Hustle and Bustle - Celebrating American Education Week!

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;

what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

~Albert Pike

Eventful! That is the one word that succinctly captures the past few days. Sleepy Hollow is bustling with activities that support American Education Week. Tonight was our fifth annual Family Reading Night. The theme was Dogs, Dogs, Dogs! Author Craig Pierce joined us for an exciting tale of a day in the life of a greyhound. It makes one want to run out and adopt one of these adorable creatures! Additionally, over half of our staff was present to share a book with families – what a treat. We had close to 100 families that attended this well received event. As the author noted, Sleepy Hollow School is one big family. Hats off to our outstanding literacy teacher and the literacy team for coordinating this event to nurture a love of reading.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with our second grade team to look at all of our second graders’ progress along the reading spectrum. Together, we will look at each of their guided reading levels to see if any students can transition into different groups for guided reading instruction during their literacy Power Hour Plus. Following that, I will be working with a first grade teacher with her class and my guided reading group on the SmartBoard. She is sharing how she scanned a book for an interactive presentation for students. Then, I will be meeting with the fourth grade “lunch bunch” to discuss Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Early in the afternoon I will be working in kindergarten working on assessments with the little kiddies. Oh, we will also be celebrating “Para-Professional Day” tomorrow. We are grateful to have such exemplary paras who truly give 100% day in and day out. They are the backbone to our success. The day will come to a close tomorrow night when I will be giving a presentation to our parents about our new report card. This will be followed by a PTC meeting.

As for the SAM project, Kerry and Jill (SAM I and II) prove to be an invaluable asset each and every day. I am thankful for their ability to “ground” me and provide guidance as needed. They assist in scheduling my time and also prompt me to be a reflective practitioner.

I am still struggling to figure out where my days go. Everyday, I hit the ground running and never feel “caught up.” Tonight, I walked out at 10:00 p.m. with the night custodian with a “to do” list when I got home. I do realize that this is the nature of the beast; however, it is my fifth year as a principal and it still feels as if it is my first. The “upside” is that when I think of Sleepy Hollow School I find myself grinning. I love my job and know that it shows! My energy comes from the students and staff and for them I will move mountains.

Be true,

Anastasia

The Story Continues...

Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart.
And your story will touch and heal people’s souls.
~Melody Beattle

I am always interested in the “story” and the story is alive and well on the SAM journey at Sleepy Hollow School. Over the past few days several events have transpired that give me pause for reflection and joy. The 4^th grade “lunch bunch” is a grand success. Most impressive was last Thursday morning, the day after the 44 students received their texts that the students, especially the boys, were coming off the bus and through the front doors with their noses glued to the book (Good thing they didn’t crash into anything). Seriously, several of them immediately updated me on their reading progress – most had read the assignment of 59 pages overnight and two young men finished the text. Several students told me today that they actually reread it! I also received positive feedback from several parents and teachers. Today, during our meeting time, we perused the author’s website and we will be competing in a contest to write a comic strip. The students were thrilled to hear that the top prize was a visit to the school from the author Jeff Kinney himself! I think winning the competition is possible – we have some talented students and great stories to tell. Now, for the reality of the “lunch bunch.” There was a snag in our central office ordering department that detained the arrival of the books and this sent me traipsing across the county looking for texts – always a pleasure. Finally, between two Barnes and Noble book stores and the infamous Costco, I was able to secure enough copies – whew!

The second grade guided reading group is going well. We are on to our second junior novel. Interestingly, when I plan lessons I find myself thinking of how to incorporate technology first (of course aligning instruction to standards). Each session that I have met with the group has involved technology – whether it is a website exploring “vocab” or onomatopoeias on the SmartBoard we have definitely become digital learners. Next week, I am working with the second grade to incorporate an interactive Thanksgiving project for all of our second graders.

A favorite activity of mine continues to be journaling with new teachers. The intimate and reflective relationship has provided a forum for trust and exploration. I am continually impressed and awed by their insight and energy.

Last week our superintendent, Dr. Ken Arndt, came to visit for the day. No dog and pony show, just a day in the Hollow and what a day it was for us! The students and staff welcomed us into their teaching and learning. We explored lessons on the SmartBoard, computers, and a microscope that functions as a type of document camera. We even had the opportunity to utilize the SmartBoard clickers (interactive response system) in the classroom and at the staff meeting. Remarkably, we were able to spend time in each of the classrooms and the experience provided a birds-eye view to the learning happening within the walls of the school. We are grateful for the time the superintendent spent with us. It is quite a gift when the superintendent spends the day in the schools.

