Green Valley MS- Home of the Vikings!

Thursday, January 30, 2020

January 31, 2020

Continuing our discussion on student engagement (one of THE MOST important things in teaching), building relationships with our students is CRITICAL to how effective we are as educators. We cannot simply close the door, turn our back, ignore the signs, or pretend that our kids DO NOT need us. They do. Plain and simple. So how can you build these relationships with 30+ students in your class? Some ways can be simple. Check out THIS ARTICLE on some of the "golden rules" of easy peasy ways to make SIMPLE connections. C'mon people. Don't they deserve it? Don't YOU?

I've asked this a MILLION times and I will again:

Would YOU want to be a student in your class?

We know that reading aloud is commonly thought of as an elementary thing, reading aloud with middle school students has a ton of benefits as well! Take a minute to read THIS ARTICLE as to why it is helpful and doesn't need to be the ENTIRE book to be effective!

Did you know? ONE MORE TIME....Let this sink in please.

We have an overall class GPA range from the report cards of a 3.86 to 2.04.
We have 101 students with one or more Fs. 101 is not okay....
We have 25 students with 3 or more Fs.
We 18 6th graders, 37 7th graders, and 46 8th graders with one or more F's, indicating that we are NOT ready to send them to high school.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself:

Have we reached out to parents/guardian, personally, to see what's going on?
Have we pulled the student(s) during tutorial to work with them at all?
Have we met with parents/guardians and student to go over what is going on?
Have we sent home a permission slip to get tutoring for Math and History (currently the ones being offered at GVMS)?
Is the grading really reflective of the standards being taught and mastered?
Is there any "out of the box thinking" that we can do to reach all students?
Is an SST a logical next step and have you considered scheduling one, asking Carla and Christina to help you get the process started? Click HERE to get started.

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SUPER DUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA DEVRIES for her countless hours, planning, replanning, and scheduling for the Multicultural fair that is a HUGE HIT! WE CANNOT WAIT!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to KEVIN, when having interpersonal exchanges with our mutual student, thank you for continuing to nudge/prod him to give you more! ~Tara
SUPER awesome shout out to CAROL and DUSTIN for handling incoming 8th grade elective selection for me!
SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA for working so hard on the Multicultural Fair! ~Lynn
SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX, JASON, CARLA, and LYNN S. for working with me on a 7th grade student who needs support!
SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA G for all her hard work with our Check and Connect students and supporting them to reach their goals!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY, ALANNA, PETER S., LYNN S., and LUCERO for staying for my IEP on Tuesday! ~Marlys
SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE, KARRON, ANITA, and CRISTINA for handling incoming 7th grade elective selection for me!
SUPER awesome shout out to ALEX for the great coffee and such a surprise! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON and ALEX for moving a student who they KNEW could benefit from ACC Math =)
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA for ALREADY completing and turning in her adjunct duty form!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON, STEVEN, DUSTIN, and MEGAN for letting me use your room for testing! ~Marlys
SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for giving one of our 8th graders a 2nd (probably 4th or 5th actually) chance!

Friday, January 24, 2020

January 24, 2020

You may or may not know this, however, my youngest daughter does All-Star cheer in Livermore with a gym called The California All Stars. We travel A LOT. We cheer and scream and clap A LOT. We recently spent the long weekend in the lovely town of Bakersfield where her team, J2 Crew, won a paid bid to Summit (like the Super Bowl for cheer) in Florida. It got me thinking about taking a risk and how she took the risk to join this prestigious, competitive, highly sought after, and amazing gym. This lead me to taking a risk as an EDUCATOR...

How do you encourage your colleagues to take a risk in the classroom with technology, engagement strategy, lesson delivery, etc? How do YOU take a risk and be okay with it NOT working the first time? Take a look at THIS ARTICLE about some EASY ways to take a risk from co-teaching it, to modeling for another teacher, to simply planning it together and discussing the results.

All of this chances should be used to help, encourage, support and learn from one another to reach ALL of our students!

