**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
*Items highlighted below appear because they are on the calendar. If you have a special event happening and would like to share so colleagues can visit and learn more about teaching and learning in your area, please email Erika and she will put it on the calendar.
January 30th- Faculty Conversation- in teams- Focus: Reflective conversations on the split screen routine and it's impact on student learning. Please record your conversations in our Learning Reflections
January 31st- We have an Open Day for prospective families from 9-11 am.
February 1st- Grade 1 takes their learning outdoors on a forest walk.
February 2nd- The EC Big Sing begins in Conway's room at 8:45 am, Grade 3 EOTC to the Salvation Army & 5W hosts an author's tea (2:30 pm).
All Week- Learning walks. If they have not already, Instructional Leads will be setting up opportunities for team members to go on learning walks together. Please remember that follow up reflective dialogue is a purposeful part of any learning walk. Learning Walks are an analysis of craft not a judgement of colleagues. The learning walk provides an opportunity for the observer(s) to reflect upon how they make sense of teaching and learning. Thank you for inviting your colleagues into your space to learn from you and thank you for making time to visit your colleagues' spaces to learn from them.
~from the Elementary Office
Newsletters (core and encore) will be sent home this Friday by 4:00 pm via team leads on behalf of the grade level. Please use the templates provided (core and encore). All School important dates can be found at the end of the Parent Update or in the sidebar of the Mindset => Schedules => ES Event Calendar.
If you need support embedding your newsletter, organizing your core or encore site pages, or setting up composer to send the newsletter, please check the step by step guide. If you are still struggling, check in with Nate and his team. Please give both Krista and Leigh editing access and let them know when your newsletter is published (Thursday, February 1st by 10 am latest), so they can review it before team leads send it home Friday, February 2, 2018.
~from the ES Principal
Last year, our PSA highlighted the Lunar New Year form a Chinese perspective. This year, our students will have the opportunity to experience Lunar New Year Korean style. For February 16th, 2018, the first day of the year in the Lunar calendar, the ES PSA is working with our Korean parents to organize traditional Korean games and costume try-on events in the MPR from 8:30 to 12:00. Classes are invited to head down to the MPR at the scheduled time for their grade level to try the Korean version of ‘hacky sack’ and ‘arrow-throwing’ (don't worry they are safe), to make Korean lucky-bags using paper folding, and to try on Korean costumes. When you announce the event in your newsletters, please reference it as 'Lunar New Year'. Thank you for showing your support for our ES PSA and Korean community.
~from the Principal
The Cult of Pedagogy podcast is a collection of episodes focused on teaching and learning. There is something for everyone. Author, Jennifer Gonzalez , interviews teachers, parents, students and administrators about hot topics in education (MA-Grade 12). Each episode provides the listener with practical ideas, tools, and resources to reinforce, support and extend teaching and learning. Each week I will highlight one or two of Jennifer's Podcasts or resources. I hope you will find time to explore them yourself. If you do and come across one you believe others in our community might enjoy, send it my way and I will add the link here.
This Week's Cult of Pedagogy Highlight: Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2018- Jennifer has released her updated list. She highlights the six best in this podcast. I have been playing around with INSERTLEARNING (a Chrome add on) and NESEUMED (free learning tools on media literacy). Both are worth exploring. Enjoy!
Have an article, website, tool worth sharing? Send it to Krista and share it with your colleagues here.
~from Krista
Curiosity
Articles on Curious Kids- from The Conversation- This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky! Why… Click here to check them out.
Big Body Play: Why Boisterous, Vigorous, and Very Physical Play Is Essential to Children's Development and Learning by Frances M. Carlson.
“Big body play the sometimes rowdy, always very physical running, rolling, climbing, tagging, jumping, grabbing, and wrestling that most children love and many adults try to shut down—can and should be an integral part of every early childhood setting."