School Information – Page 2 – A Principal's Decree

Purposeful Development of Character

August 31, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

Dunlap Grade School staff understands that a comprehensive approach to educating the whole child is important to ensuring academic success. As a building leadership team, we have invested in a goal that strives to ensure we develop both academic and social/emotional elements of the child.

Our goal is:

DGS will develop learners that have empathy, can manage their emotions, develop skills for learning, and problem solve as evidenced by implementation of the Second Step Curriculum with Integrity and Fidelity during the 2015-2016 school year.

Our core mechanism for teaching social behaviors is Second Step. As indicated on their webpage, “Social-emotional skills—like math skills—build on each other. Our universal, classroom-based program is designed to teach children how to understand and manage their emotions, control their reactions, be aware of others’ feelings, and have the skills to problem-solve and make responsible decisions. Each grade-level kit includes easy-to-teach, short weekly lessons, engaging songs and games, and daily activities and take-home materials to reinforce learning. Watch video overview.”

Teachers use Second Step on a weekly basis to teach skills that target the core competencies of social and emotional learning. In addition to weekly instruction, We have developed several strategies that recognize students for their performance of these skills.

The positive office referral is submitted to myself, as the principal, from a teacher or other staff member. These narrative recognize students for going above and beyond expectations. These students are then celebrated at morning announcements in front of the whole student body, their picture taken, their parents given a personal contact by me, and given a copy of the referral. It’s a joy to see students beam due to their accomplishments as well as reinforce exemplary behavior to the students in the schools. Parents appreciate the positive contact. It’s a win-win-win-win for teachers, students, parents and administration!

We recognize that teachers may not see all the wonderful behaviors our students are exhibiting so we offer a student shout out that are completed by their peers. Children have the opportunity to recognize their classmates as well!

For those times that behavior in the hallway in the classroom should be acknowledged quickly or at the point of occurrence, students may earn at second step sticker. These stickers may be given in the hallways for following expectations, in the cafeteria, or in the classroom when students show a kind deed that aligns with the values of second step.

Finally, on a monthly basis, one student from each class or content area (art, music, PE, technology, world language, resource) are selected by their teachers and named a Royal of the Month.

To be selected “Royal of the Month, students must meet the following ROYAL criteria:

Respect Others

Respect Yourself

Respect Learning

Criteria also include, but are not limited to:

Demonstrating Second Step Skills for learning, empathy, emotion management and problem solving.
Students show progress and improvement in subject areas.
Students make contributions to the community through service.
Students display exemplary leadership skills.
Students show positive attitude toward classmates, school staff, learning and school.
Students have good attendance.
Students demonstrate appropriate behavior.
Students encourage others to do their best.
Students work up to their ability.
Students exhibit good character, hard work, and honesty.

Students will be recognized with:

Recognition at Morning Announcements
Certificate of Achievement
Photograph displayed on the foyer bulletin board
Rock Star Trophy from the Principal, Mrs. Ellis

Fostering an Environment of Numeracy Across All Settings

August 27, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

A school goal of ours is to foster an environment of numeracy. Our action plan includes references to school data and ties to our curriculum and standards, but math instruction needs to be thought of as an element of instruction that should be embedded across the school day and across environments. This thought process has required some outside of the box thinking so that students are exposed to numbers and math concepts throughout their days.

This has led to the math facts written in the bathroom stalls, angles drawn outside the gym door, vocabulary displayed along lines in the hallways, and access to math resources outside the classroom.

There is a consistent focus in education on embedding literacy across the school day in all content areas. At DGS, you will see a well-established culture of reading through book shelves in the hallways, healthy classroom and school libraries, and the focus on reading activities across the grade levels. We know that creating a literature rich environment supports students as developing readers, and the fundamental principles of establishing a literature rich environment apply to mathematical instruction as well.

