THANK YOU!!! ...these feeble words are not enough

How do I begin to express the depth of my gratitude?!? Thank you for traveling on the journey that led to and included our maiden voyage of Makers Week. As a colleague, I thank you for stretching beyond your comfort zone to embark on uncharted territory and engage our learners in experiential learning. As a parent, I thank you deeply for teaching and showing my children that learning is exciting and they have special gifts from God to develop and share with this world. I am not gifted enough with words to express my profound gratitude to each of you for owning this initiative and pulling it off with enthusiasm!

Please sit back and look closely into the eyes of our children. Here you will find your expression of appreciation for your hard work that led up to and was involved with making this week a HUGE success. In these pictures you see pride of work in our children's eyes. You see excitement in learning reflected here. You see genuine smiles of enjoyment. New friendships are found here. You see fledging leaders being born. Students experiencing and sharing their trials and their successes. I could try to write 1,000 words (but let's be honest, I don't have the time to write them and you don't have the time to read them...though I have no doubt that you would!) to describe the pure joy in discovery that occurred throughout South Side this week, but I believe these photos do a better job. Truly, this week was God blessed!

Enjoy Kaitlyn DeLange's Claymation Story!

Lane Borchert "I've never tried working with dominoes before!"

And the stories go on.....

Thank you to an adventurous team of teachers who offer students the very best!

Staff Meeting
Please note that we will have a staff meeting on Thursday, March 12th.

SPARK
As we flip the calendar to March, please take a good look at our Google calendar to identify your SPARK project.

Running Record Day
More details will be forthcoming, but, please note that Wednesday, March 11th will be Running Record day. Classroom teachers, you may be as involved or uninvolved as you feel is necessary to prepare your records for report cards/conferences.

Parent/Teacher Conferences
Norm has set our times! Please talk to me about alternative slots if you find that is most effective for you and your parents.

     Conference Sign up times:
     Thursday, Mar 19 through Saturday, Mar 28, 2015

     Conference Dates:
      #1 Mon, Mar 30, 2015 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
      #2 Tue, Mar 31, 2015 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
      #3 Wed, Apr 01, 2015 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Skating Party (Rescheduled)
Please note Tuesday, March 3, is the new date for the skating party, sponsored by the Parent Team.
Activities begin at 6:00 P. M. Admission and skate rental are a total of $5.00.

March 6
PD from 8:00 (breakfast--praise and worship begins at 8:30) until 3:30. From 10-12 we will be meeting as grade levels to plot out Reading Workshop teaching points.

Dates for your blogs:

Upcoming Events:

March       2  - Ditto work bee (6-8, 2nd grade)
March       3  - Skating Party at Home Roller Rink from, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
March       6  - No school, Staff Development
March     13  - Family Fun Night at Pine Ridge, 5:30pm
March     28  - Kids Stuff Reasale
March 30-31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
April 1          -  Parent/ Teacher Conferences ( 1-3)/Dismissal- 11:30
April 2-12     - Spring Break
April 13        - School resumes
April 23        - SS/PR Spring Program at Christ Memorial

This is Your Brain...

This is my brain on Makers Week scheduling. I stuck that thing in a pan and fried it up tonight!

OK. Here's the trouble with charting new territory. It's not always pretty :) I sent a Google Doc to you with the class lists for one project, then began working on the next set of lists. Sadly, I came to the realization that I had already overbooked two kids on the same day. UGH! This is like Sudoku with 150+ kids' names! Hence, my fried brain! Disregard the lists that were sent thus far this evening!

Here's what we'll do, you can access the Makers Week slideshow here to remind your class of the project choices. I will give you a Makers Week class grid of your kiddos tomorrow. Would you please refresh their memory with this slideshow, ask each child to select four projects and jot down each child's choice for each of the four days next week? I'll input the names in a Google Doc and share that with you over the weekend. 

That ought to be the last Makers Week wrinkle we run into. It's blue skies and smooth sailing from here, girls :) Thank you for daring to take a stab at all of this learning! You are brave, wonderful souls! 

