Category Archive

We continue to work on The 15-day Culture Challenge. This past week, students reviewed expectations for hallways, recess, cafeteria and restrooms in morning meetings. In addition, teachers were challenged to spend two minutes a day for ten days connecting through conversation with a student in their classes. The technique is known as two-by-ten, and it is intended to build relationships. Please note that we will host an Open House on Wednesday, January 15th at 9:00 am. Encourage any families that have expressed interest in Shepherd to attend. Word of mouth is our most effective marketing strategy! There are a number of updates this week. Please scan the headings and see what is of interest to you and your family: Girls on the Run — I met with the Program Director this week, and if there is interest, I would like to restart the program at Shepherd. The program is for girls in grades 3-5, and the season begins mid-March and ends in early June. Practice would be twice a week from 3:15-4:30, and the program culminates in running a 5K in late May/early June. If your daughter is interested in running or if you are interested in being a coach, … Read More

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Winter Break. Our custodians worked hard over break, and the floors are sparkling. At last month’s PTA meeting, we discussed doing some resets around culture after Winter Break. Carissa, our SEL central office support person, will speak to us as a group about structured recess hopefully at our next faculty meeting. As Ms. Rottman and I discussed the reset earlier this week, we decided to try to have a little fun with it and call it The 15-day Culture Challenge. We have just fifteen school days until our professional development day on the 27th. The challenge is to do the one designated strategy/method/technique for strengthening our culture daily. We created a calendar and are providing more detail to staff weekly. This week we simply had a specific share at morning meeting on Thursday: Why are you glad to be back at school? Then, on Friday, we asked students to list their hopes and dreams for the rest of the school year. Typically, Responsive Classroom schools do this activity at the beginning of the school year. Voicing our hopes and dreams will help us with the reset. Responsive Classroom asserts: Inviting students … Read More

Dear Families, We are in the home stretch before Winter Break — five days to go. But, as always, we have an exciting and busy week ahead. Here is what is happening next week at Shepherd: Tuesday, December 17th — Community Center Groundbreaking Ceremony with the Mayor & ChancellorWednesday, December 18th — LSAT 4:30 pmWednesday, December 18th — PTA 6:30 pmThursday, December 19th — Winter Concert 6:30 pmFriday, December 20th — Winter Concert 8:50 am For the Winter Concert on Thursday, December 19, students should arrive no later than 6:15 pm. They should wear blue bottoms and a white shirt; school uniform works. The more students we have present the better our concert will be! Please let your homeroom teacher know if your child will not be in attendance. We had our largest family turn out yet for today’s All School Meeting, which was led by second grade. The second grade taught us about winter holidays around the world, how messages sometimes get lost in translation and got us on our feet to do the cha-cha slide. They did an outstanding job. Tomorrow some parents will join staff members at EdFest to recruit families to Shepherd. A big thank you … Read More

Dear Families, I have some important updates to share… “Aladdin” Musical Auditions: Aladdin Auditions will be held TODAY (Thursday, December 12th) and Friday, December 13th from 3:30-4:30 in the music room. Students have been working on audition songs during music class, and they have also been told about extra practice times offered next week before the auditions. The students have also signed up for auditions and character parts they are interested in.  Some students have signed up for crew as well, but more for the crew will come after winter break. The show will be cast before winter break, and students who receive parts will go home with scripts. They will also go home with a letter that will need to be signed by their parents, as well as the students. We are very eager to start this journey with the students to make the spring show wonderful! Community Center Groundbreaking Good evening Shepherd Park Community! On behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser, DPR and DGS are pleased to announce the upcoming Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Shepherd Park Community Center!  Please see below for event details. GROUNDBREAKING DETAILS: Date: Tuesday, December 17th Time: 3:00 PM Location:  Shepherd Elementary School (7800 14th Street, NW) … Read More

Dear Families, For the last two days, Mr. Mack, Ms. Scott and I were out of the building attending Courageous Conversation: Beyond Diversity with other DCPS employees at Phelps. Through readings, conversation and activities, we explored race and racism and how each impacts the culture and climate of schools. The first day, we focused on personalizing race: our personal stories, race in our lives and the social construction of race and racial knowledge. On day two, our focus was examining whiteness, and we discussed characteristics of white culture, systemic racism and affirmative action. Discussions with the Academic Leadership Team around eliminating racial achievement disparities prompted us to attend this seminar, and this weekend, the three of us are reflecting on how to share a similar experience with staff. It was powerful and emotional experience for all participants, and we left energized and excited about using this learning to benefit students. If you would like to discuss further or have questions, please feel free to reach out to me, Ms. Scott or Mr. Mack. Learn more about Glenn Singleton’s organization, Courageous Conversation, here. Next week, the learning continues as four staff members attend full day Responsive Classroom trainings. We also have … Read More