http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=6695
Hello Roadrunners,
We survived our final 5-day week of the school year! Did last Friday seem like a very busy and wild one? Did you know it was a full moon? And did you know staff went through a what’s usually a month’s worth of candy in my office in two weeks? Don’t worry I made a Costco trip the weekend to restock.
Although the final days of school are often busy and students and parents may start exhibiting “interesting” behaviors (staff too sometimes), put a smile on your face and teach on! You all are a terrific group to work with and an amazing team (you’re also a whole lot of fun), and let’s make the last seven and a half days of school good ones for everybody!
Seventeen items of note for this week:
• End-of-Year Evaluation Tasks DUE FRIDAY! – All end-of-year self evaluations must be completed by Friday. Licensed staff need to complete their End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection form in TalentEd and classified staff need to complete the Classified Employee Self-Assessment assessment form (PDF or DOC) and give me a copy (email or hardcopy) as soon as possible.
• 1st Grade Interviews – We had a whopping 56 applicants for our 1st grade job posting (I was up until 1:00AM last week scoring all of the applications) and I’ve narrowed it down to six candidates. Interviews will be this Wednesday right after school, 1:15-5:30. We have enough folks for the interviews committee, but other staff members are welcome to join if you’d like to have some say on a future co-worker. Just let me know if you want to join.
• 4th Grade Play, Tuesday, June 20th at 8:30 – The annual 4th grade play is next week on Tuesday, June 20th at 8:30 in the Gym. See the linked assembly map and directions for details. Be sure to leave early so your class is seated and ready for the play to begin at 8:30.
• School Carnival Volunteers? – I CC’d staff on an email to families that the PTO is in need of MANY, MANY more volunteers to sign-up to run next Friday’s School Carnival. If any staff are willing and able to volunteer an hour to work a shift at a game, food booth, or with set-up or clean-up, I know it would be very much appreciated by the PTO School Carnival organizers. They’ve put a lot of time and effort into this year’s carnival since it’ll be the first one in our new building. Click this link to their SignUp.com page to volunteer.
• 5th Grade Clap Out – The clap out for 5th graders will be the day of their promotion ceremony, next week on Wednesday, June 21st. It will run the same as in the past except for new locations for PreK-4 classes and staff to stand during the event. 5th graders will start their walk in the cafeteria, walk around the courtyard gate to the 1st grade wing, past the library, and out the front entrance. Linked here is the Clap Out Map and Directions (the map isn’t so pretty, so let me know if you have questions where your class should stand). Here are the details:
• Wednesday, June 21st, classes begin lining up in their spots at 12:50
• At 12:55, 5th graders will begin their final walk through the 1st grade hallway.
• Students should clap and cheer appropriately as the 5th graders walk past.
• Staff members not assigned to students are invited to join and give a final farewell.
• Once the 5th graders have made their way to the end of the clap out line, remaining students can be dismissed.• “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule, 6/22 – For lunches on the last day of school, Thursday next week, students will enter the cafeteria as usual. They will put together their own sack lunch, assembly line style. As students pass through the line, they should form a new line at the an exit door of the teacher’s choosing (it’s very nice not having as cramps of a cafeteria this year). Once all the students have gotten their lunches, the classes can leave the cafeteria. This process should takes about 5-8 minutes.
10:00 KG grade
10:10 1st grade
10:20 2nd grade
10:30 3rd grade
10:40 4th grade
10:50 5th grade
If staff not supervising students are available to help during this time, that would be terrific!
• No PE Last Day of School – Rachel will be out of the building the last day of school, Thursday, June 22nd, to run Edison’s Field Day. In exchange, Rachel said she’d come back to Howard next year to run our Field Day again, even though we don’t get her as our regular PE teacher next year.
• 17/18 Master Calendar Change – I made one change to next year’s master calendar from what Site Council approved, which is we may have to move our first Howard PD (Academy) Day from Friday, October 6th to Thursday, October 12th, the day before state in-service day to match up schedules for the Apple Distinguished Teacher to conduct a joint PD session on Google Classroom with Howard and Kelly MS staff. I’d prefer October 6th so we can back-up a non-school day with against Curriculum Night the evening before, but if we can’t make that date work, I’d like feedback from staff on when you would like to schedule Curriculum Night. We could schedule it for Wednesday, October 11th, though that me be getting a bit late into the year. We could also schedule it earlier in September or we could just leave it where it’s at on the calendar. Please let me know your thoughts by the end of the week and I’ll come up with a proposed date if we do end up having to move our October PD date.
• Room Number Changes? – What would staff think if we changed our current classroom numbering system to a more typical 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 numbering of system? We wouldn’t be able to get new nameplates outside classrooms, but we could cover the current number and print revised classroom numbers along with teacher names to go outside each classroom. Linked here is a Proposed Re-Numbering of Classrooms, which most importantly allows the CLC (AKA “Room 10”) to once again become Room 10. :) Let me know what you think about this.
