Week of October 27

 Schedule of Events of The Week

October 27 (M)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October

October 28 (T)

8:30-9:30, Three Guys and A Ball Assembly on Bullying and Harrassment (Gym)

1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting. Classified Staff, please come and accumulate comp time to be part of the conversation.

3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)

October 29 (W)

1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting for November

October 30 (Th)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 31 (F)

Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.

November 3 (M)

IIPM Data Consult Meeting to be rescheduled due to conflict.
1:30-2:30, Aline and Joel to Title 1 Coordinator and Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)

November 4 (T)
8:00-12:00, Picture Retakes (Library)

November 5 (W)

8:00-3:30, Joel to Learning About Learning Network Meeting (BV)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Classroom

November 6 (H)

1:00, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice immediately afterwards.

4:00-8:00 PM, Conferences

November 7 (F)

8:00 AM -8:00 PM Conferences

Hi everyone,

Here are several items of note for the week. Last week felt like a marathon and I think it was!  I am looking forward to a more routine week though we all know any day in our building is filled with richness of discussion and learning.  I am also really looking forward to our Día de Los Muertos Event as it’s my first time to go. I am planning on bringing my kids to the event to celebrate, decorate and learn.

Site Council Agenda October 27th

A Conversation about Parent Involvement, Decision Making, and Language of Power.

Staff Meeting Agenda October 28th- begins at 2:45 and ends at 3:45.

1. Greeting and United Way Presentation by Nancy Schaal McHarry -5 minutes

2. A Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Sheldon Berman -40 minutes

3. A Short iPad Training- 10 minutes

The Growth Mindset and Malcolm Mitchell:

Many of you have heard of Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset. This video explores a great example of how the growth mindset actually manifests itself in everyday life.  I loved this story.  I encourage you to share it with your classes and have a discussion about reading and working hard at it.

New Building Design Update

We have moved quickly into the stage known as schematic design in design committee. This last week, our team was able to see some rough models of initial layouts. As most of you should know by now, the building will be sited on the west side of our building.  In addition, our team is also exploring the idea of removing our old gym early in order to design a building with less constrictions on space.

On Friday, I also had a chance to see Trillium Creek Elementary in West Linn.  This was inspirational and clearly a building designed with kids in mind.  This gave me motivation to always keep the child in the forefront of my mind when working on our design.  Here is a short clip of me coming down the slide in the Trillium Creek Library.

Earl Boyles Visit

Our visit to Earl Boyle Elementary was truly inspirational.  I was amazed to see a school designed to support families from age 0 to 11.  There were so many features of their program which we would like to emulate.  I will share more about this in a future staff meeting.  The greatest learning for me was their parent group structure.  It is called Parents United.  The group conducts all parent meetings in Spanish. They set an educational agenda for them selves and their bi-cultural parent coordinator helps them find the resources to learn what they need to further their parenting skills. Fundamentally, all parents are seen as asset holders in the children’s learning, and they are assets!

Tasha Katsuda will be forming an early learning task force which I will be joining.  This group will be looking to find partnerships in the community to help us to find a way to include a preschool program in our building in the future.  I will also begin to work with the design team to discuss possibilities of making space in our building for a preschool program.

Some November 6 and 7 Conference Details

Dinner on November 6 and 7- I am still working out the details of this. I will be checking in with Parent Group to see if they have a way to support us with a meal one night. The school will have a meal on a second night. I will share this with you next week.  Email me if you have suggestions for dinner.

Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences- Be sure to have free/reduced meal forms on hand during conferences and please highlight this program for families. We’ll have extra copies available in the office.

November 10 Classified Staff Expectations- Monday, November 10 is a regular work day for Classified Staff, but is not a work day for licensed staff who worked extended hours for conferences. Since this is a non-student day, I would encourage classified staff who have comp time coming to use it this day. Please submit your comp form to me to ensure you have these hours accumulated. If you are planning to work on Monday, please connect with your primary cooperating teacher on how best to help out this day.

Linda Darling Hammond on Equity and Literacy in the 21st Century

This is an excellent article on equity in schools.  Linda Darling Hammond from Stanford is one of the giants of multicultural education.  When I read this article, I realized that we as a staff are battling many factors that are out of our control and some that we can control.  Fortunately, we have resources, very qualified staff, and expertize to help our students and support them in high levels of literacy. Some of the questions asked of Linda in this interview article directly relate to our building. It was affirming to hear that there are a lot of things we are doing right!

