Build, Facilitate, and Researach - The Holiday Park Way

Who are we? What to we stand for? Who do we serve? It seems that these questions should be easy to answer. We are an elementary school. We are teachers and educators. We stand for excellence in learning. We serve our community. Simple. Yet so complicated. Who are we? Most of us would say teachers or educators, which is what we have defined as our job title. While teaching is part of what we do, I am not sure it defines our role in today’s educational system. With the current focus on accountability and budget, it is easy to loose track of why we wanted to work with children. Most of us, deep down inside, understand that children have remarkable curiosity, wonder, and thirst for learning.

We, collectively,  are much more than teachers. We are builders, facilitators, and researchers. As builders, we are responsible to build opportunities everyday for our students to learn, to feel safe, and to learn how to communicate successfully with those around us. As facilitators, we must know, at all times, the pulse of those we are working with. This makes it necessary to “present” at all times and in all situations with our students. As researchers, we must observe, hypothesize, and document what we are observing. We focus our observations on our students and their learning.

Master Builders and Designers, what makes them great? They have a vision for what they want to see happen. They think the design through very carefully. They consider all aspects of the design. They plan very carefully. They go over their plans very carefully, and then they have their colleagues’ go over their plans to get further feedback. They leave nothing to chance. Every aspect of the plan is thought of. As the design is being built, masters in this field observe what is happening. Checking over plans along the way. Trusting other experts in the field. Celebrating along the way.

Great Facilitators, what makes them great? They understand that they are responsible to connect with their participants. They gather information about the group. They practice, over and over, what they want the desired outcome to be. They respect their participants and know that the participants are the actual drivers of the learning. Great facilitators move flexibly throughout their delivery based on the feedback they receive from the participants. They understand that the participants need and want to construct their own understandings and truths. They enjoy leading them through this process.

Great Researchers, what makes them great? They understand the focus of their job. What are they trying to find out? For us, we know that our students and how they are interacting with their learning is our job. Researchers need to document what they observe. Every observation has the ability to drive the hypothesis of the researcher if they are present in the moment and aware of what they are observing. This documentation is then studied. Documentation is posted and made public amongst other researchers. It is questioned, hypothesized about, and discussed in groups of experts passionate about the focus. Plans are made for action and then the process starts again.

Give the above information, it is clear that we must plan our design for learning, facilitate the learning with excellence, and document what we observe with an understanding that this in necessary to reflect and improve. We must be willing to share our documentation and create a plan of action together. This is the only way to learn and grow together.

As we begin our week, let’s be very mindful of our job. Each day requires a plan, a design, to build every opportunity for learning. As facilitators, we must respect our participants (students), which require us to be aware of our interactions with them. Are we guiding them in a safe and motivating way? Are we regulating our responses to ensure a better outcome for our participants? Observing and documenting what we observe is a necessary part of our job. How often do we take notes during the learning? Are we purposeful about documenting our observations?

Our path is clear at Holiday Park. We are builders, facilitators, and researchers. Go Roadrunners!

  

Welcome November

Holiday Park is excited to welcome in the month of November. Why? Because we know that the long hot days of summer are behind us. We have had several months to get into the swing of the new school year and we know we still have time to positively impact the students of Holiday Park.

This quarter brings us the ability to collect our weekly reading data and align it with our RCBM data on reading. This is exciting as we plan our intervention and enrichment groups with our students. We are also close to 100% on board with Engage New York as our primary math resource. Very exciting as this resource has proven successful in school after school across the United States.

November also brings the exciting addition of Micro-Society to our Project Child classrooms. These students are so impressive. Starting with their work ethic, their continuous progress, and the level of commitment from their teachers, we know great things are ahead. As they start the micro-society program, we are excited to see how “real life” application starts to excite and engage our students. Thank you Project Child for starting this initiative. We will do everything possible to support you.

