News for the Week of January 18, 2021

 

This Week at Brown School

NWEA continues this week

1/18   MLK Day - PD Day for Certified Staff DOC BROWN RETURNS!    (via Zoom link in Kelly's email)

     No School for students ECDD-12th grade 

     Submit vaccination response on form from Megan Dongvillo by today!

1/19    Lockdown Drill @ 9:30 a.m. - interior threat

      PTO Meeting via Google Meet @ 12pm (Brown)

      Meet link: meet.google.com/rfn-poek-mkh

1/20   Late Start Day 

1/22  Last day of NWEA Midyear testing

Coming Up...

1/27 NOT a late start day!

1/28 & 1/29  Half-days of school - P/T conferences

...to have students spread six feet apart when unmasking to eat lunch. Thank you!

Spring Conferences

Our Spring Parent/Teacher conference window opens on Thursday, January 28th.  January 28th and 29th will be half days.  Please plan to conference the bottom 30% of your class, inclusive of those who need high levels of academic or social-emotional levels of support.

Everyone should plan on virtual conferences. Here are some options for how you might proceed:

1.  Virtual - Google Meet with regular conference format (20 minute rule of thumb with the understanding that some need more and some may need less).

2. Student-led opportunities - prepare students for a performance review that they can help lead. The parent can be an active participant in a progress conference between student and teacher.

3. Two 10-minute check-ins within January 28 and end of February. 

Please let me know who you plan to meet with and when you complete your meetings. Also, please let me know if you have other ideas for conferences. I would love to learn new ideas from you!

Thank you for all that you are doing to encourage independence & collective responsibility for taking care of our learning environment. You are appreciated! 

MY FAVORITE MISTAKE

WOW! YES! CELEBRATING A GROWTH MINDSET IN A COLLABORATIVE, SAFE CLASSROOM. WE'RE READY!!

What resonates with you?

How might you use this strategy in your classroom?

How does this fit with SMART time?

How could you leverage this strategy to create authentic, growth focused conversations in your cooperative learning classroom? RallyCoach? RoundRobin? TimedPairShare?

News from Allie 

(from the Children's Advocacy Center of SW Michigan)

January is Human Trafficking Awareness month and I just wanted to take a moment to share with you an upcoming community series dedicated to education surrounding the topic. Myself and one of the Forensic Interviewers from the CAC of SWMI will be the first two speakers in the series along with several others to follow.

 

Please share this with your respective networks and use the following link to register for the events:

 

https://www.michiganabolitionistproject.org/event/trafficking-talks-a-human-trafficking-awareness-series/2021-01-15/ 

One of many examples of a Brown School staff member pushing pause and taking the time to celebrate student success while building confidence in our learners. All hands on deck! Our students are so fortunate!

More excellent examples of student voice and ownership of learning...

Food for Thought: How do anchor charts support your students' learning?

DLC & TIDE

Thank you to Kent, Becky, and Sarah for serving on DLC (District Leadership Committee) and for embarking on the TIDE (Task Force for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity) work as part of our strategic plan development. More to come on this soon!

Read-In Fundraiser
Our PTO is planning a very simple fundraising opportunity for the spring to support our annual budget. Our plan is to pair it with March is Reading
Month, including a popcorn, pajama school-wide read-in on Thursday, April 1st. The details are being worked out and will be shared with you and our families soon.

Remember this Fun Friday game? Silly Sports and Goofy Games are a great way to add a few laughs to your day together. If you have questions about this game, Becky is a perfect resource!