My friend Jessica Cabeen is a principal at a school with 420 kindergarteners-- yes, a school of all kinders-- and whenever I think my job is busy I think of her and can't even imagine a school of that many littles! Over the break, I did a lot of reading of books and blog posts, and was inspired by Jessica's 2018 #oneword blog post and her word. NO. You can read her post here:
https://principalinbalance.wordpress.com/2017/12/29/oneword-2018-no/, and I am sure you can relate. I can. While I loved reading over the break, I also did a lot of sleeping, partly due to a crummy cold, but also I think from the sheer exhaustion of everything that is December at home and at school. I'm right there with her with saying no on a personal level- to events, to junk food, and more. I need to get healthy and I can't do it all.
On a a professional level, I'm also feeling like Happy "No" Year is the way to start 2018 at Stoneridge! Over the break, I really didn't do much school work at all, but I did think about all that we are trying to do as a school and a district and am ready to say no to a few things and yes to some others. So, here's my plan for the rest of the year.
No to new things.
From me, I won't be rolling out anything new for us to start on this year. We have almost finished out our work on supporting VIP students, and we will do that at our first staff meeting on the 17th. I'm looking forward to hearing your teams present and learning from you! But no more new initiatives from me or things to implement.
Yes to health and happiness.
In much of my reading, I continued to find references to how we best support students with emotional needs and trauma by taking care of ourselves first. In keeping with this theme, you won't find any candy in the staff room from me :) And I will be sure to bring walking shoes and clothes each day in case there is a free afternoon for walking after school-- care to join? And every Wednesday will be Wellness Wednesdays-- plan to wear comfy clothes and I'll share an article or tip about wellness with our staff and families. We could even walk at lunch!
Yes to planning time.
Robin Learn shared this post on Facebook-- Don't Eat Supermarket Cupcakes https://www.thegreathandshake.com/blog/2018/1/5/dont-eat-supermarket-cupcakes and it's actually about planning time! Along with not starting anything new, I know we need time to work on the things we have started, and to eventually plan for next year. I was excited to receive some additional LCFF funds just before break that I plan to use for just that. So, before the end of the year, your 2018-19 grade team will have a full release day to plan, to collaborate, and to finish out your draft year long curriculum map. More on this later, but I am very happy to be able to provide you with planning time.
Yes to simplify. Yes to identify.
Over the break, I had a chance to visit Lake Canyon and see them in their second year of implementing the RCA house system, a rally, and even see a kindergarten room transformation which was really fun! They were doing "surgery" on numbers, sight words, and CVC words. Check them out below. In their implementation, what I was noticed most was the simplicity of it all. The room transformation was outfits, a heart monitor sound, and some fun props with standards-based work wrapped up in the hospital theme. The whole room wasn't decorated, but it did feel magical! Did it take time, work, and effort? Absolutely. But it also felt do-able. Their house meetings agendas were simple. Their assembly was fairly simple. And successful! I was really left with the feeling that we are doing so many amazing things already, and yet we can also slow down and simplify so we are not overwhelmed-- we have many things on our plate. And I'll clearly identify what we need to accomplish by the end of the year and outline an action plan for that-- keeping simplifying in mind. Staff meetings starting in February will have time allocated to those items including our house system and schoolwide behavior expectations, as well as time to work on the new learning we have had this year in language arts and math via our PD cycles and PD days. And our personalized PD Wednesdays will continue as planned.
And finally, yes to moments!
My #oneword this year is moments. You can read my post here http://sparkleonjen.blogspot.com/2018/01/create-capture-share-oneword.html.
Cheers to you and a happy "no" year! I look forward to seeing you all Monday!
Dates & Details
Everything you need to know is in the doc embedded below.
Love all of this sentiment!
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