Just one more thought… It is important to mention the amazing qualities of the Holiday Park staff. Each day is challenging, yet each day I see staff members arrive with smiles on their faces anxious to see the students and start the day. Holiday Park has a committed and passionate staff that does everything they can for the students each day. Thank you does not seem sufficient, but is owed to each and every staff member. Thank you.

Belong, Connect, Engage

We all know how important belonging is to each of us. From the time we are born, we are hard wired to seek out a sense of belonging and connection. We also know this is specifically true for the students at our schools. The sense of belonging is so strong that research tells us it is very difficult for students to learn when they do not feel they belong. So… what can we do? As a school we know we only have control over our school community and environment. But, that is huge. We have the opportunity to make sure each student feels a strong sense of belonging and is connected to at least one adult at school.

As a school we understand how important it is to start each day new again. We have committed to greet each student at the door every morning. Not just a greeting, a genuine and personal greeting. It is the first step in each child’s sense of belonging. As we work together to set the tone for the day, we are also building a strong relationship with our students that will manifest itself for each student by increasing their willingness and ability to learn,

As a school, we have also agreed that screaming, yelling, sarcasm, cruel and unkind words, and humiliation are not in the best interest of students and will not happen in our classrooms. We are working very hard to continue to have conversations with each other to monitor our tone and affect because we believe our kids deserve it.

Each of us, from classroom teacher to cafeteria worker, comes to work each day for one reason. That reason is we love kids. Our staff is committed to our kids and we all work hard, everyday, to ensure their sense of belonging. We are working on putting together a video that shows our morning greetings. This will be the first of many video opportunities that will showcase what we do and who we are at Holiday Park.

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Welcome Back

Welcome back staff, students, and parents of Holiday Park. With fall break now behind us, our focus is on student achievement and learning. With our much-needed break over, we are retuning rested and recharged to make every day one that is filled with thinking and learning for our students.

We are very excited to meet with our parents and community members next week for parent-teacher conferences. It is at this time that we get to know our families and they get to know us a little better. Thinking about our families and what they expect from us is the best way for us to start off our 2^nd quarter of learning.

Recent research identifies the major areas that parents find most important in their child’s school. Listed first and foremost is the desire for the school to have a solid core curriculum in reading and math. After reading and math, opportunities for science and technology learning are a close second. Parents also indicate the desire for their children to have good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills.  Thinking about our school and the direction we are going, we can speak to each of these expectations as we work to meet the expectations of our parents.

Solid Core Curriculum in Reading and Math –

We are very pleased to say that the district GVC is helping us to guarantee a solid curriculum across content areas. We have focused as a school on our framework for reading and are seeing very good results across the grade levels. This framework has given us common language to guide our conversations and PD opportunities. We are working together as a site to commit to the math framework Engage New York. This will be exciting and I have heard from so many of you how excited you are to take this on. 

Science and Technology –

We have implemented our science curriculum with the help of the district GVC. Each team, in an effort to ensure that science instruction is happening in each class, has allocated instructional time in their schedules.

We are working to open up the computer lab for students to start using Successmaker for math and reading for both intervention and grade level learning opportunities. We will continue to have conversations about integrating more opportunities for technology into our students learning day whenever possible.

Good Study Habits –

It is very important for us to focus on our fluency homework for quarter two. Not only is the homework beneficial for each student and their reading fluency, it helps prepare the students for study habits that will positively impact them the rest of their lives. Please make sure that you have a system in your classroom to check homework, seek out support from parents who’s children are not completing the work, and telling all students that the homework club is in the morning in the library at 7:15.

Strong Critical Thinking –

We are working as a school to implement Depth of Knowledge across all grade levels and content areas. We are focusing on 1^st grade right now and then will take what we learn with this grade level and move it to other grade levels to implement. Ensuring that we are offering level 2 and level 3 thinking opportunities daily to our students will give them multiple opportunities to engage in critical thinking throughout the day.