Here are some pics from Kendall's risks in cheer (and how they have paid off!) and check out the Netflix docuseries "Cheer" if you get the chance!

Did you know?

We have an overall class GPA range from the report cards of a 3.86 to 2.04.
We have 101 students with one or more Fs. 101 is not okay....
We have 25 students with 3 or more Fs.
We 18 6th graders, 37 7th graders, and 46 8th graders with one or more F's.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself:

Have we reached out to parents/guardian, personally, to see what's going on?
Have we pulled the student(s) during tutorial to work with them at all?
Have we met with parents/guardians and student to go over what is going on?
Have we sent home a permission slip to get tutoring for Math and History (currently the ones being offered at GVMS)?
Is the grading really reflective of the standards being taught and mastered?
Is there any "out of the box thinking" that we can do to reach all students?
Is an SST a logical next step and have you considered scheduling one, asking Carla and Christina to help you get the process started? Click HERE to get started.

#kindnessmatters Did you know that a smile, a kind word, a helping hand or a simple note of thanks on a sticky note can truly make someone's day? These are SIMPLE acts of kindness that can be LIFE CHANGING for many on our staff/students. Happiness researcher (yes, it's a real thing), found that if you perform random acts of kindness for two minutes a day for twenty-one days, you can actually retrain your brain to be more positive.

The Great Kindness Challenge is next week and Elizabeth will be passing out the check off sheet to students!

Staff Kindness Challenge for next week:

Monday: enjoy breakfast treats and coffee from KC and CL!

Tuesday: Go check on a teacher that you rarely get to see!

Wednesday: Write a happy note to a staff member and leave it in their box!

Thursday: Compliment 5 students who are NOT in your classroom!

Friday: Write 5 Good News Referrals for students in any of your classes and the Traveling Treat Trolly (football edition!) will be coming by before lunch!

Love it or not, MAP testing is one more piece of data that we can use to inform our instruction, make school-wide decisions, use to support students with IEPs or 504s, shows what standards that students need SUPPORT and small group instruction with, and inform parents as to how they are progressing throughout the school year. It can also be used to help show how our students will do on the CAASPP test (if they take their time and take MAP seriously).

Each English and Math teacher will be receiving the PDF version of each class period/student's growth as soon as all testing is completed! THEY ARE AWESOME! I have already printed them for Nunez, Laffey, Phillips and Koehler! PLEASE feel free to print to show students and then send home! HERE is a sample of one...

Check out this very quick and short video from a fellow teacher!

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SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for being an awesome Department Chair for Math! ~Lynn
SUPER awesome shout out to ENGLISH and MATH for taking care of most of their MAP make up tests!!
SUPER awesome shout out to MIMI, BRENDA, RUDINA, and MICHELE for jumping on the registration stuff already for 2020-2021!
SUPER awesome shout out to KC for being so responsive and punctual on emails in spite of the large numbers she gets! ~Ryan
SUPER awesome shout out to CHRISTINA for sharing the best beef jerky at our Department Meeting! ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to ELIZABETH for scheduling Challenge Day for 2020-2021 already! Yes, it's on your calendar already too!
SUPER awesome shout out to RYAN, CHRISTINA G., and SANDY for working together to make No One Eats Alone come to LIFE! Excited for this to happen!!

Thursday, January 16, 2020

January 17, 2020

Check out this video from Kid President...Yes, it's old and yes, it's a repeat AND it's WORTH sharing =) again and again!

Each English and Math teacher will be receiving the PDF version of each class period/student's growth as soon as all testing is completed! PLEASE feel free to print to show students and then send home! HERE is a sample of one...

Check out this very quick and short video from a fellow teacher!

EVERYONE feeds off of positive praise and recognition! Have YOU taken a moment to praise a student, send a positive card home to a student, compliments/thanked a colleague, written a Good News Referral to a student or staff member? It takes LESS than 5 minutes to spread a little kindness and positive vibes around here so let's step up to the plate! Still not convinced? Check out THIS ARTICLE for the 7 effects of positive praise for students AND peers!!!

