http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=8451
Hello Super Duper Howard Staff,
If any of you have leftover Halloween candy or if the Switch Witch made a visits to your house, the giant candy dish in my office will gladly take any sugary donations!
Sixteen items of note for this week:
• Tech Trot Updates – The Tech Trot raised $7,271.78 after expenses, with $10,460.58 being raised in total. That second total earned students two of the promised rewards, which are a Popcorn & PJ Party, which we’ll do on Friday, November 16th. All classrooms will get free popcorn and teachers can choose their own time for the Popcorn & PJ Party. The second prize was a pie-in-the-face to staff volunteers. I’ll, of course, volunteer, but if there are other willing victims, let me know. We’ll likely do this at an upcoming assembly.
• Veterans Day Stars – If students bring back stars for the Veterans Day display that went homeFriday, please put them in Christina Wagner’s mailbox in the downstairs workroom. She kindly volunteered to put up this year’s display.
• Pumpkin Hunt Info – If you class earned their 12 tail feathers or are close to earning them, watch for an email from the PBIS Team soon regarding details on the great pumpkin hunt this Wednesday.
• Breakfast Reminder (no food in classrooms) – With the exception of Grab-n-Go Breakfasts and a few individual student plans, students should NOT take breakfast trays or items to classrooms. It’s messy and it’s enabling some kids to play on the playground and then sneak back into the cafeteria later after the bell rings.
• Thanksgiving Classroom Reminder – As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to send out my annual reminder regarding how Thanksgiving is taught in classrooms. Keep in mind that student perceptions of Native Americans often come from classroom activities around the “First Thanksgiving.” The conception of Native Americans gained from such early exposure is often both inaccurate and potentially damaging. When planning activities, be aware that what most of us learned in school about the “Pilgrims” and “Squanto” and the “First Thanksgiving” is a mixture of both history and myth. Thanksgiving activities should avoid reinforcing historical myths and should avoid stereotypes (ie. NO warbonnets). It’s best to shift the focus away from the “First Thanksgiving” and instead focus on items children can be thankful for in their own lives and on their families’ celebrations of Thanksgiving. Some resources on what to avoid and what to teach can be found at Teaching Tolerance and Education World. Here is a good article with a Native American perspective on Thanksgiving as well as one on The True Story of the First Thanksgiving. Also, the 4J Natives Program is available for classroom presentations year-round and can offer an accurate picture of Native American culture.
• Conference Items – Two new items, one article, and one repeat:
• Notify Lori of Any Changes by Tuesday – Teachers, tell Lori of any additions or changes to your conference schedules by Tuesday morning. We need this to distribute schedules to specialists.
• Dreambox at Home Flyer – There’s a canned letter on the Dreambox website teachers could share with families (English and Spanish) for how to access Dreambox from home. You can find it and other resources by logging onto Dreambox > Resources > Parents & Family. If you’d like me to run a class set for you, just let me know.
• REPEAT: Title Compacts – Corianne already emailed this, but to reiterate, Title Compacts are ready for conferences.
• New teachers, please read and sign these with your students, then have parents sign at conferences.
• Student names are already on them.
• DO NOT send these home! If parents don’t come to conferences, then get them back to Corianne with your signature and the student’s signature. Corianne will make a photocopy and put a note on it to send home.
• If you need an additional sheet because you get a new student between now and then, just let Corianne know.
• When they are signed, please get them back to Corianne. She will make photocopies for the parents to keep.Let Corianne know if you have any questions.
• What Teachers Want Parents to Know – Here’s a nice reminder before conferences from an Edutopia article by a teacher who has worked in a variety of schools, reflecting on what teachers want parents to know:
• We care about your child’s well-being.
• We want your child to succeed.
• We know that learning is difficult.
• We know your child has other responsibilities.
• We care deeply about what we teach.
• Artist in Residence Updates – I’m still going back and forth with Lane Arts, but it’s looking like we’ll get our top choices of artists and will get them on our preferred dates. I’ll let teachers know when I get official confirmation, but it’s looking like we’ll have:
• Nov. 19 – Dec. 21 – Ceramics with Jess Graff. She’ll do four 45-minute session with each class (there’s no website for her ceramics work).
• May 6 – May 31 – Puppetry with Noah Mclain. Hell do four 60 minute sessions with each class.I’ll start working on a schedule once I hear back from Lane Arts. No promises, but let me know if you have any requests for dates/times. We’re pretty constrained by how many days the artist can be here, so the only things on the schedule I hold sacred are PE/Music and lunch & recess (the contractually guaranteed stuff).
