Friday, October 3, 2014

PMS News and Notes

Another solid week of learning is almost in the books...we are continuing to establish routines and make memorable learning a part of each lesson that we engage our students.  There is nothing like watching kids fully engrossed in a learning activity that is challenging to them.  Some news and notes from the week...

Parent/Teacher Conferences Coming Up...
I enjoyed the dialogue at our staff meeting this week.  If you have any questions about the upcoming conferences, please let me know.  Mr. Hoernke and I will be hosting MS Grading for Learning Parent Meetings on the Thursday (10/16) of conferences...the first one will begin at 4:00 pm followed by another one at 6:00.  Location TBA.

MS Breakfast Update
It appears that we are settling in to a routine for our MS Breakfast.  Please remind students that the blue containers is for clean recyclables and food should not go into those bins.  I appreciate your extra efforts in helping get our students some healthy food in their systems in the morning.

Student of the Month Breakfast
We will continue the Poynette Middle School tradition of a recognition breakfast to honor students that are demonstrating excellence in their daily school life.  The first breakfast will be on Thursday, 10/23 at 7:00 am.  At this time, we will continue with the same routine.  Each grade level team will nominate 2 students (1 male and 1 female) and we'll also have 2 representatives nominated by the Applied Academic teachers.  Please let me know your nominations and which teacher representative that will join us at the breakfast by the end of next week (10/10).

First 5, Last 5
Perhaps the most important minutes of each class period are the first 5 and last 5 minutes.  The most effective first 5 minutes of a class are a consistent, structured routine to get your students in the right frame of mind.  The activity should draw upon prior knowledge or serve as a precursor for what is to come.
During the last 5 minutes and prior to dismissal, it is vital to bring the group together and reflect on the learning from that day's lesson.  This is a key opportunity to get student data about where their learning level is in relation to the learning goal for the day or week.  This data can be used to tweak the following day's lesson plan.

Effort...
I wanted to include a reminder of the importance of praising and teaching effort and the effects on the student mindset. There is a link to Dweck's video that we viewed at a beginning of the year staff meeting on this topic as a reminder if you'd like to view it again.

Data
Below is attendance data that shows the percentage of students in attendance over the course of the past 3 school years over the same number of weeks in the school year.

12-13 - 97.03%
13-14 - 96.44%
14-15 - 95.93%

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PMS News and Notes

Another solid week of learning is almost in the books...we are continuing to establish routines and make memorable learning a part of each lesson that we engage our students.  There is nothing like watching kids fully engrossed in a learning activity that is challenging to them.  Some news and notes from the week...

Parent/Teacher Conferences Coming Up...
I enjoyed the dialogue at our staff meeting this week.  If you have any questions about the upcoming conferences, please let me know.  Mr. Hoernke and I will be hosting MS Grading for Learning Parent Meetings on the Thursday (10/16) of conferences...the first one will begin at 4:00 pm followed by another one at 6:00.  Location TBA.

MS Breakfast Update
It appears that we are settling in to a routine for our MS Breakfast.  Please remind students that the blue containers is for clean recyclables and food should not go into those bins.  I appreciate your extra efforts in helping get our students some healthy food in their systems in the morning.

Student of the Month Breakfast
We will continue the Poynette Middle School tradition of a recognition breakfast to honor students that are demonstrating excellence in their daily school life.  The first breakfast will be on Thursday, 10/23 at 7:00 am.  At this time, we will continue with the same routine.  Each grade level team will nominate 2 students (1 male and 1 female) and we'll also have 2 representatives nominated by the Applied Academic teachers.  Please let me know your nominations and which teacher representative that will join us at the breakfast by the end of next week (10/10).

First 5, Last 5
Perhaps the most important minutes of each class period are the first 5 and last 5 minutes.  The most effective first 5 minutes of a class are a consistent, structured routine to get your students in the right frame of mind.  The activity should draw upon prior knowledge or serve as a precursor for what is to come.
During the last 5 minutes and prior to dismissal, it is vital to bring the group together and reflect on the learning from that day's lesson.  This is a key opportunity to get student data about where their learning level is in relation to the learning goal for the day or week.  This data can be used to tweak the following day's lesson plan.

Effort...
I wanted to include a reminder of the importance of praising and teaching effort and the effects on the student mindset. There is a link to Dweck's video that we viewed at a beginning of the year staff meeting on this topic as a reminder if you'd like to view it again.

Data
Below is attendance data that shows the percentage of students in attendance over the course of the past 3 school years over the same number of weeks in the school year.

12-13 - 97.03%
13-14 - 96.44%
14-15 - 95.93%