Allan's Announcements

By Allan 　http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=11483

Hey Holt Bolts,

The week before winter break is usually a crazy one, with more than normal of escalated behaviors (kids and adults), so be prepared. Also, give yourself permission to just have fun with kids this week, which can lessen some of the undesired behaviors. That’ll also send kids off to winter break on a positive note and help them feel good about coming back from the break in January. Make this week a fun one!

Eighteen items of note for this week:

• Staffing Updates – Four staffing updates:

• Behavior EA Update – Hannah Connor, who recently started as a 2.5 hour Title 1 EA, is our new Behavior Support EA, filling Max’s former position before he became our school counselor. Besides working here at Holt, Hanna also currently works as a Behavior Technician at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders and prior to that worked as a Personal Support Worker.

• 2.5-hour EA Vacancy – HR is allowing me to submit to hire our runner-up for this position without having to start over. My hope is HR will make the job offer next week and the person can start after winter break.

• Holt BEST Coordinator Update – Downtown is shuffling BEST Coordinators. The person originally assigned to Holt is being moved to Howard and Howard’s coordinator, Aubrey Bulkeley, is coming to Holt. Aubrey will start at Holt in January, though she’ll be visiting Wednesday after school, and the goal is for BEST to start up in early February. Depending upon available curriculum and hiring of BEST EAs, they are planning to start small with 15-25 students.

• BEST Academic Coordinator Opportunity – If any staff are interested in supporting BEST as the Academic Coordinator, see this linked Email and Job Description. The best fit for this position is a licensed staff member who has an interest in/comfort level with math and data, but classified staff with this skill set can also take it on. Here’s the basic overview:

• Oversee EA instruction in Do the Math small groups (similar to Title groups happening during the day).
• Look at data, and with consultation of the Data Team, determine who should be invited to BEST.
• This is an extended contract position for 1.5 – 2 hours per day.
• There are Academic Coordinators at other sites who can help, with regular collaboration meetings planned.

Since this is extended contract, there’s no interview or job posting or anything like that. Just let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with Molly Lajoie, the District BEST Afterschool Coordinator.

• REPEAT: Crazy Hair Because We Care! FRIDAY! – Get kids pumped and plan your own crazy hair! If families want to share their crazy hair on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #crazyhairbecausewecare, Papa’s Pizza will award the “BEST Hair” photo with a FREE Large Pizza of their choice!

• December Virtual Assembly, Friday @7:55 – The December Spirit Day Virtual Assembly will be this Friday at 7:55. Here’s the agenda for the event:

7:50
Start Zoom meeting with each class.
Music will be played until start time.

7:55
Assembly begins Live! Mr. Chinn Starts us off!

7:56
Miss Kim pulled out 23 winners (Pre drawn…one from each class) and adds to the wheel (pre-written) 😜
These kids will STAY IN CLASSROOM!  Pizza coupons Prize will be delivered!
Mr. Chinn will then Spin the wheel with all 23 names on it for the big prizes!

1st Spin = Connect 4
2nd Spin = Large Pop-It!
3rd Spin = Bubble Wand
4th = Drone

These winners can come down to get their prize!

8:00
Ms. Reich does BOLT WINNER DRAWING for Vending Machine Coins by
They can come to get their prize!

8:01
While we are waiting for Holt Bolt Winners to get their prize, Lets share ourCrazy Hair (Highlight each room!)

8:05
GAME TIME!!!
We drew 8 Spirit Tickets and have 4 teams for the game!
Today we are playing Reindeer Games!

GAME:
4 teams of 2
One person wears the reindeer antlers
The Other player throws the rinds on the antlers.
The first one to get 3 rings on the antlers wins!
PRIZE??? Gold Coins and something else for “losers” 🙃

8:07
End Assembly portion. Congratulations to the teams!

8:09
School cheer and goodbye!

• SIA Library Pick-Up WEDNESDAY – The SIA Classroom Libraries are being delivered this Wednesday. Teachers should pick up your three book sets at the end of the school day.

• Science Kit Transition Survey + Information – I connected with Jamie Tait, District K-5 STEM Specialist, regarding Eric Anderson’s Email and Holt’s past agreement with Sue Wilson and Jaimee Massie where each grade level kept their kits and had them refilled by the district. Jamie is fine with this arrangement and she and Eric are seeing if they can possibly use this arrangement at other buildings.

So don’t send you kits back, but if you have kits that need restocked, let me know and I’ll contact Jamie.

• January PD & PLC Times – For January and February, district admin have reduced the amount of PD and PLC time to just 1-hour per week on Fridays, though it’s actually 55-minutes, 1:30-2:25 to ensure staff get their golden hour, but I’ve deleted the Wednesday PLC times off the calendar. There’s only two Friday PDs this month and I will send a separate email with the plan for those days.

