Principal's Panel! – Chets Creek Elementary

Small Steps Can Change the World

2011-10-28T15:53:00.004-04:00

The book of the month program we have at Chets Creek has long existed as one of the drivers of our thematic and instructional focuses each school year. Personally, I use it to continue to propel my own professional learning forward as I work to keep up with the newest information and research out there that will help move our practice forward and provide deep and meaningful learning experiences for students. It's my baby, well one of them at least, and it stretches my thinking as I work to get the maximum leverage I can get from using a 40 minute period to present it in a way that teachers can hopefully take back and use with students in their own classrooms. I even house all the artifacts for each book on a Wiki we've created.

With our heroic theme of "Empowering the Future" this year I found the perfect book to kick off our book of the month program for the year. Giant Steps to Change the World, by Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee, is an inspirational picture book filled with examples of real life heroes who have taken small steps throughout history that led to big change for the world. The one thing all of these heroes had in common was a big dream and then big obstacles standing in their way. Through challenges and with a resolute spirit they each overcame the hurdles placed in their way to make a difference. Even though the heroes are unnamed it is easy to determine them because of the legacy left for us through the descriptions of their accomplishments.

In front loading some background information about the heroes in the book we reviewed some of the commonly known tidbits but also had some aha moments about what made these folks and their contributions to the world so special. So in an effort to continue brainwashing my teachers into understanding that they are all indeed "real heroes" I have asked them to highlight their own heroic selves by sharing their answers to the following:

Something You May Not Know About Me:
A Fear I've Overcome:
My Finest Accomplishment:
My Quote:
My Big Dream Is:
My Next Heroic Step:

I really chose this book to remind us to look inward and search for our most heroic selves. Our work, in particular, requires it. Teaching is not for the faint at heart – it requires passion, courage and most importantly, conviction. There will be barriers placed in our way but we owe it to ourselves and to our children to never allow them to thwart our attempts at striving towards our goals. We all have the potential for life changing greatness and no amount of fear or doubt should stop us from dreaming big and taking that first step. Sometimes even the smallest step can have the biggest impact.

One child at a time...

Chet the Eagle has a BLOG!

2011-10-21T17:16:00.003-04:00

This year at Chets Creek we have a new school blog that is being written by Chet the Eagle (really Melanie, our webmaster, but let’s keep that a secret). Chet is helping us highlight some school wide events and positive happenings that go on every week. Take a few minutes to stop by Chet the Eagle’s new blog and check out all the cool things that have already happened this school year!

Empowering the Future - one child at a time...

Dear Ms. Julie,

2011-10-14T15:55:00.007-04:00

Was reminded yet again at the importance of building real relationships with our children when this letter came in the mail today for our front desk secretary from a former student...

Dear Ms. Julie,
Hello Ms. Julie. Its your old favorite student Nicholas. How is your family and your puppy doing? I'm being better at school. You will be proud of me. I'm making good grades. How are you at your job at Chets Creek? Will you please tell Ms. KK, Ms. Cole, Ms. O'Connor, Ms. Bass, Ms. Ciupak, Ms. Walag, Ms. Nash, Mrs. Montero and Mrs. Phillips hello from me and tell them I love them. I really miss seeing you every day. I can't wait to go fishing with you and your family!! See you soon. I love you!
Love, Nicholas

Lest you ever think that you don't leave a lasting impression on the children in our care - think again. One child at a time...

One Child at a Time

2011-10-07T15:01:00.003-04:00

“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” - Steve Jobs

This is one of my favorite quotes by far and when I ran across it again this week after the death of its author I was struck again by how much it reminds me of the faculty and staff at Chets. We are certainly held out as the misfits – the rebels, even troublemakers but no matter what, there is no denying that we are crazy enough to change the world, and we are – one child at a time…

Help Us Help the ARC!

2011-05-20T13:59:00.002-04:00

We just celebrated the first birthday of our Academic Resource Center at Portside with a huge party for the 234 students and 110 volunteers who have been through the doors for tutoring and outside of school support since it's opening. It is an incredible place, with enormous potential to change an entire community! We have developed great partnerships with American Residential Communities, the community owners, and Beach United Methodist Church that have helped us transform what was once only a dream into a growing and evolving reality. We have begun searching for ways to find funding to help support the programs being offered and are currently competing for a grant funded by Community First Credit Union which is looking to provide money to projects that help better the community. The ARC certainly fits the bill! Please help us win this opportunity by clicking "Like" on our submission on facebook.

A Bend in the Road...

2011-05-13T15:33:00.000-04:00

Honestly it's been a pretty bad week for me - in fact, one of the worst I can remember in a long time. Our budget situation for next year is more horrible than I could have ever imagined, resulting the in the loss of $854,000. Yep, you read that right, there are three zeros behind that 854, almost a million dollars lost. Impact: Supplies, Instructional Materials, Books, and more importantly PEOPLE - Paraprofessionals, Office Staff, and Teachers. This enormous sum has translated into the potential loss of as many as 28 of our valued employees and treasured CCE family members. Devastating. I am sad for the terrible loss of our part time employees who are just out of a job, disheartened for the full time employees who are being surplussed into uncertainty and deeply worried about how the loss of these critical stakeholders will impact our children. The ways in which our precious future are touched and changed by these people each and every school day are immeasurable.

And then I was reminded of something very important by one of our baby teachers - one of the very teachers I had to bring into my office this week to tell that she may be losing her position here. During a time when it would be easy to be wrapped up in how devastating these changes could be for her she instead thought of others and reached out to me in an act of selfless generosity. The spirit of which epitomizes what has always made the Creek just a little different. We are a family of people who care about and love each other, we rally in the tough times, lift each other up when necessary and stick together like no school community I've ever had the privledge of serving.

I dragged myself into my office Thursday morning, still reeling from the emotional conversations I'd had the beginning of the week, and worried about how we would manage. On the middle of my desk was a large white box, covered in yellow and black CAUTION tape and inside this box were "rocky road" cupcakes complete with road signs, orange traffic cones and a note that began with this quote:

"A bend in the road is not the end of the road...unless you fail to make the turn." Author Unknown

The note continued with these precious words, "...I thought this week would be the perfect time to send you a little something to brighten your day. I heard the above quote earlier this week and it really hit home with me right now. I know I can't even fathom the long road we have ahead of us but I know this school will make the turn. I am blown away by how many high spirits I see throughout the halls and I know that it is only happening because this school truly has something different and wonderful about it..."

WOW, out of the mouths of babes - she's right. No matter what roadblocks are thrown in our way - and trust me there have been plenty over the years, we have not AND will not be deterred from our mission to create a learning community where caring individuals feel safe to dream of the unknown, experiment with ideas and experience the thrill of success. Our children can't afford for us to fail, they deserve the very best we have to offer them. It's not the end of the road, just time to start making the turn...

It's Budget Time - We Need Help!

2011-04-29T13:50:00.012-04:00

I am in the throughs of preparing our school budget for next year and I have to tell you this is probably the most stressful event of the entire school year for me. We face the darkest, bleakest situation of my career this year. I implore you to read what I have written below and then take action! Help me not have to make devastating cuts that will effect our teachers and children. HELP US!

Teachers could be forced to serve as associate teachers for half the pay!

Essential supplies and materials could disappear altogether!

It is important to understand that this problem, this CRISIS, is not limited to Duval County alone. This fiscal crisis is statewide. Regarding the total amount of funds allocated and spent on education, the state of Florida is ranked 50th in the nation. I ask you, does this represent your priorities? I doubt it.

Are our legislators upholding the requirements of our state constitution?
As voters, we share a heavy burden. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves with accurate facts. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard. It is our responsibility to act. It is our responsibility to advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to fight for their rights, for today and for their future. If not us, then who? If we do not meet our duties, we cannot expect others to meet theirs.

I urge you. Educate yourselves. Research the facts. Go to the source. Ask questions. Speak out. Make demands. Do not accept it as fact because others believe it to be true.

Ask yourself, is 50th good enough for your child?

If the answer is NO - contact our state's legislative delegation and ask for immediate help from one of these short term solutions:

1. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

2. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

3. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

To learn more about how to get involved and about how to contact our legislators and ask them to make funding for public education in Florida a priority visit SaveDuvalSchools.

We've Got the Power! FCAT is NO SWEAT!

2011-04-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

You know attitude really is EVERYTHING! When our teachers and students really believe in themselves I know there is nothing that they can't do - and the FCAT is certainly the perfect example. There is so much that rides on this high stakes assessment, whether we like it or not, but I really try hard to convince our students that because of the hard work they do EVERY school day that it really is just their opportunity to show the rest of the world what we at the Creek already know about them - they are the BEST!

Every teacher along the way has equipped every student in their care with the strategies it takes to succeed period, but especially during this testing week. And as a result of our everyday work and expectations students were calm, confident and even excited. Our younger students and their teachers adopted the older ones to support and motivate them with encouraging messages and creative snacks. The resource team and support personnel wrote positive postcards to those that needed an extra boost. I even decided to put my powers of positive persuasion into a sweatband for each student being tested and every teacher or proctor they would encounter by arming them with the message they hear from me over and over...

Our third and fourth graders are done and only fifth grade has Science left to take and I haven't worried for even one minute about the test - I hope my students haven't either. At the Creek no extra antiperspirant is needed: FCAT - No Sweat!

It's Spirit Week at the Creek!

2011-04-08T15:52:00.001-04:00

We have had such an exciting first here at Chets Creek Elementary this past wek. - our first ever Spirit Week. The whole school participated this week as we celebrated the hard work our third, fourth and fifth grade students and teachers have put into preparing for the upcoming FCAT beginning next week. I am so proud of our children already - this test next week is just the opportunity for them to show the rest of the world how brillant I already believe they are. Our whole school rallied to help them enjoy the week instead of being uptight and nervous about this high stakes assessment. On Monday we kept with our school theme and dressed like FARMERS. On Tuesday we threw on all our funky colored clothes for MIS-MATCH day. On Wednesday we fixed our hair in WACKY ways and wore our SILLY socks. On Thursday we reached far back into our closets to find a CCE t-shirt, past or present, to show our school pride. On Friday we all came dressed as our favorite SUPER STAR and celebrated all our special gifts and unique talents. We also culminated the day with a PARADE and PEP RALLY where the teachers performed songs and dances of encouragement for the kids!! We even had a special visit from a former Creeker who is now a ROAR cheerleader for the Jacksonville Jaguars and her teammate to help us get pumped up. It's been such a fun, low stress week and I'm so proud of all our teachers and students for participating in the schoolwide celebration.

Barnyard Book Bonanza BINGO

2011-03-04T21:45:00.005-05:00

This year we have totally revamped our Readers to Leaders Million Word Reading Campaign and I really think the changes have been very motivating for our students. Everyone who met the second goal at the end of our last quarter got to participate in our first ever Barnyard Book Bonanza BINGO! In 45 minutes we were able to play enough rounds of picture bingo for Kindergarten and First Grade that every student was a winner and for the older grades over half of the students won at traditional bingo. I also made sure everyone left with a little something (reading sticker, pencil or bookmark). For bingo winners our Media Specialist, KK Cherney, outdid herself - students were able to pick from mountains of books and other prizes. I have to say the event was one of the most exciting times I've had celebrating with our students. I'm so proud of all my readers and they can't wait to participate in our next celebration. Rumor is it has something to do with a picnic under the pavilion with popsicles and a PIG that needs a kiss from the principal. Oink!

March Madness - Chets Creek Style

2011-02-25T17:30:00.000-05:00

Alright Creekers - because March isn't quite mad enough with all those evaluations I have to write I thought I'd challenge myself to getting into at least one (and sometimes five :) classrooms a day during the month to do a read aloud for you and every homeroom in the school! I plan to dig back through our past book of the month books and pull out some "oldies but goodies" that some of you as teachers may not ever have been exposed to for the read alouds. I am very excited about getting into the classrooms and sharing some of my favortite stories with all of you and the kids. Click here to sign up for your homeroom's date and time. Make sure to choose the "I don't want an account. I'll just enter my name" circle after you have clicked on the sign up box for your chosen time. Sign up soon, there are only a limited number of spots - the madness begins March 1!!!!!

We Love You Romy Day at the Creek!

2011-02-11T13:34:00.003-05:00

When you look at any successful organization, you will always find people behind the scenes who are dedicated, organized and who put all their energy and efforts into whatever task they have been given. Rosemarie Wilkening (Romy) is one such person to our organization. Romy serves as a part-time ESOL paraprofessional, working in classrooms and with small groups of students as a safety net instructor. She also manages all of the communication with our Hispanic families as their liaison and advocate.

Everyday Romy ensures that all of our students and families, regardless of the language they speak, feel informed and included. She routinely goes above and beyond the call of duty for our staff by translating written communication and sitting in on parent conferences long after her paid time has ended. Over the years she has consistently provided literacy support to our youngest at risk students. She meets with students daily, never missing an opportunity to boost their self esteem and reinforce their work in the classroom.

Romy’s willingness to help out wherever and whenever needed and her fast, efficient, no nonsense style has quickly earned her the valued respect of her peers. She has built strong relationships with her peers and the teachers she serves. You will always see her doing whatever is necessary, in order to benefit the school – even if it does not pertain to her normal duties. That’s just another way she shows her dedication to teamwork. Her attention to detail and her willingness to help in any way make all of our jobs easier.

Romy has gone out of her way to build relationships with many of our neediest families over the years. She’s been to their homes, been to court, interpreted legal documents, investigated immigration laws, met with distraught families and struggling children daily, and even cleaned out the spare room at her house in case she had to foster any of these families in need. Her heart knows no bounds!

Everything Romy does plays a direct role in educating children and fostering their academic success, her extraordinary compassion ensures that even their emotional and physical needs are met. She is a truly irreplaceable part of what makes our learning community a success.

So today we celebrated "Romy Wilkening Day" at Chets Creek! Not only was she chosen to represent our school this year as the Employee of the Year but then went on to be selected out of all the school district employees as the Duval County Employee of the Year! We are proud of you Romy!!!

Stumped...

2011-02-04T17:07:00.001-05:00

This week has been a total blur...I mean really! As I sit here in my office, still and quiet for the first time this week I have absolutely no idea what to blog about. I already know what I'm going to write about next week, but this week - nada, zippo, nothing! I'm complettely stumped! I think it's because I've been so busy that I've had no real reflection time. At least I hope that's the only reason. So I'm going to turn this one on you, the reader - what exactly would you like for me to write about this week?

It's Fuel Up to Play with Maurice Jones-Drew Day!

2011-01-28T16:39:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday, our whole school got to celebrate our award of a Fuel Up to Play grant sponsored by the NFL and the Florida Dairy Council. It was no ordinary celebration. As part of our reward we were paid a very special visit by our hometown Jacksonville Jaguars superstar football player #32 Maurice Jones-Drew. In true Chets Creek fashion we welcomed him BIG - there was music, banners, highlight videos, and cheers. Besides presenting our PE Coaches Estrella Bailey and Ray Robinson with a $1700.00 check Mr. Jones-Drew spent time talking with our Fuel Up to Play Fifth Graders and then the rest of the student body about eating right, exercise and the importance of determination. He was humble, kind and answered our students honestly, even when the questions were tough. I loved the fact that growing up he wanted to be an astronaut, that his favorite subject in school was Math, and that his childhood hero was his granddad! He had a great sense of humor and his message for our students was perfect - work hard, make good choices, never give up and you'll be successful at whatever you choose. I wish him much continued success in his future and he is welcome to come back to The Creek anytime!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-01-21T16:14:00.000-05:00

On the first day of school this year every Chets Creek student planted a seed for a cold weather crop. They tended and watered them as they germinated and began to sprout. After 6 weeks, the ones that made it that far, were invited to plant them in our school's garden. Our fifth graders really took this challenge to heart and weeded and watered our garden throughout the past months. Each day the teachers and kids gave up parts of their recess to ensure that we cultivated a bountiful crop. The fruits of their labor began to provide just before our Winter Break when they harvested beans. Several students got to take the produce home and prepare it for their families. I heard one student roamed door to door in his neighborhood looking for someone with butter he could use to cook them in! :) This past week their rows of broccoli and cabbage were ready to be picked and I got to take home my own stalk of broccoli to eat. The cabbage are some of the most gorgeous I've ever seen. Our garden grows big and beautiful and the lessons our students have learned are limitless. I'm so proud of our "Farmers" and their "Learning Cultivators"! Next up is a spring planting. I can hardly wait to see what grows next...

