Diario Camino del Río

Week of December 15

Weekly Summary of Events

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

4:00-8:00, Joel to First Aid Training

December 17 (W)

My mom visits as principal for a day.

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly Rescheduled from December 4 (AM kinders parents can come visit to see students get awards too.)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

January 5 (M)

School Resumes

Hi everyone,

Well, we are in the final stretch towards winter break. This often means that students are stressed, not to mention the teachers. Please make sure you listen closely to students and consider their needs and anxiety of the upcoming break.  I can come by and help if you need it.

Here are several items for the week:

• Love food not waste is beginning at Camino del Río- With the help of Craig Young, Lisa Livelybrooks, Tim Whitley and PSS, we are starting the City of Eugene’s Love Food Not Waste Program.  This is a program that will help us reduce our school garbage bill and reduce landfill amounts tremendously.  Please talk to Marcy, Nikita, or Megan about getting helpers in your classes to help make this a smooth process.  Also, if you are aware of families that might want to volunteer supervising students, that could be an easy way for them to help out.  Please advertise it in your weekly newsletter.

• Pride Assembly will be this Thursday- Thank you all for bringing me the Pride Awards this week.  Please keep them coming.  I hope to represent each class in the school during this presentation.  In addition, we will be recognizing kindergartners from both am and PM.  Please make calls to parents or send them a not home in an envelope.  We want this to be a big deal for students on Thursday afternoon.  Also,  we are going to recognize our amazing First Lego League Robotics Team.  They brought home three trophies! The assembly will be about 25 minutes. Please seat students in a neat line in order with your grade and keep classes separated for ease of recognition.  A seating chart will be available by Thursday afternoon. Below is the agenda starting at 1:00 PM. Edna will call classes down. Please stay in classrooms until she calls your classroom.

1. Mr. Adee will start students off with a song or two to set the tone. (Please remind students of PBIS Assembly expectations.)

2. We will present the Golden Tray Award to two classes.

3. We will present the FLL Team to the school and give them an applause.

4. We will recognize the students who read to the City of Eugene.

5. Megan and the Student Leadership team will quickly remind us what the Virtudes Award is and how to get it.

6. We will read the names of students who received pride awards.  Teachers will come to the front to present awards. Mr. Lavin will read names.  We will read K through 5.

7. Students will be excused by classroom.

 

• International Human Rights Day Declaration was a success.– See the pic below taken at the Hult Center.  Our school is really getting some positive attention.

• EEF Announcement Soon-  We should know the EEF announcement of our $5000.00 grant before Winter Break. If we do not get the full amount, it may be possible that we can get the funds via another source.  I have been networking with some business leaders in our community that have interest in supporting our programs.

 

• PLC Wednesday and Tech: Please remember to fill out your PLC Form each Wednesday that you meet. I have invited Misty Jackson to return so she can support you with your iPad technology needs. We are inching closer to a 4th grade 1:1 initiative.  Edna purchased Reflector for all classroom teachers and ELL.  Peggy will come by to do installs on tablets and laptops this week. I really like this model, ( having an expert come in who can help on a specific topic.) I am hoping I can convince Reid Sheppard to come by on a Wednesday or two in order to help with formative math assessments.

 

• Classrooms Input in New Building- Please speak with Erin Skoubo, Marcy Hellman, Alexis Screen, and Karen Ramirez Guttierez about their input on the classroom design.  The glass from floor to ceiling in parts of the classroom I believe is a real problem for storage, wall space, custodial maintenance and too much distraction.  I need you to provide input to the teachers involved about your opinions.  The ed spec process asked for these windows in Howard and our school. Please provide input with your opinion as it may make a difference. If Allan Chinn and I can make a compelling argument together to change the Ed Specifications, we may be able to shift this in both our schools.

 

• Global Delights Coffee Fundraiser- Soon we will begin a fundraiser to help support the Outdoor School Program in 5th Grade.  I am recommending that 4th and 5th grade get involved.  If our 4th grade can raise funds this year, we won’t be in such a pinch during the next school year. Nikita, Megan, Jaime, and Jill: Please see me about organizing this fundraising event.  We could make  600.00 for every 100 pounds of coffee that we sell. This could also be a school-wide event later in the year. They also will be saving 1.00 for us for every pound they sell in the kiosk throughout the year. Go local and help our students go to Outdoor School! The date for Fundraising will begin in the second week in January.

