May 23, 2016

By Allan  

 

Hello Roadrunners,

Ten items of note for this week:

• Brianna Stiller PBIS Reminder, The 31 Months of May – Bri Stiller shared her excellent and timely end-of-year reminder about addressing student misbehavior. Below is what was shared with principals:

Those of us who have been around for a few years know that behavior tends to spike in May. It is a VERY LONG month for those of us who support students who need behavior supports. Some of us, including myself, get tired and find ourselves getting grouchy. While this is natural, it is also counter productive. To that end, I am resending a newsletter that was originally sent in February of 2015.

I think you will find some of the ideas applicable. I’ll let each of you decide whether to send the letter to your entire staff.

Thanks!


Brianna Stiller, Ph.D.
Positive Behavior Support Coordinator
School District 4J, Eugene, Or. 97402
(541)790-7816
stiller@4j.lane.edu

• School Carnival Volunteers Needed – The PTO is having a hard time finding volunteers for this year’s carnival, which may be due to it being held on the Friday of a no-school day, June 10th, 5:00-8:00PM, but they are hoping staff would be able/willing to help recruit volunteers, particularly to run carnival games. It would be great if staff could make personal contact with individuals who might be willing to help or if classroom teachers can share this in classroom newsletters. Below is a blurb about volunteering I took off of the PTO’s Facebook page if you want to cut and paste into a class newsletter:

School Carnival Volunteers Needed

WE STILL NEED 65 SPOTS FILLED! Only the first hour of the carnival is mostly operational and we will have to close the other games downs if we aren’t able to fill the spots.

The end of year carnival on June 10th and it’s in danger of being scaled back due to not enough volunteers. We need you to help us have this be a success for Howard students and our community.

Please consider volunteering just an hour of your time to help out. You don’t have to be a Howard parent, anyone and everyone can volunteer and also can enjoy the carnival. 10 free tickets for each hour you volunteer! Follow this link to Volunteer Spot ( http://vols.pt/hSEeYz ) to sign-up. If you don’t want to use the link please contact the PTO at HowardElementaryPTO@gmail.com

• PRIDE Assemblies, Wednesday, May 25th – A quick reminder that this Wednesday is the PRIDE Awards Assembly for Excellence (“Doing your personal best!”). Please select 2-3 students from your class to receive the award and turn them in to the office before Wednesday. See the linked map and directions for assembly times and details.

• TalentEd End-of-Cycle Goals Reflections Due Friday – Thank you to those of you who have finished this already, but the End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection is due this Friday. All licensed staff members must complete this task, regardless whether you are on the Year 1, Year 2, Temporary or Probationary evaluation cycles. For those of you who have completed this, I will try to stop by your rooms this week, if I haven’t already, to finish out the required evaluation cycle tasks. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the form and/or if you’d like a copy of the Grade Comparison Report.

• New Building Updates – Eight items of note for the new building and move:

• Shelves for Mobile Storage Mailboxes or Shelving – Facilities has agreed to get us shelves and pegs for the mobile storage units to make student mailboxes. If you choose to make student mailboxes, there will be enough shelves for 36 mailboxes (40 if you count the larger open spaces under the bottom shelf).

Mailboxes

• Farewell Event Wednesday – If you haven’t already, feel free to invite any past students, staff, or families to the Farewell Event for the Old Howard Building this Wednesday. Linked here is the flyer and the Facebook Event Page (87 people said they are “going” and 163 are “interested” so it should be a good turnout). I’m planning to keep classrooms locked, but when I tour groups around I am planning to open and take people through a few rooms, and although I will be keeping an eye on visitors, I’d advise staff to make sure technology and other valuables are secured prior to the event.

• Save Yellow Tape Dispensers – Be sure to save and not throw away the yellow tape dispensers for sealing packing boxes. If they run out of tape, just reload them with a fresh roll. We’ve lost track of several of the dispensers and suspect they may have gotten thrown out, so be sure to hang onto them if you still have them because facilities is not providing any more.

• Chicken Coop Location – We’re moving the location of the chicken coop from the school garden area to the east courtyard outside of Kealy’s and Allison’s classrooms. The plan will be to take over one of the planter beds, lay down some bark chips and fence the chickens in. This will be safer for the chickens and we also won’t have to negotiate coop locations with the neighbors.

• Library Move – With the library closing this week, I though people might like to know the plan for packing and moving it. Julie is first completing the library inventory and when they are ready to move books to the new building they are actually going to wheel over the new library shelves and load them up just as they will be in the new library to save on packing/unpacking time. Facilities is going to lay Masonite on the ground to protect the cart wheels between the new and old building. Once that is finished, they will then load books from the old building to go into the new library permanent case work. Last, they will load up any miscellaneous items that need to be moved. And if you’re wondering what is going to happen to the old library furniture, many of the carts and book shelves are going to other schools, which will get moved on June 17th.

