http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=9043
Hello Everyone,
If you didn’t catch it earlier in the year, Katie was one of KKNU’s Excellence in Education Award winners. At the end of every school year they draw one winner out of all of the winners throughout the year and their school wins $1,000. This year Katie won the $1,000 prize! Congratulation, Katie, on winning this award and for making our school look good!
Twenty-four items of note for this week:
• 18/19 Staffing Updates – Josh Ward has been hired as our 12-month evening custodian position (i.e. the downstairs night custodian) and is set to start this Monday. Josh has been the evening custodian at Holt the past five years and actually worked with Crystal during Summer Team Cleaning when she was lead custodian at Monroe Middle School. Please welcome Josh to Team Howard!
• REPEAT: End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection DUE – The final step ALL licensed staff, even teachers not on the observation cycle this year, is to complete the End-of-Cycle Goals Reflection in TalentEd. You do not need to write a novel. A few sentences reflecting on how you did towards your goals is fine, but please complete these by the end of the week. Let me know if you have any questions.
• Fire Drill Monday, Jun 10th @9:50 – While a couple grade levels are away on field trips, we’ll hold our June Fire drill at 9:50, which shouldn’t step on anyone’s morning recess or PE/Music times.
• Last Call for Summer Reading Staff Picks! – Send me your Summer Reading Staff Picks! Email, text, or let me know in person any books you’d recommend or books your’e planning to read this summer and I’ll post everyone’s picks in my announcements next week! Come on, impose your taste in books on others!
• Wacky Wednesday Day – Tropical Day – This Wednesday is the Final Wacky Wednesday of the school year and it’s Tropical Day. Let your kids know they should wear their (appropriate) tropical and beach outfits to school this day and also plan your own aloha shirts and tropical gear for this day!
• Staff Social – Friday @4:00– Mark your calendar for an end-of-year Howard Friday at 4:00 this week! Stay tuned for the final verdict on the location, though it will likely be somewhere that serves adult beverages.
• REPEAT: 5th Grade Clap Out, 6/14 – This Friday will be the annual 5th Grade Clap Out, following the 5th grade promotion ceremony. It will run the same as last year. 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 that pretty, so let me know if you have questions where your class should stand). Here are the details:
• Friday, June 14th, 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.• EA Supervisors’ Meeting Updates – Two items of note from last Friday’s EA Supervisors’ Meeting:
• Playground Rules Updates – A few updates were made to the playground rules for next year, which include not standing on the blue mats at the swings if you are not swinging or on the large spinner if you are not spinning. Also updated were specifics around students not jumping from the top of the climbing structures (i.e. no “parkour” as the 4th graders like to call it), adding that students should not bring toys, books, pencils, or other object out on the playground, no climbing above the small spinners, and deleting info about the adaptive swing since it’s no longer there.
• Students Wanting to Go Back to Class – Students often claim they have been given permission to go back to class, which is sometimes true and sometimes not, so to prevent students from going back to class without permission, no student will be allowed to leave the cafeteria or playground to go back to class or elsewhere without a written note or pass.
• Parent Reports Going Home Friday? – I’ve asked downtown about the parent reports we’ve sent home with report cards last year and first semester report cards this year (the ones with easyCBM, OAKS/OSAS, and attendance info), but haven’t gotten an official answer yet for this semesters report cards. I’ve emailed with the district data people who said they could have them ready by Wednesday, which would allow us to send them home in Friday Folders, along with Title 1, Music, and PE reports, since I’m assuming postage-wise we cannot mail these home in the report card envelopes. So if data folks are able to get the reports to me in time, the plan will be to send these home in Friday Folders, but I haven’t gotten official word from district admin on this yet, so I’ll keep teachers posted if this plan changes.
