May 27, 2015

Welcome to the Speas Global Elementary Blog!

All staff members, let's make sure we are teaching, reteaching, and teaching again the procedures in the common areas (Hallway, Cafeteria, Bathrooms, Playground, Bus).  We should be giving out lots of Bee's for students demonstrating the basic expectations.  It is a good idea to review the procedures before you leave one area to travel to another area.  

Our Mission: It is the mission of Speas Elementary School to provide its students with the tools necessary to successfully meet the challenges they will face in a diverse world.

Goals:

To increase English Language Arts achievement by 10%
To increase Mathematics achievement by 10%
To increase Science Achievement by 10%

Check out this graphic about global education.  The things above water are just the tip of the iceberg.   Try to go deeper in your instruction and touch some of the issues below the surface.

ISS
Specialists will begin holding ISS in their respective areas on their assigned days.  The schedule is below.  Teachers, specialists may be contacting you for work for students assigned to ISS.  Please get them work as soon as possible.   

Day	Teacher	Location
A	Arora	Room 213
B	Bowen	Music
C	King	Art
D	Childers/McMasters	Media/CL
E	Lindquist	Gym

Teachers: Having Trouble with Defiant Students?  Have you tried these strategies?

http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/challenging-students/school-wide-strategies-managing-defiance-non-complianc

Our jobs may get hectic as we try to close out the year strong.   Here are some things to remember about what we may call disrespect or defiant behavior:

cont.

Although the jury may still be out on the optimal type of enrichment mindset for those working with kids in poverty, we do know for certain that the following extremes will NOT work:

ÒFocusing only on the basics (drill and kill)

ÒMaintaining order through a show of force

ÒEliminating or reducing time for arts, sports and physical education

ÒIncreasing and intensifying classroom discipline

ÒDecreasing interaction among students

ÒInstalling metal detectors

ÒDelivering more heavy-handed top-down lectures

Nor does it work to pity kids raised in poverty and assume that their background dooms them to failure.  The first approach is simplistic and narrow-minded and the second approach is elitist, defeatist, and quite often classist or racist.  What works is ta acknowledge that the human brain is designed to change from experiences that if we design enough high-quality experiences, over time we will get positive change.

High-poverty, high-achieving schools share a number of characteristics including:

ÒDedication to diversity and equity

ÒEmphasis on reading skills

ÒHigh expectations

ÒOngoing data collection and formative assessments

ÒOrderly climate

ÒRegular assessment of student progress combined with feedback and remediation

ÒRegular teacher-parent communication

High-poverty, high-achieving schools share a number of characteristics including:

ÒShared mission and goals

ÒStrategic assignment of staff

ÒStrong focus on student achievement

ÒStructure (including student goals and class management)

ÒSupport for teaching influence (paraprofessionals)

ÒTeachers’ acceptance of the role they play in student success or failure

ÒUnequivocal focus on academic achievement

with a no-excuses mind-set

ÒUse of assessment data to improve student achievement

 and instruction

35 THINGS EVERY TEACHER SHOULD DO BEFORE THE SCHOOL YEAR ENDS

Mark Barnes | May 21, 2015 | Featured, Inspiration | 4 Comments

41510more

photo credit: photopin (license)

The school year is filled with testing, report cards, and many other hurdles that make it exceedingly difficult. Don’t allow another year to pass without some completely out-of-the-box behavior.

You never know when crossing a few old-school boundaries may change a student’s or a colleague’s life, while bringing the joy back to your teaching.

http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2015/05/35-things-every-teacher-should-do-before-the-school-year-ends.html

Announcements:

EOG begins today.  Please be sure to follow all procedures.  In honor of testing, we present some of our favorite answers:

Remember: Don't sweat the small stuff.  


Congrats to our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders--they did an outstanding job on the EOG Remixes!!!
Very, Very Impressive!!!!

