12-16-2016

A huge thank you to Karen for organizing, setting up, decorating, and taking down the big district breakfast today.  I heard many comments on how nice the multi looked today!

Thanks to Sherry for organizing a cultural event in her class today, Not only did the kids get to eat the homemade tamales, but they got to learn about the process to make it and had moms in the room to serve them.

Band and Choir sounded nothing short of phenomenal Tuesday Evening.  Big props go out to Mrs. Lamantia and Mr. Turek for inspiring the love of music in our students!

Duck it's a Flying Drone! Thanks to Angela for setting up a coding drone station in the imsa flight class.  Students took turns in groups trying to fly it through a hula hoop by using code.  Kids had a blast and there was only one major injury....JK:)

Thanks to Victoria W for doing a great job Student Teaching with MJ, we appreciate all the help you have given our students!

Basketball is on a roll.  Dan and Matt Tylk have done a great job of working with the boys on fundamentals and we are starting to see improved play and a few W's.

Just a reminder that we have a learning meeting on the wednesday we get back from break.

Thanks to Jessica for another excellent edition of the tiger Tiger Times, and for setting up a skype with another newspaper club from California.  that club sought us out because of the quality of our paper.  

Thanks to Megan Dusing...for encouraging Nicole and Jackie to write the wonderful story "The Holiday Barbeque Sauce Miracle" which is in the Tiger Times this week. I strongly suggest you read it as Nicole put it.  "It is going to make us famous "

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday break.  I thank you for your gift and hope you enjoy a small token of my appreciation that was in your mailbox this morning.

12-9-2016

  Thanks to the 5th Grade Team and Melissa L for doing a wonderful job with caroling at two area nursing homes yesterday.  The kids singing meant so much to the residents and the kids came away with a great feeling of selfless giving.



Need some gifts ideas? Here's our list of must-reads for kids, by age:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/content/50-books-all-kids-should-read-before-theyre-12?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=mlp1216&utm_medium=social&utm_term=organic&utm_content=50books


It's that time of year again, no not the holidays.  Time to take the 5 Essential Survey.  Please take a few minutes during your plan or team to complete the survey.  Thank you!



I'm looking forward to the book fair next week.  thanks to Michelle and Barb for assisting the PTA to make this event a success.  Also thanks to all of the ILAR teachers for bringing your kids down.



Good luck to the Choir and Band as they play this weekend for the PTA Breakfast with Santa.  Melissa and Matthew have been working hard to get the students ready for this event along with our assembly and concert on Tuesday.

Make a talking QR Code with Google Drive:


Please do any prep work necessary for Wednesday's Subject Area Meeting in the LMC.  We want to make sure that every subject areas online curriculum actually reflects what you are teaching.  In the future we will worry about format and consistency.

Stephen King's top 20 rules for writers.
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html


Thanks to all of the Special teachers for leading The Hour of Code next week.  Here are some code resources.
http://classtechtips.com/2016/12/01/24-hour-code-resources-teachers-schools/




Don't forget about the Holiday Breakfast next Friday!

12-2-2016

Thanks to Jim, Melissa F, Colleen, Mark, Lynette, Jen, Matthew and Melissa L, for coming in on Thursday night and Saturday morning to engage with community members about our upcoming improvements.  The extra time you put in will benefit everyone in the district.  Thank You.

Just a reminder that we have the big Chess tournament this Saturday.  Please make sure you put away valuables/breakables before you leave today if we are using your room.  This is a huge event for our Bengal Chess Players!

Want to become smarter?  Neuroscience research says to try this simple habit.
http://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/want-to-raise-your-iq-by-23-percent-neuroscience-says-to-take-up-this-simple-hab.html

Courtney has arranged for a Jockey to come in today and talk to some of the Evergreen students on what it is like in his career to be racing horses for a living.  What a cool experience for those students!

Thanks to Alicia and Angela for doing a great job teaching the music/tech and IMSA classes.  I talked with all of Mike's students today and sent a letter home to communicate with parents.  Also a big thank you to Melissa for working with Alicia on the music classes.

Google might hold a contest to make one city the city of the future.
http://www.inc.com/kevin-j-ryan/google-sidewalk-labs-contest-city-of-future.html


Another super creative idea from Michelle Fiorini, make sure you send her your "Shelfie"(picture of your bookshelf) so kids can match the shelfie to the bookshelf.  Fun!

Speaking of super-creative, Lynn has figured out a way to take a picture of a student holding their artwork and through photoshop turn it into a coloring page to take home.  Ask her to see an example, they are awesome.

An ELL super strategy:
http://superell.com/turning-students-teachers/

Congratulations to Dan on securing a victory last night for the varsity boys bb team.  Matt and Dan have been working hard with the boys to emphasize growth in play and character.  Great Job!

Big props go out to Jessica and Lauren for the prep work they are doing to get NJHS launched this year.  It is going to be a great year of student leadership.

This periodic table actually tells you how you can use all of the elements.  Awesome!  Click on the link, the picture below is just a preview.
http://elements.wlonk.com/ElementsTable.htm

Speaking of student leadership, hats off to Colleen and Alex for all of the fundraising, activities, spirit weeks that Student Council has put together this year.

I will be at a writing conference with Bill, Adrienne, Lauren and Danielle on Monday and Tuesday.  This should be a great conference that will help us raise scores but more importantly make our students better writers.  

18 Digital tools to Make Better Readers and Writers  (Really good resources/article)
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/08/19/18-digital-tools-and-strategies-that-support-students-reading-and-writing/



Thanks to Sherry for organizing the Friday get-together after school.  Please attend if you have a few minutes.

Mark your calendars, the Holiday Breakfast served by the admin team and board members will be on Friday, December 16th. Get up early, and bring your appetite.

"I'm starting to think humans don't even like winning free cruises".