Diario Camino del Río

Week of October 27

 Schedule of Events of The Week

October 27 (M)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October

October 28 (T)

8:30-9:30, Three Guys and A Ball Assembly on Bullying and Harrassment (Gym)

1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting. Classified Staff, please come and accumulate comp time to be part of the conversation.

3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)

October 29 (W)

1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting for November

October 30 (Th)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 31 (F)

Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.

November 3 (M)

IIPM Data Consult Meeting to be rescheduled due to conflict.
1:30-2:30, Aline and Joel to Title 1 Coordinator and Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Ed Center)

November 4 (T)
8:00-12:00, Picture Retakes (Library)

November 5 (W)

8:00-3:30, Joel to Learning About Learning Network Meeting (BV)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Classroom

November 6 (H)

1:00, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice immediately afterwards.

4:00-8:00 PM, Conferences

November 7 (F)

8:00 AM -8:00 PM Conferences

Hi everyone,

Here are several items of note for the week. Last week felt like a marathon and I think it was!  I am looking forward to a more routine week though we all know any day in our building is filled with richness of discussion and learning.  I am also really looking forward to our Día de Los Muertos Event as it’s my first time to go. I am planning on bringing my kids to the event to celebrate, decorate and learn.

Site Council Agenda October 27th

A Conversation about Parent Involvement, Decision Making, and Language of Power.

Staff Meeting Agenda October 28th- begins at 2:45 and ends at 3:45.

1. Greeting and United Way Presentation by Nancy Schaal McHarry -5 minutes

2. A Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Sheldon Berman -40 minutes

3. A Short iPad Training- 10 minutes

The Growth Mindset and Malcolm Mitchell:

Many of you have heard of Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset. This video explores a great example of how the growth mindset actually manifests itself in everyday life.  I loved this story.  I encourage you to share it with your classes and have a discussion about reading and working hard at it.

New Building Design Update

We have moved quickly into the stage known as schematic design in design committee. This last week, our team was able to see some rough models of initial layouts. As most of you should know by now, the building will be sited on the west side of our building.  In addition, our team is also exploring the idea of removing our old gym early in order to design a building with less constrictions on space.

On Friday, I also had a chance to see Trillium Creek Elementary in West Linn.  This was inspirational and clearly a building designed with kids in mind.  This gave me motivation to always keep the child in the forefront of my mind when working on our design.  Here is a short clip of me coming down the slide in the Trillium Creek Library.

Earl Boyles Visit

Our visit to Earl Boyle Elementary was truly inspirational.  I was amazed to see a school designed to support families from age 0 to 11.  There were so many features of their program which we would like to emulate.  I will share more about this in a future staff meeting.  The greatest learning for me was their parent group structure.  It is called Parents United.  The group conducts all parent meetings in Spanish. They set an educational agenda for them selves and their bi-cultural parent coordinator helps them find the resources to learn what they need to further their parenting skills. Fundamentally, all parents are seen as asset holders in the children’s learning, and they are assets!

Tasha Katsuda will be forming an early learning task force which I will be joining.  This group will be looking to find partnerships in the community to help us to find a way to include a preschool program in our building in the future.  I will also begin to work with the design team to discuss possibilities of making space in our building for a preschool program.

Some November 6 and 7 Conference Details

Dinner on November 6 and 7- I am still working out the details of this. I will be checking in with Parent Group to see if they have a way to support us with a meal one night. The school will have a meal on a second night. I will share this with you next week.  Email me if you have suggestions for dinner.

Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences- Be sure to have free/reduced meal forms on hand during conferences and please highlight this program for families. We’ll have extra copies available in the office.

November 10 Classified Staff Expectations- Monday, November 10 is a regular work day for Classified Staff, but is not a work day for licensed staff who worked extended hours for conferences. Since this is a non-student day, I would encourage classified staff who have comp time coming to use it this day. Please submit your comp form to me to ensure you have these hours accumulated. If you are planning to work on Monday, please connect with your primary cooperating teacher on how best to help out this day.

Linda Darling Hammond on Equity and Literacy in the 21st Century

This is an excellent article on equity in schools.  Linda Darling Hammond from Stanford is one of the giants of multicultural education.  When I read this article, I realized that we as a staff are battling many factors that are out of our control and some that we can control.  Fortunately, we have resources, very qualified staff, and expertize to help our students and support them in high levels of literacy. Some of the questions asked of Linda in this interview article directly relate to our building. It was affirming to hear that there are a lot of things we are doing right!

