http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=3973
Hi Everyone,
Congratulations to our OBOB Team! Although they didn’t advance to the next round, they did place 13th out of the 52 Lane County teams participating at this year’s competition. Go, Pie G.E.E.K.K!
Sixteen items of note this week:
• HM Journeys and ThinkCentral – Since we had our HM Journey’s training last Friday, let me know if you’d like the upgraded HM materials delivered to your grade level and I’ll put Randy to work bringing them down. And if you misplaced the trainer’s email, it was teri.wills@hmhco.com. Also, all licensed staff should now have access to ThinkCentral if you’d like to check that out. If you’d like to use it with your students this year, let me know and I’ll load your students into the system as well.
And regarding old HM materials, Randy can cart away any materials you don’t want to keep. I’ll probably try to sell our old materials to Follett in July, but feel free to keep any leveled readers, big books or others materials from the old curriculum that you still have a use for.
• Fire Drill, Monday at 1:20 – The weather forecast looks good for Monday, so we’ll plan to hold our March Fire Drill on Monday, March 16th at 1:20. If we’re unexpectedly rained out, we’ll try the same time later in the week.
• PTO Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The March PTO meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-7:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. The last meeting has a pretty small turnout, so it would be great if there are any staff able to come to weigh in on the Tech Trot, the Howard Carnival or other topics. Hope to see you there!
• Dragon Puppet Assembly Assembly, Thursday, March 19th – The Dragon Puppet Assembly will be this Thursday, March 19th. This year’s performance tells the story of The Vanishing Matisse. Assembly times are scheduled around morning recesses, so the grades 2-5 assembly will be 9:30-10:00 and the K-1 assembly will be 10:10-10:40. These times will overlap with some PE times and I haven’t talked with Rachel about this, but I know she’s usually pretty good about rescheduling PE times for another open slot during the week. See the attached K-1 assembly map and 2-5 assembly map for logistical details.
• PRIDE Awards Wednesday, March. 18th – This Wednesday is the March PRIDE Awards. PRIDE certificates and invitations to families are located in the office. When you turn in your PRIDE nominations, be sure that you let Lori know who and why each student is being recognized so she can put their name up on the board.
• Construction Updates – Attached are the minutes from the last Construction Progress Meeting and here are the highlights:
• Polished Concrete Color Update – The architects apparently decided they liked the Patriot Blue circles and gave the order to go ahead with that color throughout the building, even though they said last week they were going to let us take a look at a more neutral dark grey option. However, I stopped that from moving forward and they are FOR REAL going to put a dark grey polish option to accent the lighter grey polished concrete. When all is said and done we may end up liking the Patriot Blue better, but I at least want a chance to see our options.
• Playground Updates – Todd Construction needs more space for all the dirt they’re excavating and are needing to take out part of our existing playground. I’ve asked for a map of what part they are wanting take, since I don’t want to lose too much of playground, though it sounds like it would only be the zip line and one set of swings.
On a related note, because of the current playground and building, the playground for the new school will be only partially finished when we move in over spring break. The covered area and the hard play area (four square, basketball, etc.) will be finished, but the new playground equipment will not be installed until over the summer. However, we will still have access to the old playground equipment during this time, which we’ll be able to access using the track sidewalk. And if you’re wondering why they don’t just cart the dirt away, it’s because they are going to it for landscaping later on.
• Construction Camera – A full panoramic, live steaming camera is going to be installed above the gym later this week. I’ll put a link to the camera on the front page of the Howard website once it’s up and running
• Supply Budget Dwindling – Just a quick reminder that as the year is winding down that the building supply budget is also dwindling down. We do have enough in the budget to buy essentials, but just know that we don’t have much in the budget for nice-to-haves-but-not-essential items.
• Grab & Go Breakfasts – This was mentioned at the optional staff meeting last Thursday, but if you weren’t there, more and more students are showing up in class eating Grab & Go breakfasts who should have eaten them in the cafeteria but who are instead playing on the playground. From now on, Lori will be stamping the hands of any tardy student who pick-up Grab & Go breakfasts. This way teachers can know who should have eaten their food in the cafeteria and who didn’t get a chance to eat. Also, it is okay for students to get a Grab & Go breakfast that they want to save for later to take home.
