Owen Overview

Final Post

I am approaching my one year anniversary of being a part of a Principal Blogging Project sponsored by Scott McLeod, then professor at the University of Minnesota, now of Iowa State University. His goal was to increase community communication and involvement in edcuation. He targeted 100 principals to participate and I was one of the lucky volunteers to be selected.

In the year that I have participated, I have learned many things and heard from many people even outside our school itself. This will be my last post for the Owen Overview and I'd like to share some of the things I have learned as a farewell.

1. It's hard to imagine how many different people see what I write and respond. In addition to the Owen parents and staff, one of my former teachers who now works in another school district found me as did one of my college roommates. Since college, I had not talked with either of those people and the blog reconnected us. That was really cool.

2. I can use a slightly different tone in my blog than I can in listserve messages or newsletters. Because I can talk about a wider array of topics, I can be a little more informal and enjoy the voice I was able to use.

3. There are some terribly mean and nasty people out there. I knew that opening this dialogue would lead to people questioning or challenging the things I said and I accepted that before starting. I did not anticipate those who might use my blog to pick a fight or to simply denigrate someone else. Especially troubling were those who chose to comment anonymously and to utter falsehoods while protected by that anonymity. That unwillingness to stand for what they said was the most disappointing and appalling part of the whole process. Dealing with the lies and ad hominem attacks took the focus away from the chance for our community to give direction to our students' education and that was always a disappointment.

4. Despite the negative comments, there were many people who shared great ideas or made suggestions of other things to consider. I truly do appreciate the people who made suggestions for making Owen better and will continue in that effort in all that I do.

5. As a parent, this has led me to worry about my own children using the internet. As a former English teacher and with an LRC director as my wife, we both share concerns about the kind of language you can find on the internet and how reliable anyone can be as a source of information. Blurring the line between parent and principal, I have been thinking about how we incorporate that lesson about source reliability in the lessons we teach at Owen.

With all of that being said, I am not going to stop communicating with our community. I am going to rely more heavily on our listserve and it is my goal to get our listserve participation as close to 100% of the Owen families as is possible. If you'd like to continue to hear about the developments and plans at Owen, please sign up to be a part of our listserve. It takes less than a minute to join and you will receive lots of updates about the goings-on at Owen Elementary. You can go to the Owen Elementary site and click on the blue box with the owl picture in the upper right hand corner of the page. Be sure to sign up for the Owen list and not just the District one.

You can also simply send an email to Owen list sign-up and make sure you reply to the confirmation email that comes to your address.

The Owen Overview is now over. I hope you have enjoyed it. Thanks.

Jason Bednar

Owen Listserv

In looking at the numbers of people on our listserv, I have found some interesting data. Owen currently has 435 families sending 550 students to our school. Of this, we have 243 distinct families who have joined our listserv. That leaves 192 families who have not joined the listserv. As those of you on our listserv know, this is the primary way I send out newsletter-type information, seek parental feedback on ideas aside from this blog and generally try to increas communication between school and community. With that in mind, we would like to move closer to 100% participation in our listserv. Below is a link to the page where you can join this listserv. In addition to that, I hope you will offer ideas on how to entice more families to take advantage of our listserv membership. Thanks.

Listserv Sign-up

Event Survey Results for 2007

FROM THE PRINCIPAL AND PTA PRESIDENT

Dear Owen Families,

Thanks to those of you who responded to our room parties/school events feedback form. A total of 182 responses were returned (a 42% return rate) with 172 (95%) in support of the plan as presented, 8 (4%) opposed and 2 (1%) with no position taken. Based on this response we will move forward with the events as proposed. The PTA Executive Board and Mr. Bednar along with our committee chairs will be using your feedback as we finalize plans for this year's events.

As you know in order for any of these events to occur we need parent volunteers. If you are willing to assist with any of the events please contact Kristin Miceli at kmmicelil@sbcglobal.net or look to sign up in the MPR at Curriculum Night on September 11th.

Be looking for information on the first event taking place on Friday, September 28th. This event is Movie Night. Here's to a great year.

