We had a School Improvement Leadership Team (SILT) today. I really got to see a good picture of what’s going on behind the scenes in school. I got to find out where a lot of the decisions about programs used, assessment tools, formation of school improvement teams, and community coordination are made. Representatives from each grade and/or subject shared what’s going on in each area and what’s coming up. I got to see what happens when there is a clear split on a decision. There was an issue of whether or not to have a mandatory vocabulary probe, and obviously some wanted it and some did not. So, seeing an apparent difference in opinions, the Principal called for a hands raised vote, and the matter was settled.
We watched a National Geographic video to activate our plant classification unit. I had the kids keep a chart with sections for Plants, characteristics, and how they are classified. Most of them enjoyed the video, but man was it stressful for some of them. I didn’t even say anything about taking up their chart, and some of them were completely worried about missing something. I guess it’s good that they want to get the information, but I figured the video would be something fun and different instead of a burden.
My reading group met today and everyone had completed their job for the first time in a couple of days so we got to have really good sharing time before we went into reading and discussing the ensuing pages. These kids make great inferences and have wonderful interpretations, and man, oh, man, can they come up with some exciting (to say the least) predictions. Their imaginations sure can run nice and wild when making predictions. It’s fun stuff!
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