Week of May 9, 2016
Hello Shining Stars,
This last week was busy! However, I was thrilled to see the level of enrichment and learning that we were able to do together. You should have no doubt that your level of collaboration, and professionalism is to be commended. On top of that, our Fiesta was a BEAUTIFUL community event. I was so impressed with the way several pitched in to volunteer and take part in the festivities. We truly are an amazing community and we make families feel welcome and included.
• Staffing Update – HR has officially completed the staffing and bumping process for classified staff for the 2016-17 school year, which means no classified staff from our building are getting bumped or displaced this year. In fact, we will have two vacancies this year with one new position and one position from Tracy Denman’s resignation.
We’ve also been given our PE and Music allocations and teacher assignments for next school year. Both David is returning and we get him all year! We will have him as a teacher 4 days a week in the Fall and 2 days a week in the Spring. Fo PE we will have Rachel Farkas for .8 in the Fall and we will have Ronny Mason back with us in the Spring. Our Fall schedule this year will feel about the same in the Spring next year. We will have 3 specials/ prep periods three days per week all year. As I shared earlier, classes first semester will get two sessions of Music and one session of PE. Second semester that will flip, with two sessions of PE and one session of Music. If you’re curious to see PE and Music assignments across the district, linked here is the spreadsheet that was shared with principals.
• District Admin Updates – Jeff Johnson has been selected to be the district’s federal programs administrator, replacing Tasha Katsuda who will be principal of Spencer Butte next year. Jeff has been the principal of Arts & Technology Academy, a Title I school, and also at Coburg Elementary. Linda O’Shea, currently assistant principal at Arts & Technology Academy, will step into the principal role next year. This year Linda has had a dual role, spending part of her time at ATA and the rest as part-time principal of Family School. Jericho Dunn will be the new principal of Cal Young next year, replacing Kim Watry who has accepted a position in her home state of Colorado. Jericho has been assistant principal at South Eugene High School since 2013. Finally, Kim Finch will be technology administrator next year, replacing Kim Ketterer when she retires. Kim has experience with all school levels and with STEM learning and technology in our district and beyond.
• District Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the last district level Title 1 Newsletter of the year that went out to Title 1 Coordinators and principals. As usual, this month’s newsletter is mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but one interesting item is the revised CIP videos I mentioned in an earlier post. In the past we’ve held an annual meeting with Title 1 Coordinators, principals, and parent reps from across the district, but these meeting were poorly attended, particularly by parents, so 4J is trying something different, which is to instead share informational videos in English and Spanish at Title 1 building during different school-wide events throughout the year. We’ll wait for some direction from the new district Title 1 Coordinator, but we’ll like share one of these videos during Curriculum Night, Literacy Night and/or other school wide events, and we might also play them in the background during other school events. I’ve looked at a couple of the videos and they do provide some useful information for families.
• Teaching and Learning Under the Next Generation Science Standards – Kim Finch shared a Smart Brief on teaching and learning with the new Next Generation Science Standards. Our new curriculum will require a shift in how elementary science looks in each classroom in Eugene, including more time spent teaching science K-5, and an integration with CCSS math and ELA. This will be good for us since we already have designated specific times in the day for science.
• Tips to liven up lessons with YouTube – YouTube offers more than animal videos, education-technology and curriculum consultant Monica Burns writes in this blog post. She highlights four strategies for using YouTube in the classroom, including tips about “finding the ‘right’ videos.” We know that Nikita is really good at doing this for her math time. Others might be interested.
• Schedule of Events for the Week– Here are the items of note for the next two weeks.
May 9 (M)
1:30-2:00, Joel Meet with Police Chief Pete Kerns about Emerald Park Shootings
1:45-2:45, Principals Join LEL Teachers@Charlemagne
3:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)May 10 (T)
(All Day) Reciprocal Teaching Visit to Guy Lee- Some Staff in Springfield including Joel
6:00-7:00, ODE Reimagine Education in Oregon Community Forums (SEHS)6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres
May 11 (W)
8:30-9:00, Joel and teacher in End of Cycle Meeting (Joel’s Office)
8:45-9:15, Joel in Observation (Classroom)
9:00-11:00, OAC Meeting Construction meeting (Old white house.)
1:45-2:45, PLC Hour (Library- Focus on Math assessments)
2:45-4:00, Joel and Myka at Attendance System Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Administrators Meeting (Howard)May 12 (H)
3:00-4:00, Allan Chinn Taking River Road Design Team to See Furniture (New Howard)We will meet in the old Howard office at 3:00.
5:30-6:30, Our Kindergarten Orientation (Cafeteria)
6:30-7:30, North Region Latino Family Night (NEHS)7:00-8:30, Vision 20/20 Community mtg. (Ed Center)
May 13 (F)
9:00-1:30 Kindergarten Field Trip to Skinner’s Butte, (Skinner’s Butte)
9:15, Fire Drill
2:00, Silly Assembly for Title One Surveys (Cafeteria)
4:00-5:30, Equity Action Team Networking Social (All are encouraged to attend- see me for details)
May 16 (M)
Artist in Residence Begins with Maiya Becker
3:00-5:00, Joel in After ALICE Training follow up with Marcy and team. (Library)3:00-4:00, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)
May 17 (T)
9:00-10:30, Joel at Immersion Principals Task Force Meeting (Mozart Room)
1:30-3:00, 4th Grade Garden Project- M. Murphy
2:50-4:45, Staff Meeting 2 hours (Library)
May 18 (W)
9:00-11:00, OAC Meeting- Construction (Old White House)
1:45-2:45, Teacher Collaboration Hour- Math PLC Time (Focus:math assessment, Library)
May 19 (H)
2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting – MOD Squad (Room7)
3:45-5:00, Joel and KG Teachers to Full-Day KG Meeting (Holt)May 20 (F)
9:00-11:00, Joel at PDAT #10 at UO CEQP
Thanks everyone and have a good week.
Joel
Uncategorized | Comment (0)