http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=9445
Hi Everyone,
A big thank-you to Ashley for taking on the annual Howard Holiday Bazaar, as well at to all of the other staff who helped organize, promote, set-up, clean-up, and who also bought a table to help fundraise for our school!
Fifteen items of note for this week:
• ’Tis the Season of Interesting Behaviors – Keep in mind that with the with the excitement of the holiday season comes a lot of stress for students, families, and even staff, so keep this in mind when “interesting” behaviors pop up, which will likely be more frequent these next coupe weeks. This is a good time to slow down, take time for lots of team building, pre-teaching and re-teaching of expectations for students, and giving folks grace when odd or out of character behaviors pop up.
• Stop, Walk, Talk Classroom Review – To help address the above interesting behaviors, linked here is a good 2 minute 31 second Stop, Walk, Talk Video teachers can use as a review for students. It’s good to put some onus on kids when they report minor issues and ask “Did you tell them to stop?” and “Did you try walking away?” before intervening. It’s also important for student when they are telling someone to STOP what it is they want them to stop doing (i.e. “Stop following me” or “Stop saying that to my friend”). Another reminder teachers can reinforce with students is to report situations (“talk”) right away and not wait until the end of recess.
• REPEAT: Fire Drill, TUESDAY @1:10 – This Tuesday at 1:10 will be the December Fire Drill. Please plan accordingly.
• PTO Meeting, TUESDAY – This Tuesday at 6:00 is the December PTO Meeting if any staff are able to volunteer their time to show support for the work of our PTO Board members.
• Friday Early Release PD – This Friday’s Early Release PD is designated as a PLC work session. Grade level teams will continue their work from November 20th and 21st.
• EA Supervisor Meeting Notes – Three items of note from the EA Supervisors Meetings:
• Walk Classes to Recess – Most teachers already do this, but be sure to walk your class through the hallways before sending them out into the courtyard to go to recess. Unsupervised classes are regularly loud and disruptive going through the hallways.
• On Time for Recess and Lunch (not early and not late) – Teachers, please be on time when picking students up at the end of recess. Also, make sure students are not arriving early for recess or lunches. There is not enough staff to supervise students milling about the courtyard when they come before recess and at lunches kitchen staff need time to prep between lunches.
• Recess Rules Brochure – For any classified staff who have supervise on the playground, linked here is a Playground Rules Brochure that can be included in sub folders. Note that the second page is flipped so when it prints back-to-back the pages are facing the right direction.
• Friday Early Release PD Notes – Three items of note from Friday’s meeting:
• Second Step Pacing Guide – Linked here is the Second Step Pacing Guide, which lists the general units and months they should be covered. Teachers have my full permission to skip even core subject areas to make time for Second Step lessons. Being a good human is way more important than fractions.
• Roadrunner Awards, Friday, Dec. 20 – Not this week, but next week on Friday, December 20th at 8:15 is the December Roadrunner Awards Assembly. Make sure invitations go home to families this week and that signed certificates get to me by the end of the week.
• Rules Round-Up January 7 & 8 – Discussed at both he classified and licensed Friday meetings, the PBIS Team this week will finalize plans for the Rules Round-Up when we return from winter break. The current plan for recess rules review is to use the first half of recess on January 7th and 8th to cover playground hot spots.
• Hoods in School is the Current Rule – Speaking of PBIS, a reminder that the current rule at Howard is “Hoods may be worn outdoors for warmth, but must come off once inside the building.” We’ll discuss whether this rule is changing or not at next week’s Staff Meeting, but in the meantime it is important staff are consistent in our expectations for students. Mixed messages are confusing for students and also set colleagues up for confrontations with students.
• Staffing Updates – The CLC 1:1 EA Job noted in last week’s announcements should be going up this week, so be sure to let any good candidates know about this position.
• Leadership Plan Process – I’m meeting with licensed Site Council Reps this Monday after school to discuss the process for drafting a revised Leadership Plan since JCAC did not reply approve our first plan. If you have thoughts on what the process for creating a new plan should be, please me or your Site Council Reps know (Corianne, Jessy, Justine, and Shelly)
• January 6th PD Day Draft Plan – A preliminary plan for the January 6th PD was shared with principals last week, which will be as follows:
• Classified: A menu of workshop options will be made available to classified staff members to attend.