Excellent Verbal and Written Communication Skills –

This is one area that we need to address as a school. It is very important to our parents and necessary for our student’s success that we design and implement verbal communication lessons for our students. While we do focus on language in our school, the purposeful teaching of verbal communication and presentation is not something that we have implemented as of yet. This is an exciting opportunity for us to reflect on this and come together as a staff to provide these opportunities for our students.  I look forward to seeing how this develops over time for us.

You might want to talk with your parents and students about the above during your parent-teacher conferences next week. As the above areas have been identified as important by most parents, it is a perfect opportunity for us to share the great things happening at Holiday Park and our desire to continue to improve.

Think Deeper

One thing I know for certain, most teachers will say they entered education because of their love for children. I think this is true, but not the only reason that they entered the profession of education. I believe most teachers are driven to connect with others and when that desire to connect meets our individual passion for subjects, the real teacher is born. When the desire to connect with children meets the desire to share the subjects that we have found to be so powerful and life giving, miracles happen. The outcome is a teacher that has the strength of a warrior and the heart of a champion. Most of these like minded teachers will seek out colleagues that share this passion and yearn to work in an organization that honors thinking.

At Holiday Park we are no different than any other public education system in America today. The pressure to measure only intellect that is standardized and identified as critical weighs heavy on the shoulders of each of us everyday. Understandably, we accept this pressure in an effort to make sure we are preparing our students for whatever awaits them in their future. I think the problem occurs when we start to focus more on the measured outcome then on the actual understanding and truths that each student develops along the way.

I firmly beleive that most of our students have been taught to look for the “right” answer to please us, the teachers. One very bright student recently engaged in a lesson with me and my first impression was that he was extremely successful in the lesson and confident among his peers. He could speak of the learning he encountered and used vocabulary words beyond his years. On a true or false test he was able to answer every question with no mistakes. Super Star…right? I thought so, until, quite by mistake, I uncovered what he truly learned. After his group presentation to the class, I wondered about something he said and asked for clarification. He just looked at me, repeated the information, and then looked at me longer. When I asked him to explain what that meant to me, he couldn’t. Matter of fact, he didn’t really know what most of the words and/or concepts were that he could spout out and answer. But, he could pass any multiple choice or short answer tests just by repeating what he read and remembering the facts. Not powerful or life giving learning at all. He will shortly forget all he learned and never be able to synthesize this learning across other content areas or life situations. Certainly not what any teacher would intend. How do we move to deeper levels of thinking and understanding for our students? How can we accomplish this along with everything else on our plates? We can, and we will. Because we, mostly you, are awesome!

So where does that put us today? I would say in a great place. We have a staff of teachers dedicated to student learning and structures in place in language arts that are proving to be successful. If we can learn to synthesize that with what we are learning about “depth of knowledge” we would see we are in the perfect place to add Level 3 and 4 opportunities to our structures to ensure deeper learning everyday. This will allow us the ability to uncover each student’s real understandings and truths that they are developing throughout the lesson. DOK level 3 and 4 allow us to engage students in critical thinking without allowing them to focus on the facts or speak concepts they don’t understand in one line answers. This is just what we are ready for, and just what our students need.

Please be thoughtful this week to the kinds of questions you are asking your students. Even more important, pay attention to the kinds of answers you are accepting. Are we assuming they understand what they are saying? Are we looking for just one answer? Do we allow multiple opportunities for our students to explain their thinking? Please use this week to be reflective regarding these questions. We are about to go on a weeklong break that will energize us and allow us to return stronger than ever. Upon return we will be able to continue this thinking and learn more about DOK together.

