December 16th-20th

Food for thought...

It's Kind of Like Riding a Bike

photo credit jonny.hunter on Flickr

This past Thursday, after 85 phone calls, Petra's sub job failed to fill. Here's our text message exchange after 75 calls from our sub system:

And just like that I was teaching first grade. I reviewed Petra's plans, picked up her kids and headed into class. Secretly, I worried I would be out of practice...and I was just a little excited. I love to teach! So then I did what substitutes are NOT supposed to do-- I failed to follow most of Petra's plans. Oops.

Now, I did follow the schedule, we did morning meeting and SIPPS as planned. We went to the computer lab and the kids went to Spanish. But I didn't do a single worksheet, even though there were several listed in the plans. 

I totally get why they were there. It's tough to plan for a random sub when you're sick. But I wasn't just a random sub. Luckily for me, first grade is right in the middle of their Winter in the Woodland GLAD unit, which I taught last year. Sweet. I knew what I wanted to do. Reading. Writing. Art. 

OWL MOON! My favorite picture book from this unit. Maybe of all time. Ever since I met Jane Yolen in 5th grade, I have been a fan. 

We read the book while looking at the pictures, and then watched the video again. While watching the video, the students wrote words that they heard in their writer's notebooks. 

Later in the day, we went to the computer lab where students entered their word lists into a Google form. 

I then used Word It Out to create a word cloud using the words they had written in their notebooks. 

(Word it Out works on a Chromebook-- it's my new favorite!)

To end this day, we did some owl drawings using this YouTube video. You might want to give it a try! 

So, I found it is kind of like riding a bike! Although I didn't know all of the routines and procedures for Petra's class, all in all it was a good day! I love Owl Moon, I love first grade, and I love, love to teach! Thank you to Mrs. Luhrsen's class for making my day! (I promised them I would blog about it!)

Things I loved this week...

Gingerbread in Kindergarten!

Winter art in TK

A student leading the learning in Mrs. Torres' Class!

• Also, Joe's NCS EdTech News blog post about the awesome teacher bloggers here!
• Petra's first grade class zipping through their SIPPS phonics sounds
• Maria's students in workshop-- they were loving their Patricia Polacco study and were working hard on their timelines!
• Hope's students chanting away about ungulates, using amazing signal words and sentence frames filled with academic language
• The vampire Gingerbread men in Amy's class
• Ms. Fraser's kids writing everywhere around the room-- even on the floor!
• Writer's notebooks in Alex's class- her students were excited about writing!

Dates and Details

December 18th- Ballet and Music performance in gym at Star 6:30 PM (after school enrichment only)
December 18th- late start Wednesday: breakfast at main campus 8-9

December 20- end of semester & first annual BLING IT ON DAY!

December Winter break- December 23rd-January 3rd

January 6- NCS staff development day

January 17 report cards sent home

January 27th - ALA Awards broadcast! December and January: Mock Caldecott at Star Academy! Click here for the link to the live broadcast of the awards ceremony!

Tech Tips

Did you know you have a YouTube channel? As part of our Google Apps for Education, you do! You can easily upload videos taken with your phone, iPad, and even upload from your computer. Just look for the share button and enter your NCS Google account information. It's that easy! Then you can easily embed in your blog or post on your website.

Having said that, YouTube sometimes adds random related videos at the end of your video. This is not always what you want. To find out how to turn off this feature, check out this post!

How to Remove Related Videos from an Embedded YouTube video

Have a great week!

December 9th-13th

Food for thought...

Inspiring Learners

This past week, our parking lot was fuller than usual as we hosted our first Project GLAD demonstration lesson for 27 K-3 teachers from all over Northern California. As often as I could, I peeked into the classroom to see what was happening. On the last day it looked like this. Who's doing the learning?

Everyone is learning. From each other.

photo by Petra

photo by Petra

I still remember being one of those teachers in the back in a GLAD demo several years ago. My mind was blown that it was just business as usual for the kids, even though there were over 25 adults in the room. My mind was blown by what the kids could do. And my mind was blown by the level of engagement. It was busy. It wasn't quiet. Kids moved on the carpet. And they were happy. Just like this past week in Petra's room. Everywhere I looked, I saw collaboration and learning.

