Lunch with Preschool!

So last week I had a preschool student and his 5th grade brother have lunch together. This lead to the question "when do I get to eat in your office?" from about 15 other preschool students.  So...I said "how about Monday?"  Let me tell you, preschoolers don't forget...I got to have 18 preschool students eating lunch in my office, what a treat!  There were some peas smooshed into the carpet but that's OK.  They got to sign their names and water my plants.  They thought that was pretty cool. 

So many times I hear either jokingly or serious, "careful, or you will get sent to the principal's office."  With so many students coming in for lunch, to visit, to hang-out, to read to me, to get math help etc. I'm glad going to the "principal's office" is a good thing.

Definitely a huge hi-light to my day.  Thank you Mrs. Lechtenberg and all the preschool teachers.  What a really neat group.

Do's to Remember When Reading Aloud

(Continued information regarding reading to your student from Jim Trelease.  The following is a sample of 30 suggestions)

1.  Begin reading as soon as possible.  Never too early, never too late

2.  Include books with repetition for infants and toddlers

3.  During predictable readings, allow the child to fill in key words or phrases

4.  Read as of as you and the child have time for

5.  Remember:  The art of listening is an acquired one.  It must be taught

6.  Avoid long descriptive passages.  It's OK to shorten or eliminate.  Apparently Charles Dickens did in his public readings

7.  Allow time for discussion after reading

8.  Remember:  Reading aloud comes naturally to very few people.  You must practice

9.  Use plenty of expression

10.  The most common mistake in reading aloud, is reading too fast

11.  Reluctant readers or active children may find it difficult to just sit and listen.  Paper, crayons, and pencils allow them to keep their hands busy while listening.

12.  Fathers should make an extra effort to read to their children. 

13.  When children wish to read to you, it is better for the book to be too easy than too hard

Why Read Aloud to Children?

(The following are exerts by Jim Trelease, New York Times Bestseller The Read-Aloud Hanbook.  Mrs. Austin, one of Amana's 4/5 teachers whom I view as an expert in reading instruction, provided this information to me)

• The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children
• Without the "want-to," all the "how-to" drill work (reading instruction) is not going to create a lifetime reader.  Your reading aloud is what builds the child's "want-to."
• Reading aloud...conditions the child to associate reading with pleasure, creates background knowledge, builds "book" vocabulary, and provides a reading role model
• Regardless of sex, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background-students who read the most, read the best, achieve the most, and stay in school the longest.  Conversely, those who don't read much, cannot get better at it.
• Reading regularly to a child helps to close the gap and give the at-risk child a "head" start, especially important since most instruction in school for the first four years is oral
• The larger the vocabulary, the better the child understands the teacher and the lesson

How can I give my child words if I don't have them myself?  All the words you may be missing can be found at the "people's university"-the free public library (and Mrs. Cooper and the staff at Amana provide a world class library!)

Some interesting technological happenings in Amana:

(This is just a snip-it of the great teaching and learning involving technology at Amana)

1.  I've got some 4th grade helpers inputting our 100 great things about Amana (started as a 100s day project).  The helpers are creating a document in Google Docs, shared it with each other and me.  Very cool.  I am hoping to link the doc on a later blog.

2.  Mrs. Austin's class is continuing book talks with middle school students.  The students are using iChat and sharing books live from Amana and from the middle school.

3.  Mimio boards and training.  We got some more in-service this week on the mimio boards (graciously donated by the Amana PTO). Very cool.  Mrs. Toy's student teacher is incorporating the technology in her lessons.  We have mimios in three classrooms.  They are being used and the kids love it!

4.  We can't seem to keep our computers in the lab.  I love walking into the classrooms and seeing students sitting engaged, working on the computer or walking into the 1st grade and seeing the class using technology as part of their literature instruction and watching the kindergarten using Starfall to help reinforce letter recognition (check it out online) to name just a few uses.

5.  The preschoolers also have a computer center.  So cute. (I have a goal for this year to purchase at least one iPad for the preschool class.  So many great applications.  My own kindergarten daughter loves our personal iPad.  Very engaging.  As always, I have an idea for some funding...)

6.  Mrs. Cooper.  I can't thank her enough for her tireless efforts to integrate technology into the students' learning. 

7.  Last (and certainly not least) I want to recognize my wife Susan for all the hard work she does on the CCA website.  It's a tremendous source of information.

