5-1-2020

Thanks to Marcia and Melissa L for participating in the school nurse positions with me Friday morning.  I know how precious time is right now. 

ABC Countdown Fun  Glasses, Donuts and Fancy Footwear. 


Thanks to everyone for selecting the grade level and special awards.  I will share the results with Kim so she can start making e-certificates. 

Why are some kids thriving during remote learning.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-are-some-kids-thriving-during-remote-learning

I will be delivering Gowns and Graduation Yard signs on Tuesday May 12th.  I will have more details closer to the date.  Anyone that wants to help is welcome. 





Thanks for your continued checking in with students and parents.  I have seen teachers not only concerned about missing work but concern about the students welfare and well being. 

Don't forget about this kid.
https://www.rickjetter.com/single-post/2020/04/28/The-Kid-Who-Likes-Remote-Learning

Please let me know if you have any questions about room cleanout,I know there is a lot of information being sent out and it can be overwhelming. 



If you are visiting Benjamin you will be able to check out some awesome signs in front of our building!  Letting families know that we miss our students!

Things you only say during remote learning.

I am super pumped for the Benjamin Derby on Saturday.  Thanks to Courtney and Bill for putting this school/community event together. 

More information on doing awesome screencast videos.
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/screencast-videos/

I hope you guys are able to connect with students and families on Feedback Friday's.  Not only can students reach out to you, but it gives you time to reach out to the students and families you are concerned with.



We had another full slate of meetings yesterday.  thanks to debbie for organizing and facilitating the meetings and to the PST staff sitting in those meetings.  Special shout out to Mark, Lyn and Adrienne for holding out and staying for the entirety of some very long meetings.



Our Evergreen Neighbors completed a car parade yesterday.  Word on the street is the route took over two hours to drive and hit all of the student houses!  Great job Guys!


Make sure that you check out the BB300...I believe Lauren Dunne is the guest interview. 

"You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it" — Robin Williams

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” -- Babe Ruth

4-24-2020

Thanks to Rich, Chris, Megan and Angela for presenting Friday morning.  I am totally psyched!

7th grade team will be starting the locker cleanout process Friday morning.  I appreciate all of the teachers willingness to chip in and clean out lockers so we can arrange a pick-up day.  Special shout out to Jen V for sneaking in to get a head start on the PE lockers and for Tim for his assistance.  Also thanks to Tony and Frank for unlocking all of the lockers.

Teachers need SEL more than ever.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-07-teachers-are-anxious-and-overwhelmed-they-need-sel-now-more-than-ever?utm_campaign=Satchel%20Pulse&utm_content=126074176&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-966982472004235265

Please refer to my email for details about our Feedback Friday's  to close out the year.  These days will be a great day to communicate with students and parents and for students to catch up on assignments.  

Please remember to keep up your communication with parents  for students who are falling behind the 70% completion rate.  I have and will continue to call parents when I know that your communication attempts were unsuccessful.

Awesome Students Giving Back:

Special thanks to Kim and Ellen as they celebrated Administrative Assistant Day on Wednesday.  I know we are all grateful for their service and hard work.  

Please make sure that you fill out the staff survey that Dr. Woell sent out this week.  Your feedback is important to his future planning.

Thanks to Megan P for creating the ABC end of year countdown for us to add spirit and fun in our remote learning days.   

Did you know that the Specials Team has Positive Thursdays. A team meeting that is dedicated completely to sharing positive stories about students, teachers, families etc...  they have been doing this all year and I think it is especially a great idea now.

MJ has arranged for some staff to celebrate one of her students birthday by arranging a short car parade.  Thanks to all of you for going the extra mile for one of your students.

I am the guest interview in the BB300 news broadcast Friday morning so check it out...or not...the choice is yours.

It was National Library Week so a big shout out to Michelle and Kathy for all that they do to keep our students interested in reading.

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Quarantine accurate children's books.

4-17-2020

Some people are asking about coming into school and what they need to do about the alarm.  Here are the instructions from Tim. Come in door #1 like always with your badge.  Sign in on the clipboard.  When you are leaving check the clipboard.If there is still someone signed in then you just leave.  If no other active names are on the clipboard..take a quick look if there are any cars upstairs by the ad center...if there are...just leave. If not then put your badge by the brown box to set the alarm and then leave.  Tim said he would be happy to answer any questions on this.

Here is a great resource for finding resources tailored to your content and grade level.
https://wideopenschool.org/programs/educator/6-12/

Please make sure you are doing your best to reach out to students and then parents if they are not keeping up with their work and getting incompletes.  Then let me know if you do not get a response and I will reach out to the parents with a phone call.  I have only received a few request so please let me know after you have given your full effort to contact the family.