As indicated in Lainey Simmon’s book Guided Math, ‘As students see numbers and math-related materials throughout the classroom and participate in real-world, meaningful problem-solving opportunities, they begin to see the connection math has to their own lives.” The author continues to explain that a numeracy rich environment promotes mathematical thinking and that math is a constructive process. That being said, embedding elements of math in the bathroom, in the hallways, or in other unique locations set the stage for fostering an environment that supports students acquisition of number sense and math concepts. Math is not to be seen in isolation, but across environments and elements of the child’s life. We look forward to embedding more examples through DGS to support classroom math instruction for our Royals!

“Math Fact Graffiti” in the bathrooms!

Friday Focus: Great Things I’ve Seen This Week at DGS!

August 27, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

The best part of my job (even though there are many things I love) is getting into the classrooms and observing the students and teachers doing what they do best: Learn and Teach! Each week I share in my staff memo (coined the Friday Focus) a list of great things I have observed throughout the week while in classrooms. Whereas this list is not comprehensive, I wanted to share just a peek of the learning and teaching that is going on this week at DGS!

The use of the 5 rules from whole brain teaching has been a joy to watch. The rules are consistent across grade levels, easy to remember, and engaging for our kids.
The Chromebooks are out in classrooms and already getting used! I’ve seen them used to write google docs, access moby max, perform research, and develop GoodReads Accounts to maintain student book logs digitally!
I’ve seen some great TLAP activities going on; “Talking Sticks,” Spaghetti and Marshmallows, PlayDoh, IPICK books, technology, purple royal pens, book tastings, ect! Everyone has really done a fabulous job creating engaging and meaningful activities to welcome our students back this week. The environment and lessons we create have a direct impact on the engagement and motivation by our students.
Hands on science learning in 3^rd grade using colored markers, water, and coffee filters to teach the scientific method.
Classes seizing transition times to maximize learning with reading emergencies and math flashcards
Positive Office Referrals turned in to recognize ROYAL skills! I enjoy sharing these positive notes with parents and at morning announcements!
Engaging parent presentations and technology connections with families during Back to School Nights. The use of blogs, twitter and ongoing parent communication fosters ‘glass classrooms’ and effective and efficient parent relationships and rapport!
“Intro to Counselor” sessions that used props to engage kids in the role of the counselor!
Introduction of the Buddy Bench!
Deputy Butterfield playing with kids on the playground! A great example of “Swimming with the Fish”
Classes seizing the awesome weather to take classes outside for learning opportunities

Port-a-Principal Mobile Office

June 29, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

Inspired by a recent twitter post regarding a principal in Washington State, I set a personal goal for myself this school year to spend more time in the hallways and classrooms connecting with students and staff. That is easier said than done, when emails, paperwork, reports, and situations in the office need to be attended to. That’s where the Port-a-Principal comes into play.

The Port-a-Principal is simple. I spray painted an old AV cart (that was on its way to the dumpster) in royal blue (of course). With a couple touches, it is now a mobile office that will allow me to stay connected to email and the school secretary while being visible in the hallways and classrooms. It is stocked with stickers, post-its and note cards that will allow me to leave notes of encouragement to staff and students, provide feedback on their work, and support their teaching and learning.

With all the necessities of my office, I can observe lessons, engage with students, and still respond to emails or situations that need my attention in the office. I look forward to carting around the port-a-principal this fall, and more importantly, interacting on a more frequent and regular basis with my students and staff.

The Port-a-Principal offers mobile access to office tools and communication while allowing Mrs. Ellis to interact in the hallways and classrooms

School Information

2nd Grade Gets Moving

February 23, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

District Goal #2: Create Satisfying and Productive Classroom Learning Environment

Submitted by: Kelsie Zarko

It is a well-known fact that physical movement and exercise are good for our bodies. However, did you know that physical activity provides many benefits within the classroom setting as well? According to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, physical movement can be an effective cognitive strategy to strengthen learning, improve memory and retrieval, and enhance learner motivation and morale. Other studies also agree that physical movement affects the hippocampus part of the brain, which is an important area for memory. Additionally, doctors and researchers have found proof that physical activity strengthens the white matter in your brain. The healthier your white matter, the more efficiently your brain functions! Physical movement also decreases behavior problems, improves attitudes, and can help reduce child obesity and diseases like diabetes.

