http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=2768
Hello Roadrunners,
I hope everyone had fun in the snow and stayed safe on the roads. You probably saw the email from downtown that Friday’s missed PD/Planning Day will be made up this Friday instead. Before that email went out, I’d actually emailed downtown that I thought elementary schools should make up the PD/Planning day on the Jan. 6th furlough day (which wouldn’t inconvenience families and would give teachers some paid prep time before students come on Tuesday), but apparently the decision was already made and had been negotiated. :(
Nine items of note for this week:
• School Design Update – We had a good turnout for the Howard Design Workshop last Wednesday. The architects had people primarily focus on where to site the new building. The architects had us move the various pieces of the new school (classroom pods, gym, cafeteria, library, office etc…) around a site map, along with where the new track should be located and where a new Kelly MS would eventually get built. I saved one set of the maps and pieces and put them up in the staff room if anyone would like to take a look at what we were working with at the meeting.
• December 13th PD/Planning Day – A quick reminder that for Friday’s PD, teachers are to bring 2-3 lessons in a unit of study, which will provide the primary focus of the day. This PD day will not be a sit-and-get session and will be one where staff will get out of it as much as they put into it. Please look over the attached “Preparing and Drafting a Dilemma” form as you decide which lesson you will bring to the meeting. And like I said before, I don’t expect teachers to have fully written out student-teacher-style lesson plans, but do come to the meeting prepared to complete the attached form regarding your instructional practices, the lessons, and forming your dilemma for a consultancy protocol. UPDATE – The meeting will be this Monday (12/9) at Awbrey Park in Room 13 from 9:30-11:30, with coffee at 9:00.
• PTO Classroom Funds – The PTO has decided the amount of funds they are able to provide this year for classroom teachers and specialists. Classroom teachers will get $400 to spend and $200 for specialists (PE/Music, Title, ELD, LC, CLC, Life Skills, Library, Speech, Counselor).
• TalentEd and Updated SMART Goals – I was going to share this at last week’s PD, but attached is an updated version of the shared building SMART Goals. TalentEd appears to have added several boxes for each goal, so the attached document (in MS Word and PDF) has language teachers may cut and paste into the boxes teachers are being asked to complete. Let me know if you have any questions.
• PBIS Updates – Rae sent out the minutes from the last PBIS meeting, but I wanted to highlight that on Monday we are starting our new Roadrunner Tail Feather Challenge. Classes will need to earn 20 more tail feathers than they have now for a fun staff vs. students all-school assembly (something crazier than scooter races) on January 30th. On Monday we are also starting our winter referral free window from Dec. 9 – 20. The Referral Free Party will be on 12/20 from 1:00-2:00 with grades/teams giving students options for fun activities during that time. Students with referrals will report to rooms 8 and 9 WITH WORK.
• PTO Holiday Bazaar Rescheduled – The PTO Holiday Bazaar was cancelled this past Saturday due to the snow, but it looks like they are rescheduling it for this Saturday, Dec. 14th, 9:00-4:00.
• Math CCSS Resource – If there are staff looking for some math ideas and lessons geared toward CCSS here’s a useful website. Chris Castillero has shared this site before and it’s on the curriculum website (along with other strategies/ideas).
• How to Guide Parents in Homework Help – Although we’ve reduced the amount of homework going home this year, this article has some good tips on what messages teachers can communicate to parents about how to help their child with homework, such as parents should be encouraged to be less involved with the child’s actual homework task and more involved in communicating with the teacher.
• Schedule of Events for the Week – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for this week:
December 9 (M)
Roadrunner Tail Feather Challenge Begins
9:30-11:30, Teacher Work Session (Awbrey Park, Room 13) – Coffee at 9:00December 10 (T)
2:30-3:00, IPBS Meeting (Room 4)December 11 (W)
8:00-10:00, Allan Meeting with Sara Cramer (Howard)
2:30-3:30, Green Team Meeting (Room 13)December 12 (H)
8:00-4:00, Allan and Saphier Teacher Leaders to Research for Better Teaching Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-4:30, Howard Design Team Meeting (Library)
4:00-6:00, Allan to Nutrition Services Committee AdvisoryMeeting (Ed Center)
5:00-8:00, PTO Craft Night for Kids! (Cafeteria)December 13 (F)
8:15-11:30, Howard Teacher Work Session (Library)December 14 (S)
9:00-4:00, PTO Holiday Bazaar
Two more weeks until winter break and I’ll see you all on Monday (or Tuesday or maybe even Wednesday. We’ll see what the weather brings!).
Allan
