December 1st-5th

Seeking treasure... in a book

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Welcome back! I hope you had a restful and relaxing break. December is such a fun and busy month and it will be January before we know it! In addition to getting ready for the holidays, one of my favorite things to do when the weather gets cooler is to put on some thick socks, cuddle up with my puppy and READ. Lately, I've read some great books in anticipation of the Newbery and Caldecott awards that happen in January. I'll be working on getting our Mock Caldecott up and running and quite a few of this year's picture book contenders are in my office already! Do you remember Journey, that wordless beauty from last year that won a Caldecott Honor? This year, you'll have to check out Quest, the sequel by the same author. Here's the book trailer!

If you are looking for a great read aloud, or just want to enjoy a novel yourself, I recommend The Green Glass House by Kate Milford  and The Night Gardner by Jonathan Auxier. Both are amazing! Also, this year's Newbery front runner is Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Prose poetry. Gorgeous. Powerful. 

My friend Poppi is also doing something fun for the month of December -- wrapping up a read aloud to read to her class each day before break. So fun!

Dates and Details:
December 1st- No Office Day
December 3rd- Bullock to Angel Island- Jennifer off campus
December 4th- Rohrbacker to Angel Island- Jennifer off campus (tech time TBA)
December 8th- No Office Day 

December 9th-

Meetings with architect (roving sub to cover if needed)
TK & Kindergarten 2:00-3:00
Admin office 3:00-4:00
Library/Media 4:00-4:30

December 10th- Star Staff Meeting 7:30-8:30 (click here for agenda) & breakfast  (click here to sign up)

December 10th- architect meetings
1st-5th grade teachers 2:00-4:00 (roving sub to cover, schedule TBA)
MP spaces and stage 4:00-4:30 (anyone interested)

December 12th- First grade to Sac Zoo
December 19th- 2nd annual BLING it on DAY!

Tech Tips: Hour of Code
Coding with Anna and Elsa? Frozen style? Yes! 

Check it out here http://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1 

Or check out code.org for more information and resources!

November 17th-November 21st

Dates and Details
November 17th: No Office Day I'm looking forward to getting into classrooms so you can get out and visit some others. Here's the link to sign up http://goo.gl/r122DT
November 18th: Star Family Book Club-- Kate Messner! 6:30 in the library
November 19th: 8:00 am meeting with the Star Academy architects in the library. Click here to preview the preliminary design!
November 20th: No tech time this week- Joe is at a conference and Jennifer is touring a school with the architects
November 24-28  Thanksgiving break
December 3rd- Bullock to Angel Island
December 4th- Rohrbacker to Angel Island
December 10th- Star Staff Meeting 7:30-8:30
December 12th- First grade to Sac Zoo

Tech Tip
Are your students too noisy? Here are two browser-based noise meters that show your students how loud they really are :) 

November 10-14

 

Teachers and students learning together

Amazing and happy kids

Collaborative teachers

Every day I am reminded what an amazing gift it is to be part of the Star Academy community. Both Regina and Kate shared last week that if they were to go back to the classroom, they would want to come to our school. The warm, fun, and collaborative environment doesn't happen by accident. It happens through hard work, keeping an open mind, being willing to share, and by being positive. And you make it better every day. I'm so excited for our future! Thank you for all that you do. I am thankful for all of you!

What are you thankful for? Be a guest blogger on the Star Academy blog during the month of November. Check out the blog post for this month to add your thankful thoughts :) The link is here.

Dates & Details
November 10th- No Office Day! I'm looking forward to getting into classrooms so you can get out and visit some others. Here's the link to sign up http://goo.gl/r122DT
November 11th- No school 
November 12th- Wreath orders due and Cadre meetings
November 13th- Genius Hour: What would you like to share? What would you like to learn? Click here to add your ideas!



November 14th Kate Messner Skype 11 AM for grades 1-5 in the gym
November 17th: No Office Day I'm looking forward to getting into classrooms so you can get out and visit some others. Here's the link to sign up http://goo.gl/r122DT
November 18th: Star Family Book Club-- Kate Messner! 6:30 in the library
November 24-28  Thanksgiving break
December 3rd- Bullock to Angel Island
December 4th- Rohrbacker to Angel Island

Tech Tip: Sphero
Are you wondering about the little glowing ball that we were trying to drive at last tech time? It's actually a robot! Here's a great post by Jo-Ann Fox about these cool new coding tools. Ten are coming to our school! Also, the Hour of Code is happening December 8th-14th. Check out http://code.org/learn for more info and to sign up to participate. We'll be trying out some coding this week at tech time.

November 3-7

Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to students and families during conferences last week. I had the opportunity to sit in on conferences at almost every grade level and was blown away by your passion and professionalism and LOVE for your students. I can tell that your students love you and love school. Your classrooms are warm and inviting and I appreciate the way you dive into everything one hundred percent-- even our spirit days. I hear from many parents via email and while at school, and I heard so many compliments this week about our school and about you. Thank you for making Star such a fun and fabulous place!

Dates and Details

Fit Friday walks
3rd-5th will walk from 8:40-9:05
AM TK/K-2nd will walk from 9:10-9:35

PM K and PM 12:30-12:55

November 3-7 GLAD demo in Carly's class, planning in library in the afternoon

November 4: Jennifer off campus all day

November 7th: Make up picture day

November 7th: Fall Festival 5-7 PM  How are your baskets and activities coming along? Be sure your basket items are at school by November 5th. Basket and activity signup here Please have volunteers ready to help with setup at 4:00. Thank you for your help!

November 14th Kate Messner Skype 11 AM for grades 1-5
November 18th: Star Family Book Club-- Kate Messner! 6:30 in the library

Tech Tips
Inbox zero? Maybe. Check out this awesome post and find out how I went from inbox 7,000+ to 185 in a week. If I can do it, anyone can. 

Sesame Street and social skills? Thanks to Petra & Hope for sharing!

Sharing

Self control

The ALA book awards are coming!

Mr. Schu's Mock Caldecott post