• REPEAT: Report Card Updates (print x2 but no envelope stuffing) – Teachers were emailed revised guidelines on how report card printing and stuffing will happen. See the above linked email for details, but the short version is teachers print two copies of the report card and deliver those to the office (also return your envelopes if you’d like us to stuff them). This also applies to SPED reports under four pages and ELL reports. Also, Title 1, Music, PE and any other reports are to go home in Friday Envelopes on Friday, June 14th. Please let me know if you have any questions.
• REPEAT: End of Year Checklists (now with Tech Checkout Link) – Linked here is the End-of-Year Checklist for staff who are in charge of a classroom or other area. This form needs to be completed and signed off by me before you start your summer. A sign-up sheet for checkout dates and times is in the Staff Room. You can use the Summer Tech Checkout Link if you are taking home any school technology for the summer. The Tech Department has noted that, “The purpose of this privilege is so that teachers can have access to teaching materials online or on their device over the summer. This opportunity is limited to teacher laptop and/or tablet. Any other technology item (e.g. projectors, SMARTBoards, document cameras, etc) need to remain in the building for summer maintenance and inventory.”
• Old Curriculum Materials Discard – As staff are packing up your classrooms, if you come across any past curriculum adoptions, old HM or Investigations materials you no longer want, please place these in a box outside your classroom and label them DISCARD.
• More Summer School Classroom Use Updates – A few changes since last week. The invite-only Life Skills ESY program starting early will only use one classroom instead of three (RM12, Preschool Promise) and will run June 24 – July 5th (but not on July 4th) from 8:30-2:00 (staff 8:00-2:30). The regular ESY program we had last year and the invite-only Life Skills ESY program will begin Tuesday, July 9 – Thursday, August 1, running only TWH from 8:30-2:00 (staff 8:00-2:30), with set-up on July 1 & 2 and take down August 2.
What hasn’t changed is that all summer school programs will take place on the bottom floor and that staff in those rooms should lock everything up you don’t want touched. If anything does get broken or disappears, these programs will replace or reimburse. When ESY staff are packing up, it’s hard to tell what’s theirs and what’s ours, so cover all your materials with butcher paper and lock your stuff up so nothing accidentally gets packed up by ESY. Also unchanged are:
• Technology Needs – Classrooms hosting ESY will need to leave out your HDMI cables and adapters. Document cameras and ENZO keyboards should be locked up.
• Furniture Labels – Last summer ESY moved around a fair amount of furniture during summer school, so downstairs classrooms should put a room number on any furniture you want to make sure makes it back to your classroom.
• Please, Touch the Testing Snacks – There’s a fair amount of GoGurts and String Cheese left in the staff room refrigerator, so please feel free to use these with students for any school related reason you see fit or if you need a quick snack yourself.
• New Scooter/Skateboard Rack – Being installed Monday is a new Scooter/Skateboard Rack for students to safely lock up their boards without having to bring them into the school. Let your students know if they bring a standard bike lock, they’ll be able to lock-up their scooters, skateboard, and other similar items starting Tuesday.
• Field Day, Monday 6/17 – Field Day is a week from Monday on June 17th, with K-2 starting on the field 8:30-10:00 and grades 3-5 going 10:15-11:45. PE classes are cancelled this day. Michelle already emailed staff, but linked here are the K-2 Field Day Station and the 3-5 Field Day Stations, along with the Field Day Volunteer Letter. Classes will rotate by number, so if you start on 1 you’ll go to 2 and so on. We are providing popsicles at the end of each Field Day session. If any classes are missing your morning recess and want to make it up, please have your classroom join your Buddy Classroom’s recess time, which should cover all missed morning recesses.
• “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule,& 6/18 – For lunches on the last day of school 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. Once all the students have gotten their lunches, teachers can walk students back to class. 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 gradeIf staff not supervising students are available to help during this time, that would be terrific!
• End of Year Ice Cream Celebration, 6/18 at 11:30 – After kids leave on the last day of school, at 11:30 we’ll have our annual end-of-the-year ice cream celebration in the cafeteria. There will be root beer floats, ice cream sundaes with all the fixings. It will also be a chance for us to celebrate surviving another year and also a chance to wish well those staff members leaving us.
