Friday, October 30, 2015

October 30, 2015

Have you checked out all of the doors on campus??




The DOORS are AWESOME! Spirit Days were awesome!! The costumes, the spirit and the feeling of pride to be a VIKINGS is fantastic! We LOVE seeing all of the school spirit!!  GO VIKINGS!





Have you ever thought about recording yourself to see what your students see? Check out THIS LINK to see some ideas and thoughts about it!

Here are our counts for the month/week: We have had a total of 400+ Good News Referrals- YES 400 NOT including the gigantic stack on my desk!  LOVE THE POSITIVE!

We have had 94 behavior referrals ( 20 in 6th, 24 in 7th, and 39 in 8th) from the beginning of October...
Hour of Code is COMING December 7-13 and if you visit THIS LINK to register for Hour of Code, and we get our whole school registered, we can win $10,000 in TECHNOLOGY!!! Let's DO THIS GVMS!!
Have you checked out our Fish Moments?

BE THERE: Thank you to Dave F and Lynn for being there for me :)
PLAY: Dustin has brought NEW meaning to loving socks! LOVE that he made everyone smile, even those not on campus all day! Thank you to Sarj and Shawna for running the DRILLS with the music for the kids! Super engaging!
MAKE THEIR DAY: Thank you to Rosa and Mimi for the doors and the inspiration! Thank you to Candy and Rosa for cleaning the explosion of soda in the freezer!
CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Way to get into the spirit of Halloween!

Did you?
  • Let us know if you are interested in after school intervention yet? Email me NOW!
  • Schedule a time that you want to go visit a colleague to see them in action? It is SO powerful and inspiring! Come see us for ideas and suggestions!
  • Sent us a name for ROCK STAR nomination? More info coming at the faculty meeting!

Friday, October 23, 2015

October 23, 2015


SPIRIT WEEK STARTS NEXT WEEK!!!

The DOORS are going to be AWESOME! Please remember the Spirit Days next week! Can't wait to take pics!

Please remember that English and Math must administer the benchmarks through October 30th, so it will tie up the Chrome Books for a bit :) We are excited to check out the data that afternoon for trends and to see how our students ROCK! Each department reviewed the directions for students during their department meetings and can send the "cheat sheet" to you again if you need it. While we realize that several concept

We have seen a GREAT amount of Good News Referrals come our way! Keep these coming! Our students, parents, families, and staff ALL enjoy these! We have had a total of 294 Good News Referrals- YES 294 NOT including the gigantic stack on my desk! We have had 18 class suspensions and ZERO regular suspension from the beginning of October! Love the positive!

If you haven't already completed your nomination for Student of the Month for November and "Caring" please do so NOW! Please click this link to enter your nomination so that we can send them a post card ASAP! Thank you!

Check out this FANTASTIC "Famous Failures" video regarding Growth Mindset and how we can encourage our students to change their thinking to a positive one! Check it out here! Please check out this video too! I think you will LOVE to share it with your kiddos! I can tell you that I REALLY needed it this week....




Have you ever wondered what goes through your student's mind about being engaged in classrooms. Check out this link to see what goes through their mind. Very enlightening read!

Are you struggling with ways to use your iPad in the classroom? Not sure how to dust it off and get going? In addition to emailing Nelda Taylor directly NeldaT@fsusd.org you can also check out this quick article for easy ideas to get yourself going! Have you also wondered about the ways that you can use Google Forms in your classroom? Check out these AWESOME AND EASY ideas!

Need some ideas for our door decorating contest? Check out THIS LINK for AWESOME pics! We can't wait to see your ideas!!

Please note that there is a HIGH probability that our faculty meetings, department meetings and leadership meetings will need to move to Tuesday afternoons starting in the new calendar year. I will keep you posted on this as I get more information.


Have you checked out our Fish Moments?

BE THERE: Thank you to our 8TH GRADE ROCK STAR TEACHERS for attending the College and Career Day! Thanks to the PE Dept for being there for the game and for the meet on Tuesday! Thanks to Jason and Tom for going to the football game for supervision!
PLAY: Way to play with technology during the morning training Katherine, Allison, Sue, Anita, Gigi, Paula, Dave M., Kristy, Joe, and Prisci! I think you all are going to have FUN with this new learning! We have already seen a HUGE increase in the use of Kahoot on campus and the students are SO engaged!
MAKE THEIR DAY: Thank you to Tamia for making the College and Career Day happen for our kiddos and the ENTIRE 8th grade in FSUSD! Thank you to Tom, Gigi, Josiah, Heather, Lorraine, Suzanne, Christen, Sue, Elizabeth, Paula, Dan, Sandy, Susan, Candy, Rosa and Mimi for MAKING Career Day happen. OH MAN. It would NOT have worked without you!! Thank you to Anita for making Prisci's day! Thank you to Lorraine and Dalal for making Lynn's day! Thank you to Dustin for making my day! Thanks to Dave M for pushing for the morning training! Another one coming soon!
CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Positive is the NAME OF THE GAME right now! Thank you to Elizabeth for reminding me :) We are NOW taking nominations for Rock Star Teachers! We have THREE nominations so far! Send them our way....

