Town Center Tidbits : Hello May!

As we head into our first week of May, please remember to make time for yourself, your family/friends and your kiddos at school. . .don't let the busy nature of life take away the time for building and maintaining relationships with others.

Week of: May 1st-5th, 2017

Summative Conferences All Week

Monday- Fire Drill - AM

Tuesday - Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Wednesday - Jeans Day (any shirt)
Faculty Meeting - 3:15 (STAAR Training as a part) We will be going to about close to 5:00pm so please plan accordingly

Thursday - PTO Meeting - 8:15

Kinder Round-up - 5:30pm

Friday - Jeans Day (any shirt)
Texan Town

Important Reminders

Observation Activity

For our final vertical/tlc meetings, we will be discussing several things including goals for next year for the campus as well as next steps with instructional coaching and responsive teaching. Please make sure that you have done your observation activity that I talked about earlier this year. This is a time in which you go to a location (whatever location you like outside of our school building) and observe the environment, people and interactions around you. This might be tone of voice, body language, sights, sounds, etc. It only has to be a short collection of your thoughts about 20-30 minutes of your time. You could write or type up your thoughts and we are going to do an activity discussing our observations.

Video Connection

If you didn't get the chance yet to watch the video connection about bias from last week and post on the padlet, please do so by this Wednesday for our faculty meeting. Also, go back and check out any other padlet connections from earlier this year if you were not able to post. We will be pulling them up and reflecting on each other's thoughts and ideas as we think about ideas for next year with cultural awareness, responsive teaching and building relationships with learners.

From the Desk of BS….volume 31

It was a great week at Sky Ranch and another great week to include a guest blogger, especially with the lack of wifi out in Van, Texas! Thank you to Ms. Anonymous for this wonderful piece!

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The Art of Reflection

Most days, we begin our morning by looking in the mirror. We study our reflection and determine next steps. We do a quick analysis. What does it tell us? Our hair looks fabulous, or not. We need more sleep. Maybe we need to start eating better. Are there cosmetics we should use to improve some aspect of our appearance? In that moment choices are made. Changes are made. Do we do the same reflecting about our role as educators?

When we take time to reflect, we improve our craft and commit to being lifelong learners. As co learners with our students, we should model reflection. If something doesn’t go as expected, question why. In this process, we are able to recognize moments of success but also moments where we were less than successful. Many times we spend time thinking about what we do and the effect we have on others but we don’t take it a step further and reflect on our actions and make plans to do things differently.

Reflection begins when we are willing to be transparent. A couple of things to think about as you reflect on your teaching:

1. What are you doing?

2. Why are you doing it?

3. How effective is it?

4. How are the learners responding?

5. How can I do it better?

Imagine the growth that can occur if we are willing to be reflective each time we interact with our learners. Are you thinking, “I don’t have time for this?” I say start with baby steps. Seek out other grade-level peers and bounce ideas off of them, ask your learners what is working and what isn’t. Participate in peer observations. Read blogs of seasoned educators. Attend professional development. Taking advantage of any of these resources can help us to improve and develop. So, instead of lamenting when a lesson fails miserably, embrace it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Embrace it as a time for reflection.

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Have a great first week of May!

Shout Outs

Catherine and Kristan, Thank you for helping out with my tutoring groups this week! -Kasey

Catherine, THANK YOU so much for taking my tutoring group when I was sick! I can always count on you! Casey

Candace, Thank you so much for reaching our learners visual note taking! They are super excited to start ur next unit and try it out! Casey

Beth R., Thank you so much for always being willing to help with learners even when you are on your own with other learners! You are the best! Casey

Kristan, Thank you SO much for helping with 4th grade math review this week! You are so flexible and always willing to help! - Renee and Kasey

5th Grade, Thank you for sharing your sweet learners with us while you were gone. We enjoyed having them!

Angie, Thank you for supporting us when times get rough and we are super stressed! Casey

Laura- thank you for getting all of the budget money organized and ordering materials as well as fill it travel forms. You are truly appreciated.

Katie, Thank you so much for introducing me to Biblionasium! My learners are absolutely obsessed with it! I love your enthusiasm! Love, Mere

Thank you to everyone for the sweet hugs and congratulation emails for our sweet #4! It is so nice to know that he/she is already loved by so many!! -Ashley

Thank you Beth for making our Spring Sprint trophies for each class! They were too cute! Run for the Glitter :)

A HUGE shout out to Kelly, Julie, and Marie! Thank you for studying for so many long hours to pass your certification for next year! We are going to be great in kinder!!! Love you!!! Lori

Tina - Thank you so much for helping us get our community helpers to come and visit! We appreciate you organizing two guest speakers for us! You are the best! Thank you! -- Kindergarten

Thank you, Candace, for teaching visual note taking today! We loved it, and I can really see us using it in Science! Also, your flexibility was commendable. :) Thank you! -Erin

Thank you, Beth and Courtney, for being flexible with scheduling so that Candace could be in my class! Teamwork makes the dream work! -Erin

Marly, You were so organized for camp which made it run so smoothly! Between making sure medicine was administered and that all learners had what they needed! You rock!! -Kylen

Beth, THANK YOU so much for taking care of the learners who stayed back from sky ranch and ensuring they got their work done but also had fun! -Kylen

Jenna, Morgan, Marly and Kate, I had so much fun at camp with y'all! You guys were awesome at taking care of the 5th graders on the trip and being hands on with them! :) -Kylen

Sue, Huge thanks for taking care of some of my learners who require lots of attention. You helped things go so smoothly and for that I am so thankful! -Kylen

1st Grade team- thank you for making me feel special and giving me treats and a wonderful book I will treasure. I will try to continue to be the almost busiest person and to protect you all from strangers!

Sherri, Sue, Angie, Brett and Kelly - thank you all for being wonderful but don't ever plan on being gone at the same time again! I don't like it!!!

Kelly & Marie- I so enjoyed working with our kiddos and using the Ozobots! ~Leigh Ann

Mary - thank you for taking my crosswalk duty so I could get to my appointment. You're the best!!! - Becky

Ashley - thank you for letting me bring my 3rd graders into the gym so I could leave early to get to the doctor - Becky

Patti/Lisa Thanks for holding the fort down while I was at Sky Ranch. I was able to concentrate on 5th grade learners because you both can handle anything. Couldn't do this without you two!

Laura, Thank you for getting our final purchases all in order as we wrapped up our budget for this year. . . and for holding down the fort with everyone away!! You amaze me and I appreciate you. . .and you aren't resigning anytime soon! ;) - Angie