It's Not the End of the World...But Almost

2011-01-14T15:30:00.003-05:00

Last night the external hard drive I use crashed. Yep, my school one. While most would think losing everything on your computer is not good - for me it's near catastrophic. You see that hard drive houses every single document for Chets for the past 14 years. Just sit quietly and allow that to sink in for a minute. Every Connection, Memo, Letter, Form, Photo, Graphic, Agenda, Schedule, Sign, Survey, Data Chart, Powerpoint, etc - the entire electronic history of our school. It was my worst nightmare. I am proud to report that I have remained uncharacteristically mature about it, I have thrown no hissy fit...yet. :) My crisis management mode took over and I started immediately to try and identify allies who could help me attempt to fix it. Thank goodness there are people out there smart enough to do that kind of magical work. Right now all the data on the drive is being imaged - it'll take 9 hours - before they start trying to extract it. Hopefully, they'll be able to recover it all and at least if they can't there is an electronic "picture" of all 20,000+ items. A special thank you to Jim C., my hero, who is attempting to save the world as we Creekers know it! Stay tuned...

It's a New Dawn...It's a New Day

2011-01-07T15:54:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I'm not sure I've ever been so excited to see a year end and a new one begin. 2010 was certainly one of the toughest I've had to endure to date and 2011 promises to be one of surprises! Each year I always try to make and keep a few resolutions. Like most everyone I know I have the very best intentions but often find myself abandoning them by the second week . So this year I decided to keep it simple. I made one resolution and made sure it would be of great benefit for me to stick with it. The amount of email I get in a day is outrageous but I have decided that I will not sleep until each and every email has been dealt with for the day. There is something so gratifying about seeing your Inbox at 0! So far...so good. Now as each new day dawns I don't feel overwhelmed and behind from the barage of emails that never stop coming. What are you resolved to do this year?

Thankfulness - The Blogging Challenge

2010-12-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

This week I was reminded, yet again, that I am not actually in control of what happens in life. Just when you think you have it all figured out fate steps in, shakes it's finger right in your face and says, "I don't think so"! I am supremely grateful for the most wonderful and supportive school family any principal could ever be lucky enough to have. I felt loved beyond belief this morning when I shared my gift, this "surprising"poem, with them...

My wish for you this time of year,
Are days filled with fun and holiday cheer!
Family, food and gifts galore,
You never know what the future’s got in store.

So make some time to take a rest,
And hold on to the ones you love the best,
Enjoy the moments shared with kith and kin,
Before the hustle bustle of the new year begins again.

And just in time for this special season,
Quite certainly there must be a reason-
Here’s a big dose of holidrama,
Next summer I’m gonna be a Mama!

The Blogging Challenge - My Life as a Writer

2010-12-03T15:32:00.000-05:00

by Olivander on flickr

I've gotten behind on the challenge, which fits perfectly with how I'd describe my life as a writer. I also dug back into an old blog post I wrote on this very topic almost a year ago when I was struggling with the exact same things. As I read the old post I realized that it still summizes this part of my life perfectly...

Originally posted on December 4, 2009
Growing up I NEVER thought of myself as a writer, especially not a good writer. My childhood friend Catherine was the writer - and exceptional at it! I was never confident about it and actually found it to be a painful experience. I wasn't always the best student. I was a major procrastinator and daydreamed way too much to ever actually get any thoughts down on paper.

Looking back I'm not even sure I knew how to write, at least not until high school when I landed in the classrooms of two very special English teachers, Mrs. Hedgepath's 9th grade Honors and Mrs. Gobbel's 12th grade AP. Mrs. Hedgepath taught me to write from the heart and express my feelings about the topic at hand. I loved her, her class and every writing assignment she gave me. Headed into that AP class in 12th grade I never, ever imagined I would pass the end exam - after all, you had to write a 5 paragraph essay on some obsure literary topic in 30 minutes or less. Hardly anybody ever passed the essay portion and I didn't even consider it a possibility. But, Mrs. Gobbel taught me to think critically, organize my thoughts and succinctly put it all down. She was confident in my ability, and guess what, I got the essay done and PASSED. I was one of only a few that year, out of group of peers I considered much more talented than me. It was HUGE for me.
So much of my job over the years has required me to write, a lot, and in many different ways. And even though I find myself complaining about the volume from time to time I actually really enjoy it and the thoughts and ideas flow fairly easily once I'm started. That is, until the last few weeks. I have had the worst case of writer's block EVER! I've started and stopped many blog posts, fought through the technical writing my job requires and basically avoided the creative process because it had truly become painful. It hasn't happened but a time or two in the last twenty years, and I have really resisted struggling through it this time, and it has really bothered me. Ignoring the issue was easy since everyone had very carefully avoided asking me why I wasn't writing until my mother in law, whom I adore :), asked me last week if I had just quit my weekly blog. Ugh - you gotta love those mothers in law for holding you accountable just when you need it the most.
So, I committed myself to pushing through it and getting back on the communication bandwagon again. Forgive me if its rough at first but there is a lot of stuff rattling around upstairs and it will take me some time to sort through it and get it all out. Being able to share through the written word is a huge part of who I am and I've missed the creative expression. When I'm writing I am focused and when I'm focused, I am productive. When I'm productive, WATCH OUT! Thank goodness I had two teachers along the way who brought my inner writer to life, writing has shaped who I've become, how I feel about myself and how I relate to every single part of life.

Even though this post has taken way longer than it should've, I'm already starting to feel better...

During the last three weeks I haven't exactly had writer's block but I have certainly allowed other things to distract me from putting ink to paper. Or maybe being distracted is just an excuse for covering up writer's block - anyway. I was forced today to write something to meet a seriously quick deadline so I put my headphones on, closed the door and got it done in record time. It was actually pretty good and the sense of accomplishment I had at completing it and pleasing the person I was writing it for made me feel great. I think writing for others makes the difference. So...whether it's writer's block or distraction I'm getting back on track!

The Blogging Challenge - Small Moment

2010-11-05T11:07:00.000-04:00

In a large organization sometimes its easy to feel lost, like you are nothing more than a widget being moved or placed without thought or control. Mandates and missives come at you from every direction and cause you to make mistakes or miss things. You become part of the machine. I hate this because often my mistakes effect the very folks I'm trying so hard to protect and I never want what I do to define who I am.

I got frustrated this week - it happens. The good thing is that right when I felt the worst I ran across a book I've had on the corner of my desk since the summer, The Big Moo, by Seth Godin. The first thing to hit me was the subtitle: "Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable". Hmp! Major life reminder right smack dab on the front of the book! I flipped the book open to find these words: "Who You Are Is What You Do"; I read on to Mr. Godin's reminders that I am not a cog, but rather a valuable asset to others, capable of impact and leaving a legacy and then to his challenge - "...you're remarkable. Now, hurry. Don't let yourself (and the rest of us) down."

Don't worry - I don't plan to. I'm a Purple Cow in a brown cow world...

The Blogging Challenge - What Book Made the Biggest Impact on Your Life?

2010-10-30T18:38:00.003-04:00

Rain Makes Applesauce, by Julian Scheer, is hands down my choice for the book that has made the biggest impact on my life. I vividly remember going to the library in my small town on Saturdays with my Mama to check out picture books. We stumbled across this book on one of our trips and I'm quite certain we checked it out 10-15 times during my childhood. I can still feel the disappointment I experienced on the few weeks we wanted to check out the book only to find that someone else had beat us to it. I loved it because it made my Mama smile to read it's silly verse and we'd sit together for hours and look at the extraordinary illustrations. In looking back I know that this book is the one that "taught" me to use images to bring life to the words I read because even though the words didn't make sense the pictures created comprehension for me. As a result taking the time to create mental images and see the story as I read has became a gift (and a curse - slow reader) as I tackled the written word throughout my life. when I decided to become a teacher it is the first book I went out and bought for my classroom.

About the Book:

Rain Makes Applesauce is filled with seemingly nonsensical verse after verse of “silly talk” coupled with the repeating line “and rain makes applesauce” which at first sounds absurd but actually holds the only real truth found in the lyrical poem. The elegant and fanciful prose is perfectly suited to the equally as engaging illustrations found in this delightful book. The pictures are full of intricate detail designed to stretch the imaginations of the reader. It is only under closer observation that the reader discovers the surprising image on each page that mirrors the repeating line. In 1965 this book was chosen to receive the Caldecott Honor Medal.

Using the Book with My Faculty:

I chose Rain Makes Applesauce as our April 2008 Book of the Month because from time to time I think we all need to be reminded that it is important to look upon ideas and images with the wonderment and interest of a child. Just as a child may return to this book over and over again and each time see something new and interesting and different so must we in our work with students. We must be on the constant search for “new meanings, new images and new responses” to impact our instruction and our interactions with students. Our students are like the apple seeds in the beginning of this book. Knowledge for them must be planted carefully, cultivated and nurtured regularly. From time to time a storm will have to be weathered and understanding that even a little rain goes a long way towards producing a great result makes the journey pretty sweet in the end. Rain does indeed make applesauce and I’m not just talking silly talk!

The Blogging Challenge - My Life as a Mathematician

2010-10-23T00:17:00.000-04:00

It's funny. When I saw that this was one of the topics for the blogging challenge I have to admit I was dreading it, but ironically, I've ended up spending more time thinking about it than the other topics. Growing up I never hated math and in fact when I think back I'm pretty sure my worst grades were in Reading, which was my favorite. I can vividly remember learning my times tables in the third grade by singing them. The 6s had a country beat and the 7s were disco! Those two were my favorites! I could memorize the steps and I certainly could repeat them problem after problem. However, word problems were a completely different story - yikes! My life as a young mathematician was uneventful, just page after page of problems, and I was happy until of course, I got to the two word problems at the end of the workbook page.

My happy go lucky math life completely changed when I got to the tenth grade. Algebra II! Binomials, conjugates and logarithms - oh my! I had the worst experience. I didn't get it and my teacher didn't help me - I made the first and only F ever on my report card that year. :( At the end of that year I closed the book on Math and made sure I never took another Math class until college. I only took one then because I had to. That professor was slightly more helpful but I really only made it through because of the outstanding tutor I found who could actually explain the concepts to me in a way I could understand. I've worked hard as an adult to improve my mathematical skills and understanding.

As my own daughter came through elementary school completely immersed in a conceptually based math curriculum I began to realize why I did okay early on but struggled as the Math got more complex. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing - what the Math really meant. As long as I could memorize the facts or repeat the same steps over and over to solve the problems I had it made. My daughter understands why the Math works and knows many ways to solve any problem she encounters. I've learned a lot from helping her her over the years and I still learn something about why Math works with every lesson I observe. If I had been taught the way she was there is no telling how far I would have gotten in the study of Mathematics.

I have always been able to just see patterns and sequences. Timing, schedules and organizing data are easy for me and I use Math almost every day to do my job. I calculate percents and averages, generate complex schedules, analyze and create data, and efficiently manage a large budget. I view each task as a personal challenge and every time I approach a problem these days that requires me to think mathematically, I feel encouraged and accomplished. Conquering something that hasn't always been easy makes you feel pretty great! Effort + Determination = Skill

The Blogging Challenge - Class Poll

2010-10-15T11:58:00.000-04:00

Sometimes a blog post can be as simple as polling your class about a topic and then sharing the results. It's fun to see what others think and discover the similarities and differences between us. This week I polled my "class" (the teachers) to find out:

What was your favorite subject in elementary school?

Here's what the "class" had to say:

Kindergarten

Julie - Reading
Liz - Reading
Danielle - Reading
Nina - Math/Science
Laura - Math
Debby - Reading
Michelle - Reading
JJ - Reading
Vicky - Reading/Writing
Brooke - Writing

First Grade
Patricia - Math
Toni - Music
Tracy - Science
Rebecca - Reading
Maria - History
Cheryl - Math
Debbie - Reading
Lauren - Reading/Writing
dayle - Algebra/Biology (yeah, right!)

Second Grade
Rachel - Reading
Heather - Writing
Karen - Social Studies
Lori - Science
Jessica - Reading
Kathi - English
Lauren - Math
Wanda - Writing
Christina - English
Laurie - Art
Debbie - Reading/Writing
Beth - reading

Third Grade
Lynn - Reading
Lindsay - Reading
Katie - Math
Randi - Reading
Melissa - Reading
Ashley - Writing
Denise - Science
Cindy - Math
Cheryl - Math
Tammi - PE
Christy - Writing
Melonie - Social Studies/Writing

Fourth Grade
Bridget - Math
Joe - Math
Angela - Math
Rick - Math
Meli - Reading
Christine - PE

Fifth Grade
Kristin - Social Studies
Tom - Social Studies
Terri - Reading
Sherrie - Recess
Carolyn - Science
Lauren - Math

Resource
Moe - Science
Suzanne - Math
Melanie - Reading
Betsy - Reading
Jen - Art
KK - Reading
DeeDee - Language Arts
Nikki - PE
Ray - Math
Jane - Recess
Joy - Math

It was so interesting to find out how many of our teachers are actually now teaching in the exact subject areas that were their favorite as children, and how many that aren't! Some of the responses really surprised me and then others were exactly what I thought. And as for me...it has always been...READING!

The Blogging Challenge - My Life as a Reader

2010-10-08T15:14:00.004-04:00

About a year ago I wrote a really great post about my life as a reader - one that I think most accurately describes my reading life most of the time. At least the reading life that's most pleasant to live. However, when I look back over the last six months I clearly see that the reading life described in that post is definitely not what I've been living lately. I love to get lost in a great story but right now I can't even remember the name of the last piece of fiction I read. How sad is that?

My more recent reading has included all informational text like medical research, insurance policies, professional books, online journals, blogs, charts and tables of test item specs, standards documents, data and then there's the email. Email these days accounts for over half of all that I read...ugh. There are days where I think I'll never get it all read or answered.

I guess the point is that there are seasons in the life of a reader too and while I certainly enjoy "summer" reading more, "winter" reading is a necessity. I have learned a lot from all that informational reading, facts that have helped me make sense of chaos, ideas that have helped me to plan, and opportunites that have made a difference in the life of others. Maybe "winter" reading isn't all that bad after all.

This week my standards coach popped into my office with a book, a piece of fiction, that she just felt I had to read. I believe her exact words were, "you will love this book, you won't be able to put it down once you've started". She never, ever brings me "summer" reading so perhaps it was fate that sent her to me with a book to take home this weekend. A good reading "vacation" might be just what I need...

Photo courtesy by: Michael (mx5tx) on Flickr

Will You Accept The Blogging Challenge?

2010-10-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

Once the first several people began to blog at Chets Creek the opportunity quickly caught on like wildfire, just as the many really exceptional ideas do around here. It was new, we had exciting things to share and it was easy. Well folks, it's not new anymore, but we still have exciting things to share and it really is easy. I think we make it hard sometimes. We allow ourselves to collect preconcieved notions about what our posts have to look like, or how long they have to be, or what they have to say. By overthinking it we became paralyzed by it and forget that each and every one of us has something to share. Throughout last year the majority of us fell victim to "unblogging" and missed out on the power that can come from taking the time to reflect on your work and then share it with others. I completely undersand why it happens - it happened to me, too! At the end of the year I encouraged each of you who had fallen out of the habit (including myself :) to get after it again. Throw out those ideas about what should be and just do it. Getting back into the habit will remind you why you started in the first place - you just have to get your groove back.

