April 27, 2015

Great Things Noticed:

Peter Pan was amazing!!!  If you were able to attend the show on Friday or Saturday you know what we are talking about.  The students worked for months to put this show on and should feel proud about the work they have done.  If you have a chance to congratulate Christina, Meaghan, and Dennis who made the play what was please do.  Also a huge thank you to Patty and Ginette who helped to make sure it went off without a hitch.

Parents gave us good feedback about conferences this spring.  So many parents were glad to have met with you and feel as though they did not just get an update on how their son or daughter was doing, but an actual plan for success.  Thank you for making the time to meet with these parents.  At the conferences we attended it was clear to see how much the teachers care about student success.  

In a social studies class the students are learning about the branches of government and were given the task of cutting the budget.  It is easy for all of us to talk about having a tighter budget, and cut taxes, but when the students are given the power to actually decide where the cuts are coming from they develop a unique perspective on how difficult this can be.

In a few language arts classes book clubs have begun to develop where 4-5 students read and discuss the same book.  It is great to see students discuss their reading and ask insightful questions.

Classes across many disciplines math, language arts, science have students using trading or vocabulary cards to help students memorize their definitions.  By having vocabulary words and definitions on cards it allows the students an opportunity to play games and study independently. 

It has been wonderful to see classrooms that use station work consistently and how they are functioning this time of the year.  The students know where to go, what is expected of them, and what type of behavior is not permitted.  Teachers are able to deliver small group, or at times 1 on 1 instruction to students.  This type of instruction allows for teachers to identify obstacles that might be preventing the students from learning the material and provide them strategies to overcome these obstacles.  

Nuts and Bolts:

PARCC Testing:
Our school will be testing for the PARCC starting May 11th, and we will be able to test every grade level at the same time.  The EOY test will run 4 days for grades 6-8 and only 3 days for grade 5.  Grade 5 will begin testing on May 12th.  Huge THANK YOU to Jeremy, BettyAnn, and Jill who have worked tremendously hard to make this possible!

Cell Phones: We are asking for your help in enforcing a policy that is already in place: Cell Phones are not to be used in school.  Over the past few weeks students have lost cell-phones, dropped them outside during recess, recorded teachers during class, and messaged one another during class.  On Monday we will speak to students letting them know cellphones are to stay in their lockers, they are not to be carried around school.  If a student has a situation where they need to contact mom or dad they can come to the office and make a phone call using an office phone.  At the end of the day we see lots of students using cell phones as they walk to the bus, please help us to enforce that cell phones are not allowed to be taken out until the students are on the bus.  If at that time they need to contact mom or dad they will have the opportunity to do so.  Starting Tuesday, if you see a cell-phone please bring it to the office.  We will allow the student to pick it up at the end of the day.  

Music in the Classroom:
If you would like to play Classical, Jazz, or even Post Rock --Friday Night Lights Type-- you can definitely do so through the SMART Board.  Research has shown that music can help to calm students and help them focus when it is something that contains no lyrics.  However, students should not be allowed to use their own earbuds to listen to their own music on YouTube or another site.     

Upcoming Events:

April 27                Faculty meeting
April 29                BOE MeetingApril 30                Complete final SGO Assessments
May 1                   BIS Spotlight, 9:00 a.m.
May 11                 EOY PARCC Testing Begins

Tech Tips:

For those of you who use Flubaroo -- the digital grading tool that can save you so much time -- Joe Capriotti has found a way to have multiple correct answers when making a Google Form.  Check it out here.

One of the things we are passionate about is trying to break down the walls of our classroom so our students can connect with experts, authors, and other students. By doing so it provides our students to realize their work is intended for an audience greater than the teacher, and it allows our students to gain a unique perspective by people who have a different background than the ones here at Byram.  We do realize these connections are difficult to make unless you know someone who lives in another state and is working on the same topic you are.  @PernilleRipp is an educator in Wisconsin who has taken on this challenge and has compiled a list of over 1,000 language arts teachers who would like to connect. These teachers are from all around the country and have listed the books they are reading and would like to work with another school on.  If you are interested Click Here and reach out to some of them.  It might be difficult to make this happen for this year, but it would be a perfect time to begin thinking about connecting next year.  

