It was a good week for learning. Legacy of Giving is under way in fifth grade, with the collection pod now on campus, decorated inside and out. Fifth grade students are collecting canned goods and Coats for Kids, hoping to fill the pod to the brim. Let's help them reach their goal as they join other participating schools and our CLASS program in giving back to others. True learning at the grass roots level. 
Additionally, third grade students travelled to Red Bud Center to learn about water conservation and even made a pledge to conserve. I hear it was a great day for all.
The annual fourth grade Veteran's Day program was moving and brought many a tear to those in attendance. When the Scottie Singers sing the songs for each armed forces branch and veterans of those branches stand in recognition, including those who must be helped to stand by family members, we all get goosebumps and kind of lose it. Thank you, thank you Veterans for all you have done for our country, its citizens, and for the opportunity to thank you for your service and for our students to learn from your example. We salute you a thousand times over.
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| Air Force Veterans Recognition |
I continue to see great learning in class visits this week. Ms. Proffer's kinders left me impressed with all things math, from the Number of the Day journal activity all were doing to the DBI strategy Countdown to Ten to the Fingers manipulative Ms. Proffer had created. Student pairs then used their white slates to write as many "10 combination" number sentences they could think of together. It was also neat to hear the students who were ready to take it to the next level be able to additionally share their combinations and the "pattern" they chose, ie beginning their pairs in a 1,2, 3 order. Those kinders rocked the math and so does Ms. Proffer.
And never let it be said that principals don't pitch in and try to do their part with all things creativity and continue their "learning" as well. In support of our superintendent and our district, we met up one afternoon to practice a dance in anticipation of next week's State of the District. Not sure if we have the moves down, but we sure did try and it was a hoot to see George L and Mike G "bustin' the moves". Tuesday, November 13, 6:00 pm, Burger Center. Some cool administrators with a lot of heart - love my McCallum Vertical Team!
Finally, Process and Product Displays. We have 23 completed so far, most taken down this week or next, and all really well done. Posted around our hallways and in a couple of classrooms, these simple tools help teachers showcase the Standards/Goals, Processes, Products, and Teacher/Student Reflections related to one teacher created lesson. They had to include at least one creative teaching strategy and I am beyond impressed at the level of detail that went into most of these displays. So why do it? Many reasons. Our work is public (as it should be) and we want all stakeholders to see the learning that really goes into a final product. Those neat and pretty research papers, book jackets, power points, or posters have a lot of stuff that go into them behind the scenes. Students are reading various text, working in cooperative groups, researching, participating in class discussions, completing graphic organizers and rough drafts, using a creative teaching strategy such as tableau or reader's theater, and much, much more. In other words, there's a heck of a lot of learning that goes into that final product and those processes...those are the core of what we want kids to learn. To analyze, synthesize, transfer, create. To think.
And a by-product to the processes? Those powerful, now we're done teacher and student written reflections. Great stand alone learning tools in and of themselves. When you write it down, you remember it a bit better, you are forced to think beyond the final product. Reading through the reflections, teachers and students walked away thinking about what they learned, what they enjoyed, what they didn't and what they would do differently. Don't know about you, but I think that's pretty powerful.
Wrapping up this first round of P and P displays, 
teachers went on a learning walk Thursday afternoon to view, discuss and record observations about the 23 Process and Product displays we have up so far this year; we debriefed in the library afterwards. In addition to giving some well deserved kudos to the creators of the displays, the comments I heard included "great opportunity for students to be creative", "authentic assessment", "lesson taught proved the students learned", "liked the integrated curriculum", "reflections led to a whole new project/discussion", and "I want to do that lesson too!" Simple? Sure. But a lot of bang for the buck with such a simple tool. This is how we all grow, teachers, students, and yep, principals too. Great work Scotties! Keep it up and let's keep the growing and learning going for all of us.
teachers went on a learning walk Thursday afternoon to view, discuss and record observations about the 23 Process and Product displays we have up so far this year; we debriefed in the library afterwards. In addition to giving some well deserved kudos to the creators of the displays, the comments I heard included "great opportunity for students to be creative", "authentic assessment", "lesson taught proved the students learned", "liked the integrated curriculum", "reflections led to a whole new project/discussion", and "I want to do that lesson too!" Simple? Sure. But a lot of bang for the buck with such a simple tool. This is how we all grow, teachers, students, and yep, principals too. Great work Scotties! Keep it up and let's keep the growing and learning going for all of us. 