I think there is a lesson to be learned from these smart first graders. We learn by doing. We learn from each other. Learning should be fun. And we can accomplish amazing things! Thank you all for inspiring me every day!

The books are here! The books are here! 

Some Caldecott hopefuls!

Stop by my office and pick up a book or two! Then hop on the Mock Caldecott site with your class and vote! Here's the link to the site with book trailers and a little summary of each.  There are 30 books which will have a home in our new library!Have fun!

http://ncsala.blogspot.com/p/books.html

Dates and Details

December 9th- CPR training at Star- let me know if you are interested or visit http://www.axiompros.com/  only $30 (only 12 spots available)

December 10th- Dental presentations by grade level  Click here for link to assembly schedules
December 11-13 Secret Santa (Reveal night Dec 16th!)
December 12th- Tech Time!

December 13th- Phil Tulga assemblies (9:30 and 10:30

December 18th- Ballet and Music performance in gym at Star 6:30 PM (after school enrichment only)

December 20- end of semester & first annual BLING IT ON DAY!

December winter break- December 23rd-January 3rd

January 6- NCS staff development day

January 17 report cards sent home

January 27th - ALA Awards broadcast! December and January: Mock Caldecott at Star Academy! Click here for the link to the live broadcast of the awards ceremony!

Not really a tech tip, but....

If you are looking for a play to put on with your class this year, check out Bad Wolf Press. I can tell you I have done FIVE of these plays and they truly are the easy button. Kids love them and they are FULL of awesome academic content. Visit their site at http://www.badwolfpress.com/ to read the scripts and listen to the songs. I recommend the American Symbols one for first grade, Life Cycles for second, and Vacation on Mars for 3rd grade. There are some cute ones for littler kids, too. 

December 2nd-6th

Food for thought...

I read somewhere once that you should do something that scares you once in awhile... So, with this in mind I set my alarm clock Saturday night for 5:50 am. Hope had asked me to go for a hike in the morning to see the sunrise at the top of the mountain near my parent's house in Truckee. That sounded like a fabulous idea.. at first. Laying in bed, I thought more about this. At six in the morning it's DARK. And there are bears in Truckee! My parents have seen quite a few in their yard over the years. What was I thinking? Hiking? In the dark? With bears?
Maybe Hope would oversleep. No such luck- she walked in my room at 5:47... before my alarm even went off. I couldn't let her go alone, not when there might be bears! I put on two jackets, gloves, and my shoes. We grabbed a flashlight and headed out into the darkness. It was 18 degrees outside.

As we headed off the road onto the dirt trail, I took my hood off. I needed to be able to listen for bears! The stars provided more light than my dad's flashlight. From time to time, snow in scattered patches crunched under our feet. I kept moving forward in the darkness and up the hill as the sun began to peek over the mountain. Once, I spotted a dark shape off the trail. I held my breath, and was relieved to find that it was only a stump in the distance.

Light slowly replaced the darkness as we neared the top of the trail almost an hour later. Warm pinks and oranges painted the cold morning sky. We'd made it in the frozen darkness. All the way to the top-- without seeing a single bear. Rewarded with a beautiful sunrise on the first day of December.

Dates and Details

December 3rd-6th Project GLAD demo- in Petra's class (Petra, Hope, Saryn & Tammy)

December 6th- early release day. Grade level planning or GLAD planning (if you're part of demo) / Staff potluck

December 9th- CPR training at Star- let me know if you are interested or visit http://www.axiompros.com/  only $30 (only 12 spots available)

December 10th- Dental presentations by grade level- schedule TBA

December 13th- Phil Tulga assemblies (9:30 and 10:30-- grade levels TBA)

December 18th- Ballet and Music performance in gym at Star 6:30 PM (after school enrichment only)

December 20- end of semester

December winter break- December 23rd-January 3rd

January 6- NCS staff development day

January 17 report cards sent home

January 27th - ALA Awards broadcast! December and January: Mock Caldecott at Star Academy! Click here for the link to the live broadcast of the awards ceremony!