How do we really know what's important? It is often hard to know for sure. We each come to school everyday with our own perspective, mindset, and view of reality. So do our students. While I can not pretend that what we bring with us will not impact our day, but I do believe it is our job to separate ourselves from our own personal issues in an effort to make sure we positively impact each of our students every day.
As this is our job, the same is true for our students. Our school is a place of learning. Here, at Holiday Park, all students will feel a sense of belonging and safety that is often the only constant we may be able to offer our students. We have no ability to "fix" the outside world of our students. We can not pretend it doesn't matter, but we can let them know that at school the learning environment stays the same. We are a safe place. We care about each student. We expect excellence from each of us. We believe each day is a new day, everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We will ensure caring adult connections for each student. We believe.
With this in mind, set the goal this week to ensure the learning environment for each of your students. Welcome them each day at the door. Speak with respect and kindness. Know that no child plans on coming to school to mess up your day and cause problems. Be prepared to deliver your lessons with excellence and relevance. Do not criticize or ridicule your students. Do no let any other adults on campus criticize or ridicule your students. Hold all students on campus to our expected behaviors. Have your eyes open at all times. See the students around you, even if they are not assigned to you. Show the world who you are, because you are each amazing!

We Must Guarantee The Learning Environment for All Kids...They Deserve It!

There is much that we, as educators actually do agree on. Most of us agree that a safe, positive, and effective learning environment is what is best for all kids. While we agree with the statement, we do not often spend enough time defining what this means in the classroom. We want all children to have a guaranteed curriculum, in order to ensure the learning for all. Is it not just as important to ensure that the environment in which they learn is effective for all?

We are very fortunate to have such an amazing group of teachers at Holiday Park. We each come to school everyday to positively impact every student. None of us leave the house planning on getting frustrated with our students, planning on giving our students down time while we prepare for the lesson, or planning on showing clear signs to the students or adults how upset we are with a student or colleague. While we don't plan on these things, unfortunately we experience them at times at Holiday Park. Partly because we are human, and partly because we sometimes accept behavior from our colleagues that we know should not occur on a daily basis. Now before you think this article is for you personally, please know it probably is not. The best of us always reflect and take responsibility for our every action.

We started the 2015-2016 school year in the right way. We understood that building relationships and a positive community in our classrooms was important. We realized that each behavior and procedure expectations we had for our students needed to be taught explicitly to all. I believe that the time we spent to start off the year on the right foot was well worth the effort. My question is this... was it enough?

In regards to our first few days please consider the following-

How do new students to your room receive the modeling of expectations?

Are all students showing mastery of the expectaions each day?

Are the students showing mastery of the expectations when you are not around?

How do new students to your room build relationships with you and other students?

Are we starting to identify the treasure's and talents of the students in our room?

As you reflect on the above questions, please identify the area's that could to be improved on in your classroom to ensure each student is receiving the support they need to be successful.

While the above is all well and good, there is more to consider. What do we each think of when we think effective learning environment?  Some obvious components are common to each of us. Others are more nuanced and need to be identified. I will deliver my understanding of an effective learning environment below and provide links for additional reading.

The Room/Physical Space -

The classroom and physical space that learning takes place in is an important component of effective learning. Research identifies the following components be addressed-

Clutter Free- Indicates teacher respect of the classroom and learning space

Furniture Arranged For Success Of Each Learner- Indication of teacher reflection about the needs of each learner

Furniture At Appropriate Height And Size For Learners - Indicates respect for physical comfort and optimal ability to focus while engaged in learning

Student Work Displayed - Indicates focus on learning and emphasizes individual student thinking

Anchor Charts- Indicates understanding of concrete models needed for long term retention

Class Rules Posted- Indicates the class worked on rules together and posts them to indicate their importance

Individual Behavior Plans for Students That Need This - Indicates the teacher has taken the time to work with and develop individual plans for students struggling with "school" behaviors. Additionally indicates the teachers understanding that some children need visual clues for optimal success

Supports In Place For Learning Depending on Age and Grade Level - Indicates teacher's understanding of developmentally appropriate supports for students. Example - name tags for all students in Kinder and First grade.

The Teacher-

It is very important to understand that the teacher is the single most important person to set the learning environment in the classroom. Classroom management is important for a successful learning environment. Because of it's importance, I would like to invite you to read the following short article identifying the 8 most common classroom management problems that teachers can learn to avoid right away.

