Thursday, October 15, 2015
EdTechTeam: 10 Ways to Take Your Google Docs to the Next Level...
For Teachers, Parents, and Students.....
EdTechTeam: 10 Ways to Take Your Google Docs to the Next Level...: Using Google Docs in the Classroom? Check out these 10 Tips on maximizing your Google Docs experience. Great tools for metacognition de...
Thursday, September 10, 2015
And We're Off....
And We're Off..........
Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! This will be another great year had by all Lone Tree students! To get the school year started, we of course welcomed several new teachers to the building. We welcomed Barbara Wilson as a kindergarten teacher, Donda Nebergall as a first grade teacher, Elly Huston as a third grade teacher, Brittany Decker as a fourth grade teacher, and Tiffany Haman and Kati Ploeger as new fifth grade teachers. We are very excited to have them here with us and blessed to have the opportunity for them share their knowledge and experiences with us.
We would also like to welcome our new students to the building. It is so wonderful when we are able to add to our student population. This year, we have added fourteen new students in the elementary. Below is a picture shows a warm welcome to one of our new students. Thank you girls for being so caring!
Go Lions!
Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! This will be another great year had by all Lone Tree students! To get the school year started, we of course welcomed several new teachers to the building. We welcomed Barbara Wilson as a kindergarten teacher, Donda Nebergall as a first grade teacher, Elly Huston as a third grade teacher, Brittany Decker as a fourth grade teacher, and Tiffany Haman and Kati Ploeger as new fifth grade teachers. We are very excited to have them here with us and blessed to have the opportunity for them share their knowledge and experiences with us.
We would also like to welcome our new students to the building. It is so wonderful when we are able to add to our student population. This year, we have added fourteen new students in the elementary. Below is a picture shows a warm welcome to one of our new students. Thank you girls for being so caring!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Moving Forward.....
During a time of change, people can question what they are doing and sometimes even become frustrated. As a leader, it is important to recognize these feelings and encourage people by pointing out or recognizing all of the positive things that are happening because of this change. The Lone Tree Elementary staff was given that opportunity to encourage one another before beginning our PLC meeting this week. Each teacher was given an envelope that had a statement about something positive happening as a result of our Wednesday early out meeting times. Below is a list that some may regard as minor statements, but rather are positives that need to be recognized in a time of change.
TESTS! TESTS! TESTS!
Throughout the week, the students in grades 2-5 were participating in the Iowa Assessments. To prepare the students for these tests, teachers have worked with students on test taking strategies and have provided them with test taking practice homework. As part of the preparation, I also met with every student in grades 3-5 to talk about their Iowa Assessment scores from previous years. Showing students their performance scores in the areas of math and reading allows them to understand how close they are to meeting the grade level goals. These "Test Talks" are always fun to do with kids because we are able to have a conversation about how important the assessment is, where the students are in relation to meeting the goal, and identify all of the things that the student should do during the assessments to ensure they are able to score their very best.
During a time of change, people can question what they are doing and sometimes even become frustrated. As a leader, it is important to recognize these feelings and encourage people by pointing out or recognizing all of the positive things that are happening because of this change. The Lone Tree Elementary staff was given that opportunity to encourage one another before beginning our PLC meeting this week. Each teacher was given an envelope that had a statement about something positive happening as a result of our Wednesday early out meeting times. Below is a list that some may regard as minor statements, but rather are positives that need to be recognized in a time of change.
We
have unpacked and learned new concepts in the math standards.
We
have worked positively in a collaborative group.
We
have worked with others outside of our grade level.
We
have become better listeners to one another.
We
have had the opportunity to speak in front of our elementary group.
We
have shared personal classrooms stories with one another.
We
have allowed our peers to plan and lead change for us.
We
have asked good questions along the way.
We
have become better teachers.
We
are more focused on what our students should be learning.
We
have read and used research to support our goals.
We
are more focused in the classroom.
We
have practiced building consensus.
We
have learned the content of other grade levels.
We
are working as a group and keeping an open mind.
We
have practiced agreeing to disagree.
We
are making progress and moving forward in the education of our students.
TESTS! TESTS! TESTS!
