January and February are extremely busy months at Trinity! Thank you for hanging on tight and giving it your all! Thank you for your prayers and support this week as we move into our kindergarten testing on Wednesday and Thursday (2/2 and 2/3). To keep us all updated, here are a few important upcoming events:
*Monday, Jan. 31 Bi-grade level meeting for grades 4/5
*Monday, Feb. 7 All School Faculty Meeting/ Midterm Reports
*Monday, Feb. 14 Valentine Parties (1:45-2:45 p.m.)
*Monday, Feb. 14 LS Faculty Meeting (brief)
*Mon-Wed., Feb.14-16 Fifth Grade Space Camp Trip
*Monday, Feb. 21 Holiday
*Wednesday, Feb. 23 LS Chapel
As I read through professional journals and websites, the following three books keep turning up as "must reads" for professional educators. Remember, these may be purchased using your professional development funds and the school credit card. Ask Linda for assistance if needed! All are available on Amazon.com as well.
*Reciprocal Teaching at Work(2nd ed.)by Lori D. Oczkus
*Revisiting Silent Reading by Hiebert & Reutzel
*Teaching Reading in Small Groups by Jennifer Serravallo
One last thing . . . a word of thanks to the 2nd grade teachers, Mrs. Ahna, Mrs. Aitken, Mrs. Roth, and Mrs. Helms for a super Grandparents Day Celebration last week!
Have a great week!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Excitement at TPS!
Exciting days are ahead at Trinity, and they begin right now!
As most of you probably already know, Trinity is blazing a new trail in the River Region by becoming the very first Apple 1:1 school in our area. Schools who run a 1:1 program issue computers to each individual student. Students use the computers at school, and take them home as well. This concept promises to revolutionize education.
For the last three years, we have spent countless hours planning, visiting regional 1:1 schools, consulting, and making our campus ready to support such a program. We even took a trip to "The Mother Ship" (aka Apple Headquarters) in Cupertino, California, for an exclusive executive briefing as a major step in the direction of making Trinity School the school of tomorrow.
As of today, our entire campus has wireless Internet connectivity. We are also utilizing three Apple mobile laptop carts throughout the school. These carts are loaded with 25 MacBooks each, and may be taken throughout the school building. Our recently-renovated middle/upper school library is state of the art, and includes a 21st century research room. Our lower school addition, set to open this fall, will also include a state of the art library for our students in grades K-5.
The exciting news is that we are ready to put laptop computers in the hands of every student in grades 7 and 9 NEXT YEAR! After that, the program will begin to spread throughout the school. Time will only tell how the a 1:1 laptop program will ultimately look, but we believe that it will take the academic program at Trinity to the next level.
Parents of next year's 7th and 9th grade students have already received information regarding this new program, and they have already been invited to a special event that we are having at the school next week to learn even more information about the exciting events to come. However, we would like to extend an invitation to this event to any parent who may be interested in how Apple computers will change the face of education at our school. You are most welcome to attend.
Apple 1:1 Information Meeting
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
6:30 p.m.
Willett Hall
This event should answer many of the questions you may have about the new direction we are taking here at Trinity. However, any of us on the administrative team would be happy to discuss the program with you at any time.
I hope to see you Tuesday!
Upcoming 5K Race and Fun Run!
Run the Race 5k and Fun Run 2011
Plan now to join us Saturday, February 26th for a 5K & Fun Run. This is a community event with refreshments, children's activities and awards ceremony. Proceeds from the race support our P.T.O. projects to beautify the school grounds while promoting healthy lifestyles through exercise. Our course begins and ends at Trinity Presbyterian School, conveniently located just off Carmichael Road. Professional timers will be in place and awards will be given for the overall male & female finishers plus top finishers in each age category. T-shirts will be given to all 5K and Fun Run participants registered by February 10th. Both runners and walkers are welcome!
Race info and registration available on the Trinity website or by clicking here!
As most of you probably already know, Trinity is blazing a new trail in the River Region by becoming the very first Apple 1:1 school in our area. Schools who run a 1:1 program issue computers to each individual student. Students use the computers at school, and take them home as well. This concept promises to revolutionize education.
For the last three years, we have spent countless hours planning, visiting regional 1:1 schools, consulting, and making our campus ready to support such a program. We even took a trip to "The Mother Ship" (aka Apple Headquarters) in Cupertino, California, for an exclusive executive briefing as a major step in the direction of making Trinity School the school of tomorrow.
As of today, our entire campus has wireless Internet connectivity. We are also utilizing three Apple mobile laptop carts throughout the school. These carts are loaded with 25 MacBooks each, and may be taken throughout the school building. Our recently-renovated middle/upper school library is state of the art, and includes a 21st century research room. Our lower school addition, set to open this fall, will also include a state of the art library for our students in grades K-5.
The exciting news is that we are ready to put laptop computers in the hands of every student in grades 7 and 9 NEXT YEAR! After that, the program will begin to spread throughout the school. Time will only tell how the a 1:1 laptop program will ultimately look, but we believe that it will take the academic program at Trinity to the next level.