In our classroom, we take many “brain breaks” throughout the day to get our body moving and refocus. However, we also use various tools, like yoga balls and chair pedals, that allow our body to move AS we learn. Below are a few examples:

Book Review: Tech Savvy Administrator

January 6, 2015 Mrs. Ellis

The Tech Savvy Administrator

I am excited to write my first reflective review of the new year with my reading resolutions. I made a commitment to myself this year to engage in reading practices that are meaningful.

My resolutions this year include:

Read a professional book (or journal/article) monthly and share reflections with you.
Have family “read to self” time
Read at least once a week to students at lunch time
Continue on the Newberry Challenge

This review is the first of my resolutions to read a professional book and share my learning with my staff and others. During an evening review of my twitter feed, I saw another member of my PLN (professional learning network) post a review from her goodreads.com of The Tech Savvy Administrator.

As an individual that accesses technology frequently in both personal and professional manners, I was eager to read The Tech Savvy Administrator. I am always searching for new and innovative ways to harness the power of technology at school and home. Steven Anderson’s book was straight-forward and a great introduction to technology for administrators with many connections that are applicable to classroom teachers.

Steven focused on the four primary purposes of technology:

Communication
Collaboration
Productivity
Community

A key take-away for me was that it is essential that as educators, we don’t lose sight of our goals of using technology. The concept of core tools and new tools were discussed. I see connections to this with our continuous improvement efforts with common core. We have been presented with new standards and new strategies to deploy, but at the same time, we have a set of core tools that have evidence and research base to support their effectiveness. It is our job to manage the pendulum and take new knowledge and merge it with best practices that are rooted in research. This isn’t done all at once. If you are new to technology, it is important to start small. Take meaningful steps that are focused on your intended goals. So often we think of technology as an instructional tool, but it also serves purposes in the areas of communication, collaborate, productivity, and community building.

The role of technology in communication is to tell our school’s story and leave a digital footprint. When a family Google searches Dunlap Grade, it is my responsibility to ensure that we are represented positively. In my Google search of DGS today, I saw images of our progress toward school goals, staff, and facilities. Many images of our efforts with continuous improvement were in the first several entries. I was also pleased to see examples of our students engaging in learning and staff delivering high quality instruction. The first several web links that were generated through the search included our homepage, facebook page, and parent’s club page. What does this all mean? It means that we provide parents, community members and other educators access to the essential information that makes DGS, DGS!

If you haven’t yet or in awhile, checkout our digital footprint:

In the field of education, there has been some resistance to social media. Steven Anderson’s book reinforces the importance of using social media as an opportunity to increase dialogue and two-way communication with our families. Our current facebook page has 381 likes. This platform allows us to tell DGS’ story and share the remarkable things that go on inside our walls on a daily basis. Technology does not replace the relationships that are essential for us to forge with our families, but enhances them.

We use email to communicate with each other, but one goal I have after reading Anderson’s book is to increase my use of google forms and provide more ‘paperless’ opportunities for meetings and information. Anderson also focused on the use of technology to build a community of learners. My time on twitter isn’t idly spent reading the newest gossip in the entertainment realm, but rather connecting with other educators, principals and organizations to hone my leadership skills and develop insights into new and innovative practices. The individuals I am connected to our twitter share out with 140 characters or less, resources and information that is empowering. Twitter is my source for articles, websites, and images that enhance my learning and leadership.

Technology has provided many benefits to me as an educator and leader that were reinforced by the author of this book:

Technology has the power to connect us with other educators, stay current on best practices, and engage us in opportunities to be innovative within our school.
Technology allows us to engage parents and families in two-way dialogue.

My action plan moving forward as a result of reading this book:

Review our website and determine areas for improvement.
Use paperless forms more often to decrease use of paper and increase communication with staff
Continue to collaborate with other educators on twitter and participate in virtual learning on http://www.edweb.net/leadership

If you use blogs, twitter, or other means to communicate, learn, and collaborate, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What benefit have you seen? What challenges do you experience? What is a goal you could set for yourself to harness that use of technology in your position?