Tech Tip: Animoto for Educators

Are you looking for another cool way to add pictures or video to your class website or blog? Animoto is easy and FREE! For educators, you get unlimited length and images just by signing up here at Animoto's Education site. Here are two videos I made over the break - one from Erin Dealey's assembly and one from our Fallen Leaf Lake hike. There is music included on the site, or you can upload your own. Have fun!

November 18th-22nd

Food for thought... Pirate booty!

This past Saturday I woke up at 5 am to go to see Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate, in Moraga at Saint Mary's College. I love, love meeting authors! He was amazing, and I highly recommend his book. I'm going to use his "teaser" hook and just share the word cloud and a few pictures from the day... If you want to know more check out my blog post from Lead.Learn.Sparkle or read the book!

The word I wrote the most shows up the biggest. Think he's talking about engagement?

It's all about content.

He had me at secret.

Things I loved...

Word Jam in 2nd grade- which Julie blogged about!

Reading "Deck the Walls" to classes! I loved the kinder version of fa-la-la which sounded a little like la-la-la!

The homemade turkeys outside TK. Big Papi is AWESOME!

The kids' behavior at lunch. They filled my bucket!

Learning about how salt impacts freezing time in 3rd grade.

Hearing all about the Google launches with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders!

Teachers venturing into the world of global publishing, one blog at a time...Awesome

Dates and details:
November 20th- Late start Wednesday- whole staff in lounge (this is a change)
November 21st- Tech time 3:15
November 22nd- Erin Dealey assembly 10:15-11:00 (I can't wait!)
November 25th-29th Thanksgiving break-- Enjoy! 

December 3rd-6th Project GLAD demo- in Petra's class (Petra, Hope, Saryn & Tammy) be sure to arrange your subs)
December 6th- early release day. Grade level planning or GLAD planning (if you're part of demo) Staff potluck?
December 9th- CPR training at Star- let me know if you are interested or visit http://www.axiompros.com/  only $30 (only 12 spots available)
December 10th- Dental presentations by grade level- schedule TBA
December 13th- Phil Tulga assemblies (9:30 and 10:30-- grade levels TBA)
December 18th- Ballet and Music performance in gym at Star 6:30 PM (after school enrichment)
December 20- end of semester
December winter break- December 23rd-January 3rd
January 6- NCS staff development day
January 17 report cards sent home
January 27th - ALA Awards broadcast! More information to come about the Mock Caldecott at Star Academy! Click here for the link to the live broadcast

Tech Tips:

If you want to get rid of the "similar video" suggestions that show up after you insert a YouTube video in your blog, here's some info that might be useful: http://illuminea.com/remove-related-videos-from-end-of-embedded-youtube-video/ 

Removing the "next blog" nav bar in Blogger:

November 11th-15th

Food for thought...
 
This past weekend I loved having time to read and was very excited to finally start reading Donalyn Miller's new book! I had preordered my copy last May and it was finally delivered! I was also excited to read John Schu's blog post about the book where he premiered her book trailer. You can read the post here. On that blog, he also had an opportunity to win one copy of the book-- and I won! This is the second time I have won a book from Mr. Schu-- either I am very lucky or no one else enters! Either way, he asks winners to pay it forward and so I am giving away a copy of the book as well. You'll find the entry form below. Entries will be accepted through November 15th :) If you're thinking about inspiring wild and independent readers you'll want to read this book.

Things I loved this week...

Dates and Details

November 13th- Coordinator Coffee- parents can chat with me from 8:30-9:00 am
November 13th- Late start Wednesday- Cadres meet

November 14th- Tech Time 3:15
November 20th- Late start Wednesday- planning
November 21st- Tech time 3:15
November 22nd- Erin Dealey assembly 10:15-11:00
November 25th-29th Thanksgiving break 

December 3rd-6th Project GLAD demo- in Petra's class (Petra, Hope, Saryn & Tammy) be sure to arrange your subs)

Here's the link to our staff room sign up sheet. Thanks for helping out! 

Tech Tips:

Have you heard about SAMR? Basically, it's a little like Bloom's Taxonomy but for tech. Here's a video to give you a quick overview in 120 seconds!

November 4th-8th

Food for thought...

