November 2, 2020

By Allan 　

 

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all remembered to change your clocks and “fall back” this weekend.

Fifteen items of note for this week:

• Recording Zooms for Asynchronous Learning – I heard this is through the grapevine so it’s not official, but another principal told me they talked to Jeff and Brooke, who told them it’s fine for teachers to record live Zoom sessions with students (faces, names, voices, and all) and that teachers may also upload these videos to Seesaw for asynchronous lessons. I’m planning to bring this up at the elementary principals’ meeting Monday for some additional clarifications and will share updates at Tuesday’s Staff Meeting.

• New Substitute Guidance – Principals received an email on Substitute Guidance for Licensed Staff, which had some big news (first bullet) and principals heard one other option at an admin meeting (second bullet):

• No Sub, Asynchronous Option for 1-2 Day Absences – If it’s only a one or two day absence, teachers are allowed to simply push out asynchronous lessons and notifying families there are no live sessions that day. However, this option should not be used extensively.

• Splitting Classes Option – If a grade level is keeping pace with each other, another option is to split an absent teacher’s class between the other classrooms (or with one other teacher) for a day or two. This scenario does require all teachers to be willing and agree to do this.

• Thursday Supply Distribution – I’ve heard from KG, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and Title about distributing supplies and am sending out the article below on Monday. I’ll also send out a Seesaw announcement and made a social media post over the weekend. Let me know ASAP if your grade level was left out and I can add it to my article.

School Supply Distribution THURSDAY, 8:00-3:00

The school district office is now allowing schools to distribute materials and supplies the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month as needed. Holt will likely only do this once a month, but we will let families know if grade levels have materials they plan to distribute. The following grades should come this Thursday between 8:00-3:00:

Kindergarten: Math Books & New School Supplies
2nd Grade: Math Unit Work Packets
3rd Grade: Math Unit Work Packets and New School Supplies
4th Grade: Art Supplies
Title 1: All students in Title Groups will get additional materials.

• Thursday Supply Distribution Sign-Up – I realize most staff are now teaching groups, but if you are available, please add your name to the Supply Distribution Sign-Up Sheet to help between 8:00-3:00 this Thursday. Staff can utilize trade time if you work beyond your normal hours this day.

 

 

• MOD Pizza Fundraiser, SUNDAY! – This Sunday is a Holt Night Out Fundraiser at MOD Pizza on Coburg Road! Talk this up to your class and see you Sunday! Takeout, delivery, or pick-up orders, and for online orders use the coupon code of “GR166586B” and 20% of your meal’s price will be donated back to Holt. See the Facebook Event or GroupRaise Page for more details.

• Informal & Formal Observations – In normal times, I try to complete the first round of informal observations in the first two months of school, but I wanted to give teachers a chance to get your feet under you a bit before I started. Over the next few weeks, for Probationary and Contract Year-1 teachers, I’ll drop in on clases, most likely during SEL/Morning Meeting times, for a short 10-20 minute observation. I’ll share my notes through TalentEd and will be available to meet if any teachers would like to debrief.

For formal observations, I’m going to wait to see if it looks like we’re moving into in-person teaching or not. If it looks like we’re continuing CDL after winter break, I’ll most likely start formal observations now, but if it looks like we’ll actually have students in the building in January, I’ll wait to do formal observations then.

• Wednesday PD/PLC Time – If you didn’t open the attachment in Eric Anderson’s Email regarding this week’s Wednesday PD/PLC Time, it has some nice options, such as taking a walk, reading a book, or turning off your screen (Option #2, which I highly recommend).

• Virtual Coffee with the Principal – As an FYI, I’m copying the principal at Monroe and starting this Wednesday, 9:00-9:45 will hold a weekly Virtual Coffee with the principal each week. Parents and guardians can ask question, share experiences, and process & collaborate. Zoom link can be found below and on the Holt Family Calendar.

• Civil rights & Safe Routes to School Opportunity – Ruby Bridges Day is coming up mid-November and to celebrate this day, Safe Routes to School emailed principals they want to encourage kids to take a mindful walk with their families to think about Ruby’s bravery and the power children can have toward positive change. They will order the book Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles for any teacher who is interested in teaching about Ruby Bridges in addition to talking to students about taking a mindful walk with families. Linked here are Sample Lesson Plans about halfway down the page. Let me know by Friday if you would like to participate and I will have Safe Routes order you a book!

