I Am Moving!

For five wonderful years I have been privileged to serve as the Assistant Principal here at Daggett Elementary. The time has come to begin a new adventure. On June 10, 2014 I became the new Principal at Rufino Mendoza, Sr. Elementary. I am very excited to begin this new chapter in my life and also very sad to leave behind my Daggett family. I know great things are in store for all of us next year as we embrace the new and unknown.

This is the last Daggett AP post I will make, but, I am not leaving Blogger, just changing sites. Please stop in to visit at my new blog - Rufino Mendoza's Principal Blog - here:http://rufinomendozaprincipal.blogspot.com to keep up with my new adventures and post a comment or two.

I am so grateful to my Daggett family for helping me grow and develop as both a person and a leader these last 5 years. I have learned so much from each of you. As family, we never really say goodbye, just see you later. I know I will still see you around - at workshops, Sprouts, restaurants and Facebook. I am never more than a text, phone call or email away. Take care of our babies and yourselves - it has been both an honor and a privilege to serve beside you.

Jennifer

Appreciating Educators

Igniting a passion for learning, that is what the best teachers do. You know them, the teachers you remember 30 years later, those you tell your children stories about because they made you love school.  As educators, we all strive to be that teacher, to make a positive, memorable impression on our students, to make a difference in their lives. To this end we work long hours; seek out more knowledge through books, websites, workshops and collaboration on weekends and in the summer; and put 110% of ourselves into what and how we teach. 

During this Teacher Appreciation week, take time to reflect on those teachers who have touched your lives and helped make you who you are today.  My memorable teacher that I want to thank is Mrs. Homsey, my first grade teacher. She looked at the first grade me who would run home at recess if things got rough on the playground and who threw up every day for the first week of school and saw not a pain in the behind but a shy, unsure girl who needed an understanding heart and a kind word. She made me love school and taught me that teachers aren't all scary and can help you learn about more than Math and Reading.

Who is your memorable teacher? Who taught you to yearn for the classroom? Please post your comments.

I am blessed to work with memory makers every day. To the staff at Daggett Elementary - Thank-you for making a daily difference in the lives of the children we serve. 

Happy Staff Appreciation Week!

Brain Boosting Camp

On Friday the 3rd graders participated in a Brain Boosting Camp. Students rotated through hands-on, high-interest activities focused on student expectations needing a boost. Our morning was filled with Math activities and our afternoon with Reading. Mr. Sibley, Ms. Howard, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Tracy Copeland, Mrs. Copeland, Ms. Singer, Ms. Green, Ms. Wiley and Ms. Peipert presented the activities and our 3rd grade teachers participated with their students. Everyone had a great time. Check out the photos below to see some of the action!

Mr. Sibley and Ms. Barroteran work with students on Play Ball! designed to help students record data, create a histogram, and then analyze the data.

Ms. Cantu-Crouch working with Ms. Green's group to measure and order polygons using inches and centimeters.

Ms. Howard working with students on Play Ball!

Students busy working on Ms. Sanchez's station - Joe's Cafe. Students order from a menu, find their total and then explain how to pay for it using the least number of bills and coins.

Ms. Peipert working with students at her session - Pattern Block Designs.
Students created pattern block designs and then graphed the number of shapes used with either a pictograph or a bar graph.

Ms. Singer's Order Polygon session with students helping each other with measurement and ordering. 

This Friday our 5th graders will participate in their own Brain Boosting Camp. We are looking forward to having as much fun and learning as we did with our 3rd graders. Stay tuned for photos next week.

STAAR Is Here

It is that time of year again - the STAAR test. Tomorrow our 4th graders will begin their two day writing test and our 5th graders will take Math and then Reading on Wednesday.

Today celebrated our students and teachers and all of their hard work over the past year with a pep rally. The theme - The Wizard of  STAAR. See the pictures below! A great time was had by all - there was much cheering and clapping!

A huge thanks to Ms. Clanton for putting this all together and for an outstanding job in her role of the
wicked witch.

Muchas Gracias to San Juana Ledezma, Melinda Wood, and Maria Rangel for their roles as strategy models for the Wizard and to Ms. Scott for running our lights and sound.

A special thanks to Ms. Tracy Copeland for joining me as a Lollipop Kid to open the show.







Kudos for fabulous performances to our actors and actresses:

Tiffany Madrid as Dorothy
Debbie Strand as The Tin Man
Orlando Carrillo as The Wizard of STAAR
Christina Sellers as The Scarecrow
Cal Chapa as the Cowardly Lion

Lety Gerred as The Narrator









Mrs. Green rounded out our performance and led our parade as Glinda Green the Good Witch of Daggett Elementary.

                                                      

Highlights of the show:

The Wicked Witch appears to Dorothy and her friends - Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion - as they travel on their way to OZ. Her Wickedness tells our heroes that she will make sure Dorothy and her friends never pass the STAAR test so she can get her hands on Dorothy's ruby red slippers and the Kingdom of OZ. Oh My!