Parents of next year's 7th and 9th grade students have already received information regarding this new program, and they have already been invited to a special event that we are having at the school next week to learn even more information about the exciting events to come. However, we would like to extend an invitation to this event to any parent who may be interested in how Apple computers will change the face of education at our school. You are most welcome to attend.
Apple 1:1 Information Meeting
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
6:30 p.m.
Willett Hall
This event should answer many of the questions you may have about the new direction we are taking here at Trinity. However, any of us on the administrative team would be happy to discuss the program with you at any time.
I hope to see you Tuesday!
Upcoming 5K Race and Fun Run!
Run the Race 5k and Fun Run 2011
Plan now to join us Saturday, February 26th for a 5K & Fun Run. This is a community event with refreshments, children's activities and awards ceremony. Proceeds from the race support our P.T.O. projects to beautify the school grounds while promoting healthy lifestyles through exercise. Our course begins and ends at Trinity Presbyterian School, conveniently located just off Carmichael Road. Professional timers will be in place and awards will be given for the overall male & female finishers plus top finishers in each age category. T-shirts will be given to all 5K and Fun Run participants registered by February 10th. Both runners and walkers are welcome!
Race info and registration available on the Trinity website or by clicking here!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Accelerated Reader Seminar/Math Facts in a Flash Info
Renaissance Learning offered a limited attendance (and I do mean limited--they only allowed a school to register 2 people total!) seminar (in Dothan) on Accelerated Reader and other Renaissance Learning products like Accelerated Math and Math Facts in a Flash. It was extremely informational. They should offer more of these in the future and I would like us to send as many teachers as possible. You really get to collaborate with other teachers by hearing their questions and concerns about ways to effectively use AR as well as the other products we do not use at this time. (It may be 2 teachers at a time if they are limited attendance but it will be worth it!)
Keeli Osmer and I sat down and pooled our notes concerning AR. I have tried to put this into bullet points for you below. Some of these are simply thoughts to ponder as we reflect on our use of AR and our overall teaching strategies in the classroom.
*They set the tone and began the conference by showing the YouTube Video: Shift Happens (Click here to view)
*A child will continue a task only if he/she feels successful! (Personally, I think that goes for adults too!)
*Reading needs to be a successful story--ALWAYS!
*The suggested amount of reading time per day (to make a measurable jump in reading scores) is 35 min. per day. (Ponder this when considering requirements for next year!)
*Students often do not like school because we haven't changed the way we are teaching even though their brains work in different ways due to technology and the flow of information today.
*Students' attention spans are 15 min. or 1 min. per grade level up to the 15 min. A good suggestion is to strive to change activities or type of activity approx. every 15 min. to help keep students engaged.
I have asked for a quote for Math Facts in a Flash, this is a computer assessment, student practice, and bookkeeping program for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Please take a moment and click here to investigate Math Facts in a Flash. This is from the same company, Renaissance Learning, that puts out AR.
*Note the addition of Kids Know It under the Quick Links Section of this blog! Click here to investigate!
Upcoming Dates:
*Thursday, Jan. 13th, Incoming Kindergarten Open House
*Tuesday, Jan. 25th, Kindergarten 100th Day Celebration
*Friday, Jan. 28th, Second Grade Grandparent's Day Celebration
Have a great week and thank you for making TPS an awesome learning community!
Keeli Osmer and I sat down and pooled our notes concerning AR. I have tried to put this into bullet points for you below. Some of these are simply thoughts to ponder as we reflect on our use of AR and our overall teaching strategies in the classroom.
*They set the tone and began the conference by showing the YouTube Video: Shift Happens (Click here to view)
*A child will continue a task only if he/she feels successful! (Personally, I think that goes for adults too!)
*Reading needs to be a successful story--ALWAYS!
*The suggested amount of reading time per day (to make a measurable jump in reading scores) is 35 min. per day. (Ponder this when considering requirements for next year!)
*Students often do not like school because we haven't changed the way we are teaching even though their brains work in different ways due to technology and the flow of information today.
*Students' attention spans are 15 min. or 1 min. per grade level up to the 15 min. A good suggestion is to strive to change activities or type of activity approx. every 15 min. to help keep students engaged.
I have asked for a quote for Math Facts in a Flash, this is a computer assessment, student practice, and bookkeeping program for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Please take a moment and click here to investigate Math Facts in a Flash. This is from the same company, Renaissance Learning, that puts out AR.
*Note the addition of Kids Know It under the Quick Links Section of this blog! Click here to investigate!
Upcoming Dates:
*Thursday, Jan. 13th, Incoming Kindergarten Open House
*Tuesday, Jan. 25th, Kindergarten 100th Day Celebration
*Friday, Jan. 28th, Second Grade Grandparent's Day Celebration
Have a great week and thank you for making TPS an awesome learning community!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Happy New Year 2011 !
It's that time again . . . second semester! I pray you had a great break and found some time to relax and reflect! I have come upon several good tutorials to help us transition to using Pages as our word processing choice on our macbooks! Please click here to begin a great tutorial by Apple. This has also been added under the Quick Links section for future reference! I think you will find that having Pages to use certainly helps us raise the bar (and fairly easily!) on the documents that go out from our classrooms and offices! Happy typing to us all and a very happy second semester!
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