This is what it felt like around school this week to me. I loved seeing the kids (and teachers) dressed in PJ's, with crazy hair, and even in their costumes on Halloween. Historically, Halloween has not been my favorite day at school and kids can sometimes be crazy! If I had to describe the feeling around campus this week in one word, I would choose happy. The kids were so excited as they hopped out of their cars each morning. I know sometimes that elementary kids don't really understand the meaning of red ribbon week, but I do think being happy is an important part of being healthy. Thank you for being a part of creating a happy school climate this week! 

Things I loved this week...

Awesome "healthy" chains made with our counselor, Caroline Hines!

Crazy Hair Day

Sports Day

Dates and Details

November 4th- We will have visitors from Winters School District- coming to see Common Core in action since you are all so awesome!
November 7th- Tech time with Joe
November 6th- No meeting- planning time 

November 11th- no school - Veteran's Day

November 13th- Coordinator Coffee- parents can chat with me from 8:30-9:00 am
November 13th- Cadres meet

November 15th- Movie night TBA
November 22nd- Erin Dealey assembly- time TBA (shhhh- it's a surprise!)

November 25th-29th Thanksgiving break

Tech Tips

Check out Erin Klein's blog post about accidentally creating a digital writer's workshop in her classroom-- and how it impacted student engagement. Erin is a 2nd grade teacher in Michigan.

Linda Yollis is a 3rd grade teacher in Southern California who blogs with her students. Every November she has Family Blogging Month! Check out her blog about it! Or better yet, watch what her students have to say about blogging in the classroom...

Have an awesome week!

October 28th-November 1st

Food for thought...

I love my job! It is my passion and I feel so lucky to be able to work with such amazing and passionate people. People who are creative and incredibly hard working. On any given weekend, at least one person comes in to work, often more. There is so much to do, and never enough time in the day. It's hard to find balance, and yet it's so important. I'm trying to lead by example... the last two weekends I haven't been to work and I've tried to find a little time for me each day. It was also a little scary leaving school for a whole day for the first time to attend the Fall CUE conference in Napa, but it was also good to get away. I appreciate Maria and Julie being in charge for the day! I feel energized and inspired by both the conference and a little time off. If you want to read more about why Fall CUE is kinda like Christmas, click here. Or not! I hope you are able to find balance and take some time just for you!

Things I loved this week
The book fair!

TK's Ten Apples Up On Top

The ever changing 2nd grade community murals

Dates and details

Spirit days this week!

Monday,  October 28th- Crazy Hair Day - “Don't Be Crazy - Be Healthy!”

Tuesday, October 29th- Pajama Day - “Healthy Kids Make Dreams Come True!”

Wednesday, Oct. 30th- Wear Favorite Sports Gear or Team Jersey - “Team up and Be Healthy!”

Thursday, Oct. 31st- Wear a Costume or Dress in Orange and Black - “Don't Be Scary, Be Healthy!

Friday, November 1st- Wear Crazy Socks - “Sock it to unhealthy choices!”

October 30th- whole staff collaboration in lounge 8-9 am

November 1st- early release day- whole staff collaboration in lounge 12:30

November 4th- We will have visitors from Winters School District- coming to see Common Core in action since you are all so awesome!

November 11th- no school - Veteran's Day

November 13th- Coordinator Coffee- parents can chat with me from 8:30-9:00 am

November 15th- Movie night TBA

November 25th-29th Thanksgiving break

Tech Tip: The Power of YouTube and Digital Publishing

This weekend I was reminded that teaching kids is about helping them find their passion and that innovation doesn't always have to include technology. I was also reminded about the power video has to teach us, and to move us. Here are two videos that illustrate these two concepts, as well as a link to Lisa Highfill's CUE session on Youtube. Although the products below are low-tech, the power of technology via YouTube allows us to hear their stories...  Enjoy and have a great week!