Dorothy and her friends escape the witch and make it to Oz where they talk to the great and powerful Wizard of STAAR. He reminds our heroes that they have had all they need to pass the STAAR inside them all along and reminds them of the 5 strategies they have learned:

1 - Read Carefully

2 - Show Your Thinking

3 - Check Your Work

4- Look Back to Prove Answers

5 - Do Your Best - Give 100%

Armed with their strategies, our heroes again face the Wicked Witch. Using what the Wizard has shown them, they defeat the Witch and save the day. All of our heroes pass the STAAR and get what their hearts desire.

Good Luck to all of our students! You are prepared, show what you know! 

We are so proud of all of our teachers and students for all of the hard work they have put into learning all year long. Listen to the wisdom of the Wizard of STAAR - you've had what you need to pass inside you all along.

Framing The Lesson

We are well underway with our study of The Fundamental Five by Sean Cain and Mike Laird. On Friday's Waiver Day, we had the chance to dig deeper into each practice with Mrs. Green. As I visited classrooms this week I came across an excellent example of Framing the Lesson in Mrs. Gordon's Classroom:

These are short, yet to the point and in student friendly language. The students know exactly what it is they are learning at the knowledge level and the product they will be expected to produce to show mastery at a higher level of Blooms.  Great work Mrs. Gordon!

How are you incorporating the Fundamental Five into your classroom? Post a comment to share with everyone.

At the beginning of this year I signed up to receive a daily e-newsletter from WALKTHETALK.COM. I get daily quotes and updates on inspirational materials they publish, some of which make their way to those Simple Truths videos I love to show at faculty meetings. Some days I read the quote and delete and others, like today, the quote hits at the heart of something that has been rolling around in my mind. Today's quote came from an advertisement for Nido Quebin's book Attitude: The Remarkable Power of Optimism. Mr. Quebin's story echoed with me in that it could describe some of the families here in our school: immigrating to America with little English and $50 in his pocket yet achieving his dreams through hard work and determination. Nido Quebin's quote from the book shared in the article is:


The secret is this: Whether you reach success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has much more to do with your attitude…with your faithful courage…with your choices. You see, non-achievers blame their circumstances; winners rise above their circumstances. Some concentrate on the blank wall that boxes them in; winners always look for a way to get under it, over it, around it, or through it.


I have been thinking a lot about rewarding and reinforcing our students to break the cycle of failure and build a culture of success. This quote hit home. Our students often face struggles in their lives that we may not have experienced as children. Sometimes, these struggles affect their ability to shine at school, particularly for our students who are living with traumatic experiences. Nido's words reminded me how important each of us are in our students' journeys through life. We may not be able to change the challenges they face outside of school , however, we can teach them to rise above their circumstances, to have faith in themselves and to have courage to overcome their obstacles. We can show them the box they are in and help them find ways to break free from the boundaries and limits that box has placed upon them. That is the power of a teacher.

During this "crunch" time, take a minute for yourselves to acknowledge and celebrate the positive impact you have had on your students. Please take time to reward and reinforce yourselves - without your praise, faith and encouragement, our struggling students face a seemingly insurmountable challenge alone. With you, they ride upon the shoulders of their greatest champions.

On January 13th we began our study of the Fundamental 5 by Sean Cain and Mike Laird:

• Framing the Lesson
• Work in the "Power Zone"
• Recognize and Reinforce
• Frequent, Small Group, Purposeful Talk (FSGPT)
• Write Critically

This week we will be looking for these strategies in practice in the classroom. Stay tuned for pictures in a future blog!

We will be digging deeper into the Fundamental 5 during upcoming professional development. For today's blog, I would like to focus on Recognize and Reinforce. When reading Kevin Parr's blog on celebrating student success (read it here http://inservice.ascd.org/teaching/celebrate-success/) I thought about this piece of the Fundamental 5 and how critical it is to celebrate even the smallest of successes in order to break the failure cycle and create a culture of success. I was reminded of a specific time when I observed this process of recognize and reinforce make a difference in the life of a particular student - I'll call him Mr. C. Mr. C had the reputation of being a handful and he lived up to it every day; frequently hitting the office before lunch on red and still full of energy. Like a 5 year old tornado turning over everything in his path. Mr. C did not respond to the typical disciplinary action - loss of recess, detentions, counseling visits, even suspensions. It got to the point where Mr. C was in the office more than he was is class due to extremely dangerous and disruptive behaviors - not the way to have a successful Kindergarten year. Enter the point sheet. We began celebrating every success Mr. C had, no matter how small. As the green smiley faces began to pile up and Mr. C earned time playing PBS Kids in my office, we began to see an increase in positive behaviors. Mr. C still had his moments but he no longer went to the extreme frequently and actually began to experience success in the classroom. Thanks to the patience of his teacher, consistently rewarding good choices, Mr. C ended the year stronger than he ever had. Celebrating successes worked!

This got me thinking about how we celebrate our student's successes at Daggett: Read, Lead, Succeed Like a Boss reading incentive, AR parties, and PAW Pride Board and celebrations. All  excellent ways of celebrating student success but all over long intervals of time. How are we celebrating our students daily? How are we turning those small victories into an infectious "Can Do" spirit? How are we turning around our Mr. C's so that they are able to be successful in the classroom? How are we Recognizing and Reinforcing every day?

 Please share your thoughts.