Blessings

December brought so many smiles to our campus for students, families, and educators. Thank you to our room parents who made sure our winter parties were a success. Our PTA Volunteer Coordinator, Mrs. Deborah Ayres, hosted several information sessions in November to make sure all our parents were invited and involved in their students' parties. Emails with tons of reminders were sent on a weekly basis to make sure all our volunteers were on the same page. What a wonderful increase in the amount of parents who were facilitating our classroom parties on December 19th! Each of these parties were complete with snacks, a craft and games! Our educators worked with our parents to make sure many memories were created during these celebrations. Thank you to all parents who volunteered in our classrooms on this special day. It does make a difference! Did you see all our educators sporting their pajamas on this special day? Smiles were had by everyone around our campus. We are blessed.

Click here to view some sights...

Productive Struggle

Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear Amanda Ripley, author of The Smartest Kids in the World, speak at the Museum of Fine Arts.  After studying education and schools around the world, she learned this:  in order to be best prepared for life beyond school, kids need to engage in productive struggle.

Call it creative tension (a la Peter Senge) or productive struggle, or even the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky); bottom line is this:  as a teacher or parent, are you solving kids' problems for them?  Are you letting THEM do the thinking, or do you rescue them when the going gets tough?  The school experience should be about setting kids up with REAL problems, and teaching them creative and critical problem-solving strategies.  If kids can zip through an assignment, it wasn't hard enough.

Consider this example the author gave . . . .when visiting a high school Government class in the US, she witnessed sophomores who were asked to "name the seven continents."  Compare this task to the one required by the Finland exit exam (given to high school seniors):  given five hours, write about "why the conflict in the Middle East has not yet been solved."  Which course do you want your student in?  Which task reflects YOUR kind of teaching?  How can YOU promote productive struggle with the children in your life?  Let's help them grow!

Can you believe we have finished the first three weeks of school?  Our little Mavs have settled right in, and are on fire for learning!  Most of the students have already "digitaled up" and have experienced technology in a new way this year!  We have students of all ages blogging, tweeting, posting photos of their learning, and connecting with others around the world.  It is so exciting to have the world at our fingertips!  Join our fun . . . come volunteer at MRE, or connect with us digitally -- respond to a child's blog or tweet!  Real audiences always make writing more meaningful!

MRE Parents are Awesome!

What a great beginning of the year here at the Ranch.  Not only do we have amazing students and staff, but MRE has incredible parents too.

At MRE, we have two parent groups to encourage volunteering and participation at school.  For dads, we have WatchDOGS.  For moms, we have M&M (Mommies & Mavericks).

WatchDOGS is a national organization where dads (or uncles or grandfathers) spend an entire school day at the campus.  WatchDOGS get to help in a variety of tasks from helping in the lunchroom, supervising at recess, reading to children in the classroom, giving high fives to students doing a good job, and walking around the campus to keep everyone safe.

M&M is a fun volunteering club created just for the mothers at MRE.  M&Ms help with projects such as chaperoning at Super Specials, supervising classes during Teacher Tea Time, creating teacher appreciation gifts, making instructional materials for the teachers, beautifying our campus grounds, and much more.

We are so thankful to the parents who give of their time to support our school.  Our goal is for every parent to sign up and participate in these awesome organizations.  Come join the excitement!

First Week of School

Well, we did it! The first week is in the books at Morton Ranch Elementary and what a week it was!

Mrs. Palmour and team registered many new families. It was simply amazing to watch our enrollment grow. Students came from various states to join us at "The Ranch". We loved meeting all our new Mavericks.

Many of these students/parents told us stories about their previous schools and how excited they were to be joining MRE. It was mentioned by several that our arrival procedures "are simply amazing to begin the day in a positive and calm manner". Students head straight to class (or to the cafeteria to eat breakfast) beginning at 7:55am. Educators are greeting buses, daycare transportation, and car riders with HUGE welcomes, warm smiles and a friendly handshakes. It is the little things that make a big difference!

Students engaged in morning meeting on the first day of school with their new teachers. We find out so much about our students' lives, dreams, and hopes through these morning conversations.

The first day of school would not be complete without a Happy Birthday celebration for MRE during a whole school assembly. Our school turned seven years old this year! Every student and staff member sang and ate a delicious cupcake to celebrate this event. Yep, 1,000 cupcakes were ordered and distributed!