Valentines Day!

I'm not sure who invented Valentines day.  Pretty sure they were candy makers, florists, or card companies.  Doesn't matter, I would like to thank them.  Valentines in an elementary is awesome.  7 sweetie grams, two heart shaped boxes of chocolate, two bags of chocolate, untold amount of valentines cards and enough candy to fill my candy bucket for a while (until the kids find it again).  Lots of hugs and "Happy Valentines day Mr. Macumber."  I love the way they try to spell Macumber.  My wife got to spend the day helping with the 2/3 party and the kindergarten party.  Very special day.  Happy Valentines day.

Deep Learning through Concept-based Inquiry by Jean Donham

http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Donham2010-v27n1p8.html

Ending the "not enough time/not enough money" argument

I have never met anybody who makes just enough money or has just enough time.  I have certainly had lots of conversations with people who make too little (or know someone who makes too much).  There's never enough time!  To this I ask, "why?"  Yes, there are new initiatives in education.  Proven methods of teaching and research on how students learn.  So shouldn't we say to the teacher who asks, "where does the time come from?" with "stop doing the things that are inefficient and ineffective, that's where you get the time."  I know there is a lot asked of teachers, principals, parents, kids, support staff etc.  But we get the kids from 8:00a.m. till 3:15p.m.  Let's use the time we have to inspire them and educate them.  Find out what they know and figure out ways to instruct what they don't.  Instead of letting students power down their brains only to go home to explore what they are interested in, inspire them to go home and continue their education through media, art, networking etc.  There!  There's the extra time we need.  When my son comes home and wants to learn more about slavery and discrimination, then I know the lesson taught in school ranked pretty high an Bloom's Taxonomy.  My son has never come home and just begged me to find him more worksheets. 

Money is a little more tricky, who can't use more money?  Again, I can sit back and lament on the fact that the school could use more money, I could use more support staff, I could use air conditioning in my building and perhaps a new set of office furniture.  I could take the time to lament on those issues, but wouldn't that be a waste of time and money?  There, I just saved some more time and money.

We should be focusing on making our time better used and our money better spent.  Wishing and wondering will not make those things happen.  Let's stop thinking of the million things we have to do in the little bit of time, and let's start thinking about the strides we can make if we focus on the student, the learning, and the education as a whole instead of all it's little pieces. 

If you do feel compelled to argue time and money, I promise to find some time to discuss the issue.  But it will cost you.  I don't work for free.

CCA DLC

(Clear Creek Amana District Leadership Committee)

Very good conversations last night with community, board, staff and students.  The topic of Standards Based grading came up. There was some concerned looks and questions.  One parent wanted to make sure we weren't lowering our standards.  Quite the opposite!  "As long as you don't get rid of grades, I know what a B is".  Interesting comment.  What is a B?  People make the assumption they know because a B is better than a C.  If I get an A I must have done something really good. 


Food for thought:  Student #1 turns in all her homework, brings in the Kleenex for extra credit, struggles with quizzes and bombs the tests gets a B for the semester. Student #2 turns in none of his homework, does OK with the quizzes but aces the test and gets a C for the semester.  Who learns more? 

It's a trick question.  We still don't know.  Assessment for Learning (formative assessment) focuses assessment on what the student does know which creates an opportunity to provide instruction on what the student needs.

Hours not days

Counting hours not days?  Currently legislation mandates 180 days of instruction.  Proposed legislation could change that to counting hours, not days.  What do you think?

http://www.globegazette.com/news/local/article_81c51dfa-2ffd-11e0-af9f-001cc4c002e0.html

Bohemian Rahpsody-Very cool

If you have never heard of Ted Talks, check it out.  I found this awesome version of Bohemian Rahpsody.


http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/JakeShimabukuro_2010.mp4

Here Comes the Snow

It was bound to happen.  Snow has arrived in force.  Two hour early out today.  We'll see about Wednesday.  Keep an eye on the news, website, and announcement lines.  Drive safe everyone. 

Welcome to my blog

After much encouragement from my wife and seeing how interesting Mr. Fox's blog is, WELCOME TO MY BLOG!  I will be posting school related information, daily happenings, and funny stories about Amana Elementary.