Earlier this week my tech mentor, Melanie Holtsman, (who also struggled with blogging last year :) approached me about an idea that could help those who are struggling to get back into the routine of blogging - a blogging challenge. Write one blog post a week for 10 of the next 11 weeks. Tag your post with "fallblogchallenge2010" and send Melanie an email so that she'll know you're joining our challenge. She and dayle timmons even came up with a list of topics you can use to jump start the practice. Feel free to modify them to suit your needs. They are all things that each of us would be interested in knowing about our colleagues and their work.

TOPICS

I'm in! Let the blogging begin! Are you ready to take the challenge?

You're in BIG Trouble...NOT!

2010-09-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

Traditionally a trip to the Principals' office is not a good thing. It happens as the end result of a poor choice made and at worst - a referral! On Wednesday of this week eight anxious third graders entered my office unsure of why they had even been called to the office. I immediately informed them they were there because they had a received a referral - a positive referral! As part of our effort to create citizens of character we have implemented a Positive Recognition Referral at Chets Creek. Teachers are encouraged to use them to acknowledge students who have:
_____A. Shown RESPECT for self and others: Is attentive and careful of others' feelings and stops and thinks before acting.
_____B. Shown RESPONSIBILITY: Brings appropriate materials and homework daily; has set a goal and has a plan to get there; decides what is important and does it.
_____C. Shown KINDNESS: Treats others the way he/she wants to be treated and cooperates with others.
_____D. Shown SELF-CONTROL: Is trustworthy; listens, follows directions, and chooses to do what he/she knows is the right choice.
_____E. Shown a POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Looks for the best in self and others.
_____F. Has shown GREAT IMPROVEMENT in: _______________________________!
The actions I may take include verbal acknowledgement with the students, phone contact with the parents or public acknowledgement in the school. I loved talking with this first group of students about how they ended up in my office - no one fretted or cried and no dreaded phone calls were made. In fact, we celebrated their outstanding displays of character and everyone left with a big smile on their face and a one of a kind "My Principal is Proud of Me!" pencil. I can't wait for the the next student to get a refferal - the Principal's Office may never be the same again!

BUDs Club - A Tiny Little Division of the PTA

2010-09-17T14:52:00.000-04:00

All the research shows that male involvement in the education of our youth has a powerful impact. Male role models are needed and appreciated in schools. Six years ago our PTA President and her husband led the charge to get more males involved in our school by organizing the BUDs Club. BUDs stands for Brothers, Uncles, Dads but is inclusive of any male figure of importance to our children's lives. This "tiny little division of the PTA" quickly proved what a BIG impact it could have. In 2007 our BUDs Club was honored with a coveted Parent Involvement Award by the Florida PTA. The small group of charter members has grown to be 100 strong today! Over the years they have shown up in force to help with the heavy lifting, participated as guest readers in our classrooms, and held movie nights. Their biggest and most anticipated event each year is without a doubt the Pancake Pigout Breakfast. The BUDs get up early to cook thousands of pancakes and sausage links, cut up fruit, pour juice and prepare our dining room to host hundreds of Chets Creek students and their BUDs before school. They even let moms, grandmas and aunts eat, too! And throughout all the fun they plan they have accomplished the goal of getting more males involved - our number of males volunteering has quadrupled! And as for me - there's nothing like seeing the happy faces of our children as they proudly introduce me to their BUD!

Fuel Up To Play - It's Team Spirit Day!

2010-09-10T21:28:00.006-04:00

Today was Team Spirit Day at the Creek! Many donned the colors of their favorite NFL or college teams, and some wore their CCE spirit shirts, but all the Creekers celebrated the fact that they were part of a special team that works together and supports each other. Our PE Team approached me about implementing a Fuel Up to Play program this year in an effort to compete for a $10,000 NFL Play 60 grant that will be awarded to 34 Super Schools this year. I immediately became excited about the activities they had planned for promoting nutrition and exercise with our students. They kicked off their program today with Back to Football Friday that included football activities through PE classes this week and culminated in our entire school committing to completing 2 laps around our track immediately following lunch today. This whole school effort resulted in a whopping 700 miles logged during the event! Twenty lucky participants were also awarded either a football autographed by one of our local Jacksonville Jaguar players or a Jaguars program book! Aside from the health and wellness grant the winning schools also receive a visit from a NFL player. The kids were excited to have accepted and exceeded the goal for our first challenge. The Creek's got sprirt - yes we do - the Creek's got spirit - how 'bout you???

The Book Fairy's Magic

2010-09-03T15:06:00.004-04:00

I vividly remember the first day I met KK Cherney. I had been surplussed from a school I loved and had been sent to work at a new school being built. I was nervous about meeting my new principal and so uncertain about what my future held. She greeted me with a 1000 watt smile and the warmest hey and sincerest welcome you’ve ever heard at the door of our first assembly as a faculty and my life has never been the same. The pit in my stomach turned to anticipation of something that was sure to be exciting if she was involved. In looking back over the last 13 years, exciting isn’t quite the right word – the experience is more like electrifying! I fell in love with her instantly. I can also promise you that everyone, grown or not, who has met her could share a near identical story.

She understands the importance of relationships and seeks to know and love every child she serves. She is routinely sought out by students for celebrations of a goal achieved, help in completing a difficult task, or for a hug and reassurance that everything will be ok during times of disappointment and sadness. One of the greatest honors I receive is when a child mistakenly calls me Mrs. KK – I wish! She engages authors, illustrators, business partners, and community members in joining our mission to create truly meaningful learning experiences for children. She doesn’t know the word “no” and sees every obstacle to success as a mere challenge.

I have never known an educator more passionate about creating a love of books in children. Her passion for the written word is contagious. From enthralling story times, that almost surely involve costuming or props, to her engagement of students in the use of Web 2.0 tools every child loves the learning time spent with Mrs. KK. Our “Book Fairy” routinely spends every dime of the profits from our Book Fairs each year buying and placing books in the hands of those who might not have them otherwise. She worked this past year to create an offsite library in one of our largest neighborhoods so that families could get their hands on books after the school day and throughout the summer.

I was not surprised to find out this summer that she had been nominated for and selected as one of the five finalists for the Alferd Williams Literacy Award given by Scholastic to honor those who inspire a love of reading. Alferd Williams enrolled in first grade at the age of 70 after a lifetime of illiteracy to make good on a promise he had made to his mother to learn to read. In my book there is no one more more suited for or deserving of this honor than KK Cherney. Please visit www.scholastic.com/literacyaward to place your vote for Chets Creek Elementary’s Book Fairy, KK Cherney!

Rise and Shine...It's Time to Get in the Fields!

2010-08-27T17:22:00.000-04:00

At Chets Creek Elementary this year we are "Cultivating a Community of Excellence". As a family we have been challenged to till back into the soil on which our strong foundation has been built, yank out any weeds that are threatening our work and plant a crop that will yield our best harvest to date. This will only be accomplished by focusing on and then strengthening each area of our Guiding Vision. During our opening day I shared some simple, but powerful ways that we can grow ourselves professionally as well as personally in each of these areas:

Bountiful Relationships: By understanding one's Emotional Intelligence you can greatly improve your ability to relate and deal with others and in turn improve your opportunities for success. In Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry and Jean Graves describe EQ in four skills.
1) Self Awareness - Your ability to understand your own emotions and typical reactions
2) Self Management - Your ability to control your reactions to others, or not
3) Social Awareness - Your ability to perceive the emotions of others and understand them
4) Relationship Management - Your ability to use your own emotions and your understanding of the emotions of others to manage interaction with success
What have you done to improve or build your EQ with students, parents or colleagues?

Fruitful Risks: In Seth Godin's book, The Purple Cow, he describes how companies create that special marketing idea that dares to be so different from others that it takes the business to a whole new level of success. It requires the risk taker to be REMARKABLE. Remarkably innovative, driven and authentic.
Have you dared to be PURPLE?

Grade A Results: In How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins investigates why highly successful organizations fail. It was determined that over time that they lose sight of lose sight of what made them so unique and special in the first place and get complacent about their successes. To keep from falling into this trap you have to look at the Underlying Factors that affect your work, undertake Disciplined Creativity, participate in frequent and purposeful Fact-Based Dialogue, and embrace the Disciplines of Greatness.
What data have you gathered to guide your work? Have you engaged a colleague in conversation about the standards? Have you volunteered to lead or participate in a rewrite of homework or assessments? Which one of our Core Values have you modeled for your students?

The land's been turned...
the water and sunshine are ready...
the seeds have been placed in your hands...
there's 175 days left for this year's growing season...

The End and a New Beginning

2010-06-16T17:09:00.000-04:00

H.E. Luccock said, "No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it." This year as skilled musicians we have studied, and continued to perfect our craft by working together to put each note in just the right place so that the sounds blended together into something so moving that the listener was changed forever. Music gave a soul to our universe, wings to our minds, flight to our imagination, and life to everything.
This year was about experiencing life through the moves of music. Kindergarten kept it simple as their little ones booted, scooted and boogied into school to a country beat. First Grade did the bump and hustle as they mastered reading and math in the glow a sparkling disco ball. Second grade will faced the bright lights of Broadway and showed their talents to the musical show tunes. Our Resources hit the high notes like the masters of the everlasting classics. Third Grade synthesized all learning styles into a sound as smooth as Caribbean rhythms. Fourth Grade knew their skills so well that they were able to improvise like the great Jazz musicians. And Fifth Grade didn’t stop rockin and rollin us all year long!

We worked on tuning our instruments, read the score perfectly, moved our musicians to deliver each note with just the right timing and put together a beautiful masterpiece the likes of which no one has ever seen or heard. We orchestrated a symphony of student success.

Lao Tzu reminds us; “Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.”

When I look out to where the dream takes us next I see acres of untilled relationships that lie ahead of us just waiting for the seeds of risk taking to be planted. Land capable of producing the most well nurtured bountiful result that could ever be harvested.
Farming isn’t easy. In fact Will Rogers said, “The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer.” It takes planning, hard laborious work, problem solving, teamwork, creativity, faith and resolve. Sound familiar?

This year we aren’t dividing our farm. There won’t be separate sections for the cattle, apple trees, sunflowers or corn because we’re all members of this big farming family and it will take each of us working together to tend the crops so that we can yield the best results possible.

We started out as a good school, we quickly accepted good as our enemy and made our work with children great, but now it is the time weed out the great and work towards reaping a harvest of excellence. I’m convinced we are never going to get any better unless we dig back deep into the soil on which our foundation was built, bring back some of the basics, weed through the possibilities ahead of us, focus on providing what each little plant or animal needs and look for new and cutting edge ways to grow the next crop.

Next year at CCE we will Cultivate a Community of Excellence. And if there was ever a group of learning leaders who could make it happen - it's this one - I’d bet the farm on it!

Chets Creek Elementary School - Cultivating a Community of Excellence from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

A New Trail Blazed...

2010-05-21T14:31:00.006-04:00

Poet Robert Frost once said "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail." This week a new trail was blazed by true visionaries. For a number of years many of us at the Creek have dreamed of creating a partnership with our largest neighborhood in an effort to provide some much needed support and services outside of the school day setting to our students. A little over 6 months ago our Leadership Team reached out to the management at the community and we held our first outreach day inside the neighborhood in December. The day was such a success that it left nothing but a desire to turn the partnership into something more substantial. Our Behavior Interventionist, Liz Duncan, Media Specialist, KK Cherney, and Community Manger, Jermaine White began immediately planning for the creation of a special "place" where we could meet our kids on their own turf and the Chets Creek Elementary Academic Resource Center (ARC) at Portside was born! American Residential Communities, the neighborhood's management company remodeled the old clubhouse, gifted furnishings and technology for students to access our district's online learning tools. The Chets Media Team contacted our partners Scholastic Book Fairs and Bonanza Books and a mobile library cart was provided and stocked with literature for checkout. The Chets Art Team prepped and painted a gorgeous mural to adorn a special storytelling room and the incerdibly generous Faculty and Staff have agreed to donate time throughout the summer so that the center can be open for our children to visit. Our School Advisory Council and other business partners, Chick-fil-A at Hodegs and Beach, Starbucks at Windsor Commons, the JGCC Women's Network and our Landstar Lunchtime Tutors were on hand along with dozens of neighborhood residents and children at our Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to get a first glimpse at this most incredible resource. The possibilities for where this path may lead us are endless and without a doubt I know the trail left behind will change the lives of all those on the journey.

Hang In There...

2010-03-19T15:24:00.003-04:00

Only a few more days before we can celebrate the conclusion of our high stakes accountability testing with a well deserved Spring Break! Reaching this pinnacle in the year is actually exhilarating as a little of the pressure we have felt turns to anticipation of the outstanding results to come. Now that testing is complete enjoy the next week and a half wrapping up the third grading period with your students. The focus turns to preparing them for next year.

Save Our Schools!

2010-03-13T10:33:00.004-05:00

Article IX, Section I of the Florida Constitution guarantees that:

"The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida."

"It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for … a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education …."

Duval County expects to suffer from a $125 million budget deficit for the 2010-2011 academic year. All the facts tell us there is NO WAY to “trim the fat” and balance this budget crisis without affecting the classroom. In short, your child's school will suffer.

Guidance and Media services could be reduced!
Valuable resources like Art, Music and PE may be cut!
Essential supplies and materials could disappear altogether!

It is important to understand that this problem, this CRISIS, is not limited to Duval County alone. This fiscal crisis is statewide. Regarding the total amount of funds allocated and spent on education, the state of Florida is ranked 50th in the nation. I ask you, does this represent your priorities? I doubt it.

Are our legislators upholding the requirements of our state constitution?

As voters, we share a heavy burden. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves with accurate facts. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard. It is our responsibility to act. It is our responsibility to advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to fight for their rights, for today and for their future. If not us, then who? If we do not meet our duties, we cannot expect others to meet theirs.

I urge you. Educate yourselves. Research the facts. Go to the source. Ask questions. Speak out. Make demands. Do not accept it as fact because others believe it to be true.

Ask yourself, is 50th good enough for your child?

If the answer is NO - contact our state's legislative delegation and ask for immediate help from one of these short term solutions:

1. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

2. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

3. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

To learn more about how to get involved and about how to contact our legislators and ask them to make funding for public education in Florida a priority visit SaveDuvalSchools.

You Can Quote Me On That!

2010-03-05T17:17:00.003-05:00

I'm always searching for just the right quote that punctuates the point I am trying to make in meetings, on agendas and in my writing. There are several that have always stuck with me and offer important descriptions and reminders about who and what I want to be. My all time favorite is:

No one saves us but ourselves,

no one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path,

Teachers merely show the way.

For me it is the perfect anthem for personal accountability and for the impact our "teachers" of life have on providing points of direction. It's up to each of us to put the work into bettering ourselves but of paramount importance for those who lead to also be a guide. What's your favorite quote and why?

Let's Celebrate Tracy Carlin Day at the Creek!

2010-02-19T13:02:00.003-05:00

When you look at any successful organization, you will always find people behind the scenes who are dedicated, organized and who put all their energy and efforts into whatever task they have been given. Tracy Carlin is one such person to our organization. Every single day Tracy ensures that safety and security are priorities for all of our students, and she goes above and beyond the call of duty for our staff. She is pleasant to deal with and always greets others with a warm and friendly smile. It is the way in which she goes about her daily tasks that makes the difference and distinguishes her as an outstanding member of our team.

