The I in our P.R.I.D.E. acronym stands for innovation. In my humble opinion, Powdersville Elementary School has remained a top elementary school in this area due to our ability to be innovative. Look no further than our PBL last year with honey bees and our leading the way with iPad implementation. Our teachers who are willing to leave their comfort zones and try something new are met, not with criticism and debate, but with support and enthusiasm. To be innovative means "to introduce something new" or "make changes in anything established". I am a firm believer in the old adage that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, this means we have to confront who we are as educators and what we believe about how our students learn. The change in our student population through the years has been well documented. I can't wait to see what our innovative teachers have in store to not only address these changes, but push PVES to greater heights. And I say push because it will certainly be hard work.
Wayne's World:
No, not the movie! I asked Mrs. Wayne to be our guest blogger this week and share about the innovation in her classroom. Flexible seating is something she has been interested in and explored. She finally made it come to fruition this year. Please enjoy her thoughts and pictures ...
"Going into my tenth year of teaching, I decided to take an adventure with flexible seating. About two months into school last year, I decided desks were not working for all of my students. Like every teacher in this school, I had a handful of students who could not sit still or focus on a lesson at their desk. Some of them were more interested in talking with their friends while others literally couldn’t sit still. I was constantly changing seating arrangements and searching for that perfect desk setup for my class (which I never had enough room for). I also began to notice that during math stations, students worked well with each other sitting around the classroom. I remember one day looking up from my small group and seeing every single desk empty. All of the students were sitting on the floor around the room working on different stations. I thought “Wow, we would have so much more room to spread out if these desks weren’t in the way!” That is the day I started researching flexible seating.
Personally, I like to be comfortable when I am working on something. Sitting in a hard chair can be distracting for me after a period of time. I wanted to create an environment where students were comfortable and had options to choose their best learning spot. I read many articles on the effects of flexible seating in the classroom and how to set it up. I got a lot of wonderful ideas from other teachers’ blogs and Instagrams which helped me set up a Donors Choose project. All of the research and hard work paid off when I got to see the students’ faces the first time they came into the classroom. They seemed amazed and excited by the different choices they had. I was really nervous about what the parents would think, but they didn’t seem to have any issues with it. Most of them really liked it.
I have only used flexible seating for four weeks, but so far I love it! The students enjoy getting to pick where they sit and, for the most part, have made wise choices. Flexible seating has it’s own built-in incentive for students to work for. They know if they are being distracting to themselves or others around them, I will move them immediately. They don’t want to move, so the majority of them do really well. I have also noticed less trash being left in my class. Students take pride in our classroom and help me clean it up everyday before they leave. The overall feeling of my classroom environment has changed for the better. Students are more relaxed and seem more focused. I have had a few issues along the way, but so far I have been able to work through them. The positives of flexible seating far outweigh the negatives in my experience. I am so happy I chose to do flexible seating this year."
Celebrating Innovation:
Last week in the blog, I highlighted Ms. Wilcox and her $17,000 environmental grant being funded by Michelin North America. Check out this article written by the Anderson Independent! To celebrate this accomplishment, please plan to join our grant celebration on Tuesday, September 13th at 3:00 P.M. in the PD Room. Ms. Wilcox wants to share more about the details involved in making this project become a reality and she needs our help! Additionally, the district office is sending someone to speak to us at 3:30 P.M. from CIGNA. We look forward to celebrating true innovation next Tuesday!
