2nd Week of December

4th Graders learning how to "Code"
with Mrs. Januwati

DOK - Reflection on Student Work

As we get ready to end 2014, it is a great time to reflect on the roles that each of us play and how that affects student learning.  A great way to reflect on our effectiveness is to look at the products of our effort, student work. I found this post by @MindShift called "What Meaningful Reflection On Student Work Can Do for Learning".  I hope you find some ideas that help you.


Here are some questions to help you reflect on student work.

• Which students are struggling with the work?
• What specific instruction am I giving them to help them overcome their struggle?
• Does the work match the strengths that they bring to the table?
• Are there different ways that I can get them to demonstrate mastery?
• Which students are easily mastering the work?
• What specific instruction am I giving that helps them mastery the content, so I can continue to provide them this instruction?
• How can I challenge them at deeper levels with future work?
• How can I use these students to help those who struggle? 

Change in Math 5 & 8 STAAR Dates

The date for STAAR grades 5 and 8 mathematics testing has changed from March 30, 2015 to April 20, 2015.  Please mark your calendars.

TMS One Act Play steals the Show

Congratulations to the TMS One Act Play who won 2nd Place at the District Meet

Congratulations to the TMS One Act Play for their 2nd place finish at the district meet.  Honors include:

• Best Actor - Trent Johnson
• All-Star Cast 
• Haley Young
• Abbi Smith
• Wyatt Mauldin
• Honorable Mention All Star Cast
• Ghost Chorus 
• Rylie Lassen
• McKayla Calhoun

The team tied with Carthage for most points earned (44 points).  The points will be added to their district total when TMS competes in the UIL Academic meet this spring.  Congratulations to theatre directors:  David Young, Pam Galloway and Claudia Sullivan for all of their hard work in preparing the kids for excellence.

TIP (Tech Integration Pic) of the Week

Mrs. Bryan's class  (right) put their learning of summarization to practice by creating Shelfari pages to keep up with their books and write reviews.  Check out the Shelfari resource site at www.shelfari.com. 


Do you Diigo?
Do you every wonder what happened to that article was that you found a month ago?  Me, too...  That is until I found Diigo.  Diigo is a free bookmarking tool that you and your students can use to bookmark and annotate articles, digital documents and virtually anything that you find on the web.  The cool thing about Diigo is that you can bookmark links into categories and tag keywords to the article.  Don't lose that amazing article.  Diigo it!

Don't Make a Poster.  Make a Glogster

Check out the following awesome digital poster created byMason, a fifth grade student in Ms. Beazley's class.  This tool makes a great alternative to the traditional poster project and offers opportunities for students to locate and use the best information and resources from the web.

#HourOfCode

Go to THIS LINK to learn how to code.  It is EASY!!!

Blog of the Week

4 Ideas For Motivating Adolescent Male Readers via @TeachThought