Wordle

 On the first day back from vacation, I do activities that will ease the students back into a full day of school.  On Wednesday, I taught them the online game Wordle.  Wordle online link  For those of you who haven't played the game, the object is to figure out the 5 letter word of the day in 6 tries or less.  You start using any 5 letter word; my word is always house, but Mrs. Kara Garceau's first word is stare.  Then you find out if any of those letters are in the word you are trying to guess.  If the letter is in the word, but in the wrong spot, the letter will turn yellow.  If the letter is in the word, and in the correct spot, then the letter turns green.  Letters not in the word turn gray.  Based on those clues you have 5 more chances to get the word.

Wordle, on nytimes.com, only has 1 word a day.  There is a website that has all the wordles archived. We started with #1 on Wednesday and they played when they had the chance. Lots of learning opportunities came up about letters that can be at the beginning or end of a word, vowel teams, and syllables.  It's a challenging activity that they can choose when work has been completed or have some free time.

Camping

 Last Friday we had our celebration for demonstrating HR3, Honesty, Responsibility, Respect, and Ready to Learn.  Students earn 15 minutes of free time each time they get a tic tac toe on a card.  We have a bag of chips labeled 1-45. The tic tac toe grid has 9 numbers and when one of those numbers is picked we X it out. It takes 4 cards to earn a celebration.  This time they voted for camping.  Here are some pictures from our camping day.

Shout Outs!

 Our Middle School Values are:

Inquire, Persist, Learn, Grow, Connect, and Advocate

Every first Monday of the month we have our Middle School Community Gathering where we celebrate students who have demonstrated these values.  We call these Shout Outs.

Students who receive Shout Outs get a ticket.  We then pull 10 tickets and those students get a goody bag.  In one of those goody bags is a Grady's Golden Goodness - GGG sticker.  The student who gets the sticker can choose one thing from the GGG website.  We are very thankful to GGG for supporting us.

We encourage students to Advocate for themselves and others by "shouting out" students who demonstrate one of our values.

Review of Expectations

 WOW!  It's been a very long time since I have written a blog post.  I want to take this opportunity to review our behavior expectations.

Our school wide expectations are Honesty, Responsibility, Respect, and Ready to Learn. Our 5/6 team has the same classroom expectations that define what HR3 looks like. When students are having difficulty with these expectations, they get a redirection or reminder.  The steps are as follows:

In Each Class:

1. First reminder: student is asked to follow the expectation.

2. 2nd reminder: move seats or take a break

3. 3rd reminder: move again, take a break, or work in another room

    Minor Office Discipline Referral

4. 4th reminder: planning room

    Major Office Discipline Referral

3 reminders in one class period are documented as a minor referral.  This is done on paper.  If a student receives 3 minors in one day, then we document it as a major office discipline referral and it is recorded in our school data base called SWIS.

If a student has received multiple reminders throughout the day, but didn't get 3 minors, then we will contact you and document it as a major office discipline referral.

4 minor referrals in one week will be documented as a major office discipline referral.  

We will contact you when a major ODR is recorded, but you may hear from us after one or two minors. 

What does a major ODR mean?  Each week, our Behavior Support Team meets and reviews the major referrals.  If a students is receiving majors on a regular basis or a pattern is developing, then the BST will look into what can be done to support that student.

Students get a clean slate each class for the 1, 2, 3 step process.  That means a student in my class  may receive 2 redirects, but when they go to science those 2 are "left" in my class and Gabby will start with step 1. 

We understand this may be confusing, but the students are used to this process.  We document minors and majors so we can connect the dots if we need to so we can better support the students.

First Month of School

 Happy October!

The first month of school is complete and the students are doing great!  We are still working on our listening skills, especially during Unified Arts.   There is homework every night, M-Th, and there is a homework/classwork sheet in the Home/School Communicator.  Here is a link to see the sheet. You need to sign the sheet every night.  For right now, math is the only homework unless your child is in band or chorus.  Students NOT in band or chorus read during that time, so they don't have to read at night. Band and Chorus students need to make up the reading at night.