Philadelphia Groundhog finds a slice of pizza.

I appreciate all of the work that the team leaders are doing to help keep their team organized and communicated with.  I couldn't do it without you.

How people learn to become resilient.
https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-secret-formula-for-resilience

Thanks to the PST team and all special education staff that are going above and beyond to make sure they are communicating with families and reaching out to kids in creative ways.



Teaching assistants your copy of The Happiness Advantage can be picked up in district Ad Center.  Please try to pick it up by next week and I will give further directions for our Zoom book talks.

Prioritizing self-care when working from home.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/prioritizing-self-care-while-working-home


Thanks to Chris for putting together the BB 300 remotely. I believe team leaders are going to send it out in Canvas tomorrow morning.  Everyone should check it out to see the special interview with Dr. Woell.



In 7th grade team this week they came up with what I thought were two great ideas.  #1 sending a positive email to a student every day talking about how great a job they are doing in remote learning.  #2 Having a Zoom meeting with the team and students you select for students of the month, remembering that you don't have to be limited to only picking two or three students like we do when we are at school.  What great ideas for praising, motivating and supporting our students during this time.



I appreciate all of the tips, resources, jokes, memes,inspiring stories and other helpful links and tools that people have been sending out.  However, I have had more than a few staff members reach out to me to say they are overwhelmed with the sheer number of emails they are receiving and trying to sift through what is a priority. For the time being can you please send me the helpful email first and then I will send it out  or include it in the blog.  Thanks

Jim Gaffigan in quarantine with his 5 kids.  Might look familiar to teachers with kids at home.

Thanks to Bill and Courtney for organizing the Benjamin Derby 1 mile fun run for our students and staff on May 2nd. Look out for the info flyer, emphasizing social distancing while giving us a way to connect together.



I am looking forward to our planning day on Friday, April 24th.  I will be Zooming with several staff members tomorrow to help provide some excellent PD.  You can use this day for more planning as well. Students will also benefit from a day to catch up.  The use of additional planning days will be directed by Dr. Woell as we wait for more direction from the state/governor.

I want to thank everyone for putting so much effort into remote learning.  I see your hard work in your lesson planning and communication and am very proud of you.  Keep up the great work.

3-27-2020

I want to start off the blog by saying how impressed I have been by everyone's effort to help students and each other this past week.  For every lesson, zoom, flipgrid, screencaster, activity, extra effort and assistance that I know about, there are ten more that I don't know about.  You guys are truly the best, all while doing this within your own unique family/home situations make it even more impressive. There is no blueprint for this and   the district admin is trying to stay a little bit ahead of the curve.  Please make sure that you continue to reach out to me with your questions and please let me know if there are things that I am not doing that you think you would benefit from.

I know Zoom is exploding right now, however recently some meetings are getting hacked by people using vulgar language and sharing their screen with inappropriate images. However there are some easy ways to prevent this from happening.  Most of these are happening at public meetings with the link shared with many people on social media.  There are easy ways to protect your meeting , read the following article:
https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/20/keep-the-party-crashers-from-crashing-your-zoom-event/


Thanks to the SS teachers who attended the TCI Zoom meeting.  Hopefully it was helpful to learn the digital platform in different ways.



The lost art of deep listening and 35 life-affirming albums.  Two articles to help you get through the quarantine. 
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-03-17/coronavirus-deep-listening-music-albums
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-03-25/coronavirus-best-albums-deep-listen-quarantine


Different ways to use video conferencing with students :


Appreciate and miss our teaching assistants who have been doing a great job of completing PD while they are away.  They will come back smarter and ready to help their students. 


Isolation can breed anxiety...ways to come together when you are apart.
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/20/03/creative-connections-while-apart






10 things we learned about teachers this week. 
https://www.boredteachers.com/humor/10-things-weve-all-learned-about-teachers-this-past-week



More strategies to help anxious learners.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-metacognitive-strategies-help-anxious-learners-succeed









Please enjoy next week and recharge, look for the positives like more time to connect with your family, read, watch some movies...try something new..something you have wanted to do, but haven't had the time....and we will be in touch with updates. 

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” -- Lyndon B. Johnson

3-13-2020

Just want to reiterate my appreciation for the hard work that all of our club sponsors and coaches are doing.  We will be clarifying information on events, practices, competitions and activities in the coming days and will be ready to pivot if and when things change, which is totally possible.



Thanks to Michelle and Jim A who helped out last night to alert me and supervise some students that were in the building.