Thanks to all of the teachers who make falling down....eh hem, I mean skating, a success.  According to many, the people at the skating rink were very complimentary of our kids----because they are so awesome.  

***For all technology issues, please follow these steps in order to submit a SchoolDude ticket. Mr. McMasters will receive this ticket and be able to work on resolving the issue as quickly as possible. Tickets take priority so please enter a ticket for the technology issue that you have. If you have any questions on how to do this, please see Mr. McMasters. Thank you!

To submit a ticket…on either the WSFCS homepage or the Speas homepage, click on “User Options” in the top right of the screen --> “SCHOOL DUDE requests --> Click “IT request” tab --> fill out request and click submit. ***

We have a Speas Symbaloo page.

http://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcMEZPT#

email: djjohnson@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
pass: speasbees2014

Please email us with your favorite educator sites so we can create a huge selection of online resources.  

All staff members, let's make sure we are teaching, reteaching, and teaching again the procedures in the common areas (Hallway, Cafeteria, Bathrooms, Playground, Bus).  We should be giving out lots of Bee's for students demonstrating the basic expectations.  It is a good idea to review the procedures before you leave one area to travel to another area.  

SMOD Tickets (dress code violations) are located in the workroom.  Please keep the bottom portion for your own records as a way to keep track of the number of violations.  The continuum is as follows:

1st offense: verbal warning, and letter will be sent home to be signed.  Parent or guardian notified of violation
2nd offense: Teacher notifies parent or guardian and student is removed from class until proper SMOD is delivered.

(Teachers, we all should be enforcing this, it will only work if we all enforce it).

Calendar

5.27					EOG ELA
5.28					EOG Math; 3,4,5 teachers stay afterschool for bubble party
5.29					EOG Makeups
6.1					EOG Sci 5
6.2					EOG Sci 5
6.3					EOG Makeups
6.4					RTA/EOG Makeups; 3rd grade teachers afterschool for bubble party; Pre-K party
6.5
6.8
6.9
6.10					3rd grade teachers stay after to edit answer sheets
6.11
6.12

Holidays Around the World

Wednesday	May 27	Mother Day	Bolivia
Wednesday	May 27	Children's Day	Nigeria
Wednesday	May 27	Shab e-Barat	Pakistan

Today in World History

May 27

1564		John Calvin, one of the dominant figures of the Protestant Reformation, dies in Geneva.
1647		Achsah Young becomes the first woman known to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts.
1668		Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.
1813		Americans capture Fort George, Canada.
1907		The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco.
1919		A U.S. Navy seaplane completes the first transatlantic flight.
1929		Colonel Charles Lindbergh marries Anne Spencer Murrow.
1935		The Supreme Court declares President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Act unconstitutional.
1937		San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
1941		The German battleship Bismarck is sunk by British naval and air forces.
1942		German General Rommel begins a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
1944		American General MacArthur lands on Biak Island in New Guinea.
1960		A military coup overthrows the democratic government of Turkey.
1969		Construction begins on Walt Disney World in Florida.
1972		President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev sign an arms reduction agreement.
1999		The international war crimes tribunal indicts Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for war atrocities.
Born on May 27
1332		Dante Alighieri, Italian writer.
1794		Cornelius Vanderbilt, American industrialist and philanthropist.
1819		Julia Ward Howe, writer of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
1837		Wild Bill [James Butler] Hickok, American frontiersman and lawman.
1878		Isadora Duncan, dancer and choreographer.
1894		(Samuel) Dashiell Hammett, detective writer (The Maltese Falcon).
1907		Rachel Carson, biologist and writer (Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us).
1911		Hubert Humphrey, U.S. politician.
1911		Vincent Price, actor and horror film icon.
1912		John Cheever, writer (The Wapshot Chronicles).
1915		Herman Wouk, author (Winds of War, The Caine Mutiny).
1923		Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under President Nixon.
1925		Tony Hillerman, mystery novelist (The Blessing Way, Sacred Clowns).