From Venspired:

There are lots of things we cannot control. People who aren’t in education for the right reasons. Testing mandates. Kids’ troubled home lives. The media’s portrayal of schools. Poverty. Kids dealing with survival over learning math. Budget cutbacks. Feeling unsupported by the world.

But there are things we can control.

The way we treat children from the moment they walk in until they leave us at the end of each day. The connections and relationships we build with our students. The daily lessons we shape. The photos we take and memories we create with our students. The message we share and live. Modeling digital citizenship for our kids. How we react to comments on social media and open dialogue. Reaching out to support others who might not feel supported. The way we treat our colleagues every single day. These are things we can control.

Above all? We can control what we see when we look at a situation. Education. Do we see a hopeless outcome where it all seems lost? Or do we see education is not hopeless.

The magic that takes place at Kennedy School each and everyday is so full of hope that it’s busting at the seams! It’s in the kids we teach!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 8th:
Happy Birthday Sharon Muntova 🙂

Tuesday, April 9th:
NO SCHOOL: Teacher Institute Day  <–click for agenda
Buddy Committee Meeting @ 7:20am (Room 109)

Wednesday, April 10th:
2nd Grade Buddy Activity (@ LMS)
Happy Birthday Ashley Yucuis 🙂
Common Core Common Plan

Thursday, April 11th:
District RTI Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm (@ LMS)
PATS Field Trip to Navy Pier (@ 3:45pm)
Taste of Kennedy/Art Fair 6:00pm-7:30pm

Friday, April 12th:
5 by Friday! 🙂
*Laptops to lounge after school to set up for MAP Testing!

Welcome Back! I hope you all had a restful, relaxing Spring Break! As we enter the final 8 weeks of school, I realize this can be a challenging time for us, as both staff & students get ‘Spring Fever’. We have been working hard for 7 months and we’re getting closer to the end of the school year. Now is when we must do our best work. We must finish strong and carry out our momentum until the last day. Keep in mind, the more you stray from your classroom routine/schedule, the more antsy your students will get. If you keep focused, they will follow your lead!

As we approach the final 8 weeks of the school year, it is easy for many teachers to get into that familiar habit of wishing that the year would end. I want to encourage you not to fall into that rut and make the last 8 weeks enjoyable and productive for your students.

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, April 1st:
Cycle 5 Assessments

Tuesday, April 2nd:
Kindergarten Field Trip to Field Museum
Reading/ELL Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm
Kennedy Family SPED Night @ 6:00pm-7:30pm
SD81 Registration Day @ LMS 3pm-7pm

Wednesday, April 3rd:
SLBC to Jewel
5th Grade/Kindergarten Buddies Activity (9:00am-10:30am)
Reading/ELL Common Plan

Thursday, Aprli 4th:
Celebrations Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 104)
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm

Friday, April 5th:
Pre School Screening
Reading Room Plan Day
5 by Friday!

(04/07) Happy Birthday Mirta Cruz 🙂

Spring Break always arrives at the perfect time of the year! As we head into the final five days of school prior to break, I’m hopeful that students & staff will take full advantage of their time away from Kennedy. For some, it will give them time to recover from feeling under the weather, and for others it is time to spend with family & friends. Regardless of how you plan on spending the break, I hope you soak up every single second and come back re-energized for the home stretch!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, March 18th
3rd Grade Field Trip to the Museum of Science & Industry

Tuesday, March 19th
4th Grade Buddies visit PreK (@ 9:20am)
Mentor Meeting @ 3:45pm

Wednesday, March 20th
TAPS Common Plan
SCOTY Awards Ceremony @ West Leyden HS (4:00pm)
Board Meeting @ 7:00pm

Thursday, March 21st
Talent Show Dress Rehearsal (during the day)
PreK Field Trip to Brunswick Zone
Baby/Bridal Shower @ 2:30pm
Talent Show @ 6:00pm

Friday, March 22nd
Spirit Assembly (Responsibility)
Happy Birthday Sharon Heitz 🙂
2nd Grade Young Authors (@ 11:00am)
1st Grade (Room 110) Young Authors  (@12:10pm)
1st Grade (Room 100/102/108) Young Authors (@ 12:30pm) 

(03/25) Happy Birthday Diane Serio 🙂
(03/27) Happy Birthday Lindsay Dudal 🙂
(03/29) Happy Birthday Eric Humbles 🙂 