Math PD Planning

Last week Karen and I met with SDS Reid Sheppard and Math Director  Maddy Ahearn.  They shared many ideas about how to support our staff with more math professional development.  In addition, we discovered with their research many things that could help us this year.  One,  there are math Investigations Teacher Editions in Spanish.  We are exploring how to acquire these for our staff.  Two Smarter Balanced or New OAKS  Math Assessment will be offered in Spanish! Our students can study math in Spanish and take the test in Spanish!  This is huge!  Reid and Maddy will be planning more PD with a focus on math practices this year.  Our major focus will be on using the 8 math practices at appropriate times to improve students math thinking skills. Here is a document that Kathy Larson shared that unpacks ways to consider using the CCSS  in Math. It is North Carolina’s Math Common Instructional Framework

PBIS Cafeteria Plan Reminder

Our PBIS focus on improving cafeteria behavior continues. This week, the tables will begin getting points for their class behavior in their seats.  Teachers, please remind students about this system and give them positive feedback for points earned for appropriate cafeteria behavior next week.

Common Core ELA in kid friendly Language

Here is a link to a poster/ word wall anchor standard poster of the new ELA CCSS Standards in very kid friendly terms. They are in Engish.

ELD Project with UO

Abby lane and I have been working with Julie Heffernan on a new practicum program for students who are in the UO Teach Out Program.  There will be many students learning from our ELL’s by interviewing them. They will use the data to share plans on how to support ELL’s in the classroom.  More details to come, but this will begin in Winter term.

iOS Apps of Note – Here are a smattering of interesting apps I’ve come across from various sources:

• Free app teaches lessons about digital citizenship – A new app aims to help students become responsible digital citizens. DigitalCitizen, by Learning.com, teaches students about online safety, the proper use of digital tools and how to handle cyberbullying through the use of games, videos and quizzes. The app is available at no charge from the Google Play and Apple store.
• Classroom Management Apps – In the School Library Journal article, “Classroom Management Tricks” by Richard Byrne, he recommends three apps that help with classroom management:

• Random student name selector
• Countdown timer
• Noise regulator

• Flocabulary App – Flocabulary is a collection of content-based songs and videos using hip-hop themes and catchy phrases and mnemonic devices to help students remember basic content.

 

That’s all for this week.  Have a spooky week!

 

Joel

Week of October 20

Schedule of Events of The Week

October 20 (M)

8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues. See the schedule in the main blog post.

I will not be attending the Title Meeting nor the Principal’s Meeting in order to host our guest Rosa Molina throughout the day. I will try to attend each of the grade level meetings with you pending disciplinary needs.

First Day of BEST

October 21 (T)

8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)

12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)

2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting (Conference Room)

6:00-8:00, Latino Family Meeting  @ NEHS

October 22 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Maestra Recker’s Room

6:00-8:00,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

October 23 (H)

7:30-9:30,  Joel at Priority Schools Meeting with fellow Principals in Springfield

10:00-12:00,  Joel in Meeting with Audrey Lucero and Edward Olivos

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

4:30-6:30,  Joel to the  4J Equity Committee

6:00-8:00 PM, Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

October 24 (F)

Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.

10:15-11:00,  Asemblea Andina with Ethnomusicologist and parent Ed Wolf.

October 27 (M)

2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting for October

October 28 (T)

1:00-3:30, Superintendent Berman to observe classrooms and chat with staff at Staff Meeting.

3:45-5:30, PLT Meeting for CAP Revisions (Extra Duty Contract for PLT Members)

October 29 (W)

1:45-2:45, Wednesday Collaboration Time

October 30 (Th)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

October 31 (F)

Halloween- Costumes to be worn in classroom parties only.

November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.

Here are several items of note for the week:

This week will be very busy for many of us. Do not forget to take time to enjoy the interactions with your students and be in the moment with them. We are solidifying our schedule and making some great decisions with our students in mind. This is so important for the future of our program. I could not be more proud of the interactions I have seen in classrooms over the last week. You are all doing a great job with our students.  Keep it up!

Rosa Molina Visit Schedule:

Here is the schedule for the grade level consultations with Rosa Molina next Monday, Oct 20. We will have two roving subs to cover classes while teachers are meeting with her.