• New ODE Reopening Metrics – ODE released New Reopening Metrics on Friday. The short version is the metrics for reopening has loosened, but 4J is sticking with our current timeline of after Winter Break as the earliest we’ve move into hybrid, making a decision by the end of November. See this ODE News Release for all the details, but here are the new metrics for reopening:

• Statewide test positivity rates are no longer a factor for school districts
• County data window is changed to one two-week period, instead of three separate weeks
• Thresholds have changed to:
– K–12: < 50 cases per 100,000 over 14-day period, < 5% test positivity
– Elementary (K–3 and expanding up to all elementary grades): < 100 cases per 100,000 over 14-day period, 5–8% test positivity

Lane County currently does not meet the minimum requirements to return to in-person learning, under either the original or revised metrics. (In the most recent two-week period, Lane County had 147.6 cases per 100,000 residents, still well above the expanded cap of 100 per 100K.)

• 4J COVID-19 Communicable Disease Management Plan – Since June, 4J has worked to establish a blueprint to address Ready Schools, Safe Learners guidance from ODE and created a COVID-19 Communicable Disease Management Plan. This document has a wealth of information staff can find answers to many important questions. Topics include:

• Cleaning, disinfection and ventilation
• Contact Tracing
• Face Coverings and PPE
• Visitors and Volunteers
• Response to Confirmed Cases and/or Outbreak
• And Much More!

Reviewing and updating this document will be an ongoing. Additionally, as the state updates the Ready Schools, Safe Learners guidelines, we may need to make changes. This document will always be posted on the 4J website and available for staff.

• Video.Link Workaround – If you missed James’ Email, he shared a workaround for how to share Video.Link (formerly SafeYouTube) so kids can view the videos on their iPads. Here’s a link to his quick sheets on the Laptop Video.Link Fix and the iPad Video.Link Fix.

• Student Meals & Holiday Boxes – As an FYI, with the holidays and school breaks coming up, Nutrition Services emailed principals their plans for Thanksgiving and Winter Break. For Thanksgiving, they will provide a four-day meal box with the Wednesday meal bag. For Winter Break there will be two meal boxes available. Boxes will be available for pickup or by request through delivery. Sign-up info is coming, but see the above linked email for details.

• 20 Teacher-Approved Educational YouTube Channels – Check out this WeAreTeacher Article for a list of YouTube channels for educational content that will enhance your lessons. I was particularly like Storyline Online, where celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Coster, and even Betty White reading one of my all-time favorite picture books, Harry the Dirty Dog, read a variety of picture books. But as with all media, I recommend screening all videos in advance to be sure they’re appropriate.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:

November 2 (M)
1:30-3:30, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

November 3 (T)
8:30-9:30, Allan to Attendance Meeting (Zoom)
3:00-4:00, Staff Meeting (Library & Zoom)
7:00, All About Pets Zoom! w/Ms. Kim McManus! (Zoom)

November 4 (W)
9:00-9:45, Allan to Virtual Coffee with the Principal (Zoom)
2:40-4:00, PD/PLC Time (Asynchronous)
5:00-5:30, Learn Magic with Mr. Chinn! (Zoom)

November 5 (H)
8:00-3:00, Supply Distribution (Front Entrance)
2:00, Allan to 504 Plan Meeting (Zoom)

November 6 (F)
1:00-3:00, Allan to Principal PLC PD (Zoom)

November 8 (SU)
10:30am-10:00pm, Holt Night Out Fundraiser – MOD Pizza

November 9 (M)
Regular Day

November 10 (T)
8:30-9:30, Allan to Attendance Meeting (Zoom)
3:00-4:00, Leadership Team Meeting (Zoom)

November 11 (W)
No School — Veterans Day

November 12 (H)
5:00-6:00, Site Council Meeting (School Garden & Zoom)
6:00-7:00, PAHS Meeting (School Garden & Zoom)

November 13 (F)
Fall Benchmark Testing Window Closes
1:00-3:00, Allan to Principal PLC PD (Zoom)

Have a good week, everyone!

Allan

 

This entry was written by Allan, posted on October 31, 2020 at 7:58 pm, filed under Announcements, Articles, Literacy, P.D., Technology. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.