Howdy Holt Bolts,
We made it! Another year down! Thanks for being an amazing team and a group of folks who make coming to work each day something I look forward to!
Twenty-two items of note for this week:
• Staffing Updates – Five staffing updates:
• 0.2 PE Hire (Susan Chubb) – Retired 4J PE teacher Susan Chubb was hired for our part-time PE position and will work with Alex a couple of days a week next year. Susan subbed last week for Ashley Castro, so you may have already met her, but please welcome Susan to Team Holt!
• 5th Grade Placement (Carmelita Bradley) – I’ve connected with Carmelita and she is planning to come to Holt next fall. However, we will still have a vacancy in 5th grade with Elizabeth Cobb moving to Arizona, so hopefully a job posting for that position will go up soon and we can round out our 5th grade team for next year.
• SPED EA Job Posting – Our added 6.5-hour SPED EA Posting mentioned in last week’s announcements is now live and closes on June 16th.
• 4-Hour Title 1 EA Job Posting – Our 4-hour Title EA Job Posting is live now and will close on Tuesday. I’ll likely get the candidate list later this week and will plan to set up interviews for Wednesday, June 19th at 10:00, so let me know if any of you would like to volunteer part of your summer to help with interviews.
• 0.2 Music Teacher Interviews, WEDNESDAY – This Wednesday from 2:30-4:00, Alex, Ashley, and I are holding interviews for our Temp 0.2 Music position left vacant by Tracy, who is sadly leaving us next year, though we hope she’ll be back soon. Let me know if you’d like to join the interview committee and I will send you the interview materials.
• Field Day, TUESDAY – Field Day is Tuesday. Grades 3-5 will be 8:45-10:15 and grades K-2 will be 12:00-1:30. See the linked Short-Version Field Day Doc for details, but the main thing teachers need to prep for is to divide students into 4 color groups before field day, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Two related items:
• UPDATE 6/10: Missed PE/Music Prep – If teachers want their PE/Music prep time, Title staff show a video during your Music time or watch your class at Field Day for 30 minutes. Sign up HERE.
• Recess Still Happening (Hard Play & Field Closed) – Recesses will still take place during their usual times, but only soft play will be open while Field Day is in progress.
• Ultimate Holt Spirit Day, WEDNESDAY – Get your kids pumped! Wednesday, June 12 is our last monthly Holt Spirit Day and it will be an Ultimate Holt Spirit Day! Come to school in Holt-colored (purple & green) clothes, hair, face, etc., and/or wear your Holt Gear!
• Spirit Assembly – Principal Sundae WEDNESDAY @8:10– The June School Spirit Assembly is Wednesday on Hard Play. This is the assembly where kids are going to turn me into a sundae as a Holt Bolt fundraiser reward. The assembly will start at 8:10, but all classes should be at hard play by 8:05. Stay tuned for details.
• Wednesday PD: Class List Review – This Wednesday will be a time for sending and receiving teams to discuss students, so let teams know your suggestions before then. The schedule will be 1:30-2:00 (K/1, 2/3, and 4/5) and 2:00-2:30 (1/2 and 3/4).
• Self-Manager Recess, THURSDAY @1:30 – Next year these will only be once a month, but we’re doing them more often for this year’s Self-Manager Rollout. The final Self-Manager Recess will be this Thursday from 1:30-1:50. Kid can walk down the hall to the 2nd grade entrance door for their recess this day.
• “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch Schedule 6/14 – For lunches on the last day of school, 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 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 take about 5 minutes.
10:25 – Kinder
10:30 – 1st
10:35 – 2nd
10:40 – 3rd
10:45 – 4th
10:50 – 5thIf staff not supervising students are available to help during this time, that would be super helpful!
• 5th Grade Clap Out, THURSDAY @11:00 – We’ll do a “Clap Out” for this year’s 5th graders on the last day of school at dismissal. The plan will be for classes on Friday at 10:55 to line the hallways, and starting at 11:00, the 5th grade will parade through our hallowed halls one final time while staff and students clap and cheer them on. See the linked Clap Out Map for the path, which will be D > C > B wing, and when the parade is over, all grade levels can dismiss students.
• End of Year BBQ, THURSDAY @11:30 – The Annual End-of-Year Staff BBQ is this Thursday at 11:30 in the school garden, where we’ll say goodbye to folks leaving us, award this year’s James Brown Award, and celebrate surviving another year. If you haven’t already, add your name to the BBQ Potluck Sing-Up.
