Principal Ponderings...
When this is all over what will you remember? I know we will remember the weird experience of going to the grocery store wearing a mask, following the direction arrows, and standing 6 feet apart in line. I know you will remember craving time with friends and family that did not involve logging in on the computer. I am guessing you will remember sitting through Google Meets and Zoom meetings in your pajama pants.
But what else will you remember? Will you remember the small moments that happen? The ones that in our pre-quarantine life we would have been to busy to notice?
I will remember sitting together as a family for dinner, no electronics, talking and laughing. And my husband always thanking me for making dinner. I will also remember when my kids starting thanking me before he had a chance to say it. (They are learning!)
I will remember snuggling with my daughter at bedtime. Feeling her bury her head in my neck. I will especially remember the sensation of her little fingers intertwining with mine, falling asleep while holding on.
I will remember listening to tunes while solving a 1,000 piece puzzle with my husband late into the night.
There are a lot of other moments that I don't want to remember, the ones that made me cry, the ones where I was frustrated with my kids and my husband and myself. But I am going to really try to hold onto the small moment memories that are getting me through this crazy time. The time when the whole world hit the pause moment. Slightly ironic that "pause" was my one word for 2020.
What will you choose to remember?
Currently reading:
I am still working my way through Song for a Whale. I have about 5 more chapters to go. Still struggling to find time to sit and read, but I know I need to keep trying to do that. I miss my reading life before COVID-19.
I find myself reading a lot more articles and blog posts as opposed to actual books. And I am surrounded in my house by actual books. I need to try to schedule a regular reading time into my day because I have bookshelves full of books that I need to read and want to read!
Staff Shout Outs!
Just a reminder that you can use this form to submit staff shout outs.
Liz Bercume wanted to give a shout out to Darryl V: Darryl has been a lifeline through this whole process. She has taken initiative and spent hours creating assignments and helping her team. Plus, she is really, really funny.
Liz Bercume also wanted to give a shout out to Liz H: Liz H is an actual angel. She is the most kind and positive person. She gives so much of herself and truly has a passion for teaching. Our staff and students are so lucky to have her!
Big shout out to Meredith Greco. Julie R shared that Meredith has been so helpful with researching tech tips/videos and sharing resources with how best to support our students on IEPs.
Big shout out to Gayle M, Jess A, Deb H, and Sarah S for being brave and recording themselves reading stories so we could share more read alouds with our families.
Big shout out to Lynn Wood for connecting with students and families who are struggling and offering support and assistance. Families are very appreciative!
I am upset with myself that my weekly blogging, something I have done for years, came to a screeching halt when schools closed down mid-March. Each week I kept saying, I am going to write a post. And then it never happened. I have had the idea for my comeback post for a while. Feels. All the feels.
The picture posted above is the mural that my talented brother painted this past summer. It is on display on the side of an oceanfront business. I love the colors. I love the texture in it. I love that this is an image that people saw as they drove down 17th Street towards the beach. And today, while I am writing and thinking about having "all the feels," this image came to mind.
Before the Governor's announcement today, I have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. And then as soon as I heard the words "schools will be closed for the remainder of the year," it felt like the rollercoaster came to a complete stop, one that jerked us all forward and then slammed us back, halting us in our tracks, shaking us, rattling us to the core. I was driving back from dropping the mail at school, listening to the press conference. And even though I knew what he was going to say before he said it, as soon as it was out there in the world, I cried. I drove away from school and I cried. And then I put on my brave face so that my own children would not see my tears.
All the feels. Been feeling all of the emotions. Some days I am feeling anxious. Some days I feel pumped up and ready to take on this challenge. Some days I am so sad that I cry into my husband's shoulder. Some days I am angry that people think we should just go back to business as usual while people are sick and dying in hospitals. Some days I am worried about my parents and my in-laws. Some days I am accepting of what is happening. Some days I feel like I want to quit. All the feels. Been feeling all of the emotions.