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2010/12/04/8-things-teachers-do-to-encourage-misbehavior/

Outside of classroom management the teacher has other responsibilities in creating a positive learning environment. Both the teacher's attitude and willingness to provide a positive climate for learning impact each of our students everyday.

Research indicates the following components to be addressed -

Respectful Interactions - Indicates teacher's understanding of human motivational techniques

Relationships- Teacher to Students, Students to Teacher, and Student to Student - Indicates understanding of the importance of community and relationships to the ability and willingness to learn

Teacher Empathy - Indicates understanding of outside circumstances that effect learning and willingness to provide support in the classroom when necessary

Teacher Preparation - Indicates teacher understanding of how time on task can influence student behavior in classroom. Clear plans that identify the learning, the grouping of students, and the materials needed to be successful are necessary to ensure reduction of lag/down time for students while teacher is trying to get everything together

Kind Actions - Indicates the understanding that our actions speak much louder then our words. Our body language can deliver a very strong message to students about the teachers attitude toward them. In addition to body language, teacher actions surrounding how they pick helpers, who they call on for answers, and where they stand during instruction are examples of nonverbal messages sent to students everyday

Celebrations of Success - Indicates the understanding of how the power of celebrating success along the way positively effects student learning

Opportunities to Express Learning Safely- Indicates the understanding that all thoughts are important and that it is more important to think then to get the answer right 

Welcomed and Acknowledged Everyday - Indicates an understanding of human relationships and we each have a  desire for a personal connection

We, at Holiday Park, owe it to all of our students to ensure that the learning environment is effective and safe.  If we encounter an enviroemnt that is in conflict with the above understandings, we owe it to the kids, and the adult responsible, to articulate the observations and offer support. Each of us that hear negative, angry words said to children by adults at the school need to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that walk into a chaotic learning space that is filled with clutter and unorganized need to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that know that the teacher in the room next to us does not greet his/her students each day needs to kindly address it. Each of us that knows students are being put down or ridiculed by an adult at the school needs to be prepared to kindly address it. Each of us that sees resources not available to students in a classroom needs to be prepared to kindly address it. A good example of this would be a colleague you know that refuses to put out more pencils because the students keep loosing them. The conversation each of us needs to be prepared to have is the effect of not having needed tools has on a safe and effective learning environment. It will take us all to ensure the learning environment at Holiday Park. It is not something that I alone can do. It takes us all. the kids deserve it! Each time we look the other way, keep our silence, pretend we didn't hear or see, we are contributing to the negative impact that will have on the students.

Please take a moment and reflect on the rubric found in the link below. How are we doing, both individually and collectively for our students?

http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/1531/1568290/rub_temp/Ch%202%20-Learning%20Space%20Rubric.pdf

My commitment to our students is that we will ensure a safe and effective learning environment for every classroom. That is who we are, and this is the line in the sand!

Monday, September 7th, 2015

 Today brings a much needed day of rest for the teachers, staff, and children of Holiday Park. The hard work of learning can be exhausting and we have all earned a day of rest and relaxation. 

It is often in this state of rest and relaxation that our most powerful thoughts and ideas start to form. As I spent the day thinking about our current reality and the work that we do together, I started to synthesize some recent learning opportunities into the start of a fluid thought that I would like to share with you today.

We live in the world of "education". Teaching and learning is what we do. It has been so for almost 100 years. As most of us now realize, the future of schooling and the 21st century are bound to undergo dramatic changes in the next several years and we move away from traditional ways of teaching and into creating learning environments that allow student to engage in collaboration, curiosity, and creativity. 

