This morning, the third grade had a blast (and learned something too). For the first forty-five minutes of the day, while the third grade teachers were at Harry Lee Cole School meeting with second grade teachers, I met with the entire third grade student body. After taking attendance and lunch counts with the help of Mrs. Lomanno, Mrs. Sennott, and Mrs. Hawkes, I showed the students a couple of video clips and a website.
First we saw a science-music video from Bill Nye the Science Guy about hand-washing. You can find that on YouTube (). The students loved the lips and the slow-motion sneeze the best. Hopefully, they got the message about washing their hands.
We also took a look at the website from a wonderful BBC kids program called One Minute Wonders (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/oneminutewonders/#/videos). These short clips (about one minute long) explain one main idea in a way that the students seemed to enjoy very much. We watched a few of these and laughed a lot.
Finally, we also watched a really cool video that shows each of our 44 presidents. The neat part of this video is that while the patriotic music is playing, the faces morph from one president to another. I was fascinated to observe that the students cheered for Presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Regan, both George Bushes, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. There was near silence for Chester Arthur and Rutherford Hayes. ()
Please ask your third-grader about this morning.
Thank you.
-Larry Fliegelman
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Blue Slip for a Bake Sale
While the criteria for Blue Slips is still being clarified, this weekend was a case of you'll-know-it-when-you-see-it. On Friday, Mrs. Stewart mentioned that Sarah S., Robert M., and Hannah P. (all Student Council members) decided to mount a Bake Sale the next day if I approved. They had already secured a booth, parental help, and a few volunteers. I agreed to send out an email Friday afternoon to solicit donations. Well the community came through. The students sold every cookie on the table (and on the extra desk in the background). They raised more than $300 to support the Student Council activities this year. For this, they deserve a Boxford Blue Slip.
This photo shows the card the students created to explain why they held the Bake Sale.
We have great kids at Spofford Pond School!
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Open House Presentation
Now that both Open Houses are complete, I am posting the Principal's Presentation for anyone who could not make it to school.
This presentation focuses on the vision that I have for Spofford Pond as well as the specific work we are doing to meet that vision, to achieve the objectives in our School Improvement Plan, and to attain the goals of the Boxford School Committee Strategic Plan.
Please take a look and contact me if you have any questions.
-Larry
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This presentation focuses on the vision that I have for Spofford Pond as well as the specific work we are doing to meet that vision, to achieve the objectives in our School Improvement Plan, and to attain the goals of the Boxford School Committee Strategic Plan.
Please take a look and contact me if you have any questions.
-Larry
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Sunday, September 13, 2009
One slip, two slip, red slip, blue slip. What are these slips about?
As I referenced in the Newsletter, here is more information about the New Code of Conduct. The document here shows the entire code - one page. This also appears in the Handbook on pages 33-34.
One slip, two slip, red slip, blue slip. What are these slips about? The red slips allow any staff member to inform a child's teacher about some mis-behavior. When I say all staff, I mean teachers, assistants, secretaries, custodians, recess monitors, and more are empowered to ask a student to stop and/or pass the red slip onto the homeroom teacher. This consistent, building-wide approach will allow us to avoid the circumstance where the same student is asked by three or four staff members to stop running in the hall and no one knows that the student received three warnings in one day. Since all of the Red Slips go to the Homeroom teacher, there is one person tracking each student, one place for information to flow.
If a child gets three "Red Slips" in one day for violating the Code, the Homeroom teacher will contact the parents with either a phone call or a note home. Since contacting home works for many children, that will likely be the end of the unwanted behavior. However, contacting parents works best when you take the notice seriously. Please understand that we do not do these actions lightly. Sometimes, children insist they are completely innocent, and your job is to listen to your child. If you are left with questions, please call the teacher and ask. Please understand that, while mistakes are made, the vast majority of situations are based on the behavior of the child. If we work together, we can still honor the words of the children and hold the children accountable for their actions.
In the future, I will explain what happens if parent contact does not do the trick. Also, we are still working on exactly what would earn a child a Blue Slip (for doing the right thing) and what the reward or recognition might be.
Thank you.
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One slip, two slip, red slip, blue slip. What are these slips about? The red slips allow any staff member to inform a child's teacher about some mis-behavior. When I say all staff, I mean teachers, assistants, secretaries, custodians, recess monitors, and more are empowered to ask a student to stop and/or pass the red slip onto the homeroom teacher. This consistent, building-wide approach will allow us to avoid the circumstance where the same student is asked by three or four staff members to stop running in the hall and no one knows that the student received three warnings in one day. Since all of the Red Slips go to the Homeroom teacher, there is one person tracking each student, one place for information to flow.
If a child gets three "Red Slips" in one day for violating the Code, the Homeroom teacher will contact the parents with either a phone call or a note home. Since contacting home works for many children, that will likely be the end of the unwanted behavior. However, contacting parents works best when you take the notice seriously. Please understand that we do not do these actions lightly. Sometimes, children insist they are completely innocent, and your job is to listen to your child. If you are left with questions, please call the teacher and ask. Please understand that, while mistakes are made, the vast majority of situations are based on the behavior of the child. If we work together, we can still honor the words of the children and hold the children accountable for their actions.
In the future, I will explain what happens if parent contact does not do the trick. Also, we are still working on exactly what would earn a child a Blue Slip (for doing the right thing) and what the reward or recognition might be.
Thank you.
--
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Welcome to the new Spofford Pond Principal's Page
Welcome Spofford Community!
In these pages I will post news, links to school information, documents that you might need to download, resources for parents, and sometimes my opinion. Mary Dodge, Lannie Foster, and Kathy Cyr may also post to this blog from time to time. Please check often or, better yet, subscribe to this blog so that you will always have the latest news. Thank you.
-Larry Fliegelman
In these pages I will post news, links to school information, documents that you might need to download, resources for parents, and sometimes my opinion. Mary Dodge, Lannie Foster, and Kathy Cyr may also post to this blog from time to time. Please check often or, better yet, subscribe to this blog so that you will always have the latest news. Thank you.
-Larry Fliegelman
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
3rd Grade Parent Orientation Presentation
Here is the slide show from the 3rd Grade Parent Orientation held in June.
Please call the school if you have any unanswered questions.
Thanks,
Larry
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Please call the school if you have any unanswered questions.
Thanks,
Larry
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