I think it's ok to experience all of these emotions, to ride the rollercoaster that none of us signed up for. You have to let yourself feel all the feels. Recognize the feeling, let yourself experience and then move on. Sometimes you come to a place on the ride like I did the other night. I was playing a Disney princess matching game with Emerson while the Disney sing-a-long was on in the background. Cayce was in the other room reading a book on the phone to his mom. Dave was giving a remote piano lesson in the music room. Emerson had just helped me set up the game and told me she wasn't that good at matching games. And then on the first turn, she found a match! Chip from Beauty and the Beast. She looked up at me with a look of surprise and joy. In that moment, I of course teared up, but I was so happy. In life before COVID 19, this moment might not have happened. Or if it did, it would not have meant as much I think. For a little bit, I enjoyed riding the emotional rollercoaster and feeling all the feels.
What feelings will you feel on your rollercoaster ride this week?
Currently Reading:
I don't know about you but my reading life has taken a beating during this pandemic. I am finding it hard to set time aside to simply read. So I picked up some graphic novels which I knew would be easy to sit and read in one sitting and get that feeling of completing a book. I read two this past weekend. The first was Lunch Lady and League of Librarians. A very funny book, I can see why kids love this series...the play on words with food items is awesome! And hopefully we can bring the author, Jarrett Krosoczka, to Mayo next year!
I also enjoyed spending a morning sipping my tea and reading Smile. As a child who had a lot of dental work, way more than normal, I could appreciate the struggles Raina went through! I am excited to read Guts next.
I was very excited to get a new professional development book in the mail, The Interactive Class. This book is packed with ways to engage students using technology. Will be sharing what I learn from it with all of you!
Staff Shout Outs!
Normally I have a section on here where I share all the great things I see happening in our school. I add pictures and celebrate the amazing things you are all doing in your classrooms. Clearly that's a little tough to do now. But we can celebrate each other and lift each other up during this tough time. Click on this survey to submit a staff shout out.
For this week, I wanted to give a shout out to the 5th grade team. I was on a planning call with them yesterday, right after hearing the news from the Governor. And they managed to make me laugh so hard that I had tears in my eyes. Which was so needed after tearing up for a whole different reason.
I also want to give a shout out to Patty Hurley. She is always willing to get on the phone with a family, reach out and connect, and let them know we are here to help. It is comforting to know that she is doing this every day.
Some of us went to the Get Your Teach On Conference in the fall. That group is offering ELA lessons online everyday. Here is the calendar to check it out.
Principal ponderings...
Since it's Dr. Seuss's birthday, Read Across America Day, Book Fair Week, and Community Reader Day this week....I thought I would simply do a Seuss-inspired post full of motivational quotes:
Currently reading:
I have loved reading The Good Egg and The Bad Seed to classes so I went and bought The Cool Bean. Will be reading during Wednesday evening's Book Fair event!
Since I was confined to my couch for much of the weekend, I enjoyed diving into Lila and Hadley. This book is available at the book fair. It's about a young girl who has to go live with her older sister because her mom has to go to jail. The girl has a condition where she is gradually going blind. She meets a dog from a rescue shelter and the two of them were clearly meant to be in each other's lives. As I was reading more about the author, I discovered an interesting organization that she co-founded called Disability in Kidlit.
Events this week:
** Scholastic Book Fair in the library all week! Monday - CST Meeting @ 8:00am, SIMCO meeting @ 4:00, English class for adults 5:30-7:30 in the conference room Tuesday - Fit Club K-2 @ 8am, Liz out of the building all day Wednesday - Staff Meeting @ 8am, Girls Who Code 3:30 in the purple pod, Scratch/Programming 3:30 in the green pod, Family Evening Event Book Fair/Bedtime Stories w/Principal Garden 4:00-7:00 Thursday - Fit Club K-2 @ 8am, Liz at Curriculum Meeting 7:45-10:00 Friday - CST Meeting 8:00 and 8:30, Community Reader Day! PTA BINGO Night @ 5:30 in the cafeteria Great things I noticed last week:
Thanks to the PTA for a smooth Bagel Breakfast for our families. Thank you to the teachers that stepped in and helped out with directing traffic and serving food!