 Collaboration-
We have acknowledged collaboration for some time in education. For most of us providing students with the structure of working together is something we already do. What I am wondering is how often do we allow students the opportunity to choose who they work with? Thinking about how we collaborate as adults, we search out information and knowledge from each other as well as experts in the field. We choose to collaborate with those that will keep us on target, that share like ideas, and that have different strengths than we do. I wonder if we have set up an environment that encourages and expects students to work together based on the idea of purposeful learning. When we ask our students to collaborate, is it clear that the outcome is learning? Have we shifted to understanding that collaboration means much more than setting up opportunities for grouping, to expecting learners to all share thoughts and help each other make meaning along the way? Have we set up the understanding with our students that different collaborators for different learning would ensure a positive outcome for each learner? 

Curiosity-
Everything starts with a thought, question, or "I wonder..." that is followed up with searching for the answer and discerning what is relevant to each of us. Have we nurtured creativity in public school? I am not sure we have the organizational structure in public schooling that encourages curiosity over fact based learning. Schooling, back in the day, required the teacher to "fill" the students brains up with as much information as possible. This information, which we considered important, was shared through public schooling all across America. Going to school, to the library, buying encyclopedias, and sharing stories was how we gained knowledge. Times have changed. It is now possible to have acsess to knowing literally about almost anything at the touch of your fingers. I believe this changes our role in public education. While some rote information is necessary, our role more than ever is to ignite the curiosity in our students that drives their desire to learn more and search for information. 

Creativity- 
Creativity and knowledge are infinity entwined with each other. Knowledge, in it's basic forms, depth of knowledge level 1, and depth of knowledge 2, can be considered convergent thinking. Convergent thinking does not allow for creativity as it is looking for "the one right answer" the "factual answer" and "the most straightforward answer" If we are basing our teaching on fact based answers, it will be hard to move that knowledge to a deeper level of understanding. While some level 1 and 2 knowledge is necessary as foundations to learning, moving our students to a deeper level will allow for more critical thinking.
Opposite of convergent thinking is divergent thinking. This is the birthplace of creativity. Divergent thinkers always look at things in a new way. They love to think outside the box and look for many possible answers to problems. Divergent thinkers understand the necessity to apply practical analysis to their many options and select the optimal solution that they can defend with precision. Thinking about our work last week with DOK, it seems that allowing for divergent thinking is the only way we will get to the 3rd and 4th level of knowledge. 
This is the fun part; once the divergent thinking is humming away, creativity should easily follow. There has to be a way for the new knowledge learned to be presented and moved out of the head and into the world. Making something with your knowledge is the key to creativity. I once heard a quote from the African Asaro Tribe that went something like this - Knowledge is only a rumor until it lives in the muscle. Wow! How do we provide opportunities for divergent thinking and creating? That is the question before us.      

The following is a link to an article that I found interesting.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3031994/the-future-of-work/the-secret-to-creativity-intelligence-and-scientific-thinking

As we work together this week, please reflect on how often you are able to provide opportunities for divergent thinking and creating.

Go Roadrunners!

The Power Of Connection

Connect with Kids First 

I read a great article about enjoying teaching and connecting with kids. The excerpt below is from teachingwithsimplicity.com. The ideas come from the book Unshakable written by Angela Watson

Make a connection with five kids every day.  In order to keep myself focused, I’m a list maker. So, I really liked this idea. Divide your class into fifths. You will “assign” each of your students a day of the week.  Make a list of those names for each day.  Of course, they don’t know that the list exists.  On “their” day, pay special attention to those students on the list. Give them a little more feedback, provide praise, or simply give them a smile. Look for the good in those students. If you follow your list, by the end of the week you will have connected with each student on a personal level. Great idea!
The other idea that stuck out to me was to surprise kids with compliment slips and appreciation notes.  Tuck these positive notes away and when students are least expecting it, slip them a note.  Before long, you may see those unruly students begin to make changes in hopes that you will notice them, and they will receive a special note.  It’s a win-win for everyone!


After reading the article, it reminded me of the power of connection. Engaging and connecting with our students is the start of our success with them.

