Oh the thinks you can think!

Principal ponderings...

This past Saturday, I attended our first elementary science fair.  We had over 120 students from both Swallow Union and Florence Roche sharing their projects which were either informative presentations or experimental presentations.  The middle school north gym was buzzing with eager little scientists. There were middle school and high school teachers there to judge the presentations, as well as some college students.  I made my way up and down the long aisles, listening to students explain everything from chromatography to germs to amounts of sugar in drinks (Yikes, stay away from Sunkist!).  As a former biology major and high school biology teacher, it was so exciting to see so many kids talking science with each other.  

One parent explained to me that her kindergartner had a very important question that she wanted an answer to: are bubbly potions hot or cold?  Well actually her original question involved being able to make a love potion. :)

A fourth grader had taken swabs from lots of different household items to figure out where the most germs were.

A first grader had built several models of the different kinds of volcanoes and was able to explain how each kind formed.

One of our third graders demonstrated to me how she extracted DNA from a strawberry.  Very cool!

I loved hearing from this second grader about how temperature affects the speed and distance a hockey puck travels.  Did you know that the NHL freezes all pucks for 10 days before using it in a game?  Well, this student did the experiment to prove the science behind this fact!  

The students did a terrific job presenting their experiments and information.  After they presented for the judges, they were free to travel to their peers' displays and learn from each other.  It was amazing to see the huge variety of topics and experiments.  It goes to show that our students have lots of different things that they are wondering about, and this fair gave them a chance to make some educated guesses and then figure out if their hypothesis was correct or not.

When I came home from the science fair, I stumbled across this blog article while I was browsing on twitter: http://www.educationrethink.com/2014/03/in-defense-of-new-math.html?spref=tw

Just like the science fair giving kids a chance to be inquisitive and prove or disprove their hypotheses, the author of the above blog entry talks about the 'new math' that we have our students doing and how parents often criticize this notion of having kids explain their thinking.  We have to make sure that we are helping our students develop a foundation in number sense.  What does that mean?  It means they need to be able to think math in their heads, picture math, visualize number lines, use the number line to solve problems, and most importantly, explain how they got the answer.  (Or sometimes, just as important...why they came up with the wrong answer.)

We need to make sure that while we are teaching all of the content that we are supposed to teach, we are also making sure to teach our students how to think.

So my question for you...You know what topics to teach to your students, but do you know how to teach them to think?  What do those lessons plans about thinking look like?

Currently reading:
I have been reading several articles from this month's Educational Leadership magazine.  The topic this month is "Using Assessments Thoughtfully."  Definitely some good articles which I plan to possibly share with you when I am finished.

And as usual, too many books, not enough time.  Here is a picture of a pile of books that I want to read.

Events this week:
Monday - At 2:30 middle school students will be visiting classrooms to discuss clothing drive
Tuesday - 4th grade ELA MCAS morning session, At 2:30, middle school students will be visiting classrooms to discuss clothing drive
Wednesday - 4th grade ELA MCAS morning session, 3rd grade chorus practice @ 2:25 in the gym, School Council Meeting at 3:30 in the library, 3rd graders leading pledge at School Committee Meeting at 7:00
Thursday - Long Comp make-up day for 4th graders
Friday - Last day for Yankee Candle orders

Great things I noticed last week:

• 2 students in Mrs. Riley's class shared some of their irish step dancing moves with me on St. Patrick's Day.  They told me they practice dancing every Monday in an after school dance class.  The picture is a little blurry...hard to catch them since they moved rather fast!
• Mrs. Cook's kindergartners demonstrated that they are experts when it comes to digraphs like, th, ch. and sh.
  
• Check out this full box of books that the 4th graders have prepared to send off to a 4th grade class in Dracut as part of our "Read it Forward" project:
                                          
• Students in Mrs. Wilkins's first grade class were working with partners to highlight words that they needed to use different strategies for in order to read a non fiction passage.
  
• Kindergartners were creating quite a structure in the block area during free choice time.
• Mrs. Miln's students were enjoying time with their book buddies.
  

Check it out:
I follow this blog where they focus on charts that can and should be used in elementary classrooms.  I also have a copy of their book if anyone is interested.  This week's post was an interesting one that focused on charts that have to do with non fiction reading and writing.
http://chartchums.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/non-fiction-non-problem-revisited/


And some great comments on reading from twitter...