• James Brown Nomination DUE TUESDAY– See Ashley’s Email for details, but it’s time to nominate a deserving Holt Staff Member for the 2023-2024 James Brown Award! Use the Google Form to Nominate a Holt Staff Member before the deadline on Tuesday @9:00 PM.
• Synergy Parent Reports – I’ll put Synergy Parent Reports in folks’ mailboxes on Monday to go home with report cards on Friday. Since we don’t have an ESC any longer, I’d forgotten about printing this annual report containing attendance, easyCBM, and OSAS info.
• TalentEd Reminders – Two TalentEd Reminders below. I’ll also send a separate email reminder on Sunday to any folks still needing to complete any tasks in TalentEd (self-evaluations, signatures, goals reflections, etc.).
• CLASSIFIED & LICENSED TalentEd Signatures – I’m finishing up evaluation write-ups this weekend for both licensed and classified staff, so watch for emails from TalentEd to sign the form, acknowledging that you received it.
• LICENSED: Goals Reflection Due & Sample Language – All licensed staff need to complete their Goals Reflection in TalentEd by the end of the school year. If you used the Optional SMART Goals shared in the fall, linked here is a 2023-2024 SMART Goals Reflection Sample you can cut-and-paste from if that’s helpful to folks. And remember, no shame or blame if you didn’t achieve all of your goals. Let me know if you have any questions on this. You’ll need to have this completed before you can start your summer!
• Sunshine Committee Info – A few items from our fabulous Sunshine Committee:
• June Birthday Celebration, look for doughnuts on Tuesday.
• Please stop the by Calming room this week by Thursday at 3:00 to sign cards for our friends leaving Holt. There are quite a few so give yourself a bit of time.
• Please use THIS LINK by Tuesday so your meat choice is noted for the BBQ,
• Add your name to the BBQ Potluck Signup SheetThanks for taking care of these things this busy week.
• Perfect Attendance & Near Perfect Attendance Awards – We had 3 students with perfect attendance this year (attached in the email, not on my blog) who I’ll give a shoutout in the Monday Announcements and also deliver a Perfect Attendance Award. Let me know if you have any students with “Near-Perfect Attendance” and I can give them an award. I can also give them a shoutout if you read this before Monday’s Announcements. Just shoot me an email!
• Calming Room, Behavior, & Summer Info – From our fabulous Calming Room Team:
1) Summer classroom projects: If you have things that you could assign to Kim to have completed over the summer (bulletin boards, cut-outs, organization, etc) you can request help via this link: SUMMER HELP. There is often time to complete tasks and Kim will do her best – but know there is a chance I won’t be able to get it done during KITS this summer.
2) Calming Room Supplies: if you have borrowed alternate seating, visual timers, fidgets, chair bands, headphones, books, etc. – please return to Kim so we can inventory our supply. Thanks much:)
3) Reminder to complete behavior surveys (sent by Kim last week). Not sure what this is – email Kim.
• Upbeat Survey Results – There are not enough meeting times left in the year to share at a staff meeting or Wednesday PD, but linked here are the Upbeat Survey Results. One is our Holt Upbeat Compared to 4J and the other is Holt Upbeat Compared Fall to Spring. The one area that stands out to me is again Question 16 (“Rules for student behavior are consistently enforced by teachers in this school, even for students who are not in their class.”). I think it would be good next fall to have both licensed and classified staff dive into the 4J Behavior Matrix (long version) over a few meetings after the year has started to help us calibrate our responses to student misbehavior.
• Mystery Writer Not Approved – Downtown unfortunately nixed our purchase of Mystery Writer, saying we are to only use the adopted writing curriculum. I plead our case that it was a supplement, but was not persuasive enough.
• District Admin Updates – George Gillett has been named principal at Edgewood Elementary. Mike Yocum will be stepping into the role of interim principal at Roosevelt Middle School. Blanca Flores will be the new human resources administrator supporting classified staff. Morgan Christensen, HR administrator supporting licensed staff, has accepted a position as the Executive Director of Human Resources at Lane ESD. See this email for details.
• Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) Opportunity – I’m not super clear about this CPS PD Opportunity and tried to ask for some clarification, but if you see the linked Collaborative Problem Solving Opportunity offered next year, let me know if you are interested and I can sign you up.
• SSD June Newsletter – If you’re interested here is the June SSD Newsletter. It’s mostly just a list of end-of-year tasks for case managers. The SSD Newsletter Archives has all prior newsletters.
•Repeats & Reminders – See prior announcements for details:
• Science Kit Packing & Storing – See Maggie Cline’s Email for details, but grade-level teams should make note of the Materials Request Form if your team needs any materials refreshed for next school year.