8:15-8:55 Grade 2
9:00-9:40 Grade 1
9:45-10:25 Kinder
10:30-11:30 District meeting
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00-12:40 Grade 3
12:45-1:25 Grade 5
1:30-2:10 Grade 4
2:10-2:30 Break
2:30-3:30 Specialists
3:30-4:10 Grade 6 (Hector Cash from Kelly)

Here are some Resources available in the Family Resource Center on El Dia de Los Muertos:

If you are interested in checking them out, please let Alicia know and she will get them to you. Below you will find a list of useful Día de los Muertos links. Please let her know if you have any questions.

Resources:
Día de los Muertos Activity Packet
Day of the Dead SMARTBoard Activity

Books:
The Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calaveras
El Día de los Muertos
Mi Familia Calaca/My Skeleton Family

Links:
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/dayofthedead.htm
http://latino.si.edu/dayofthedead/
http://www.mexonline.com/dayofthedead.htm
http://www.celebrate-day-of-the-dead.com/
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-celebrations/day.html
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/dia-de-los-muertos/?ar_a=1
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/nndia.html
http://holidays.mrdonn.org/dayofthedead.html
http://www.mommymaestra.com/2010/11/brief-history-of-dia-de-los-muertos-for.html
http://www.inside-mexico.com/noes.htm

Students will not wear costumes to school. They must arrive in regular attire. If a teacher decides to hold a Halloween party, students can put on their costumes for the event and the teacher will inform families on their own. Individual teachers will determine if Halloween parties will take place in their classrooms. If teachers permit costumes during this holiday celebration, the following dress code will be enforced, as it pertains to costumes:

•    NO weapons
•    NO weapon-like props
•    NO excessive bareness (no spaghetti straps, exposed bra straps, bare midriffs)
•    NO “gang” attire
•    NO dress as another ethnicity or race
•    NO masks
•    NO especially scary or gory costumes

We will provide an alternative activity for families who do not promote costume wearing, such as the Jehovah’s Witness community. The music and PE specialists will provide a sing along /movement session at the END of the day for 40 minutes while parties occur. Please plan all classroom parties from 2:00-2:40 so Jehovah’s Witness parents can pick up students from home after the academic instruction has happened.

Here is a link to the 4J  Healthy Snack Guidelines for Parties: Remember, we (nor parents volunteering) cannot serve students candy at school.

New School will be designed on the west of the existing school:

The new school will be built to the west of the existing school. The design team provided an update to the school board this evening, sharing information about the siting decision and how that decision was reached.

Now the more detailed design work begins. The design committee will continue to be as responsive as possible to neighborhood, family and community input as the design of the new school takes shape. The new school is scheduled to break ground in 2015 and open in fall 2016. 

Learn more about the site selection and public engagement process: 

River Road School Site Selection Process — school board presentation slideshow, Oct. 15, 2014
River Road School Site Selection Evaluation Matrix
River Road School Design Public Engagement Process 

• CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant – The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers implement technology in their classrooms to increase student achievement. They will consider requests of up to $5,000 submitted by full-time classroom teachers, with a deadline of January 2, 2015. Grants will be awarded in April. If you’d like any help putting together a grant, let me know and I can maybe even ghostwrite it for you or a group of teachers.

• VIDEO: White Privilege – Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart had an epic showdown over white privilege that’s well worth watching. I nearly saved this for a staff meeting, but it’s a bit long. Still, it’s definitely worth playing the 12 minute segment after school one day to see Stewart do an excellent job of countering O’Reilly’s various detours (the playing field is now level, reverse racism, the bootstrap theory, etc.) throughout the face-off. Since it’s from The Daily Show, it’s also quite funny and entertaining.

http://youtu.be/3-KBFuobhDk

• Free/Reduced Meals Forms at Conferences or sent home.– Our Free and Reduced Meals percentage is currently at 67%, which is a  drop from where we were at the end of last year, which was around 72%. Please highlight the program to families at conferences and have some forms on hand. Besides the importance of making sure families who could benefit from the program are accessing it, our F/R count directly impacts our classroom and Title staffing, so it’s a good idea for many reasons to encourage families to enroll in the program even if they don’t plan on using it. Monday, October 20th is the “drop off” day if families had service last year.  Parents will need to reapply to get the service again if they had it set up in 2013-2014.