How finding your passion connects to growth mindset.  Good article.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200306-the-surprising-truth-about-finding-your-passion-at-work?ocid=global_worklife_rss

Thanks to Greg for putting on the training for the IAR on Wednesday.  Please let me know if you have any questions regarding testing.  I have ordered more headphones and we will have graph and scratch paper available in the office. 

Ways to Promote student voice.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-ways-promote-student-voice-classroom


Thanks to Lyn who, with some of our students, highlighted some student artwork at the Board Meeting on Monday night.

Don't wait to take care of yourself!
https://www.happify.com/hd/3-signs-you-need-to-schedule-self-care-stat/

Thanks to Megan D for all of the help she provided to organize the Foundation Trivia Night last weekend.  Also thanks to everyone who attended and/or sent in baskets.  It was a really fun night that will benefit our students. 




Thanks to Michelle F and to Kathy for hosting the Caudill party to celebrate student reading outside of school which also raises their achievement.  Way to go!


Thanks to Marcia for her guidance and attention to news/updates to keep our district alerted with the latest information on health and safety. 

Thanks to everyone for preparing for possible e-learning days that may (or may not) be in our future. 



Thanks to Tim and the Maintenance Crew for all of their efforts at keeping our school safe and clean.  We appreciate it.

Congrats to Megan P for guiding her students into reading 98 books over the second trimester.



All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” – Galileo Galilei

I subscribe to Disney Minus - it's just that one scene of Bambi's mother dying. $99.99 a month. Conan O'Brien

3-6-2020

Kudos to Bill and Mark who came up with a very innovative unit project for the 1950's that their students will complete in the month of April. 

How making music can help kids cope with trauma. 
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53880/how-making-music-can-help-students-cope-with-trauma

Thanks to the lunch supervisors who on top of their regular duties are also doing extra duties to serve out of the small gym and move the students back to the multi.



Thanks to Ellen who was operating solo in the office while Kim was recovering/working from home. 

A Google image search tutorial for students to explore copyright and important usage questions. 
https://www.commonsense.org/education/lesson-plans/drilling-down-in-google-image-search-copyright-and-why-it-matters

Thanks to Michelle for organizing the Caudill Reading program and celebration.

food for thought:


Thanks to the 5th grade team who ran an innovative reward trip yesterday in house with some virtual reality and other fun activities. 

How to make grading more effective and efficient. 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-strategies-make-grading-easier

I am looking forward to the Foundation Trivia Night this weekend.  Thanks to all of the teams/individuals who donated items for the raffle.  Also, thanks to Megan D for all of her efforts to coordinate things on behalf of the foundation and school district. 

The key to creating positive habits. (Habits of Mind Alert)
https://www.success.com/the-key-to-creating-positive-habits/


I am still in need of summer school teaching assistants.  Please see me if interested.  I am hoping to have it fully staffed by spring break. 

What happens to your brain when you get positive feedback.
https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/heres-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-get-positive-feedback.html?cid=sf01001


Lauren G did a great job of getting parent volunteer readers into her class all week for Read Across America week. 



Melissa L did a great job of unlocking an unbelievable  opportunity for our 8th grade musicians.  She has secured the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to work with our students in a variety of ways including a rehearsal, a Master Class and a performance.  We are one of only 6 schools in the state that they will do this with.  Thanks to the 8th grade team for being flexible and working with Melissa for this to happen. 



Thanks to Melissa F and the 5th grade team for organizing the dare graduation earlier in the week.  Students were excited to see the real bloodhound that the officers brought in!


I appreciate the meaningful conversation that I had with teachers in the ILAR and Math subject area meetings on Wednesday.  What is always apparent to me is that teachers at Benjamin care about their students, their educational experiences and how they perform. 

Using growth mindset with our EL students:


I appreciate the work that Sherry is doing to revise our letter for 6th grade students considering Spanish for their 7th and 8th grade year.  This will help families in the decision making process. 

Graphic Novels are real books....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/dont-be-afraid-to-let-children-read-graphic-novels-theyre-real-books/2020/02/27/ed374b92-4dd7-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

The 8th grade teachers will be travelling  to enchanted castle on Friday for an exciting reward trip of game play and adventure, and the students are also looking forward to their trip!

3 tips to use data effectively.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-tips-use-data-effectively

Just a reminder that we will have our IAR training on Wednesday with Greg.  I will have the revised schedule to everyone by then as well.  Special thanks to Kim for getting all of the accommodations/test rooms and all other information entered into SIS.




Congratulations to Colleen and Kerry who earned IDNR grants for outdoor ed and a trip to the Shed Aquarium!  Also thanks to Janice and Lisa for making it happen. 



"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." -- Ernest Hemingway