Mr. Bednar and Kristin Miceli

Jason Bednar
Principal
Owen Elementary

Start of year events

The start of the year is very nearly upon us. If you feel as harried as I do with all the running around, making sure everything is in the right place, then I know you are looking forward to next week finally arriving. First day information will be posted later today or tomorrow. The PTA and I would like to invite parents to join Kristin and I for coffee on Wednesday, August 29th from 9:20am to 10:00am. Yes, this is the third day, but with all the little glitches that could arise, I did not want to commit to a time that I might not be able to make. Though brief, we hope this is an opportunity for us to thank you for sending your children to Owen and make sure we've answered all of your questions.

The next evening, August 30th, from 5-7pm, we will be hosting the Ice Cream Social. This event has been expanded over previous years and will include some games for the children to play and to reinforce those classroom relationships begun just this week and those friendships from previous years. I hope to see all of our families that evening.

August 20th information updates

With the start of school right around the corner and most parents having seen their child's class placement sometime since they were posted on Friday, August 17th, there are a few things I want to remind everyone about. On Thursday, August 23rd from 6-8 pm is Student Orientation and PTA Supply kit pick-up. For those of you who are already familiar with our building, this is still an opportunity to locate your child's classroom and to drop off community items like tissues rather than having your child carry them on Monday. Individual items will still need to come in backpacks, but that will be less of a burden if you drop off community items on Thursday.

Once school starts, we have an exciting event already planned for August 30th. In response to many parent comments last year, PTA and I talked about how to make the Ice Cream Social a better experience while still retaining elements of the traditional Meet and Greet. We've expanded the time of this event compared to previous years. On the 30th, we will have our event run from 5-7pm. During this time, there will be a few games for students to enjoy, ice cream for everyone, a chance for old friends to reconnect and new classroom friends to be reinforced. Also, this will be the time when the PTA and I collect surveys and discuss our proposals for the rest of the year. This is a chance to ask questions about those events described in the letter coming home on the first day of school. I believe this will be a great way to start the year while reinforcing the friendships burgeoning in new classrooms. I hope to see everyone there on the 30th.

1st and 2nd grade supply lists

In case you did not receive my email or pick up a letter when you viewed class lists, here are the 1st and 2nd grade supply list guides. These will tell you which items need to be labeled and which are put into a community bin. The community items for all grade levels can be dropped off on Thursday, August 23rd during our Student Orientation from 6-8pm. Students may come, but classrooms will not be open.

Dear 1st Grade Parents and Students,

Please be sure to label your school supplies prior to the 1^st day of school, with a permanent marker.  The table below shows how each item needs to be labeled.

First & Last Names	First and Last Initials Only	No Label Necessary
Book Bag	Scissors	Tissues
4 Folders	Crayons (all 24)	Baby wipes
12 in. Ruler	6 Glue Sticks	Ziploc baggies
Spiral Notebook	Supply Box	Stickers
Old Sock or Dry Eraser	2 Pink Erasers	Clorox Wipes
Art Smock	Markers (all 8)
3 Ring Binder	Dry Erase Markers (all 8)
	16 #2 pencils (Sharpened!)
	12 Colored Pencils (all 12)

**Please place the scissors, 1 eraser, crayons, 1 glue stick, all colored pencils, 2 dry erase markers (any colors), your sock or dry eraser, and 4 pencils in your child’s supply box.  In a large ziplock bag, place your EXTRA pencils, dry erase markers, glue sticks, and eraser.

If you plan on attending the Orientation, Thursday, August 23^rd during the evening, feel free to drop off the supplies under the “No Label Necessary” category in front of your child’s classroom.  Boxes will be marked and available for drop off.  This will lighten your child’s load their first day of school.

If you would like to include a note in your child’s lunch box of book bag, it makes a long first day, seem a little shorter!  We are looking forward to a GREAT and EXCITING school year!

The 1st Grade Team

Dear 2^nd Grade Parents and Students,

Please be sure to label your school supplies prior to the 1^st day of school.  The table below shows how each item needs to be labeled.