March 23, 2015

Great Things Noticed:

We are thrilled to have Gabriel Cheavers as our new 6th grade math teacher, he is replacing Amanda McPeek while she is out on maternity leave.  Please make sure to say hello and welcome him to our school.

In a social studies class, students gathered information in a bit of a different manner.  Instead of the students sitting at their seats to read, informational text was posted around the room.  Students then went to these different stations to look for answers to questions.  The students were highly engaged as they conducted their research.

In a language arts class students rotated to different stations throughout the week.  Each day the students had a different station to go to, with a different objective.  Instead of having the students rotate to 2-3 stations during a class period, sometimes students need to spend time diving deeper into a the subject material, and this format allowed the students to do so.  The teacher made sure to every student was able to receive small group instruction at some point during the week, while continually monitoring student progress.

In another language arts classroom the teacher redesigned the physical arrangement of the classroom to allow for better communication during a socratic circle.  After reading a whole-class novel the students gave answers to questions, listened to their classmates and used other student answers to help build new answers.  Students were really engaged and disappointed when the lesson was over because they wanted to the discussion to continue.

Nuts and Bolts:

This is the last week of PARCC make-ups for this section.

Currently grades 7/8 are scheduled to begin the next round of PARCC testing the week of April 27th, and grades 5/6 to begin the week of May 4th.   We are working to see if it is possible to have grades 5-8 test the same week.  If this is possible EVERYONE would take the test the week of May 10th, and the 8th grade would not have to leave open space.  This would also allow us more flexibility with scheduling for the afternoon the week the students take the PARCC.  We will know if this is possible next week.

Saturday March 28th, there is a FREE workshop at Columbia University for the Reading and Writing Workshop.  Last year there were so many amazing sessions, especially from experts on implementing the Workshop model into a middle school.  If you are thinking of attending click here to learn more, or contact Ginette, Celeste, or Meaghan, they attended last year.

To get high levels of student engagement, there often needs to be some form of student choice.  Figuring out what to allow as a choice though can be difficult sometimes.  This article: 7 Ways to Hack Your Classroom to Include More Student Choice offers some unique ideas.


Upcoming Events:

March 16-20 PARCC Make-ups

March 20 BIS Spotlight, periods 17 & 18

March 23 Faculty Meeting
March 27 BIS Spotlight 2:30

March 31 - April 2 Parent Conferences; Early Dismissal

March 31 Greg Fineburg from AXA in Faculty Room

April 3 – 10 Spring Break:  School Closed

April 13 Begin final SGO Assessments

April 17 End of 3rd MP -- School Play

April 18 School Play

April 29 BOE Meeting

April 30 Complete final SGO Assessments


Tech Tips:

The chrombook keyboard is a bit different from a regular keyboard. Click here to learn some of the shortcut features, like how to take a screenshot or how to add caps lock to the keyboard.

Happy St. Patty's Day 2015!!

Great Things Noticed:

#ByramPride

A few weeks ago we shared with you that we would be sending a survey to see what parent perceptions of our school are.  The results are in and it is comforting to know parents believe we are doing a very good job here at Byram!  It is great to see how much the community values the hard work you put in on a daily basis.  Click here to see how parents feel about our school.

5th grade has started their #GeniusHour projects and they are amazing.  The students were able to pick a topic of their choosing to become an expert on it, and then create something to show their 'Genius'.  Students created presentations on: The Life Cycle of a Nuetron Star, What is the Better Buy...Beats or Sony Headphones, How Did the Royal Family Come to be? and much more.  It was interesting to see students loose track of time as they were researching and writing.  Amazing!

Earth Day is coming up and the students from the Lakes School came over to record a video after school in our Mass Media class.  Our students were in charge of the production end while the Lakes students had staring roles.  It was great to see students from both schools involved in an after school activity to promote a cause like Earth Day.  Love it when we can connect outside the walls of our school.

In a science class students were conducting experiments to determine what type of minerals they had in front of them.  Students performed several tests and then used their textbook as a resource to identify what type of rock they had.  Instead of just reading about different types of minerals students are discovering what types of minerals they have in front of them.  Hands-on learning!!!

So many students during lunch leave the cafeteria and go to your classrooms.  They go their for extra-help, to study for a test, to learn more about a concept they started in class, and for some just to be in a room they feel safe and valued in.  Thank you to all of you who have made your rooms available to help students for so many different reasons.  They don't always say it, but the appreciate it tremendously.

