Goal Setting in Reading

Weekly Update 1.29.17-2.4.17

What an incredible week at Concord!  It was a week where learning included so much more than academics!   Empathy was the theme that can be seen from our Family Team activities to Ability Awareness Day.

Grant Winners

The Lindbergh Schools Foundation awarded 5 Concord teachers almost $2,500 to fund their creative projects.  

Anne Gastreich — Alternative Seating for Alternative Learners

Chandra Heinlein — Ready to Learn!

Anna Martin — Making Mathematicians

Kimberly Rappold — Who Needs a Break?

Carrie Turek — Brain Break Centers  

Mrs. Goedde participated in the blooming Artist project last year. As a part of this project, our student Mary submitted her artwork and it was chosen by artist Kat Kissick to replicate. Kat made an original piece to go along with Mary's and it hung in the Old Orchard Art Gallery over the summer. Kat gifted the piece to Mary to keep. We are so proud of our budding artist, May Ha!

https://www.facebook.com/katkissickart/

School Counselor’s Day

This Friday we celebrate our school counselors.  Friday is a day for students to show how grateful they are for the wonderful job our counselors do each day.

Valentine’s Day Party Reminders

Please remind parents that Valentine cards should NOT include candy.    If you are hosting a Valentine activity with food, please be sure all food is approved by the nurse ahead of time.

Reminder for Hallway Behavior:

Just a gentle reminder that we need quiet in the hallways when going to and from lunch, recess, and block.  Mrs. Carson is doing ELL testing and especially needs a quiet hallway.

Computer Cart Update:

All 5th grade technology leaders have been assigned and will be visiting your rooms and the rolling labs at the end of the day.  

Viviano’s Order:

If you haven’t already ordered, please make your order for Viviano’s on February 9th.  If you aren’t sure if you have ordered yet, click here.

Jump Rope for Heart:

Here is the schedule for Jump Rope for Heart day for  February 15th.  This will be a no letter day.

For MAP grade levels:

2017 GLA Hot Links HERE Please utilize the assessments tools, etc.

A special thanks to Stacy Zobrist, Kate Pickett, and Tim Brooks for an amazing ability awareness day!

Committee Begins Work on Boundary Changes

More than 20 Lindbergh parents, community members and district administrators met on Jan. 25 to begin work on the elementary and middle school Boundary Change Committee. The committee will meet 3-4 times over the next few months, with a goal of presenting proposed boundary changes at the March 14 Board of Education meeting. This is an important process that will affect families throughout our district. I encourage parents to share feedback with the committee and follow its progress by visiting go.lindberghschools.ws/boundaries and clicking “Committee Updates.”

​

Weekly Update 1.22.17-1.28.17

Ability Awareness Day: Friday, Jan. 27th.

Here is the schedule.  Please note that we are doing a few things differently this year.  Thank you for your flexibility!  

• All School Assembly will begin at 9:00 a.m.
• 4th and 5th graders will switch block times AND lunch times.  

Family Teams are on Wednesday, Jan. 25th. An agenda and activities will be out ASAP. Please remember to wear t-shirts.

School Board Recognition Week is scheduled from January 22-28, 2017.  Each year the Board enjoys receiving cards/posters, etc. from the students.  Please send any items to the attention of Laura Hecht in CO.  The deadline for these items is this Friday, January 27.

Computer Cart Updates:

In an effort to organize and maintain effective computer use in the building, we are going to be starting a few new things this week.  Please let me know immediately if you have any questions or concerns.  

• Marsha will be around to every classroom to organize cords and make sure computers are where they should be.
• Marsha will notify me of who needs additional storage for iPads, laptops, etc.

• All classrooms will get a laptop checkout form to be placed next to classroom laptops for checkout.  Angie will explain this on Flyervision.
• Marsha will be around to organize the laptop carts and cords with zip ties.
• Laptop carts may no longer be stored in hallway.  The carts are being left completely open and unlocked in hallways at night.  With various people in and out of the building throughout the night, we simply cannot have this happen.  If your laptop cart time is at the end of the day, a 5th grade student leader will deliver it to the next classroom for the morning.  This will begin on Monday, Jan. 30th.
• New Leadership jobs will be assigned to 5th grade students for the remainder of the year.  They will be responsible for coming around to deliver and organize each laptop cart.  In addition, the rest of these leaders will be assigned a grade level to organize and plug in laptops in the classroom.  

