Greetings and Happy Fall,

Fall.  A time of transition and change.  I lovingly brought all of my plants inside the last few nights to save them from the creeping frost. I admired their determination to hang on as the sun and her glorious warmth fade away.  A slice of a memory came to me as I was pulled back to lounging in my chair on a sultry summer night, the colors of my plants bursting with vibrant summer-color love.  

And now, it is time for rest.  The end of one season; the beginning of another.  Transition can be a challenging time for us all, even if we are not consciously aware.  As I packed away summer things this weekend, nestled way at the bottom of a beach bag, peeking up at me, was a sun-faded, small pink journal.  It was our summer writer's notebook.  A writer's notebook is a place to jot down thoughts, ideas, funny things people say~a place for you to capture humorous, serious, or sad memories.  Think of these little pieces of life as "seeds" that you capture, and tuck into a writer's notebook, for safe keeping~for later writing. 

When writers learn how to compose a piece of writing, sometimes generating an idea is the hardest part. This is where the writer's notebook comes in and this is how you can help at home:

• put a writer's notebook and writing utensil(s) in a centrally located part of your house.  A word on writing utensils~try out different ones to see what you like. I promise, for a reluctant writer, sometimes the simple act of being able to choose the tool(s) can make a big difference.  We must nudge the writer him/herself, along with each piece they create.  Colored flairs are most often a hit!

• A writer's notebook can be a simple composition notebook, big or small, or something more decorative.  Lined, or unlined is entirely up to the owner.  Unlined or mixed-lined pages allow for drawing and sketching, which is extremely important to emerging writers, and also important for visual thinkers like myself.

• Spend some time in this transitional season sitting down together as a family, walking back in time, remembering people, places, events, that you have  experienced, together or individually.  Think of the following exercise as family storytelling and try this: In the writer's notebook, title one blank page, "People".  Title another one "Places", the next one "Things/Objects", the next one "Emotions".  Choose one page a night and sit down to generate little seed ideas for each page...memories of people, places, etc...Here is an example.  In the writer's notebook I fished out today, under the "Places" title, there were a few entries about a camping trip our family took to Colorado this past summer.  One was a memory of the hike that my daughter and husband took, which was a good lesson for our daughter in preparedness in high altitudes and sudden fluctuation of weather patterns in the mountains!  In the notebook, we didn't tell the whole story, but rather penned a quick snippet of the memory, just enough to jog the memory later.  I laughed out lout this morning as I remembered the two of them making a mad dash for the tent as golf-ball sized hail came bolting down...screaming and laughing all the way! As a young writer, I can pluck this seed idea out later, when my teacher says we are going to write a personal narrative, or realistic fiction, or memoir~all genres of writing we have in our writing curriculum.  Helping your children stockpile memories not only helps them get ready for writing at school, it has mental health benefits as well.

Telling family stories and taking the time to stroll down memory lane with your family has benefits beyond the academic world, as referenced in this New York Times article.  Storytelling can help your children develop a strong sense of self and know that they have control over their own lives.  They know they belong somewhere.  They have roots.

So as fall wraps her arms around us, engage in some family storytelling. All grade levels at Stone Bank School have some sort of writer's notebook, tailored to their developmental age.  Ask your child about it.  Maybe they can bring it home one night for you to see (make sure it comes back right away as it is a crucial tool in the writer's workshop).  If you have a family writer's notebook at home and your child wants to pull a seed idea out of that and bring it to school, just jot the memory down on a sticky note and he/she can simply post the sticky note in their own WN (writer's notebook) at school~~and now they have a seed idea, that can be planted on a page and grown into a story.  

As the earth around us dies or goes into a deep sleep, the memories can be planted, and kept alive.

"Listen! the wind is rising,

and the air is wild with leaves,

We have had our summer evenings,

now for October eves!"

          ~Humbert Wolfe

Happy Storytelling!
Beth

Stone Bank Curriculum Coach

It seems as if summer just isn't letting go quite yet!  I hope you all get to squeeze in as much of the warm sunshine as possible this weekend!

