December 6, 2019

Dear Burr Families,

Welcome to December! It looks like it will be a winter filled with snow.

As you know, we are doing a lot of work with writing this year. We utilize what is known as a writing workshop. Writing workshop is a structure, a culture, and a process. I wanted to take a moment to explain all three.

Writing Workshop Structure - Workshop begins with what's called a mini lesson. Mini lessons are typically (and approximately) 10 minutes. At Burr, you will see students sitting on the rug in the front of the classroom while the teacher demonstrates and models a writing strategy - often using their own writing. The bulk of workshop time is devoted to students writing. (Makes sense, right.) Our goal is twofold. First - volume. We want students writing a lot. Like any skill, you have to practice it and do it a lot to get good at it. Second - independence within the writing process. Our goal is for our students to engage in the writing process everyday - drafting, revising, editing - with the idea that they become independent problem solvers when they write. For example, this means being able to recognize how and where to revise their work (what's the best word, where should I add more) and how to use editing skills to make their writing smooth and readable for their readers. While students write, the teacher is coaching - both through 1-1 conferring and small group lessons. Think of this coaching like athletic or musical coaching. It's pulling up alongside a writer and helping them while they are doing the work.

Writing Workshop Culture - This is probably the most important lens of writing workshop and often the most overlooked by educators and parents. This is about creating an environment where students are engaged and invested in their writing. Where they see themselves as writers with a strong and creative voice - and important things to say. This is also about creating a culture that is both challenging and fun for student writers. So, how do we do this work? There are a lot of things we lean on - probably the most important of which is choice. We encourage our student writers to write about the things that matter to them, and we give them choices in how to pursue the writing process. The idea here being that not everyone follows the same process to publication. Other things we do include explicitly teaching students what it means to have a writing life, making publishing fun, building students' stamina and confidence by getting them to write a lot, and modeling what it means to be a writer through our own writing as adults. We also make writing a social endeavor. Students have writing partners who support them and give them feedback about their work, and teachers spend a lot of time coaching students about their writing.

Writing Workshop Process - Like anything in life, without a strong foundation of practice, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes, it is very difficult to improve. While we want our students to produce finished pieces that move, entertain, and inform readers, we recognize that they need to engage in a rigorous process of drafting, revising, and editing in order to be able to do this on their own - which, of course, is the ultimate goal. Thus, students in writing workshop write a lot, write everyday, write a lot of different pieces (especially in the primary grades), and learn how to tinker with their work as they go. Like a golfer who spends a lot of time on the practice range hitting golf balls and getting coached by a golf pro (in order to be successful when playing in a tournament, for example), writing workshop is predicated on the idea that in order for the product to be successful, there needs to be a lot of learning and practicing along the way.

One final thing - Writing is a great gift to give to loved ones. Burr's students love to write poetry. See the link below if you want to add a special twist to gift giving this year.

https://vimeo.com/268038024/8edc62eaae

Have a great weekend!

Jason

Family Handbook

I have included a link to our family handbook. It contains practical information about our school as well as links to many district resources.

2019-2020 Family Handbook

lost and found

Please have your child claim their clothes. Every 6-8 weeks, we donate what's left to Goodwill and/or shelters. I would also suggest discussing taking care of clothes with your children. It's a good opportunity to talk about responsibility, and your expectations for how they manage their belongings. In elementary school, students should be responsible for getting their clothes to and from home to school.

Behavior handbook

Below is a link to our Behavior handbook. For the month of December, please focus on the topic of respect. We want students to know that respect encompasses a number of behaviors that combine both an admiration and deference to the feelings and wishes of others.

• Pages 4 and 5. These pages define what respect looks like across different parts of the school day. I would ask that you review this information with your children as well as think about how your child can demonstrate respect in settings outside of school.
• Last Page. This page has a list of books that can be used to teach positive qualities such as respect. I would encourage you to read multiple books from this list. They have great messages which could lead to great conversations about how to apply these skills in your child's everyday life.
• Stop and Think Sheets. Stop and Think Sheets are near the back of our behavior handbook. They serve a number of purposes including: 1) Being a communication tool between home and school. 2) Helping students self reflect about their behavior and how to make better choices. 3) Helping Burr School keep track of behavior patterns among individual students and/or groups of students which, ultimately, could lead us to intervene and support a student (s). If your child gets a think sheet, we ask that you review it with them and return it to school signed. Think sheets can originate at either the classroom level or school level - although they most often originate at the classroom level. Think sheets are usually followed with a phone call from school. After four think sheets at the classroom level, the office will intervene and most likely meet with both the student and their parents.

Behavior Handbook 2019-2020

dismissal manager

We are in the process of making a decision about whether to use Dismissal Manager for the 2020-2021 school year. We have been utilizing a free trial which will end in June of 2020. We are trying to decide whether a paid subscription to Dismissal Manager - which runs approximately $2,500 a year - is worth it. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Please use the following link.

Dismissal Manager Survey

Upcoming Dates

Diversity Week - December 9 -13

Progress Reports - Released through Infinite Campus, Wednesday, December 18

Songfest - December 20 at 10 AM - (Tentative)

Winter Break - December 23 - January 1