Dual Language Links of the Week:

A New Vietnamese Dual Language School in Portland

Reducing distraction with bilingualism

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Joel

Week of October 13

Hi all,

I had a wonderful experience on Friday night at the benefit for Centro Latinoamericano.  I sat beside Ramon Ramirez, the President of PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste).  He was the keynote speaker and delivered a powerful message about migrant workers rights, sustainability, and education. He shared his experience of marching with many people from Selma to Montgomery Alabama fifty years after the original march. It was encouraging to hear him say that education is one of the greatest ways to make a difference in children’s lives whether they are from a migrant family or not.  His speech was powerful and inspiring.  I encourage you to read more about the work of PCUN. They have been fighting for migrant farm worker’s rights in Oregon since 1977.

Here is a similar message from President Ramirez 2 years ago.

• Here is The Schedule of Events for the Week:

October 13 (M)
8:00-4:00, Stella Dadson will be guest administrator in office- Joel doing goals meetings and informal observations all day.

9:00-9:30, Joel in meeting with Hayden Spence, UO Pre-education major and my former Madison science class 6th grade student.

7:00- 9:00, Joel to Common Core State Standards Information Night at North Eugene, All teachers are welcome to attend.

 

October 14 (T)

9:00-10:00, Meeting with new SST Leader- Kathy Krieder and Kathy Larson

1:45-2:30- Youth Orchestra- Strings Project- Recruitment  –4/5th Grade Assembly in Cafeteria (SORRY for the late Notice)

2:45-3:45, Staff Meeting, Please arrive on time unless on duty.

6:00-8:00, Parent Group Meeting- Kindergarten Presenting

 

October 15 (W)
8:00-11:00, Joel to TAG Coordinator Training (Leaving early)

10:00-10:00, Joel returns to meet with ODE Shanda Brown

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting- 1 hour paid to all classified who attend.- 3 positions available- We need your input!

 

October 16 (H)

4:00 PM-Schedules due to submit to Rosa Molina via Dropbox folder.

3:00-4:00, Costume Swap- after school.

3:00-5:00, Design Committee in Library

 

October 17 (F)

Joel in goals meetings and informal walk-through observations.- Another guest administrator will be in the building to support us to complete goals meetings.

 

October 20 (M)

8:00-4:30, Rosa Molina Visit to consult on our schedules and district wide issues.- Sarah Knudsen will send schedule out this week.

Title Meeting for Aline.

Title Coordinator and Principal Meeting

First Day of BEST
October 21 (T)

8:15-12:15, Priority School Support Team Meeting (SST) (Conference Room)

12:30-1:30- Math PD Planning meeting with Reid Sheppard and Maddie Ahearn (Conference Room)

2:45 3:45 – TLT Meeting Conference Room

6-8, Latino Family Meeting  @ NEHS
October 22 (W)

6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting in Recker’s Room

 

October 23 (H)

6-8,Talking with Books Kinder Literacy Event

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

4:30-6:30,  Joel to the  4J Equity Committee

 

October 24 (F)

Joel in Portland with Karen, Alicia, and Sara Cramer to learn about Early Literacy.

8:25-9:10,  Asemblea Andina

November 6 and 7- Parent Conferences.

 

Here are some items of note for the week:

• Please finish your grade level weekly master schedule: Make time to complete your weekly master schedule this week. It is due by Friday at 4:00 PM to be inputted into Rosa Molina’s Drop Box.

• Goals Meetings: Make you goals appointment with me this week or next. I am available as early as 7:15 some days.

• Parent Group Meeting, Tuesday at 6:00 – The October Parent Group meeting will be this Tuesday, 6:00-8:00 PM in the library if any staff are able to attend. There was a big turnout of staff and families for the September meeting, which was a great show of support for the Parent Group’s work. Hope to see you there!

• Classified Staff Comp Time reminder.- Please ask Edna for the comp time form to keep track of your comp time on a monthly basis. This makes it easier for us to manage and keep track of.

• Classified Staff AESOP Reminder – When entering an absence into AESOP, when you get to the Time section, always select “Custom” and then enter your work hours. If you forget this step, AESOP defaults assigning the sub to an 8 hour day. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Conference Compensation for Large Classes – Most teachers probably already know this, but section 10.1.9 of the contract states “If an elementary school unit member has greater than twenty-eight (28) students for the all-school parent conference, he/she will be compensated for one half (1/2) day at his/her per diem rate.” How this was handled last year was that following conferences teachers with 29 students or more signed an extended contract form to receive their additional half-day pay.