Also, last week at our staff meeting, two of our innovative teachers (upon earlier consult with me) proposed a Teacher Swap-O-Ramma during American Education Week. There was a great deal of forethought and planning that went into the proposal and the idea was well received by the staff and next week, on November 20, each of us (yes, me included) will be teaching a different class for the day. Luck of the draw and lucky for me, I landed in first grade – too cool – I don’t know who is going to have more fun and learning opportunities on this day – the teachers or the students? Remarkably, that evening I received an E-mail from a twelve-year tenured teacher stating that it was the most fun she has had at a staff meeting. I’m thinking that teachers should present more often – Ha!

Overheard this past week and lol funny... "I have a pothole in my schema."

Oh, and something else I learned this past week - The word blog is a conflation of two words: Web and log. It contains in its four letters a concise and accurate self-description: it is a log of thoughts and writing posted publicly on the World Wide Web. In the monosyllabic vernacular of the Internet, Web log soon became the word blog. (Source: Andrew Sullivan)

Thank you for journeying with me as I continue to strive to capture the SAM story with integrity. Your comments are highly valued and much appreciated.

Be well,
Anastasia

Another Fruitful Day!

After teaching all day, if you didn’t learn anything, you probably didn’t teach anything either. ~ Don Taylor

Today was such a fruitful day that I looked at my watch for the first time at 12:25 p.m. and that was only because I needed to know what time it was in order to make it to a 12:30 p.m. evaluation on time. The productive day began with meeting and greeting the students at the door this morning as they came off the busses. Greeting students at the door ensures that I see each child everyday and do my best to start their school day off with a “good morning” and a smile. This may seem trivial, but in my tenure as a principal, I have found that it provides a perfect venue for creating personal connections with each of the students.

After greeting the students, and taking care of morning announcements (including the announcement of President-Elect Barack Obama) I was off to the PTC executive board meeting. Our school is very fortunate to have the quality of leadership on our PTC board. There are many days I am confident that our hard working PTC puts in as many hours as the staff does investing in the future of our children. After the PTC meeting, I again found myself learning side-by-side with one of our new teachers. During her post observation evaluation last week, we talked about her students and their needs. This particular teacher has a cohort of gifted students, so I shared with her that my background was in gifted education and I would be happy to brainstorm some ideas together to help meet their needs. From that point, I arranged a half-day substitute for this teacher. This allowed us to work together today for a couple of hours to launch a few ideas to differentiate the curriculum to meet the students’ needs. I was quite impressed with the amount of energy and enthusiasm this teacher brought to the table. It was plainly obvious that she was passionate about her own learning as well as her students. We continued to bounce ideas off of each other and utilize some resources that I had gathered for our meeting. She walked away with a wealth of new knowledge and a strong foundation to build from. I can’t wait to see how she implements the ideas.

The best part of my day followed the meeting. If you recall, I was interested in starting a “lunch bunch” book club with our fourth grade students. Well, I sent out the cleverly crafted invitations last week and received 41 confirmations – almost half of our fourth grade population! So today, I was lucky enough to dine with 41 eager reader fourth graders – 20 of which were boys – giving up their lunch and recess to read a book! What a thrill! J I am still glowing! For the record, I purposefully chose the book – Diary of a Wimpy Kid – for two reasons: to attract male readers and to have a forum for talking about bullying. As an aside, the book has also been #1 on the New York Times best sellers’ list. Since the group was so large, I asked the students if they wanted to be split into two groups and I would meet with one on Mondays and the other on Wednesdays and the overwhelming response was no – so, we are one big happy family meeting on Wednesdays during their lunch/recess time for the next four weeks. What a joy!

After the book club, I was off to an observation for the next hour. This was followed by a principal mentoring meeting for my four new teachers. I meet with new teachers monthly to review upcoming events and troubleshoot issues. Today we discussed report card comment expectations as well as technology. One of our mentor teachers also joined us for part of the meeting. The valuable part of collaborating with the new teachers is that it helps to build relationships within and amongst us – a strong foundation for current and future growth.

Following the new teacher meeting, I met with a third-year teacher for a post observation. Instead of the traditional post observation meeting, we met and utilized the SmartBoard to extend her lesson for tomorrow. We will partner in the beginning of the lesson and she will take it from there. Talk about on the job learning!

I returned to my office around 5:00 p.m. to be greeted with 121 E-mails – ugh! It seems that I clear them all out and BOOM, they multiply like rabbits. I would like to talk with other SAM participants and see how they are managing this issue.

