Week of November 3
Daily events for the Week of November 3
Jennifer and Karen out all week at CFEE. Click on the link if you want to know more about this equity training.
November 3 (M)
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)
8:00-3:00, Joel to Buena Vista for the Learning about Learning Network Observations
November 6 (H)
First day for students to sit in classes in the cafeteria to earn green slip points.
Fire Drill at 1:00 PM 
Pending the weather. Lock Down upon return to class from Drill.
4:00-8:00, Conferences begin at 4:00 (Gym)(Joel available for presence at conferences.)
6:00 PM, Joel at Outdoor School Meeting with Parents.
November 7 (F)
(Joel available for presence at conferences.)- Send me your times you need me via email.
8:00 AM -8:00 PM, Conferences All Day
November 10 (M) – Teacher Compensation Day- This is a regular work day for classified staff. Classified Staff, if you want to use comp time on this day, please bring me your compensation hours form for approval of time off this week.
November 11 (T) No School- National Holiday -Veteran’s Day
November 12 (W)
3:00-4:00, PLT Meeting- Leadership Plan Initial Draft Presentation
November 13 (H)
3:00-5:00, Design Committee (Library)
November 14 (F)
2:45-4:00, Kinder ELL Support Planning Meeting
Conference Details
Dinner at Conferences and other details- Erin Skoubo’s newsworthy performance earned us a free dinner from catering for her fabulous film editing techniques on the iPad! Keith Feidler came by to tell her the good news last week. We will have a choice of three soups and salad on Thursday at 5 in the staff lounge. There are several options with staff dietary restrictions in mind.
Also, Drea and Maja are helping us get snacks throughout the day on Friday. The parent group will be organizing this activity. Gracias Grupo de Padres!
Free and Reduced Lunch Meals Forms during Conferences- Please do not forget to pick up extra nutrition forms for families who may qualify for free and reduced lunch. You are encouraged to share these with parents as an option but not to ask specifically about their financial situation. This is a delicate balance but please respect the family’s confidentiality. Consider offering it to each and every family as a way to support the school. Our December 1 FR Lunch Count defines the 2015-2016 school year financial supports so new forms make a difference in the next three weeks.
Classified Compensation Opportunities -With Karen and Jennifer out next week, we need extra people to help with childcare. If you are a classified employee and you would like to work extra hours to support families with children on those days, this is a good opportunity to work a little longer so you can take Monday the 10th off. Let me know if that is of interest to you.
Teaching Channel is Awesome!
I just love the Teaching Channel Resources! If you have not spent time watching and learning at this site, I highly recommend it. There are some creative lessons on math, ELA, kindergarten, and more. This video is especially helpful in my mind because of the way it demonstrates collaboration. Please take a good look at the way these two master teachers work together. Click on the image below to see the video. I could not embed the video for some reason on this one.
• Design Committee Update: This last week, the architects shared some designs that took into two changes. The first change is to demolish the gym in order to find more space on the site for design. When this happens in the hypothetical, the district says that they can accommodate us with a gym in between so there is not a lapse in service. We would either have a temporary gym type structure, or we would build the building section where the new gym needs to go first. This opens up many more possibilities for placement of administration and a more pleasant layout of the media center. We also got a look at the look of the roof line and saw a few perspectives. Most of the design team liked a more modest roof line that looks like a smaller school and fits in with the neighborhood.
The second big change was the look of the siting and driveway scheme. The team pulled away from using the back property as a driveway for buses. Now, all motor traffic will be connected via the front of the school and will be further east near where the current building is. There will be a separate bus turnaround and a separate parking area. The parking area will double in size over the current capacity we now have.
There will be another meeting on November 13th. The focus of that meeting will be increasing access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic to the site. We will also look at more details in the administration and media center areas.
• Most meetings cancelled this week.– Because it is conference week, we will need to pay special attention to pacing ourselves. The long days are hard on us. I cancelled most of our meetings this week and moved the PBIS meeting into the last week of October. Take time to prepare for your conferences and get well organized. It will pay off when you need to sit down with your parents and exchange valuable information with them.
• Kangaroo Math Competition – The math department of the University of Oregon is hosting an international math competition for elementary and middle school students. It will be at 5:00PM on March 19th on the UO campus. The registration deadline is December 15. See the flyer for details. This competition takes place in many different countries. And all participants receive t-shirts, gifts, etc. Feel free to pass this information along to any kids who might be interested.
• Silverware vs Plastic Sporks–And the Winner Is? – Children have a challenging time using the current disposable plastic sporks. The reusable plastic spoons and forks used in some of the schools get often times thrown away, since they get confused with disposable plastic flatware. Plastic is not environmentally friendly and breaks easier, thus adding to replacement costs and more plastic waste landfills. 4J Nutrition Services has been sourcing good quality, cost effective stainless steel flatware (forks and spoons), which is going to replace their plastic counterparts school-by-school over the course of the 2014-15 school year. If you’re interested, here is a link to the October Nutrition Services Newsletter which has this and other food service related news.
• “Forgiveness, the Triumph of the Human Spirit”, a lecture by Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor – PeaceJam Northwest and the Division of Student Life at the University of Oregon, is hosting Eva Kor for a lecture where she will discuss her journey from Auschwitz and Joseph Mengle to forgiveness on November 8th at 6:30 at Columbia Hall. See the flyer and website for details. My old friends Linda Smart and José DaSilva have organized this event through Peace Jam.
• Free Half-Hour Massage – I got an email last week from a local Massage Therapist working for Dr. Jerry Evan. They are looking to expand their reach in the community want to recognize that education can be both rewarding and challenging, especially on the body, so they are offering staff a free Chiropractic Consultation with Dr. Evan’s, as well as a Free Half Hour Massage with one of their massage therapists. I’m sure they’re hoping to generate some more business for themselves out of this, but I thought since there’s a free massage involved, staff might be interested. If you are interested, there is a sign-up sheet in the office which I will fax back to them at the end of the week and they will contact you to set up an appointment.
Have a good week everyone!
Joel