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SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA and HEATHER for exploring small group instruction more with their 1st and 2nd period classes!
SUPER awesome shout out to SANDY and her Geography/Leadership classes for helping with the Multicultural Fair! ~Cristina
SUPER awesome shout out to ANNETTE for helping me keep Battle of the Books up and running! ~Karron
SUPER awesome shout out to KARRON for doing Battle of the Books!
SUPER awesome shout out to AIDA and BRENITA for holding it down while Rosa was away for a day!
SUPER awesome shout out to MEGAN for sending out the MAP information since the district website is NOT user friendly! ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to TERRI, TIFFANY and TAMIA for lending TAP a hand when they have been short a person for two weeks now! You guys are AH-MAZING!! ~Rosie
SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for helping me keep track of who has checked out the class novel! ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for always checking in on me! You are a rock star! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to
SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for always checking in and being a friend! ~Ryan

Friday, January 10, 2020

January 10, 2020

As we have come back from Winter Break, we often continue to hear a rise in concerns about students being unmotivated, apathetic and not valuing their education; that they are too distracted with technology (which is true!) and more. How do we make/encourage/push for our students to be MORE engaged, thus increasing their achievement (see our dashboard results for ALL subgroups) and decreasing disruptions from learning (again, see our dashboard results for ALL subgroups)?

Seriously, take a few minutes to read THIS ARTICLE about creating deeper learning experiences through questions. All them to be curious. Allow yourself to give up some control (you can do it, I promise!). Ask more questions using WHY and HOW. Make connections that MATTER!

New Ideas for ENGAGEMENT! Until we are at 100%, WHICH WE ARE NOT, we will CONTINUE this conversation as high levels of engagement directly link to higher achievement, LOWER off task behavior, and all around happier students!

As we start a new year, let's implement new and rejuvenating experiences within our classrooms! Let's make it AUTHENTIC with purpose! Take a MINUTE to check out THIS ARTICLE to help make your life easier and our kids' experience and education more meaningful!

LOVED reading all of the positive posts from our meeting! Here they are so you can feel the positive vibes too! See if you can guess which one belongs to which staff member =)

*Spent lots of time with family over break! *Got smart girls glasses! *Able to rest and see family I don't usually see! *I became an aunt! *I feel better than I have in 8 years! *The 49ers are in the playoffs! *My students clean up after themselves! *Lets of rest and relaxation and time spent with husband and dogs! *Baby Maximina celebrated her 1st Christmas and was incredibly spoiled! *18 students with 0 missing assignments before break and I did lots of crafting! *Celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary on NYE! *Spent precious time with family and attended 1st game at Golden 1 Center! *Saved money on gambling by NOT going to Reno and I see a lot more smiles and happiness in my classes! *Got to see one of the last Beach Blanket Babylon shows with my adult children! *I didn't kill my kids! *Gained custody! *I got to see my baby for the first time at my OB appointment! *I became financially solvent and have no more credit cards! *I am caught up with grading! *I got engaged! *Had fun at the ocean and got 3 classes of essays graded *Great time spent with family and friend including a fun art project *I am not longer the "bad cop" in PE! *I spent the holiday with my daughters and their husbands! *Lots of rest and relaxation and my daughter had a great Christmas! *I have not written a referral or send a student out of class this year! *I went horse back riding and remembered how to do everything! *My students are stepping up their work ethic, accountability, responsibility and enhanced learning! *I rode my recumbent bicycle everyday during the break and lost 39 lbs! *I did lots of hiking and running over the holidays and my mom is getting healthier! *My foot is fixed!