In a language arts class students are beginning to create their own website using Weebly.  Weebly is a FREE website creator for students to use, and since Google Sites is not currently enabled for us this is a great work around.

Again, thank you for all your help when it comes to testing.  The staff did a WONDERFUL job of trying to keep students calm about the test and your flexibility was commendable.  As many of you know there is a nasty bug going around and we had to move some of you to cover a class with very little notice, thank you for your support.

Nuts and Bolts:

Make-up PARCC testing will occur this week and end on March 23rd.  We will be calling down students from their first period class to make up these assessments.

Spot-Light - We are changing the format slightly for those who talk about the learning taking place at their grade level.  Instead of summarizing what they are learning about we would like to students to show what they have created in a class

Upcoming Events:

March 16-20 PARCC Make-ups

March 18 BOE Meeting

March 20 BIS Spotlight 2:30

March 21 Tricky Tray 5:30 PM

March 23 Faculty Meeting

March 31, April 1, 2 Parent Conferences; Early Dismissal

April 3 – 10 Spring Break:  School Closed

April 13 Begin final SGO Assessments

April 30 Complete final SGO Assessments

Tech Tips:

Cybraryman -- One of the best places to start looking for educational information.  Jerry is a retired teacher who has spent his time curating the best information for educators.  If Jerry doesn't have a page for it...it doesn't exist.  

Search Engine Tips -- Now that the students have been using Chromebooks for a while, one of the complaints I hear some teachers making is that students rush to click on the first thing that pops up without reading the material presented.  If you would like to narrow student searches, you can actually build your own search engine for the students to use, and feed it certain sites approved by you.  

Donors Choose --  A site where you can get funding for some things you would like to include in your class.  I have used it twice and both times my projects were funded, I was given a video camera and a class set of novels, both of which helped my class out tremendously. Other teachers I know have used  this to have guest speakers come in or Skype with a class.  If you have an idea for a project you would like to run, but need some funding this is the place to start.  

March 11, 2015

Great Things Noticed:

#byrampride Pictures

With about half of our testing completed Fran and I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate all your efforts over the past week and a half.  We have managed to navigate through three delayed openings and one school closing while keeping very close to our testing schedule, only because of the efforts of our amazing staff.  Whenever a situation arose where we have needed to teachers to administer the test, provide coverage, or sub for another teacher you were there to help, and we are grateful.  It is our first time through the PARCC and we have had very little difficulty with it, especially when we are compared to other districts, and that is because of the staff here at Byram. To show our appreciation Fran and I will be providing bagels and coffee for you in the conference room, we hope you come and grab some.  

The number of students attending our before and after school programs have doubled since last year!  The teachers involved in these programs have provided meaningful activities for the students that target specific areas of need, and the students are able to obtain feedback that allows them to grown and improve.  We have received phone calls from parents to let us know about the huge improvement with this program from last year.  Thank you to those teachers who have put in the hours before and after school to make this happen.   

In language arts this week we saw a teacher teaching grammar at a station where there were laminated cards with grammar mistakes.  Students had to identify the grammar mistakes with a partner and then correct them, a great way to review grammar skills with small groups.  

In a social studies class the students presented information they researched on topics like The Great Compromise, or the Constitutional Convention using Google Slides.  The students' slides had to contain pictures with very little text, this forced the students to try and make eye contact with their audience and be experts on the material they were presenting.  

In a science class students were experimenting with dry-ice as they learned vocabulary words like sublimation. As the students observed what was taking place the teacher went to every group to make sure they understood what sublimation was.  An interesting fact I learned was that if you press a spoon against dry-ice it makes a noise due to the vibration it causes.

A language arts student created her own board game about a book she has recently read using Google Draw.  She had access to dice and was playing the game with some other students in class to show them how it worked.   

Upcoming Events:

March 9-13 5th & 6th Grade PARCC

March 9 Faculty Meeting

March 13 Digital Learning Day

March 16-20 PARCC Make-ups

March 18 BOE Meeting 7:00PM

March 20 BIS Spotlight - 2:30

March 23 Faculty Meeting

March 30 Updated recommendations for next year's classes to the office

March 31 Parent Teacher Conferences

April 1 Parent Teacher Conferences
April 2 Parent Teacher Conferences

April 13 Begin SGO Final Assessments

April 30 Complete SGO Assessments

May 1st Names of students who are in danger of failing to the office

Nuts and Bolts:

PARCC Testing will conclude for grades 5-6 Monday, March 16, make-ups will begin on Tuesday March 17th.

