Week 19: 01/09/12 – 01/13/12

 Happy New Year and Welcome Back! I hope you enjoyed a restful, relaxing break~! Of course it’s that time of the year when we make New Year’s Resolutions. It seems that we are constantly setting new goals and we often do this before we have reached our previous goals. Throughout the year, we have opportunities for new beginnings and setting new goals. January is an obvious time where we set new resolutions, in June we set goals for the summer, and in August we make new goals for the beginning of the school year.  What have you been successful at accomplishing? What caused challenges along the way? I encourage all of us to look back at some of the goals we began reaching back in August on our “suitcases” during the 1st in-service and reflect on our progress towards reaching those goals.

Ali Edwards started the “One Little Word” project which has spread like wildfire:

“A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be a ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp or biting or rich and soft and slow. A single word can be a catalyst for enriching your life!”

She began a tradition of choosing one word each January–a word to focus on, reflect upon as one goes about daily life. Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2012? It can be something tangible or intangible…it could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you.

My one word for 2012 is POSITIVE and I’ll share with you 20 Tips to a Positive New Year I found online in addition to 11 Benefits of Being Positive. What’s your one word for 2012?

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, January 9th:
School Resumes
SLC Swimming

Tuesday, January 10th:
Winter Benchmarking Begins
Happy Birthday Ricardo Cano 🙂 
Classroom teachers: Drop off laptop w/star on it & 1 charger to lounge after school

Wednesday, January 11th:
Happy Birthday Nicole Smit 🙂
SLC to Dollar Tree
Winter MAP Testing (Faculty Lounge from 8:30am-10:30am)
Assessment Common Plan (Go over Cycle 3 Assessment Results)
District Calendar Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm (District Office Conference Room)

Thursday, January 12th:
PATS Field Trip to Museum of Science & Industry
Winter MAP Testing (Faculty Lounge from 8:30am-12:00pm)
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm

Friday, January 13th:
Happy 3-day weekend! (No School Monday, 01/16)

Happy Birthday Ami Freeman (01/15)

Let’s all keep in mind some classroom management basics as we embark upon a new calendar year at Kennedy, where our students are blessed to receive quality instruction on a  daily basis in safe and orderly classrooms. Below are some articles from Responsive Classroom that might be helpful to revisit this week, as behavior expectations and classroom routines are revisited. I appreciate your efforts with reinforcing behavior expectations.

Reflecting on Classroom Routines 

Revisiting Hopes & Dreams In the New Year  

Questioning Your Assumptions