"Just because students can't read at grade level doesn't mean they can't think at grade level." #MRA14
— Alexander Davidson (@_AlexanderJohn) March 15, 2014

Allington:"It's simple-if you want 1st/2nd graders to grow a lot as readers give them lots of opportunities daily to read at school" #MRA14
— Stephanie Jackson (@StephRaeJackson) March 16, 2014

Check out this inspiring video of an amazing kid from Sierra Leone who has taught himself based on needs in his life and interests.  Kids have the ability to do anything!

Sometimes you just have to go with the Flo!

Principal ponderings...

I had a different blog entry written for today.  I was actually ahead of schedule, adding the finishing touches to my entry last night.  And then something happened and a little message popped up and asked me if I wanted to reload my page because my unsaved changes would be lost.  But I was not worried because on Blogger it automatically saves as I type.  So I hit the reload button with no fear.  And then...I found a blank page staring back at me.  AAAAHHHH, everything I had written was gone.  My husband heard my quiet "oh no" and first said, "I'm sure it's there somewhere."  After he and I both realized that it was definitely not there, he said, "Well, do you have to write this week?  Can't you skip a week?"  Of course I have to write this blog.  No, I cannot skip a week.  People are expecting to get my email on Monday.  There is important information that needs to be shared.  

I was tired and I was frustrated, so what did I do?  I shut my computer and went to bed.  

When I woke up this morning, I remembered that on Friday one of our awesome staff members had given me this gift:

Yes, it is a meditating giraffe.  In the card, this staff member wrote: "This will help you remember to go with the Flo!"  Fast forward to this morning and I am taking a few deep breaths as I retype my blog and remind myself to go with the flow.  I am one of those people who thrives on stress.  Give me a long to do list and a short amount of time and I am all over it!  Pretty sure that's how I ended up in the role of principal.  (Well the thriving on stress factor along with wanting to have an impact on children.)  But there are days...like today...when I need to stop, take a deep breath, and just go with the flow.

I was also reminded of the importance of stepping away from the stress factor on Friday night.  I know many of you were either helping sell raffle tickets, in the audience or even on stage performing at the variety show.  And even more staff contributed to the baskets for the raffle.  Even though I probably attended the least amount of practices, I still got up on stage and danced for all the kiddos.  It was so fun to see their smiling faces looking up at us, to hear them singing along, to high five them as we ran off the stage.  For the evening, we were education rockstars!  And I heard that the event raised over $4,000 to go to scholarships that will help create more education rockstars!  

After a long week of more budget meetings, difficult parent meetings, students having to be removed from class, Friday night was needed.  I loved every minute of it, and wished we could do it all over.  But now, it's Monday morning, back to reality.  While we won't be doing any dancing, the good news is we still get to be education rockstars every day.

**I want to take a minute to thank you for supporting me and working with me.  I know Dr. Bent sent out an email last week to all of you about my position.  I am truly happy to share that I will be signing a 3 year contract.  I look forward to all the possibilities that the future holds for Florence Roche.  I am honored to be the principal of a place that is much more than a school, it's a community of learners, and my home away from home!  And I love coming to work each day with all of you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Currently reading:
I finished The Mighty Miss Malone which was a great historical fiction book about a family's love for each other during The Depression.  I have another book by the same author that I am starting, Bud, Not Buddy.  This weekend, as I unpacked the last box, I discovered that I have a lot of cookbooks.  So I started reading through some of them.  I have one that not only has great recipes and photos, but the writing in it makes it a good book to read.  It's called Joy the Baker Cookbook: 100 Simple and Comforting Recipes.

The tag line on the front says: "A celebration of butter and sugar."  Well that hooked me in!  And she starts the book off by saying, "Let me be honest--sometimes my kitchen is a hot mess."  Yep, so is mine.  In another section, she writes: "Sometimes we need a hug; sometimes we need brownies.  Most times, we need both."  Amen!  You can tell from reading this cookbook that the baking author started off writing a blog and then turned her writing into a book.  (Hmm...I wonder if I can do that.)  When you have writing like this in it, I actually enjoy reading this cookbook almost as much as I enjoy making the recipes: "Biscuits don't care if you decide to sleep in on a Saturday instead of going to an early-morning yoga class.  They don't mind if you drank too much wine last night or if you have morning breath.  Biscuits won't love you less if you spill coffee on the morning paper and it doesn't faze them if you gobble down five of their biscuit friends at breakfast.  Biscuits are silent, perfect, nonjudgmental, buttery breakfast friends."