If you are still looking for resources to jump start your use of technology as a communication tool, you can check out:

A few posts to inspire your use of technology as a communication and collaboration tool:

Seven reasons teachers should blog: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/07/seven-reasons-teachers-should-blog.html

Using blogs as part of your Professional Learning Network (PLN):

http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-5-using-blogs-as-part-of-your-pln/

School Information

Bar Models from a Teacher’s Perspective

December 15, 2014 Mrs. Ellis

Bar Models

Submitted by: 2nd Grade Teacher, Mrs. Pitzer

This is my third year of teaching Math in Focus and it has been the year of Ah-HA moments. I am now understanding why this curriculum and the Common Core is teaching things like bar models to help students in math. It is important to know though, that my journey didn’t begin that way. With all the negative attention Common Core is receiving it is hard to be positive about it and when there are positives, they get lost or go unnoticed. The most common statement is always; I was never taught math that way and I turned out fine. Being a student who struggled with math though, I have found that I am wishing I was taught this way. And that is the honest truth. While any set of standards have opportunities for improvement, I have come to learn there is a purpose to the methods and strategies that reinforce the Common Core Standards. Bar models are a tool, that when used correctly and practiced enough can help students tackle even the most complicated of word problems. Bar models have not only helped me with word problems but have helped my brightest students think more critically and helped my struggling students know what to do and why.

The first thing taught when bar models are introduced is the concept of a bar representing a number. Instead of drawing 58 apples, you can just draw a bar to represent 58. Bigger bars represent larger numbers and smaller bars represent smaller numbers. Next, students are introduced to the part-part-whole concept. Basically when you put two parts together you have a whole. This means you are going to have more and the operation that gives us more is addition. Sometimes though you are given a whole and just a part which means you end up with something smaller. The operation that gives us less, is subtraction. Second graders were even taught hand motions to further help them move from memorization to mastery.

Once we understand this, we then work on finding the parts and a whole in the word problem. This is different in years past, where students were trained to look for key words and complete the operation that was associated with that key word. Struggling students would not read the problem, see the word more, and immediately add. However, that might not be correct and if it didn’t work, they didn’t understand why. This year, I’ve noticed that by teaching students to draw and label a bar model first, they can know instantly whether they are adding or subtracting and know why. Again knowing the why part helps students move in to mastery.

After a lot of practice with the part-part-whole model, we move into the comparison model. This is where the word problem is comparing things and using the words more, less and or fewer. Yes those are key words, but the key words are only used to let students know the type of bar model to draw instead of what operation to solve. These types of bar models are two bars, one on top of the other. Now when students look at a problem they try to label the bar with either the name or the object the problem is about. They are determining what is more and what is less. Once they know who or what each bar represents, they can plug in the numbers and see if they have a whole and a part or a part and a part. The bigger bar is always the whole, the smaller bar is a part and the difference between the two (labeled with a bracket of sorts) is the other part. By taking what they learned about the part whole concept, they can select the operation that matches.

Once students have had practice with these types of models, we then apply what we have learned to two step problems. Two step problems are often extremely difficult but by using bar models, it doesn’t seem quite as overwhelming and more solvable.

The goal of second grade is to only introduce and practice using bar models not to master them. As students continue the year, they receive more practice in using them to solve problems involving measurement and multiplication. This will prepare them for the upper grades where word problems become more abstract. Bar models become a necessary part of problem solving. By teaching students what, how and why to visualize while practicing using the visual, students can move this skill into mastery. Instead of drawing a bar model they can picture it in their head and use mental math to solve it, which is more of a real life skill.

