January 14, 2019

By Allan  

Hi Everyone,

It’s our one 5-day week of January with sixteen items of note:

• New school facility user experience surveys – With the passage of the facilities bond, 4J is preparing to build three new schools and wants input from staff who’ve worked in 4Js newest schools. Follow this link to the 4J Facility User Satisfaction Survey and follow this link to the School Technology Survey. Our new building certainly had and still has a lot of bugs that drive me crazy (my list was pretty long), but I do always remind myself that our new building is definitely is a big improvement over the old one. Help out your fellow 4J colleagues by sharing your thoughts about what works and could be improved.

• PTO Meeting TUESDAY – This Tuesday at 6:00 in the cafeteria is the January PTO meeting, so if you’re able to volunteer your time to come, I know parents appreciating seeing staff attend. Hope to see you there!

• Friday Early Release PD – Teachers, this Friday is the annual OAKS Test Security Training, which will be for staff who administer OAKS. The meeting will be in The Title 1 Room (RM 30), led by our new ESC/Title 1 Teacher, Becca Lambeth-Anderson.

• Life Skills EA Interviews Wednesday – Rae and I will be interviewing Life Skills EA candidates this Wednesday from 2:35-4::30 for a position being added to our LS program. Let me know if you’re interested in volunteering your time to join us to help select the best candidate for the position. We’d particularly like to have a classified staff member join the team.

• Student Care Team Referrals – The Student Care Team will meet in two weeks, which means referrals to the team are due this Friday. Try to get a signature on the 4J Release Form (English or Spanish). Linked here is a Student Care Team Flyer you can share with families to explain the team. You can also refer “hypothetical” student or family situations if you can’t get a signature. Common referrals, though not limited to, are:

• Death of a parent
• Incarcerated parent -­ recent incarceration or pending release
• Homeless or impending homelessness
• Unknown status of child welfare call that was made
• Domestic Violence
• Extreme behavior issues – supports needed at home
• Specific resource needed but unknown where to refer
• Medical concerns about the child or other family

Let me know if you have any questions or any potential referrals for the team.

• DHS 211 Resource Sheet 2019 – Linked here is the DHS District 5 211 Resource Sheet for 2019 in English and Spanish, which contains a succinct list of community resources.

• Centralized Child Abuse Hotline – Oregon is centralizing its Child Abuse Reporting System. Currently there are regional hotlines that are being phased out over the next 5 months to a central Oregon Child Abuse Hotline. The Hotline will serve as the central reporting system for all Oregonians 24/7. Lane County is scheduled to transition to the centralized hotline on January 28th, so after that date all calls to DHS will be routed to a centralized call center. The phone number will stay the same for now, but will change later this year.

• Report Card Updates and Feb. 8th send home date – An Elementary Report Card Resources email went out before winter break, which included a link to the 4J Elementary Report Card website (which I actually made, posting the committee’s work), but I wanted teachers to note that the date for report cards to go home is a district-wide date that is one week earlier than Howard has typically done in the past. We’ve usually waited two weeks after grading day to send report cards home, but it’s one week after grading day this year, so report cards will go home Friday, February 8th.

• Free International UO Student Presentation – The International Cultural Service Program (ICSP) at the University of Oregon is now open for Winter 2019 term. UO students will be available to visit schools and give presentations from January 14 to March 15. See the linked ICSP Brochure for details on the offerings and how to request a presenter.

• REPEAT: PLC Meetings THIS Week – Monday and Tuesday are Grade Level PLC Meetings with roving subs. See the calendar or last week’s announcements for dates and times.

• REPEAT: School Choice Visitation Week & Info – Lori and I had a good response from families at this past weekend’s School Showcase. This week is the first school choice visitation week, so be prepared for families to drop by classrooms over the course of the week. The second school choice visitation week is Jan. 28-31. One other repeat, I’m holding two school choice evening presentations and tours. The first is this Thursday this week 6:00-7:00 in the library and the second will be Tuesday, January 29th, if any staff are interested/willing in helping me talk about our awesome school. I’ll buy you a drink from Espresso ETC!

• REPEAT: Wacky Wednesday: Silly Sock Day – Wednesday is Silly Sock Day, so get kids excited to show off their wacky and/or mismatched socks this Wednesday, as well as planning for your own silly socks.

• Teaching the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – This week, schools across the country will celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The resources in this edition of Teaching Tolerance’s The Moment will help you teach beyond the simplified story and help your students learn about this civil rights leader’s life and legacy. Additionally, here are some resources from Scholastic and NEA.

• Report shows importance of early STEM lessons – Introducing science, technology, engineering and math concepts in early grades helps establish a foundation for learning about these concepts in later grades, according to a report from the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education. Findings show that early STEM lessons also can lead to gains in other areas, including reading and writing. See this article for details.

• Survey: Students place more value on soft skills – Teenagers place higher value on soft skills such as communication and leadership over computer knowledge, writing, and math, according to a survey commissioned by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Comcast NBCUniversal. Of the students surveyed, 37% said they aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and the most sought-after careers were in the health care, STEM, and business fields. See this article from THEJournal for more details.

• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:

January 14 (M)
School Choice Visitation Week #1
Artist in Residence – Nicole Hummel – Functional Pottery Continues
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues – easyCBM
8:30-12:15, Howard PLC – Half-Day (5/2/1)
1st – 8:30-9:30, 
2nd – 10:00-11:00
, 5th – 11:15-12:15
2:30-3:30, Allan to Title 1 Coordinators’ Meeting (Ed Center)

January 15 (T)
11:10-2:25, Howard PLC – Half-Day (K/3/4)
KG – 11:10-12:10
, 3rd – 12:15-1:15, 
4th – 1:25-2:25
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Erin’s Room, RM22)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Cafeteria)

January 16 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Silly Socks
9:45-10:15, School Choice Tour
10:30-1:00, EEA Visit at Howard (Staff Room)
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)
2:45-5:00, Life Skills EA Interviews

January 17 (H)
9:00, December Book Winner (Conference Room)
6:00-7:00, School Choice Presentation & Tour (Library)
6:30-7:30, KG Sugar- Read In Your Jammies (Katrina’s Room, RM2)

January 18 (F)
1:30-2:30, PBIS Meeting (Rae’s Room, RM1)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – SBAC Training (Title 1 Room, RM30)

January 20 (SU)
8:41PM-9:43PM Blood Moon: Total Lunar Eclipse

January 21 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 22 (T)
Artist in Residence – Nicole Hummel – Functional Pottery Continues
Winter Benchmark Testing Continues – easyCBM
8:15-12:00, Allan to Elementary Principals’ Meeting, Trinity Welch-Radabaugh subbing (Ed Center)
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)

January 23 (W)
11:15-12:40, OBOB Lunches (Community Room)
2:45-3:30, Student Care Team (Conference Room)

January 24 (H)
8:15, Fire Drill

January 25 (F)
8:00, Allan to Truancy Hearing (Office)
10:30-12:40, January Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – Behavior Framework (Library)
6:00-7:30, PTO Harry Potter/Science/Wizarding School Community Night (Cafeteria)

Enjoy your upcoming 3-day weekend (with the blood moon on Sunday)!

Allan