Throughout the week, the students in grades 2-5 were participating in the Iowa Assessments. To prepare the students for these tests, teachers have worked with students on test taking strategies and have provided them with test taking practice homework. As part of the preparation, I also met with every student in grades 3-5 to talk about their Iowa Assessment scores from previous years. Showing students their performance scores in the areas of math and reading allows them to understand how close they are to meeting the grade level goals. These "Test Talks" are always fun to do with kids because we are able to have a conversation about how important the assessment is, where the students are in relation to meeting the goal, and identify all of the things that the student should do during the assessments to ensure they are able to score their very best.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
What is Happening in the New Year?
FAST Reading Assessments............
Three times per year, the students in grades K-5 are assessed on their reading skills. The Lone Tree Elementary uses the FAST Reading Assessment as recommended by the State of Iowa. The teachers just completed the winter assessments and the results are in. Below you will find the percentage of students that were proficient (those meeting expected grade level benchmarks) in the fall compared to those in the winter.
Fall Winter
Kindergarten 73.91% 95.83%
First Grade 81.08% 84.21%
Second Grade 53.66% 54.76%
Third Grade 56.67% 55.17%
Fourth Grade 47.47% 59.46%
Fifth Grade 52.17% 67.39%
The kindergarten and first grade assessments focus primarily on word parts and putting them together. Beginning in second grade, the assessment is a fluency passage that students must read in one minute. During that one minute, the teacher is checking for accuracy and rate.
Helping your child to become a better reader..........
Each night, the teachers send home reading passages or grade level practice work as homework. This practice work is just that; for practice. It is important to build their reading skills, endurance, and fluency with reading that they complete this every night. Additional ideas for students would be to read simultaneously with your child, read aloud to your child, model good reading skills,and ask questions throughout the reading for comprehension purposes.
Rocket Math....
Rocket Math is a math practice program being implemented in the elementary. The purpose of this program is to help students with math fact fluency and automaticity. Automaticity with math facts is important because the whole point of learning math facts is to use them in the service of higher and more complex math problems. We want students to be thinking about the complex process, the problem-solving or the multi-step algorithm they are learning — not
having to stop and ponder the answer to simple math facts. So not only do we want them accurate and fast (fluent) but we also want them to be thinking about other things at the same time (automaticity).
Helping your child to become more fluent with math facts.........
Students have math practice sheets they bring home each night. Remember, these are practice sheets. Each night these should be completed to help the child become more fluent with a specific set of math facts. Another activity would be to use flashcards with your children. When doing this, if the child gets the math fact wrong, it is imperative to tell the child the correct answer and then have them repeat the problem and the answer again orally. Playing math games is also another way to practice math skills.
Three times per year, the students in grades K-5 are assessed on their reading skills. The Lone Tree Elementary uses the FAST Reading Assessment as recommended by the State of Iowa. The teachers just completed the winter assessments and the results are in. Below you will find the percentage of students that were proficient (those meeting expected grade level benchmarks) in the fall compared to those in the winter.
Fall Winter
Kindergarten 73.91% 95.83%
First Grade 81.08% 84.21%
Second Grade 53.66% 54.76%
Third Grade 56.67% 55.17%
Fourth Grade 47.47% 59.46%
Fifth Grade 52.17% 67.39%
The kindergarten and first grade assessments focus primarily on word parts and putting them together. Beginning in second grade, the assessment is a fluency passage that students must read in one minute. During that one minute, the teacher is checking for accuracy and rate.
Helping your child to become a better reader..........
Each night, the teachers send home reading passages or grade level practice work as homework. This practice work is just that; for practice. It is important to build their reading skills, endurance, and fluency with reading that they complete this every night. Additional ideas for students would be to read simultaneously with your child, read aloud to your child, model good reading skills,and ask questions throughout the reading for comprehension purposes.
Rocket Math....
Rocket Math is a math practice program being implemented in the elementary. The purpose of this program is to help students with math fact fluency and automaticity. Automaticity with math facts is important because the whole point of learning math facts is to use them in the service of higher and more complex math problems. We want students to be thinking about the complex process, the problem-solving or the multi-step algorithm they are learning — not
having to stop and ponder the answer to simple math facts. So not only do we want them accurate and fast (fluent) but we also want them to be thinking about other things at the same time (automaticity).