I understand the backlash of this method and empathize with parents who aren’t sure how to help their child, so they teach them a shortcut. If there is anything I have learned by teaching this curriculum though, it is that teaching shortcuts before a student understands why, doesn’t always equate to mastery. Students often don’t understand why they are using a shortcut, how to use it and or which shortcut they should pick. The missing link that Common Core is trying to provide is understanding why and how those shortcuts work. By understanding the why and how first, students can then be introduced to shortcuts and pick the one that works the best for them. It is with deeper understanding that they can become more independent, transition into higher level thinking, and master skills instead of memorize.

It took me three years to get here, and it wasn’t easy, but bar models have allowed me to solve word problems more easily and think more critically. I have seen students have less anxiety and tackle problems that they wouldn’t have been able to because of bar models. It is also helped me realized that if it took me three years of practice, mastery will not happen overnight. My goal is to introduce and provide my students with as many practice opportunities as possible so they can have a strong foundation. As students move through the grades and continue their learning, they can then build on that foundation to become master mathematicians with stellar critical thinking skills.

If you are interested in knowing more about bar models, Mrs. Zarko and I have created several videos to help students and their families at home. Please feel free to check them out below:

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/introduction-to-bar-models/25391489/

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/comparison-bar-models/26229209/

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/two-step-problems-using-bar-models/26463797/

Coffee and Common Core Session #1

November 5, 2014 Mrs. Ellis

On November 4, 2014, parents joined Principal Mandy Ellis and teacher leaders, Sam Mahrt and Natalie Lanser for a foundational information session on the Common Core Standards in the Dunlap Grade School Royal Cafe. Mandy, Natalie and Sam have been engaged in high level professional development focused on Common Core shifts in Math and English Language Arts through the Peoria Regional Office of Education at the PROE Center. They integrated their knowledge to communicate these shifts with parents.

Coined “Coffee and The Common Core,” parents gathered together to hear information about the Common Core and engage in conversation to gain a better understanding of the shifts in Math and English Language Arts. The goal of the session was to provide an overview of the Common Core and its applications in the classroom. Future sessions will be offered to provide further information on Math, English Language Arts and the PARCC Assessment. The presentation can be viewed below.

Board of Education Will Host Public Forum

January 9, 2014 Mrs. Ellis

Board of Education Will Host Public Forum Regarding $2.1 Million Deficit in 2014-15

The Dunlap School District is facing a projected $2.1 million deficit budget for the 2014-2015 school year. The Board of Education, in collaboration with administration, has been working diligently over the past several months to determine how best to address the budget deficit. At this time, information has been publicly released regarding fee increases, reductions, and cuts that are being considered. Detailed information is available in a document titled “2014-15 Deficit Reduction Plan Under Consideration” on the District’s website- http://www.dunlapcusd.net/District/Pages/KeyCommunicatorsNetwork.aspx.

An informational public forum will be held on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Hickory Grove Elementary School. There will be a queuing system for people wishing to address the Board of Education; please look for a table to get a number at any point during the 5:00 – 7:00pm time frame. In addition, the community is encouraged to use Dunlap’s latest online tool called “Connect323” which is a social media site we’ll use to seek suggestions and input. Stakeholders can access the site at http://connect323.dunlapcusd.net/ and begin providing input on the 2014-15 budget deficit mitigation plan now!

2013-2014 Service and Leadership Club

October 12, 2013 Mrs. Ellis Leave a comment

Collaboration, Teamwork, and Shared Leadership!

The 2013-2014 Service and Leadership Club kicked off after school on Monday! This team of exemplary 5th graders will serve as a team of role models and student advocates this year, and well as directors of service projects around Dunlap Grade School. As a team, the group created a mission statement to direct our year, in addition to ground rules that ensure a productive team.

Be on the lookout for club members living out this mission throughout the year!
“The ROYAL Service and Leadership Club will be life-long learners by taking others point of view to solve problems, coming up with recreational and education ideas, and leading by example.”

This year, Service and Leadership members will be completing a book study on The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey (author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). The club members will take the knowledge from this book and apply it to our student body here at DGS. We are excited to be life-long learners and leaders together this year!

Enjoy a Video of our Leaders at

https://vimeo.com/76570736

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