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SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for handling ALL those kiddos during the lunches!!! ~KC
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA, PETER, and LIZ for taking care of everything in PE and athletics while I was out! ~Sarj
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for making the college and career signs! ~Peter
SUPER awesome shout out to HEATHER for encouraging the use of her classroom for faculty meetings and FSUTA voting! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to JULIE and TAMIA for always checking in to see if the can help or support me! I cannot say thank you enough! ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to KAREN for always accommodating my classes every time we "need" to go to the library! ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to ALANNA for staying in the library to give me a break during the lunch rush! ~Karen
SUPER awesome shout out to KEN for ALWAYS covering TAP 1st period! ~Brenda
SUPER awesome shout out to CRISTINA! We are happy you're back! ~Heather
SUPER awesome shout out to SARJ for covering my yard duty! ~KC
SUPER awesome shout out to L-TRAIN! Our Math team is back together again! ~H-town
SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA! Thank you for ALL that you do! ~Heather
SUPER awesome shout out to LARISSA for always being willing to cover my yard duty! I appreciate you! ~Heather
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA and CHRISTINA G for covering score board for us at the basketball game! ~Peter

Friday, December 20, 2019

December 20, 2019

I am just going to say: I kind of felt like this during this week. I felt like I have had 100 "tabs" open in my head, trying to remember to get all that needed to get done on campus with deadlines and timelines, while remembering to shop for Logan and Kendall and SUDDENLY there was music playing and I had no idea if it was real or I was losing it =) Anyone else? I couldn't even get it together to do cards, so here y'all go =)

Happy holidays from the Cherry Fam!

GVMS Family,

Happy Holidays to you and your family! This school year has had it's ups and downs and we have worked together to get through them with a positive light. We truly wish you the best for the holidays and hope they are filled with love, laughter, and light. We all have "stuff" going on outside of GVMS and, yet, you all come here to be here for our kids.

Surround yourself with people who make you happy. People who make you laugh, who help you when you're in need. People who make your day brighter and better. People who genuinely care about you this holiday season. Surround yourself with positive vibes, positive people, and positive experiences so that you start 2020 feeling it all!

We encourage you to take a break, enjoy family, don't check email unless you are just DYING to do so, take care of yourself, and come back ready to focus on ALL THINGS POSITIVE and about our kids.

Much love and Happy New Year,

Kristen and Christine

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SUPER awesome shout out to ENGLISH for the very nice card for us! We appreciate it and you all!!! ~KC and CL
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA for always being willing to help with supervision! ~Brenda and KC
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON for doing in lieu for me! ~Heather
SUPER awesome shout out to TAMIA for deciphering the lesson plans for the sub in co-teach! You rock! ~ Heather
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA, LIZ and PETER for holding PE together and helping out everywhere!
SUPER awesome shout out to BRENDA. She rocks. That is all! ~Heather (and KC!)
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA, AIDA, and BRENITA for ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS being on top of EVERYTHING!!!! ~ KC, CL, and EB
SUPER awesome shout out to LORRAINE, JASON, LYNN S., and KEVIN for an awesome and productive collab day! ~Megan
SUPER awesome shout out to KC and CL for the 12 Days of GVMS Christmas! It was fun to play! ~Julie
SUPER awesome shout out to 6th GRADE for holding down the fort while Lynn and Cristina are out!
SUPER awesome shout out to HEATHER for being a great colleague to talk with, especially during this busy time of year! ~Ryan
SUPER awesome shout out to STINE and ELIZABETH for getting my coffee this week to help me kick off 1st period! ~Ryan
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for looking out for the teachers, the students, the Admin team, and the whole FREAKIN' neighborhood!!! ~Ryan

Friday, December 13, 2019

December 13, 2019

Anyone else feel this way a little bit? Add the rain and WHOO HOO we are having fun now!!!

How do we continue to keep students engaged in what they need to master in order to be ready to move on? (Hint hint: USE some of the strategies that Megan, Carol, and Dustin have shared!!! And, I linked them ALL again! Use them!) How do we keep them motivated to perform, when we know that their minds are thinking of vacation (and yours too I am sure!)?

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE on more ways including making connections, themed ideas, and more!

DID YOU KNOW? Over 50% of students in school are disengaged. Until we are at 100%, we will CONTINUE this conversation as high levels of engagement directly link to higher achievement, lower off task behavior, and all around happier students! Check out THIS LINK to read about the statistics, what we can do about it, and the impact it can have!

