Allan's Announcements

By Allan 　http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3746

Welcome back, Everyone!

I hope you all had time to do some relaxing over winter break. Besides spending time with family I found time to read some books (the very nerdy phonebook-sized graphic novel Elfquest was my favorite that I read), played some video games and also spent five chilly days and nights with a broken furnace, though we only had one night with below freezing temperatures.

Fourteen items of note this week:

• Welcome Bi-Lingual Office Assistant Bianca Fandino – This is a repeat from the email I sent out right before the break, but I wanted to remind everyone that we’ve hired Bianca Fandino for the bi-lingual office assistant position. For the past two years Bianca has been a part-time legal administrative assistant/interpreter for a local attorney’s office where she was the primary contact for Spanish speaking families. Her hours are not as much as Alicia’s were last year, but she will be able to provide most all of the same services that Alicia did; being a point person for Spanish speaking families, translating documents, making phone calls and providing translation at meetings. Bianca’s email is fandino_b@4j.lane.edu. She will begin this week and her schedule will be Mondays and Wednesday from 11:00-2:30, though we can flex those times a bit for parent meetings. Please welcome Bianca to Howard!

• Life Skills Staffing Update – Susan Popp, sadly, resigned from her position in the Life Skills classroom over the break. It was a hard decision for her, but she had some matters outside of school she needed to focus on. Rae has lined up some of our regular subs to fill in until someone is permanently hired into the position. Susan was a great staff member who we’ll miss and who I know we all will wish the best.

• ELA CCSS 6 Shifts registration for January – Teachers should remember to sign up for the K-2 or 3-5 ELA CCSS Workshops this January (SPED should attend the 3-5 workshop). The sub code is “Title One” and please bring your computer, your planning book/instructional calendar and for 3-5 & SPED Teachers bring your Writing Performance Task Preparation Guide. Follow link above to register for your session and see Gretta’s email for more specifics.

• Construction Updates – Attached are the minutes from the last Construction Progress Meeting, but here are the two main highlights:

The overall project schedule is close to being finalized. The planned move-in date is looking like it will be spring break next school year. The winter break opening will not work. However, for a spring break opening to work, Facilities needs at least two weeks to move, so I’m going to propose to the Instruction Department to have non student days on both ends of spring break to give staff time to finish packing up on one end and then have days to unpack on the other end. In terms of instructional hours, I’m going to make the case that with fewer furlough days we will still meet the state requirement for instructional hours (900 hours for grades 4-5 and 810 hours for grade K-3), though most school districts have been significantly under that the past few years with so many furlough days. Teaching on PD days (not over planning time/days) might be another way to meet required hours if there is pushback from downtown.

The other big news is that a new project manager will be taking over for Ben Brantley, who already has a job at Facilities and who has just been filling in. Facilities hasn’t announced the name of the hire because they wanted to allow him time to wind things up in his previous job, but from what I was told it sounds like we’re getting someone with a lot of experience and should be a good match for this project. He will be starting this Monday, so that’s when we’ll start seeing him.

• Wacky Wednesday – Career Day! – This Wednesday is a “Wacky Wednesday” and this months theme is “Career Day,” so remind your students and start planning your own outfit if you’d like to join in.

• Artist in Residence Selection Committee, Thursday, Jan 8th – With us getting the Artist in Residence EEF grant funded I’d like to set up a committee to select an artist. We’ll meet this Thursday, January 8th at 2:30 in the office. I’d like this group to narrow down our choices to a final vote at the January Staff Meeting. If you’re unable to attend the meeting, but would like to weigh in, please look over the artists available on the LaneArts.org website. I’ve worked with Samuel Becerra on Latin American Music, where kids made their own instruments and he was quite good. He’s also doing Latin American Sculpture. I’ve also worked with Laura Jackson who besides being a good artist actually knows behavior management, which is always a plus. She’s currently offering Wire Sculpture, Printmaking & Clay.

