Science Exploration Night

Good Morning,

I'm sharing this very cool photo taken after a two mile running circuit that 4th grade Quest student, Cassidy Rose Seifert-Smith and I participated in last evening!  Cassidy, who is my granddaughter, is a student in Amy Jo Firkins class; and this is her 2nd year of participation in Hilton's Girls on the Run.  "Girls on the Run® is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams."

The running event held on March 25, sponsored by Rochester Running Company on behalf of Life Span of Rochester was a two mile course with special guest Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.  Nearly pulled from that race back in 1967 because she was a woman, Katherine boldly finished the marathon in just over four hours; blazing a trail for other female athletes looking to break into this sporting arena that was previously only open to men.  As a result of her fearless ambition, by 1972 the Boston Marathon was opened up to woman runners and the rest is history.

Katherine is in Rochester to speak at Life Span's Celebration of Aging Conference today at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

It was a great experience to meet Ms. Switzer and to participate with my granddaughter!  The exercise was spectacular and the memory and future impact that this opportunity and meeting had on Cassidy Rose will be with her for years to come! 


Regards,

Theresa Jasen, Business Education

Judy Fuller making us proud!

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/business/2019/03/22/simply-new-york-american-made-goods-irondeuqoit-culver-road-rochester-sea-breeze-business

Simply New York Gift Store Highlights Importance of Buying Local spectrumlocalnews.com Some 95 percent of the products come from New York.

60 Day Challenge

As we wrap up the official “60 Seconds of Mindfulness for 60 Days” Principal’s Challenge next week, we’d like to invite you to take one collective minute of mindfulness at Monday’s morningmeeting together. Consider having a student lead the minute of breathing, listening, gratitude, heartfulness, movement...the list of possibilities is endless. Embrace the moment together and be proud of the gifts you offered yourself and your students over the past 60 days. Keep it up if you can! 

Please take a moment to complete this optional follow-up survey for Christy. It’s greatly appreciated! Link: CLICK HERE

Grades 3-6: Here are two Bits of Mindfulness related to testing as you welcome state tests beginning on Tuesday. 

Thank you for your open hearts and minds for this challenge!!

Christy & Derek 

Check it Out

Check it Out

Testing Schedule

Reminder

NYS testing is next week April 2^nd and 3^rd! Use the revised calendar for specials and lunch. The computer lab will be closed until after testing, and the library will be closed from 10am until everyone finishes testing. Thank you all for being flexible!

Enjoy

Porftolio shares complete, made it past a super moon...spring is here! Let the long weekend begin! Go 'cuse!

Looking Ahead!

Tea with a Tech Fridays

Please join me from 8:00 to 8:30 on Friday’s in our newly renovated Computer lab for Tea with a Tech Fridays.  

During this time we will have a casual conversation about technology and you’ll be able to ask your favorite Instructional Tech (Jason in case you were trying to guess) questions; plus there will be coffee and tea. Our First Tea with a Tech will be on Friday, April 5th.

Looking to freshen up your 1 Minute Mindfulness Bag of Tricks? Here are a few new ideas...

https://psychcentral.com/blog/1-minute-mindfulness-exercises/

1-Minute Mindfulness Exercises - Psych Central Leonie Stewart-Weeks. Leonie Stewart-Weeks provides counseling, coaching and focusing sessions in Drummoyne, Sydney New South Wales, Australia. She is passionate about working with couples and ... psychcentral.com

Please remember that the yearbook is depending on your photos!  Please share to this folder or email Stephanie directly.  We need Culture Day and Sled Race! 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1INyiTG9gyDg5aAEYEu8SXv9d8GC43_h4


April 11th is Poem in  my Pocket Day.
Resources: http://questrockstar.pbworks.com/w/page/26389706/Poetry

Digcit BINGO Challenge By Choice

I hope everyone is enjoying the Digcit BINGO that I passed out a couple of weeks ago.  This is not mandatory and is a challenge by choice; and there will be some fabulous prizes for people who complete a board or get BINGO (up, down, across or diagonal).  If you have forgotten about the challenge, lost your board or did not hear about it you can join in by creating a board from the link below. Completing tasks is on the honor system.  As you complete a task color in or highlight the square. When you have completed the challenge email me the board or give me a hard copy to be placed in a drawing for a prize.

Link to board: https://goo.gl/V8knoV

The BINGO challenge goes until Friday, April 5th

Jason

Great Article by George

George says it best. Enjoy a recent post of his that was shared with me by one of your colleagues this week. Good stuff!

4 Ideas to Help Improve Teacher Well-Being

March 12, 2019 by George 4 Comments

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller

One of the things that I say to teachers beginning the profession is that they should be much better than I was from when I first started teaching.  The big difference today and when I started in 1999 was the access to other great teachers. On any day, you can be blown away by the plethora of things that you can try within your teaching context shared openly by other educators.