Did you?
  • Let us know if you are interested in after school intervention yet? Email me NOW!
  • Schedule a time that you want to go visit a colleague to see them in action? It is SO powerful and inspiring! Come see us for ideas and suggestions!
  • Sent us a name for ROCK STAR nomination? First 5 people to do so get a prize!!

Friday, October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015

Finally, Fall weather MIGHT be coming!

THANK YOU for showing the announcements through your LCD so our students can follow along as Dave is reading the morning announcements!

Best of success to Megan Wyatt as she starts her new journey at Anna Kyle on Monday! We wish you the best and are here if you need us! Also, congrats to her news that she and her husband will have a new addition to the family!

WELCOME to Cristina DeVries! She is joining our 6th grade Team and we are thrilled to have her on our team!

Please remember that English and Math will be administering the benchmarks from October 19-October 30th. We are excited to check out the data that afternoon for trends and to see how our students ROCK! Each department will be reviewing the directions for students during their department meetings and we will send the "cheat sheet" to you!

We have seen a GREAT amount of Good News Referrals come our way! Keep these coming! Our students, parents, families, and staff ALL enjoy these! We have had a total of 172 GNR and 10 referrals. We have had 7 class suspensions and 1 regular suspension from the beginning of October! Love the positive!

We have found some excellent resources to increase the rigor in classrooms (which many of you all use and do DAILY!) and to GET AWAY from any lower level work. Take a look:
Please check out this article I read recently and how it relates to being a teacher. I don't know about you , but this is EXACTLY why I don't sleep. This passion for our students and their success at all things is what must drive us!

We aren't sure if you checked it out and there is VERY strong language... Check out this FASCINATING interview and study by Anderson Cooper on CNN regarding Social Media and teenagers. We will be sharing with families as well. Check it out #Being13!

Sports and Grade checks: There has been some concern with grade checks and sports. Grade checks are done every Wednesday after a reporting period, however, they will be done this Tuesday instead since there is a game coming. Sarj will be checking ALL grades for all players!

Please note that there is a HIGH probability that our faculty meetings, department meetings and leadership meetings will need to move to Tuesday afternoons starting in the new calendar year. I will keep you posted on this as I get more information.

Have you checked out our Fish Moments?

BE THERE: Thanks our History Department for sharing your devices with English and Math for upcoming benchmark testing!
PLAY: Get ready, because some people on campus are going to get "BOOED" for Halloween in the best way possible! :)
MAKE THEIR DAY: Thanks to Dalal, Kristy, Katherine, Lacey, and Prisci for attending the Next Lesson training! Check out ALL the awesome opportunities they can now use with their kids here!
CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Thanks to Tamia for still taking on the College and Career Day along with your RSP job too!
Did you?

Friday, October 9, 2015

October 9, 2015

October is in Full Swing and we are BUSY!

Benchmarks are to be given October 19-30 so that all data will be available by November 1st to help guide our instruction.

WestEd data shows that we have some great areas of strength and some areas that we need to focus on.  Having the objective, standard, goal or big idea posted seems like such as easy thing and yet, we still have a few that do not do this.  Need ideas or models on writing GREAT objectives with observable verbs? Check this out!

Remembered that “Facilitating Student Interactions” means that the students discuss their learning with others?  It doesn’t mean the student just turns to someone else and answers a question.  The students need to discuss. “The answer is five, and I figured that out by adding three and one and one together.” Make sure sentence frames are provided using academic vocab for initial sentence and one for the student who will be providing feedback.

What is PBIS? PBIS is Positive Behavior Intervention Support and we are working very hard to encourage all of our students! To date (as of 10/7 in the morning) we have written 66 Good News Referral for October! We know that students can be defiant with us and it can certainly be frustration. We want to support all student and here are a few ideas to avoid power struggles. Check out this link!

