Dear Colleagues,

I hope your summer was restful, peaceful, and filled with all of the things you love most. I am very excited to embark on my 4th year as an Instructional Coach in Long Beach and I am thrilled to introduce this digital literacy newsletter to all of the Elementary faculty in the district. The role of the coach has evolved over the years. This year, the coaches will still have many curriculum and PD responsibilities, but we are happy to share that we will make the shift from more curricular to instructional responsibilities by working more directly with all of the grade levels over the course of the year. We look forward to collaborating in many various capacities. This year, our coaching focus will be on small group instruction. Most of our coaching will be student-centered in order to build the academic, social, emotional capacity of all students. We will be working with your grade levels during a school tri-mester. Think of the timeline as each report card marking period. We are looking forward to telling you more about this endeavor when we meet with your individual grade levels. Please know that as always, if you have questions concerning this shift, we are always here to help answer them! Here's to a wonderful year filled with wonder, curiosity, exploration, and lots of risk taking!

All my best,

Lauren

Post a Flipgrid Video, in response to Natasha and Christine's invitation. If you participate, you will be entered into a raffle to win a book of your choice! Consider using Flipgrid with your students this year. If you do, we would love to hear about it! Please see your coach if you would like more ideas about how to use this digital tool!

You don't have to sign up for Flipgrid; you can just click the + sign and record your 90 seconds or less video. It gives you the opportunity to stop and redo the video as many times as needed. You can even add clip art to your photo. It's fun...give it a try from any handheld device or computer! Login with your Google account or Microsoft email. Passcode: 578c5a

This year I am looking forward to making our work more transparent through this digital tool! There is a ton of work that gets done both behind the scenes and in the front lines that are not always visible to you! I would love the opportunity to share new strategies we try in classrooms, share student work, curriculum writing/revisions, interesting articles/resources, and fun, academic things happening around the buildings! Who knows, maybe you will feel the urge to try some of these ideas in your classrooms! Feel free to share any happenings I may not see with my own eyes or invite one of us into your classroom when you have something you want to share! If you'd like, tag Christine (@clamarca16), Tasha (@natasha_nurse), and me (@Lau7210) on Twitter to bring our attention to something awesome other teachers would benefit from seeing. In education, we are in the business of sharing! It takes a village! Also, I love celebrating the work of the teachers and students!

Social Media is a fantastic platform to stay connected to best practices in the education field! Become a part of my PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter and/or Instagram! If you are interested in creating an account and telling your classroom story, do not hesitate to reach out to me! Don't forget to use the hashtags #ProudtoBeLB and #LBReads if your posts are highlighting reading!

Follow me on Instagram:

laurenlblitcoach

Follow me on Twitter:

@Lau7210

Email: LKaufman@lbeach.org
Location: Lindell and Lido Elementary Schools
Phone: 516-987-9709
Twitter: @Lau7210

If you reply to me correctly via email, you will be placed into a raffle and have a chance to win a new picture book of YOUR choice! LKaufman@lbeach.org

I had to come up with a creative way to spell out their camp Color War team name. So, I used their favorite picture and chapter books! Are you surprised?