• Erin’s Law & Second Step Child Safety Unit – If you haven’t already, all classroom teachers should use the Second Step Child Protection Unit for meeting the state Erin’s Law requirements. Classroom teachers should use lesson 6 right before summer break. Here are the Child Protection Unit Scans.
• End of Year Checklist – Linked here is the End of Year Checklist. Once teachers have completed all tasks on this list and have had both office staff and Jeremy sign off, you are free to start your summer. And that includes if you take care of everything on Friday, June 14th! I’ll put hard copies in mailboxes Monday.
• Summer Tech Checkout – Related to the above, if you are planning on bringing home your laptop or iPad over the summer, fill out the 4J Summer Tech Checkout Form.
•Schedule of Upcoming Events – See the Holt Staff Calendar for future events, but here are the events of note for the rest of the year:
June 10 (M)
ELD/Speech/Counselor/Library Staff Room Duty
Dynamos Store
8:00, Morning Announcements (Zoom) Pledge Sign-UpJune 11 (T)
No PE or Music Classes
Birthday Donuts in Staff Room
Recess Soft Play only during Field Day
No PE or Music for Field Day
8:45-10:15, Field Day (3-5)
12:00-1:30, Field Day (K-2)
4:00, Allan to IEP Meeting (Zoom)June 12 (W)
Ultimate Holt Spirit Day!
8:10, School Spirit Assembly – Principal Sundae (Hard Play)
1:30-2:30, Wed. PD – Teams Review Class Lists
2:30-4:00, 0.2 Music Interviews (Library)June 13 (H)
8:30-10:30, Holt Kindergarten Park Field Trip
9:00-12:20, 5th Grade Walking Field Trip to Movies
1:30, Self-Manager Recess
2:45-3:30, Staff Meeting (Ball’s Room)
6:00-7:00, Accessible Education Parent GroupJune 14 (F)
Last Day for Students, 11:10 Dismissal
Last Day for Classified Staff
Grab-and-Go Lunches
-10:25 – Kinder
-10:30 – 1st
-10:35 – 2nd
-10:40 – 3rd
-10:45 – 4th
-10:50 – 5th
11:00-11:10, 5th Grade Clap Out
11:30-12:30, End-of-Year Staff BBQ (School Garden)June 15 (SA)
1:00-4:00, Harlow Neighborhood Annual Block Party
June 17 (M)
Last Day for Licensed StaffJune 19 (W)
10:00, 4-hour Title 1 EA Interviews (Library)June 28 – August 8
KITS at Holt, (M-H, 8:00-10:00 & 12:00-2:00)July 10 – August 15
SEAL at Holt, (M-F, 8:00-2:00)July 24 (W)
Allan Reports Back (though I’m at SEAL July 1-19)August 12 (M)
Secretaries Report BackAugust 27 (T)
Licensed Staff Report BackAugust 28 (H)
Classified Staff Report Back
Enjoy the Staff Summer Reading Picks (more of you need to share next year) and a couple of our Summer Tie-Dye Staff Pictures from last week.
Have a great last week and an even better summer!
Allan
Staff Summer Book Picks
Jenny P.
I’ve never read or seen Shakespeare’s Macbeth, so I plan to read it this summer and see the play in Ashland in August.
Julie Z.
My top three books I’ve read thus far in 2024 are The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldrer. I think I love shopping for books as much as I love reading them, so my “to be read” pile is huge. One that I am looking forward to reading is The Hunter by Tana French.
Laura
Here are a couple books I’d like to share… Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (horror-thriller recommended by my son) and When the Moon Hatched: A Novel (The Moonfall Series, 1) by Sarah A. Parker. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading!
Sheryl
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The first book in the series is The Blade Itself. I am planning on reading the series this summer. It is an epic fantasy with real-world grit and darkly funny. Unpredictable, compelling, and packed with unforgettable characters. Noir fantasy with a cutting edge.
Allan
I shared earlier I’m planning to read Bluebeard’s Castle by Anna Biller, Aliens: Bug Hunt, and John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. I’m also hoping to read The Complete Little Nemo by Winsor Mccay, which is a surreal comic strip from the early 1900s. It’s a giant book, the size of a Sunday comics section, recreating the full-size page comic strip the way it was meant to be read. As a kid, I had a book The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, which had about a dozen of the Little Nemo strips and I was obsessed with them, so I can’t wait to read the entire series. There’s also a terrible Netflix movie with Jason Momoa that came out a couple of years ago based on the strip, Slumberland, but don’t watch that. Read the comic strip instead.