But this doesn’t mean you have to try everything.  And that abundance of choice can become overwhelming.  Barry Schwartz, author of the “Paradox of Choice”discusses this idea:

“Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.” 
― Barry Schwartz

When you try to do too much for others, it can often lead to too little for yourself.

I have been thinking a lot about this inundation of ideas in my own journey toward better mental health.  Here is a question I have thought a lot about…Where do I put my main source of “energy” and what gets the “leftovers?” When I refer to things as “leftover” are those things that should have received more energy?  This quote from Jenny Anderson resonates:

“The thing that makes us happiest in life is other people. And yet other people are often the first thing to fall off our list of priorities.”

So when I look back at my career, from the beginning until today, I have shifted a lot of my focus on what fuels me and what depletes me of energy.  Hopefully, some of the advice below can help others in their process.

1. It is okay to enjoy things that take you away from your job. I had a conversation with an educator recently, and they shared that they were losing themselves in their job.  My advice was that students connect better with people that are teachers, not those that only identify as teachers.  Having those outside interests and hobbies makes you more relatable to students.  Don’t get caught up in teacher guilt. Take some time to relax and have fun.
2. You will never be done so quit acting like it is possible. Here is a little secret in education. No matter what you do, or how hard you work, there will always be more work waiting for you. There is no”done.”  I have tried to provide professional learning opportunities for educators at times where school might be a little slower but they don’t exist!  There are deadlines that we must pay attention to, but learn to take breaks. Email will still be there when you get back.  Also, look for opportunities to hand over things in your school or classroom for students to lead. Not only does this take some stuff off your plate, but it also helps to give students more ownership over the school.
3. You don’t have to try everything.  There are great ideas and things you can implement every single day. That is awesome! But if you try to do all things, you will do no things well. Great ideas will be there in the future as well. Look to do more items of depth, rather than everything at a surface level.
4. Find people that give you energy. I limit my circles to those that lift me up.  This doesn’t mean they don’t challenge you to get better, but you know they have your back.  You often are who surrounds you.

Not all days will be good in education. You might look back and laugh, you might look back and cry. That is part of the journey.

Just take care of yourself.

60 seconds for 60 days...

Keep adding those stickers!

Hello from Landon, Jack, and Evie!

Don't Forget!

You GET shortened weekend this weekend, so make it count!

Pillowcase Project- American Red Cross

My name is Alicia Sackett and I am reaching out to you on behalf of the American Red Cross. We run a free program called The Pillowcase Project that is sponsored by Disney. This campaign teaches children in third through fifth grade (8-11 year old children) about general preparedness in case of a home fire, as well as for local hazards such as winter storms or floods. The program started after college students in Louisiana were forced to evacuate due to Hurricane Katrina so they packed all of their necessities into a pillowcase to get out as fast as possible.

Since then, the American Red Cross turned the idea into a national program and has been giving these presentations all over the United States, educating children about all different types emergencies. The program is fun and interactive and at the end children will walk away with their own pillowcase and workbook so they are better prepared in the event of an emergency.

We are looking to schedule more pillowcase projects in your area and we would love to have your school participate. The presentation can be 40-to 60-minutes, whatever fits into your day's schedule, and we can do multiple in one day. I have also attached a flyer with more information. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a presentation, you can reach me at alicia.sackett@redcross.org or (585) 241-4486. 

Sincerely,

Alicia Sackett
The American Red Cross

Where is your team?

Before no meeting weeks and break, we grappled, struggled, and put our brains together around the areas of executive functioning. We had to think outside the box to find ways we can organically weave this work into what we already do. I think we all agreed that kids need explicit teaching around these executive functioning areas, but we had to work together to really narrow in and target our work.

And we did well. Really well. Recently, I shared this work with some central office staff members and they were pretty impressed...it was one of those "we are QUEST" moments that you get when you're the principal and you get to stand back and let talented people do what they do best. I am proud of this work, and appreciate the effort of each of you.

As we move through no meeting weeks, please do not lose your focus on your group's action plan. When we have our next SIT meeting (at the end of the month), progress will be shared. In addition, we have one more staff meeting dedicated to sharing out of these. Below are all of the action plans. Click on the picture to make it larger, and check out all the cool work being done around the school. Or, click on the link: CLICK HERE

We are making a difference. Don't ever lose sight of that!

Looking Ahead

Updated Matt Phelan Author Schedule

NO morning meeting Wed March 6th


Wed March 6th Author Schedule:

9:10 Kindergarten/Primary

10:10 Intermediate

11:15-12:00 lunch

12:00 Book Club Dessert

12:45-1:15 book signing

1:30 Elementary

2:45-3:30 book signing

RTI Updates!

We have 2 RTI spots for a new referral that have opened up on April 30th. First come first serve. If there is a student you have been meaning to refer but haven't yet, this is your last chance. Sign up on the blog under RTI Referral.