Lisa Highfill's YouTube session resources

The Landfill Harmonic

Caine's Arcade

October 21st-25th

Food for thought…

I love books! I love reading them, talking about them, buying them. I make no apologies for my Amazon bill and am always on the hunt for a used book store. The gift card for Amazon you gave me last week is gone already, spent on books, of course! This weekend, I took some time to relax and read and it felt so good! I finished up Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner (a science YA thriller) after downloading the first four chapters from her website for free! I also started And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, my November book club read. I’m also reading Bill Bryson’s childhood memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, which I discovered last week after listening to him speak at the Sacramento Bee Book Club event featuring his newest book One Summer: America 1927. Right now, I have 10 actual books on my bedside table, and more on my iPad. There are also books in my office including Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and Ame Dyckman’s latest book Tea Party Rules. I love them all! Last year, I set a goal to read 365 books in 2013, or an average of one per day. My Goodreads page says I’ve read 72, and that I am 220 books behind! What really happened is that I lost track of the books I read and forgot to log them. I wanted to count the books I read to my first graders, as well as my personal and professional reads. At the end of 2013 I may not be able to say that I read a book each day, but I can say without a doubt that I loved books each and every day of the year! My book inspiration comes from many places- Twitter, my friends, my book clubs, and even authors! I connect with many authors on Twitter, and Ame Dyckman is awesome. She sent bookmarks, stickers, and some cute pins for every kid in our school! In the next few weeks, I’d love to come read with your class and share some goodies! She would love to hear from your class, and is going to Skype with our school when we open our new library! Here's the book trailer for her latest book!

   

Also, it’s the time of year where authors, librarians, and bloggers start making predictions about the American Library Association award winners for the year. Last night, I checked out this School Library Journal post which shares predictions for both the Newbery and Caldecott awards. This year’s American Library Association’s award ceremony for youth media will be held on January 27th and is streamed live! My most recent Amazon purchases are all from this list! Here’s the book trailer to Journey by Aaron Becker. I can’t wait for it to arrive!

I’d love to know what you’re currently reading! Leave a comment at the bottom of this post to share your book love. Happy reading!

Dates and Details

October 21-November 15th Kids Can Food Drive- Boxes in front and in cafeteria for grade level drop off

October 23 late start Wednesday - PIPs

October 21-25 Book Fair!

October 24th- Jennifer off campus in PM

October 25th- Jennifer at CUE, Maria and Julie will be acting administrator that day

October 25th 11:00-11:30 Mad Science Assembly (regular lunch schedule)

October 28-November 1 Red Ribbon Week Spirit Days: (more info to follow)

• Mon Oct 28th- Don't be crazy- be healthy! Crazy Hair day
• Tuesday October 29th- Healthy kids make dreams come true! Wear your pj's
• Wednesday Oct 30th- Team up and be healthy-- Wear your favorite sports gear or team jersey
• Thursday Oct 31- Don't be scary- be healthy! Wear your Halloween costume or dress in orange and black
• Friday Nov. 1st- Sock it to unhealthy choices! Wear crazy socks 

October 30th- Late start Wednesday- whole staff collaboration in lounge
November 1st-: Early release Friday- 12:45-2:00 whole staff collaboration in lounge, after 2:00 grade level planning/prep
November 15th- Star Academy Movie Night

Things I loved this week:

Watching the 2nd grade communities unfold in the hallways... Be sure to check out their amazing murals!
Watching the TK kids come to school so excited because they brought pumpkins!
Having Alex officially join our Star Academy team!
Hearing Tammy say she was inspired!
Being joined by almost 50 parents at our first parent meeting, and sharing the news that we are already almost halfway to our goal of raising $32,500 in just the third month of school!
Watching first graders write in their notebooks and hearing their nonfiction chants from my office!
Hearing from one of the parents in Saryn's class how much they appreciated her efforts with a student who had to move unexpectedly
Seeing so many families at the Harvest Festival!
Watching first graders giddy with excitement as they boarded the bus for their first field trip
Having kindergartners offer to help me open yogurts!

Tech Tips
Tammy shared the Screen Actor's Guild StorylineOnline  where celebrities read. Thanks for the tip!

October 14th-October 18th

Food for thought...