Mrs. Hubble, Mrs. Glasser and Mrs. Carr are determined to visit classrooms daily to watch excellence in action. One thing is for sure, we have hired the best and the brightest in Katy, Texas. It is such a pleasure to watch our educators amazingness in action. Our students are pretty amazing, too! It proves that we have such a phenomenal team.

We plan to share moments and build our MRE story so please stay tuned. Can't wait to see what the rest of the school year brings!

A Little Motivation

The day we have all been waiting for is finally here ... tomorrow morning, our kids come back to the Ranch! They will come in bright eyed, ready to give and get lots of hugs and eager for another year of learning.

My message is simple, be ready teachers; you will transform lives ...
so here's a little Pep Talk from Kid President.

20 Minutes

We need to share this graphic with all our parents during Meet the Teacher/Parents' Turn to Learn. Powerful! 

Passion Matters

What is "Genius Hour"? 

 

Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school. (Source: http://www.geniushour.com)

Check it out!

Resources:

 

http://www.geniushour.com 

 

http://www.20timeineducation.com 

 

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1242069  - This has been created by 2 HS English teachers from NY ( Julie Jee & Kathleen Bellino ) who facilitate Genius Hour in their classroom. The Project Inspiration tab has past presentations that have been submitted.

 

http://psolarz.weebly.com/2013-2014-passion-projects.html - This site is from Paul Solarz, a 5th grade teacher from Illinois. He breaks down each component of the process into small pieces...from how to kick off the projects to the culminating presentations!

 

http://geniushour.wikispaces.com/ - A collaborative wiki created to share success stories and resources on Genius Hour. The page is moderated by Joy Kirr, Denise Krebs, and Gallit Zvi. 

 

http://engagetheirminds.wordpress.com/genius-hour-resources/ - This is a wonderful collection of resources from Terri Eichholz, a K-5 G&T teacher from Texas.  

 

https://www.atlassian.com/company/about/shipit - ShipIt Days Atlassian ...Where it all began!!

 

 

 

Articles/Blogs:

 

http://smartblogs.com/education/2014/06/11/genius-hour-making-time-for-passion-in-the-classroom/ - Great post by Angela Maiers 

 

http://www.danpink.com//2011/07/the-genius-hour-how-60-minutes-a-week-can-electrify-your-job - Introductory post from Daniel Pink

 

 

 

Videos:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwwdtQHqd9g - How Google's 20% Time Fosters Innovation

 

http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/2014/06/tedxgpshs-video-collection-edchat.html - Absolutely amazing collection of student reflections of their Genius Hour experience at TEDxGPSHS. This event was fully organized and facilitated by students in Nicholas Provenzano's class. 

DonorsChoose.org & Fuel Your School-- Sept. 1st!

Hi, friends! 

I just wanted to give you all a quick note on an opportunity that's coming our way...

Fuel Your School is back, beginning September 1st! 

Here's how it will work:

• You can request up to $2,000 in materials (excluding taxes, vendor or order fulfillment fees or any optional donations to support DonorsChoose.org.)  The smaller you keep the total cost of your project, the more teachers will benefit from this funding opportunity - so consider your colleagues and post small!
• Only project requests submitted on or after Sept. 1 are eligible to receive funding through the Fuel Your School program. The project submission period ends Nov. 30, 2014, or earlier if all funds have been exhausted by eligible projects.  For the best chance of having your project funded, we recommend you submit on Sept. 1, as soon as the project submission period opens. 
• Chevron will fund up to one project per teacher.

If you do not have a DonorsChoose account yet, I strongly urge you to create an account. It is an amazing site that funds teacher projects. I have personally had 12 projects funded in years past. 

Check out our MRE totals here: http://www.donorschoose.org/school/morton-ranch-elementary

If you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask! Dream big, our babies deserve the best! 

2014-2015...Get ready!

In one month (and a few days), our elementary will be filled with excitement from many educators about possibilities! It's always a thrill to hear about new learning, reflection, and collaboration that happened during the summer months. Bring on the application of our adventures!

We will use this blog to highlight some MRE happenings during the school year. We plan to use text, images, and video to create our school's story. Get ready for a wonderful ride...who knows it might even inspire others to try something new.