To say she is organized is an understatement. Whenever Tracy is given a task you can be assured that it will be completed quickly and efficiently. If it is something she is not sure of, she knows how to utilize her resources to find the answer. You will always see Tracy doing whatever is necessary, in order to benefit the school – even if it does not pertain to her normal duties. That’s just another way she shows her dedication to teamwork. Her attention to detail and her willingness to go beyond the call of duty in order to make all of our jobs easier is unprecedented.

Taking the time to celebrate each other and our accomplishments is an important way to build those all important relationships and foster a sense of community among each other. Last Friday, we got the opportunity to do just that when we took time to celebrate Tracy Carlin as our Employee of the Year. Congratulations Tracy - your Chets Creek family loves you!!

Think 6!

2010-02-12T15:54:00.003-05:00

This week our fourth graders tackled the FCAT Writes Test. It's a 45 minute demand write to an unknown prompt. Students prepare by understanding the standards expected and the rubric they will be graded on and by doing a little practice beforehand. The test is really "no sweat" because of the daily focus on and practice of writing that begins in Kindergarten. They are recieved special pencils from me with a pep talk and where encouraged along the way by not only their teachers but other classrooms throughout the school. It ends up being a great way for them to celebrate their writing accomplishment and they truly see it as a way to show the rest of the world what great authors they all are. I couldn't be prouder of them and their teachers. A perfect score of 6 is met with a limo ride and lunch with me and their teacher the following year. Nothing could make me happier than to have limos lined around the front drive....

Going Back to Cali...

2010-01-29T12:36:00.004-05:00

Next week I will travel to Los Angeles, California for the America's Choice National Conference. Since our involvement, 11 years ago in this school reform the conference has proved to be a vital link to keep our momentum going in the foundational ideals of the design. It is a way for us to share our stellar work and to learn of the latest strategies and products available for our professional growth. I have been asked to present a "Virtual Tour" of our school and have chosen to do so by showcasing the incredible ways we are collaborating professionally and engaging all stakeholders using technology. As always you can keep up with what I'm learning since I'll be blogging the conference live and posting on Live From the Creek. This also happens to be the time I typically come up with the school theme for the upcoming year. What will the Hollywood hills inspire this time?????

My New Best Friend

2010-01-22T15:53:00.002-05:00

For months my husband has been trying to convince me to get an iPhone. He jumped on the bandwagon right after they came out. I was a BlackBerry girl - and contrary to popular opinion - I am adverse to change. Really. He was ready to buy me one over a year ago and instead I opted for the BlackBerry Curve. Over the past year all my "crackberry" friends began dropping off and into an Apple world. Even though I don't relish change I am ususally ahead of most on the technology curve, not behind and around October I started noticing that my BB just wasn't cutting it. Over Winter Break this year I joyfully retired my BB and got the 3Gs!! Now I could kick myself repeatedly for EVER waiting this long. The iPhone is changing my life...literally! No more camera, iPod, phone all taking up valuable sapce in my purse, all my social networks are available at my fingertips, managing my calendar and email is a piece of cake, even my household grocery list has been revolutionized! I am thoroughly enjoying exploring all the possibilities and positively obsessed with finding great new apps. What are your favorites?

Random Streams of Consciousness and Kindness...Part 4

2010-01-15T14:31:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday night I was startled by a phone call from our Standards Coach, Suzanne Shall, telling me that an apartment inside our attendance area was engulfed in flames. I immediately turned to the news to see a blazing fire destroying the homes of what I was sure belonged to a number of our families. We began to immediately try to make contact with the 3 faculty members who also live in the same apartments. Thankfully no one was hurt but 19 families lost everything. Six of those families have students who are currently attending our school. First thing Sunday morning we began researching which families lived in Building 13 and starting trying to make contact with them to find out how we could help. Shortly after the emails started coming from my incredible faculty and staff with offers of help and support. By the end of the day they were mobilized into a coordinated relief organization with our front desk receptionist, Julie Middleton, at the helm. On Monday items started pouring into the school for the families and our parents began asking how the could help. We were contacted by our Business Partners, Chick-fil-A and Chets Creek Church and by weeks end thousands of items had been made available for the families so that they could begin to rebuild their homes. It was an incredible reminder, yet again, of how the efforts of a united group can benefit others in extraordinary ways. I have been awed and humbled by the generosity of not only our Chets Creek faculty and staff but of the community as a whole.

Random Streams of Consciousness and Kindness Part 3...

2010-01-08T14:36:00.004-05:00

Three days into our Winter Break and five days before Christmas my husband fell 10 ft. through our ceiling from the attic to the floor of our bedroom. He had to be transported by ambulance to our local hospital where they discovered his injuries included a compression fracture of one of the vertebrae in his back and two large, impassable, kidney stones that had become dislodged from his kidney on impact. By the time they were found they had caused an obstruction and his kidney was enlarged. They did vertebroplasty to seal the fractured bone, which worked perfectly. They did lithotripsy on the largest of the two stones and had to leave a stint in the ureter to keep it open until they can do lithotripsy again on the other stone this coming Monday. He was in the hospital up until the day before Christmas. He has been in physical therapy to work on rehabilitating his back almost daily and just this week they discovered he also broke one of his heels from the fall. He is getting a little better each day but still moves very slowly, requires a lot of assistance and is not able to drive. We feel very lucky as he could have been hurt so much worse.

Within minutes of the accident my families began to mobilize - I say families because I am fortunate enough to have more than one. I have my blood related one, my neighborly one and my school one. Your related family is required to love you, it certainly behoves your neighbors to like and get along with you but your colleagues are an entirely different matter. I know people who work in places where the people come and go each day, do their jobs, or not, and then go home. I do not work in one of those schools, and I am thankful everyday that I don't. At Chets Creek I am surrounded by a caring hard working group of people who love on each other and are there each and every time a family member is in need. I am experiencing the depth of their compassion as they have lifted me, my husband, my daughter and mother in law up with support and prayer.

Words will NEVER express the love and gratitude I have for each and every one of them. From the cards, texts, facebook messages, emails, visits and FOOD we have felt love and compassion that has touched us deeply and reminded us what life is really all about - family. I thank each of them for being a part of my family and for caring for us when we needed it most. The level of support shown during this difficult time has been paramount in helping us all heal. My blood related family counts my school family as one of our greatest blessings.

Random Streams of Conscientiousness and Kindness Continued...

2009-12-16T14:59:00.004-05:00

Many of you have asked about the Seasons of Giving Projects that our classrooms participated in. Classrooms donated the proceeds from their holiday auctions, while others participated in can or supply drives. Many classes picked the same recipients. Here's a rundown of the many who were helped.

Gift to the World Wildlife Fund

Gift to a local Children's Charity

Gift to the Ronald McDonald House

Collection of items for BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry)

Collection of items for the Humane Society

Cards and Care Packages for a local Navy ship

Collection of Cans for our School's Giving Tree

Cards for the Troops

Gift to the American Diabetes Association

Crafts, Cookies and Storytime at the Jacksonville Children's Home

Gifts/Clothing for children via the MaliVai Washington Kid's Foundation

Collection of craft supplies for Crafts 4 The Cure

Gift towards the purchase of a chickens, goat or cow for a family in Zinbabwe, Africa

Never have I seen a more generous offering to help those less fortuante and in need. Our students truly learned how to give back to their community. I am so very proud of them! No matter what holiday you celebrate I hope it is a beautiful one, full of fun, family and love.

Random Streams of Consciousness and Kindness

2009-12-11T15:06:00.004-05:00

I've been really thinking about a lot of things recently. I am so grateful for my family, friends, and the best school full of people who care about each other and the children they serve. In the toughest of circumstances these people come through and they amaze me with their thoughtfulness and sincerity of mission. Here's just some of the kindness I've been witness to in just the past few weeks:

1 - One of our expected Learner Outcomes for students is that they learn to become Community Contributors and in this time of hardship for so many, our classrooms have elected to choose ways to give back to others during this season. In the past it has been tradition to hold a Holiday Auction in conjunction with our PTA in which all classes create a holiday decoration that is silently auctioned off with the proceeds given back to the classroom. This year we are offering a new twist on this old classic. Classrooms have discussed and chosen how they will participate in our new program the “Season of Giving Project”. Some classes still choose to participate in the Holiday Auction but instead donated their proceeds to a charitable cause. Other classes elected to complete a community service project (ex. making cards for our troops, donating time, etc…) or participated in a drive to collect items to donate (ex. food, clothing, or pet supplies for the animal shelter, etc…). You can't imagine the number of ways in which others have been helped through these gestures.

2 - A parent anonymously sent in $100 for a teacher to place in a needy student's lunch account. They also sent in a shopping gift card for the teacher to send to a family with the greatest need.

3 - 65 Thanksgiving baskets were assembled through the help of one of our Business Partners, Chets Creek Church, and distributed to our families in need.

4 - A colleague anonymously gave $100 to another colleague whose husband just lost his job. The receiving teacher wants whoever their angel is to know who touched and grateful they are. :)

5 - A colleague donated to a cause in the name of her team instead of participating in the team's annual gift exchange. The cause chosen benefits research for a condition a former colleague's child has been diagnosed with.

6 - To date over 200 cans of food and many, many toys have been donated by Chets Creek families to our Giving Tree for distributed to several families in need for the holidays.

7 - Our Behavior Interventionist has almost singlehandedly organized a community outreach event for tomorrow in our largest neighborhood with the greatest challenges. Teachers, staff and volunteers from Beach United Methodist Church will descend to help with home improvements and provide snacks, crafts and activities for our children.

This is a truly extraordinary place with incredibly kind and compassionate people. They touch lives that are forever changed for the better.

My Life As a Writer!

2009-12-04T22:14:00.005-05:00

Growing up I NEVER thought of myself as a writer, especially not a good writer. My childhood friend Catherine was the writer - and exceptional at it! I was never confident about it and actually found it to be a painful experience. I wasn't always the best student. I was a major procrastinator and daydreamed way too much to ever actually get any thoughts down on paper.

Looking back I'm not even sure I knew how to write, at least not until high school when I landed in the classrooms of two very special English teachers, Mrs. Hedgepath's 9th grade Honors and Mrs. Gobbel's 12th grade AP. Mrs. Hedgepath taught me to write from the heart and express my feelings about the topic at hand. I loved her, her class and every writing assignment she gave me. Headed into that AP class in 12th grade I never, ever imagined I would pass the end exam - after all, you had to write a 5 paragraph essay on some obsure literary topic in 30 minutes or less. Hardly anybody ever passed the essay portion and I didn't even consider it a possibility. But, Mrs. Gobbel taught me to think critically, organize my thoughts and succinctly put it all down. She was confident in my ability, and guess what, I got the essay done and PASSED. I was one of only a few that year, out of group of peers I considered much more talented than me. It was HUGE for me.

So much of my job over the years has required me to write, a lot, and in many different ways. And even though I find myself complaining about the volume from time to time I actually really enjoy it and the thoughts and ideas flow fairly easily once I'm started. That is, until the last few weeks. I have had the worst case of writer's block EVER! I've started and stopped many blog posts, fought through the technical writing my job requires and basically avoided the creative process because it had truly become painful. It hasn't happened but a time or two in the last twenty years, and I have really resisted struggling through it this time, and it has really bothered me. Ignoring the issue was easy since everyone had very carefully avoided asking me why I wasn't writing until my mother in law, whom I adore :), asked me last week if I had just quit my weekly blog. Ugh - you gotta love those mothers in law for holding you accountable just when you need it the most.

So, I committed myself to pushing through it and getting back on the communication bandwagon again. Forgive me if its rough at first but there is a lot of stuff rattling around upstairs and it will take me some time to sort through it and get it all out. Being able to share through the written word is a huge part of who I am and I've missed the creative expression. When I'm writing I am focused and when I'm focused, I am productive. When I'm productive, WATCH OUT! Thank goodness I had two teachers along the way who brought my inner writer to life, writing has shaped who I've become, how I feel about myself and how I relate to every single part of life.

Even though this post has taken way longer than it should've, I'm already starting to feel better...

It Just Keeps Getting Better

2009-10-30T15:54:00.002-04:00

Every year I cannot imagine how the teachers, parents and students can make our Literary Pumpkin Festival bigger and better, but they continue to do so. Special thanks go to the PTA for organizing it all and making it happen! Please take a moment and enjoy a look at our literary pumpkins, trick or treating and carnival pictures and just know that you have made memories that will last a lifetime and once again touched the lives of our precious students. Thank you everyone!

My Life As a Reader!

2009-10-16T14:00:00.003-04:00

I love to read, I always have. I am a slow reader though. I can remember this really bothering me growing up because everyone always finished before I did. It's not that I had trouble decoding or with my fluency, and I comprehended and synthesized really well. A number of years ago I finally became a skilled enough reading teacher that I could figure out what had caused me to be so slow. I spend a lot of time while I am reading visualizing the story - probably too much time, but its what helps me glean the most from the story. I think every single one of my elementary report cards said "Susan daydreams too much in class...". Well duh, it wasn't that I was thinking about something other than what the teacher was teaching - its that I was busy making mental images of what I was trying to learn!

Let's face it, most of what I read is professional literature, I just don't seem to be able to find the time for much else. Reading professionally as an educator is essential for professional growth and is a huge part of my job - its work. My real love though, is fiction, and more specifically stories full of intrigue or mystery. Reading fiction is like an escape for me, like taking a mini vacation. Unfortunately I can only allow myself this luxury every once and a while because the reading consumes me. I get lost in the story imagining what the characters and setting look like. If I happen across a series I get in to you can just forget about me until I have them all read. I forget time and start neglecting things around me like dishes, laundry, eating and even sleep! I'm beginning book 7 in a series of 9 books I am completely engrossed in right now - and I just started reading 12 days ago! I will hate to see the end of the series come and wait very impatiently for the author to write another. My family will jump for joy because I will finally return from my extended vacation...

What's your life as a reader like?

Celebrating Community Partnerships

2009-09-18T15:03:00.002-04:00

When the school was built we wanted it to become an integral part of our community. In fact, one of our Learner Outcomes is to teach our students to be Community Contributors We knew that by making our school the heart of our neighborhood it would be treasured. We open our doors at night for Girl Scouts, home owner's association meetings and church groups. We always hope to give back more than we take. Last school year our local, and brand new, Chick-fil-A approached us about hosting a Chets Creek Spirit Night. Between the hours of 6:00 - 8:00 PM on the second Monday of each month we assist them in hosting the event and they support us by donating a portion of their proceeds during this time frame to our school! They even extended this offer to include a portion of the proceeds any other time during the day of the CCE Spirit Night if the customer mentions the school. This year we are extending and expanding our support of them by having a different grade level group help host the event each month for no other reason than to show our presence in, and support of, the community we serve. Stop by the Pablo Creek Plaza Chick-fil-A at Hodges and Beach in Jacksonville, FL on a CCE Spirit Night this year, have a great meal and spend some time with your favorite teacher. Don't forget to thank Restaurant Operators Jeff and Christine Weir for supporting our school because your dinner out is helping us provide for our classrooms!

October - Resource Team; November - Fifth Grade Team; December - First Grade Team; January - Foundations Team; February - Third Grade Team; March - Kindergarten Team; April - Second Grade Team; May - Fourth Grade Team; June - Office/Administration Team

Remembering 9/11 - 14 Cows for America

2009-09-11T14:43:00.005-04:00

The Principals' Book of the Month is a monthly tradition where I get to choose an well written picture book to gift each classroom. A faculty meeting is held to share the book with my teachers along with an instructional strategy that can be used in the classroom with students. It is a highly anticipated event that takes research, planning and meaningful execution. I found our first book for this year while attending the International Reading Association Convention in May. The book was not even published yet but I knew the moment I finished that it was the perfect book for September and I had to get it! One little problem...I was to be in South Carolina on vacation the morning of the Book of the Month presentation. My technology mentor, Melanie Holtsman, and I got together and hatched a plan. Could we get our district to unblock Skype just long enough for me to present Book of the Month live? We presented our case, helped with some trial runs and finally got the answer - YES! It worked beautifully and from my mother in law's kitchen table I presented 14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy, to our faculty.