Concord Expo:

We are excited to host an awesome celebration of learning here at Concord.  This will be held before our March 28th PTG meeting from 5:30-7:00.  I will share more details later but just wanted to give you a heads up so you can be saving any student work that you might want to highlight in halls and/or classrooms.    This will be an event where we can showcase student work including any Science Fair projects, artwork, Genius Hour projects, etc.  We plan to have a super fun night with food trucks, a mobile Science lab for students to explore, and Mad Scientist Assembly during the PTG meeting.

Early Release Plans:

Liz will be sending the agenda on Monday.

ELEMENTARY HONORS ORCHESTRA 2016-17

A special congratulations to these students on their amazing accomplishment:

Carrie Maschmann (violin)

Brett Ninneman (viola)

Estelle Cooksey (viola)

This is an excellent time to discuss power we have to change the world....one kid at a time!

 

A few reminders for your digital communication with parents:

• When exchanging Valentine’s Day cards, please remember our NO FOOD policy.  This includes candy on Valentine cards.  Thank you for your help in keeping ALL children safe.
• Be sure to wear your Family Team shirt on Wednesday, Jan 25th for early release.  
• Here is the revised calendar for the 2016-17 school year due to the snow day.

Weekly Update 1.17.17-1.21.17

Boundary Updates:

Early next week, parents will receive an important email outlining the timeline for Lindbergh’s 2017 Boundary Committee, which will begin meeting later this month and will redraw the boundary lines for all Lindbergh elementary schools and middle schools. These decisions will affect every school in our district, and I encourage you to follow the committee’s progress at http://go.lindberghschools.ws/boundaries and on Lindbergh’s social media pages. The Boundary Committee will include parents from each school, in addition to district staff and community members. You will hear more about how to provide public feedback in February, and I will continue to provide updates in my future e-notes as well.

Nominate a 2017 Lindbergh Leader!

The district is accepting nominations for Lindbergh Leaders until Jan. 20. Please consider nominating a worthy individual from our building! Parents, staff members and community members are all eligible for the Lindbergh Leader Award, which is our district’s highest honor recognizing excellence in leadership and service. Visit go.lindberghschools.ws/leaders to learn more or complete the nomination form.

Ability Awareness will be held on Friday, January 27th.  This is an event for 3rd and 4th graders.  Please be aware of the following changes for ALL grades.  

• 9:00-9:30 All School Assembly in Gym
• 4th and 5th grade will switch block AND lunch

Viviano’s Lunch

Mr. Steve Ippolito will be providing lunch on February 9th for all staff.  Please place your lunch order here.  

From Kid President’s Guide to Being AWESOME (Pg 114-115):

#37 “If you want to be a world changer for people everywhere, be a day maker for the people right next to you.

-Take a moment to think of ways you can make today more awesome for somebody next to you.  Imagine a world where everybody decided to make the day for the person next to them better.  If we all did that, then the whole world would be taken care of.  Sound like a plan?  Go be a day maker.”  

Solving Real-World Issues Through Problem-Based Learning:  Problem-based learning (PBL) is integrated at Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, DC, at every grade level—pre-K through eighth grade. Students are presented with a real-world problem, undertake a series of investigations, and create a product that they present to an authentic audience as part of the Expeditionary Learning (EL) Education framework.  Check out this video and link for more information!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebrations: Take a moment to share one way you are celebrating or have an idea for celebrating MLK day in the comments.

On Thursday, January 12th, we dedicated our very own "Buddy Bench" during our Facebook Live morning announcements. Adelyn and Grant Evans used their birthday money to purchase this special bench for Concord students. Grant noticed during his 3rd grade recess that some of the children didn't have someone to play with. After talking with his family, they decided to purchase this bench for Concord. A very heartfelt thanks to the Evans family, especially Grant and Adelyn, for this very generous donation!

EdCamp Learning Opportunity

Would you like to engage and collaborate with teachers from beyond your building or district?

Are you curious to hear how the latest ideas in education are actually being used in other classrooms? Are you wanting to try something out, but not sure where to start?

Do you want to participate in FREE professional development?

If you answered “Yes!” to any or all of the above questions, we highly encourage you to join hundreds of teachers from around the greater St. Louis metro and beyond at EdCampSTL! It will be held on Saturday, February 11th and hosted at University City High School (7401 Balson Ave., University City, MO 63130)!