Please make sure to share your unit plans with us when you being a unit of study.

This Friday is Digital Learning Day.  Teachers around the country will be designing lessons for this day that focus on technology.  At Byram, we have seen an amazing increase in the use of technology by our teachers and students since last year, and I am proud to work at a school where this type of learning does not happen just one day a year.  I know that we will have testing on Friday, but if after testing you have a lesson that planned using technology please let me know, I would love to be able to come and take a picture to highlight what is taking place for #DLDay

  

Tech Tips

Digital Learning Resources - 30 Resources on how to incorporate digital learning in your classroom on a daily basis.

March 1, 2015 -

Great Things Noticed:

We apologize for not getting around to as many classrooms this week as we usually do.  PARCC and QSAC have been keeping us busy, but we were still able to check out some really cool stuff in your classrooms.

We had several fire/security drills lately, including one where the students from the Lakes School came to our gym.  Thank you for doing a wonderful job keeping the students in your classrooms, and being flexible with the schedule when it was thrown off a bit.  

In a math class this week a teacher conducted a snowball fight.  She had equations on white pieces of paper and then had the students crumble them up into balls.  When she said go the students had a snowball fight, when she called stop the students had to pick up some of the pieces of paper and solve the equations that were inside.  One of the students told me it was so much better than having to sit and solve problems at his seat.  

In a language arts class the teacher was meeting with a small group of students based on the skill she wanted to reinforce with these students.  She had identified an area that needed to be taught in a small group and was able to target those students directly.

QSAC came through and you all had what was asked of you on your desk and on the board as they went from room to room.  We received positive feedback on what they saw when they went from room to room, and when we get our scores we will be sure to share them with you.

We have noticed so many of you helping one another as the PARCC Test approaches.  This is everyone’s first time and we understand how stressful a new assessment like this can be.  It is great to be able to go to work everyday in a school where the staff genuinely wants to help one another.  So many of you have pitched in and helped someone else with things like understanding how to navigate the testing site, showing testing features the students will have available, and giving helpful hints about where to find information in the testing manual.  Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

March 2-6 7th & 8th Grade PARCC

March 9-13 5th & 6th Grade PARCC

March 9 Faculty Meeting

March 13 BIS Spotlight

March 16-20 PARCC Make-ups

March 18 BOE Meeting 7:00PM

March 23 Faculty Meeting

March 31 Parent Teacher Conferences

Nuts and Bolts:

Testing starts Monday, if you are testing please come to the conference room to pick up your testing materials before school begins.  You will be given your seal codes, pencils, scratch paper, and ear buds.  Please pass out the pencils, paper, and ear-buds first.  You will then pass out the student testing codes to the students and write the seal code on the board.  At the end of the testing session please collect the pencils, paper, ear-buds, and student testing codes.  You will hold on to these materials for the next day of testing.  When your class has finished it’s testing time please call the office so we are aware.  When all testing session have finished we will make an announcement to resume classes.

Those not testing please remind students to move quietly throughout the halls.

Testing Times:

Test	PBA 1	PBA 2	PBA 3
Grades 6-8 ELA	75 Monday	90 Tuesday	60 Wednesday
Grades 6-8 MATH	80 Thursday	70 Friday	*****
Algebra/Geometry	90 Thursday	75 Friday	*****

Please make sure to read through your testing manual to understand the directions you will be giving.  Remember we are starting with language arts and not math.  The directions for the ELA PBA begin on page 40.  

Student directions for logging in can be found here

Training video for how to locate your classes click here.

PARCC Testing Site click here.

When you administer the test make sure you click start session or the students will not be able to log in to your session.  Also you do not need to click end session at any time, we will handle that part.  

If you have issues before starting the test please call the office and we will be there to help as soon as we can.  

If you have issues while the students are taking the test make sure to note the time and student(s) then call the office and we will address the issues ASAP.

Tech Tips:

Print Friendly

Have you ever tried to print out a webpage and it comes out looking like a disaster because of the advertisements, margins, headers, and footers?  Print Friendly is a way to fix all of this and can be added as a chrome extension.  Check out this video for more information.

