Weekly Email: October 11, 2013

Reflection: Students and Fires

Fireby Judy Brown

What makes a fire burnis the space between the logs,

a breathing space.Too much of a good thing,

too many logspacked in too tight

can douse the flamesalmost as surely as a pail of water could.

So building firesrequires attention

to the spaces in between,as much as to the wood.

When we are able to buildopen spaces

in the same waywe have learned

to pile on the logs,then we can come to see how

it is fuel, and absence of the fueltogether, that make fire possible.

We only need to lay a loglightly from time to time.

A firegrows

simply because the space is there,with openings

in which the flamethat knows just how it wants to burn

can find its way.

Excerpted from pages 88-89 of Teaching with Fire: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach

Important information…

Please check your technology carts and make sure that you have only ONE charging hub for your iTouches/iPads. We have two teachers missing these from their technology carts, and they were included in the original inventory. If you have an extra, please let me know and I’ll make sure it gets to the right person. Thanks!

Upcoming meetings & staff development opportunities…

3rd-5th Grade Math: Item Analysis Day, http://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=6096

November Meetings Switch: The faculty and team leader meetings during the first two weeks of November will be switched (Team Leader-Nov. 6 & Faculty-Nov. 13)

Independent Reading Grades 2-5, October 17, 3:30-5:00, http://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=6234

Listen My Children & You Shall Hear: First Steps in Learning to Read & Write, October 15, 4:00-5:30, http://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=6094

Mastering Running Records (K-5), October 17, 3:30-5:30, http://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=6235

FREE Webinar: Giving Feedback to Colleagues, October 22, Register HERE

FREE Online Conference: K-12 Online 2013, “ online conference open to ANYONE organized by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice,” more info HERE , list of speakers HERE

GREAT OPPORTUNITY! Marzano’s Six Steps to Building Academic Vocabulary, November 7 OR December 3, Register on Eduphoria (I’m registered for December 3—Join me!)

GREAT OPPORTUNITY! A Language Rich Classroom: Proven Strategies You Can Implement Tomorrow, October 15 OR November 11 OR December 5, Register on Eduphoria (I’m registered for November 11—Join me!)

Resources…

Parent-Teacher Conference Resources from Edutopia

5 Resources for Parent-Teacher Conferences What Parents Want You (Teachers) to Know What Works in Parent-Teacher Conferences? Five Tips for Engaging Parent Volunteers in the Classroom

October Writing Lesson of the Month from Corbett Harrison

Read Works: New selection of non-fiction and literary passages

Great article about author/illustrator David Wiesner. The side bar to the right of the article also lists some great grant opportunities.

Around the Web in ESL/EFL/ELL by Larry Ferlazzo

Karyn’s Korner

Library Lessons

2nd & 3rd grades: Searching for books (and finding them) in the library!

4th & 5th grades: nook trainings in the library this week! Please allow about 20 minutes for each group (10 min for checkout and 10 min for nook intro). I will send permission slips home with all students, due October 21st, and I will start checking out nooks on October 23rd.

Tech Trainings (for Teachers)

MyBrainPOP training with Arturo/Annie from BrainPop, October 28, 3:30-4:30, MWE Library https://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=5935

NOTE: For MyBrainPOP teachers need an Educator account and will need a special campus Educator code to create that account.

What is My BrainPOP? It’s Super Cool!! My BrainPOP lets students and teachers keep track of learning. Teachers invite their students to join "classes" they've set up on My BrainPOP. From there, they can create custom quizzes with the Mixer, correct quizzes, comment on activities, and more. Students can see a history of the movies they’ve watched and activities they've tackled. Additionally, a selection of GameUp titles offers a "snapshot" tool so players can capture and reflect on key points.

Symbaloo page set-up and training, October 30, 3:30-4:30, MWE Library http://eduphoria.springbranchisd.com/wshop/default.aspx?cid=6278

Please have at least one person per grade level attend so we can get pages set-up for classroom use!

What is symbaloo? Symbaloo is a personal start page that allows you to easily navigate the web and compile your favorite sites all into one visual interface. Save your bookmarks in the cloud and access them from anywhere with any device.

Book Bites

Look for the BookIt! email from me to sign your class up for Minute Tracker!

Please let me know topics of study that you need books in the classroom for all students to use, or build a Resource List to email to me. This helps keep students from checking out books that they might need to use for research or during class. (I have volunteers that love to pull books for teachers!)