• 2015-2016 Supply List Update – Teachers, if you haven’t already, please look over the attached 2014-2015 Supply List and let Lori know of any changes for next school year by this Friday. I know this seems early, but we need it for stores and new enrollments for next year.
• Last Call for March Student Care Team Referrals due Tuesday – Let me know by Tuesday if you have anyone you’d like to refer to the Student Care Team, otherwise I think I’ll turn referrals over to Jennifer so she can bring a River Road student to the March 31st meeting instead.
If you do have a family or situation you’d like to refer to the team, be sure to complete the Student Care Team Referral Form (PDF or DOC) and also get a parent signature on the Authorization for Use & Disclosure of Information (PDF or DOC) which will give DHS time to do preliminary work before the meeting. We can also discuss student situations hypothetically if you if you don’t think a parent would agree to sign the release form.
• Employee reimbursement limit increase to $250.00 – The employee reimbursement limit has been increased from $100.00 to $250.00 per reimbursement, subject to the usual criteria of the spending qualifying for reimbursement and timely receipt of the request, which are:
• Should be for small purchases. The district provides contracts for most supplies, so please check first before purchasing supplies with personal funds.
• Have a limit of $250 per reimbursement.
• Must comply with district purchase guidelines including reimbursement amounts and documentation such as copies of detailed invoices.
• Completed reimbursement requests, including mileage, should be received by Financial Services within 60 days of when the expenditure was incurred.• Smarter Balanced assessment and testing exemption (“opt out”) — process, form and information – With the Smarter Balanced assessment testing window opening last week, you may get inquiries from parents about the Smarter Balanced tests, state testing in general, and/or about opting out of state tests. This is a reminder that the district has created a process and published an exemption request form and accompanying frequently asked questions document. If a parent asks for information or tells you they want to to opt their student out of state tests, you can direct them to me or to the State testing opt out FAQ and request form, the FAQ about the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced assessments or the district information webpage about the Smarter Balanced assessments.
• Concussion – What Teachers Should Know – Attached you will find a one page document called Concussion-What Teachers Should Know. This was shared with principals and we were asked to encourage teachers to post this in their classrooms, for easy reference. I’ll be placing hard copies of this in teacher mailboxes on Monday.
• 4 keys to inspire girls to explore STEM – How can girls be encouraged to see science, technology, engineering and math as fun and interesting, instead of boring and irrelevant? Jackie Bastardi and Adele Falco of Curious-on-Hudson unveiled four strategies they use to encourage girls to explore STEM during their SXSWEdu presentation, You go (far), girl! Inspiring girls in STEM.
• Lessons for successful maker programs – Students are natural makers, and maker programs can help take learning beyond students’ comfort zones, according to Guatemala-based educators Adrian Catalan and Ceci Castillo. The pair shared four tips to help educators launch successful maker initiatives during their SXSWEdu session, Making Makers: From Guatemala to the World.
• 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:
March 16 (M)
Free Cone Day at Dairy Queen!
1:20, Fire Drill
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)March 17 (T)
St. Patrick’s Day
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 7)CANCELLED
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Library)
4:00-5:00, Allan to Facilities Meeting (Facilities)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Library)March 18 (W)
7:30-11:30, IIPM Data Team Meetings (Staff Room)
9:30-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
11:00-12:30, PRIDE Awards (Cafeteria)March 19 (H)
9:30-10:00 2-5 Dragon Puppet Assembly (Gym)
10:10-10:40 K-1 Dragon Puppet Assembly (Gym)
10:55-12:30, March Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Library)
1:00, Tail Feather Reward Assembly (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Design Team Meeting (Library)March 20 (F)
2:10, SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!March 23-27
Spring Break – No School
12:00-1:00, Spring Break Fun Time – Lunch & Activity (Cafeteria)March 30 (M)
9:00-11030, Allan to Custody Hearing (Courthouse)
2:30-3:30, Allan to Evaluation & Planning Meeting (Room 9)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)March 31 (T)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Staff Room)April 1 (W)
April Fool’s Day
Wacky Wednesday! – Mis-matched Clothes Day
9:00-11:00, Allan to Construction Progress Meeting (Construction Trailer)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)April 2 (H)
2:30-3:30, Design Team Meeting – Tentative (Library)
3:30-5:00, Allan to North Region Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)April 3 (F)
Regular Day
5 more days until our 9 day vacation!
Allan
