Hi All,
I hope that this week brought you everything that you needed. I am feeling excited to welcome you all back as well as our wonderful students. We had a productive week at home getting spring projects done. In fact, we had some fun escapees from down the road. Check out the surprise Rowan and I got yesterday while we were working in the yard! Never a dull moment in the town of Berlin.
The start of this week is supposed to be absolutely beautiful. This is a great time of year to revisit the rules both inside and outside of the school building. I've linked a couple of articles in News and Announcements. Here are some simple check-ins post break.
- Sticky Note Anonymous Board: Put a prompt on the board like "Something I learned over break" or "How I feel about coming back" and have participants add their thoughts anonymously.
- "I am Proud Of..." Partner Share: Participants share a moment from their break (or a personal achievement) they are proud of and give each other a compliment, which boosts confidence and builds social bonds.
- Set the Scene with Music: Play upbeat, fun music during arrival to set a positive, welcoming tone immediately.
- Emoji Mood Board: Display a chart of emojis and have participants select the one that fits their mood.
- Color-Coded Emotions: Use a color system where each color represents a feeling (e.g., green for ready, yellow for tired, blue for calm).
- "What's Your Break Vibe?" Photo Check-in: Display 4–6 photos representing different types of breaks (e.g., a photo of a snowy mountain, a cozy bed, a fun game, a busy street) and ask participants to pick the one that best matches their time off.
- Memory Drawing: Have students draw one picture of a favorite moment from their break to share with a partner or the class.
- "Before and After" Drawing: Ask students to draw what they thought they would do on break versus what they actually did
News and Announcements
- Over the break we had National Administrative Professional's Day. We'll take Monday to celebrate Lori and Doreen for all that they do to keep us all afloat. Take a minute to say thank you to them for all they do.
- https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/reaffirming-community-after-a-vacation/
- VTCAP Make-Ups: I will be working with classroom teachers and Special Education through this week (T-Th) to ensure that every student finishes the VTCAP. Stay tuned.
- Coverage---I understand this used to be a practice. So, I'm putting it out there as a solution as we have zig-zag days in the spring.
- If there is a whole school activity during a classroom teacher's special time the allied arts teacher will provide coverage during that activity. This coverage allows the teacher their planning time as well as provides seamless coverage to the students who were expecting to see that teacher during that time.
- With everything there are always exceptions but generally this is the practice of supporting colleagues and meeting the needs of our students.
- Teaching Positions:
- Reminder: Letters of Intent are due by May 2nd (that's Saturday).
- Math Interventionist: Given Kim's one year leave of absence please let me know if you are interested in being an interventionist next year ASAP either in person or in writing.
- We have gotten clearance to have three 5/6 classrooms next year!
- Kitchen Information---Amber and I have been working on a "cheat sheet" of any kitchen changes and information. More information will be available in the next few days.
- Principal's Challenge--- I had SO much fun on Friday after break, thanks to Christine and Doreen for making the challenge and the blades happen. I'm looking forward to more "challenges" in the future.
Pricing: WCUUSD à La Carte Items ***Adults pay à la carte for all breakfast items.
Item Category Item Price Breakfast Milk, Juice, Fruit, Dried Fruit, or Cheese Stick $0.50 Muffin, Zee Zees Bar, Boiled Eggs (2), or Cereal $1.00 Bagel (w/ butter or cream cheese), Cinnamon Roll, or Biscuit $2.00 Smoothie, Yogurt Parfait, or Breakfast Sandwich/Wrap $3.00 Lunch Full Adult Lunch (1.5x portion, no seconds) $7.00 Adult Special Theme Lunch (1.5x portion, no seconds) $7.50 Salad Bar or Salad as a Meal (with protein) $7.00 Sides/Misc Dinner Roll $0.50 Garlic Bread, Garlic Knot, or Corn Bread $1.00 Side of Vegetable, Starchy Veg (Potato), or Main Entree only $2.00 Side Salad (with veggies and dressing) $3.00 - Marshall Memo 1134
This week's quotes and articles come from National Catholic Reporter, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Cult of Pedagogy, Theory Into Practice (more next week), Adrian's Newsletter, Leadership Freak, and Urban Education. Here are the headlines:
- The seven secrets of great teams that continuously improve
- Preventing discipline problems by teaching "replacement skills"
- Orchestrating reflective feedback with teachers: it's difficult!
- Short, frequent classroom visits followed by face-to-face debriefs
- How to murder Shakespeare for teens
- Trying to go into meetings with a curious frame of mind
- How to assess a leader's social-emotional skills
- Recommended children's picture books about African-American boys
If you want an HTML version of this week's Memo, please click here.
To listen to a podcast of last week's issue (#1133), click here.
For a podcast of this week's Memo, just log in at www.marshallmemo.com later this week and click Podcasts.
- Upcoming Events:
- May 8th: 6th Grade Spaghetti Dinner
- May 19th All School Dress rehearsal for Music Show ---- 1:00 pm
- May 19th: Art/Music Show
- June 10th--- Field Day/BBQ
- Field Trips
- Tuesday, April 28 - BES Band and Chorus Students go to U32
- Friday, May 15 - 3rd Grade goes to Shelburne Museum
- Thursday, May 28 - 1st Grade goes to Book Buddies at U32
- Friday, May 29 - Kindergarten goes to Autumn Raynes Farm
- Friday, June 5 - 5th & 6th Grade goes to Great Escape
- Tuesday, June 9 - 4th Grade goes to VT Statehouse and History Museum
- Tuesday, June 9 - 1st and 2nd Grade goes to Montshire Museum
What's Happening at BES?
Where is Celia?
