Reflections from an Elementary Principal

We’ve all heard of  Jon Gordon’s “One Word” that gives meaning & focus to your life? Jon suggests coming up with one word instead of list of resolutions.

“A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be a ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp or biting or rich and soft and slow. A single word can be a catalyst for enriching your life!”

I’ve joined the challenge to choose one word [albeit late]–a word to focus on, reflect upon as one goes about daily life. Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2017? It can be something tangible or intangible…it could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you.

My word is PRIORITIES. This Stephen Covey quote below is a reminder for me to be sure that my priorities are part of my daily routine – to truly be present in each moment! At school, my priorities will be spending time in classrooms with students and teachers, ensuring high quality instruction engages our students daily! At home, my priorities will be trying to power down from work and social media in order to give my full attention to my family and children. It will also involve devoting time to my health and coursework as I embark on my next educational chapter! While I am a self-proclaimed  “multi-tasker” I am genuinely going to try to be present in every moment I find myself in.  Maybe it’s not about having “balance” in life. Aren’t both our personal and professional lives 24/7?  It’s more about paying the right amount of attention to each one and recognizing that it’s going to be different every single day.

How often do we pause & think why we are grateful? This week is the quintessential time of year to reflect on the things, events, or people we appreciate. Better yet….if it’s a person, let them know how thankful you are for their role in your life. THANK YOU are two simple words that have the power to transform our health, happiness, performance, and success. Grateful people are happier & more likely to maintain good friendships. Gratitude and appreciation are also essential for a healthy work environment. A simple thank you can make all the difference. As principals, it’s important that we say thank you to those around us each and every day. What better way to spread gratitude around the school during the month of November than #ThankfulThursdays.

Each Thursday during the month of November, it was important to show our gratitude and a thankful spirit with the entire staff.

     

At this time of the year when we give thanks to those we care about, it’s important as the Lead Learner to offer sincere thanks to our entire school family. We have teachers and staff members who keep children at the forefront and work tirelessly to nurture every aspect of their growth. We have students who are invested in their learning & being kind to each other. These collective efforts make our school community the special place it is….and for that, I am thankful & appreciative.

Outward circumstances or conditions do not determine what our lives become nearly as much as the thoughts that dominate our minds & the people we surround ourselves with.

To read more about what I’m thankful for….check out our We Are Thankful #momsasprincipals blog post here.

It’s crazy to think another school year has come to an end! I read a post on Twitter by Bethany Hill:

I knew I wanted to continue to inspire, motivate and remind the staff to keep kids at at the heart of our daily interactions & experiences. We worked so hard all year to create a positive climate and culture, focused on kids, and Bethany’s message was a reminder that we needed to protect that culture!  I scheduled a daily morning inspirational message on REMIND that included:

We also started what will sure to be an annual tradition of sending our students off in style on their last day. All staff lined the bus lane and gave high-fives to students as they boarded their bus for the final time this year. Our 3rd graders were the final students to board the busses (for the last time at Kennedy School) and….there were so many students with tears in their eyes! 🙁
As our busses pulled away from the curb, honking their horns, teachers waved goodbye and wished the children a wonderful summer! (Click the links below to see the videos)

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The final thought we shared with staff (stolen from Venspired: credit goes to Krissy Venosdale) was:

“Just know that, even if nobody said “Thank You,” today, there’s a kid somewhere who loves you, who appreciates you, and who is wondering about something because of something you said in your classroom. Right now there might be a parent who thinks you are the best thing under the sun because you might be the very first person who has understood her child. There’s an administrator who is grateful to have you on staff at your school. At this very moment, there is a student close to graduating high school who found a photo from your classroom that she has saved all these years because you were her favorite. Tonight, a colleague of yours will go home with a smile because something you took the time to say today. One of your students that pretends not to care about his work will be working extra hard tonight, because he wants to show you he can do it.

You’re appreciated. You matter to more kids than I can count on my fingers and toes, and your message to the world will travel well into the future in the hearts of kids who will grow up with dreams and passions that all started right where you are. In your classroom.

Just in case you forget.”

What are your end-of-the-year traditions?

