Week of February 22

Each blog, I share highlights of the students' week, including grade level activities and new learning.  Today, I would like to share with you some highlights involving what our teachers are learning and doing, which positively impacts your child...

PBIS Tier 2 Training

Several times this school, our PBIS Team is meeting in Waukesha to grow our skills and knowledge with PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports).  Willow Glen and Deer Creek staff members join PBIS Teams from districts across our area, to develop plans of implementing Tier 2 interventions for our students.  As you may be aware, both schools were awarded the honor of being "Schools of Merit" for their success with the first tier of implementation of PBIS.  Currently, we are learning about deeper, focused strategies for reaching some of our more reluctant students.  After each PBIS meeting, we return to Willow Glen and put our new learning into practice.  The students are benefiting from this adult professional development, and we have enjoyed watching the climate improve at WG, with fewer behavior incidents and happier children!

Leadership and Coaching for RtI (Response to Intervention)

We have a team of educators from across the district, who gather in Oconomowoc a few times per year, to learn more about the impact of coaching on student achievement.  In these sessions, we are introduced to the tools needed for teacher leaders to coach other educators.  These gatherings have been of high value, as we grow to understand the process of coaching, with immediate, actionable ideas to take back to our buildings. Together, we are creating a coaching vision, and developing a work plan.  

Early Literacy Service (ELS)

More than 10 teachers have been formally trained in ELS.  This is a full year program, offered in the evenings, which addresses researched-based strategies for supporting our struggling readers.  Select students at Willow Glen are receiving this intervention on a daily basis.  We have seen students excel to meet and exceed grade level benchmarks, as a result of their participation in this program.

WILLOW GLEN TEACHERS ARE LIFE-LONG LEARNERS AND DEDICATED TO PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH HIGH QUALITY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES!

Week of February 8

Valentine's Day activities abound at Willow Glen!

Graphing conversation hearts, writing poems, sharing stories, exchanging cards, and many, many treats...

Traditional, festive, holiday activities infused with lots of learning!

Week of February 1

                     Happy 100 Days of School!

      100 days of learning, friendship, and community...

             Please follow me on Twitter for pictures of today's celebrations!

Week of January 18, 2016

Classroom Highlights

GREAT learning activities are taking place in all classrooms!  Here are a few tidbits from each grade level...

K4 - Children are engaged in snow-related activities.  They had indoor snowball fights (using paper) and have even ice-skated across the classroom (also with paper!).  K4 students are learning about the letter P, which is Mrs. Picciolo's favorite color!  In math, they are working on story problems, focusing on penguins.

K5 - Kindergartners are working with word families.  They are ready to start a new science unit titled, "Materials in Our World", and they are skip-counting up to 100.

Grade 1 - First graders are completing their non-fiction book during writing class.  They are working on number scrolls up to 1000, and they are learning all about "heroes".

Grade 2 - In Science class, second graders are starting a new unit called, "Solids, Liquids and Gases".  They are learning subtraction strategies and are ready to publish their non-fiction books.

Grade 3 - Third graders are showcasing their Native American Dwelling Projects.  They learned how to use Google Draw to create pictures about the water cycle.  In math, they are learning about place value and decimals, all the way into the millions!

Continue to stay warm as we enter the last week of January!

Welcome to 2016!

A few tidbits as we begin 2016...

MAP testing has begun and will continue through the end of the month.  Please encourage your son/daughter to do their best, as they embark on this benchmark assessment in reading and math.  We can't wait to compare the fall student data with the winter data...We are expecting much   G R o w T H !!!

Be sure send your child with warm jackets, hats, mittens, snow pants and boots.  The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports outdoor recess every day!

December News...

Highlights of the past 2 weeks include...

4K - Students have been busy learning to group and sequence numbers.  They have also learned the letters "T" and "S".  Celebration:  Children are becoming more independent putting on their coats, as the colder weather is upon us!

5K - Children are studying new word families, as well as new strategies in reading.  They are creating books in writer's workshop, and learning about holiday traditions around the world.

Grade 1 - Students are working on retelling stories with details.  They are also wrapping up their science unit on light and sound.

Grade 2 - Lots and lots of learning, but the highlight for this grade level would have to be their television debut on Channel 12, as "Morning Shout Out Classrooms"!

Grade 3 - Children are learning how to be informational writers.  They have researched animals and have applied their new learning to create non-fiction books.  


Tuesday, December 22 children will participate in an all-school sing-a-long.  Holiday joy is everywhere at Willow Glen!

Enjoy winter break!

Week of December 7

A HUGE thank you to all the parents that joined us on December 3 for our annual Holiday Program!  The theme was "Light up the Night".  The students dazzled us with a wide variety of seasonal songs.  Mrs. Neuman, Music Teacher,  led the children in a spectacular evening of music and dancing lights!

Willow Glen in the news...
Each of our second grade classes will be featured on WISN Channel 12's School Shout Out, in the coming weeks!
Mrs. Michalski's class will be on TV December 9.
Ms. Skenadore's class will be on December 11.
Mr. Groth's class will be on later in December (date will be provided shortly).

Additionally, Second Grader Hana Nahib, showed tremendous generosity and compassion for the less fortunate, by organizing a shoe drive for the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. Her goal was to collect 100 pairs of shoes for the homeless, and she far exceeded her goal by collecting over 300 pairs of shoes!  Channel 4 will be airing a story on Hana's act of giving.  I will share the link to this newscast, as soon as I am able.  Way to go, Hana!!!!!