I also picked up a book that I had abandoned, hoping to get into this time: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu.

Events this week:
Monday - Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Tuesday - Long Comp Day for 4th grade, Grade 1 concert rehearsal from 12:00-1:15
Wednesday - 3rd grade ELA MCAS in the morning, 1st grade school concert @ 9:30, Staff meeting @3:30
Thursday - 3rd grade ELA MCAS in the morning, 2nd grade field trip to Peacock Players in the morning, 1st grade evening concert @ 7:00
Friday - Staff Breakfast beginning at 8:15 in the staff room (The Mahan family wanted to thank all of you for your support so they are providing a catered breakfast.)

Great things I noticed last week:

• Did you know that our 4th graders read 483 books as part of the MCBA project, The Massachusetts Children's Book Award project?  That is amazing!  Flo Ro students voted on their favorite, Out of My Mind.  If you haven't read it yet, I recommend that you do.  I saw lots of students stopping to check out the bulletin board in the hallway that is dedicated to the MCBA books.  We have also been trying to get copies of all of the MCBA books into our school library.
• 1st and 2nd grade teachers were solving math problems and explaining their thinking.  Don't forget pictures, equations and words!
  

Check it out:
This is an interesting list of 50 Crazy Ideas to Change Education.
And since it is the start of MCAS season...I love this letter that an elementary principal wrote to her students after the test results came in, reminding them that they are way more than a test score: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/2014/03/dear-students-test-score.html

Some videos clips to make you smile this morning...Be more dog!

And here is a great rant about creating passwords!

Do you have the write stuff?

Principal ponderings...

On Tuesday, thanks to the PTA, we were lucky enough to have a very special guest at our school, Cynthia Lord.  Cynthia gave two wonderful presentations, one to our 1st and 2nd graders and one to our 3rd and 4th graders.  I also invited some 4th graders to have a lunch chat with her in my office.  I can't say enough great things about this author and about her visit to our school.  There was one unexpected surprise that happened with her visit.  Yes, kids were excited about hearing read her new HotRod Hamster book.  Yes, students got the message about how important reading is to writing.  Yes, students learned about the writing life of an author they enjoy.  The unexpected surprise for me was Cynthia's impact on all of you, our teachers.  

Several teachers came up to me after Cynthia's visit and talked about how motivated they were to write.  Did you know that many in the building have dabbled in the writing world?  Last year, I taught an after school class to several of your peers, and it was all about the importance of teachers writing.  How can we teach writing if we are not actually experiencing the struggles and joys that come along with writing?  Some of you may have book ideas that you are playing around with.  Some of you may write in a journal.  Some of you may write poetry.  Some of you may write articles or blogs.  I know for myself there is so much I want to write but it's not easy finding the time.  During the lunch chat with 4th graders, Cynthia talked about when she wrote Rules and she was working during the day.  She said she would get up and write from 4:00 to 6:00 in the morning.  That was her sacred time of day where it was quiet and she could focus on her writing.  After scheduling that time, it eventually became a habit and a time of day that she looked forward to each day.  

I am not advocating that we all go and try to write a book.  But I am advocating that we all write.  If you can share in the same experience as your students, you will be a better teacher and you will help them become better writers.  And along the way, through your writing, you just might discover things about yourself that you never knew.  Writing can certainly be stressful, especially when you are first trying to get something on the page.  But writing can also help you relieve your stress, helping you get thoughts out instead of holding them inside.  

I challenge all of you to get yourself into a writing routine.  It does not have to be at 4 am like Cynthia!  Once you get that routine in place, maybe it will become a habit.  Personally, I love that I have my weekly routine of writing this blog.  I look forward to doing it each week.  Share your writing with your peers.  As I mentioned, there are many of us in this building who love to write.  Talk about your writing life, whatever it looks like, with your class.  Remember Cynthia's advice...We all need to read. We all need to write.  We all need to observe.  We all need to dream.