When our teacher from our Specialized Learning and Behavior Center (SLBC) classroom, who teaches 9 students who currently live with an Autism diagnosis, came to me with ideas on growing Autism Awareness at our school — I was so excited and eager to jump onboard this opportunity!

We sent the letter below home with all students:

Next, we ordered a great picture book, My Friend with Autism, by Beverly Bishop. for every two classrooms to share and read aloud to students. This book also included a CD with coloring pages. We also provided classroom teachers with The Autism Helper‘s Autism Awareness Unit. Each grade level was assigned a color and teachers were provide with blank cardboard puzzle pieces. Students participated in decorating the puzzle pieces, which became part of our school’s autism awareness tree.

Our PreK classrooms read the Sesame Street digital storybook “We’re Amazing, 1,2,3!” which features Elmo, Abby and their friend Julia, who has Autism. There are many great resources on Sesame Street’s website, which can be found here.

Each Friday, students in our school community wear blue as our school goes BLUE for AUTISM!

I was so proud of the lead teacher who came to me with this idea and knew we had to show our appreciation for the dedication she, and all of the paraprofessionals in our SLBC classroom exhibit daily as they support, love and advocate for their students. These teachers are true superheroes who are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their students make progress, feel safe and comfortable at school, and find ways for the children to demonstrate their brilliance, while celebrating every success and milestone! Their patience, love and perseverance MUST be honored and appreciated…..

We purchased white shadow-box frames from Michaels and decided to get crafty —

The National Autism Association has amazing photos on their Facebook page and it was my goal to find a unique image/quote for each staff member. I ordered a puzzle piece Fiscars Squeeze Punch, and used paint swatch samples from the hardware store to punch out puzzle pieces in various shades of blue as accents to the quotes. The final products turned out amazing & it was just a small token of our appreciation for all that our staff does!

        

What is your school community doing to participate in Autism Awareness month?

While the quote above captures the sentiment I relay to staff around this time of each year, schools are always looking for fun ways to enjoy the final weeks of school. Although the end of the year can be tempting to hit the “cruise control” button, it’s important that we make a commitment to finish the year as strong as we started & not hit the cruise control button….our kids deserve better! Students will feed off our attitude and if we expect the best from them, then we must give them the best of us!

Rick Wormeli says it best,

“Don’t waste the last few weeks of school on fluff and babysitting experiences. It’s not only boring to students, it’s unethical. Choose a day very soon to begin planning for one of the highlights of the year: the experiences of those last few weeks.”

Each and every day our students need us. Remember that you may be the only constant presence in some of your students’ lives. Make a choice each day for your presence to be a positive, constant factor. It’s a great opportunity that we have to come to school and have an impact on students’ lives from day to day. We all became educators because we care about kids.

Our school has always participated in an ABC Countdown, which counts the final 26 days of the school year in a fun, engaging way (see below: we start our countdown on THURSDAY!)

      

It’s important to look at the end of the year as a stage for next year. A strong finish helps build for a successful year to come. Although ABC countdowns make the final 26 days fun, we must also ensure a strong finish and a positive launch into the next school year! Try to keep the following in mind:

*Have high expectations for all. The end of the school year is not only about celebrations. It’s about learning. Focus on what’s important and find the balance between keeping the learning at the forefront of your classroom and enjoying those “end of the year” celebrations.

*Be well planned. Act with intention and purpose each day! Students thrive on routine and consistency. Just because the weather is getting warmer and field trips are blooming, the last thing you want to do is lose focus. It’s important to ensure that the learning process continues to bloom and that students are engaged.

*Keep a positive and hopeful attitude. This time of the year can be emotional and exhausting for all. Remember to find the good stuff. It’s there if you take time to look for it.

Why not capitalize on current events and use them to inspire school-wide activities?

We solicited the help from our PE teachers & librarian to create a Pinterest-inspired book match-up version of a March Madness bracket.

Our field started with 16 favorites: the most popular books from our own school community. For each round of our “tournament” classroom teachers would ask students to cast 1 classroom VOTE for their favorite book in each match-up. We sent the teachers a Google Form that showed the match-ups.