I am sharing a reading/thinking resource with you today (see below) that may be helpful for you when guiding your child(ren) in thinking through the books they are reading.  Reading the words when reading is one thing, but critically thinking through a text, whatever the level, is a skill that learners need to practice not only in school, but outside of school as well.   

Where this resource may, at first glance, seem like it is geared toward more experienced readers, it is one that you can certainly use with emerging readers as well, as you read aloud to your child(ren).  Choosing one "signpost" to focus on a week, is a wonderful way to start.  Of course, some books won't lend themselves to all of these signposts however, having this resource available when reading is an excellent way for readers of any age to actively participate in reading and thinking through texts.  Give it a try in your own reading, too, so that you can be a role model for your readers at home.  

MAPS testing begins this week for grades 2-8.  Click here for the top six questions parents ask about MAPS testing.  First graders will take the MAPS test in the winter and spring (they take a PALS assessment in the fall, which is geared more toward letters and sounds), and second through eighth graders take the test in fall, winter, and spring.  MAPS tests give us detailed data about our learners that help us make informed, personalized instructional decisions to move our learners forward.  "But what if my child is not a good test taker?" many parents ask.  MAPS is just one data point we use to make informed instructional decisions about our learners, along with both formal and informal classroom assessments and finally a state assessment (Forward Exam) in the spring (grades 3-8).


We look forward to seeing you all at Curriculum Night this Wednesday, September 19th, from 6-7 pm. For this first curriculum night, we are asking that parents only come.  We will ask for your feedback before you leave, so that we can make the revisions our families want/need in the future.  We will begin altogether in the library  and then you will be invited to go to your child(ren's) classroom  to ask any specific questions you may have for the teacher.

I wish you all a happy, warm and healthy weekend!

Sincerely,
Beth Wartzenluft
Curriculum Coach

"By all these lovely tokens

September days are here

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer"

              ~Author unknown

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The Learner-Teacher Relationship

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.  

Don't go back to sleep."

                                ~Rumi

As I drove into work nice and early this morning, I reflected on the many amazing things I saw in Stone Bank classrooms this first week of the 2018-19 school year.  John Hattie, an educational researcher who wrote a book called Visible Learning, has done much work around what kinds of behaviors produce a large effect size (a statistical concept that measures the strength of a relationship between two variables) in learning environments.  Evidence based research has show that "students who have constructive relationships with their teachers are more likely to do well at school, and teachers who actively build such relationships have a strong effect on the lives of their students" (Hattie).  The visual below shows that the learner-teacher relationship has a .72 effect size, on a 1.2 scale.

Why is this important for you to know?  Because the amount of thoughtful learning opportunities that Stone Bank teachers engaged in with students this week were deeply grounded in the evidence-based practice of building strong relationships with learners, right from the very beginning.  I sat in on a class that did an activity on Fixed v. Growth Mindsets, a math class where kids were working in pairs while the teacher zoomed from group to group coaching, inspiring, and naming the great things learners were doing.  I was in another class that did an activity where they brainstormed, shared, and honored different ways learners read, write, and think about reading and writing.  I sat in on the most fun and hilarious music class ever with a teacher who clearly understood the importance of Hattie's work on the learner-teacher relationship and I wished I could do music class all over again!  I got to be a part of class that was engaged in delegating classroom jobs to students, so that they could have ownership in their learning environments.  I heard a student say, "I can't".  His teacher walked over to him, knelt down to his level, put her arm around him and said, "Yes, buddy, you can.  I know you can." And you know what?  He did!  He took the book back to his spot and read that book!  I could go on and on, but I think you get the point...the staff at Stone Bank School not only understand the importance of the learner-teacher relationship, but they purposefully plan and engage in activities that grow and deepen these relationships.

Next week we will be starting our coaching cycles as we delve into Reader's Workshop!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Beth