14 Cows for America is the true story of one nation’s incredible and compassionate gift to another. Following the devastating attacks of 9/11, Kimeli, a Maasai warrior, returns to his tribe in western Kenya and relates the tragic events of the attack to his people. They are so moved by the sorrow of the story that they offer a most selfless gesture in an effort to reach out to a country suffering with tremendous grief by giving a gift whose very meaning equals life.

I chose 14 Cows for America as the September Book of the Month to remind us not only of the 9/11 attacks, which targeted the very heart of the American people, but of the extraordinary gifts of compassion shown by people half a world away. Being able to offer any gesture of kindness, big or small, to another selflessly is an important lesson to learn in life. As educators we have the incredible responsibility to not only teach our students the academics but to also provide lessons that shape these lifelong behaviors.

For this presentation we also made a video of me reading the story so that it could also be shown to students throughout the day on September 11.

Read Aloud of 14 Cows for America from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

To learn more about the book and access valuable teaching resources visit the 14 Cows for America website. For a complete write up for this Book of the Month you can visit my Book of the Month Wiki.

“Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded,
nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.”

from 14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy

I'm Published! Well Kinda...

2009-09-04T04:01:00.005-04:00

Last fall I was contacted by one of the authors of our yearlong faculty book study, Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools and asked to write a short story about how administrators use technology in innovative ways for the new book she was working on. Seems she had stumbled across my blog and liked what she saw. The vignettes in the book are titled One School Leader's Story and mine was to detail how we were accomplishing the implementation of Web 2.0 tools school wide and specifically to address how my blog was used to communicate expectations for teachers. I was completely honored and then almost immediately panicked! Who in the world would want to hear what I have to say? Y'all are forced to listen to me because you have to work with me. I mean really? I super procrastinated on this one but finally got my thoughts out on paper and got it turned in to Lynne Schrum's assistant. Whew! Done! It actually wasn't all that hard. It never is when I am describing the extraordinary work my faculty does with children. I had made up my mind that if she hated it I wouldn't even bother telling anyone I had done it. Turns out she loved it, thought it was wonderful - ha! Five days later another email arrived asking for another story - I couldn't believe it! This time they had me write about how we keep students safe as they access web tools on the internet. Armed with a touch of confidence I didn't procrastinate this time, got it written and submitted. I think I still expected them to send it back as garbage - they didn't. It was just what they needed. Whoa! I have to say that it was a lifetime high when my complimentary copy of Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement arrived this week. There it was - my name along side the name of the school I love - in black and white!! It's just 1 and 3/4 pages of a 212 page book but I can promise you if my Moma was still alive she'd be campaigning for me to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature! I'd love to be able to insert what I wrote at this point but I can't - even though I wrote it I don't own it anymore...so you'll just have to buy the book or stop just long enough at my office door. I could probably be pursuaded to read it to you!

Can you hear the music?

Chets Creek is the THRILLER...Can you DIG it?

2009-08-28T12:55:00.004-04:00

Before last school year ever ended the careful crafting of this school year began. The organizing, planning and plotting for ways to make the new year better excites me. The WOW factor for kids, but especially for teachers, is a huge part of the plan. I have often been asked why so much goes into planning the first day back for teachers and I can tell you why very plainly - relationships. Heard that before? Relationships are critical in the success of any teacher, and any student in any school anywhere! You build relationships through fun play, building awareness of the gifts of others and creating a laser like focus towards your common goal. That is exactly what our first day back was all about.

I had the occasion this summer to be in the company of several Non-Chets teachers who began to talk about how dull and boring the first day back is, "a real snooze fest," one of them called it. They were not excited to go back and the rolling of the eyes was almost seizure provoking. I was horrified and could only shake my head and apologize to them. I made a little promise to myself right then and there to never be the boring principal who talks their teachers to death the first day back and my mind began to whirl with ideas on how I, me personally, could do something extra special to THRILL my teachers this year. I solicited a little help from some dear friends (the Receptionist, Bookkeeper, Attendance, Copy and Guidance Clerk, Security Clerk, Standards Coach, Literacy Coach and Technology Coach), worked out the costuming, began the practicing and created what I hope was far from a snooze fest to kick the day off with my teachers.

Thriller from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Every moment of time spent here will be a carefully measured beat in creating a rhythm that is sure to make for a masterpiece. An orchestration of learning that produces a symphony of success. Just another school, just another school year - NOT!!! Chets is not and will never be just another school and this certainly won't be just another school year. In the words of Vincent Price "Chets Creek is the THRILLER...Can you DIG it?"

Can you hear the music?

End of the Year? Nope, It's Just the Beginning!

2009-06-06T11:11:00.002-04:00

Last year we packed our bags, squashed our fears and embarked on a quest, a virtual journey that took us beyond the borders of the classroom and to the far reaching corners of the Earth. This year is about experiencing life through the moves of music.

Kindergarten will keep it simple as their little ones boot scoot and boogie into school on a Country beat.

First Grade will do the bump and hustle as they master reading and math in the glow a sparkling Disco ball.

Second grade will face the bright lights of Broadway and show their talents to the musical Showtunes.

Our Resources will hit the high notes like the masters of the everlasting Classics.

Third Grade will synthesize all learning styles into a sound as smooth as Carribean rhythms.

Fourth Grade will know their skills so well that they’ll be able to improvise like the great Jazz musicians.

And Fifth Grade won’t stop without Rockin' N Rollin' us all year long!

Imagine one person banging away day after day on an instrument trying to play a symphony. Imagine trying to make a piano sound like a guitar or a trombone like a flute. Imagine trying to figure out the melody when you should be playing harmony. H.E. Luccock said, "No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it." It takes skilled musicians who have studied, and continue to perfect their craft working together to put each note in just the right place so that the sounds blend together into something so moving that the listener is changed forever. Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination,and life to everything. Next year at Chets Creek Elementary we’ll be orchestrating a symphony of student success. So join our Learning Conductors as we work on tuning our instruments, reading the score perfectly, moving our musicians to deliver each note with just the right timing and put together a beautiful masterpiece the likes of which no one has ever seen or heard.

Chets Creek Elementary: Orchestrating a Symphony of Student Success!

Minnesota Here I Come!

2009-05-01T15:24:00.003-04:00

Earlier this school year, my Media Specialist and I were contacted by children's book author Pamela Duncan Edwards and illustrator Henry Cole about presenting a session with them at the International Reading Association Conference this year. They have visited Chets Creek a couple of times and love the Book of the Month work that we do as much as we love them! Our proposal was accepted and we will be presenting a symposium on next Thursday afternoon at the 2009 IRA Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As always, we will be blogging the conference "live" on the Live From The Creek blog and can't wait to bring back all the incredible things we learn about Reading while attending the conference. Be sure to check in on our adventures as we head to the mid west!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

A Wiki is BORN!

2009-04-24T14:56:00.002-04:00

The Principal's Book of the Month was introduced to us by our founding principal, Dr. Terri Stahlman, in the first year of our standards based reform implementation, America's Choice. It is a leadership strategy in which the principal selects an authentic piece of children’s literature for all classes in the school with the purpose of creating a common literacy conversation between students and teachers. In addition, this strategy can be used to connect children’s literature and an adult professional text to drive professional development. Since its inception in 1999 Book of the Month immediately became a highly anticipated opportunity for our learning community to grow our vision for students and introduce new instructional practices for the classroom. Whether its an oldie but goodie like Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse or a new read like Woolbur teachers and students alike enjoy revisiting these great stories year after year after year. Thanks to Melanie Holtsman we have created a wiki to house all of the work done to create the BOTM experience monthly. It's a work in progress so make sure to check it out frequently and let me know what you think.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Traveling Up I-95 on SEEDLINGS!

2009-04-17T15:13:00.003-04:00

Last week, Melanie Holtsman and I were fortunate enough to be invited to speak on SEEDLINGS. This is a weekly show that is audio broadcast by EdTechTalk. EdTechTalk is a community of educators interested in discussing and learning about the uses of educational technology. Cheryl Oakes, Alice Barr and Bob Sprankle hosted a lively conversation with us regarding my role as the instructional and technology leader at our school and the ways that Melanie supports technology work at our school. I am amazed at how all of this happened and that we actually pulled it off. The three moderators were not in the same location in New England, Melanie was in the back office of a store in Orlando on the internet and I was trapped inside my vehicle on a cell phone with my husband, brother in law, child and two dogs as we traveled up I-95 into South Carolina. (No, I wasn't driving, amazingly neither dog barked and I didn't laugh out loud as my husband and brother in law acted out my side of the conversation! ) While it was a a little nerve wracking it was also a lot of fun getting to share all the incredible things that are happening with technology in our classrooms. I was so proud as I shared our story. If you'd like to have a listen Go here :)

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Welcome to the Chets Creek Crab Shack!

2009-04-09T13:02:00.004-04:00

The highly anticipated annual opening of the CCE Crab Shack took place this past Wednesday. For one day only our faculty lounge is transformed each school year immediately following our Spring Break into a Crab Shack filled with tons of fishy fun (ironically, we don't even serve crabs). We enjoy food and fellowship together as we sing along to great tunes and even get heckled by the principal, yours truly. Everyone leaves having caught a "big one" (gummy worms to gift cards) and ready to face our final push until the end of the school year. The day is also designed to remind us all to put the four practices of the FISH! philosophies back into our daily routine.

These practices have helped to build the type of school culture that can mirror the success of the fishmongers at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, Washington:
Be There - be present in the moment of anyone you come in contact with, pay attention and participate with them!
Play - have fun, create joy, and laugh!
Make Their Day - do the unexpected in an effort to provide someone else with happiness - it is not about you - its about them!
Choose Your Attitude - you control your approach to the day, pick kindness, try respect because the outcome almost always reflects your attitude in the first place!

At the end of lunch our bellies are full of fish, grits, cole slaw, homemade desserts and a reminder of how lucky we are to be together doing this most special work with children. Here's a peek at the fun:

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Chicago: Here I Come!

2009-03-26T11:34:00.004-04:00

Duval County Public Schools recently underwent the district accreditation process by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Counsel on Accreditation and School Improvment (SACS CASI). It was an excellent process for reflection of our successes and in planning the next steps to prepare students for the global workplace. During the visit I was invited by the committee chair, Dr. Nikki Armato, to present the incredible work we do at Chets Creek of creating and sustaining professional learning communties for all stakeholders at their 2009 AdvancEd Annual Conference. The conference is being held in Chicago and I really look forward to hearing from other educators about the extraordinary things being done to create environments of change and improvement for students. I will be blogging the conference on Live From the Creek. Be sure to check in on my adventures (I think they are calling for snow one day) and to find out about the new strategies shared that will "Shape the Future of Learning".

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

More Important Than EVER...

2009-03-20T14:01:00.006-04:00

This past Monday night we had over 250 people show up to become educated about the budget crisis facing public education in Duval County and the state of Florida. They asked very intelligent questions and were given a multitude of ways they could become involved. They left armed with knowledge about where we stand and how they could help. Thousands of parents and educators from around the state "Rallied in Tally" this week to urge our elected officials to stop making painful cuts to education. Unfortunately, the news continues to worsen...

Duval County Public Schools just received word from the State of Florida that we may be cut an additional $15 million to the current budget.

This mid-year cut increases the potential shortfall for 2009/2010 to $135 million in addition to the $70 million budget shortfall the District suffered in 2008/2009.

“The news of additional reductions in our budget is devastating during a time when we are already facing a financial crisis in public education,” said Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals. “We remain dedicated to providing quality education to all of our students and will continue to work with our legislators to explore options to lessen the impact to our classrooms.”

Never has there been a more important time for action...

Write, call and get involved! Let your voice be heard to save education for our children and our future!

Risk... Care... Dream... Expect...

Save Duval Schools!

2009-03-14T11:55:00.004-04:00

This week, a grassroots effort was launched to assist DCPS in raising awareness about how the budget shortfall is affecting the students in Duval County. The effort, named Save Duval Schools has a Web site http://www.saveduvalschools.org/ where our community can go to get information on the shortfall and find out ways to take action.

On Monday, March 16 at 7:00 PM there will be a special Budget Information Meeting for parents and our community here at Chets Creek in the Dining Room. I urge you to come, get educated and then take action in saving public education in your own neighborhood and in our state!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Is 50th Good Enough for Your Child?

2009-02-27T14:24:00.003-05:00

“The right action of all of us is made up of the right action of each one of us. Unless each of us is determined to meet the duty that comes to us, we can have no right to expect that others will meet the duties that come to them.”

~ Calvin Coolidge

No one can deny that we are living in trying times. All around the country, our friends, relatives and acquaintances are suffering. On Monday, your friend was laid off. Last Friday, you heard about your relatives living without power and water as their homes are buried in ice. Two weeks ago, your neighbor left with his unit for a tour in Iraq. Your spouse is worried about their job security. Discount stores are advertising entire store clearance sales. We are all hurting in some way. If we are not yet hurting, we are just waiting for it to trickle down to our house, our job, our bank account. We know it is coming.

Your child’s school is not immune.

Duval County expects to suffer from a $150 million budget deficit for the 2009-2010 academic year. All the facts tell us there is NO WAY to “trim the fat” and balance this budget crisis without affecting the classroom. In short, your child's school will suffer.

Guidance and Media services could be reduced!
Valuable resources like Art, Music and PE may be cut!
Essential supplies and materials could disappear altogether!

It is important to understand that this problem, this CRISIS, is not limited to Duval County alone. This fiscal crisis is statewide. The state of Florida was ranked 47th out of 50 states in tax revenue prior to the passing of Amendment One, which served to further reduce our state taxes. Regarding the total amount of funds allocated and spent on education, the state of Florida is ranked 50th in the nation. I ask you, does this represent your priorities? I doubt it.

Article IX, Section I of the Florida Constitution guarantees that:

"The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida."

"It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for … a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education …."

Are our legislators upholding the requirements of our state constitution?

As voters, we share a heavy burden. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves with accurate facts. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard. It is our responsibility to act.
It is our responsibility to advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to fight for their rights, for today and for their future. If not us, then who? If we do not meet our duties, we cannot expect others to meet theirs.

I urge you. Educate yourselves. Research the facts. Go to the source. Ask questions. Speak out. Make demands. Do not accept it as fact because others believe it to be true.

Ask yourself, is 50th good enough for your child?

If the answer is NO - contact our state's legislative delegation and ask for immediate help from one of these short term solutions:

1. One cent increase to the sales tax of Florida for just 3 years. It generates ten billion dollars over 3 years to plug the education funding cuts!

2. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

3. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

4. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Special thanks to coauthor Jenny Nash

All Hail the Birthday Queen!

2009-02-20T13:28:00.008-05:00

I can vividly remember the first time I saw dayle timmons. I was a very young teacher sitting in the lobby of Alimacani Elementary waiting to have my first interview for a REAL teaching job. I was trying to be calm and confident as I sat waiting to be called into the "principal's office" when all of a sudden the intercom came on and Mrs. Timmons was summoned to the front office. Now, I had spent 22 years being Susan Timmons and only 12 days as Susan Phillips so my inital instinct was to get up and approach the front counter. Secretly I was thinking, "Oh my gosh - I haven't even been interviewed yet and they are already calling me to the office - I must have the job!" It never dawned on me that there could be another teacher Timmons out there - I had lived in Jacksonville 6 days! Just as I was about to get the attention of the secretary the Mrs. Timmons they were really after breezed in the door just in time to save me from what was sure to have been total and utter humiliation! I didn't know her at all but she was already my hero.

