February 24th-28th

Food for thought...

By Flickr user vistamommy
 [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

If you haven't had a chance, check out Joe's most recent blog post Learning from the Google Kids: Part 2. True, it's about the amazing kids that keep us on our toes, but it's really about YOU. You've set them up for success by learning about these tools yourselves, by having kids doing REAL writing all the time, on paper, on charts, on sentence strips, and sticky notes. You've made your classrooms places where all are learners and kids can be teachers, too. Thank you for being willing to embark on a journey where the destination is still unknown! I'm thrilled to be along for the ride!

Dates and Details

February 24th-28th Book Fair ---Teacher sign up schedule Preview and fill out wish list 2/24
February 25th- new family tour at 1:30
February 26th- PIP meetings- I'll be around to visit :)  Fire drill at 10:15

February 27th- Genius Hour with Joe click here to add to agenda,  new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30

February 28th- Dr. Seuss Night 5-8 pm, Read-a-Thon/ PJ day all day, and Kindness character trait/caught ya assembly at 10:30 (Jennifer is planning)
February 28th- Fire inspection
March 3- no school-- Oz Training
March 4th- First grade field trip

March 5th 10:20 Author Skype with Ame Dyckman!

March 5th- schoolwide walk begins (normally two times) 1:15-1:45 and 10:00-10:15-- we'll need to adjust the morning time due to the author Skype
March 6th- no Genius hour 
March 12th- Cadre meetings (ELA at Star)

March 19-20 GLAD two day trainings at Star

March 19th- Facilities meeting hosted by NUSD at the main campus TBA

March 19-22 Jennifer at CUE in Palm Springs-- Petra, Julie and Amy will be sharing teacher-in-charge

March 23rd- Sacramento Kings Game!

March 24th-26th WASC visits

March 26th-- Baby Jax day! (and Joe's birthday!)

Tech Tips:

IFTTT is awesome! https://ifttt.com/wtf 

February 18th-22nd

Food for thought...

First follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

    There are a few videos I could watch over and over and this is one of them. I had the chance to see it again this past weekend at CUE Rockstar in Napa. Now, I know that if I asked any of my friends or colleagues, they will say I'm the shirtless dancing guy. And I am! However, this is not the important thing about this video. Are you the shirtless guy? The lone nut? Or are you the first follower? No matter if you are the crazy one to start the dance, the first follower, or one who joins in later, the important thing about our school is that we all dance! All of us! As I was walking my crazy cute puppy around the block, I could quickly think of an instance where every one of you did something new, fun, or amazing that inspired us to think about trying something different. As we start the process of finding new staff members to join our team, I'd really like to just show them this video and ask them if they're ready to dance with us! Thank you for dancing your bootays off!

Dates and Details
February 18th- new family tour at 1:30

February 21st- Genius Hour -- Click here to add to collaborative agenda 

February 24th-28th Book Fair 
February 25th- new family tour at 1:30
February 26th- PIP meetings- I'll be around to visit :)

February 27th- Twitter party with WUSD  new family tour at 8:30 and 1:30

February 28th- Dr. Seuss Night 5-8 pm, Read-a-Thon/ PJ day all day, and Kindness character trait/caught ya assembly at 10:30 (Jennifer is planning)
March 3- no school-- Oz Training
March 4th- First grade field trip

March 5th 10:20 Author Skype with Ame Dyckman!

March 5th- schoolwide walk begins (normally two times) 1:15-1:45 and 10:00-10:15-- we'll need to adjust the morning time due to the author Skype
March 12th- Cadre meetings (ELA at Star)

March 19-20 GLAD two day trainings at Star

March 19th- Facilities meeting hosted by NUSD at the main campus TBA

March 19-22 Jennifer at CUE in Palm Springs-- Petra, Julie and Amy will be sharing teacher-in-charge

March 23rd- Sacramento Kings Game!

March 24th-26th WASC visits

March 26th-- Baby Jax day! (and Joe's birthday!)

Things I loved around campus this week:

As I have been touring prospective families and guests around, you have pretty much been blowing their minds! 