• Licensed: In the morning, there will be an Instructional Technology Training. In the middle of the day, will be planning, lunch, and travel time. At the end of the day, after principals get back from a Title IX training, there will be an afternoon meeting for Behavior Framework focused on disproportionality and bias in discipline practices, as well as other building PD topics. The draft schedule for licensed staff is:
8:00-10:30, Tech Training
10:30-1:10, Planning, Lunch, Travel
1:30-4:00, Behavior Framework and Other Building PD• REPEAT: Hour of Code 2019 This Week! – This week is Computer Science Education Week / Hour of Code. Let me know if any of you are doing something cool for the Hour of Code. For ideas, resources, and activities visit Computer Science Education Week, Hour of Code, Khan Academy, Edutopia, and also BrainPop.
• Struggling learners can shine when coding – Computer Science Education Week begins this week and Code.org’s Hour of Code offers an opportunity to engage all students in coding, even those with no experience, writes Kimberly Rues, a librarian in a Missouri school district. In this EdSurge Commentary, she writes that when she has introduced coding, the students who do well often are the ones who struggle in other areas.
• Talk Less So Students Learn More – This Edutopia Article shouldn’t be anything new, but it’s a good reminder that productive struggle is important for students to retain what they learn. Tips include:
• Start with struggle
• Reduce teacher talk time
• Use questions instead of explanations
• Slow down and observe
• Provide non-teacher scaffolds• Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Google Calendar for future events, but here are the events for the next two weeks:
December 9 (M)
Computer Science Education Week / Hour of Code
Artist in Residence – Glass-Fusing Fun! w/Rachell Jarvis Continues
10:30, Junior Achievement Presentation (Kreider)
1:15, Junior Achievement Presentation (Niccum)December 10 (T)
9:00-10:30, Allan to All admin Meeting (Ed Center)
12:15, Allan to Formal Observation
1:10, Fire Drill
2:45-3:30, IPBS Meeting (Matt’s Room, RM25)
6:00-7:00, PTO Meeting (Community Room)December 11 (W)
9:00, November Book Winners (Conference Room)
11:10-2:30, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)
Kinder 11:10-12:10
3rd Grade 12:20-1:20
5th Grade 1:30-2:30December 12 (H)
8:00-2:00, Dental Screening Team, Varnish + Sealants (Community Room)
8:10-11:55, Data Team Meetings (Conference Room)
2nd 8:10-9:10
1st 9:30-10:30
4th 10:55-11:55December 13 (F)
National Cocoa Day
7:30-9:00, Allan to 4JMAPS Meeting
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – PLC (Library)December 14 (SA)
10:30, Howard Ukulele Ensemble Performance (Holiday Market)December 16 (M)
10:30, Junior Achievement Presentation (Kreider)
1:15, Junior Achievement Presentation (Niccum)
3:45-5:15, Allan to Elementary Principal Meeting (Ed Center)December 17 (T)
9:45-11:25, 3rd Grade Salmon Release Field Trip – Lawson/Peterson & Niccum
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Volunteer’s Classroom)
4:00-10:00, PTO Hot Mama’s Wings FundraiserDecember 18 (W)
Title 1 Progress Monitoring Day – No Groups
9:00-11:00, 3rd Grade Salmon Release Field Trip – Kreider & Charpie
11:15, Allan to Formal Observation
2:45-3:30, Student Care Team (Conference Room)December 19 (H)
2:45-3:30, TLT Meeting/Training (Angela’s Room, RM24)December 20 (F)
Fun Friday! – PJ Day
8:15, K-5 Roadrunner Assembly & Tail Feather Reward (Gym)
10:30-12:45, December Birthday Lunches With the Principal (Community Room)
2:30-3:30, Early Release PD – PLC (Library)December 21 – January 5
WINTER BREAK!!!
And don’t miss Siera and the Howard Ukulele Ensemble Performance at the Eugene Saturday Market’s Holiday Market at the Lane County Fairgrounds this Saturday at 10:30!
Allan
