Allan's Announcements

By Allan 　http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=7417

Howdy Everyone,

It was great seeing folks at the Staff New Year’s Party Friday night. Thank you, Angela, for hosting the shindig. We have a pretty fun crew of people working here at Howard!

Eleven items of note for this week:

• Science Kit Info – I wanted to highlight a few items were shared at the principal science training last week:

• Life Science is Optional – In an effort to be responsive to hearing how overwhelmed elementary teachers are feeling with new curriculums and materials, downtown is making the FOSS Life Science kit optional and simply a pilot this year for teacher who choose to teach it.

• When to teach science? – Principals discusses many of the barriers for teaching the kits. Schedule is often mentioned as a barrier, so I wanted to reiterate that it is okay to teach science during core reading time because science does include a good amount of literacy. Writing times would also be appropriate. For next year’s master schedule, I think we may want to look at creating an hour-long Writing/Science block to make this less of a barrier, but we should wait to get direction from downtown on the common start and end times that will be in place for schools next year before we wade into those weeds.

• Kit Priorities and Key Concepts – This has been shared before, but there is a wealth of information on the 4J Science Blog (vocabulary cards, word walls, learning targets, etc), but in particular is the Priority Matrix for each of the science kits. The matrix rates each lesson as a high, medium, or low priority, which if you’re not able to get to all the lessons can help you decide which ones are the most important.

• PTO Spaghetti Feed/Bingo Night – Be sure to pump kids up for the PTO Spaghetti Feed/Bingo Night this Friday, 5:30-7:30 in the cafeteria. Dinners are $5.50 a plate for the first 3 plates and $3.50 a plate after that ($1 for three meatballs and $1 for drinks). BINGO cards are $0.25 each and there will also be a 50/50 raffle. We had a great turnout last year and hopefully it’ll be the same this year!

• Care Team Referrals Due 1/19 – The January Student Care Team meeting is in two weeks and any new referrals to the team are due the Friday, January 19th. Linked here are the 4J Release Forms (editable PDF and non-editable PDF) to get signed if any situations where the Care Team might be able to provide assistance. Common referrals, though not limited to, are:

• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Medical concerns about the child or other family
• Counseling or mental health needs
• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent
• Unknown if open child welfare case
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer

Try to get a signature on the 4J Release Form, but if you can’t, you can also refer “hypothetical” student or family situations. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Wacky Wednesday – School Color Day – Blue and White are our official school colors, so remind student to show their school pride this Wednesday by wearing our school colors or by wearing their other Howard gear.

• Jan. 2nd SSD PD Materials – SSD staff were already sent this, but if others are interested, here is a Google link to all of the presentations from the SSD “Addressing Challenging Behaviors” training from last week. You’ll need to be logged into your 4J Google account (use your 4j email) in order to access the folder, but if you have trouble here’s a link to a zip file of all the materials and I also put a copy of the folder on the Howard Google Drive under Meetings > IPBS > Jan. 2 SSD PD

• PRIDE Awards, January 17th – Not this week, but next week on Wednesday, January 17th during lunchtime in the cafeteria will be our PRIDE Awards for Integrity. Teachers should remind students about PRIDE and the meaning of Integrity (Being Honest), and then pick 2-4 students who have demonstrated Integrity. Be sure to get the Integrity Certificate to me before the 6th so I can sign them and get them organized and also send home the PRIDE Award Invitations to parents before the event.

• December McKinney-Vento Student Data – Linked here is the district-wide December McKinney-Vento Student Report. These totals represent students for the entire school year, not necessarily who’s in buildings now. As was last year, Howard serves more homeless students than any other elementary or middle school in 4J (and only exceeded by two high school programs).

• REPEAT: School Choice Visitation Week – A reminder, School Choice Visitation Week is this week, so be prepared for families to drop by classrooms over the course of the week.

• REPEAT TaeKwonDo Demonstration Team Assembly Friday – This Friday the U.S. TaeKwonDo College Demonstration Team will hold their motivational assembly we discussed at last month’s Staff Meeting. The K-2 assembly is 8:10-8:35 and the 3-5 assembly is 8:45-9:10. See the linked assembly map and directions for details.

• The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources – Get a roundup of educational grants, contests, awards, free toolkits, and classroom guides aimed at helping students, classrooms, schools, and communities. Check this Edutopia page weekly to get the latest updates.

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

January 8 (M)
School Choice Week #1

January 9 (T)
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room)
5:30-7:45, SSD Early Childhood Open House (English)
6:00-8:15, SSD Early Childhood Open House (Spanish)

January 10 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – School Color Day
9:30, Allan leading school choice tour
2:30-3:30, PIBS Meeting (Rae’s Room)

January 11 (H)
7:30-11:30, 4th – Number Talks Peer Observations
9:00-11:00, Vaughan & Silver to Firs Bowl
11:30-2:30, 3rd – Number Talks Peer Observations
2:30-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room)

January 12 (F)
8:10-8:35, K – 2 Taekwondo Assembly (Gym)
8:45-9:10, 3 – 5 Taekwondo Assembly (Gym)
10:00, Allan to DHS Hearing (Lane Circuit Court)
5:30-7:30, PTO Spaghetti Feed/BINGO Night (Cafeteria)

January 15 (M)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School

January 16 (T)
Fluoride Varnish
Howard Winter easyCBM Benchmarking Begins
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)

January 17 (W)
11:00-12:45, PRIDE Awards at Lunch (Cafeteria)

January 18 (H)
9:15-9:45, 5th Grade Music Performance (Gym)
10:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
12:00-12:30, KG Music Performance (Gym)
1:00-1:30, 4th Grade Music Performance (Gym)

January 19 (F)
7:30-11:30, 5th – Number Talks Peer Observations
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting SKIPPING
10:15-10:45, 1st Grade Music Performance (Gym)
12:30-1:00, 3rd Grade Music Performance (Gym)
1:30-2:00, 2nd Grade Music Performance (Gym)

We survived our first week back and are onto our first 5-day week of the new year. Thankfully we have a 3-day weekend to help us readjust to a regular work week!

Allan

The School Secretary Grinch