• Howard NOT Identified for Improvement – When Charis came to visit Howard last week, she let me know that Howard was not identified by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) for targeted improvement. Originally we thought our special education subgroup scores would earn us a targeted identification, but Charis said 4J has been pushing back hard on ODE that this metric unfairly punishes schools hosting multiple regional SPED programs, such as Howard with our two CLC programs and Life Skills, so maybe the state actually listened. ODE is also changing how they support identified schools, giving districts more control and flexibility, so even though we weren’t identified we may potentially receive additional resources.
• November Walk + Roll to School Day, Wednesday & Tally Sheets – Safe Routes to School is doing monthly Walk + Roll events this year and are asking classrooms to complete tally sheets for this month’s event this Wednesday. Sheets will go into mailboxes this week. Data collected helps with their grant funding, which has helped get us some of the new sidewalks along North Park and Grove, as well as some other traffic calming measures, such as the new speed bumps. Please return completed tally sheets to my mailbox.
• Wacky Wednesday: Sports Day! – Not this week, but next week is the November Wacky Wednesday and this time it’s Sports Day! Start planning your outfit and start getting kids excited to wear their favorite team or sports gear on Wednesday, November 14th. I’m planning to wear my originally planned Halloween outfit for this day (also my nerdy EUCON outfit). Bonus movie geek points if you can name the movie and/or character I’m dressing as below.
• Staff Webpage Photos – Do you love your new school photo and prefer it over the one on the Howard Staff Directory? Let me know and I can upload your new photo.
• Robotics Opportunity – If any parents, students, or school staff are interested in robotics, check out the Mckenzie River Gathering of the Robots (MRGR) at the UO Ford Alumni Center Saturday, Nov. 10th, 10:00-5:00. It’s casual, free, includes light refreshments, and with lots of demos to get people excited about robotics!
• Brings Clay Artist into your Classroom for FREE – The Clay in Education program brings potters into classrooms for free demonstrations, workshops, and art projects. See the linked flyer for details or email them at education@clayfest.org
• REPEAT: United Way Campaign DUE Nov. 16 – If you’d like to donate, United Way Campaign Forms are due in my mailbox by Friday next week. United Way supports many Lane County community programs that assist our students and families. You can learn more about what all they do by following the above link, the 2018 Campaign Flyer, the How We Invest Flyer, or by watching their 2018 campaign video below.
• Google Street View Geography Game – I love playing this geography game, Geoguessr.com, and it might be fun to play with kids. It will place you on a random spot in the world in Google Earth/Maps, and you have to figure out where you are by walking around in Street View. Easy clues like words on signs are usually blurred out and it can be hard to even locate the right continent. You get points for how close your guess is to your actual location. It’s a fun way to hunt for telltale signs of different cultures.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:
November 5 (M)
Regular DayNovember 6 (T)
7:30-8:30, Allan to IEP Meeting (Conference Room)November 7 (W)
PBIS Tail Feather – Pumpkin Hunt
Monthly Walk & Roll to School Day
9:00, Monthly Book Winners (Conference Room)
2:30, Howard Ukulele Ensemble Begins (Music Room)
2:30-4:30, Allan to Pay Grade Evaluation Committee (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Allan to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS) SKIPPING
4:00-8:00, Parent/Teacher ConferencesNovember 8 (H)
8:00-8:00, No School – Parent/Teacher Conferences
2:00-2:40, Allan to his kids’ conferencesNovember 9 (F)
Regular Work Day for Classified Staff
No School Licensed Staff – Conferences Comp DayNovember 12 (M)
Veterans Day – No SchoolNovember 13 (T)
8:30-12:00, Allan to Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
4:30-8:00, 4J First Aid Class (Library)
4:30-6:00, 4J Science Teacher Leader Meeting (STEAM Room)November 14 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Sports Day
6:00-8:00, PTO Family Night (Cafeteria/Gym)November 15 (H)
2:45-3:30, TLT Meeting (Angela’s Room, RM24)November 16 (F)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
United Way Pledge Forms Due
Tech Trot PJ Day & FREE Popcorn Reward Day!
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Math PLC (Volunteer’s Classroom)
2:30-3:30, Licensed Interventionists (Title & SPED) PLC – Virtual Meeting
And if you missed it, check out the photos from the Register Guard coverage of our Halloween Costume Parade and also our excellent group photo down below. You all are a super fun group of people to work with! So glad I work here!
Allan