Loved seeing kids sneaking a peek into the Book Fair once it was set up. So many excited kids ready to shop for books this week!
I was invited to a wonderful book tasting at Cotting's Cafe! Students had a chance to sample different genres and nibble on different books.
I also was invited to visit 5OC while they shared some of their colony projects. Loved that some students did actual models and some students created virtual colonies using SketchUp.
Over the break, I did a lot of thinking about the power of our words and how we can use writing for good. I also thought about how important it is for us to teach our students to use their words and use their writing to do good. I am part of a writing group called TeachWrite. It is mostly teachers (and the occasional odd principal) who encourage each other and push each other to be writers. It is hard to be a teacher of writing if one is not actually doing any writing. Some people in the group are writing books. Some people write in notebooks and journals. Some people write articles and blog posts. Some people write letters or fitness logs. The point is everyone is writing and encouraging writers.
This year, I started joining an online writing community where we actually meet virtually once or twice a week to talk about our writing and our writing goals, and then for most of the online meeting, we write. I love that I am now part of this writing support group. It keeps me accountable every week. Here is the website if you are interested in learning more: https://www.teachwriteacademy.com/
I am connected to people with the Two Writing Teachers website. In a conversation over the break, a literacy specialist shared that her uncle had passed away, but she had remembered that he wrote a memoir. Thanks to Amazon...where you can find everything!...she was able to find his memoir and purchase it. She shared with us this story verbally and then thankfully, she wrote about. You can read her message here: http://responsiveliteracy.blogspot.com/2020/02/chicago-kid.html. I love her ending: "Tell your story because your story matters." What an important message for us as adults. And an even more important message for all of our students. We have to help them find the writer inside of each of them. And if we are going to do that, we better make sure we are finding the writer inside of each of us.
Our words matter. Our stories matter. We need to be writing. And we need to be teachers of writing. No one says you need to be writing published articles or novels. Each of us can be a writer in our own way. Maybe we don't share our writing with anyone, keeping it hidden in a journal or in a computer file or maybe we share it with lots of people to get feedback and grow. It's almost March and that means it's time for the Slice of Life Challenge again. You might remember that I shared about this last year: The goal is to write a slice of life story every day during the month of March. That's 31 little snippets of your life. I have honestly surprised myself and written for 31 days straight during the last few March challenges. I did not think I could do it, but it has been so rewarding to be able to look back and read my writing and see my perseverance in action. During the challenge, you are also encouraged to read other people's posts and comment on their writing. I enjoyed going back and rereading many of my posts from last year. I love that I have these moments in time documented and can go back and enjoy them whenever I want.
So what do you say? Who wants to challenge themselves and try to write everyday during the month of March? You can either create a blog to post on everyday or you can simply write in a journal for yourself each day. Read more about the challenge here: https://twowritingteachers.org/challenges/. There is also a classroom slice of life challenge! Here is a new slicers survival guide post: https://twowritingteachers.org/2020/02/21/the-new-slicers-survival-guide-to-the-march-solsc/ And if you are ready to commit to writing everyday, sign up at this link as a participant: https://twowritingteachers.org/2020/02/12/participant-info-form-sol20/ (The first year I signed up, I failed and did not write everyday. But I tried and I certainly wrote more than I had the previous month.) You don't need to do the Slice of Life challenge, but you do need to make sure that you are finding time to write so that you can become a better teacher of writing. I started on this journey to become a better writing teacher about 17 years ago when I was a 2nd grade teacher. And I am still on the journey to better myself as a writing teacher. I work at it. I fail. I write junk. I write good stuff. I seek out feedback. I talk to other teachers of writing. I read about writing. I read like a writer. I write in notebooks. I write on sticky notes. I type on my laptop. I type on my phone. I read other people's writing. I share my writing with students. But most importantly, I write. What will you write this week? What will you teach your students about writing this week?
