THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
Monday, September 11 — Yoga Club 5th grade 8:15-8:30 a.m.
Instructional Aides begin service
New Teacher Meeting 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 12 — Boy Scouts visit classrooms beginning at 9:30 a.m.
DIBELS begins during Media Classes
Wednesday, September 13 — Yoga Club 4th grade 8:15-8:30 p.m.
5th grade Band instrument fitting during school in gym 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Literacy Walk Donation Meeting in Davis’s Room 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 14 — Fire Drill
Title I Annual Meeting 6:30 p.m.
Meet the Teacher Night 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Friday, September 15 — No special events
LOOKING AHEAD
9/18 — Yoga Club 5th grade
Metzger to Riley in AM
Run Club Begins K-5 3:30-4:00 p.m.
Band Instrument Fitting at Arno 6:00 p.m.
9/19 — YoYo Assembly — schedule to come
Fire Drill
9/20 — Yoga Club 4th grade
9/21 — Lockdown Drill
Speech IEPs AM/Resource Room IEPs PM
9/25 — Progress Reports this week!
ICC 4:00 p.m.
9/26 — SIP Meeting 7:40 a.m.
Fall Picture Day
MTSS/Data Team Meeting 3:40 p.m.
5th Grade Camp Info Meeting 6:30 p.m. Allen Park Center for the Arts
9/27 — EdTAC Meeting
9/28 — MTSS Meetings
Metzger & Bennett to PBIS Conference
9/29 — Metzger & Bennett to PBIS Conference
OFF TO A GREAT START
It was a wonderful first week at school! Students have enjoyed learning about their new classrooms and getting adjusted to being back at school! Students in Art Class have been working on the mural for our new Mindfulness Room, and all classes participated in PBIS Expectation Stations at 6 locations around our school — big thanks to Mrs. Fraser’s 5th grade actors & actresses! It’s been beautiful weather for recess and brain breaks, and 22 Good News phone calls went home for students who were recognized for extraordinary kindness this week! Thank you for working hard to do the best work for our Bobcats! We are looking forward to an amazing school year!
**The blog will be moving to bi-weekly posts this year. Stay tuned for the next post for the week of September 25!
SCHOOL CULTURE UPDATE
Thank you for your support in embracing some enhancements to our school culture this year. In the first few days of school, we had several visitors to the Mindfulness Room. By asking, “How are you feeling?” we were able to give students a safe space to regroup and reconnect to the learning environment while preserving their dignity.
Our new clip charts, Calming Kits, Morning Meeting/Community Circle, Brain Breaks, Kindness Coupons, and upcoming yoga clubs will hopefully contribute to a very positive year. Of course, that does not mean that things will not go wrong. But the way we choose to RESPOND (and not REACT) to these times will make a huge difference in how they turn around.
Thank you for helping all students to feel safe, respected, and honored when they enter our school each day.
YOGA BEGINS
We are excited to announce a new addition to our extracurricular offerings here at Bennie. Morning Yoga begins Monday, September 11 for 5th graders and Wednesday, September 13 for 4th graders!
This Monday, 5th graders are invited to join us in the gym at 8:15 for a yoga session as we attempt to start our day in a peaceful way. Students who are joining us for yoga should enter Door 4 directly into the gym. Yoga will go from 8:15-8:30 a.m. The 5th grade session is Mondays in September. (Sept. 11, 18, and 25). 4th grade session is Wednesdays in September (Sept. 13, 20, and 27). Students do not need to attend all 3 sessions and can come to any of these that work for your family’s schedule.
We will rotate through the grade levels and 4th and 5th graders will have a turn again later this year! Morning safeties who are on duty will not be able to join us for yoga. We will, however, schedule an afternoon yoga option for our safeties soon.
We are excited to start exercising our bodies and minds in a different way this year. Students who have yoga mats are welcome to bring them. Please encourage students in your grade level to attend yoga during their session. Not only does this reduce the number of children in the hallway, but it also helps students to embrace this healthy lifestyle!
RUN CLUB
Please add this link to your weekly blog. I am hopeful that we will have 99% of parents sign up for Run Club using this form. Students MUST be registered before Sept. 18 to participate in Run Club!!
Bennie Elementary’s Run Club is ready to TAKE OFF!!Open to all students in Kindergarten – 5th Grade
Mondays from 3:30-4:00 p.m. September 18 – October 30
MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT
This Thursday, September 14, is Meet the Teacher Night. This is a wonderful opportunity to share grade level curriculum, classroom policies, and important classroom information with families.