So FloRo, do you have the write stuff? :)

Currently reading:
I am still working on finishing up Half a Chance and The Mighty Miss Malone.  I have a brand new copy of Hotrod Hamster: Monster Truck Mania from Cynthia Lord in my office.  I read through it before I have to turn it over to our school library.  I also spent some time reading more of Book Love.

Events this week:
We are collecting registration packets for kindergarten all this week in the front office.  Report cards are open for you to enter in iPass.
Wednesday - Grade 1 chorus practice @ 2:25 in the gym, School Council meeting @ 3:30 in the office, School Committee meeting @ 7:00 at the high school
Thursday - Curriculum half day: meet at 1:15 in the library (lab teachers will be meeting with Grace and Sharon)
Friday - Para meeting @ 9:00 on the staff room, Grade 1 chorus practice @ 2:25 in the gym, Variety Show @ 7:00 in the PAC...come see your colleagues ROAR! :)

Great things I noticed last week:

• Students in Mrs. Snow's class were writing opinion pieces about going to bed at a scheduled time.
  
• Students asked Cynthia questions such as: how did you think of certain characters?, tell us about the spot where you like to write, what is your favorite book that you have written?, how long does it take you to write a book?
  
• Our 2nd graders and multi-age classes did an awesome job singing their hearts out at the concert!
  
• Mrs. Hoke's 2nd graders presented their heritage projects on Wednesday night.  I learned a lot about various countries and an added bonus...I got to try lots of family recipes!
  
• Our 4th graders were invited to a middle school assembly on Friday.  They listened to a motivational speech about accepting people with differences by Becky Curran and asked some really thoughtful questions.
  

Check it out:
Interesting blog post about not punishing students: http://pernillesripp.com/2014/03/06/how-do-i-punish-my-students-umm-i-try-not-to-2/comment-page-1/#comment-9020

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Principal ponderings...
Did you know that yesterday would have been Dr. Seuss's 110th birthday?!  It's amazing to think that more than 20 years have gone by since his passing, yet his books are still loved and read by millions of children around the world and right here at Florence Roche.  For those of you who haven't been in my office in a while, here is a picture of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes that I have on my wall:

Here are some interesting facts that I learned while reading about Dr. Seuss this weekend...

• His full name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.
• He was not a medical doctor.  In his words, "I put the 'Dr' on the 'Seuss' to make me sound more professorial."
• Green Eggs and Ham was written after his publishers dared him to try to write a book using only 50 different words.  Hmmm...what if we tried a dare like that with our students?!
• When he wrote for a humor magazine in New York, he did not always get paid in cash.  One time he was paid 100 cartons of shaving cream and hundreds of nail clippers.  Were they trying to tell him something?!
• The Butter Battle Book was written during the Reagan administration and was inspired by the Cold War.
• The decision to put a hat on a cat may have come from Seuss's love of hats.  He has a large collection of hats that are actually touring the country right now.  For another week you can see them in Northhampton!

And here are a few great quotes from Dr. Seuss...

(So hard to just select a few!)

Happy reading everyone! :)

Oh and speaking of reading...I am working with a community member who wants to help us with our school library.  Judy Anderson who volunteers in our library is working to set up an Amazon link where parents and/or community members could go on the site and purchase books to donate to our library.  Teachers, the first step is I am asking all of you to send me a wish list of books that you would like to see available in our school library. 

Currently reading:
I am still working on finishing up The Mighty Miss Malone.  I love that the Malone family motto is "We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful."  Pretty amazing for a family to have that motto when it's 1936 and the Great Depression has hit them.  Currently on my bedside table is the book Nonfiction Mentor Texts.
 I have been skimming through this book to see what books we need to add to classroom libraries and our school library.  I also pulled out a picture book I got last year to read more closely...Mossy by Jan Brett.  This beautifully illustrated book is about a turtle named Mossy who has a garden growing on her shell.  It is a story about "love, loyalty and home."  Let me know if you want to borrow it to share with your class!