Upcoming Events:
February 23  - Makers Week
February 24  - Skating Party at Home Roller Rink from, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
February 26  - A.C.E.  snow-day make up date
March       2  - Ditto work bee (6-8, 2nd grade)
March       6  - No school, Staff Development
March     13  - Family Fun Night at Pine Ridge, 5:30pm
March     28  - Kids Stuff Reasale
March 30-31 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
April 1          -  Parent/ Teacher Conferences ( 1-3)/Dismissal- 11:30
April 2-12     - Spring Break
April 13        - School resumes
April 23        - SS/PR Spring Program at Christ Memorial

Joy, Joy, Joy and a Turkey Sandwich

Click here for a good laugh at our lunches

The irony, of course, is our staff center is a place, primarily, of JOY! I always appreciate that when I'm feeling tired or frustrated, pulling up a chair at a table filled with each of you quickly turns to infectious joy. I walk away from time spent with you feeling energized and reinvigorated....and it's not my plain turkey sandwich, on a GOOD day, (or Karen's apple) that did the trick. It's your friendship and desire to glorify God with the gifts He has blessed you with that keep us positive and energized. Thank you for making and keeping South Side a place of joy. We face the same frustrations as any other staff working with children, yet we keep each other focused on our mission and giving the best we have to give. If you have time (after filling out your V-Day cards) click the caption above to enjoy this laugh, and let's commit to keeping each other positive and productive at the table to foil our plain turkey sandwiches ;)

Thank you for the meeting today. Again, your willingness to stretch as not only teachers, but as life long learners, warrants the upmost respect from colleagues, parents and our community. I'm excited for this new venture (but also glad it's still a week away ;) ) 

I'll share the Google Sheet with you as one format you can turn in your requested materials for me to pick up. Otherwise, feel free to emails me. I'll go shopping on Monday for Makers Week, but again later in the week as well.

You can access the supply list here as well.

In your boxes, you'll find the articles laying out the value of allowing students experiences such as exploring, collaborating, failing, encouraging and making. They are also linked here if you prefer:

Article 1
Article 2

Other than that, I believe we covered our information in the meeting. When viewing the calendar, please note that next week will be our data meetings during planning periods. 

February 16 - No School, Winter Break
February 18 - Chapel led by Rev. Steenwyk
February 23 - Makers Week
February 24 - Skating Party at Home Roller Rink from, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
March       6 - No school, Staff Development
March     13 - Family Fun Night at Pine Ridge, 5:30pm

Super South Side!

This pig's got nothing on you South Side girls (and you, Todd!) You turn frowns into smiles, fears into confidence, shy kids into friends, broken hearts into happy hearts, non-readers into readers, and you are growing children to know, love and glorify God every day. YOU are AWESOME!

Staff Meeting

Next Thursday, February 12, will be our next staff meeting. We'll go over a few bits of information and firm up our plans for Makers Week. It shouldn't be a long and drawn out meeting.

Discovery Assessment

Please don't hesitate to ask Thea or me if you have questions. Students will take the test on their iPads in the classrooms unless you've made alternative arrangements with Thea. Our testing window for the reading and math Test C is open until next Friday, February 13. Maybe you'd like to schedule your test right after your Valentine's Day party on Friday! Oh...wait...maybe not....

Time Cards

Due Tuesday, please.

Data Meetings

Our grade level data meetings will take place on Thursday, February 19 for kindergarten and second grade. Friday, February 20 for first grade. These will be held in the staff center again during our planning time.

Snow Days

Thank you for engaging your learners in meaningful activities during our snow days. At this point, February 16 and March 6 will remain as non-student days. February 16 is a winter break day. March 6 is a professional development day from 8:30-4:00.

Dates for calendars:

February 16 - No School Winter Break
February 18 - Chapel led by Rev. Steenwyk
February 24 - Skating Party at Home Roller Rink from, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
March 13 - Family Fun Night at Pine Ridge, 5:30pm