From The Principal

I have been intentionally taking time each week to spend time in your children’s classrooms.  Many educators call this a Learning Walk.  I am purposefully looking to see what the children are learning at various times of the day.  I am also in a learning role in that I myself am learning about the professional teaching craft at Loyal Heights.  I have noticed that our teachers are working very hard to teach our Everyday Mathematics curriculum.  I have noticed that teachers across the grades are beginning to use common vocabulary, teach using a similar model, and are all nearly finished with their third unit!  I have also noticed children playing math games and talking about math!  Please look for your family letter to come home at the beginning of each new unit.  These letters are very helpful in understanding how to help your child at home.  Brandon Vaagsland, our amazing math specialist has led the staff in looking at assessment data, analyzing student work, and reflecting on successes and challenges around teaching Everyday Math.  We are so lucky to have “in house experts” right here on campus. 

As I walk through the halls of our school, I am constantly reminded of the child focused, community school that we are so lucky to be a part of.  Last year at this time we were just finishing our first “unit of study” in our Writer’s Workshop curriculum.   This year we are well into our third unit and your children are amazing writers!  Their work fills our halls and allows all of us to see their terrific writing.  I am astounded by the level of passion our little ones are exhibiting in their stories.  Over the next month and a half, your child will continue to write “personal narratives”, but you will notice how the quality of writing will be lifted as a result of our teaching.  Kindergarten and First grade children have been working on personal narrative: Telling and drawing stories and will move into Small Moments with a focus on changing labels into sentences.  Second and Third grades have been working on Small Moments and will move into Writing For Readers and Realistic Fiction.  Forth and Fifth grades have been working on Small Moments and will also move on to Realistic Fiction.  Being in our second year of teaching the Writer’s Workshop curriculum allows the teachers and students to move more intentionally through the writing lessons. 

Thanks to the support from our PTA we were able to host Christine Holley from Columbia Teacher’s College here at Loyal Heights.  Christine is a staff developer in that she travels around the country working with teachers in a lab site model.  This means that our teachers were able to meet with Christine in the library and discuss a lesson and then go into a classroom and watch Christine teach.  After the lab site lesson the teachers were able to go back into the library and debrief the lesson with Christine.  This opportunity was made possible by the generosity of our PTA.  We are so fortunate to have a PTA community that values continued education for our teachers.  Thank you!  Christine will come back to Loyal Heights for two more on site professional development sessions later this year.  
 

November always reminds me of how thankful I am to be surrounded by hard working teachers, joyful children, and dedicated families.  Loyal Heights is a wonderful community and I am so thankful to be here working with you all.  Parent/Teacher conferences are fast approaching and I would encourage you all to be sure and schedule your appointment with your child’s teacher sometime during November 24th, 25th, or 26th.  It can be challenging to try and schedule conferences outside of this designated time.  Thank you for your consideration. 

In conclusion, attached to this issue of Beaver Tales you will find an “Out of School Time Survey.”  I am curious to gather information about how our children are spending their time when they are away from school.  Please take time to fill it out and return it to the office.  Thank you!

Respectfully,

Cashel Toner

Principal