http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=7766
Hello Superstar Howard Staff,
This Wednesday is Administrative Professionals’ Day where we recognize the dedicated work of office staff, and Howard is incredibly lucky to have the AMAZING Lori and Bianca on the front lines for our school. From blood, barf, tears, anger, and occasional life coaching, on top of all the typical office duties you’d expect in a normal office environment, we have a pair of rock stars in the Howard office looking out and taking care of us each an every day. Thank you, Lori and Bianca!
Sixteen items of note for this week:
• Job Expo Update – Imelda Cortez was offered and accepted our 5th grade position. Imelda is currently teaching 4th grade at Adams, where she’s worked the past five years (Ms. Cortez is who my 3rd grader at Adams wanted next year), and has previously taught primary grades at River Road for eight years and kindergarten at Howard for one year. Imelda is also a former Howard student, which now makes five of us in the exclusive Former-Howard-Student-Now-Employee Club. Please welcome Imelda to the Awesome Howard Team!
• Summer Programs at Howard – Howard will be hosting three programs in our building this summer; SSD’s Extended School Year (ESY) program, Kids in Transition to School (KITS), and the Early Education Summer Program (EEP). ESY will use thirteen classrooms and will run 8:30-11:30, TWH from July 10 through August 2. KITS will use the Preschool, Family Resource Center (RM1), and the Community Room for 16-20 student & families and will run 9:00-11:00, TWH from July 2 through August 23. EEP will use three classrooms and will run 8:30-4:30, MTWHF from July 9 through August 17. The general plan is to primarily use first floor classrooms, but we may need to use an upstairs wings as well. I’ll do a walkthrough with the facilities before the end of the school year to help determine where all of the programs will be located and will notify staff who are effected (so you can lock up and cover your stuff!). I don’t have much more information than this, but l’ll let people know more once I get details.
• Don’t Touch the OAKS Testing Snacks – If you notice the snacks on top of and inside the Staff Room refrigerators, these are for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders during state testing, so know that they are NOT up for grabs. 3/4/5 teachers, there are four different snacks (with some extras for make-up day on Friday), so help yourself to a class set of each when you are ready for them.
• May 4th Math PD Day – Not this Friday, but next Friday is a 4J Math Professional Development Day. Jaimee Massie sent the linked May 4th PD Day Flyer with details. For licensed staff, teachers grades 3-5 and Title/SPED teachers will meet 8:00-11:15 at Holt, and teachers grades K-2 will meet 12:00-3:15 at Holt. For classified staff, there will be an EA Extravaganza this same morning. Details on that event are coming soon.
• PTO Meeting Updates – The PTO had a good turnout for this meeting, which was great because we were seeking nominations for new board members and most every position had someone sign up! Other items worth noting are that the PTO is working on Staff Appreciation Week, May 7-11, the Tech Trot jog-a-thon fundraiser, and the “Beep! Beep! Best Day Ever!”
• Dreambox Staff Meeting Follow-Up – Here are some links from the webinar that may be useful during your implementation of DreamBox Learning:
• Client Success – Linked here is the Dreambox Support Site, which is full of helpful articles on all the tools and features DreamBox offers, including troubleshooting steps if you have any difficulty. Their support team can be contacted by phone at 877-451-7845, ext. 3 or by email at support@dreambox.com
• Other Resources – In the Resources section of your Dashboard are videos, certificates for students, calendars, and the Teacher Tools to use with classes.
• Webinar Recording – Here’s a link to a recording of the Dreambox Webinar from our staff meeting.
• Return Cafeteria Trays & Snack Tubs by 12:50 – Please remember to return all cafeteria trays and snack tubs to the cafeteria by 12:50 each day. If you have students eating in your classroom, send their trays back before this time. The same goes for the FFVP snack tubs. They need to be returned by 12:50 daily because this is when the last load gets cleaned by our dishwasher before she has to leave for another job.
• Library Items of Note – Two announcements from Julie:
• Library Available During Testing – I would like to offer an option for students who are done testing for the day. Please feel free to send students that may need a place outside class to work on projects or classwork to the library. I am happy to help, please let me know if there is anything else the library can do. I am out of the library 9:25 -9:45 and 11:40-12:20 for duties. :) Linked here is the Library Schedule.