Helping your child to become more fluent with math facts.........
Students have math practice sheets they bring home each night. Remember, these are practice sheets. Each night these should be completed to help the child become more fluent with a specific set of math facts. Another activity would be to use flashcards with your children. When doing this, if the child gets the math fact wrong, it is imperative to tell the child the correct answer and then have them repeat the problem and the answer again orally. Playing math games is also another way to practice math skills.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Wow! Where has the time gone?
Next week will be the end of the first quarter of school already! Oh, how the time flies!
Quality classroom instruction......
What does quality classroom instruction look like? It can include many different things; however, one of the main elements that the teachers at the Lone Tree Elementary School are beginning to incorporate on a more consistent basis is the use of goal setting and analyzing data with their students. Students are learning to set learning goals, graph their progress, and celebrate their successes with their classmates.
Why is goal setting and data collection important for students? We are trying to teach students to work toward something and identify whether or not they have achieved or met their goal. When students meet their goal, they are then able to create a new goal to work toward. If the goal is not reached, the teacher and the student revisit the goal and decide what practice might be needed in order to reach the goal. For example, all students need to be proficient, or reach a grade level expectation, in the area of math fact practice. If the students do not know what the classroom goal is and do not monitor their progress, how will they ever know if they are improving? Letting students know the expectation and helping them goal set and monitor their progress keeps students motivated to make progress and meet their goals!
And teachers just wanna have fun.........
Every Friday, the teachers have a "Friday Theme Day". What is Friday Theme Day? Well, all the staff in the elementary secretly do something that is the same. All day long, the students try to figure out what is the same with everyone. Can you figure this one out?
Next week will be the end of the first quarter of school already! Oh, how the time flies!
Quality classroom instruction......
What does quality classroom instruction look like? It can include many different things; however, one of the main elements that the teachers at the Lone Tree Elementary School are beginning to incorporate on a more consistent basis is the use of goal setting and analyzing data with their students. Students are learning to set learning goals, graph their progress, and celebrate their successes with their classmates.
Why is goal setting and data collection important for students? We are trying to teach students to work toward something and identify whether or not they have achieved or met their goal. When students meet their goal, they are then able to create a new goal to work toward. If the goal is not reached, the teacher and the student revisit the goal and decide what practice might be needed in order to reach the goal. For example, all students need to be proficient, or reach a grade level expectation, in the area of math fact practice. If the students do not know what the classroom goal is and do not monitor their progress, how will they ever know if they are improving? Letting students know the expectation and helping them goal set and monitor their progress keeps students motivated to make progress and meet their goals!
Thank you....Thank you....Thank you!
Our running club was a huge success! We had over 90 kids that stayed after school to exercise with some of our staff members. Thank you to Molly Pierson for helping with the healthy snacks. Also, thank you to the following teachers for VOLUNTEERING their precious after school time: Katie Graf, Tina Feldman, Barb Wilson, Sarah Pourroy, Allison Staak, Kelsey Lage, Kelsey Teubel, Kylie Ronan, Kari Cushion, and Kylie Schipper.
From the community......
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all you did to make Running Club a huge success! The time and energy you put into each day was fabulous! Between the shirt and the snacks, I truly think $15 was a steal! Thanks for caring about the children and their health!!!
Looking forward to the
Spring club!
PBIS............SPORTSMANSHIP IS IMPORTANT!!
For the past eight weeks, the elementary has been focusing on practicing good sportsmanship at recess and in the classroom. What does good sportsmanship look like? Sometimes it is easier to give examples of what is poor sportsmanship, but in PBIS, we focus on teaching kids by giving them positive examples. The positive examples of good sportsmanship include giving your best effort at all times, being respectful to teammates, opponents, referees, and fans, celebrate respectfully, and showing encouragement to all athletes. Below are our PBIS Sportsmanship winners!
Community visitors.......
Thank you to the Lone Tree and Fire Rescue for taking the time to allow our Preschool students a tour of the firehouse and for coming to our school to teach all of the students about Fire Safety!
Every Friday, the teachers have a "Friday Theme Day". What is Friday Theme Day? Well, all the staff in the elementary secretly do something that is the same. All day long, the students try to figure out what is the same with everyone. Can you figure this one out?
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