Events this week:
**This week one of our Brownie troops has organized a food drive for Loaves and Fishes.  Donations will be collected in the front lobby.
Monday - 2nd PPS finalist will be in the district today to meet with staff and parents.
Tuesday - Author Cynthia Lord will be visiting our school, 1/2 presentation @ 9:30 in the PAC, 3/4 presentation @ 11:00 in the PAC, 2nd grade and multi-age chorus concert @ 7:00 in the PAC (make-up from snow day)
Wednesday - 1st grade chorus practice in the gym @ 2:25, Staff meeting @ 3:30
Thursday - Kindergarten Orientation @ 6:30 in the gym
Friday - End of trimester 2

Great things I noticed last week:

• 4th graders in Mrs. Nissi's class were doing some great brainstorming to think about developing superhero characters for their writing.  Thanks to the visiting author who was guiding them through the exercises.  Didn't have my camera with me to snap a shot!
• Students in Mrs. Jacques class were working on transferring their penguin facts to display posters. 
• I caught Mrs. Smith working with some 4th graders on division.  And they were successfully using all the correct steps of long division.
• I shared some of my picture books with Mrs. Guernsey's class...The Day the Crayons Quit and Little Red Writing.  Below is a picture of some of the writing that students in her class did using the same idea of perspective writing of inanimate objects. 
• The school enjoyed watching the play preview on Wednesday.
• When I popped into Mrs. Spiczka's class, I saw a student doing some great math equations on his own.  He and I had a discussion about the number line and how he sees the numbers that come before zero!
  
  
  
  
  

Check it out:
Here is link with 100 of the best educational games for iPads: http://www.teachthought.com/technology/100-best-educational-games-ipad/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A principal who I follow and often chat with through twitter or podcasts: http://www.principalj.net/sharing-reading-in-the-wild/

8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3586





And I'll leave you with this thought...

What?! Vacation is over?!

Principal ponderings...
Hopefully everyone had a great week off.  While mine was busy with moving, at least it was a change from the regular routine and I am excited to be organizing my new home.  To start us off this week, I am not going to write a blog post.  Instead I will include some video clips to make you smile. (The truth is...my brain is still switching back to work mode!)

This is hilarious.  Watch kids reenact some scenes from 2014 Oscar nominated films:

Here is a clip about how Kid President came to be:

And here is a non fiction rap I came across, created by students, for students!

Currently reading:
I would have loved to spend the vacation week reading lots of books, but I had to spend the week unpacking and moving into my new home.  Unpacking lots of boxes of books reminded me of my long list of books that I still need to read!  I don't think the movers were too happy with my multiple heavy boxes of books.  I did manage to start reading The Mighty Miss Malone.  Thank you Mrs. Roundtree for loaning it to me.  I finished reading Rules...can't wait for Cynthia Lord to visit our school next week!


Events this week:
Monday - Welcome back!  Hope you all had a restful, relaxing vacation.
Tuesday - Director of Pupil Personnel Services candidate visits the district, 4th grade author visit
Wednesday - Grade 1 chorus @2:25, School Council Meeting @3:30 in the library, School Committee Meeting at the high school @ 7:00
Friday - Grade 2 Abe Lincoln program @ 9:30, Jack and the Beanstalk in the PAC @ 7:00
Saturday - Jack and the Beanstalk in the PAC @ 7:00
Sunday - Jack and the Beanstalk in the PAC @ 2:00

Check it out:
Of course I love my 'to do' lists, but here is an interesting read about 'to don't' lists:
http://www.marcandangel.com/2014/02/19/20-things-that-belong-on-everyones-to-dont-list/
And since my week (as well as the next several weeks!) has been focused on organizing my stuff...
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/20-tips-more-organized-classroom/
Quite an editorial piece titled 'You think you know what teachers do? Right? Wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/22/you-think-you-know-what-teachers-do-right-wrong/

I want to be an instructional leader

Principal ponderings...

Dear Staff,
As we just passed the 100th day of school and are finishing up the 2nd trimester, I felt it was important to write a letter to all of you and tell you about one of my goals for the school year.  While I have been working on many different projects and plans during my first year as a principal, my number one goal has been and continues to be...be an instructional leader.  Being an instructional leader is the most important aspect of my job.  I want to be helping all of you continue to grow professionally.  And the only way that happens is when I am in your classrooms on a regular basis.  I came home after a long day last week, and shared with my husband how frustrated I was from the day.  As I was talking to him, I realized something: the reason that I felt so lousy was because I had not stepped into a single classroom all day.  The next morning I blocked off the entire morning and walked through several classrooms.  It was a much better day.