Watching dayle work with her students shaped my own teaching behaviors early on. She was always the most positive, supportive and focused professional. What she did with children was amazing, it still is for that matter. When dayle landed at Chets Creek several years after we opened I was thrilled, another chance to learn from the master! She is a published author, an avid reader and a dedicated learner of any and everything needed to improve her own craft and to support the work of the teachers she coaches. If there is a new idea - dayle had it! If there is a new risk to take - dayle will try it. If you think it can't be done - dayle will prove you wrong! I was never so proud that she was recognized for her contributions to the teaching profession as when she was named the Florida Teacher of the Year in 2004. After all, dayle's learning journeys reach far and wide, and have effected the work of teachers and children she'll never even know. I am thankful everyday that her journeys have reached out to touch and include me. They have changed my professional life forever and after almost 15 years of working with and learning from dayle I can tell you without a doubt that she is still my hero.

Today at Chets Creek we held a very special "surprise" birthday party to honor queen dayle's 60th birthday. It had to be a surprise because she would never have allowed anything else - and it was a extraordinary celebration of a life's journey that is far from over. You see, at 60 dayle can work circles around even our youngest teachers. She regularly takes all of us to the edge of our own professional capabilities and stretches our thinking to include the latest and greatest practice in education. At a time when most would be thinking of retirement dayle is thinking up the next idea to try, risk to take or initiative to implement. After all, 60 is really just the new 22...

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Like Mother...Like Daughter...

2009-02-13T11:53:00.006-05:00

At Chets Creek we are family - quite literally in some cases. Beyond the real relationships that have been built among colleagues that make this school feel like a family we actually have a number of employees who are related to each other. These dynamic duos and trios provide strong partnerships in service to children. This year two of our cherished family members were recognized by their peers for their contributions to our school community as our "of the Year" representatives.

Earlier in the year Kindergarten teacher Debby Cothern was chosen as our Teacher of the Year. Debby truly has the heart of teacher and delivers her craft with thought and reflection. Her practice is intentional, carried out with conviction in the name of what is right for the children she teaches. In her every action she encompasses the qualities of a teacher who routinely looks inward and challenges herself for her students. Her own learning is at the heart of her outstanding work with children. Along with her co-teacher and sister in law, Michelle Ellis, they maximize every moment with meaningful learning opportunities for the students and teachers they mentor.

Last month Kindergarten Paraprofessional Barbara Ellis was chosen as our Employee of the Year. "Grandma Barbara" was chosen because you will always see her doing whatever is necessary, in order to benefit the school – even if it does not pertain to her normal duties. Her attention to detail and her willingness to help in any way distinguishes her as an outstanding member of our team. Barbara is a wonderful wife, mother of three great children, and grandmother to eight. However, the kindness she shows her own family is not for them alone. She exerts that same love and attention to welcome every child and adult she encounters in our school.

We are so proud of this mother & daughter duo and the fact that they truly represent the entire Chets Creek family and what we are all about - Relationships! Relationships! Relationships!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

7 Things You Don't Need to Know About Me

2009-02-05T17:05:00.005-05:00

Ok - Here we go. I've been tagged by another meme. This time I am charged with telling you 7 things you might not know, or need to know for that matter, about me. I'm a pretty open book so this exercise has been a little painful for me. In fact it has taken me about three weeks to come up with 7 things.

1 – I love MUSIC - ALL kinds of music. Really, I can hardly function when it is quiet and I absolutely can't be still when music is playing. Classical, Country, Pop, Rock, Alternative, Dance, Religious, Jazz, Folk, R & B and Hip Hop/Rap! I know the lyrics to just about any song you could play and my iPod is so diverse I think that even it is confused. I am really a closet rapper. "I'm a poet - bet you didn't know it - make a rhyme everytime"!
2 – My family breeds English Springer Spaniels. I have the Mom and Dad, Grits and Ford, and I absolutely love them and this breed in general. They are the best dogs!!!
3 – I got Engaged during my college Graduation. I came across the stage after receiving my diploma and my sweet husband and his friends unfurled a banner that asked me to marry him – I said YES!! I had no idea a news camera had been tipped off and had been following me that day. They caught the whole story and it made local and national news shows, newspapers and talk radio.
4 – I took Piano lessons for ten years! I started in 3rd grade and played through my senior year in high school. I got to accompany my middle school chorus several times and even played in church every now and again. My absolute favorite songs to play were My Tribute, White Christmas, How Great Thou Art and The Rhythm of Life.
5 – My middle name is Russell. There is 17 years between my sister and I and I think my parents really wanted a boy. Even though I didn’t fulfill this wish for them they let the name stick. I didn’t exactly appreciate the importance of being named after a parent until I grew older. My Daddy died when I was almost four – and I wouldn’t trade sharing his name for anything in the world.
6 – I am a major Night Owl! I very rarely go to sleep before midnight and really only need about 5 hours of sleep to function. I HATE mornings and come ALIVE at night!
7 – I was in England for my sixteenth birthday. My sweet Mama took me and a friend of mine. She wore this crazy hat the whole time we were there and embarrased us to death with it - precious memories. By the way, I still have the hat!

I'll be tagging the following to complete this meme - I can't wait to find out 7 Things We Don't Need to Know About You!

1 - Tom Ruark
2 - Toni Chant
3 - Betsy McCall
4 - Wanda Lankford
5 - Lauren Skipper

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

And the Traditions Continue...

2009-01-30T13:31:00.006-05:00

Today we donned our comfy pj's, carried our handmade teddy bears and celebrated reading at the annual First Grade Sleepover! This grade level tradition starts each year with an at home project designed to get families involved by making a unique bear for the day. These precious creations are displayed the week preceding in the lobby and then carried as students participate in the day's activities. The first grade team hosts a Make and Take during PTA Family Night where families decorate pillowcases commemorating the week. The day of Sleepover begins with a "nighttime" parade complete with flashlights throughout the downstairs hallway while the entire school sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and cheers them on. From the parade the entire First Grade gathers in the Dining Room for a pancake breakfast and fun. Even the teachers perform special dances for the kids. Literacy centers taught by our extraordinary resource team provide for a myriad of opportunities to celebrate books and readers. Everyone leaves at the end of the day ready to go home and really "sleep" off all the fun. Traditions like Sleepover are just one of the ways we build a unique culture at Chets Creek that makes it feel like more than just a school.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Have You Gone LIVE Lately?

2009-01-23T10:26:00.007-05:00

At CCE we get lots of opportunity to learn professionally right inside the school walls - how lucky are we? However, from time to time we get out and go to trainings, workshops and conferences in an effort to broaden our horizons. For years I think it was so hard to carve out time to share our new learning from these opportunities with colleagues. Often just our teaching/thinking partners or grade level teams got the benefit of our growth leaving the rest of us wondering - How do we make sure everyone gets the benefit of the training? The resounding answer to that questions became BLOG IT - and Live From the Creek was born. Live is a blog devoted entirely so that those attending training outside the school can share their experiences with the rest of us left behind - in real time. Melanie Holtsman, our Tech Coach, and I are currently at FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) in Orlando, FL and are posting to Live From the Creek as we sit in the sessions - placing you right in the seat beside us! Have you gone LIVE lately?

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

My WORDLE! A Sign of the Times!

2008-12-27T09:28:00.006-05:00

Several weeks ago my friend and colleague, Melanie Holtsman, tagged me by means of a meme to try creating a Wordle. Yeah, I didn't know what a meme was either - still not real sure I understand it - but it's kinda like a chain letter with questions. A Wordle is like a collection of important words from a blog or piece of text - what seems to be most prevalent in your writing - and it's cool! Here is how to create your own:

Wordle Meme:
1. Create a Wordle from your blog's RSS feed.
2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?
3. Tag others to do the same.
4. Be sure to link back here and to where you were first tagged.
5. Create different Wordle clouds of your blog's RSS over a period of time. Do it once a month for the next year to capture the spiritof the times.

Here is the Wordle cloud for the RSS feed from Dreams Really Do Begin Here! on December 27, 2008.

My first reaction was - whoa - Google is awfully big. But, I did just write a whole blog post about how much Google has changed our professional lives this year. The rest seemed to fit perfectly with where my focus has been recently, on school, the year and traditions!

And as a meme mandates I am tagging the following to try it out!

1. Terri Stahlman
2. Yvonne Ferguson
3. Debby Cothern and Michelle Ellis
4. KK Cherney
5. Jen Snead

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Auntie Claus Comes To Town!

2008-12-19T13:23:00.010-05:00

Today is one of my favorite days - and not just because it is the last school day before Winter Break begins - but because it is another important day of tradition here at the Creek. Each year I turn over the school for an entire day to my dear friend Auntie Claus. I've never actually met her but hear from the kids each year that she bears a striking resemblance to me! Throughout the day each grade level of students (200 strong) gathers in the Media Center with anticipation of a special visit by her. She makes a grand entrance (what a drama queen) and shares a special holiday story with the group and shares her wish for them in the coming year. Our resource teacher "elves" then proceed to serve milk and cookies to the children and everyone sings and rejoices in just being with each other. It is a really special time - and it is just another event that makes this such a special place.
I'm almost jealous that Auntie Claus gets to have all this fun! :)

Please know that year around and especially during the holiday season I am truly grateful for the incredible people I work with and am so proud of the wonderful job they do each day for children. I wish each of them a magical and joyous time with friends and family this season and a peaceful and restful break. Don't forget who loves you, darlings! :)

And on the lighter side...... We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Reflection: Not Just What You See In The Mirror

2008-12-12T14:50:00.005-05:00

At the end of each and every school year I ask my faculty to reflect on all that has happened along our leaarning journey. This Principal's Survey was started here by our founding principal and is designed to help us celebrate the wonderful things that have occured, express professional development needs and to get that one thing that really bugged us off our chests. I take the responses from my teachers very seriously and use them to institute changes and plan for our growth and development in the coming year.

These surveys are not anonymous - everyone here is free to have an opinion and share it! As tradition has it, the comments are then organized into a feedback sheet that is published and presented on our first day back to school each year. We celebrate the things that need to be celebrated and talk about the things that need to be addressed. The only problem with this process is that typically most of the responses only pertain to things that happened during the last half of the school year, so the suggestion was made that we take the time to gather Principal's Survey feedback mid year as well. GREAT IDEA!!!

To make getting the feedback a little easier and a little greener we decided to make a Google Form in Google Docs and send the survey out for completion. Teachers don't have to keep up with the paper and can complete the survey from anywhere the internet can be accessed. It will also make the feedback easier for me to sort. In fact the process is sooooo easy that I'll be able to share the information at our State of the School address following Winter Break. Here are the questions from our mid year survey:

1 - I think the best thing that happened so far at Chets Creek Elementary School this year was:

2 - The best thing I have done up to this point in my class/position this year was:

3 - In 2009, my number one objective will be:

4 - An idea I would like to see developed in 2009 is:

5 - Professional Development training and/or experiences I would like to have in 2009 are:

6 - The best Professional Development topic so far this year was:

7 - If I could throw one dart (criticism) within the school for this year it would be:

8 - If I could give one laurel (praise) within the school for this year it would be:

9 - Principal, Standards Coach, Technology Coach, Behavior Interventionist, I need you to:

10 - Additional Comments:

Feedback and reflection are essential elements of what transforms a school into a REAL learning community. The responses from this survey will absolutely be used to map out the next leg of our journey together this year.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

I Love Google!!!!

2008-12-05T14:00:00.008-05:00

I can remember the first time I ever saw and used Google. I called out to KK Cherney, our Media Specialist, for help in researching a new book for our Book of the Month program. She responded with, "Why don't you Google it?". After I looked at her like she was crazy she laughed and sat down to show me how to use Google as a search engine. WOW - my life online has never been the same! I've searched thousands of random ideas and topics over the years and peeked in on my childhood home from a satellite view on Google maps. I thought the possibilities were endless - now I know they are!

Last year I signed up for a Google account, developed this blog and began to really unlock the opportunities Google had to share. Google Reader has proved to be the perfect way for me to keep track of the more than 50 blogs being generated and updated by my faculty. I have also added professional blogs to the reader - some of which I found because they were recommended by Google. I absolutely flipped out the day it recommended my own blog as a Top Recommendation. :)

My leadership team has also started using Google Docs as a way to collaborate without all the back and forth email and paper for our weekly agendas. I even taught my faculty how to use Docs today in our Book of the Month faculty meeting so that all classrooms could contribute and benefit from each other's ideas for "going green". My latest discovery is iGoogle! It allows you to set up your own, very personal Google homepage with gadgets added that provide great ease in accessing many sites and web tools. There are so many ways to customize this page - down to picking a theme. My family is obsessed with seeing what the racoon family at the top of mine is doing!

I can hardly wait to discover the next new application in Google, I know I haven't even scratched the surface with all the possibilities. There's Google Earth, Google Chrome and sooooo much more. I encourage you to sign up for a free account and try it out - you'll be amazed at all the possibilites!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Tis the Season for TRADITIONS!

2008-11-21T13:46:00.013-05:00

One of the things that makes our school so unique are the many traditions we have established and continue to embrace each year. Some are academic in nature and others are just to promote a feeling of fun and family. There is always something happening here - and yes, it is work - but each and every one are so worth it. They help shape a culture, define expectations and draw together a large and diverse faculty and student body into a high performing and highly successful learning community.

The really great thing about the folks here is that they also tend to help these traditions evolve over the years into some of the coolest things I have experienced as an educator. The memories that are created for each other and for our children will last long past that report card grade or FCAT score.

Today our Kindergarten team celebrated their annual Pow Wow which is the final celebration of a really in depth study of our native ancestors. They have learned about how many different groups of these native americans lived, what they ate, wore and how they celebrated their beliefs. This was our eleventh Pow Wow and I must say it has really become one of the most powerful and meaningful learning traditions we celebrate each year. It is amazing for me to look back at how we did it that first year and compare it to what happens today - WOW! Today's event is just one of many great traditions that are right around the corner for us. Check out dayle timmons' blog post for our new learning leaders to see what fun lies ahead for us. You can also click here to see a list of all the wonderful traditions we enjoy throughout the year.

Sorry, I'll have to wrap up my post now - the next tradition calls. Each year before the massive teepee is taken down I am summoned out by the Media team. Each year I lay inside it, stare up at the stories told on it's walls and reflect on the thankful children who have shared their gratefulness inside it today and give thanks for this beautiful school and for the rich and rewarding traditions that make it feel like a home.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

A Brand New Kind of Welcome

2008-11-14T11:34:00.005-05:00

Many years ago we began to orient our new teachers each year with a two to three day seminar with one whole day devoted to an Introduction to CCE. This includes our history, traditions, expectations, etc. It was a perfect way to get our newest community members up to speed about what makes our learning community so unique. Until now it had never even occurred to us to do this with students! Aside from about 200 new Kindergartners each year we usually get between 100-150 new first - fifth grade Creekers a year. Liz Duncan, our behavior specialist, began to see that a lot of the "disruptions" we were seeing were coming from those they may not have a full understanding of what our expectations are or were struggling trying to fit in at a new school. She quickly enlisted the help of our Book Fairy, KK Cherney, our Character Ed teacher, Nikki Hall, and our Guidance Counselor, Betsy McCall and they created an awesome "welcome party" for all our new students. They were oriented to all the faces and places they need to navigate our big school, they talked about academic and behavior expectations, they were encouraged to get to know each other and most importantly they were made to feel like they belonged and were cared about very, very much. This dynamic group turned it into the perfect "pep rally" to get kids excited about being part of their special new community. Without a doubt this has turned in to the next NEW tradition for the NEW to CCE!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

What in the World is a Wiki?

