The staff and I have many fun and engaging things planned for your children and the year has started off with a bang! Please use the following resources to stay informed during the 2009-2010 school year.

• The school website – www.sandyridgeelementary.com
• The classroom teacher’s or specialist websites.
• Sign up for enews from our master subscription list and the classroom teacher.
• Follow my blog @ www.180daysofpurpose.blogspot.com
• Follow Sandy Ridge Elementary @ www.twitter.com/tdchilders

At Sandy Ridge Elementary our staff is committed to “180 days of purpose”, which means we make the most of each day. Two major areas of focus this year are differentiated instruction and use of technology.

Consider the responsibility of being a team sports coach. Even before the first game of the season is played, the coach will most certainly spend many hours observing his/her team in practice as they run through specific drills. The coach will watch and take notes as he/she learns more about her players’ individual skills so the coach can design a winning game plan. The coach will match the players’ skills with positions on the field which will best highlight the players’ strengths and downplay their weaknesses. And then, even as the season progresses, as games are won and lost, it will be the coach’s job to ensure that every player’s skill level improves. With the coach’s careful and deliberate modeling, practice drills, and post-game analysis, the players begin to form a better understanding of the sport’s strategy, and from bench warmer to star player, each builds on the skills he/she brought to the field that first day of practice.

The classroom teacher carries this same mentality into planning and delivering quality instruction. The teacher discovers your child’s learning style, assesses to determine what your child already knows and creates specific instructional opportunities to address both. Please collaborate with your child’s teacher to make this a very productive year. When questions or concerns arise in the classroom, please contact the teacher immediately. Feel free to contact me as well after you have attempted to work things out with the teacher.

I hope you and your child have a great year!

Tom Childers

What is I/E?

Students and staff are excited about our new Intervention/Enrichment block. This block was designed to challenge and enrich students. It may also be used to provide additional assistance for those who require support. Each classroom teacher will be paired up with another staff member who will come into the classroom. Students will have the opportunity to interact with other students in a low pressure and exciting environment. During the first six weeks of school the entire school will focus on Reading. Students may work cooperatively in a book study group, perform literary plays or work in a small group for remediation. The focus of I/E will change from time to time. Our teachers will be performing multiple intelligence testing, to determine your child's learning style. Please talk with your child about this part of their day. It is going to be an exciting year at Sandy Ridge!

Recess is a subject too!

I have great memories of my elementary days and most of them involve friends and games that we played at recess. As parents and educators today we feel tremendous pressure to ensure that our children receive the best education possible. What are we sacrificing to reach our goals? It is my belief that school should not teach children endless facts, instead we should teach children to interact with each other to solve problems. To accomplish this our children cannot sit in straight rows in silence while the teacher talks continuously. Children must be given the opportunity to talk, share, engage and learn in a variety of ways. In fact we must create an environment in which children become risk takers and are fearless about their thinking. Don't get me wrong, I do think that we should have and enforce rules, as long as those rules are geared toward the accomplishment of our goals. One of the most important things that any education institution can teach is the ability to interact in an interpersonal way. Children must learn how to interact and work not only with friends who share similar interest, but also with those who act, look and think differently. The globally competitive world that now exists requires strong interpersonal communication now more than ever. I recently spend fifteen minutes coaching my son how to negotiate. After the coaching session, he proceeded to use his newly acquired skill to persuade me into a trip to Game Stop. I think that lesson backfired! Back to my point... children should learn to work cooperatively and interact appropriate and recess is an excellent time to accomplish these goals. When your child is running around tagging other children or playing soccer they are practicing some very important skills. I hope your family has a great start to the school year. See you on the monkey bars...

Playing around with computers!

A professor once told me; "The real work will always be done the old fashion way, computers are toys used for playing games." No I didn't go to college in 1950's, 60's or the 70's. This was merely 20 years ago. Oh my how far we have come! Our children do not know a life without computers, texting, wireless internet, cell phones, PDA's, Ipods, digital music, video games, ATM cards, email, surfing the internet, etc. Many of us (the adults) can easily remember rotary dial telephones, vinyl records and 8 track tapes. Any Star Trek fans out there? As a kid did you ever think that Captain Kirk's communicator would become a reality? Have you used your cell phone today?
Our staff certainly recognizes the need to prepare students for a future that we cannot see. We must use technology to educate students for two major reasons. 1. It is what they know and in fact that don't know a world without technology. I think about my son, playing the WII or Xbox 360, surfing the internet or learning garageband, then I imagine him in a school that doesn't use technology, I visualize one thing... Charlie Brown's teacher. You know her Mrs. Wah, Wah, Wah. Our kids have to be entertained, engaged and motivated. Have you watched cartoons recently? Commercials are 15 seconds in length and a 30 minute block often contains two separate shows. Why? People get bored! Try using a dial up internet connection after using hi-speed. I bet you throw the computer out the window. 2. School has changed / is changing. Our job is not to fill children's heads with facts, figures and dates. We now teach them application. The information is readily available. Anyone can do a google search and find pretty much anything in a matter of seconds. The real trick is managing and using the information in a productive way. Flexibility is critical, you learn technology and then it is outdated. Americans typically think our country is very advanced and frankly is the best country in the world. The U.S. ranks 20th worldwide in broadband internet penetration. Want more? Think about this;

• The U.S. Department of Labor predicts the average child will have 10-14 jobs before they turn 38.
• We prepare children for jobs that don't yet exist. Using technology that hasn't been created. To solve problems that we don't know about.
• The amount of new technical information doubles every year. Soon this information will double every month or day.
• In 2002 Nintendo, spent $140 million in research. The U.S. Department of Education spent less than half that amount during 2002 researching innovations in teaching.
• The number of text messages sent and received everyday exceeds the population of the earth.

The next time you have your computer in your lap and your child asks, "What are you doing?" Take time to show them and discuss your work. You might just be surprised at their level of expertise.

180 Days of Purpose

As we begin our 5th year at Sandy Ridge, I we continue to keep our primary mission in mind. Provide the best possible education to every child. When our school opened in August of 2005, the staff of Sandy Ridge adopted a vision of "180 Days of Purpose". These four words are embedded in every decision and action, Collaboration, Differentiation, Growth & Urgency. We believe that each day is an opportunity to grow children. We make the most of each day by collaborating with parents and other staff members to generate new ideas to help each child. Every parent wants differentiated instruction for their child, we accomplish this by periodically assessing students and then designed small group and independent instruction to address the needs of each student. The success of each school could be measured by the amount of growth made by each child. We make it our mission to grow your child. Most of the students whom attend our school are performing on or above grade level on the first day of school. The staff of SRES is not content to simply allow your child to pass the promotion standards, we strive to push your child to their fullest potential. With this in mind, we create a sense of urgency through our daily instruction. This urgency is created with detailed lessons which challenge and engage students, minimizing classroom disruptions, communication with parents through websites, email and phone calls. During the 2009-2010 school year our two major areas of focus will be; 1) to continue our journey toward differentiated instruction and 2) make the use of instructional technology a major focus. Staff members will be expected to use differentiated practices and technology on a daily basis to assist student learning. Our open house is scheduled for Thursday August 20th. I hope to see you then and I look forward to another terrific year at Sandy Ridge Elementary!

End of the Year Celebration

I hope you enjoy watching a video clip of our End of the Year Celebration. We do this in the spring of each year to reward the students and staff for their hard work.

This video was created in 2007 as a reminder of the rapidly changing world that we live in. Our students and staff are constantly learning and using new technologies to grow and learn.