The fact is, we know that our students won't learn from us if they think we don't like them or care for them. As we move into our 4th full week of school, it is important for us to remember that the work we did at the beginning of school to build relationships with our students doesn't end as we shift our focus to content and data. Words are powerful, but even more powerful are the non-verbal clues that we give our students everyday. Frustration can show on our face and in the way we hold our body. Please know that children are experts at reading the non-verbal cues of adults. Every interaction, even when redirecting and refocusing must be delivered with respect and kindness. Kids deserve it!

As we move into the new week, please remember that teaching a child, in all it's fullness, includes modeling respect, empathy, cooperation, and numerous other social skills that we each maneuver through every day. It starts with each of us. If our students are not mastering the teach-to's that we expect, it is really not their fault. They need more practice and we need to provide that for them. Remember, showing anger and frustration is not the way to build trust and relationships. Smile.... let them know you are happy to continue to model for them and give them opportunities to "get it right".

Please let me know ASAP if you have any school-wide teach-to's that your class does really well. I would like to arrange to get several video's done for any new students that come to Holiday Park. It could be fun and I am sure that your students would love to participate.

Thank you to each of you for all of the hard work you are doing to ensure our students are thriving. You matter and what you do each day impacts our students lives beyond measure.

Lean In

  Turning back, giving in, looking the other way, and giving up at times can be so tempting. When things seem impossible and focus is difficult, taking the path of indifference can appear alluring. Exhaustion alone can be overwhelming. And then, as if by design, the choice presents itself. Turn away, or lean in. The decision to lean in represents hope. Embracing the moment, learning from failure, choosing to keep going, leaning in, is perhaps the single most important decision anyone can make. By doing so, focus and passion are sure to follow.
  Everyday at Holiday Park I see teachers and staff deciding to lean in. I am not even sure they are aware of it. Welcoming all children to school each day, staying patient in every situation, connecting to every student, believing in their best and never settling for anything less, is how our staff leans in everyday.  Day after day, from morning to early evening, choosing to stay the path for children is evident everywhere one looks. How lucky are the children and families of Holiday Park? 
  With grace and dignity, our staff dedicates their days, evenings, and often weekends to the students of our school. It is my wish for every child, at every school, everywhere, to experience a learning environment that is as safe and conducive to learning as the one at Holiday Park. Teachers, take the time to lean in, and if you ever need any support to make leaning in possible, reach out to the staff of Holiday Park. We are working on leaning in everyday with you.

Welcome 2015-2016 School Year

Welcome Holiday Park Staff, Students, and Families to the 2015-2016 School Year

    As we start the 2015-2016 learning journey together, it is important for us to remember that we are in the business of kids. Caring for them, helping them, connecting with them, and ensuring that we focus on thinking, are just the beginnings of our job. Being in the business of kids is the most important job in the world. We take our jobs seriously and will do everything to make sure we are doing our job with excellence, every day!

    The focus the first weeks of school is all about building relationships, getting to know our students, teaching routines and expectations, and collecting data to drive our instruction. We believe that all of our students deserve a learning environment that includes adults that are connected with students, where behaviors and expectations are clear, and where thinking is honored above "the right answer"

    Thinking, searching for information, the desire to dig deep, the ability to work with others, and the understanding that our ideas can and should be shared, is the direction of learning in the 21st century. We understand that engaging students minds to think and connect to content is the genesis of learning. We live in an era of boundless availability of information. We must create the desire to go find it. When found, look discerningly at complex information to gain knowledge that satisfies the mind. While searching, we know that we must give all students opportunities to work with each other and collaborate on ideas and thinking. Working together builds common knowledge and encourages deeper thinking. The thinking should not stop when we think we have completed the task, it is actually just the beginning of understanding our responsibility to present, publish, and share our findings and thoughts with others. 

    What an exciting journey we are on. As we start our story, we will strive to stay the course no matter the swing of the "reality" pendulum that will swing joyfully in success and heavily in failure. Our "home" will always be right in the middle, focused on what is best for kids. What a great home to have.