http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=5026
Hello Roadrunners,
Thank you to everyone who turned out for the PTO McTeacher Night fundraiser. McDonald’s marketing manager said this was far and away the most successful fundraiser they’d ever hosted. They sold over $2,300 between 5:00 and 7:00 (more than Spring Creek ever made at their nights working for 3 hours), which at 30% brought in $700 for the PTO, which McDonald’s decided to round up to an even $1,000. I’d also like to give a shout out to the TLT members who arranged for student demonstrations at Digital Learning Day at the Ed Center this past Wednesday, where Howard had more teachers presenting than any other school in all of 4J. Howard ROCKS!
Fifteen items of note this week:
• School Choice Visitation Week – Just a reminder that this week is the second School Choice Visitation Week. We have a number of families signed up for tours (mostly at the younger grades), so don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week.
• Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program (FFVP) Audit Wednesday – On Wednesday, February 24th, ODE will be at Howard auditing the Nutrition Services Program. ODE is actually being audited by the USDA, so on the 24th we’ll have ODE and USDA staff in the building. This audit will be looking at the program as a whole and assuring that we are following all State and Federal guidelines. This will, most likely, be a full day audit and will feel very intrusive to the Howard Kitchen. While at Howard, ODE will also audit the FFVP program. They will be visiting a classroom to watch FFVP in action. We are not sure whether they will be randomly selecting a classroom, or if they will let us lead them to one. We will not know that information until the day of the audit. Linked here is a FFVP Implementation Guide from Nutrition Services with the basic guidelines and expectations of FFVP. I’ve also decided to cancel popcorn this Wednesday. I’m positive we’re in compliance with all rules and policies but I don’t want to complicate things any more this day. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or Julie Whittlesey at 541-790-7655 or whittlesey_j@4j.lane.edu
• K-2 and 3-5 PRIDE Assemblies, Wednesday, March 2nd – Wednesday next week is the PRIDE Awards Assembly for Integrity. The PBIS Team will be sending out the details, but the K-2 assembly will be 9:10-9:35 and the 3-5 assembly will be 9:40-10:05, both in the gym. See the linked map and directions for details and watch for further information from the PBIS Team.
• PTO Meeting Updates – The February PTO Meeting was last Tuesday and below are a few items of note:
• Movie Night, April 8th – There will be a Movie Night on Friday, April 8th. The movie is to-be-announced, but an early favorite is to show Minions.
• Tech Trot T-Shirts – The PTO is working on getting shirts printed for every student for this year’s Tech Trot. To pay for shirts, they are working on getting sponsors who’s names would be printed on the back of the shirt, with a Howard Tech Trot logo on the front. Keep your fingers crossed they find sponsors to make this happen!
• New Prizes for Tech Trot – To spice up incentives for the Tech Trot, the PTO is looking at some different rewards, like a limo ride to get ice cream or other treat. More to come on what they come up with.
• New Vice President and Parliamentarian – Bande Trumbull (a kindergarten parent) was voted in as the new PTO Vice President and Elizabeth Bond (a 3rd and 4th grade parent) was voted in as the new PTO Parliamentarian.
• Popcorn Wednesdays – There was some debate at the meeting as to whether they would be able to continue popcorn every Wednesday next year, since finding consistent volunteers has been challenging this year. However, our new PTO Vice President said she would be able to do it consistently next year once her youngest starts Kindergarten in the fall.
• Carnival Moved to Friday, June 10th – This year’s carnival was originally set to be on a Thursday, June 9th before a PD day, but that has been changed to the Friday that same week, which will give volunteers more time to set up and will also make the evening event easier for families who’d otherwise have to work the next day.• TELL Oregon Teacher Survey – If you didn’t catch this in Gus’ email to staff earlier, the TELL Survey is an opportunity for teachers to share your experiences and insights, and is open now through the end of February. Linked here is a letter from the groups partnering on this project, which includes OEA and the Chalkboard Project. This is the second year Oregon has participated in the nationally developed survey. All licensed, school-based educators are invited to share observations and opinions about the teaching and learning conditions in their schools and what supports are needed to ensure success for each and every student. The TELL Survey is voluntary, confidential, and anonymous, and takes about 20–30 minutes to complete online. The survey will ask you for a unique individual code, which you can request online or you can get off of a letter that I will put in licensed staff members’ mailboxes on Monday. And if you’ll allow me to editorialize for a moment, now that the feds, with the passage of ESEA, have turned over most all the decision making on testing and teacher evaluations to states, so this would be the perfect time to weigh in on these topics as the Oregon Legislature begins the process of deciding if they want to keep things status quo or make changes.
• Read Across America, Wednesday, March 2nd – Just a quick reminder that Wednesday next week is NEA’s Read Across America. Classroom resources for this event can be found at Suessville, ReadingRockets.org and NEA.