• Second graders, notebooks in hand, commenting on classmates' blogs in the lab during workshop
• Writer's Notebooks in first grade- 100% of kids engaged in writing about what they want to be when they grow up after a whole class mini lesson
• Third grade math workshop-- awesome! Kids on the floor, kids at desks, everyone getting what they need!
• First graders sorting AND articulating which comments were quality comments and which were not in a team task
• GLAD charts in kindergarten-- it's obvious what we are learning about!
• Second graders working in teams learning about the Presidents and Maps and Globes Jeopardy!
• TK writing and art is everywhere, and Karen graciously answers questions every tour... thank you!
• Diedre and Julie planned an amazing surprise shower, complete with those awesome tiny babies! I'm so excited to have a baby at Star!

• Cindy is a master at all of this lottery and application business. I would be lost without you!
• I loved all of the Valentines fun! 
• Petra being the lead learner at A3WP Super Saturday

• Sharing Star Academy in the NCS Board meeting :) 

Tech Tips

So, we learned about Photo Peach, but you can also make a quiz with it! This weekend in Napa someone showed me how! Here's Matt Gomez' blog post about it.
http://mattbgomez.com/slideshow-quiz-with-photopeach/ 

How to embed a Google Presentation in Blogger
http://www.emilydittmar.com/2013/03/embed-google-presentation-into-blogger.html

February 10th-13th

Food for thought...

There is always something to do, so be sure to take time for yourself and relax-- maybe by taking  a nap! I took one today and it was awesome! We need to remember to stop and recharge our batteries once in awhile. Sweet dreams!

Dates and Details

February 11th- new family tour at 1:30
February 12th- late start Wednesday -- grade level planning

February 13th- new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30
February 13th- Genius Hour with Joe-- click here for collaborative agenda

February 14th and 17th - no school

February 18th- new family tour at 1:30

February 21st- new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30

February 24-28 Book Fair 

February 27th- Twitter party with WUSD 

February 28th- Dr. Seuss Night 5-8 pm (we need to pick a date for our read a thon), Read-a-Thon/ PJ day all day, and Kindness character trait/caught ya assembly at 10:30
March 3- no school

March 5th 10:20 Author Skype with Ame Dyckman!

March 5th- schoolwide walk begins (normally two times) 1:15-1:45 and 10:00-10:15-- we'll need to adjust the morning time due to the author skype

Tech Tips

Picking cool blog titles-- check out this post! http://www.edudemic.com/student-blogging/

If this, then that! IFTTT http://venspired.com/?p=5994 

February 3rd-7th

Food for thought...

Is your head about to explode with new learning? This week, it's time to take a break and celebrate. Our family blogging month ended up with a whopping 66 blog posts and 351 comments-- and all of this awesomeness is a direct result of your hard work and the new learning you have been doing! So instead of taking on something new this week, we'll be taking time to relax and celebrate you and your students at our Genius Celebration. Thank you for inspiring our students, their families, other teachers around the world, and me!

Looking for something easy to do on Digital Learning Day? Have your kids hop on my Today's Meet and ask me a question! I'll reply! Visit https://todaysmeet.com/talk2mrsk

Dates and Details

February 4th-- new family tour at 1:30

February 5th- Late start Wednesday- staff meeting-- click here to add to the agenda  

Digital Learning Day! Click here to sign up for the lab or iTouches

February 6th- Genius hour-- Let's celebrate! Click here to add to the agenda :) Pick your favorite post!

February 6th- new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30

February 7th- minimum day / 1:15-2:15 WASC with Patrick Broughton in the Star Lounge (lunch at 12:30--click here for sign up list)

February 8th- A3WP Super Saturday  featuring Petra!

February 11th- new family tour at 1:30

February 13th- new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30

February 14th and 17th - no school

February 18th- new family tour at 1:30

February 21st- new family tours at 8:30 and 1:30

February 24-28 Book Fair 

February 27th- Twitter party with WUSD 

February 28th- Dr. Seuss Night 5-8 pm (we need to pick a date for our read a thon)

March 5th 10:20 Author Skype with Ame Dyckman!

Tech tips