As I continue to reflect on the SAM journey, I am convinced that the best conversations, centered around teaching and learning, come from walkthroughs in the building. Yesterday, as I was perusing the hallways checking in with staff and students, I noticed one of the grade levels was at lunch. As I walked by one of the classrooms, a poster chart piqued my curiosity and I walked into the darkened room to read the students’ predictions from a chart on “what good readers do.” I was surprised to see the teacher in a far corner of the room working. I promptly greeted the teacher and told her I was sneaking in to get a peek at the poster. An informal conversation followed and the teacher stated that her literacy block was really coming together this year. J There was so much pride in her voice and I was proud of her too. What a great thing to hear!

All right, this entry is becoming a novelette and I still haven’t told you about teacher “swap-o-ramma” that two staff members are proposing – guess I’ll save it for tomorrow – I’m beat.

Wishing you a goodnight’s sleep,
Anastasia

Keeping Parents in the Loop - Principal's Newsletter Update - November 2008

Greetings,

Sleepy Hollow School is a hub of activity these days. Each school day vanishes quicker than the one before. As a staff, our Power Hour Plus is in full swing allowing us to intimately focus on literacy for the first ninety minutes of each day. Power Hour Plus consists of modeled reading, shared reading, individual reading, word work, and guided reading. These components provide an opportunity for us to individualize and differentiate reading instruction to meet the varied needs of our students. We are also entrenched in a whole faculty book study ~ Mosaic of Thought, second edition. The book study provides a forum for us to learn about new strategies, utilize them in the classroom, and discuss the lessons. Being reflective practitioners keeps us learning and growing each day.

As digital dinosaurs, we continue to challenge ourselves to become as technologically savvy as our digital natives. We are thrilled that our PTC is supporting the purchase of four additional SmartBoards ~ thank you! I, along with several staff members, have found the Boards checked out and unavailable when we would like to use them. Having additional SmartBoards will allow more learning adventures with our students. As an aside, this weekend I noticed the hosts of Discovery Channel’s MythBusters using a SmartBoard to review the results of an experiment that they were doing – very cool.

As an instructional leader, the SAM project continues to be a gift that I enjoy unwrapping daily. I am passionate about teaching and learning and visiting classrooms provides a perfect venue for both. Current classroom initiatives include: teaching a guided reading group, hosting a “lunch bunch” book club for students, facilitating instruction through Lexia (computer-based literacy instruction), and daily support of student and staff development. If you are interested in “what I do all day” feel free to checkout my daily blog (well, almost daily blog) where I attempt to capture the SAMs experience – http://principalepstein-samproject.blogspot.com – If you do peruse the blog, please let me know your thoughts/suggestions. J

Looking to view pictures of our sensational Sleepy Hollow School students and staff? Please visit www.schooltube.com – keyword Sleepy Hollow. SchoolTube is a premier website to safely showcase our school. All videos and pictures on SchoolTube are approved by registered teachers, follow local school guidelines, and educational standards before they can be viewed. If you have pictures that you would like to share – send them to me at anastasia.epstein@d300.org and, provided we have D300 media releases on file for any student in the picture, I will put them on SchoolTube for your friends and family to view.

As you well know, 2008 is a National Election year. Sleepy Hollow School will be hosting a “mock” presidential election for all of our students on Tuesday, November 4. Each student will go to the “polls” (a.k.a. media center) and cast a ballot for their choice for president. All ballots will be counted at the end of the day and a winner will be announced before the students depart from school. These days are educationally stimulating days indeed!

All in a Day's Work!

The last couple of days were busy ones leaving little time to breathe let alone blog.

On Thursday, I received the following E-mail from a teacher, and as you can tell – those little things do mean a lot! “I wanted to thank you for grading my cursive papers the other day. Not only did it eliminate some grading for me but it also reminded me to comment on the positive I see. The kids were so excited when they saw you graded their papers and sometimes I just breeze through the papers and overlook the good they are doing.” This comment inspired me to return to the teacher’s classroom on Friday (yes, Halloween Friday) and help correct spelling tests. I also offered my services to another teacher at the same grade level and she readily accepted the help. What impressed me was that both of these teachers differentiate their spelling lists for their students. I was correcting four different lists of words in each of the classes that were differentiated for our low level learners as well as our high performing students. Learning is alive and thriving at Sleepy Hollow School for students of all ages.

I posted photos celebrating Halloween – Sleepy Hollow Style – after all, our logo is the headless horseman – www.schooltube.com - Enjoy!