• COVID Updates – Two updates:

• Outdoor Mask Requirement – Downtown emailed principals that starting January 4th students will no longer need to wear their face coverings while outside at recess. When students go to recess, make sure they take their masks with them so they can put them back on when they re-enter the building. Ideas for taking masks out are:

• a mask lanyard,
• in a pocket
• slid below their chin
• wrapped around their arm

• Test to Stay – Downtown is planning to start using BinaxNOW rapid testing at schools in January. Specifics are going to be shared with principals later, but linked here is the OHA Release from earlier this month.

 

 

• Cabinets Blocking Doors – This Monday is our Fire Marshall re-inspection. The main issue on the Fire Inspection Report is moving rolling cabinets, wagons, or other items from blocking the 3-foot required fire egress, so I’ve told Ryan to move anything not already moved before the re-inspection.

• Work Room Doors Closed – We have a few students who elope now and then, so we need to make sure the two work room doors are kept closed. They don’t need to be locked, but being closed is probably enough to keep students from wandering in.

• Leadership Plan Approved – The 4J JCAC (Joint Contract Administration Committee) last Thursday officially approve the Holt Leadership Plan.

• K-5 Health Adoption Reps – Downtown is looking for Churchill or Sheldon Region reps on the K-5 Health Adoption Committee. They are specifically looking for Special Education, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 4th grade, and PE reps. If you are interested, see the linked email and add your name to the K-5 Health Adoption Team Interest Google Form.

• Holt School Choice Tour Input – I’m prepping for January School Choice Tours and wanted feedback on the School Choice Tour Slideshow and the Holt School Choice Webpage. Although Holt is closed to most transfers, this is our chance to retain students and families who live in our neighborhood who are considering leaving us for other schools. Let me know if you see anything we should add to highlight for families or if there’s anything that looks incorrect. This is where we want to seriously brag about ourselves!

• Send Me Photos for Social Media! – Related to the above and showing ourselves off, please text me pictures of anything fun or interesting happening at school. I love getting good content to post to our social media pages, which potential families also often check out when shopping for schools.

• $600 Kindness Mini Grant – The Choose Kindness Foundation is offering schools $600.00 to design and implement kindness activities that may be used for classroom or school-wide kindness events or celebrations as well as specific Teacher Wellness through kindness activities. Linked here is the very simple Choose Kindness Mini Grant Application and also Sample Ideas for potential kindness activities. The due date is Feb. 25, 2022 and notification of awards will be by March 11, 2022.

• Choose Kindness Foundation Music Video – Related to the above, the music video below, from the Choose Kindness Foundation, highlights four kindness skills kids can practice: be friendly, offer help, show appreciation, and reach out to those with needs. It’s a tad corny, but feel free to share with you class if you’d like.

• HANDBOOK HIGHLIGHT: Child Abuse – This week’s highlight from the Holt Staff Handbook, is on Child Abuse and Child Abuse Reporting:

Child Abuse
Any employee of the district who has reasonable cause to know or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse or neglect, or who has observed the child being subjected to circumstances or conditions that could result in abuse or neglect will immediately report these observations to the counselor and/or principal, completing the Suspected Abuse Reporting Form. School employees are mandated reports and should contact the Department of Human Services with their observations/concerns, immediately (within 24 hours) or the EPD Non-Emergency line:

Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, 1-855-503-7233 (SAFE)
Eugene Police Department Non-Emergency Number, (541) 682-5111

School employees should not contact the child’s family, or any other persons, to determine the cause of the suspected abuse or neglect. It is not the responsibility of the school employees to determine or prove that the child has been abused or neglected.

• 5 Days of Holiday Resources for Educators – While Character Strong is a curriculum for the secondary level, they shared some links that could be used at elementary to wrap up the week before winter break.

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

December 13 (M)
ELD/Speech/Title/Counselor Staff Room Duty
Artist in Residence Continues
National Cocoa Day
Fire Marshall Re-Inspection
2:30-3:30, Allan to Care Team Meeting (Zoom)
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Zoom)

December 14 (T)
2:45-3:25, PBIS Meeting (Library)

December 15 (W)
9:00-11:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)
2:45, Teacher SIA Library Pick-Up (Library)
7:00-10:00, School Board Meeting (Zoom)

December 16 (H)
Regular Day

December 17 (F)
Holt Spirit Day, Crazy Hair Day!
7:50-8:10, December Virtual Assembly (Zoom)
2:35, LEAVE EARLY FOR WINTER BREAK

December 18 – January 2
No School – Winter Break

January 3 (M)
No School — Professional Development/Planning Day
SPED/PE Staff Room Duty
8:00-1:30, Staff Meeting/PD (Cafeteria)

January 4 (T)
2:45-3:25, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)

January 5 (W)
Monthly Walk+Roll to School Day
9:00-10:00, Allan to Elem Principals’ Meeting (Zoom)

January 6 (H)
Regular Day

January 7 (F)
1:30-2:25, Friday PD

FIVE days until winter break! Make them good ones!

Allan