FREE!!! Click here to register now! (http://www.connectedlearningstl.org/events/edcampstl)

The premise of EdCamps are to

• bring educators together to discuss what they want to learn - yes you help decide session topics!
• engage in a discussion, not listen to a presentation.
• be a FREE professional development opportunity.
• grow your professional learning community.
• be encouraged about the work we do!

EdCamps are a powerful movement sweeping the world, redefining how teachers think about their learning.  An EdCamp is an “Unconference” - meaning that there are no pre-set sessions; it is truly about what the participants want to discuss.  For more information about EdCamps watch this short video.

I attended my first EdCamp as an undergraduate student.  My EdCamp experience helped me realize that I control much of my learning and improvement.  I found my EdCamp experience to be so powerful, that like many other EdCamp attendees I have now traveled to EdCamps around our state and beyond; I consider EdCamps an essential part of my professional development.

-Samuel F., 3rd grade teacher

Follow us on:

Twitter: @LearningSTL  #EdCampSTL

Facebook: Connected Learning @ConnectedLearningSTL

Lifelong Learners,

Your EdCampSTL Planning Team

Weekly Update 1.8.17-1.13.16

Observations:

As Marco and I get around to your classrooms for observations in the next few weeks, we would like to take an opportunity to meet with each of you to discuss student progress, your SLO data, and PGP work.   

This Week:

Faculty Meeting in Library (Tuesday @ 7:45)-We will share PowerPoint with you at meeting.

Learning Labs in Your PLC room

School Board Recognition Week is scheduled from January 22-28, 2017.  Each year the Board enjoys receiving cards/posters, etc. from the students.  Please send any items to the attention of Laura Hecht in CO.  The deadline for these items is Friday, January 27.

Which one of these speaks to you?  These would be some nice topics for morning meetings.

Who is ready to make 2017 awesome? Check out this Kid President video.

Heart Maps: Helping Students Create and Craft Authentic Writing

by Georgia Heard

Recognizing what you are thankful for can be beneficial in many ways--even relieving worry, anxiety, and sadness. It can help not only generate writing ideas but it can help us appreciate the simple joys in our lives.  To create the Gratitude Heart Map, students should draw a large heart on a piece of blank paper inside which to draw and write their thoughts. Invite students to frame the heart with x’s and o’s to symbolize what writers are grateful for. This type of heart map can support writing a personal essay, memoir, letter, apostrophe poem, or blog.

You might suggest:

• Create a list poem from all the entries on your Gratitude heart map, and write a surprise ending.
• Choose one idea to start a personal essay and explain why you’re grateful.
• Write a letter or letter poem addressing someone you are thankful for and explain why.
• Write a memoir about what you are grateful for.
• Go for a “gratitude walk” and write down everything you see that you’re grateful for.
• Start a daily gratitude blog or journal, starting with what you have in your heart map.

A special thanks to all for celebrating Cafeteria Worker’s Day!  I know our lovely ladies felt super special on Friday.

Weekly Update 1.3.17

I hope everyone had a restful and fun filled break with family and friends!  Truthfully, I am looking forward to the consistency and routine of our daily schedule for both the family and myself.  And I know you are all ready to do so much more than “survive” the time after break--you are ready to crush it!  

Be sure to spend some time with students this week in reflection and goal setting.  Take stock of the past few months and set your course for the remainder of the year.   What have you accomplished so far this year?  What made you proud? What do you still want to achieve?  Take some time to think about these questions as we get back into the groove!

Thank you so much for the very useful holiday gift!  Marco and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness!

We would like to take an opportunity to welcome Jenny Bond as our new building assistant at Concord.  She will be doing lunch shifts so be sure to say hello.

Pineapple Visits:

Be sure to check out the Pineapple chart in the lounge.  The calendar is set to start on January 9th.  The first 20 people to sign up to host someone in their room will get a jeans pass.

Sharpen the Saw: StepBet Challenge for Staff:  Several of us participated in a fitbit step challenge at the end of December.  If anyone is interested in joining, the next game we are going to do is called “Fitbit for Weight Loss: New Year, New You!”  First, you download this app and then it calculates your step goals for the 6 week challenge.   Currently, the only wearable devices that are supported are Apple Watch and Fitbit. If you are using Apple Health, Google Fit, or S Health, your steps must be tracked by carrying your phone with you.