• 4J Instructional Framework Pilot – The end of the school year is probably the absolute worst time to ask for volunteers to pilot anything, but the district has developed 4J’s Instructional Framework: Five Dimensions of High Quality Instruction, which is largely based on a multiyear research effort at the University of Washington. 4J’s twist was to add some equity components that were missing from the original rubric. Working with EEA and HR reps, this pilot is wanting to evaluate wether this framework is better than the current rubric used in TalentEd. My own opinion is that it is better, so if there are any teachers interested in being part of this pilot and want to try this rubric instead of the current one, please follow this Instructional Framework Pilot Survey Link to officially indicate your interest for next school year. Let me know if you have any questions on this.
• Direction Service 2019 Summer Directory – Linked here is the Direction Service 2019 Summer Directory. Each year Direction Service publishes this resource of recreation, respite, support, and service opportunities that families of children with disabilities can access during the summer months – and some are available year-round. Feel free to share this with families. You can also access the 2019 Summer Directory via the Direction Service website
• Dreambox Student Summer Access – Before you send your students off for summer break, be sure to remind them (and their parents) that they can access DreamBox anywhere, anytime—all summer long. Playing for just 30 minutes three times a week will help them keep their math skills sharp. Feel free to send this Dreambox Parent Tip Sheet home with your students or email it directly to parents. It’s an easy way to get everybody on the same page when it comes to summer learning.
• District Admin Updates – Mike Johnson, principal at Monroe Middle School, has been selected as the Superintendent of Creswell School District, opening up the principalship at Monroe. This leaves admin openings for a principal at Monroe, an AP at Kennedy, and the Federal Programs Administrator.
• 21 Reasons Why Teaching Elementary School Is the Best Job Ever – Need a little end of the year boost to get through our last full week of school? See this WeAreTeachers Post as to why teaching elementary school is the best job ever! But if you want to be cynic, visit this other WeAreTeachers Post to resentfully read about 10 job perks your friends have, but you don’t—because you teach.
• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:
June 10 (M)
Spring Benchmark Testing – easyCBM LAST DAY
9:15-1:00, 4/5 SPLASH Field Trip
9:50, Fire Drill
11:00, Allan Meeting w/Rob Hess (Office)June 11 (T)
9:20-10:50, 5th Grade Visit to Kelly
1:00-2:00, 1st Grade Lions Club Flag Presentation
2:45-4:45, Learning Center EA Interviews (Conference Room)June 12 (W)
Wacky Wednesday – Tropical Day
10:15, Howard Head Start Kindergarten Transition TourJune 13 (H)
Last Day for Title 1 and SPED
9:00, Monthly Book Winners (Conference Room)
2:15, Allan to BEST Meeting (Office)June 14 (F)
Last day to turn in receipts for reimbursement from student body account
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
9:00-9:30, 5th Grade Graduation Rehearsal (Gym)
11:15-11:50, 5th Grade Lunch & Recess with 2nd Grade
12:00-12:45, 5th Grade Graduation (Gym)
12:55-1:10, Clap Out for 5th Grade (Hallways & Courtyard)
4:00, Howard Staff Social – Friday @4:00 (location TBA)June 17 (M)
8:30-10:00, K-2 Field Day (Track)
10:15-11:45, 3-5 Field Day (Track)
1:15, KG (Sugar) Ocean Open House (RM2)June 18 (T)
Last Day for Students, Early Release Last Day for 192 & 196 Day Classified Employees
Last Day Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
8:30-11:00, Sugar to Emerald Park
10:00, Grab-n-Go Sack Lunches (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 grade11:10, K-5 Dismissal 11:30, Staff Last Day of School Root Beer Float & Ice Cream Sundae Party and Staff Farewell Celebration (Cafeteria)
June 19 (W)
Last Day for Licensed StaffJune 21 (F)
Report Cards Picked-Up by 4J Courrier
Seven and a half days to go!
Allan