Math PD Planning

Last week Karen and I met with SDS Reid Sheppard and Math Director  Maddy Ahearn.  They shared many ideas about how to support our staff with more math professional development.  In addition, we discovered with their research many things that could help us this year.  One,  there are math Investigations Teacher Editions in Spanish.  We are exploring how to acquire these for our staff.  Two Smarter Balanced or New OAKS  Math Assessment will be offered in Spanish! Our students can study math in Spanish and take the test in Spanish!  This is huge!  Reid and Maddy will be planning more PD with a focus on math practices this year.  Our major focus will be on using the 8 math practices at appropriate times to improve students math thinking skills. Here is a document that Kathy Larson shared that unpacks ways to consider using the CCSS  in Math. It is North Carolina’s Math Common Instructional Framework

PBIS Cafeteria Plan Reminder

Our PBIS focus on improving cafeteria behavior continues. This week, the tables will begin getting points for their class behavior in their seats.  Teachers, please remind students about this system and give them positive feedback for points earned for appropriate cafeteria behavior next week.

Common Core ELA in kid friendly Language

Here is a link to a poster/ word wall anchor standard poster of the new ELA CCSS Standards in very kid friendly terms. They are in Engish.

ELD Project with UO

Abby lane and I have been working with Julie Heffernan on a new practicum program for students who are in the UO Teach Out Program.  There will be many students learning from our ELL’s by interviewing them. They will use the data to share plans on how to support ELL’s in the classroom.  More details to come, but this will begin in Winter term.

iOS Apps of Note – Here are a smattering of interesting apps I’ve come across from various sources:

• Free app teaches lessons about digital citizenship – A new app aims to help students become responsible digital citizens. DigitalCitizen, by Learning.com, teaches students about online safety, the proper use of digital tools and how to handle cyberbullying through the use of games, videos and quizzes. The app is available at no charge from the Google Play and Apple store.
• Classroom Management Apps – In the School Library Journal article, “Classroom Management Tricks” by Richard Byrne, he recommends three apps that help with classroom management:

• Random student name selector
• Countdown timer
• Noise regulator

• Flocabulary App – Flocabulary is a collection of content-based songs and videos using hip-hop themes and catchy phrases and mnemonic devices to help students remember basic content.

 

That’s all for this week.  Have a spooky week!

 

Joel

Week of September 22

Calendar of the Week Plus

“An artist is above all a human being, profoundly human to the core. If the artist can’t feel everything that humanity feels, if the artist isn’t capable of loving until he forgets himself and sacrifices himself if necessary, if he won’t put down his magic brush and head the fight against the oppressor, then he isn’t a great artist.” Diego Rivera

September 22 (M)
8:00-11:00, Joel to Skillful Teacher Co-Observation (Ed Center)
1:30-2:30, Title Coordinator & Principal Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

September 23 (T)
Kathy Larson visit. (All day)
9:00-10:00, Data Meeting Analysis of General Trends before Data Consult Day
2:45- 4:45, Staff Meeting with PD on Effective PLC Practices
4:30-6:30, Joel to 4J Equity Committee

September 24 (W)
1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaborative Planning Time (Library with support from Sarah, Aline, Karen and Joel)

September 25 (H)
12:30-2:30, Joel to Skillful Principal Being A Writer Training (Ed Center)
4:30-5:30 Design Committee (Library)
5:30-7:30, New School Design Public Meeting- Camino del Rio (Library)

September 26 (F)
Regular Day

September 29 (M)

8:00-11:30, Being a Writer Training for all teachers.
12:00-3:00, Principal Being a Writer Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, September Site Council (Conference Room)

September 30 (T)
Kathy Larson Visit
Life Touch Picture Day (Gym All Day)

October 1st (W)
1:40-2:40,Collaborative Planning Time
6:00-8:00, Curriculum Night- Plan de Estudios de Noche

October 2 (H)
Joel in Portland at Coaches and Principal’s Meeting
2:45-4:45, Design Committee

October 3 (F)
Academy Day- No School
8:00-12:00, Maravillas Training with a McGraw Hill PD Consultant
12:00-4:00, Teacher Planning Time in relation to Maravillas.

October 6 (M)

2:45- 3:45, PBIS Meeting, Classified encouraged to come in exchange for an hour of comp time.

October 7 (T)

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

October 8 (W)

1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Time

2:45- 3:45, IPBS Meeting

October 9 (Th.)