2008-11-07T13:15:00.003-05:00

One of our goals at Chets Creek is to make our work more visable and accessible. I decided to create a Book of the Month wiki to showcase the great work that goes on here at the Creek with our common piece of literature each month. What is a wiki? Watch this video for a quick and easy explanation:

For those risk takers that might be ready to play with a wiki of your own. Check out the tutorials here and stay tuned for the reveal of our very own Book of the Month wiki.

Risk....Care....Dream....Expect...

Make Your Voice Heard!

2008-10-31T14:57:00.005-04:00

Next Tuesday, our country will participate in a very special process, one that is not necessarily repeated in every country around the globe. We get to exercise our right to choose - a right guaranteed by our Constitution. Voting is one of the most sacred gifts we get as Americans. During past elections it has certainly been proven that every vote does indeed count. This year's race is significant and the results, no matter what they are, will make history. Don't miss your opportunity to participate in the democratic process - make your voice heard. You have a choice and you really can vote however you like!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Literary Pumpkin Festival

2008-10-24T17:54:00.009-04:00

Each year during a week in October our front lobby turns into the best pumpkin patch I've ever seen. To celebrate our love of literacy each classroom chooses their favorite book and then transforms pumpkins into characters from the story. You can't imagine the creativity of our teachers and students - these pumpkins are truly AMAZING!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Mathletes Are Going For The Gold

2008-10-17T10:02:00.005-04:00

At Chets Creek we have been departmentalized from second through fifth grades for years. We realized a long time ago that to do things really well you had to specialize. Almost immediately after dividing to conquer it became a joke about which side you were on, English Language Arts (ELA) or Math and Science. Even at Leadership Meetings we began to notice that the Math folks sat on the left side of the table and the ELA folks claimed the right. It was a huge deal when our Standards Coach, Suzanne Shall, was swayed from Math side to the "dark side" of ELA coaching several years ago - I think she still gets teased to this day. The competition is real but all in good fun.

This past year the ELA teachers embraced and kicked off a new tradition at Chets Creek that ignited the intermediate school about reading - Battle of the Books! It was a huge hit with students and teachers alike and is sure to take on a life of its own again this year. And of course, not to be outdone, the Math teachers have decided to breathe new life into the old Sunshne Math program for students. The results of their collaboration on revamping the program are outstanding. The kickoff this past week was AWESOME and the program is sure to be just as popular as the Battle of the Books. They even got the ELA "dark side" involved as cheerleaders and "rappers" for the Mathletes. Check out these videos:

All this effort wasn't so much about the competition over which side of the table is better, ELA or Math? It was all about getting kids pumped about learning and school, no matter what the subject. And as usual here at the Creek - EVERYBODY came together to pull it off.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Ready, Set, OBSERVE!

2008-10-10T13:14:00.004-04:00

Hard to believe it's that time of year again! Beginning Monday I start a hectic, jam packed two month long schedule of pre-conferencing on Mondays, observing in hour long increments on Tuesdays through Thursdays and then post conferencing on Fridays. My schedule will certainly be a little crazy up until Winter Break but honestly, I am soooo excited! I love the 5 minute walk throughs of classrooms all during the year but these annual observations are where I really get to savor the masterful teaching that goes on in each lesson. I get to be part of the planning, watch the whole delivery (from opening to closing and everything in between), and then reflect on the lesson with my teachers. I really enjoy watching teachers craft and deliver instruction to students who are eager and excited about learning.

At this point in our journey I should see all of the components to the Workshop model and so I am really focusing on the Guided Reading and/or Strategy Groups that teachers are holding during the work period. I am also looking to see how technology is being used to deepen learning experiences for students. There are also so many things about the work that I don't get to see in an hour so I ask teachers to leave out the following things for me to review:

the lesson plan (we don't have a specific form for this - it is whatever the teacher needs to teach from - the plan has to work for them)

data/safety net notebook (this looks different in everybody's room but houses any diagnostic screening and/or FCAT data as well as some evidence of assistance being provided to at risk students - sometimes a copy of the PMP, etc...)

parent communication tool (newsletter, blog site, website, etc...)

3 sample assessments (could be formative or summative work for one student or several)

grades (record of student progress)

a list of professional growth activities (in a school this size it is hard to keep track of all the things teachers are doing - this really helps)

an example of how instruction is being differentiated (this looks different based on teacher preference - sometimes it is a conference log, anecdotal notes, record of group work, etc...)

3-5 student planners (i love being able to write to parents about what their kids are learning in class, it also helps me see if there is someway I could support the teacher with a student or parent)

I get so excited I fill up the official form with compliments, comments, ideas and suggestions. Half the time I am not sure I can read it when I'm done, so this year I am bringing my laptop with me and I am going to try and type my feedback. Hopefully the technology will make this easier on all of us.

So starting Monday, if you can't find me, I'm in a classroom. I'm watching the finest teachers in the world implement their craft at superior levels to the most wonderful students a principal could ask for. I can't wait!!!

Risk... Care... Dream... Expect...

Another Look Back At The Past

2008-10-03T17:25:00.006-04:00

I have thought a lot about the past this week. There have been lots of people who have impacted who I am today - family, friends, colleagues - and teachers. I've especially thought a lot about the teachers who had the most influence on the person and educator I am today. Mrs. Stilley, Mrs. Proctor, Ms. Lack, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Jacobs, Mrs. Hedgepath and Mrs. Gobbel stand out among all the rest. Why?

I wasn't the best student, I did well, but I spent an awful lot of time daydreaming, procrastinating and probably not living up to my fullest potential. I wasn't always giving my "best effort". The group of exceptional people above seemed to see something special about this daydreamer, something I certainly didn't see in myself. They encouraged me, nudged me, stretched me, gave me second chances, and even fussed at me if I needed it. Most importantly, though, they never held my shortcomings as a student against me, they never gave up on me. No matter what, they always believed in me, and I KNEW it!

I am very grateful for each and every one of them and I think that they would all be proud of who I've become. My life's work is a part of their legacy. Is there a teacher who helped shape your destiny? What will your legacy say about you?

These are my class pictures from Mrs. Stilley's 3rd Grade and Mrs. Proctor's 5th Grade .

Can you pick out the daydreamer?

Risk...Dream...Care...Expect...

When Your Past Meets The Present

2008-09-26T13:58:00.015-04:00

I knew this day would come. The day when a student from my past would come walking into my present. Would I recognize them all grown up? I've taught one class of third grade and years of Kindergarten - a lot changes between 8 and 22. The answer is yes. I did recognize her and remember her name. I was instantly transported to the very special place she and her classmates have always had in my heart.

They were my first. As a young teacher I excitedly (and nervously) walked into Room 80 on November 22, 1993 and my life was changed forever. I learned more about life and teaching during that year than I ever did during college. Looking back I didn't have a clue - but I was passionate and eager to do the right things. I was so happy to have a job and they were so happy to finally have a permanent teacher. It was a special class, and a very special year.

On Tuesday a young teacher excitedly (and nervously) walked in to my conference room and interviewed for a job. She was smart and thoughtful, posed and eloquent, gracious and gifted - just the way I remember her from the third grade. I was also reminded that as educators everything we do, say and teach walks out and into a future that eventually turns into our past. Make the most of every moment knowing that one day that past will intersect with the present.

By the way, she's standing right beside me on the second row! And yes, that REALLY is me!

Risk...Dream...Care...Expect...

How to Shop for Public Education

2008-09-19T21:33:00.007-04:00

When we grew up, going to a public school was pretty much a given. It was in the neighborhood, it was what our parents did and they turned out ok, there weren't a lot of alternatives, and most importantly it was free. Boy have the times changed! There are many choices for parents. In our city alone there are over 130 private schools - almost as many as there are public. Even in the public schools you have choice, like the magnets we have in Duval. The times may have changed - but largely and unfortunately - public schools have not. Given the number of students lost each year to private or to magnets, regular old public schools had better figure out how to meet the needs of a ever changing, ever growing and ever more demanding community.

Information abounds. Beyond what you can find on the state or local webpage there are whole companies like Great Schools and School Matters devoted to comparing schools and providing potential consumers with more than enough info, including testimonials, to help them make up their minds. Parents are smarter about what they want, or more importantly don't want, for their kids. Just this past week I was emailed by a prospective parent who basically interviewed me to see if our school was right, and good enough, for her child. Bravo to her for advocating for something different and special for her child - after all aren't our children the most important asset we have as parents, and as educators dedicated to making the world a better place. How would YOU answer the following questions?

1. What are the school policies on music, art, recess and pe (how much are they alloted each week? is exclusion from these programs used as a discipline method?)

2. In regards to classroom discipline, is there a schoolwide policy, or do teachers select their own classroom discipline method. For example: Great Expectations, Canter Method, Pulling Cards...etc.)

3. What curriculum has the school adopted in math, reading/phonics?

4. What amount of emphasis is placed in the areas of science and social studies?

5. For your school, what is the predominant theory of education that is being used, progressivist, social reconstructivist...etc.

6. Classroom instruction...(would you consider it to be more constructivist or traditional)

7. How heavily do the teachers rely on textbooks?

8. What is the policy in regards to the use of worksheets?

9. What is the school's policy in regards to assigning homework?

10. In your opinion, outside of test scores, why is Chet's Creek an A+ school?

I love our school and I believe in public education with all my heart. It has been critical throughout my entire career to educate them all - even the toughest ones. If public education is to survive we all need to be prepared to answer questions like those above and more. Our answers shouldn't look like they would have 100 years, 50 years, 25 years, 10 years or even a year ago. I proudly answered each question about our school - there were no yes or no answers either. This parent wanted to know, really know, what we were about and she deserved more than the standard answer. By the way, we're hired! This family will be moving to the area in a month and buying a house in our attendance area. Her precious, valuable and deserving 5 year old will become a Creeker because WE offer more than the standard answer inside our classrooms each and every day.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

When The Principal's Away...

2008-09-12T21:48:00.007-04:00

I remember when I was teaching how stressful it could be to miss a day of school. The planning and then worrying about what was happening while you were out almost made missing the day more trouble than it was worth. It really is no different when you're the principal except than the span of control is a lot bigger. You have to be confident that those left behind in charge can handle anything. The really great thing about Chets is that there is always someone ready and willing to step up and help out when a team member is missing. Experience has shown me over the years that our school operates no differently when I'm not there. At least I know that's true for the teaching and learning in classrooms. Our teachers feel slighted to only get 180 days out of a school year! I always wondered though, what happened in the front office with the people running the place. This past Friday I was out and deployed a spy to collect some snapshots of the day.

Something tells me they discovered the spy and hijacked the camera! I sure do love and appreciate the people I work with. I never worry for a second when I am gone - even when the bookkeeper is asleep on my desk.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...and LAUGH!

Affirmation Leads to Performance

2008-09-04T12:56:00.006-04:00

The Leadership Team is currently involved in a book study of School Leadership that Works by Robert Marzano, Timothy Waters and Brian McNulty. This book delves into the mountains of research that has been done to link leadership to student performance. There are 21 behaviors or responsibilities that are defined as being those of a successful school leadership. Affirmation is #1. It has long been tradition at Chets to recognize or affirm those who have done outstanding work in the classroom and this year is no different.

Last year two of our teachers had the idea to start a program called Pixie Pointers whereby two teachers would be chosen each week to answer a question asked from the previous recipient about any topic. The questions and answers were passed among the faculty in two journals and the honored teachers wore a Tinkerbell necklace to signify their status for the week. About midway through the year one of our coaches, dayle timmons, decided to catalog these tips and strategies in a blog so that everyone could have access to this extremely valuable resource.

This year we have turned the spotlight on recognition of the cool technology initiatives that teachers are embracing and have transformed the affirmation into a two week period for teachers to blog about the way they incorporated the use of technology into their classrooms. Geeks from the Creek is born! In addition to the blogging experience these techies wil give a brief demonstration of their initiative at our next early release professional development training.

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Student Jobs in a 21st Century Classroom

2008-08-29T15:19:00.007-04:00

During NECC this summer in San Antonio, Texas I attended a session held by Dr. Alan November. During his presentation he shared the new roles designed to engage students in the 21st century classroom. In days past a typical classroom job would be line leader, chair stacker, table cleaner, pencil sharpener and messenger. While these jobs are necessary managerial roles, November urges teachers to consider roles that will be useful in the 21st century. Consider these possiblilities as you transform your classroom for digital learning.

The Jobs of a 21st Century Learner
Tutorial Designers - select a team of students to create short audio or video available to students that reteaches or clarifies concepts introduced in class.
Official Scribes - select a group of students to serve as the collaborative word processors for class notes. This could be accomplished using a tool like Google Docs.
Researchers - assign a student or team of students to research topics or questions generated in class.
Collaboration Coordinators - select a team to interact with another class regularly from across the world and share what is happening class to class.
Contibutors to Society - select a team who works to contribute back to the world via the web like on Wikipedia about topics the class has studied or learned each week.
Curriculum Reviewers - select a team to present a review of the major topics covered from the week prior via an audio or video cast.

Learn more about how other educators are embracing these roles for students by reading Students as Contributors by Dr. Alan November.

Leave a comment and let me know what possibilities you see for the use of these jobs in your classroom?

Risk... Care... Dream... Expect...

The Principal's First Day of School

2008-08-18T19:45:00.002-04:00

I don't usually blog between the posts I do each week for my faculty - time is somewhat of a problem. But... I could not allow my head to hit the pillow tonight without telling the world about the most incredible group of people on the planet. I have long known how supremely lucky I am - I am blessed, quite honestly, to work with the best students, parents, teachers and support personnel on the planet. Today was spectacular - the kids were awesome, the teachers and assistants were outstanding and the classrooms were positively amazing. A musician was playing Carribean music for families as they entered and we enjoyed an incredible guest who told stories and showed photos of his trips to over 22 countries - we were all mesmerized!

The day for this principal was perfect - even despite the one hiccup at bus dismissal! It was my sixth first day as a principal - a feat I could only ever accomplish because of the help that seems to come out of the woodwork whenever there is need. I simply call and the support team is there and they need to be thanked by name. They herded cats (my own little analogy of what the first day with Kindergartners is like :), helped open lunches, soothed tearful faces, spoke toher languages, cleaned and moved the dining room furniture for our assemblies, loaded cars, loaded buses... they were everywhere and anywhere there was a need and I am beyond grateful. Thank you could never be enough to Melanie Holtsman, Suzanne Shall, dayle timmons, Liz Duncan, Moe Dygan, Betsy McCall, Jennifer Snead, KK Cherney, JB Boyd, Estrella Bailey, Deb Stevens, Michelle Leclair, Lori Linkous, Julie Middleton, DeAnna Morgan, Stanley Brooks, Tracy Carlin, Christine Valnoha, Karen Willett, Ralph and Pat Thomas. Every time I turned around you were there today - for me - asking what you could do. You were heroic.

For any principal out there who thinks this job is all about power - you are dead wrong. Real success comes when you empower others. I know without a doubt that I am only as good as the people I am surrounded with. Never, ever has their been a better example of that for me than today. I could not have done my job today without you. Thank you for creating the perfect first day experience for our family.

Risk... Care...Dream...Expect...

From The Lead Adventurers' Desk:

2008-08-17T10:42:00.007-04:00

What a grand opening we enjoyed as we greeted each other in the CCE Departure Center on Monday. I am no doubt the luckiest principal on earth and there is no place I’d rather be than traveling around the world and back this year than with you. Your excitement about coming back to school was contagious as we celebrated each other with creative skits and videos and comedic songs. Your dedication and commitment to promoting Adventurers was clear by the way you paid meticulous attention to details in preparing your classrooms for Orientation. You are the best group of Tour Guides in the world!

