12-19-2014

What a great tradition I was able to take part in today for the first time.  It was very special to see everyone make it down for breakfast and lively conversation.  The West Chicago A capella group was awesome as well.  You can really tell that this school district is like a family and a very special place to be.

3 things to stop doing at work!  http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2014/12/17/stop-doing-when-you-work/

I was able to talk to Lurana's husband this morning at breakfast and she is doing well after her surgery.  I know we all wish her a speedy recovery.


18 EPIC Productivity Apps!  This is really good!  http://www.coolcatteacher.com/best-productivity-apps/  I use Evernote, #1 on the list and I didn't realize all that I can do with it.


In case you haven't heard...Danielle's beautiful baby girl is named Lucia Maria Rose DeChristopher.  We are very happy for this special time in the DeChristopher family's life.

!0 things Middle school students wish you knew:  http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2014/12/03/top-10-things-middle-school-students-wish-you-knew

Your newsletter article is due today....or the Monday we get back after break....whichever works for the schedule your brain is functioning on at this moment.
The word masters word wall Jill put up with her students is awesome...stop by it if you want to expand your vocabulary!

51 of the most beautiful sentences in literature...a gift of words.  If the link comes up blocked let me know.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenniferschaffer/i-am-i-am-i-am

The Christmas Piano in Union Station.  Awesome!

ahhhhh.....you made it.  A well deserved break.  Thanks for keeping the learning at a high level leading up to break.  Please accept the Benjamin soup cup as a very small token of my appreciation for everything you do for kids.  If you did not receive one, let me know.  Mine will most likely be filled with soda not soup.

Some Christmas Humor!

12-12-2014

What a great feast we shared yesterday.  Just as good as the food, was seeing so many people share a meal filled with conversation and laughter.  Thanks to Ellen and Pat for all of the work they did to organize and put together the meal.

Usually I get all of my web resources from twitter, but today they are from your fellow teachers:  The first is the Tween Trib from Alex A.  This is a great link to current news articles that list the lexile level of the article and gives a critical thinking question(s) at the end.  You can search different grade bands for your lower or higher level students and articles can be read in spanish as well.  This is a free resource from the Smithsonian.  http://www.tweentribune.com/

Melissa and Mark put on a wonderful concert Wednesday Night.  The audience was standing room only and the kids sounded great because of the practice and hard work of students and staff.

The second staff link comes from Linda Calvo and it is a website called Kahoot.  This allows you to input quiz or test questions into a game type format and then the kids compete to answer questions on their devices as the questions appear on the board.  It keeps score based on how fast they answer and gives updates on the top 5.  The greatest part of Kahoot is when the quiz is over it gives the teacher a printout of every students score and what questions they got right or wrong.  When I saw the students using the program you would of thought that they were studying pop culture and the prize was a million dollars instead of world history and bragging rights on the line.  https://getkahoot.com/

Thanks to Michelle F for working with the 7th grade students on their national parks research project and 5th grade students on internet safety.  We appreciate the great resource that you are to students and staff.

Didn't I just say that?  Teaching and reteaching:  http://blog.classdojo.com/post/104289707150/didnt-i-just-say-that-teaching-and-reteaching


Thanks to Nicole and Todd (and Jessica E) for presenting on our referral system at our last Learning Meeting. The presentation and the discussion from everyone showed that we are all working together to help the kids with the most needs.

5 questions to encourage student voice:

As you finalize your eligibility list this morning, please make sure that you are calling parents if anyone in your class is failing(winter athlete or not).

Give the Gift of Words:

Thanks to John, Jen and Lynette for agreeing to open up their gym on April 24th for a great opportunity for Benjamin students.  Medical students from Midwestern University will be coming in to present a Mini-medical school.  This will run all day long in the students PE classes and will not interfere with anyone's schedule.

Thanks to Melissa F for adjusting her schedule to allow her students to watch the Orion spacecraft make it's approach back to earth.  Watching current events as they happen will make a lasting impression on what could be history in their furure.

Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

William Shakespeare

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.

Sydney J. Harris

12-5-2014

 
I want to thank Gus, Frank, Manny and all the custodians for all of their hard work in maintenance and cleaning over Thanksgiving break.  We appreciate it.

Don't forget the newsletter was due to Ellen yesterday.  Please get your articles in.

Thanks to Melissa and Lynn and the seventh grade team for bringing the 7th grade students to the Art Institute yesterday.  They had a very successful trip and saw some of the world's greatest paintings which sometimes gets overlooked with the Museum of Science and Industry and Field Museum close by.

 7 free flipped classroom creation apps you might not know about:  http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/12/02/flipped-classroom-apps-891/?utm_content=buffer76e46&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

more on flipped....give it a try for a lesson...

Thanks to Angela for helping me to go around to different departments on Wednesday after school to check in on people's discussion on meaningful technology integration.  

Write About may be the best educational site of the year...article and video

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2014/11/24/write-about-may-be-the-education-site-of-the-year/

Interesting article on HW...

http://pernillesripp.com/2010/12/23/so-whats-my-problem-with-homework/

Thanks to Nicole for helping me this week with various small fires that needed to be put out and giving a lot of assistance to students in need.  I appreciate your willingness to lend a hand.  

40 inspirational speeches in two minutes:  or Inspiration for the audience with a short attention span.

Betty as been able to readjust her schedule with extra assistance that has been provided at Evergreen.  This also means some of the students in your classroom have different schedules, Betty sent an email detailing these changes.

A beginners guide to Personalized Learning:  

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/beginners-guide-personalized-learning/

Thanks to Sandy and Joe for running this weekend's Chess Tournament and we will have lots of custodial help to keep the place clean.  Still take time to put away classroom valuables.  

This was one of those great weeks when I was able to put on my instructional leader hat and get into a lot of classrooms.  I was able to see many different teaching styles reaching students  in different ways.  The one common component was engaged students in active learning.  Thank you for being so Awesome.  

Powerful cover of this week's New Yorker