How do you bring trending events to your school in a kid-friendly way?

If you work in an elementary building, you’ll agree that St. Patrick’s Day in a Kindergarten classroom is almost as exciting and magical as the Gingerbread Day! Our Kindergarten students created leprechaun traps at home and were so excited setting their traps before leaving their classrooms for recess/lunch. Upon returning, the students found a mess in their classroom, chairs knocked over, gold glitter or other leprechaun “clues” around, as well as a note from their small, sneaky little leprechaun friend. Today was truly a magical day for our Kindergarten student. They experienced true joy, laughter and happiness! I truly enjoyed watching the students’ reaction and sharing in their experience that will surely be a memory they’ll never forget! Not only did the sneaky leprechaun leave a mess in the Kindergarten classrooms, he also sprinkled IMAGINATION and HOPE ~ for a split second, our 5 and 6 year olds enjoyed a day without benchmarks, or assessments. The truly enjoyed the magic of believing and being an innocent, hopeful child!

In addition to the magic experienced in our Kindergarten classrooms, our school ran our annual Pennies for Patients fundraising campaign from March 1st-March 17th. All donations raised benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since 1994, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change by more than 10 million elementary, middle and high school students throughout the country.

In this year’s Pennies for Patients campaign at Kennedy School, students earned a “shamrock” paper cut-out to place on their classroom door each time they brought a box filled with coins. The classroom with the most “shamrocks” on their door would be recipients of  a SHAMROCK SHAKE party on the Friday before Spring Break! Also, as an extra motivator for our students to participate in this fundraising campaign, we set a school-wide goal of $3,400 (an increase from what our school raised last year). We promised our students, if they were able to collectively raise at least $3,400, the principals would dye their hair green on St. Patrick’s Day!

As a school, I’m proud to announce that we raised $4,015.27 ~ exceeding our goal of $3,400! We are very proud of the generosity demonstrated by the children of Kennedy School!

        

I encourage everyone to see the world from a child’s perspective….it surely won’t disappoint!

 In the midst of PARCC testing, and planning for the 2016-2017 school year, a principal can easily get bogged down with budgeting, staffing, scheduling and end-of-the-year preparations. It’s important to always spend time to experience the curiosity and wonder that accompanies learning experiences each day with our students! #KIDSDESERVEIT

For the past several years, our school district participates in Project Unify, which is an educational based program (via Special Olympics). The goal of Project UNIFY is to give students opportunities to build change and motivate their school communities to have a true culture of inclusiveness. Project UNIFY’s diverse activities can be grouped into three major components: Inclusive Sports, Youth Leadership and Advocacy, and Whole School Engagement.

Spread the Word to End the Word is an ongoing effort by Special Olympics to inspire respect and acceptance through raising the consciousness of society about the R-word and how hurtful words and disrespect can be toward people with disabilities. The campaign, created by youth, is intended to engage schools organizations and communities to rally and pledge their support & to promote inclusion and acceptance.

When one student has an attitude of acceptance & inclusion toward people (especially fellow students) that is a wonderful thing. When that one student becomes many….when an entire school has a climate of acceptance and inclusion…it becomes a powerful community! Ultimately, when a school climate conveys and fosters understanding, inclusion and respect for all, the students internalize those lessons for their lives both within and beyond school.

Our goal this past week (and everyday) is to educate the our students, staff and community that we should love everyone for who they are and accept all differences. This year, our school’s approach to teach our little ones about diversity, acceptance & perseverance included several ideas. On Wednesday, we “Spread the Love” by having students sign a pledge, promising to use kind words and respect with one another. The theme this year was “Welcome to RESPECT CITY: Population Everyone”. 

  

On Thursday, we asked all classroom teachers to devote time in their schedule to read the book “Only One You” by Linda Kranz (the school purchased a copy for every classroom). We also purchased smooth rocks for each child & acrylic paint, and had each classroom participate in an activity where they painted their own, unique rock. The end goal will be to adorn our school courtyard with the unique rocks that make up our student body. We also asked our whole school community wear GREEN this Thursday to match the Special Olympics shirts the students and staff in our specialized programs wore.