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, March 11th
RTI Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm

Tuesday, March 12th
PATS Field Trip to Peggy Notebaert Museum
Multiage Field Trip to Kohl Children’s Museum
Faculty Meeting @ 2:30pm & 3:30pm <–click for agenda

Wednesday, March 13th
SLBC to the HIP
Discipline Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm

Thursday, March 14th
1st Grade Field Trip to Kohl Children’s Museum
NEDSRA Bowling
Dress Rehearsal (Kennedy Singers & 202) @ LMS
Music In Our Schools Concert @ 6:30pm

Friday, March 15th
March Buddy Event
5 by Friday! 🙂

*Thank you for taking time last week to work with your students to teach about differences & tolerance in conjunction with the national campaign to “Spread the Word to End the Word”. Please take a moment to watch the video below, as I think it’s a wonderful example of someone who didn’t let anything stop him from fulfilling his dream. Enjoy!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, March 4th
ISAT Testing Begins (*There will be NO announcements during ISAT. Please check your email int he Kennedy Conference to see if it will be indoor or outdoor recess.*) Alternate specials schedule begins today & Reading Room will be on a cart! 

Tuesday, March 5th
Happy Birthday Debi Cesario 🙂
Buddy Committee Meeting @ 7:20am (Room 109)
Kindergarten Field Trip to Field Museum
Talent Show Rehearsal (after school)
RTI Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm
Mentor Meeting @ 3:45pm

Wednesday, March 6th
Special Olympics Swim Meet
Common Core Common Plan (in cafeteria: continuing with curriculum mapping)

Thursday, March 7th
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm
District RTI Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm

Friday, March 8th
Non-Tenured Teachers: Summative Conferences

(03/10) Pancake Breakfast @ LMS 9am-12pm

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 25th:
Crazy/Mismatched Socks Day!
ISAT Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 205)
Project Unify Basketball Game @ LMS 4:00pm

Tuesday, February 26th:
NO STUDENT ATTENDANCE: Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, February 27th:
Green Eggs & Ham Day! Wear Green!
Report Cards Sent Home
PreK Field Trip to Chicago Kids Company
Delta Dental Assemblies @ 9:00am & 10:10am <–click for schedule
Dr. Seuss Photo Booth Common Plan
Dr. Seuss Food Preparation in cafe 2:30pm-4:30pm

Thursday, February 28th:
Hat Day!
Happy Birthday Alicia Villanueva 🙂
Multiage Young Authors @ 10:15am (Room 101/109)
Multiage Young Authors @ 1:20pm (Room 103/107)
Dr. Seuss Night 6:00pm-7:30pm *Hope to see you all there!*

Friday, March 1st:
Dress in Kubbie Gear!
Happy Birthday Tami Ericksen 🙂
Spirit Assembly (Caring)

(03/02) Happy Birthday Bonnie Bricker 🙂
(03/03) Happy Birthday Natalie Barcas 🙂 

I hope you all enjoyed your 3-day weekend! Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 18th
NO SCHOOL: President’s Day
Happy Birthday Nikki Culberson 🙂 

Tuesday, February 19th
PATS Field Trip to Shed Aquarium
Talent Show Tryouts *during the day*

Wednesday, February 20th
2nd Grade Field Trip to PF Changs (Room 104/105)
1:45pm/3:00pm IL 5 Essentials: Common Plan in cafeteria *certified staff only*
         Please bring a laptop
Board Meeting @ 7:00pm

Thursday, February 21st
2nd Grade Field Trip to PF Changs (106/115)
1st Grade/Multiage Field Trip to Museum
Celebrations Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 104)
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm
Kindergarten Roundup Meeting @ 6:00pm

Friday, February 22nd
5 by Friday

I’ve been to a lot of meetings. Most of them great: well run, followed an agenda, gave authentic opportunities for interaction and discussion, had an agreed upon end point, and left off with plans for future action. Other meetings haven’t been so efficient: aimless, dominated by a few speakers, provided littler chance for dialogue & gave excessive amounts of information that could have easily been communicated via email for people to read at their leisure.

As a result, I’d like to make a commitment to our staff to change faculty meetings so that they’re more engaging and provide an outlet for the whole staff to collaborate together. Ultimately, faculty meetings should be meaningful and worthwhile.