Doors will open at 6:30 into the halls and gym. Tables will be set up in the gym to sign up for the PTA, learn about our clubs, sign up for volunteer opportunities, and hear about an upcoming Coins for a Cause drive.
The evening starts at 7:00 with a brief presentation from me. This will be in the WBEST Video Drive. Teachers will then run two identical sessions from 7:15-7:35 p.m. and 7:40-8:00 p.m.
Please encourage families (ADULTS ONLY) to join us!
POTBELLY RESTAURANT NIGHT
PTA MEMBERSHIP
If you have not already done so, please fill out a form and include your $7.00 to join the PTA by the end of this week. Our goal is not only 100% Teacher participation, but also 100% STAFF participation. Our PTA supports ALL staff at our school, so the least we can do is join to support them. Please make an effort to join the PTA as soon as possible!
RAZ-PLUS PILOT
Thank you to those who have expressed interest in a pilot of Raz-Plus this year. I will activate your subscription this week so you can get started as soon as possible, and we will also schedule a webinar/online training so you can learn more! In the meantime, here is a link to some available online information:
https://accounts.learninga-z.com/accountsweb/training/video.do
Names below of those who expressed interest:
| flood@appublicschools.com |
| fraser@appublicschools.com |
| housley@appublicschools.com |
| lauth@appublicschools.com |
| manor@appublicschools.com |
| maynard@appublicschools.com |
| mccall@appublicschools.com |
| quisenberry@appublicschools.com |
| raderm@appublicschools.com |
| riker@appublicschools.com |
| siegwald@appublicschools.com |
INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT & ASSESSMENT UPDATE
Welcome back to our Instructional Aides, Laura Amezcua, Sue Mac, Kelly Paffhausen, Maureen Page, & Patty Porter!
From Sandy Artman: On Monday, the Instructional Aides will be back. Please join me in welcoming them when you see them in the hallways. They will be stopping in on Monday to touch base with students who were serviced last year and give you a list of those names. Those students may stay in the program or be discontinued once fall testing scores are available.
AESOP UPDATE FROM HR
Good morning staff and welcome back to the 2017-2018 school year. As a friendly reminder to protocol when you need a substitute teacher:
STAFF SURVEY REQUEST
Good morning!!
As of this morning, we had 155 Staff Surveys completed. We have close to 400 total employees. They survey closes on Thursday, September 14th.
As a staff member, this is your opportunity to share.It’s pretty quick. The data will give me “talking points” with our staff members when I start to schedule school and department visits. This data may also become areas of interest that needs more attention and/or focus.
We can only move forward if we move forward as a team.
As stated, I am hoping for complete honesty. We chose Surveymonkey because we wanted complete confidentiality.
Thanks again for participating.
Thank you!
Mike D.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5TW2LFZ
Dear APPS Staff,
Please take some time to click on the above link to take a staff survey. The purpose of this survey is to find out your opinions about your school, department and the district. Please read each statement and choose the response that most closely matches your opinion. Open ended responses/comments are most welcome. Please answer each item honestly as I wish to assess the decision making process and your overall feelings about the culture and climate of your school, department and the district. Your responses will be completely confidential through Survey Monkey – IP addresses/email will not be tracked.
As your new Superintendent of Schools, the information will be extremely valuable to me in launching the 2017-18 school year as I evaluate our needs as well as our strengths. Please complete your survey by Thursday, September 14, 2017. Thank you in advance for participating.
Michael Darga, Superintendent
SAFE SCHOOLS
For those employees required to complete Safe Schools Training, the system is now open and available to complete for the 2017-2018 school year. The modules need to be completed by October 31, 2017. Please email me if you have any issues.
PICTURE DAY
|
|
READWORKS.ORG
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
BACK TO SCHOOL MESSAGE FROM MDE
Welcome Back to School!
Every new school year opens with great hope, energy, and anticipation. Everyone starts fresh.
State Superintendent Brian Whiston offers a welcome back message for students and educators that focuses on innovations, scholarship, and respect for others.
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,
GROUP ACTIVITIES TO BUILD SCHOOL CULTURE
Twelve Activities to Develop Kindness in Children
Kindness-post.jpg
Building kind citizens by integrating activities into your routine
THU, 11/13/2014
Building kind citizens may not be in our schools’ curriculum, but it is an important goal of both educators and parents. Studies show that kind people are not only happier, they are healthier.