• Staff Use of Library Browsers – If staff use the computers in the library for checking email or other tasks, remember to close out your search or email when finished along with your secure login. Staff are likely best off opening a “Private” or “Incognito” window, which will automatically delete your logins and passwords once you close the window.
• UDPATE: Strings Academy Next Year – I spoke with the director of the Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras (ESYO) and we may be able to continue our String Academy program next year for students free of charge. She said the main expense is paying the teacher, which is about $5,000 a year and they already have half of that covered from a donor who wants to support the program specifically here at Howard. She is going to speak to the ESYO board to see if they will provide funds to cover the difference. They really want to support the Howard program since we’ve always had the highest participating rate and that we’ve always been so supportive of the program. I’m also thinking I may write an EEF grant for the program, although since it’s a lot of money for a smaller group of kids, Site Council will likely rank it lower on our list of grant priorities.
• REPEAT: Journeys & Being a Writer Materials Order (DUE May 18) – Grade level teams should meet to decide what Journeys and Being a Writer materials you want to order for next school year. See the linked Piktochart from the staff meeting for details. Complete this Survey Link before Friday, May 18th and let me know if you have any questions.
• REPEAT: PBIS Kindness Challenge & Assembly – See Rae and Jill’s emails for details, but linked here is the Assembly Map & Directions for the PBIS Kindness Extravaganza on Wednesday. K-2 is 8:45-9:10 and 3-5 is 9:20-9:45.
• REPEAT: EEF Grant Applications Due MONDAY – Grant proposals are due to me by Monday before Site Council. All I need before the meeting is a title and brief description. See the linked EEF website or linked email for details.
• REPEAT: Tech Trot Prizes/Incentives Volunteers? – We have a few staff volunteers for the Tech Trot Incentives, but it would be fun to have more. Let me know ASAP if any of you are willing to do the following:
• Be a special guest at a fun lunch with 2 kids from each class
• Get a whip cream pie in the face at an assembly
• Get duck taped to a wall or post
• Do a lip synch battle at an assembly• Seesaw Tips – Remember there are a ton of Seesaw Resources to help teachers, including specific ideas you can use tomorrow. You can also check their schedule of online professional development webinars (PD in your PJs) for teachers every month.
• Every student is a mathematics language learner – While the need for language supports – both content and context specific — for English language learners in math classes is increasingly evident to educators, it is also important for educators to realize how much these semantic supports benefit many of their other students as well. See this ASCD article for more.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the next two weeks:
April 22 (SU)
Earth DayApril 23 (M)
EEF Grants Due to Allan
May School Newsletter Articles Due
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:30-2:30, Allan to Report Card Revision Team Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-3:30, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)April 24 (T)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:15-11:15, Allan to Elem. Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
8:30-12:30, LCC Dental Clinic
2:30-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Mellissa/Mariah’s Room, RM23)April 25 (W)
Administrative Professionals’ Day
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
8:45-9:10, K-2 PBIS Kindness Extravaganza (Gym)
9:20-9:45, 3-5 PBIS Kindness Extravaganza (Gym)
2:30-3:30, Student Care Meeting (Conference Room)April 26 (H)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
11:00-1:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)
2:15, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)April 27 (F)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA Performance Task
9:00-12:00, 1st Grade Near By Nature Field Trip – Chunn/Kerins
11:00-12:50, April Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)April 30 (M)
Children’s Book Week
Children’s Book Day
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CATMay 1 (T)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
PBIS Monthly Theme – Positive Attitude
Better Hearing & Speech Month 2018
9:00-12:00, 1st Grade Near By Nature Field Trip – CorlissMay 2 (W)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
9:20, 5th Grade Group Photo (front of building)
2:30-5:00, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Meeting (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)May 3 (H)
3/4/5 OAKS ELA CAT
12:00-3:00, Allan to ILT Meeting (Ed Center)May 4 (F)
No School — Professional Development/Planning Day (Math)
8:00-12:00, EA Extravaganza! (Time is Tentative)
8:00-11:15, SPED/Title/Grades 3-5 Teachers Math PD (Holt)
12:00-3:15, Grades K-2 Teachers Math PD (Holt)
Have a good week, everyone!
Now enjoy some snarky Administrative Professionals’ Day memes.
Allan