• Construction Site Fencing Change – The fencing around the construction site vehicle entrance was recently changed. This was done in order to make more room to start prep work for the bus loop which is actually a lot further along that I expected it to be.

• PiVOT Book Drive – As any FYI, PiVOT Architecture is sponsoring a book drive for our new library, which is being coordinated with Julie and our PTO Vice President, Brandi Trumbull. Linked here is the flyer and also the book list Julie put together.

• Class Tours – If anyone wants to go on a tour this week, I was told KLCC is really wanting to do a news story on the new building and would like to join a class on a tour, so let me know if you and your kids would like to be famous!

On a related note, The Register Guard came out last week and did a nice video news story about the new building and also a nice print article. KEZI did story too, focusing more on the sustainable features in the new building.

• Risk Management Safety Reminders – It’s the time of year for outdoors, trips, and celebrations. In an effort to keep staff and students safe, Risk Management asked that staff review a few important reminders linked here in this email. Also linked here is information on playground safety, spring sports best practices, tips on proper lifting with how to stay in the green zone, and also tips on stretching routines.

• 4J Science Vision, Mission and Goals – Linked here is the district Science Vision, Mission and Goal created by the District Science Adoption Team, which has been through multiple stakeholders for feedback. This document has been presented to the School Board, and is the dynamic document that is guiding elementary and middle level science curriculum implementation, as well as guiding the high school science adoption process next year.

• District Admin Updates – Lizette Rodgers will be the new principal at Twin Oaks Elementary School when Kathy Owen retires at the end of this school year. Lizette has been assistant principal at Spencer Butte Middle School and was previously an assistant principal at Churchill High School. Over at Facilities, with Jon Lauch’s retirement, Harlan Coats had earlier been appointed interim director of facilities management and transportation. Ryan Spain, one of Howard’s two project managers for the new school, will be the new interim facilities and maintenance manager, filling Harlan’s previous role.

• Connecting With Students: Four Strategies – Building relationships with students sometimes takes a back seat to achieving passing test scores. That doesn’t have to be the case, according to this sixth-grade teacher. Find out the four strategies in this she uses to connect with her students and teach them effectively in this Teaching Tolerance post.

• 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:

May 23 (M)
Artist in Residence Continues
Library Closes
8:30-12:00, Allan to 0.5 FTE Learning Center Teacher Interviews (Library)
2:15-5:00, BEST Skate World Field Trip
2:30-5:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
3:30-4:30, 5th Grade Teachers Meet w/Kelly Teachers

May 24 (T)
8:30-2:00, 3rd Grade to McGowan Creek
9:30-10:10, Kelly WEB Leaders meeting with 5th Graders
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Room 1)
2:30-6:00, Allan to Music Teacher Interviews (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, ODE Reimagine Education in Oregon Community Forums (SEHS)

May 25 (W)
9:10-9:40, K-2 PRIDE Assembly (Gym)
9:15-10:00, 5th Graders Visit Kelly
9:40-10:05, 3-4 PRIDE Assembly (Gym)
11:15-12:00, 4/5 Music Performance (Gym)
12:00-12:20, 5th Grade PRIDE Awards (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Staff Room)
2:30-4:00, Science Kit Giveaway (Ed Center Warehouse)
3:00-5:00, 4J Retirement Event (Ed Center)
3:30-4:30, Allan to HR Report back on Recruitment/Hiring/Retention (Ed Center)
5:30-7:00, Old Building Farewell Event (Cafeteria and Around the Building)

May 26 (H)
4th Grade to UO Field Trip

May 27 (F)
TalentEd End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection Due
8:00-12:30, Howard PD Day (Library)

May 30 (M)
Memorial Day – No School

May 31 (T)
Artist in Residence Continues
4J Begin Moving Library Items
2:30-6:00, Allan to Music Teacher Interviews (Ed Center)

June 1 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Hawaiian Style Day
BOGO Book Fair Begins (Gym)
9:00-9:30, BEST Strings Assembly for 3/4/5 (Gym)
2:30-2:50, Allan to End-of-Cycle Goals Conference

June 2 (H)
4J Begin Moving PE Equipment

June 3 (F)
BOGO Book Fair Ends (Gym)
Last Day of BEST
9:00-11:00, KG to the Raptor Center
10:45-12:30, June & July Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Library)

We’re on the home stretch! It’s now down to only 4-day student weeks!

Allan

 

Library-Books