    
Finally, our middle school hosts an annual Project Unify basketball game, where children with exceptionalities, who may not have the opportunity to participate on an organized sports team, engage in a friendly game of basketball with typical peers, in the gymnasium setting with referees, the scoreboard & a crowd in the stands. It’s an amazing experience to see our middle school student body cheering on their peers!

      

How does your school foster a culture of acceptance and inclusion?

As Spring Break approaches, I wanted to share a fun staff activity (idea credit goes to Melinda Miller).

This activity encourages all staff to use a QR Code Reader on their iPads or iPhones to participate and provides a little staff fun before heading out for break. The staff at Kennedy is very comfortable with QR codes, as they use them regularly with the iPads in each classroom, but I highly recommend the activity below if your staff is reluctant to use QR codes or have yet to explore this technology tool~!

• Purchase plastic easter eggs ~ we have a staff of approximately 100; therefore, we hide about 50 eggs throughout our building.
• Think about small gifts that you can give out to staff: sharpies, flair pens, cute post-it notes, jump drives, anything from the Dollar Spot at Target, mini staplers, colorful paperclips, etc.
• Use a QR code generator to create QR codes that inform the winner what prize they won! Print out your QR codes & place them inside the plastic eggs.
  
• Have fun hiding the eggs around your building — Keep a list of the color eggs/prizes/locations, in case some eggs aren’t found — it makes it easier for you to give clues!
• Send the email below to your staff to begin the Egg Hunting Fun!

…..just for some Spring-Time fun……to participate, please make sure you download a QR Code Reader on your smartphone or iPad.

*There are 50 plastic eggs hidden around the building. None are in classrooms. The hunt will begin on the Wednesday before Spring Break.

*Inside each plastic easter egg is a QR code for you to scan & see what you won and how to claim your prize.

*One egg limit! Once you find an egg, you can either help a colleague out or leave the rest hiding 🙂

*Students might find the eggs. If they bring one to you and you don’t have one yet….by all means-claim the egg! If you have already found an egg, tell the students to put it back where he/she found it.

Other than an Easter Egg Hunt…..how else could you use this in your classroom? 

HAVE FUN!

The 100th Day of School is always an exciting day for our students, but principals can get in on the fun, too!

The morning of the 100th day, I sent an email to the staff, asking them to help me meet my goal of making 100 positive phone calls home.

I sent a Google Form to collect the information:

As the responses came in, my assistant principals and I began making phone calls to parents. Their reactions were priceless!
The reactions of parents after I started the conversation by saying, “Hi, this is Mrs. Kartsimas, the principal at Kennedy School” were one of the following:

a) “Is everything okay with my son/daughter?”
or
b) “What did my son/daughter do?”

After I proceeded to tell them the wonderful news that a teacher reported about their child, the follow-up was one of the following:

a) I know
b) Wow, thank you so much for calling! This just made my day
c) Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to call me.
d) Seriously?

Making 100 positive phone calls was certainly one of the best feelings in the world! Although our school has a goal to make 5 positive connections each week, we typically send positive postcards, which I’ve blogged about here, the power of a positive phone call truly goes a long way! I shared this idea with the Principals In Action voxer group I am a part of, as well as tweeting about it & the reaction was overwhelming with other administrators, including Superintendents, who wanted to take part in this awesome gesture to spread positive messages to our families!

I challenge you to choose kindness….be intentional when building relationships with your stakeholders.

**We happened to have a faculty meeting after school and wanted the teachers to engage in some 100th day fun, too!
We prepared chart paper numbered 1-100 & divided the staff up into teams, partnering staff members up with people other than those they frequently work with on a daily basis. We gave each team the task of coming up with their own “category” and then asking them to work together to come up with 100 of that “category”. Prizes were awarded to the first 3 teams to reach 100!

Squeals ….

Screaming….

Other high pitched noises….

  

The staff was SO competitive, I tell you! It was fun to watch the teachers engage in some 100th day fun and enjoy the day, just as much as the students did ! ~ See the video below:

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The winning team received the opportunity to spend $100 on books from Scholastic.
The 2nd and 3rd place teams received “100” pencils & “100” pieces of candy.