Bloomer Bloomer... How does your garden grow?

    A garden requires patient labor and attention.  Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intention.  They thrive because someone expends effort on them.  Liberty Hyde Bailey

    Understanding the patient labor and attention needed to have a thriving garden helps describe the commitment required for school improvement processes.  A bountiful garden doesn't just happen.  Gardening is a deliberate process.  The gardener starts with a clear vision for what they want to sow.  Once this is identified a suitable plot is found, taking into account the soil and location.  Before rushing in and planting the skilled gardener takes time to design the garden, giving careful consideration to what different vegetables or fruits will be planted, how far apart the rows need to be and the depth of the variety of seeds needing planted.  After all of this is done the gardener plants the seeds and maintains the garden by tending to it on a frequent basis.  Maintenance requires skill on the gardeners part so that only weeds get pulled and fertilizer applied appropriately.  the degree to which a gardener attends to the soils, design, planting and on-going upkeep determines the abundance of the harvest.  The interdependency between the soil, seeds, upkeep and weather conditions determine the success of the garden.  A landscape design on paper without putting in the hard work to make it happen.

    What does gardening have to do with our work at Bloomer?  Our school improvement plan, strategy is the catalyst so that we may reach our vision to become the school where everyone wants to be.  It's a deliberate process that we plan, teach, assess, reflect and revise.

The core of our work is centered around clarity.  It is in your control to purposefully plan or design the path for your students to learn at high levels.  It starts with a clear learning intention.  Consider the following examples from your colleagues.  Compare those you right to the quality shared below.  It's with clarity that you begin to design a thriving garden.

Kindergarten

LI: Students will be learning to recognize and extend  patterns using sounds/actions created with their teacher.
SC: I am successful when I can recognize the pattern created with my teacher.
SC:  I am successful when I can extend the pattern created with my teacher.

First:

Learning Intention: I will be able to quickly recognize quantities so that I know all the ways to make 10.

I am successful when

I can recognize and represent a given number using counters.

I can tell how many more to make 10 using a tens frame.

I can write an equation for combinations of numbers that make 10.

Second

Learning Intention: We are learning how to find key details in a fictional story.
Success Criteria: I am successful when: 
I can find text evidence to show my thinking
I can tell how a detail helps me better understand the story. 
I can reread to add details in my graphic organizer.

Third

LI  We are learning how to solve big words with the CVCe patters so that we can fluently read and understand books.

SC:  I know I'm successful when:  I can find the CVCe pattern.  I can break a big word into parts, blend the parts back together and read the word.

Fourth

I - I am learning how to focus on an event by using precise words and dialogue in my writing that helps to create a picture in my reader's mind.

SC - I will be successful when I can:
Focus on an event that describes 
-why Dan ran for class president
-dialogue about what Dan is thinking
-Precise words to describe Dan's feelings and reactions.

Fifth

Learning Intention:  I am learning how to multiply whole numbers using the 'ten times" strategy.

Success Criteria

I can use an open array to show my thinking of whole number multiplication.

I can use basic facts to help me solve multiplication problems that are ten time bigger.

I know that when multiplying by ten, the product is ten times the factor.  Which is why a zero can be placed to the right of the answer.

The garden analogy requires maintenance.  That means executing the intention through quality teaching moves and clear feedback.  You monitor through assessment, reflect on the result and then roll through the process again and again.  We will work on all of these areas, however, we begin with clarity.  

The harvest is coming in the spring.  You are planting the seeds and will monitor growth.  Make it happen.

GROW    GROW   GROW    GROW