First & Last Name	Initials Only	No Label Necessary
Scissors	Crayons (all 24)	Tissue boxes
Glue bottle	Sharpened Pencils (all 10)	Baby wipes
Glue sticks	Markers (all 8)	Ziploc baggies
Supply box	Colored pencils (all 24)	Paper towels
Art smock		Sticker packages
Book bag		Dry erase markers
Pink erasers		Red pens
Spiral notebooks
Composition notebooks
Folders

**Please note: students no longer need to bring a RULER.  They have been purchased by the team.

If you plan on attending the Orientation, Thursday, August 23^rd during the evening, feel free to drop off the supplies under the “No Label Necessary” category in front of your child’s classroom.  Boxes will be marked and available for drop off.  This will lighten your child’s load their first day of school.

Looking forward to a GREAT and EXCITING school year!

The 2^nd Grade Team

Beginning of the Year events

I know the start of school is creeping up on us and it feels like summer has just breezed right by. I wanted to give you some information about the start of the year and answer any questions you might have.

The first thing you probably want to know is when can you find out your child's teacher. I will post this information on the front door of the school at 3:00pm on Friday, August 17th. I know this is not the kind of event you are thinking about, but it is a popular social gathering for many people and I know most students will be excited to learn the identity of their teacher.

Our first event will be a combined event on August 23rd. From 6-8pm the PTA Supply Kits will be available for those who ordered them to pick up their supplies. At the same time, we will have a New Student Orientation. This is truly available for anyone wanting to find their classroom or just refresh their memories of our building before the hustle and bustle of the first day. For those new students and kindergarteners, this is a chance to have a guided tour by a veteran fifth grade student, meet the principal, ask any questions and just find out that our school is a warm and welcoming place.

There is no formal meet and greet scheduled this year. In conversation with many parents and staff, this 30 minute event was too hectic as students tried to revisit last year or previous year's teachers and meet their new teachers. This was made more harried for parents with multiple students. In an effort to reduce the stress, the PTA Executive Board and I decided to hold the Ice Cream Social from 5-7pm on Thursday, August 30th. One of my goals this year is to create more opportunities for all parents to participate in events and moving the ice cream social to a later start time allows more parents to hopefully join us and gives us a more relaxing evironment for students to mingle with their new classmates and parents to have a relaxing social interaction with hopefully mild temperatures. On the first day of school, you will be receiving a letter and survey regarding school events for this year. This letter will give you a brief overview of the room parties and school events the PTA Executive Board and I propose to hold this year. I would like to ask for your feedback regarding these proposals so we can have the full school community involved in planning and running the activites that enrich our school experience. We need these surveys returned to the main office by Friday, August 31st so the PTA Executive Board and I can review your feedback and share the results of this process at the September 6th PTA General Meeting.

Development of Fall Team Building Event

A group of Owen staff members and I have worked out some ideas for our team building event. I am excited about how this is shaping up. As I mentioned in my previous blog about Wikis, I think this will become a great way for us to share ideas communally and collaboratively. I have created a Wiki page where parents can view these ideas and add their input. Owen Team Building Event Wiki. Please visit this page and feel free to make suggestions. If you'd like to ask questions, this blog is probably the best place to do so. Of course, you can always email me directly if you would prefer not to post on my blog.

Wiki opportunities in education

Dr. Scott McLeod posted a call to educators in the blogosphere to talk about technology and how education needs to further embrace it to enhance learning. I know it is late on the 4th, but this is the first chance I have had to work on this today. With the teachers and students on summer break, I have had time to read articles and think about ideas to help our staff continue to deliver exceptional learning opportunities for our students. Recently, I watched a YouTube video of a speech by Harvard professor Dr. Richard Elmore about the resilience of teacher culture and this prompted me to look further into ways our teachers can share ownership of learning with our students so we can strive to work more regularly with the higher skills on Bloom's taxonomy. I like the idea of using Wikis to share the creative element of knowledge. I am going to share this with the teachers to see how we can use wikis to make new learning opportunities for our students. I am intrigued by this being something our students can contribute to while expanding their learning. Hopefully this will be easy for teachers and students to use.

Kindergarten neighborhood assignments

I am sure many of our kindergarten parents are anxious to know if their child is in morning or afternoon kindergarten this fall. To give you as much advance knowledge as possible, here are the neighborhood assignments for the kindergarten classes in the fall of 2007. In the AM session will be students from Brighton Ridge, Westglen, Mill Ponds and Chicory Place. In the PM session will be students from Meadowlakes and Stonehaven.