Currently reading:
Vacation week meant more time and energy to read before bedtime, early in the morning, while the kids were playing...lots of reading! I finished reading a non-fiction story called My Survival: A Girl on Schindler's List which tells the story of Rena Finder and how she survived the Holocaust.
Thanks to a recommendation from Angela Greene, I have been listening to a book called A Chance in the World. This is the true story of a boy from MA who was placed in foster care when he was only 3 during the 1970s. It's definitely tough to hear about how he was verbally and physically abused by the people who were supposed to be caring for him.
I have really been enjoying the PD book We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor. I am only a few chapters in, but the introduction had so many great statements, including this one: "As teachers, we cannot guarantee outcomes--that all kids will start businesses, lead their families, and contribute in their communities--but we can guarantee access. We can ensure that everyone gets a shot." Yes!
Vacation week meant a little more relaxed work schedule for me so I was excited that I could go into Emerson's class to read to a room full of adorable preschoolers. She went through an elaborate process of narrowing down the choices and the book that won was The Day the Crayons Quit, always a hit!
Events this week: Monday - Welcome back! English classes for adults in the library 5:30-7:30 w/Liz Hilton Tuesday - Grade 3 team meeting @ 8:00, Grade 5 team meeting @ 8:00 Wednesday - Girls Who Code 3:30-4:30 in the library, Computer Programming w/Scratch 3:30-5:00 in the green pod Thursday - PTA Bagel Breakfast @ 7:45, Liz @ Leadership Meeting in the am, Dental program in K and Grade 1 9:30-11:00 Friday - Book Fair Teacher Preview in the afternoon Great things I noticed last week:
I had fun being a 1st grader all day on Monday, even though there was a delay and it was the 100th day!
Loved seeing all of the K students marching through the school on the 100th day!
Glad I had the chance to pop into 4B and listen in as they Skyped with an author from Washington state. The students had great questioned and the author shared lots of free resources on her website!
I am enjoying spending some extra time on Wednesdays with some of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade girls in the Girls Who Code club!
1L had a fun morning of math games with family members on Valentine's Day!
It was great to see a surprised Mrs. Bercume Friday morning. I know Eli will now have so many great books and reading experiences with his mommy and daddy thanks to everyone's contributions.
As the daughter of a retired Latin teacher, I am a lover of words. I was raised to break words down and find the Latin roots. Some kids sat in church playing word searches or quiet puzzles. My siblings and I spent time searching for words that could be broken down and puzzled over what you could create when you put different Latin roots together. That's pretty normal, right?
I titled this post 'A Playful Interlude' and I want to first break down the word interlude. It comes from the Latin root 'inter' which means "between", "together", "in the midst", "mutually." It also comes from the Latin word 'ludo' which means "I play." We know interlude to mean the pause between the acts of a play, an intermission, a recess. When planning to write about the feedback from Global School Play Day, this amazing word, "interlude," kept popping into my head. There is certainly a lot of playing on words that I can do with it!
If we take the roots and define it straight from them, we get "together I play." Wednesday was an amazing day as together as an entire school, we played. Play day happened to fall on a Wednesday in the middle of the week....an in between play day, an interlude that we all seemed to need and enjoy.
It was great to reflect on the day and hear from many of you. So many of you had the same observations! Here's what we noticed when we let kids enjoy unstructured play...
Kids who are typically more shy and introverted were talking, laughing, playing with different peers.
Kids had no problem combining materials, games, toys to create something new together.
Many of you noticed that dismissal was quiet and calm...the kids were tired and relaxed from working hard at playing all day!
Everyone was respectful to each other.
Kids stepped out of their comfort zones.
Some teachers noted students taking a lot less bathroom trips. (Wondering if our nurse visits were less too?)
Kids began playing based off of friends they wanted to play with, but by the end of the day were choosing the activity over the friend group so they played with a different peer group.
Students were teaching each other and teaching the teachers how to play different games.