Last week, I suffered a sparkle lapse. There, I said it. For the first time all year, I didn’t publish my staff blog. I think there was just a bit too much on my plate and I decided that I needed to be ok with skipping the week. Just this time. Maybe no one even noticed! My goal has been to blog each week, and I had been looking forward to this week- there was no way I was going to miss two in a row! In each week’s post, in this “food for thought” section, I try to share something fun, inspiring, or thought provoking. Sometimes it’s a video, a quote, or a story. Once in awhile it’s my own thoughts but I do love when I find something from one of my friends or colleagues to highlight in this spot.

This morning, like many mornings, I was enjoying my coffee and checking out my email and Twitter. Bam! Inspiration hit me with my subscription to Katherine Sokolowski and her Read, Write, Reflect blog. It’s one of my favorites, and her posts always have me thinking. This week, her post is entitled “Let’s Celebrate!” and she shares about Ruth Ayres and her  blog challenge to sghare something to celebrate each week. Love! Check out her Celebrate Link UP where each week she invites you to share something you’d like to celebrate that week. I know that sometimes we can have a dark day, or a dark week- like last week when I lost my sparkle. But there is so much to celebrate! Here are some things that I’m celebrating this week- things that made my heart full and my spirit sparkle!

1. Market Day! Our amazing 2nd grade teachers brought project-based learning to life as their students collaborated to create a “shop” where they provided a good or service to our K-3 students who shopped til they dropped! Students earned market bucks throughout the week for good behavior. The second grade students worked in teams and did an awesome job of getting their products ready- including several nail salons, a Minecraft prop shop, tissue flowers, and sparkly clay pots. Check out the Animoto and a few commercials  below! This was an excellent example of a real-life, relevant assessment of learning to culminate their communities unit. I ended up with a beautiful flower, a glittery pot, a hair band and a journal. Awesome!

Minecraft Props

Rockin’ Tattoos

Nail Polish Stars

Market day Animoto

2. I am also celebrating our fearless new teachers who, with just two days GLAD training under their belts have been implementing strategies to increase student engagement! I dare you to say the word coniferous to a first grade student! They are sure to bust out with a motion and a super academic definition! Kindergarten students can tell you all about the Bald Eagle, and third graders can be heard chanting a rounding song, even at lunch! Our second graders are also immersed in their communities unit- with their own communities decorating our halls with rural and suburban examples. GLAD strategies are everywhere!
3. October is Connected Educators Month! This is also something to celebrate! Many people may think of technology when they think of connected educators- teachers Tweeting, Skyping, blogging and more. For sure, those are ways to connect. But for me, being a connected educator is so much more. I am inspired daily by educators that I connect with- at my school, online, through the Area 3 Writing Project, and people I have met in person. This past summer, I met Nancy Minicozzi , known as @coffeenancy on Twitter this summer at CUE Rockstar Tahoe. Even though she did not attend my book trailer session, she has created several awesome book trailers and shared one with me today using Voki, a tool I did not know about! Check it out here!
4. Finally, I’d like to celebrate that I work in a school that inspires teachers to be creative and innovative. As expected, teachers start with the grade level standards when designing curriculum. Then, teachers consider the students, their interests, and instructional needs and design something customized just for them. It is a TON of work, but the results are amazing when teachers aren’t bound by a scripted textbooks.
   
   

There’s so much more to celebrate! The beautiful fall weather, the Harvest Festival, and the Book Fair is coming!

What are you celebrating this week? Click on Today’s Meet and share something you love!

Dates and Details

October 14th-17th Minimum Day lunch schedule:

10:50-11:10   

2nd grade

Early kinder

TK

11:10-11:30

3rd grade

PM K

1st grade

October 14th 4:30-6:00 PM Tech Task Force meeting at NCS Library Media Center

October 17th 6:00-7:00 PM Star Academy Parent Meeting in library

October 21st-November 15th Kids Can Food Drive

Oct 21st-25th Book Fair

Oct 24th- Jennifer off campus in afternoon / Tech time with Joe at 3:15 in the lounge

Oct 25th- Jennifer off campus @ Fall CUE- Maria and Julie will be sharing Teacher-In-Charge duties that day

October 25th Mad Science Assembly 11:00-11:30

October 31st- Costumes optional

Tech Tips

Tech Tips from @katsok

Make an Animoto movie- Free Animoto for educators http://animoto.com/education/classroom