• Elementary Leadership Plan Changes – While we need to wait for the School Board to ratify the new EEA contract, I wanted to let everyone know how the Elementary Leadership Plans will be more generous this year. The old plan I had was to divide our 14 days among 4 people (3.5 for for School Climate, 3.5 for for Technology and 3.5  for Differentiation and TAG Support  ), but pending board approval we will now get 18 days to divide among up to 6 teachers. This means we will need to revisit and update our plan. The 18 days could be evenly divided among our four current leaders or we could add new compensated leadership positions and decide how to divide the 4 additional leadership days. Let me know if you have ideas or preferences on how to distribute our 20 days, so we might have a starting place for discussion at our next staff meeting.

• District Admin Updates – Tryna Luton has been hired as the Staff Growth and Effectiveness Administrator, taking the place of Tasha Katsuda who became the new Federal Programs (Title 1) Coordinator. Since 2008, Tryna has been serving as the Director of Federal Systems for the Oregon Department of Education. One of her many responsibilities in this role was to collaboratively direct the teacher and principal evaluation system implementation. Before her work with ODE she worked at Oregon State University as a P-12 Outreach Coordinator/Administrator and she also worked for 10 years as a teacher in the Lebanon Community School District.

• Resources for Smarter Balanced – Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week. The one link about universal tools is now expired, but Oscar had downloaded the video so it is loaded on the Teacher Resource Site under ESC > State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page. If you have found other resources to share, please send them to Marlee or myself. The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so downtown is trying to get a copy sent to us of that one.

• Title 1 Newsletter – If you’d like to know what’s happening in Title 1 from the district perspective, here is the latest Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator compliance tasks, but there is an interesting video on close reading strategies with informational texts.

• Recycle Art Challenge – The deadline for this is Wednesday, but here’s an opportunity for teachers to raise awareness about waste control and promote recycling education PLUS win cash for your classroom. The contest is open to all Lane Country children grades K-5. Winning artists will receive a pizza party for their homeroom class and $350 will also be award to the class of each winner. In addition, each winner will personally receive a $50 gift certificate to the Maude Kerns Art Center. See the flyer for details.

•Bilingual Education turns 40– Did you know that bilingual education as we know it is 40 years old this year?

Here are two articles that outline the landmark ruling that shifted English Language Learner’s Education  if you have the time to read them.

Students effected by Lau vs. Nichols from San Francisco Unified School District

How Lau v. Nichols Transformed Bilingual Education

Forty Years Since Bilingual Education Ruling, Challenges Remain

Have a rewarding and enriching week with your students!

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Week of October 6

Hello Camino Staff,

Last week was a very busy week. This weekend was a great cool down for me I and I feel recuperated. I hope staff found the Maravillas training helpful. There was a lot of information in the training and it will take some time to digest it all.  I am so happy to settle in and see more classrooms and learning this week.  I will continue to visit your morning meetings to get a feel to how classes have adjusted to that routine and structure. Teachers, it is time to focus on your goals. Please contact me to set up a time to meet and discuss them.

October 6 (M)

Joel visits morning meetings.

4:00-8:00, Joel at Equity Committee Retreat

October 7 (T)

Joel visits morning meetings.

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

October 8 (W)

Joel visits morning meetings.

1:40-2:40, Grade Level Collaboration Time

2:45- 3:45, IPBS Meeting

October 9 (TH)

Joel visits morning meetings.

1:45, School PBIS Assembly

2:45-3:45, Design Committee

October 10 (F)

No School, Statewide In-service Day- non-contract day for teachers and EA’s

October 13(M)

Joel available all day to do goals meetings.

October 14 (T)

2:45, Staff Meeting

October 15 (W)

1:40, Collaboration Time- Please meet in library.

2:45- 3:45, PBIS Meeting, Classified encouraged to come in exchange for an hour of comp time.

October 16 (TH)

3:00, Design Meeting

October 17 (F)

Joel available all day to do goals meetings.

