAN, KARRON, ANITA, DAVID, UMA, GWYNN, ROSIE, HEATHER, TAMIA, ELIZABETH, KAREN, SANDY, and LEADERSHIP for making the 6th grade Scavenger Hunt a success! ~Cristina
SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA for supporting TAP! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to MATH Department for remaining calm with all of the visitors in your class on Wednesday!
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSIE for always helping me at the cross walk!
SUPER awesome shout out to CLOUD for kicking butt with the GNRs! Let's keep them coming people!!
SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA for helping me with Newsela! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to GWYNN and ROSIE for short staffed days! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to BRENDA for always being helpful and amazing! ~Megan and KC
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISON and GWYNN for supporting TAP and TAP students! ~Uma
SUPER awesome shout out to PETER for taking the kids to Sac State and to KAREN for going with!

Friday, November 1, 2019

November 1, 2019

Focus on Good First Instruction

Seriously think about that title. If the FIRST instruction were AMAZING Presenting new material in small steps with student practice after each step is a researched based learning strategy that we should be incorporating into instruction daily.

No one, including our students, likes to sit through a meeting or a training being "TALKED AT" the entire time. As we think about engaging our students, we want to present new material in chunks and give students practice (HANDS ON, something to DO!!) after each chunk or standard. Using a timer and the 10:2 (10 minutes OR LESS of instruction: 2 minutes of processing) method you can make sure that you are chunking the instruction. This is just one simple idea and there are TONS more!

Ahhh Middle School. Every student is in a different learning place. Some faster, some slower. How can we, as instructional leaders, differentiate for the wide range of learners in the classroom? How do we monitor other students and what they are doing, while we pull small group to differentiate? How do we grade the different ideas or projects?

Take a look at this article for some basic and easy ways to help our students get the info that they need without discouraging them from learning!