Tons of student to student communication.
Kids were taking turns without any adult interventions.
Kids were challenging each other without any adult interventions.
Kids were creating without any adult interventions.
Teachers reported learning so much more about individual kids by observing them playing.
Kids brought in all different toys and games from home and had no problem sharing with others.
Kids were playing in all areas of the school, including the hallways, pods, stairwells.
Older kids loved playing with play doh!
Kids were able to brainstorm or plan how they hoped the day would go: wanted everyone to be included, wanted to learn new games, wanted to have enough time to do everything they wanted to do
The kids themselves reflected and reported that they learned new games, played with different friends, and many shared that it was "the best day ever!"
With what we learned and observed during our 'playful interlude' last week, how can we replicate this on regular school days and during different lessons? I challenge everyone to take what you learned and figure out how to incorporate play into our daily learning. The benefits of students learning through play are so numerous, it only makes sense to have way more play than just one day a year. Of course, I don't expect it to look the same as Global School Play Day, but seeing what happens when we give kids choice, when we let them choose who to collaborate with, when we give them creative freedom, when we let them do the talking...we have so much we can learn from "just a day of playing."
I think we should plan for another full day of unstructured play in the future. I used to think the day before a vacation would be good, but now I am thinking the day we return from April vacation might be a great day to have some more unstructured play. We saw how excited kids were to get into school last week on play day...what if we could get them that excited to return from vacation week?!
How will you incorporate play in the learning happening in your classroom this week?
Currently reading:
I am currently reading a new memoir called Ordinary Hazards written in verse by Nikki Grimes. I have had the chance to see Nikki present a few times. I love her poetry she creates. She spent time in foster care growing up so her beginning poems in the book tell that story. It's an interesting read after finishing up The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. Nikki experienced trauma as a child, but is now telling the story of her childhood and doing it through poetry.
This weekend we visited Tatnuck Bookstore in Westborough because a local author was there signing her new picture book. Payson Hendrix is a middle school teacher in Shrewsbury, and she is a friend of mine. Her daughter went to the same home daycare as my daughter. While the two girls played in the store, I got Payson to sign a copy of her new book. And she's working on another one! Fingers Aren't Food is a funny read that has a laugh out loud ending.
And as a leadership team, the district leaders are reading Unconscious Bias in Schools. I have just started this one, but it is definitely pushing me and challenging me to think about unconscious racial bias and how that affects my interactions with students, staff and families.
Events this week: Monday - Happy 100th Day of School! Mrs. Garden will be a 1st grader for the day, no office day! 100th Day K Parade at 9:15 Tuesday - Grade 5 Committee Meeting @ 5:30 in the library, Grade 5 Boys' and Girls' Night 6:30-7:30 Wednesday - Liz and Laurie Coe at CPI Training all day @ Glenwood, Computer Programming w/Scratch 3:30-5:00 in the green pod, Girls Who Code 3:30-4:30 in the library Thursday - PTA Bagel Breakfast from 7:45-8:50, Liz at Curriculum Meeting from 7:45-10:00, Holden Grange visiting 3rd Grade from 1:15-2:15 Friday - Happy Valentine's Day!
Enjoy a well-deserved winter break! Great things I noticed last week:
Our 5th graders did such a great job sharing their writing at our Culmination Folktale Writing Event! I was so impressed with their dedication to folktale writing over the 10 weeks. And listening to and reading the fabulous language, creative voice, and interesting storylines made me so proud of our young authors!
I love talking about writing instruction! Definitely enjoyed listening in to discussions about reading like a writer and what teachers were noticing in different non fiction texts.
I took so many pictures during Global School Play Day and then everyone sent me so many as well! Here's just a random mix of pictures. It was such a wonderful day at Mayo!
Saturday night at the Railers Game was a ton of fun! The 4th and 5th graders did an awesome job singing before the game. Students got to sit on the bench during warm ups. People got pictures with Ricky Duran! And so many families had fun cheering on the Railers!