Once a month, the Middle School will be gathering together to recognize students who demonstrate our Core Values.  Here is a slide show that defines our Core Values.   Link to Slideshow  During the last 2 weeks, we charted what these values look and sound like in the classroom.  My hope is that the students will recognize when they or others are demonstrating these values.  Tomorrow is our first gathering.  Students receiving "shout outs" will be called up and receive a letter and ticket.  At the end, 10 tickets will be chosen and those students will receive a goody bag.  In one of those goody bags, there will be a GGG sticker.  Whoever gets that sticker will be able to order something off of the GGG website.  

If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of us. We are using the Remind App which allows us to text you updates and reminders.  If you have not yet signed up for this please do so.

How to sign up for Remind.  5th: send a text to 81010 and text this message: @8bckh3 and 6th: send a message to 81010 and text this message: @46f3g6           Please sign up. Thank you.

Today's Circle

The students are doing a great job with switching between the 3 classes.  They need to bring so many things with them!  Recess is going well with the 6th grade.  We have 2nd graders up on the playground too for a bit when we get out there and it's great to see them all play together. We established our classroom jobs so everyone has a job!  It's amazing that there are 22 jobs that can be done on a daily basis like messenger, floor patrol, art area organizer, sprayer (for cleaning the desks), and food service.

Our circle today was about seeing how our 5/6 Team Agreements are going.  Students rated our agreements to see how well we are following them. 

Our agreements are:

1. Be Kind and Respectful

2. Work Hard

3. Listen to the Speaker

4. Be on Task

5. Be Prepared

The majority of students rated Listen to the Speaker and Be on Task as things we need to work on during the day.  I then asked students what I should be doing better.  Many think I should give better directions and many think I'm doing okay.  So we talked about what better directions could be like.  Students would like me to ask if anyone has any questions before we begin our work and show what to do on my computer when they are on theirs.  I told them I thought I was doing those things, but I would try harder!  And I will!

The reason I did this specific circle today was to address a safety issue.  Yesterday, when going out for recess, the class crossed the road to the playground before I was outside. They are supposed to wait for me to tell them to cross unless Mrs. Brown's class is going out at the same time and I tell them they can follow.  I spoke to them about it yesterday and reminded them of it today before they went outside. As I followed them outside, most of the class had already crossed the road without me giving the go ahead.  We discussed it again at the end of recess and during circle. Giving clear directions is what many students asked for during the beginning of the year circle and I have tried hard to give clear directions after getting the class' attention.

In addition to the things the students suggested I do, I will also ask 3-5 students to repeat the directions that I give to be sure that they are being heard.  I use popsicle sticks (each stick has a child's name on it) to call on kids so the same students aren't always giving the answers.

Some reminders that you can help with:

** We can't talk inside while our masks are down.

** Charging the computers every night.

A homework sheet is in the Purple Home/School folders and those are to be signed every night or next morning.  I will collect these every Friday.

They are doing a great job.  22 students in desks all facing forward is not easy, especially with the masks.  I adore them all!

Thanks so much!

Stacey

Remote Already?

 Well, last week through us for a loop!  We had 6th graders and some Brown bus riders going remote on the 4th day of school. CRAZY!!  Good news.... all students have their computers and are on google classroom.  

If/when students go remote, they will be assigned work.  All work will be on google classroom going forward.  If the work is not there, it will be soon after going remote.  Although we are not in a State of Emergency and there are no "remote" days, we will treat remote days as we did last year.  It becomes tricky when students are coming back from remote and some are still at home.  

Last week, we continued to build community and set up/practice classroom routines and expectations.  The first 6 weeks of school is a time where we must take our time and establish our routines and expectations for the school year.  This way, personalized learning and project based learning can happen.  It doesn't mean that content isn't covered the first 6 weeks. It is, but in the context of building our classroom.

The first 6 weeks is a book/process from Responsive Classroom.

This week, assessments will continue to take place so we know where our students are academically. 

**** Our 5th and 6th grade classes are peanut/tree nut free.****