To be an instructional leader, yes, I need to be in the classrooms, but it goes beyond just simply walking through.  I like to see both what you are teaching and how you are teaching it.  I also like to observe the students and observe the learning that is taking place.  I like to ask students what they are doing and if they know why they are doing it.  To be an instructional leader, besides walking through and observing, I also need to be providing feedback; feedback which will help everyone grow, staff and students.

Just like all of you, I want to keep growing and improving through professional development.  I recently signed up for a 21 day instructional leadership challenge.  Every day I get a short video clip sent to me with some advice and usually a task to try out.  I am also connected with principals and other administrators from across the country who signed up for the same challenge.  Together, we discuss how to make walk throughs and observations more beneficial for students and staff.  I have also been participating in a High Performance Instructional Leadership Network since the summer.  Dianna and I both participate in this network where we engage in monthly webinars about being effective leaders.

Even with everything that is going on with the budget, my goal is to visit each classroom at least once every other week.  I know many of you are used to seeing me in classrooms, but I want to remind you that I don't want to disrupt learning by stepping into your class.  Please don't feel like you have to stop what you are doing or have the students stop what they are doing to talk to me.  I like to be able to slip in and not stop the flow of learning.  And after I have popped into your class, hopefully you will get feedback in some format, whether it's a quick note, an email, something in Evernote or a face to face conversation.  And sometimes, if I have not given you feedback after a classroom visit, it's ok for you to come find me.  I always love to talk about teaching and learning!

Looking forward to seeing you in action!  Thank you for making this school a learning environment where all students can learn and where we can learn from each other.

Sincerely,
Liz, your fearless instructional leader! ;)


Currently reading:
I started reading Rules by Cynthia Lord, the author who is coming to talk to our 3rd and 4th graders in March.  It is reminding me of Out of My Mind, the difference being it is told from the perspective of a sibling of a child who has autism.  I'm enjoying it so far.  I also started reading a new book called Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.  It's written by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, who is ranked on Fortune's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

Events this week:
One more week before another vacation week.  Can't believe how fast the school year is flying by!
Monday - Have a Heart Campaign will be taking place all this week.
Tuesday - Grade 2 and Multi-age rehearsal @1:00
Wednesday - TLA consultant working with lab teachers, Grade 2 and Multi-age School Show in the PAC @ 1:30, Staff Meeting @3:30 (Dr. Bent will be attending), School Committee Meeting and Budget Hearing at the PAC @7:00
Thursday - Elementary curriculum half day (Grade level teams will have PLC time), Grade 2 & Multi-age Chorus Concert @ 7:00
Friday - Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy the vacation week!

Great things I noticed last week:

• I caught some of Mr. Rider's students doing some partner reading.
  
• Mrs. Margolius's first graders were doing 'turn and talk' after listening to a read aloud.  
  
• Mrs. Taylor's kindergartners were talking about what good readers look like.  She was sharing some photographs where she had caught students sitting quietly and reading.
  

Check it out:
Some ways to stay connected to the Olympics in class:
http://technicallyteamann.com/inclassolympics/
Top 10 Practices for Principals to Promote Literacy:  I'd like to think that I am doing many of these! And there are some that I need to add to my to do list!
http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/top-ten-practices-for-principles-to-promote-literacy-in-school/
Kid President gives advice to someone on their first day here in the world...

Mrs. Kineen played this song for me the other day and I want to pass it along to all of you.  You can't help but dance along to this tune.  And if you watch the video...you see all sorts of people dancing!   Hopefully this song can put a smile on your face and some pep in your step as we start this week... 

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...How Does Your Library Grow?

Principal ponderings...

One of our goals this year is to focus on improving our classroom libraries and providing more independent reading time for our students.  I know recently grade level teams had the chance to have some conversation around classroom libraries with the reading coaches.  I have also had several conversations with teachers, and recently I spent some time conducting informal assessments of the lab teachers' classroom libraries.  It's great to see the progress we have made in just half a school year!  Mrs. Potter was just telling me the other day that her students have been reading non fiction during independent reading time, but they were asking her for more time in the day to read some of their fiction books.  Kids asking for more reading time...how awesome is that?!  By developing their reading stamina, implementing a consistent reader's workshop model with significant time for independent reading, and allowing for lots of choice within the classroom library, those 4th grade students in Mrs. Potter's class have developed a love of reading.  Plus, they realize from the environment created in their classroom and their teacher's modeling, that reading is important and valued.  This isn't just happening in 4th grade.  I was in Mrs. Taylor's kindergarten class the other day, and several students were proud of their classroom library and excited to tell me about the different choices of books they had in their room.  Kindergarteners were choosing books and going up to other students and saying, "Hey, do you want to read this book with me?"  Again, awesome stuff happening with reading in our school.