Communication is key! There is still much value in disseminating information, but I’d like to shift our mindset so that this information can be read rather than taking the time to announce items to the whole staff at a faculty meeting. I’ve created a Google Form for F.M.I. (Faculty Meeting Info) that the staff can contribute to prior to the meetings. I plan gather any info submitted via the form, add it to the bottom of the faculty meeting agenda and distribute it to you electronically the day before each faculty meeting, for people to read on their own time.

I Stand For…. must continue 🙂 Having a sense of community when coming to staff meetings is essential! 🙂

Another practice that will continue is having the staff pass along good practices & new ideas that they are trying in classrooms. Let’s continue to share our best practices with one another to make learning experiences for our students at Kennedy rich and purposeful.

Also, I want to make sure that we have extensive blocks of time (in addition to our common plan time each Wednesday) for us to reflect upon student achievement and improve our practices in teaching, learning, engagement and assessment. With the alignment to Common Core State Standards being a time-intensive initiative, we will spend many of our future faculty meetings working collaboratively.

Ultimately, it is our goal to make faculty meetings a more productive & engaging environment for all of us!

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 11th:
Cycle 4 Assessments
Yearbook collages due! *See email from Kristen S. w/directions, if needed*

Tuesday, February 12th:
February Buddy Event
Faculty Meeting  @ 2:30pm & 3:30pm <–click for agenda
PEP Event @ 6:00pm (LMS)

Wednesday, February 13th:
SLBC to Jewel
SEL Activities: 2nd Grade & 7th Grade Buddies at Kennedy @ 11:00am
Common Core Common Plan (continuing our work in the cafeteria from day before)

Thursday, February 14th:
1st-3rd Grade to LMS for Washington Musical @ 9:00am

Friday, February 15th:
End of Trimester 2
Happy Birthday Agnes Niewinski 🙂
*Please remember to submit parent/teacher conference schedules to the office by Fri!

(02/17) Happy Birthday Mike Deany 🙂
(02/18) NO SCHOOL

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, February 4th:
Happy Birthday Anne Weinthaler 🙂
Pennies for Patients Begins! 

Tuesday, February 5th:
Buddy Committee Meeting @ 7:20am (Room 109)

Wednesday, February 6th:
AM PreK going to Washington for SEL Buddy Activity (@ 9:20am)
Happy Birthday Dina Natale 🙂 

Thursday, February 7th:
Earthquake Drill @ 10:15am <–click for safety actions
Celebrations Committee Meeting @ 2:30pm (Room 104)
McDonald’s McTeacher Night 3pm-7pm <–click to sign up!
SLT Meeting @ 3:00pm
District RTI Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm

Friday, February 8th:
Kindergarten Field Trip to Disney on Ice
PM PreK SEL Buddy Activity with 3rd Grade (@ 1:20pm)

(02/09) Happy Birthday Myra Gilio 🙂 

This has been circulating Twitter & my Google Reader feed….Thanks to Molly for passing it along:

A Pep Talk

From Venspired:

I used to think collaboration was just ‘working with others.’ Get together & make some plans. Divide up the workload. But it’s really so much more. It’s about people. It’s about a willingness to know that you can learn something new from every person you meet. Simple moments that become something more because of others. It’s the kind of collaboration that asks each other the hard questions, that pushes each of us to move forward, and the kind that continually inspires us to be come better versions of ourselves. It’s the kind of collaboration that matters.

I look forward to working with all of you during this Wednesday’s 1/2 Day on creating I CAN statements based on our powered standards. Let’s all come prepared to collaborate.

Here’s our week at a glance:

Monday, January 28th:
Reading Room Begins Again
*Thanks to the Reading Room Team for administering ACCESS to our ELL students! Thank you also to Rebecka Mirandola, our building ELL Coordinator, for organizing and facilitating a smooth ACCESS administration period this year!*
100th Day of School! 🙂 *check below for some ideas*
SEL Committee Meeting @ 3:45pm (Teacher’s Lounge)

Tuesday, January 29th:
Parent/Teacher Collaboration Committee Meeting 5:30pm-6:30pm

Wednesday, January 30th:
SLBC to Subway
1/2 Day: School Improvement Day

Thursday, January 31st:

Friday, February 1st:
Happy Birthday Christa Henkel 🙂
Pre School Screening 

Here are some ideas I’ve pinned for the 100th Day: