Wordle Duck Surprise!

I am always up for a good challenge and I received one right in time for the new year. This particular challenge came as I was reading the blog of a fellow principal, Susan Phillips. Innocent and unsuspecting, I read with curiousity her description of casting her first Wordle. As I approached the bottom of Susan's post, she announced that she was now "tagging" colleagues to Wordle their blogs...maybe even once a month as a new year's resolution. "Great idea!" I think to myself. Moments later, my name appears as the second innocent and unsuspecting colleague on Susan's Wordle challenge list! Well, now that changes my entire blog-reading experience. I cannot just passively read and ponder the wonderful work of Susan Phillips, I have to DO something in response.

Here goes another fun and adventurous Web 2.0 interactive discovery. I followed the Wordle directions (they are very simple unless you have firewall issues or need to take a minute to update JAVA - as I did). I was eager to see what words would dominate my Wordle cloud. Would they define my work, my focus, my principles, and my leadership? Duck, no! The biggest word in my cloud was D-U-C-K. Is there anything redeeming about a duck that can offer me comfort or support as I waddle through my first year as a principal? You decide...

K-5 Students Respond to our November Book of the Month!

Students were extremely engaged in responding to this Book of the Month due to the fervor surrounding our nation's Presidential Election. It was a fun way to interact with students in Kindergarten through 5th grade about the electoral process and the idea of having a duck for President! Students responded to the text after a read-aloud through shared retellings, written responses, and making predictions based on the details of the text and their own personal knowledge. Enjoy our K-5 learning community's responses to Duck for President, by Doreen Cronin:

Reading Response Journals as Safety Net

Last month the Leadership Team launched a one-on-one safety net with 21 of our readers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. After initiating the weekly two-way communication with an introductory letter, each member of the Leadership Team waited anxiously for a return letter from each student. The letters received demonstrated that each of the 21 students were deeply engaged by the opportunity to write about their reading lives and the meaning they were (or were not) making of the book they were reading independently. The second and third letters revealed that students were not only engaged, but they picked up on the language of a reading conversation quickly. Many initiated their own thoughtful interpretations, responded to questions posed, and asked questions generated by their own interaction with text. A few students even began to mimic the language that their Leadership Team mentor was using (i.e. signing off using creative phrases such as "Your Reading Buddy"). Stay tuned for posted student and mentor Reading Response Journal samples as this safety net demonstrates how readers can grow through a written conversation about making meaning, self-monitoring, and reading inquiry.

Duck for President!

“The voters had spoken. Duck was officially in charge.”

Imagine…a duck is tired of doing his chores, and decides to hold an election to replace Farmer Brown. When Duck wins, Duck quickly realizes that running a farm requires too much hard work, and sets out to run for governor. With the help of the hens, and speeches "that only other ducks can understand," he eventually ends up running the country.
I chose this book as a fun way to engage our students in the Presidential electoral process in this 2008 election year. Mayport students have already participated in a nationwide online Mock Presidential Election – now they can enjoy an author’s fictional spin on this important civic right and responsibility! As we conclude our K-5 Narrative Genre study, students can appreciate Doreen Cronin’s use of a simple repeating line (The voters had spoken. Duck was officially in charge.) to organize the events of Duck’s story. Our young authors can also learn from Ms. Cronin’s use of a circular story structure where the beginning (Running a farm is very hard work.) is the same as the end of the story (Duck is writing his autobiography which takes us back to the beginning of the story we just read…Running a farm is very hard work.).

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:

K/1 (Reading Standard 2: Comprehension – retell the story & predict what Duck will do next after he finishes writing his autobiography)
After hearing Duck for President read aloud with pauses to think aloud about predictions you are making as a reader, each class will produce a retelling of the story. Using a large sheet of chart paper, facilitate the writing of a shared, whole group, interactive piece to be displayed on the standards-based bulletin board outside your classroom with teacher commentary. Then, discuss student predictions about what Duck will do next after he finishes writing his autobiography (i.e. Duck will fall in love with another Duck and have a baby duckling; Duck sells so many of his books that he becomes rich and never has to work again.) Next, give students a piece of paper to record their predictions and illustrate.

2/3 (Reading Standard 2: Comprehension – infer cause-and-effect relationships that are not stated explicitly: Predict/Infer)
After hearing Duck for President read aloud with pauses to think aloud about predictions you are making as a reader, each class will produce a retelling of the story and add at least 2-3 predictions to the end using original ideas (i.e. Next Duck will get bored again with his farm chores and take his book to Hollywood to make it into a movie.) Using a large sheet of chart paper, facilitate the writing of a shared, whole group, interactive piece to be displayed on the standards-based bulletin board outside your classroom with teacher commentary. Next, invite students to create their own written predictions to post with the shared retelling.

4/5 (Elb The student makes and supports warranted and responsible assertions about the text: Predict/Infer)
Read aloud Duck for President and pause to think aloud about predictions you are making as a reader. After each prediction, note the details from the text that support your prediction. Next, brainstorm student predictions about what Duck will do next after he finishes writing his autobiography. Make a list of student predictions on the left side of a T-chart. Once you have 2-3 strong predictions, lead a discussion to identify details and events in the text that support each prediction. Create a bulleted list of these details and events on the right side of the T-chart next to each prediction. Assign groups to record a single “warranted and responsible” prediction and write details or events from the text that support the group’s prediction. Post the class chart and group predictions on your standards-based bulletin board with teacher commentary.

Kindergarten Family Night Live!

Kindergarten Family Night

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, he might just spend the evening decorating cookies, choosing his favorite cookies, estimating how many cookies are in a jar, making finger puppets, counting cookies in a jar, patterning cookies, and trying to remember all the things he did in the course of the story. Our Kindergarten teachers and volunteers coordinated a spectacular Family Night full of fun learning centers for our youngest Mayport Dolphins and their families on October 23rd starring the Mouse himself from the very popular book by Laura Joffe Numeroff. We’d like to especially thank Linda Bass, Ramona Blanton, Brittany Blanton, Diane Ewton, Nanci Faulkner, Dawn Foster, Kenny Foster, Karen Gross, Marty Guthrie, Edith Jenkins, Elyza Laparan, and David Risden for volunteering to make this a most memorable Mayport event! We also wish to thank our business partners, Publix and Make-Believe Costumes, for their generous donations.

Students Respond to our October Book of the Month, Imagine, by Alison Lester!

October Book of the Month: Imagine

Imagine by Alison Lester is the beautifully illustrated adventure of two children as they “visit” exotic spots around the planet using cardboard boxes, blocks, plastic animals, sheets, flashlights, and other common play items to construct concrete representations of the real world. Through the familiar rhythm of a repeating line, “Imagine if…,” this stimulating picture book invites the reader to journey deep into the jungle, under the sea, in a land of ice and snow, on a farm, in the moonlit bush, on an African plain, and in a prehistoric swamp. Then, with the turn of a page, the reader finds all the animals living there!

I chose Imagine for our October Book-of-the-Month because of its vivid language and detailed descriptions of sounds and images in the natural world. As we conclude our K-5 Narrative Genre study in October, students will be shown models of descriptive language and be “nudged” to include sensory details and concrete language in their own stories as they revise their drafts in Writers Workshop. Alison Lester demonstrates for young writers the use of details in language and in pictures to tell a powerfully imaginative story and introduce rich vocabulary to readers.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:
PLS: Reading Standard 2: Comprehension/NSPS: Reading Standard E1b
K/1 (Reading Standard 2: Comprehension - retell the story)
After hearing Imagine read aloud and having a discussion about the words and pictures, each class will produce a re-telling of the story. Using a large sheet of chart paper, facilitate the writing of a shared, whole group, interactive piece to be displayed on the standards-based bulletin board outside your classroom with teacher commentary. You may wish to invite students to create illustrations to accompany the class retelling. A completed shared, interactive writing with Ms. Haines’ Kindergarten writers is available to view as a model and will be on display outside her classroom.

2/3 (Reading Standard 2: Comprehension – extend the story) This is an element of the first grade reading standard that is being revisited.
After hearing Imagine read aloud and having a discussion about the words and pictures, each class will produce a re-telling of the story and at least 2-3 extensions using original ideas (i.e. Imagine if we were lost in the swamp where alligators snap and mosquitoes bite, where frogs croak and fireflies light.) Using a large sheet of chart paper, facilitate the writing of a shared, whole group, interactive piece to be displayed on the standards-based bulletin board outside your classroom with teacher commentary. You may wish to invite students to create illustrations to accompany the class retelling (especially the original extensions).

4/5 (Elb The student produces evidence of reading by making perceptive and well developed connections)
After hearing Imagine read aloud and having a discussion about the author’s craft (i.e. repeating line, vocabulary as border) and why Alison Lester chose to use the identified craft in her text and illustrations, model a “perceptive and well developed connection” that you made as you read the story (i.e. Text-to-Self: Alison Lester’s descriptions of prehistoric dinosaurs and illustration of the children dressing up remind me of a Halloween when my 4-year old daughter, Anisa, dressed up in the family’s hand-stitched, hand-me-down blue and yellow T-Rex costume. It must have been the "Year of the Dinosaur" that Halloween as we encountered every possible dinosaur from the movie, The Land Before Time, on every corner of our neighborhood.)

Students Share Their Voice

At our September 26th weekly Flag Raising Ceremony, the address to students focused on three aspects of citizenship: 1) Know what is important in your neighborhood, school, and community; 2) Listen, read and think about everyone's opinion respectfully even if it doesn't match your own; and 3) Do something to make your neighborhood, school, and community a better place!

The Flag Raising Ceremony ended with an invitation to all students to think about something that matters in their neighborhood, school, and community and then write a letter expressing their opinion. I told our Mayport Elementary students that this is one way that citizens make their voices heard. The plan that I shared with our Mayport students was to send every letter that I received to our local newspapers. Each letter would definitely get read by the editor. They may even get published!

On Monday, the following letter was delivered by a first grade teacher who shared that Cecilia walked into class and announced that she needed to see the principal immediately. After asking why this was necessary, Cecilia explained that she had written a letter and had to give it to the principal right away! The text of her letter reads:


I was delighted to see a first grade student so engaged as a citizen and eager to respond to a call to action. Her concern for the environment is heartfelt and expresses to readers exactly what they can do to help-"Pic-up litr."

This letter reveals the degree to which our children are in tune with the world around them and have significant thoughts to share. I am so very proud of the students at Mayport Elementary who chose to exercise their citizenship last week by voicing their concerns about their neighborhoods, school, and community using the power of the written word.

K-5 Responses to The Spyglass by Richard Paul Evans

Google Docs Rock the Imagination!

At exactly 7:12 a.m. last Thursday I decided to undertake the journey into the unknown but intriguing world of sharing documents online...with the entire planet! I finally had a reason and a chunk of time for a trial-and-error learning session. The reason? The Mayport Faculty had experienced a power packed Web 2.0 Presentation by our Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Terri Stahlman, the week before. She appropriately closed with the promise, "...and I'm sure that you'll be able to access a copy of this power point on Yvonne's blog so that you can explore these resources and connect them to your classroom and instructional work..." Okay then. It was time to publish my first document. I knew enough about this from my colleague, Melanie Holtsman, that it could not be done with the simple "attach document" function that is used with email. "Google docs," "upload," and "html code" were a few key phrases that kept appearing in my conscious thoughts from her patient tutoring. I leafed through my notebook to find the synopsis of my Blogging 101 session.

Then, at 7:12 a.m. I launched my online exploration and application and by 7:26 a.m. the Power Point Presentation was published as a Google doc on the web! Fourteen minutes is exceedingly speedy for a novice learner, a digital immigrant. It demonstrates the power, ease, and accessibility of Web 2.0 tools. It increases my determination as an instructional leader to ensure that every student has access to and knows how to use these tools in meaningful ways. My imagination cannot even begin to encompass all of the ways in which this Web 2.0 tool can impact instruction!

Web 2.0 Faculty Presentation by Dr. Terri Stahlman

True Joy - True Purpose

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by “yourself as a mighty one”; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy; I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
-Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, 1903, p. ii

This quote resonated with me when I read it in Michael Fullan's new book What's Worth Fighting For in the Principalship and then shared it with the Mayport faculty and staff in our September 12th Memo. It is always a joy to think about why I chose to be an educator, directly working with future generations. How lucky I am to experience purpose, mindfulness, and joy in every single day!

Countdown to Florida Writes!

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As Mayport students begin to learn how to craft their writing in Kindergarten through fifth grade following the elements of our writing standards in Writers Workshop, they are preparing for success on this vital assessment.

Talk to your fourth grader about what they are writing as they learn how to incorporate the following 4th grade narrative writing standard elements in their work. Narrative Writing is the first unit of K-5 writing instruction this year:

• Engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a point of view, or otherwise developing reader interest;
• Establishes a point of view, plot, setting, and conflict (and for autobiography the  significance of events);
• Creates an organizing structure;
• Includes sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character;
• Excludes extraneous details and inconsistencies;
• Develops complex characters;
• Uses a range of appropriate strategies such as dialogue and tension or suspense;
• Provides a sense of closure to the writing.

Open House Exceeds Imagination!

A successful face-to-face team is more than just collectively intelligent. It makes everyone work harder, think smarter and reach better conclusions than they would have on their own.

-James Surowiecki, as quoted in Results Now by Michael J. Schmoker, p. 105

Our September 4th Spaghetti Dinner, PTA Meeting, Scholastic Family Night and Open House was a perfect example of professional collaboration leading to exemplary results! As I circulated during the Open House presentations, each classroom was a model of professionalism, hospitality, teaching and learning. It was a joy to see carefully prepared power point presentations, parent "handbooks," student work, pretzels and cookies, question and answer opportunities, conference sign-up sheets, art projects, book displays, music...and of course, A LOT of spaghetti. Together, every team and the school as a team collaborated to produce an Open House experience for students and families that was truly memorable and exceeded all imagination!

Fay Delay

With an unanticipated “break” in our grand opening of school, I am relieved that Tropical Storm Fay resulted in lower levels of damage than anticipated in our Mayport community.

On Wednesday, August 20th, the first "day of waiting" for Tropical Storm Fay, Ms. White, Ms. Lacsamana and I reported to school for a half day. We discovered that our school was designated a JTA evacuation site for any residents wishing to take public transportation to a city shelter. Four JTA buses waited in our school parking lot until 5:00 p.m. as a part of the citywide emergency response system. 

A handful of parents and students called and/or came by to determine if school really was closed on Wednesday. One mother patiently sat in her red van in the parking lot until I went outside to greet her. She rolled down the passenger window to reveal a first grade student with a book in her lap and asked, “What time can my daughter come inside and read?” Wow. That is one child who is ready and eager to learn! It has been quite an unusual first “week” of school for everyone.

August 18th Imagination Journey

My gratitude is heartfelt for all the faculty and staff who helped to plan, organize, set-up, and execute a fabulous Imagination Journey for our Dolphin Imagineers on the first day of school! After the read-aloud of our August Book-of-the-Month, The Spyglass, students were greeted with creative displays and engaging invitations to "Estimagine" how many animal crackers were in a jar, imagine what was inside a collection of boxes using only their sense of touch, imagine what they saw in an optical illusion, imagine how many minutes had to be run to burn off the calories contained in a Hershey candy bar, and imagine how many people they could feed by playing the Free Rice vocabulary game online. At the end of a fast-paced 45 minute journey, students were surprised in the Media Center with their very own Imagine the Possibilities spirit T-shirts. This team effort resulted in a memorable first day for every student!

August Book of the Month: The Spyglass

The Spyglass , by Richard Paul Evans, is a book about vision and faith.  I chose this book to help us focus on the importance of developing a clear vision of our work as 21^st century standards based learning leaders.  It is only by rethinking past practices and having faith in new practices that we will be able to envision a 21^st century school of learners and leaders.  Vision requires seeing from a different point of view with a different set of lenses.  Faith is an untouchable virtue that can carry you to places well beyond your intellectual understanding or even your fears.  “The eye of faith sees without bounds or limits.”

In order for us to move our learning community forward, we must combine a vision that is shaped by constant collegial conversations and support with a faith in best teaching practices.  The leap into reshaping an entire culture is risky, frightening and often times paralyzing.  But with vision, faith and hard work we will do just that.  For each of us, our “spyglass” is the belief that we will maintain our high academic standards by keeping our sights fixed on best teaching practices combined with 21^st century tools. In this way, we will not only ensure academic success for each student, but we will play a pivotal role in the rebirth of our community. We have Imagined the Possibilities and now it is a matter of “making them so...”

"Blue Sky" Celebration--August 11th

"The sky's the limit!" read the banner high on the wall under the media center skylight. As teachers greeted each other on the first day of pre-planning, all were invited to Imagine the Possibilities of a new school year. Our "Blue Sky" celebration was inspired by the following quote from Kevin Rafferty, a Disney Imagineer in the book The Imagineering Way:

"When you want to make the most of your creative abilities or rediscover what they are, do what Imagineers do: allow yourself to be a kid again and let the fun and fearlessness of childlike creativity set you free! Untie the ropes of opinion and rejection that are holding your imagination down, so it can soar into the deep blue sky of endless opportunity. Then hop onto that noble purple-and-pink-polka-dotted elephant, face your enemy--fear--with a kitchen-pot helmet and cardboard sword, and charge full speed ahead into that land of countless dreams and untold surprises!" (p. 27)

Teams of teachers embraced the 2008-09 theme with a variety of creative mediums: music, poetry, power point presentation, and drama. Our morning of celebrations concluded with an introduction of our 2008-09 Faculty Book Study, Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools, with the help of Suzy "Webb 2.0," a Duval County Instructional Technology representative. EVERY teacher created their own blog before lunch! Wow. Our 21st century faculty of learners and leaders embraced this Web 2.0 tool and were exceedingly imaginative in designing a first blog and publishing an initial post. If you'd like to view these teacher blogs, I invite you to visit Mayport Elementary's Website. You can scroll through our faculty list and connect to see the beginnings of their 2008-09 blogging journeys where the possibilities are endless and the sky's the limit!

Learning Village

If you are looking for a Learning Schedule for teaching Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop, follow the easy steps to sign-in to the Learning Village. You simply need to follow the links to K-5 Curriculum, your grade level, and the tab for the Reading/Writing Learning Schedules. When you are ready to view these to plan or print, refer only to the 1st nine weeks on the Learning Schedule since the rest is still under revision. The Anchor Lessons for establishing rituals and routines in each of your Workshops can be found here as well. These tabs will be updated regularly throughout the year as new tools for using our new reading series to support Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop become available. Getting ready for reading and writing instruction is right at your fingertips!

Welcome Back Imagineer Celebration!

At first, it sneaks up on you. You do not recognize it because it has been such a long time gone. It takes you some time. It has to literally fight its way through doubts and disappointments, fears and questions…many questions. But, as with many of the best things in life, it is at the moment when you feel the weakest that the biggest and most promising changes take place…

It is during this time that you begin to remember, again, what it was that brought you here to start with. Maybe there is the fleeting memory of a child’s smile, or the short visit of that feeling of triumph that comes when you hit your target and you see the light of understanding click on in your students’ eyes. It is starting to find its way to the top now…a small smile creeps across your own face…

Then come the butterflies in the pit of your stomach…the same ones, perhaps, that you felt way-back-when in your very first days in the classroom as a young student yourself…or as a beginning teacher…the very ones that your own students will feel in August. This is when you know that it has finally arrived and taken hold. There is the nervous feeling, but far more, there is possibility. It is the thing that keeps you coming back. It is the fuel that drives you forward. It is the fire that ignites your imagination.

Now, you find that you can only Imagine the Possibilities of this upcoming school year. There is nothing else. The possibilities of an inspired mind, a generous heart or a boundless spirit. The possibilities of an empty canvas, a freshly sharpened pencil, an unread book or a newly planted seed. The possibilities that can only come from exuberant youth lead in mass by tempered wisdom and steady knowledge. The possibilities that only our great and noble profession offers.

I invite you to your new laboratory of possibilities on August 11, 2005 at 7:50 am at Café Mayport. Please bring to share with your colleagues some representation of the possibilities that this year holds for our school –-get together with your grade level team and build a vision to share of possibilities that you will achieve TOGETHER (banner, model, skit, significant object, poem etc).. Mayport Elementary’s success will begin first with our Imagining the Possibilities together, then taking the Risks to put those possibilities into action through Rigorous application of best teaching practices so that we can ultimately see the Results in outstanding student achievement.

Mayport Elementary…Imagine the Possibilities !

Shift Happens

This video is an exceptional introduction to the Web 2.0 world that our students, "digital natives," already participate in daily. It helps those of us who are "digital immigrants" make a 21st century paradigm shift in our thinking. Are you ready to embrace these powerful instructional tools and energetically pursue ways to integrate them into your teaching and learning practices? If you have seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, press play on the video screen below and be prepared to make the shift!

The Journey Begins

After my official first week as principal of Mayport Elementary School, I am extremely excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. I've met with approximately half of the faculty and staff, many members of the school community, business partners, custodians, district support staff, and of course the retiring principal, Dr. Nancy Bragan. Dr. Bragan has built a strong foundation and developed a learning community focused on student performance data and safety nets. She has developed the campus grounds and facilities to include a new playground, a baseball diamond, a golf putting green, a covered walkway for car riders, a wooden deck, picnic table area, and numerous other projects. Her legacy speaks for itself.



On July 8, Mayport Elementary was designated a Florida "A" school, meeting Adequate Yearly Progress targets for all subgroups for the second consecutive year. After such resounding student success the course for 2008-09 is crystal clear--continue to develop a 21st century school where every learner can experience the thrill of success!



I invite every Mayport Elementary stakeholder--teachers, paraprofessionals, office staff, parents, students, custodians, cafeteria staff, business partners, neighbors, and community members--to join me on this journey where the possibilities are as limitless as our imaginations!

Yvonne Ferguson, Principal