• School Choice 2015: Important Changes, Key Dates, & Promotion – School Choice season is here and one change is that the Schools Showcase (Jan. 24th) is now elementary only. The rest of the rules and plans are pretty much the same. School Visitation Weeks will be Jan. 26–29 and Feb. 23–27. If you’d like further details, you can read Kerry Delf’s email.

• Social Committee Dues – Friendly reminder – If you have not paid your social dues yet, please do so when you can. The social committee has some fun things coming our way! It’s $25 for full time licenses staff and $15 for classified staff and part time licensed.

• New OAKS (SBA) Blueprints – Math – Here’s the link to files that give a very thorough view of about half of what will be on the “New OAKS” in math at each grade level. Different from the Smarter Balanced Practice Test that I’ve shared earlier, the documents here have sample questions that are grade level specific, which would be good for students to see before they take the New OAKS/Smarter Balanced Assessment.

• ODE Smarter Balanced Communication Website Update – ODE recently reorganized their Smarter Balanced Assessment webpages to improve access and ease of use. Now, the Smarter Balanced landing page connects more easily to the following:

• Internal pages for Smarter Balanced Test Administration, Technology Requirements, Technical Documents, and Communication Resources
• Related Websites like the OAKS Portal, SBAC, and CCSS
• Internal pages for CCSS

ODE wants this to be the one-stop shop for direct access to resources as well as connection to two additional locations that house Smarter Balanced information—their OAKS Portal and the SBAC website. Teachers are encourage to explore the site and resources. If you are new to our site in general and need assistance locating anything, feel free to contact Jessie McGraw at ODE by phone (503) 947-5970 or email at jessica.mcgraw@ode.state.or.us

• Winter PBIS Newsletter – Attached is the Winter Edition of the district PBIS Newsletter from the 4j Behavior Consultants. Howard alumni Kim Reinhardt and Melissa Barbour have taken over the lead on this one. Enjoy!

• Tinkering is serious play – “The maker movement celebrates creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship through the design and construction of physical objects,” write Educational Leadership authors Bronwyn Bevan, Mike Petrich and Karen Wilkinson. In their article, the authors describe how makerspaces can help students become interested in science, feel capable of doing science, and want to do science.

• Tips on Raising Caring Children – What does it take to raise a compassionate, moral child? asks Adam Grant in this New York Times article (here’s a condensed version). Researchers have found that worldwide, this is parents’ number one priority – instilling caring is more important to them than their children’s achievement. But how much difference do parents make in this area? Are some children born good-natured and others mean-spirited? Studies of twins suggest that between one-quarter and one-half of people’s propensity to be kind is inherited – which means that parents and the environment account for up to threequarters. Drawing on the psychological research, Grant has these suggestions for adults working with children:

• Praise is more effective than rewards.
• With children around 8 years old, praise character, not actions.
• Nouns work better than verbs (i.e. “be a helper” vs “help us”)
• With bad behavior, evoke guilt, not shame.
• With bad behavior, say you’re disappointed.
• Model caring and generous behavior.

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

January 5 (M)
Classes Resume

January 6 (T)
Regular Day

January 7 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Career Day
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
9:30-4:30, Allan to Reclassification Meeting Training (Ed Center)

January 8 (H)
2:30-3:30, Artist in Residence Selection Meeting (Office)

January 9 (F)
Regular Day

January 12 (M)
Reading and Math Winter Benchmark Testing Week
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

January 13 (T)
1:00-2:30, Berman Visting Howard
2:30-3:30, Staffing Meeting with Berman (Library)
4:00-7:00, Allan to Kindergarten Expo (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)

January 14 (W)
8:30, Fire Drill
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
2:30-3:30, Allan to Taking It Up Training (Ed Center)

January 15 (H)
1:30-4:30, Allan to HR Training (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Allan to IEP Planning Meeting (Room 10)

January 16 (F)
7:30-8:30, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting

And try to stop by the office this Monday or Wednesday and welcome Bianca to Howard!

Allan

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