How We Organize Ourselves

January 2020

Important Dates:

Jan 6 Campus Professional Learning Day Breakout Sessions
Jan 9 K-5 iStation Window Opens
Jan 9 Imagine Math Benchmark Window Opens
Jan 17 K-1 Math CBA 1 Window Closes
Jan 24 K-5 iStation Window Closes
Jan 24 Imagine Math Benchmark Window Closes
Jan 29-Feb 7 2nd Grade CBA 2 Window

Other Dates:

Jan 15 District PLC Day 5th Grade AM/3rd Grade PM
Jan 16 District PLC Day 3rd Grade PM
Jan 20 Holiday

Looking Ahead:

Feb 5-12 3-5 Math CBA 2
Feb 5 -7 4th Grade Writing CBA 2
Feb 7 2nd Math CBA Closes
Feb 10-14 5th Grade Reading CBA 2
Feb. 12 TELPAS Writing Sample Due
Feb 17 District Professional Learning Day (If you attended the CLI Institute last summer, you do NOT attend this day!)
Feb 18 4th Grade Writing CBA Data Due
Feb 19 TELPAS Writing Sample Due
Feb 24 K-1 Math CBA 2 Window Opens
Feb 26 TELPAS Writing Sample Due

Google Drawing Activities for Classrooms

Using a document in Google Apps is perfect for many activities, but sometimes they can be so limiting.

They’re restricting. They force you to enter information in a fairly linear fashion, and linear just doesn’t cut it sometimes.

Sometimes, you want your work to be all over the place. Think of sticky notes on a wall or spreading work out on a table or the floor to see everything.

When that’s what you need, your Google Apps tool of choice might be Google Drawings. It’s simple to use but powerful and very versatile.

Checkout the many Google Drawing Activities!

One Word

How to Really Encourage Change

Have you ever made a New Year's Resolution that fell by the wayside? It has happened to most of us!

If making resolutions don’t work, then what can we do to become better people?

Melinda Gates recommends choosing a word of the year to fully embrace instead of making a resolution. This process provides clarity by taking all your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single focus, just one word that centers on your character and creates a vision for your future.

Mason Staff Recipes

Don't forget to add your recipe to the Mason Online Recipe Book!

Step 1: Fill out the Google Form to add your recipe to the App:

https://forms.gle/CYNRMiN25UAZbczx9

Step 2: Upload a picture of your recipe to this Google Folder.

If you can’t find a picture or aren’t able to take one, that is ok. We will find one.

Mason Recipe App

https://zdy3n.glideapp.io

You can access on any device!

Embrace Diverse Topics

As the NAEYC article indicates, teaching about the seasons isn’t limited to just winter holidays and changes in the weather. Broader lessons about the environment, like Maisonville’s students observing a lack of birds, can open up early lessons in scientific inquiry, even the scientific method, for example.

Julie Smith, “The Techie Teacher,” has complied a number of winter activities focused on tech, but which can teach math, creative writing, and more.
Ed Tech Ideas’ diverse list of resources includes games, cards, Santa-tracking, and fun uses of Google Earth.
The NEA collects useful games, activities, and even lesson plans for K-5 learners on wide-ranging topics like time, temperature, animal migration, winter sports, and more. And don’t miss out on their collection of books, music, and video.