“Around the World in 180 Days – The Virtual Learning Journey” will be more than just a theme for us; it will be a way for us to showcase the philosophies we have practiced since the inception of our school. We will spend our time this year RISKING more than others think is safe, CARING more than others think is wise, DREAMING more than others think is practical, and EXPECTING more than others think is possible. By embracing technology as a way to broaden our horizons, retune our skills and take our students beyond the borders of a classroom we will be taking the necessary next steps towards preparing our students for the global workplace of the future. It is sure to be wild trip, with perilous times – but one thing remains certain – we’ll make it happen TOGETHER!! Pack your bags for possibilities, take your Dramamine :) and prepare for the adventure of a lifetime. The journey begins…

The Journey Begins...

2008-08-10T21:55:00.005-04:00

Risk more than others think is safe.

Care more than others think is wise.

Dream more than others think is practical.

Expect more than others think is possible.

This is not necessarily a new quote but I can promise you it will be our mantra as we enter this next decade of leading and learning together at Chets Creek. More than ever it will be important to remember that those four verbs are what started this all to begin with and they are the catalysts for what has made our incredible work with children a reality. We are so very close to leaving no child behind ladies and gentlemen - it is time to stretch ourselves and find out how to save those last few. It is time to take all we know about quality standards based education and infuse it with all the new tools available to us through technology. We are going to go beyond the borders of our classrooms and cross the digital divide into the future - together. We are in for the journey of our lives - the adventure begins...

Where will the journey take you?

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

American Haiku

2008-05-30T16:06:00.003-04:00

I have totally enjoyed reading the six-word memoirs submitted by our colleagues so far. If you haven't had a chance to craft yours yet it is not too late! Here are some samples of this so called "American Haiku"!

Making a difference - leaving a legacy. -dayle

I've experienced learning, modeling, consoling, laughing... -KMorris

I have sung and hauled equipment. -dt

Realized my purpose, found true love. -sherrie anderson

Cherish yesterday, Live today, Dream tomorrow..... - Katie S.

I have grown, inspired, learned, and loved. -Lori M.

I've laughed, cried, sweat, learned, loved. - jenny nash

Paths diverged in a yellow wood... -T-Cubed (Tom Ruark)

Experienced grace, recieved gifts, given myself. -melanie holtsman

I have found my true calling!(And I will be back, promise!) -Elizabeth Conte

Daily rewards come in small packages. :) -brooke brown

Believe in all the young souls -christy constande

growth, learning, hectic, organization, love, and most recently...accidents! -julia

listened,watched,laughed,loved, flexibility, inspired -deb s

Realized I can make a difference. -melissa ross

Prayer, faith, hope, love, passion, joy! -teach to learn (Toni Chant)

I'd love to hear the six-word memoir of your teaching life!

Believing is just the beginning...

Six Word Mini Memior

2008-05-23T15:11:00.005-04:00

I have laughed, imagined, loved, believed!

If you were writing a six-word mini-memoir of your teaching life, what would your six words be? They might be funny, inspirational, profound, mundane or deeply true. Comment back with your six!

Believing is just the beginning...

So Much To BRAG About!!!!

2008-05-16T11:47:00.011-04:00

Wow! What a year for having big dreams realized. So far we have had many meet success and be recognized outside our walls for their accomplishments. We should be proud of each and every one of these and use them as points of pride when we talk about our school! Here's just a few headlines to brag about:

CCE PTA Named Large PTA for Duval County - Fourth Year in a Row!!!!!

For an unbelieveable fourth year in a row our PTA was crowned Duval County PTA of the Year for large elementary school (750+ enrollment). I am quite certain this has never been done before and was a fitting tribute to the incredible work for families and children that transpires through the dedication of this extraordinary group. In addition, our history scrapbook won for the second year in a row and we left the luncheon with over 20 awards highlighting their outstanding work, including both of the top awards for membership!

CCE Student Earns Award of Merit in the State's PTA Reflections Contest!

One of our fourth graders was recognized recently for her visual arts entry at the May meeting of the Duval County School Board. Not only was her piece a winner in our county but was chosen to receive the Award of Merit from the Florida PTA. Her piece is on display at the captial!

CCE Student Places Fourth in District's Sunshine Math Competition!

One of our second graders won first place in our school's second grade competition and then placed fourth in the district's Sunshine Math Competition!

CCE Student's Artwork Chosen for Duval County Public School's Best of Elementary Art Exhibition 2008

A record 30 students had their pieces chosen out of 800 entries from the Elementary Library Show for display in the Best of Elementary show this year. These students were representative of every grade level and a variety of mediums. A special congratulations to Jennifer Snead, Kristy Sappington and Hallie Spooner, our art educators extraordinare, for allowing students the opportunities to explore the creative side of life!

CCE Teacher Named Math Educator of the Year by DEMC!

Angela Phillips, a fifth grade teacher and Math Coach, was chosen this week as the Elementary Math Educator of the Year by the Duval Elementary Math Council. Angela won this distinction by standing out amoung over 30 entries and is certainly deserved of this honor. She takes over this title from another CCE teacher and coach, Rick Pinchot, who was awarded the honor last year!

CCE Extended Day Employee Chosen as America's Next Top Model!

Even though this isn't an educational accomplishment it certainly is a testament to how pursuing one's dreams can pay off BIG TIME! Whitney Thompson, who has been working in Extended Day the past few months, was named America's Next Top Model Wednesday evening. Whitney is indeed a beauty, both inside as well as out, and even though we tried to keep her participation in the competition a secret from the kids, they figured it out and were excited and rooting for her.

Believing is just the beginning...

2008-05-14T19:21:00.001-04:00

Chets Creek Walks for the Cure!!!!!

2008-05-09T12:35:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to the scores of Chets Creek family members who came out and supported our Relay for Life effort. We raised approximately $3000.00 to help in the fight to find for the cure for Cancer. Here's a look into this special night full of fun, laughter and fellowship.

Believing is just the beginning...

Relay for Life - Chets Creek Walks for the Cure

2008-05-02T15:55:00.003-04:00

Stay tuned for blog post and slide show after the big event!!!

Believing is just the beginning...

Arts Extravaganza!!!!

2008-04-25T15:08:00.005-04:00

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” Daniel Pink

At Chets Creek we believe that unfolding the creative imaginations of young children through art is equally as important as the high academic standards we employ in our classroom instruction. Our art education program is designed to masterfully integrate these academic standards along with the creative and critical thinking standards found in the art curriculum. The support of this program is of such importance to our school’s overall performance and to the preparation of students that any and all resources needed to provide the optimal arts education for students are provided without question.

From the very moment you step foot inside our school the fingerprints of our program can be seen. First, there is a mural of children holding hands around a united world that graces our second floor balcony welcoming each visitor to our school. Then there is the hand painted “stone” wall that supports student academic work. This is nicely complimented by the numerous display cases that hold hundreds of artistic creations fashioned by our students in the art lab. Re-creations of artwork originally created by the world’s masters beautify our lobby and are used to spark the imaginations of the next Van Gough or Monet. These share space with one of our most recent creations, a “picture” made up of hundreds of individual glazed and fired tiles that were colorfully personalized by students. Creative expression can be found at every turn and in fact there are many places within our walls that look more like an art gallery than a school.

Focus on relaying the importance of art in our everyday lives has heightened our awareness and helped to define the cultural identity of our school. This connection is even celebrated every year with a weeklong Arts Extravaganza event which is designed to expose students to a number of experiences with professional artists and provides our families with an opportunity to participate in hands on art activities at our culminating night event. Each and every one of our 1210 students has a special piece of artwork on display during this event for all to enjoy.

The arts influence our learning community in every way imaginable. From the beautiful artwork that adorns our hallways to the profound impact it has on strengthening the minds and extending the experiences of our students. Our goal is to help all our students, even the most hesitant ones, create a lifelong relationship with the arts and reap the rewards of life’s greatest joys. The art education program at Chets Creek Elementary truly prepares students for success in the future as Daniel Pink envisions it.

See you at the Extravaganza tonight!!!!

Believing is just the beginning...

Making Professional Connections

2008-04-18T11:43:00.003-04:00

As a professional development school we have helped to train 1000s of educators from around the globe. This week alone we hosted visitors from Neptune Beach, New Mexico and even China! We do this because we have a responsibility to share the great work that happens inside your classrooms with others - and hopefully impact learning for students that we may never even meet. The next logical step in our collegial learning journey is to share on the web, only this type of sharing can work to our advantage too. The internet provides a simple avenue for us to share information and get ideas in return. Setting the Standard is a website that has been setup to provide this type of networking for educators, willing to share, like us. Check this out from your home computer (as usual we are a little ahead of the curve - it's blocked at school) and consider sharing the great things you are doing with the world and see what your colleagues have already added.

Believing is just the beginning...

Hurray for Superhero Haley!

2008-04-11T12:33:00.003-04:00

What a perfectly fitting tribute each of you provided to our most extraordinary Teacher of the Year, Haley Alvarado, yesterday! I've known for an awfully long time how truly special Haley is, as a teacher and more importantly as a human, and it was perfect that we unmasked her greatness and exposed her powers to the world. It was no different last night when a group of 20 celebrated her achievement at the prestigious EDDY Awards. We were of course the loudest as we cheered for our Superhero Haley and also reveled in the grandeur of this event with all the teachers of the year from aross the county. I was proud yesterday and last night to be an educator and I am honored to know and work with our Haley. Congratulations on this most deserved honor!

It's bird, no a plane, no...it's Haley Alvarado (Jello Up!)

Believing is just the beginning...

dayle says it all!

2008-03-28T14:53:00.004-04:00

I WAS born the year dayle started teaching but I learn more from working with her than I could ever put into words. This keynote touched me deeply and reminded me, just as she does every day, that this profession will never grow old for me. Thanks dayle!

Enjoy your Spring Break folks - you deserve it!

Believing is just the beginning...

Time Out!

2008-03-20T13:12:00.004-04:00

“People need love, especially when they don’t deserve it.” Harold Hulbert

I have had to remind myself of this repeatedly this week as I have been faced with one challenge after another. Seriously! We are all so tired and our well deserved break is just a few more days away. Next week please help me keep students busy and out of trouble by limiting down time. If they are busy with meaningful work there will be no time for mischief. You will probably need to reiterate rules daily, particularly for the dining room, arrival and dismissal, resource and recess.

Approach your work with colleagues by thinking TEAM. Everybody makes mistakes, gets overloaded or simply needs a helping hand from time to time. Instead of focusing narrowly on your own personal space and plan take a moment to watch what is going on with the rest of the group. Differences can add depth, create strength and even bring balance. It is important that we sideline our own perspectives sometimes and put ourselves in another's place. True sportsmanship is about showing extreme grace. Being gracious means forgiving a teammate who fouled up, sharing the spotlight, and finding your sense of humor in those times of extreme pressure. Next week promote harmony - the team can't come close to reaching its true potential without you!

Only four more days…

Believing is just the beginning...

Hang On!!!

2008-03-14T12:07:00.002-04:00

Only two more weeks before we can celebrate the conclusion of our high stakes accountability testing with a well deserved Spring Break! Reaching this pinnacle in the year is actually exhilarating as a little of the pressure we have felt turns to anticipation of the outstanding results to come. After Wednesday’s testing is complete enjoy the next week and a half wrapping up the third grading period with your students. The focus turns to preparing them for next year.

Believing is just the beginning...

Make The Most of The Magic!!

2008-03-07T13:23:00.004-05:00

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

and Wisdom to know the difference.

FCAT is one instructional day away. In this last hour, do not doubt the power of the work you’ve done to bring out every child’s fullest potential. Your job now is not to stress over the things you cannot change but rather to hold the wisdom in your heart that something wonderful is about to happen. Pump them up and help them believe in themselves, and they will perform at their fullest potential.

Believing is just the beginning...

Commitment and Passion!

2008-02-29T14:00:00.006-05:00

As we quickly approach FCAT week I want to pause for a moment and take a realistic view of how this very important, mandatory state assessment fits into the overall philosophy of our learning community. The FCAT results dictate our school grade and we have performed extremely well, always scoring among the top elementary schools in the state. We are, of course, very proud of this because it is always good to see in your results the hard work that you have invested. But beyond this, it also reflects our sincerest efforts to “Leave No Child Behind.” To maintain such excellence over ten years as we have done, ALL children must make and maintain progress. We are proud of ALL students who work to the best of their abilities either by earning a Level 3 or higher or significantly increasing their efforts over the previous year, regardless of the level.

The FCAT assessment is simply one day out of a child’s life. It in no way reflects all of that child’s talents, skills, abilities or potential. My teachers work very hard to develop and implement the best possible overall teaching practices to educate and nurture their children. This commitment is what brings us great results on the FCAT but more importantly is their passion for equipping students with the skills and knowledge that he or she needs to have success in life that is the true measure of our success as a learning community. When March 20th arrives and this year’s test is behind us, I know without hesitation that each of my teachers will continue to embrace each day and each student with the same commitment and passion that they have shown in the days leading up to our high stakes assessment.

Believing is just the beginning...

P.S. The puppies have arrived - all 8 of them!!! I finished the website, well... its published at least. I am still adding a few finishing touches, including pictures of the newborns. I think it is a pretty good first effort, and I am supremely proud that I taught myself something new. If you are interested check it out HERE.

Posting and PUPPIES!!!!

2008-02-22T15:20:00.006-05:00

Do you know that feeling you get when you are teaching yourself something new? It is a mix of excitement, frustration, and then elation. I prefer the elation but to tell you the truth during that frustration part is were the really good stuff takes place. Problem solving, creating, analyzing, applying, synthesizing all happen when you are engaged in an activity that doesn't always feel comfortable but pays off in huge ways when pride in the accomplishment of something longed for is achieved.

My dog is about to have puppies - yeah, that's right, I said puppies. My daughter is positively thrilled, her dad and I are nervous. The dog's gestational timeline does not understand that this is one of the single most hectic times of the school year for me. My life right now is consumed with one word - EVALUATIONS! We had planned for our dog to have puppies one day, just not NOW. When we agreed to start the breeding business I promptly offered up that I would design the website we would use. How hard could it be, right? HAH!

I spent the better part of last weekend consumed with teaching myself how to design, create, and edit our site using a new program called Expression Web. News alert - Melanie does not know the program - yikes! I'll spend sometime this weekend getting the site finished and then posting it to the web (in between checking on the little ones who are due to arrive at any moment). I don't think I did too bad for a first attempt but boy, it sure wasn't the piece of cake I thought it would be. I rationalized, used trial and error, deciphered computer code, wrote and edited content, built the whole thing from a blank white screen. I was excited, frustrated and elated all at the same time!!!!

I was also reminded - reminded of how important it is to teach our students how to be self directed learners. I was driven by a need to know, but where would I be, if along the way I had never been taught to think through problems, not to give up, to search for answers or alternative solutions, to look for help. There will come a time in our students' lives when they will be faced with something challenging, something new and it is absolutely critical that they have the skills to tackle the task and teach themselves how to maneuver through. Self directed learning isn't always easy but it sure is satisfying.

I'll keep you posted on the pups and the website!

Believing is just the beginning...

Flip out over technology

2008-02-15T14:21:00.005-05:00

Do you know what a "flip" is? The flip video camcorder is one of the newest tools transforming classroom instruction. It is a small camcorder that fits in your pocket and can record 30-60 minutes of quality video to be instantly uploaded through a usb port on your classroom computer. It is so easy a student can do it on their own.

Imagine the possibilities....record a student reading aloud, readers' theatre, poetry reading, share chair in writing, mini lessons, math strategy demonstrations, science experiments....just about anything! Have students do a news report about their field trip or class activity. Check out this video taken by a fifth grader ( I just happen to have a fifth grader I know) at the Jacksonville Zoo this week.

With a little extra time, students can use the software to edit, add music and make the video personalized. All at the low cost of $100 to $150! I'll bet the kids would flip over this technology!

Believing is just the beginning....