• Staff Room Clean-Up – It’s a cliche reminder, please remember to clean up after yourself in the staff room, particularly the microwaves, toaster oven, and sink area. Last week one staff member very nicely cleaned out the microwaves, but by the end of the day they were again a mess of spills and spatters. Help keep our feeding area clean!
• Last Call for Staff Summer Reading Picks! – If you would like to share your taste in books with your coworkers, send me a book or two or three (or more) you’d recommend or ones you’re planning to read this summer. Feel free to include any comments. I’ll put the list in next week’s announcements, so send your picks by the end of this week!
• REMINDER: Class Lists Due Friday June 16th – Linked here is the 2017-2018 Class List Spreadsheet to enter class lists for next year. Teachers do not need to complete the placement cards unless you team would like to do that in addition to the spreadsheet. See Erin’s email for directions. Lists need to be completed by the end of the week so we have time to run the lists by specialists and educational assistants (who are welcome to follow the link now to take a preliminary peek).
• REMINDER: End-of-Year Checklist – End-of-Year Checklists were put in staff mailboxes earlier and need to be completed before teachers and folks in charge of areas can leave for the summer. The sign-up sheet for checkout dates and times is on the white board in the Staff Room and if you need any boxes, contact Crystal.
• REMINDER: Staff Technology Summer Checkout – James Grubic sent an email to staff that if you decide to take a laptop and/or iPad home over the summer, you must follow the link to the Google Online Equipment Check Out Form. Be sure to complete the checkout for each of the devices you are taking home for the summer.
• REMINDER: Report Card Grading Day Expectations – This Friday is the elementary report card grading day. This is a regular work day for all staff, with the exception of the very few student-contact-days-only staff. HR has said it is allowable for licensed staff to work from home this day if you notify your administrator (me) in advance, but be sure to make plans ahead of time if you need to collaborate with colleagues for grading. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town. Teachers are highly visible members of the community, so keep in mind public perception. HR has said if working off-site on grading days is abused, we will not be allowed to continue the practice.
• District Admin Updates – Tom Horn, the current principal at Edison, has been selected to take on a districtwide role as a student services administrator next year. Before going to Edison, Tom was principal at an alternative high school in South Lane and before that was a special education teacher. This is the first of two SSD (formerly ESS) administrator positions to be announced (Joane Butler is retiring and KC Clark has been appointed to be administrator of the Fox Hollow Campus).
• 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:
June 12 (M)
Deadline for Report Card TranslationsJune 13 (T)
2:30-3:30, Allan to KG Data Team Meeting (Conference Room)June 14 (W)
9:30-12:30, Rock/Callihan to Science Factory
1:15-5:30, 1st Grade Teacher Interviews (Conference Room)
1:30-2:30, 5th Grade Data Team Meeting (Title 1 Room)
2:30-3:30, 4th Grade Data Team Meeting (Title 1 Room)
6:30-7:30, YMCA Art Show (Cafeteria)June 15 (H)
Last Day for Title 1 Groups
8:40-10:00, 4th Grade Play Practice in Gym and Music Room
9:00-11:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
10:30-12:30, Birthday Lunches with the Principal (Community Room)
2:15-2:45, Allan to BEST Year End Eval Meeting (Office)June 16 (F)
No School – Grading Day
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
10:30-11:30, Allan to Super Boundary Meeting (Ed Center)
5:00-8:00, PTO Howard School CarnivalJune 18 (SU)
Father’s DayJune 19 (M)
9:15-1:00, SPLASH Field Trip for Grades 3/4/5
10:15, Fire Drill
4:00-5:00, Allan to All Admin Meeting (Ed Center)June 20 (T)
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elementary Principapls’ Meeting (Ed Center) CANCELLED
8:30, 4th Grade Play (Gym)
1:15-1:45, PBIS Waterballoon Launch Tail Feather Reward (Softball Field)
2:30-4:00, Allan to Eligibility Meeting (Conference Room)June 21 (W)
12:00-12:45, 5th Grade Graduation (Gym)
12:50-1:05, Clap Out for 5th GradeJune 22 (H)
Last Day of School, 11:05 Dismissal
10:10, Grab & Go Sack Lunches
11:30, Staff Last Day of School Ice Cream Celebration (Cafeteria)“Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule
10:00 Kindergarten
10:10 1st grade
10:20 2nd grade
10:30 3rd grade
10:40 4th grade
10:50 5th gradeJune 23 (F)
No School Day — Grading Day
Last Day for Licensed StaffJune 26 (M)
Last Day for Classified StaffAugust 29 (T)
Teachers Report BackAugust 30 (W)
192-Day Classified Staff Report Back
You got this, everyone! Let’s make this week a fun one, like we did last week at field day, the senior stroll, the Family BBQ, and so on!
Allan