Noteworthy:

• What color is the dress...... I saw black and blue, can't wait to hear what you saw.

• This kid rocks, and made me smile.

February 23, 2015

Great things noticed:

Week in Pictures

In a Social Studies class students are learning about the election process and strategies campaigns use for television adds.  The students are now creating their own adds and contacting possible Presidential candidates to learn more about them.  It is great to see the students go from consumers of information, to creators of information.

In a language arts class the students had been researching and were now presenting the results of the research.  It was interesting to see the different mediums groups used to present their research, one group created a large trifold poster so when people visited them they would be able to see their findings.  They also made a brochure so that when you left their station you had the information with you incase you needed to refer to it later on.  Finally they created a PowToon with a song they created about their research.  It was wonderful to see our students become so creative, even when working on a research project.

In several different math classes teachers created groups based on student performance.  The teachers assessed the students and then created groups based on the results of that assessment.  The students moved from game stations, to review stations, to video stations with Kahn Academy, to a direct instruction station.

In a science class the students were learning about vertebrates vs. invertebrates and the teacher had them create a spine using gummy life savers, straws, and wagon wheel pasta.  The students were able to touch, label, and explore how all these pieces functioned together, in a way they would not have been able to by just reading from a worksheet.

In a langauge arts class students reviewed the types of questions they answered correctly vs. the types of questions they answered incorrectly.  Students were able to then identify areas they wanted to focus on such as: author's purpose, point of view, etc.  This type of metacognition allows the students to know where they really need to focus for the next assessment.


Nuts and Bolts:

PARCC infrastructure test is taking place today.  Please remember the purpose of this is not for the students to take a practice test, it is to show them the question types, and testing features they will be exposed to.  For example:  how to scroll through a reading passage, how to highlight text, how to eliminate answer choices, how to check to see all questions have been answered, how to give a written response (they are given a tiny box to type in but they can type a great deal more), how to use the equation editor in some math answers, etc.

The 8th Grade team has created this notes page for the trial run on Monday's PARCC.  It goes step by step on how to navigate the testing site, thank you 8th Grade.

Here is the video on how to find your classes:  http://screencast.com/t/rqs9rBSC

QSAC will be coming in Tuesday.  Please make sure everything in your room is as it should be, no wires where students could trip etc.  Also be sure to have a copy of your unit plan on your desk for them to see if they should walk into your room.  I am excited to have them see what a great job you all do for our students!

If you feel after Monday's trial run that you would like another opportunity to go over the question types, or question features please discuss this as a team and let us know.  We would be open to consider another run on Friday if you felt it was necessary.

Thank you for making students learning our number one priority.  With the PARCC being new this year we realize there is a new and added stress to every teacher.  Together we have all been learning how to navigate the testing site, and prepare ourselves the best we can.  Even with this added stress we have received feedback from parents letting us know how they do not see our school as a school that stops what we are doing to 'teach to the test'.  Thank you for making our school a place where learning doesn't stop because the PARCC is here.


Upcoming Dates:

February 23  --- Faculty Meeting

February 24, 25, 26 --- 8th Grade CAP Program

March 2 --- 7/8 Grade PARCC Testing Begins

March 9 --- 5/6 Grade PARCC Testing Begins (7/8 Make-Ups)
                    Faculty Meeting

March 13 --- BIS Spotlight

March 16 --- 5/6 PARCC Make-Ups

March 23 --- Faculty Meeting



Tech Tips:

Feedly:  Searching the web for what you want/need can take a great deal of time.  Some teachers may already have an RSS feed setup, but incase you haven't yet Feedly is one I recommend.  Instead of you taking time to search the web for the latest and greatest you can make the web come to you by using services like Feedly.  Feedly makes it possible for information to come directly to you every-time a particular website is updated.  Below is a video on how to do this, and Richard Byrne  makes some great suggestions on sites to follow, even if he does a bit of self-promotion.  After setting up the websites you like best, checking Feedly once a week will keep you up to date on your favorite websites.

My suggested follows on Feedly to get you started:

http://pernillesripp.com

http://www.freetech4teachers.com

http://www.edudemic.com

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

http://blog.mrmeyer.com

http://www.justintarte.com