Kindness is like a muscle. For some it may be naturally stronger, but every person can build that muscle with practice. And practicing kindness can be simple if we build it into our routine. Here are twelve ideas to get your routine started:
Be kind to each other each and every day. Say hello, good morning, and goodbye with a handshake, high five, or hug. This may mean reminding yourself to take a break from preparing so you can greet kids and their parents as they arrive to school. Take this a step further and ask them a question about their day and listen actively.
Demonstrate kindness in your words and actions. When speaking to and in front of children, use a kind tone. If you need to discuss a problem with a child, pull him or her aside to have a private conversation. Allow the child acting out to hear and discuss how his or her behavior affects you and others. Never call people bad, a bully, or by other names.
Build community. Give children opportunities to get to know each other and learn to work together. One fun way to do this is to regularly provide opportunities to answer check-in questions or participating in icebreakers and/or cooperative games. Here are seven fun games:
- I Love My Neighbor…
- If You Really Knew Me
- Ants On a Log
- Hula Hoop Challenge
- Blindfold Building
- Alligator Swamp
- Shipwreck
Integrate kindness into routines. At the end of the day or before transitioning to a new activity, provide groups the opportunity to give appreciations. Appreciations are simple. Standing in a circle, allow anyone who wants to name a person, express their gratitude to that person, and share why. Or schedule time for gratitude journaling. Ask kids to draw and/or write about someone who was kind to them that day. To make the impact greater, allow kids to post their favorite entries on the wall for others to see.
How do you develop kindness in kids?
Looking for more ideas, check out this entry on the contagious power of kindness.
MIX IT UP AT LUNCH DAY
|
|
|
|
|
INTERESTING ARTICLE
Have a Great School Year
Children’s mindsets have important implications for their motivation and performance in school. Children with a growth mindset believe that intelligence is malleable and can be increased with effort and good learning strategies. As a result, they’re motivated to work hard and persist when things get challenging. They are not afraid of failure because they view it as an opportunity to learn, a necessary step toward success.
It’s a different story for children with a fixed mindset. These children believe that intelligence is fixed (i.e., we’re either born smart or we’re not). They believe that learning should be easy, and effort unnecessary, for those who are naturally smart. When fixed mindset children struggle to master something or experience failure, they assume they’re not smart and quickly give up.
Studies have shown that children with a growth mindset do better in school than those with a fixed mindset. For example, Lisa Blackwell and her colleagues found that 7th graders who believed that intelligence is malleable earned better grades in mathematics throughout junior high school than students who believed that intelligence is fixed. They also found that students who went through an intervention teaching malleable intelligence earned better grades than those in a control group. Many other studies demonstrate that mindsets can be changed, and a growth mindset is key to academic success.
Parents and teachers can have a huge impact on children’s mindset. Here are three proven ways to foster a growth mindset in your children:
1. Use process praise.
When children succeed, you may be tempted to praise their intelligence or talent (“You’re so smart” or “You’re such a good gymnast”), but this type of praise leads to a fixed mindset. It sends the message that performance is due to ability (or lack of ability). Instead, you should praise the process that children engaged in to achieve success. You can praise hard work, good learning strategies, and perseverance. (Read more about praise here.)
2. Model the growth mindset.
One of the most important things you can do to foster a growth mindset in your children is to have one yourself. (If you’re not sure whether you have a fixed or growth mindset, take this assessment.) If you don’t have a growth mindset, it’s never too late to develop one.
When you’re in a growth mindset, be careful what you say about others’ successes. Don’t attribute their success to innate ability. Talk about the hard work and strategies needed to achieve success (“That competitor on America’s Got Talent must have trained for hours every single day!”). Talk to your children about the mistakes you’ve made and what you’ve learned from them. Teach them that failure is nothing to be afraid of.
Finally, avoid using labels such as “the smart kid” or “the artistic one.” This contributes to the mentality that abilities are innate.
3. Teach children the brain is like a muscle.
Every time we learn something new, the brain changes by forming new neuralconnections. The brain gets stronger with training, just like a muscle. Researchers have found that this simple but vivid analogy helps students learn the growth mindset and achieve better results at school.
You can learn more about teaching the growth mindset at www.mindsetworks.com. I’m not affiliated with the website, but it’s a great resource for parents and educators. Have a great school year!
References
Blackwell, L.S., Trzesniewski, K.H., & Dweck, C.S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78 (1), 246-263.
It’s a great week to be a Bennie Bobcat!
I love the “BREATH” mural that Liz and her Art students are working on for the Mindfulness room 💕! Also enjoyed the state super’s talk to all of us. Looking forward to all the positive changes this school year 😊!
Thank you Sara for the pic of our PBIS Skit/Station, and thank you all for your compliments you gave to my class. 🙂