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SUPER awesome shout out to JASON, ALISA and KEN for stepping in to cover last minute sub shortages!
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA, BRENITA, and AIDA for being our "judges" for the 12 days of Christmas fun!
SUPER awesome shout out to KC for responding to my email after hours and solving my problem the next morning! I appreciate you! ~Alison
SUPER awesome shout out to ALL STAFF for letting me steal your/our kids for tutorial! There are 87 beginning band students that are usually split between 3rd and 5th period, so having the tutorial time to rehearse them all together before their concert Thursday evening is such a help to our kids and me! ~ Alison
SUPER awesome shout out to KC and CL for making the 12 days of GVMS Christmas!
SUPER awesome shout out to CAROL, KEN, and STEPHEN for coming to a last minute IEP on Wednesday!
SUPER awesome shout out to ALL for covering last minute vacancies!!
SUPER awesome shout out to ANITA for the invite to walk during prep and setting a good pace! I felt great for the rest of the afternoon! ~Julie (and we challenge ALL to do this and take some time for your self during your prep!!! ~KC)
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for making signs for my new office! ~Peter
SUPER awesome shout out to LYNN S. and CHRISTINA G. for sharing your classroom during your prep so my students could record in a quiet space! ~Megan
SUPER awesome shout out to JASON for ALWAYS covering classes in the morning and getting me soda! ~Brenda
SUPER awesome shout out to KEN for also ALWAYS covering classes! ~Brenda

Thursday, December 5, 2019

December 6, 2019

One of the BIG ah-ha's and take away from Tuesdays faculty meeting focused on what Student Engagement "looked like" was NO TEACHER TALK. Not one of the posters had the teachers talking AT our students for even part of the period. Less teacher talk and more students sharing is ONLY going to benefit YOU! If we do ALL of the talking, then we are the ONLY "dispensers of information and they are the consumers". That just isn't true!

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE for some EASY ideas to get away for being the ONLY one who talks and, yes, we still have some of this on campus that we MUST get away from!

With the holidays fast approaching, it can be a more stressful time than any other time of the year. So how do we, as educators, keep our students focused on the positive so that it can only encourage us as well? Take a look at THIS ARTICLE for an easy read on easy ideas such as being a "cheerleader", focusing on emotional needs of students instead of standards first, and more!

I am just going to leave this right here....

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SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN, CAROL, DAVE F., KEVIN, and SANDY for administering the CA Healthy Kids Survey to our students! MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to JAMES and PETER for the emails to parents about how basketball will be positive and run smoothly!
SUPER awesome shout out to MICHELE, RUDINA, and MIMI for working to get the ENTIRE school logged on to parent portal! ~Brenda
SUPER awesome shout out to CAROL and DUSTIN for leading the faculty meeting strategies!
SUPER awesome shout out to ALISA for offering to help with supervision and for writing "Welcome back to the best place on Earth" on her whiteboard in the gym to welcome our kids back!
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for the AMAZING Christmas stockings! ~Brenda and KC
SUPER awesome shout out to MEGAN for emailing ALL of the families of her students who were getting a D or F!!!!
SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for always being positive and having a full pot of coffee! ~Kevin
SUPER awesome shout out to DUSTIN for being my partner in crime presenting to our faculty! Also, my class is WINNING the TOY DRIVE!!! =) ~Carol
SUPER awesome shout out to our CHRISTMAS ELVES who decorated the tree in the library for me while I was out sick! ~Karen (I am SURE all of you can guess who did it!!!)
SUPER awesome shout out to ROSA for my pretty Christmas stocking! ~Karen
SUPER awesome shout out to SPED squad (RSP, TAP, and related services), DUSTIN (always great conversations!), DAVE F. (fellow dog lover!), and LORRAINE (assistance with ELA). ~Marlys
SUPER awesome shout out to LORRAINE for helping me with a 4th period moment!!
~KC