• Rosa Molina visit October 20th All Day– Rosa Molina is confirmed to visit on October 20th.  By October 16th, I will need every teacher to complete their weekly schedule that was given to you by Sarah Knudsen.  If you can get it to me next week, I can give you advice or tips on how to improve it before the visit occurs. You will be meeting with Rosa and your grade level team for 40 minutes to consult about the fidelity of the program you are delivering.  Please, be prepared for this tremendous opportunity! We will also be spending time with Rosa on December 1st to do Curriculum Mapping as a staff. This will help us prepare to do the mapping on December 1st.

• Being A Writer Materials – If you are short any Being A Writer materials, let me know by Wednesday. Downtown is providing additional materials for classrooms or SPED teachers who are short or missing any items. SPED teachers should have materials for grades 2, 3 and 4 only. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• TalentEd Update – TalentEd has now been updated for the 2014-2015 school year. This page provides a link to the TalentEd for login and Quick Start Guide. This link can be found on our 4J web site under Human Resources Teacher Effectiveness and Growth Systems.  I’ll set October 31st as the due date for the self-assessment and goals. Goals Meetings- Octboer 13th and October 17th are set aside for me to work on goals for you. Please have an idea of how you would like to set  your SLGOs for these meetings or write some up. In PLT this week, we will be discussing school wide SMART Goals for your convenience and to align with many of our CAP goals.

• Office Hours: The office will now be open from 7:45- 3:45. Being that our classes start at 8:20, 7:45 feels like ample time to get students to school and class. Yasmin or Edna will be there every day at 7:45. Yasmin will supervise from the office. Craig will begin opening the doors a little later each day as well.

• New Library Resource for Teachers from Eugene Public Library Youth Services – The Eugene Public Library website has a new Teacher Resources K-6 website, which includes:
  

  • Library’s online resources, targeted by subject
  • Links to books in the collection on teaching those subjects
  • Links and search tips for finding books and media in the collection to check out for the classroom
  • Lists of curated websites by subject
  • How to contact the library for assignment support and tour requests

  If staff have any questions, they should feel free to contact Michele Green, the Eugene Public Library Youth Librarian, by email (michele.e.green@ci.eugene.or.us) or by phone at 541-682-8480 (Sun – Thurs).

• Book Room Materials Organizing and Clean Up– We need to clear out many of the materials in the book room or at least begin to store some of them.  This is to make space for Maravillas resource materials.  If you have materials that you want to use, please come by and pick out what you need. Piper, Megan and I are going to remove materials that are considered out of date or unnecessary by October 31.

• PBIS Assembly 1:45 Thursday– Do not forget to work with your grade level or specialist team to make up a short 10-30 second skit for the PBIS assembly. We will be presenting ourselves to the school in a fun-hearted fashion on October 9th.

• El Día de los Muertos Planning Meetings– Are you wondering how the El Dia de Los Muertos Night is going? Last week, many staff members planned out some fun stations for the event and I heard that we will be having some serious fun!  Please check in with Alicia about this event that happens on October 29th from 8-6.

• BEST  begins soon: Jessica Zapata has been working hard to hire candidates for the EA positions in BEST and has been working to set up a great program for the year. With Aline and Bryan’s help, this will be an amazing support for best. Attached are the details that Jessica wanted to share with you about our program this year.

BEST-Information for Principal’s blog 10_14

• No School Friday October 10 for State In-service Day– Here are some opportunities across the state.

2014-Inservice-Bulletin

fall-flyer-2014

Supporting English Language Learners under New Standards — Open Oregon State | Oregon State Ecampus | OSU Degrees Online

• “Talking and Books” presentation on October 22 and 23 for Kinders- Mr. Lavin and Ms. Ramirez will read to your children while they demonstrate simple and effective ways to enjoy books with your children and get them talking!

Book talk They will talk about popular and age-appropriate books that a child may read independently and high-interest books that parents can read aloud to their children.

Time to Read Parents and their children will have time to read together.

All Families will take home a beautiful new picture book. All are invited to wear their jammies! Children may want to bring their favorite stuffed animals.   Childcare will be provided for all preschool children.

• SBAC Preparation: Marlee Litten posted several links for Smarter Balanced last week.  Here is one on the tools: It is under ESC>State Assessments on the Teacher Resource page)  The video of a PLC team is still not working on YouTube so I am trying to get a copy sent to us.  http://www.curriculum.4j.lane.edu/esc/elementary-state-assessments/

• Lock Down Review, Karen Ramirez had some great tips from last weeks lock-down drill.

Lockdown Drill was a success! Here are a some reminders for all of us.