PRIDE Time Kicks off This Week:
Speaking of innovation, thanks to everyone for your help with getting our intervention block up and running this week. We are still working out the details, but it has been awesome to see our students benefiting from focused and intensive intervention. You can access our intervention list here. Use the tabs at the bottom to locate students being served for math. Intervention is meant to be fluid meaning that students who make gains can be removed from the program and make room for students who need to be included. Today, I walked in several rooms and found students working hard with their teachers in guided reading and guided math groups. Many students were actively engaged in read-to-self time. Please remember that we want to protect this time as it is invaluable to our being able to show growth. Intervention time is not intended for "study hall" or as a time for teachers to get "caught up" on grading papers or passing items out. We have carved out a 30 minute block for you to have a solid block of time to make a difference for students before regular schedule begins. Ms. Moore is even using some of her time to engage her higher level students in a novel study at their level. They will work through some self-guided questions and discussion using technology while she can still meet with her struggling readers in guided reading groups. Mrs. Wayne is using her time to front-load material for various groups of students before math class. Enjoy a few pictures from intervention block below.
Rally Around the Golden Rule Rally:
Thanks for making the Golden Rule Rally pep rally a huge success. Remember that your attitude and participation will largely determine the success we experience as a school. Our goal is $20,000 and you get to keep a percentage based on how much your students raise. Find new ways to get your students excited about the program. Model acts of kindness and have discussions where you brainstorm with your students acts of kindness than can be supported through pledges. Get the word out to parents through email and text blasts daily. Encourage your students to register and collect pledges via goldenrulerally.com.
This concludes a look at the wonderful things happening at PVES for this week. Now, please carefully take note of the following very important announcements:
Gradebook Setup:
Many of you have inquired about gradebook setup for this year. I mentioned in an earlier meeting that we would transition to the updated version of PowerTeacher gradebook and we are now ready to do so. On Monday, September 12th Ramona Bowers from TSS will be here during your planning to train teachers on the use of the updated gradebook. You will want to bring your laptop to the session. If it runs over, we will take care of the "Team Huddle" that day. One cool feature of the updated gradebook is the ability to attach a standard to an assignment. That is obviously a powerful tool! See the schedule for Monday's training below:- 8:45-9:30 AM (5th grade 1) - Wilcox's Room
- 9:30-10:15 AM (5th grade 2) - Thomas's Room
- 10:15-11:00 AM (3rd grade 1) - Kallin's Room
- 12:10-12:55 PM (3rd grade 2) - Ashmore's Room
- 12:55-1:40 (4th grade 1) - Barnhill's Room
- 1:40-2:25 PM (4th grade 2) - White's Room
Golden Rule Rally Schedule:
On Thursday, September 15th we will celebrate the end of our Boosterthon Fundraiser with the Golden Rule Rally. This is where we celebrate the many acts of kindness completed by our students. We will follow the schedule below. The Golden Rule Rally will be held in the MP Room.
3rd Grade - 12:15 P.M.
4th Grade - 1:00 P.M.
5th Grade - 1:45 P.M.
*We may need to make some changes to lunch, etc. and we will notify you after we meet with Matt and Cheese next week.
Are You Smarter Than?
In the past, we have held Curriculum Nights to engage our parents in discussion about how they can best assist their students with 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. This year, let's change the name up and offer a "Are You Smarter Than (a 3rd, 4th, 5th grader)?" and once again engage our parents. We will send out more details soon, but the culminating activity for each grade level event would be a "Are You Smarter Than" quiz using Kahoot. We plan to offer some food and door prizes as well. I would like to propose the dates below. Grade levels - let me know if you see any issues. Each event would last from around 5:45/6:00 - 7:30 (depending on what we did for food). Thoughts?
3rd Grade - September 27th
4th Grade - September 29th
5th Grade - October 6th
Moore's Musings:
- I hope you have enjoyed small gifts of appreciation from your PVES Pal. I have heard about some of the notes and treats that have made the day of several of our faculty. Keep up the great work!
- How do you promote literacy and love of reading in your classroom? Yes, even if you don't teach reading. Don't forget this month we will be engaged in the one district/one book challenge. We will drop subtle hints to students this month as to what book we will be reading for this event. Kick off, reading chapter 1, is scheduled for September 28th. Check out our shared calendar for details!
Mark Your Calendar:
Please refer to our shared calendar. I have updated it this evening with some important reminders for next week.
Videos of the Week:
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