20 Ideas to Get Past "Fine" and "Nothing"

When I get home every day I ask my kids about their day and what they've learned. Every day they try to give me the same responses: "fine" and "nothing". Neither of these are ever accurate. I observe this same typical parent-student greeting in the parking lot every day after school.

Here are 20 ideas to get past "fine" and "nothing" when you greet your child after school:

1. Give them some "think time" by telling them what you are going to ask them, so that they can start thinking about your question.
2. Ask them how computers (or other technology resources) were used in class today.
3. Ask them a follow-up question related to a previous issue.
4. Ask them who they worked with in a small group and what they learned from that partner.
5. Ask them to think about the vocabulary (not spelling words) they are learning and to use one of those words to tell you what they studied today.
6. Ask them to describe something that they wrote down in class.
7. Help them to formulate a question that they could ask the teacher about something they didn't understand.
8. Ask them to predict what they think that they will do in each subject the next day.
9. Ask them to read (something from their backpack- such as an AR book) for 60 seconds and count how many words they read.
10. Ask them to show you something from their backpack that will help you learn something about their day.
11. Ask them to draw you a picture of the best (or most difficult, etc.) part of their day and then to explain it to you.
12. Pretend to be a T.V. news anchor and interview your child about their "highs" and "lows" for the day.
13. Make an appointment for a specific time to hold an "important meeting" to ask your child about their day.
14. Ask them to tell you the objective for math or language arts that was written on the board.
15. Ask them to share a "Quotable Quote" that they heard during the day.
16. Draw a line representing a spectrum, (one end could be "agree" and the other "disagree") and then ask them to respond by pointing on the spectrum as they answer your questions.
17. Ask them to show you a gesture or hand signal that was used in class that helps them remember something.
18. Ask them the funniest thing that happened today.
19. Ask them if they got to speak with any other adults at school other than their own teacher.
20. Ask them when their next math topic test will be.

Always require your children to respond in complete sentences and to explain their responses. "Fine" doesn't answer the question and "nothing" just can't be true.

Please help brainstorm some additional ideas by commenting on the link below.

Digging Out from the Mud

Just when they were ready to pour concrete, it started to rain. Not to be deterred, the contractors are out cleaning up the mess and getting ready again.

We are thankful to have a wonderful company, Tilden Coil, building our project. They are a very professional company with extensive portfolio of school construction experience.

Even the big storm will not deter the project from being on track for completion in August. It is hard to imagine how this muddy mess in the photo can be transformed into a new library.

More Students Becoming Proficient!

During this school year we have been feverishly working to move more students to become solidly proficient. The results of our school-wide efforts are showing positive results.

On the second Reading Lions assessment, school-wide we increased the percentage of students who scored proficient by over 10%. Our goal is 15%, so we are making progress towards meeting our goal. A second part of that goal is a 20% increase of our English Learners into proficiency. We did a little better on that goal, moving 12% more students into proficiency than on the same assessment last year.

While any growth is a good we still have a long way to go before we can celebrate. Even our grades that have the best results (4th Grade) only have 43% of the students passing the assessment. We can celebrate growth, but not having over half of the students failing our school-wide assessments!

Unfortunately, Emerson's results are about average in the school district. We know that our teachers and children are smart. We know that they are all working hard. The biggest obstacle that we need to overcome in meeting California competency standards is to even further align what we teach to what is tested. As a school and a district we have been in this process for a while. We rely too much on our adopted textbooks to provide that alignment, but unfortunately the texts are not aligned closely enough to move more students into proficiency.

The process that we are using is to identify the most important standards and to plan our instruction to match those standards. Sounds easy? When teams of teachers plan for all of the different strands of each subject every day it can take a huge amount of planning.

Planning time is one of our biggest barriers. Many schools have "early release days" when students are dismissed at about 12:30 every Thursday. As a school we don't have "early release days" but instead teachers are released to plan when noon supervisors and substitute teachers supervise the students while doing independent work.

Steven Covey stated that "Every organization is perfectly aligned for the results that it gets." So, if we want to increase the number of students who are successful academically, we need to keep thinking about the next steps we need to take to increase student success.

Construction Photos Coming Soon

The Blogger website has not been available from my school computer, so I have not been able to post lately.