2:45-3:45, Design Committee

October 10 (F)

No School, Statewide In-service Day- non-contract day for teachers and EA’s

This week on duty:

Inside lobby: Alexis

•  Fire Drill Practice and Details: Later this week, you will find a daily instruction packet in your box about Safety Week.  Craig and I spent some time redoing the classroom order outside.  The numbers will be repainted on Monday. This year, due to classroom changes, there will be  new order along the track lines. Please rehearse and practice lining up on the fire drill lines once or twice this week so you are familiar with the location of your line.   Inserted here is the updated fire drill map including the classroom line placements.

•  Design Committee Update: This week, there will be an evening event on Thursday, September 25th from 5:30- 7:30. You are invited to attend to see the proposals that will be posted for viewing.  We will be presenting 2 main concepts. One on the East of the Site and one on the West of the site. In general, what we are discovering is that overall costs before construction will be less if we build on the west.  There are some proposals that have been put up for us to discern that describe demolition of classroom wings or the gym before building. Our design team has discouraged these because of the costs that could be incurred.  Avoiding demolition saves funding to be put into the final building and saves disruption to our classrooms and learning.  After this week’s open meeting, the team will process the public’s feedback and we will make a final decision on the site of the new building. Here is the presentation from last Thursday’s session.

October 3rd PD on Maravillas: I have spoken to the McGraw Hill Representatives to plan our October 3rd PD.  They are bringing in a professional development expert to help us get a good overview of the Maravillas Program.  The professional development will run from 8:00-12:00 on October 3rd. The main topics planned will be:

• How to use these materials in a Dual Language Program.
• How to integrate English Language Materials into the ELA block that relate to the themes, concepts and objectives  in the Maravillas materials.
• How to structure Tier 2 instruction using Maravillas Materials.
• The use of the online features of Maravillas.

Your afternoon will be planning time. The Maravillas team will provide you with some tasks to become more familiar with the materials that afternoon that you can work on with your grade level team.  I expect that the EA staff, SPED Staff, and ELL staff to attend the AM session as it will directly benefit our students if you understand this program.

• Change in the date for Rosa: October 20th is the new date that Rosa Molina will be coming to Oregon.  She had other engagements on the 13th of October so we have pushed it back a week.  I will update you on the topics and use of that day after further conversation with her next week.

•  Good Behavior Game Free Training – Trillium Community Health Plan & Lane County Public Health is offering free trainings for the “PAX Good Behavior Game.” You can read more about The PAX Good Behavior Game here and here. Subs will be provided and and trainings will be held at the Lane ESD Oct. 8th for teachers new to the program and Oct 9th for a booster training for teachers who have been previously trained.

•   SELCO Educator Mini-Grants – SELCO Community Credit Union accepts Mini-Grant requests each fall from K-12 educators in the 26 counties they serve. Mini-Grants of up to $500 are awarded to educators to implement creative education projects and to help fill in the gaps left by school budget shortfalls. The SELCO Mini-Grant application process is simple – please carefully read the funding criteria to be sure your project is eligible for a SELCO Mini-Grant and use the online application form to tell us about your classroom project. The deadline for applications is October 3rd and recipients are announced November 19th.

•   Facilities Use: Use of 4J Schools – Annual Reminder –   Facilities sent their annual reminder that as public employees, no person may use district property for personal financial gain or offer it free to the community, or for use that is inconsistent with districts public purpose, or in a manner that will discredit the district. It occasionally comes to their attention that 4J employees are using the school buildings for, music lessons, sports, exercise and many other types of classes/meeting. Please see the attached 4J School Board Policy on the use of district property.

All 4J schools are public property and are subject to public scrutiny.  The District has established Board Policies to address staff and outside groups wanting to use 4J facilities.  In order to establish fairness to all groups, including 4J staff, Administrative Rules have been written to address these issues.

If employees wish to use 4J Facilities and/or equipment for private instruction or for non-school community group meetings, or any other reason, they will need to (1) get approval from the Superintendent or his designee (i.e. Facility Scheduler: Natalie Medina) and (2) they will need to complete the online Facilities Request Form and Online Scheduler

•    TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This link provides the “home” page for you to click on TalentEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems. We will discuss school-wide goals and expectations at the staff meeting this week.

•  Latino Heritage Month:  Yes, it is Latino Heritage Month! I do not have a bunch of materials to share with you at this point, but I will point you towards one of my favorite bloggers, Larry Ferlazzo. Larry makes lots of great resource links to support ELLs and they are good for all learners! This set of links  is focused on one of my favorite Mexican artists, Diego Rivera.

•  Math Teaching Methods- Great example of a strong math discourse:

Reasoning in Multiplication and Division  Take a look at this excellent video of a teacher using number talks and math discourse.

Have an excellent week!

Joel