• New Building Updates – There was no Owner/Architect/General Contractor (OAC) meeting last week, but here are a few items of note:
• Packing for Spring Break – There are only four weeks until spring break, so if you’d like to send things over now, it’s time to start packing. Lori has labels and packing tape. Check in with Crystal if you need more boxes and just stack those boxes outside your classroom in the hallway. Linked here are the packing instructions I shared earlier.
• Stairwell Infographic Update & Input – Linked here is the final graphics proposed by the architect/artist for the stairwells at the new building. I think it looks pretty good, but I was asked to review the text for grade level appropriate language/descriptions, so I thought I’d put it out to staff as well for input. You’ll need to zoom in to read the text (command +). Let me know by the end of the week of any suggestions or edits you might feel necessary to make it more clear. And note that these graphics are currently unfunded until we are closer to the completion of the new building and have confirmed budget is available to print and install these graphics.
• District Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to Title 1 Coordinators and principals. As usual, this month’s newsletter is mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there is a nice infographic about What Does it Mean to be Culturally Responsive? which includes the four stages of culturally responsive teaching.
• McKinney-Vento Identified Student Count – I shared this report last year and thought staff might be interested in this year’s numbers. Deborah Dailey, the 4J McKinney-Vento (homeless) Coordinator shared the January McKinney-Vento Report with principals, which included the total number of students identified in the district by region and by school. The North Region has the most identified students. Howard has had 29 students who were McKinney-Vento so far this year, which is the second highest at the elementary level compared to Chavez’ 38 students. River Road is third behind Howard with 28 students.
• 2015-2016 Staffing Survey – Last call to complete the staffing survey, either on Survey Monkey or on the linked Word file. I’d like to hear from both classified and licensed staff. If you’d like to provide input on staffing scenarios for next year, please have this completed by this Monday.
• Start Planning for Women’s History Month – Women’s History Month is just around the corner! Start planning for March with written, visual and multimedia texts in Perspectives for a Diverse America. Filter your search on the website with the “Gender” lens and by grade level to find a reading, and pair it with a task like Where I Stand to make it come alive for students.
• bell hooks and Emma Watson in conversation – Related to the above, I spotted this on Boing Boing, one of my favorite blogs. Paper Magazine’s “Girl Crush” series pairs notable women for fascinating conversations, which they transcribe and publish. The series is spectacular, and this interview, between author/feminist/activist bell hooks and actor/feminist/activist Emma Watson, is the best yet.
• Do iPads improve teaching, learning? – Educators Jeanne Carey Ingle and Tanya Moorehead in this commentary share five takeaways from research on the use of iPads in the classroom. Research, they write, shows that iPads improve learning and student engagement. Researchers also have found that iPads can level the playing field for all students, they note.
• 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:
February 22 (M)
School Choice Visitation Week
8:40, Allan to Formal Observation
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)February 23 (T)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 1)February 24 (W)
Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program Audit
8:40, Allan to Informal Observation
9:00-11:00, Allan to OAC Meeting (Construction Trailer)
10:00-12:00, Allan to Staffing Allocation Meeting (Ed Center)
12:00-1:00, Allan to Title 1 Allocation Meeting (Ed Center)
1:00-1:30, Allan to Owner Training Waste Compactor (New Building)
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Room 21)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Staff Room)February 25 (H)
9:00, Allan Conducting School Choice Tour
12:00, Allan to Formal ObservationFebruary 26 (F)
Last Day for In-district School Choice Requests
10:45-12:25, Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Library)February 29 (M)
Progress Monitoring – Week 9
11:30-3:30, Allan and Robin to Title 1 Principal & Coordinator Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Staff Room)
4:00-5:00, Allan to Nutrition Services Community Meeting (Ed Center)March 1 (T)
Women’s History Month
Youth Art Month
Music in Our Schools Month
National Nutrition Month
Open Enrollment Begins
2:30-3:30, Optional Staff Meeting (Library)March 2 (W)
Wacky Wednesday, Favorite Color Day
NEA’s Read Across America
9:10-9:35, K-2 PRIDE Assembly (Gym)
9:40-10:05, 3-5 PRIDE Assembly (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Site Council (Staff Room) – TentativeMarch 3 (H)
8:30-1:30, Carla’s Class to Museum of Natural and Cultural History
2:30-3:30, Taking it Up Meeting (Staff Room)
3:00-3:30, Allan to Folding Panel Partitions Training (New Building)March 4 (F)
8:30-1:30, Allison’s Class to Museum of Natural and Cultural History
12:30, Safety Patrol Check-In Meeting (Library)
Have an excellent week, everyone!
Allan
The struggle is REAL.
