News for October 30, 2017

This Week at Brown

10/30    Lockdown drill- interior threat 2 p.m. Be sure to practice and explain expectations to your class ahead of time.


Nimtz to Calling All Colors 9:00-11:15

10/31    Halloween!
All school recess @ 2:00 (all staff on 2:15, 2:30 duty, please report outside)
2:15-3:15 classroom parties be sure to let the office know if your party is at a different time due to a special
3:15 parade (1st-5th)- map will be in mailboxes

Birthday luncheon
11/1 Late Start day

11/3 Brown Bear Credit Union
1/2 day- virtual records day (p.m.)

Coming Up

11/6 Grades due (4 p.m.)
Book Fair begins!

11/8 Wizard of Oz promotion @ SJHS
5th grade: 8:50-10:20; 1st-4th: 10:20-11:40
Second grade musical - dress rehearsal 1:30

Lunch in classrooms!
*Please review expectations with your class

11/9 1/2 day P/T conferences

Spelling Bee in the gym @ 8:45 a.m.

11/10 1/2 day P/T conferences

Kagan Corner

Looking for a way to deepen students' understanding of a concept? Are you seeking an alternative to independent practice? Look no further, try RallyCoach! By having students explain their thinking to a peer, you can better ensure a deep understanding and catch mistakes early on. Be sure to always pair students with a "good fit" partner (high with medium low, low with medium high) and be sure to practice good coaching tips specific to the task at hand before setting them free. Watch the example below:

Thank you for welcoming me in to demonstrate Quiz-Quiz-Trade, Becky! I'd love to visit your room next! Let me know when you are ready to review content or just want some ideas on how you can team build in less than 5 minutes.

Great Idea to Share!

Please make every effort to refer to a student's time with the Title One staff as a "reading appointment" instead of reminding them to go to intervention. Sometimes the smallest changes in our phrasing make the biggest differences.

Here's a great idea to build independence and responsibility:

Try taping a chid's appointment time to his/her desk.

BIG NEWS FOR OUR DISTRICT

Patricia Polacco is coming to Brown School! 
Thanks to a generous SJ Foundation grant submitted by Connie Bacholor, we are will welcome Ms. Polacco to SJPS. She will spend an entire day at each of our elementary schools the first week of December. Learn more about this Michigan author and illustrator here.  More details to come. Hooray!

More exciting news to report! Our classroom library grant was also approved by the Foundation. The data gathered by the Scholastic CLASS survey that you completed will help us to determine the types of books that we will purchase.  The plan is to begin funding 1st- 3rd grade classes district-wide. 

Ruby Payne

Representatives from the District Leadership Team (DLC) recently attended a workshop with Ruby Payne to understand more about teaching students affected by poverty.  We are eager to share some of our take-aways with you at our November staff meeting, but until then, here's some food for thought:

Entering Grades

Next Friday is our first virtual records day. Be sure to see Sarah or Natalie (our Brown School T3s) with any questions this week related to the new Gradebook.  Refer to Kelly's email and Sarah's screencast for clarity. Grade are due on November 6th at 4 p.m. Please email Kathy when they are completed. Thank you for working to include some narrative comments as they serve as a record of your concerns and/or celebrations. 

Playground Supervision

Thank you for being so diligent on the playground while supervising.  Football seems to be the hot spot now.  Thank you for positioning yourself near the action. Presence leads to prevention and it makes a huge difference.  Thank you!

The always generous PTO is offering to make us lunch for either virtual records day or on November 9th for conferences.  I am concerned that many of us will not be in the building on those days.  If you ARE going to be here, please let me know and I will coordinate with the PTO accordingly.  Thanks!