We have already discussed Digital Citizenship and we are always working to help our students be responsible, safe, and respectful when using Social Media. Check out this FANTASTIC interview and study by Anderson Cooper on CNN regarding Social Media and teenagers. We will be sharing with families as well. Check it out #Being13!

Have you checked out our Fish Moments?

BE THERE: Thanks our English Department for ROCKIN' the very useful presentation on Tuesday morning!  Can’t wait to see what department presents next!  Thanks to Don for sitting in on interviews!  Thank you for being posted outside your doors during passing period.  It TRULY makes a huge difference! Thanks, Sue, for taking notes at our faculty meeting. Here they are! Thank you to the PTC Board for being there for Walk to School Day and for Prize Day!
PLAY: Thanks to Dustin, again, for taking black socks to a WHOLE new level! Dave Fulton you rocked that rally and showed us what school spirit is going to be! Way to get the Viking back and make William in charge! Loved that!
MAKE THEIR DAY: Thanks to Kevin for taking on Walk to School Day! Thanks to Ric for removing the visitors from D104! Thank you to Dave M. for MAKING MY DAY!
CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Thanks to Tamia for keeping the smile on her face while wearing two jobs hats! Thank you to Shawna, Liz, Sarj, Kevin, noon duty, Mimi, and Rosa for handling the Prize Day with grace and a smile!
Did you?
  • Let us know if you are interested in after school intervention yet? Email me!
  • Remember what is on the District Assessment Calendar so that you can plan accordingly, especially in English and Math? Here is the FSUSD Assessment Calendar!
  • Make some time to check out a colleague's classroom?  We want to encourage and encourage this over and over and over!  7th and 8th- come hang out in 6th grade too!!
  • Reach out to a parent regarding a student that is struggling or you just want to connect with families? Check out this short article to see how!
  • Remember that we have Next Lesson Training next Wednesday 10/14 after school in our library?
  • Remember that we have Tech training on Wednesday 10/21 at 7:20 in our library with Nelda Taylor?

Friday, October 2, 2015

Fall is in FULL SWING!

Happy Friday!

Fall is here and we want to thank Carol, Heather, Wendy, Dalal, Sue, Allison, Lynn, Katherine, Julie, Anita, and Lacey for your attendance to our IPR!  We are looking forward to your feedback on what you all liked, what more information you need, and what we can do differently next time!   
Click here to see ideas and thoughts regarding attendance/positive supports!  
Click here for grade distribution insights!
Click here for behavior analysis insights!
Click here for SBAC Data insights!

WELCOME to our new 7th grade Science Teacher, Kristy Love!!  We are SO excited to have her join our Viking Family!  Please welcome her!

We are still looking for teachers for after school intervention!  Please let us know if you are interested, including what subject area you will focus on, so that we can send in justifications and get it going RIGHT NOW! Email me here!

We are currently working on the faculty meeting agenda for October 7th. Special shout out to English for being the first department to share what they are using in their classroom so you can steal for yours!  Click here for draft agenda!


Have you checked out the newest inspirational video from Kid President?  How could you NOT love him?  Check it out!



Have you checked out our Fish Moments?

BE THERE: Thanks to Sarj, Sue, Jason, and Dave F for intervening on Monday!  Jason is like a ninja warrior!  Thank you to Heather and Kevin for becoming Aeries Avengers!  Thanks to Mimi, Rosa, Ric, Lorraine, and our super hero noon duty for help with the mob on Thursday!
PLAY: Thanks to Elizabeth for the positive chalk notes to celebrate International Peace Day!  Thank you to Carol for jumping right in with Padlet and her class!
MAKE THEIR DAY: Thank you English and History Dept. for taking on Digital Citizenship to educate our students!  Thank you to Sue for cookie schedule!  Thanks to History for getting our 8th graders all set up for their College and Career Day!
CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE: Thanks to Dave M for exploring and expanding your use of tech with OPEN arms!!  Thank you to Dept. Chairs for the ideas, suggestions and team work!

Did you?
  • Know that ALL Leadership Meetings have switched dates with voluntary Collab. Meetings? Leadership (2nd Tuesday) now follows Faculty Meetings (1st Tuesday) and Collab are at the end of the month.
  • Know that we have 278 Good News Referrals for the month of September?  Keep them coming!
  • Reach out to a parent regarding a student that is struggling?

Check out this great article to have students show 53 ways to check for understanding! Wondering what to do for the last 5 minutes of class?  REALLY want to get away from those low rigor word searches that shouldn't be on campus?  Click this link to see how!





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