I have several great construction photos that I have taken over the past 3 weeks that I will post soon. The earthmovers have carved the earth down and are compacting and building it back up. The library footprint is marked out for the foundation, plumbing, and electrical work. Some concrete may be pored as early as tomorrow.

The traffic in front of the school has increased as a result of the absence of the lower parking lot, but in August when the new buildings and parking lot opens, this will all be a distant memory.

Building Starts with Demolition

Earthmoving equipment roared, crashing loads of asphalt and roots into idling dump trucks. Our construction project began with fencing off, tearing down, and pulling out the old, in preparation for what’s to come. It’s fitting that demolition began in December just before a big rain storm.
I’m thankful that we were able to hold a 6th grade promotion and a motivational assembly under the shade of the huge pine and pepper trees. All of the students said “good bye” to the soccer field and trees, knowing that progress would provide a much better learning environment than the portable classrooms currently in use.
More trees will be planted to replace the ones that had to be removed. Sixty five apple trees, each one a different variety, will form a new orchard in the middle of the buildings. Large shade trees will be planted on the south side of the buildings as well.
While we will miss the soccer field, we will still have a baseball-sized field in the corner, The existing “upper field” will be enlarged when the “bus turn-around” is eliminated. We are also going to change a portion of the fencing in the community garden to enlarge the shaded area of the playground.
The new buildings will be beautiful. They represent the trust that the community has in us as a school to educate and care for the children. Funded by Measure B, a voter-approved property tax, the building is paid for by all of us who live in the community. The funds cannot be diverted to pay for anything else other than construction. So, “Thanks!” to you, for helping us break ground on the Emerson addition!

Smoke, Evacuation, and Firetrucks...

This morning at about 8:15 a teacher reported smoke in room 2. After checking it out we decided to activate the emergency evacuation system.

Students reported to the field safely, lining up in the way that they have practiced many times before.

When the firetrucks arrived, the parking lot was at a standstill. Some parents dropping off their children were not quite sure what to do- drop them off, take them home or wait. (Waiting would be a good option, just as long as you are not blocking the emergency lanes. Instead, park across the street and wait at the park until you hear the "all-clear" bell.)

The emergency personnel did get in and checked for the origin of the smoke. They found that a heater motor had malfunctioned, causing the motor and insulation to over-heat. Our district HVAC crew took over making repairs. The fire department left by about 8:50.

Students' whose breakfast was interrupted were allowed to go back and eat. Everyone was back to class before 9 a.m. Thanks to all who helped us evacuate as we followed our Emergency Plan.

A few people have asked if the heater problem was related to the demolition work adjacent to the classroom, but it appears to be completely unrelated.

The construction (demolition) work is under way, but the heavy equipment had to take a break while the field dries out after the weekend storm. I'll share some photos of the demolition in my next post.

Parent Workshop a Magical Success

Over 185 Emerson parents and students joined together on December 10 for Emerson's first-ever Parent Language Arts Workshop. The students were mesmerized by The Great Raguzi; I was impressed by our PTA President, Sandy Ramirez, putting on a great spaghetti dinner; the parents were all thrilled with the new things they learned in the parent language arts workshops.

Teachers presented a variety of topics in language arts designed to support parents with difficult language issues. Some classes included make-and-take lessons with language learning games that could be played at home. Others included information on the Sound Spelling Cards and how parents can use spelling patterns as well as sounds to help their children become better readers. In fourth grade, Mr. Butler taught about such issues as how parents can help improve their child's reading fluency.

The children were enthralled with the magic show. As many of you know, The Great Raguzi has two children and two grandchildren at Emerson. It was exciting for his kids (as well as other Emerson students) to be called to the stage to help out with the illusions.

While there were many amazing things that occurred, perhaps the most miraculous was the selected recipient of the raffled computer. I went back to my office with a bowl filled with raffle tickets. I asked our night custodian, John Caballero, to help me draw a name, and he randomly drew the name of none other than Sandy Ramirez, our PTA President. I looked at him and he looked at me. We both shrugged our shoulders and realized that it really was a night of magic. I didn't feel quite as guilty loading up the dirty roasting pans in the back of her car...along with her new computer!