Some of you have already made changes to your library.  Some of you have read articles I shared over the summer, and talked with your peers about your classroom library.  I encourage all of you to keep having those conversations with each other.  Come chat with me...I love to talk books!  Seek out Grace and ask her about ways to improve your classroom library.  Stop into one of the lab teachers' classrooms and take a look at their libraries.  Ask them about how they organized their bins.  Ask them about leveling some of the books.  (Did you know we have parent volunteers who are already eagerly helping some teachers level books using the Fountas and Pinnell website that I purchased for us?)  The lab teacher have done a lot of work to get their libraries organized and running smoothly, where students utilize the classroom library on a daily basis and take pride in their books.  They know that they still need to keep adding books to their libraries, but they all have a great start, so make sure to utilize their knowledge!

Here are a few short articles about the importance of classroom libraries and advice for what to include in them:
http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-library-importance
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/paperbacks/downloads/library.pdf (Did you know that by simply having a library in the classroom, close to the students, one study found that time spent reading increased by 60%!?)
http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2012/10/how-does-your-classroom-library-grow-research-based-guidelines/
http://www.pinterest.com/reallygoodstuff/cool-classroom-libraries/  Some great visuals on Pinterest!

"To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul."
--Cicero

Our classrooms are our students' homes for 6 hours a day.  Does your classroom have soul?

Currently reading:

This week I spent some time reading some of the great picture books that the PTA bought to add to classroom libraries and our school library.  One of the books is called Those Shoes.  It's a wonderful story about a young boy who learns that what he has in his life is worth much more than things that he wants.  Another great book I read was called Battle Bunny.  This book was supposed to be about a birthday bunny, but through the magic of writing over words and adding to the illustrations...it becomes a completely different story.  It's a book that will certainly motivate our young storytellers!
Check out this video where the illustrator explains how he put together the drawings in the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5tcduZJQx0
I also read a book called Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.  This is one of the those books that remind us it's ok to be different and the illustrations are awesome!  I can see our young students begging to have this story read aloud.  Here is the author talking about his book:

I picked a book back up this weekend, and I was glad I made myself finish it.  It was called Lighting Their Fires: How Parents and Teachers Can Raise Extraordinary Kids in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World.  The author, Rafe Esquith, is a fifth grade teacher who has amazingly high expectations for his students.  The book is written about his trip to a Dodgers-Cardinals baseball game with some of his students, and throughout the innings, he shares terrific advice for teachers and parents on how to raise thoughtful, honorable, successful students.  I absolutely recommend this book!

Events this week:
Tuesday - 2nd grade public library trip (Miln and Benkley)
Wednesday - Kindergarten enrichment: Nashua River Animals in Winter, Grade 2 and Multi-age Chorus practice @2:20, Staff meeting @3:30, Dr. Bent will be attending
Thursday - Report Card Committee Meeting @ 3:30
Friday - Grade 2 and multi-age chorus practice @2:20

Great things I noticed last week:

• Mrs. McEvoy's 2nd graders were enjoying the poem "How to Talk to Your Snowman."
• Mrs. Wilkins was reading aloud a story about Chinese New Year to her class and discussing what a narrative non fiction book is like.
  
• Mr. Coronis and Mrs. Smith were working with students on understanding the relationship between multiplication and division.  The room was buzzing with eager mathematicians!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Mrs. Wenz's students were starting the day off by having two confident students run the morning meeting.
  

Check it out:
Many of you know that I don't have cable at my house, and since we weren't rooting for anyone in particular, we did not watch the Super Bowl.  I discovered this little list and thought it would be perfect to share: 14 books you could have read in the time it takes to watch the Super Bowl.  My kind of list!
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/fourteen-books-read-time-takes-watch-super-bowl-2/

Read about what one teacher has done over her career to save students' lives:
http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/30/share-schools/

Are we asking our students these powerful questions?

And here is a great reminder of why we teach...