 

• Kindergarten Expo Next Week- Some of you may have noticed that there was a position open for kindergarten in our building this week in an email from EEA and Cyd Vandercar.  I will attend the expo session next week if there are any applicants to our position within the district. If there are not, then this position will go public starting over Winter Break or in early January.  I will be advertising far and wide over break. Many unknown factors remain about staffing as December is an extremely early time of year to think about all of this. It has prompted me to ask several questions to staff about their intentions to be kinder teachers in our building and even what their other intentions are for other grades.  If you’d like to approach me earlier about your staffing interests, do not hesitate to speak with me.  Later in March, I will be sending out a more formal survey about your interests and intentions for 2015-2016.

 

• Enrollment Numbers- For 2015-2016 we are projected to have 366 students. This is an increase of 33 students over 14-15  projections.  The district also projects that we will have 75 kindergartners next fall. They slated 3 positions for us in full day kinder next year.  We will have to make some classroom placement decisions once we have a clearer picture of staffing.

 

• Monday 12/15 – Friday 12/19 is Secret Snowman Week -Starting Monday, December 15th, you are in charge of leaving your S.S. something special for each day of the week. Remember, it can be a poem, piece of candy, or an encouraging note. The max you can spend is $10.00 total for the week, so be creative. Friday, December 19th right after school we will reveal our person in the staff room. Please join us for a few minutes of holiday cheer before winter break! Staff had a lot of fun last year trying to guess who our S.S. was.

 

• Progress on late entry policy-  I have been asked by the district to submit a policy proposal regarding late entry students in the River Road /Howard super-boundary.  Briefly, the proposal would ensure that we would remain a neighborhood school and we would not accept students after Fall of 2nd grade into the program. The policy will also outline a policy for how to accept students who are heritage  Spanish speakers and others who have specific designations and abilities. I have been referring to some master plans from California, Connecticut, Utah, and Colorado for research.  In addition, Abby Lane, Tom Piowaty, Allan Chinn, Eric Anderson, Sara Green, Rosa Molina, and others will contribute. This proposal will be submitted to the board and hopefully have some resolution before school choice season is in full swing in late January.

 

•  CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grants Due Jan. 2 – I sent this out once before, but I thought I’d remind anyone interested in applying for a grant they are due Jan. 2nd. The CenturyLink Teachers and Technology Grant Program is a competitive grant open to PreK-12 teachers and is designed to help teachers inventively 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.

 

• The Threat of Stereotype – Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their social group. Stereotype threat and the responses it elicits can play a powerful role in the relatively poor achievement of certain students—African Americans, Latinos, and girls in math-oriented domains. The following article is an excellent piece that discusses the impacts on students and more importantly how educators can help.

 

• Teachers can take a cue from Google to encourage innovation – Technology firms, including Google, have found success with a strategy that allows employees to spend one-fifth of their time on “passion projects.” Now, the approach appears to be catching on in education, with some teachers setting aside time for students to work on inquiry-based projects. This article includes 20 tips to help educators adopt this approach.

 

Thanks and have a good week.

 

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Engagement, Equity, Staff Meeting Agenda, Uncategorized | Comment (0)

Week of December 8

Hi Everyone,

We are moving into a very exciting week during the day and the night.  Put on your seat belts and jump into the fun and learning.

Some items of note this week:

• More Housing in the Super-boundary  Area – The City of Eugene announced that they have conditionally approved a tentative subdivision located between Maxwell and North Park Ave. (the field across North Park from Kelly), which will be 40 residential lots and one commercial lot. This is within the Howard Elementary catchment area and could effect us down the road.

On a related note, the apartment complex on River Road, named the Ecco Apartments, is now accepting applications. Looking at their website, they’re marketing themselves as having “resort-style community amenities” and are renting 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments. Allan Chinn, the principal from Howard contacted them and said they plan for tenants to begin moving in around mid-January and plan on opening their final building in March.

• Pride Assembly in last week of December –  The Pride award or “Virtudes” Award is to reward students who show the many areas of PRIDE which are exemplified by perseverance, integrity, diversity, and excellence.  I hope to present students from EACH class with awards in the assembly on Thursday the 18th. So far, I have only received 1 award this school year, and I know we have some awesome kids!

In the next week, take time to write 2-5 pride awards for your class. These awards, found in the IMC, are for students who day in day out are working hard and doing the right thing. Sometimes, they even step up to commit a really caring positive act which you feel you need to recognize. Kindergarteners through fifth graders deserve these awards. We will be presenting them with their certificate, taking their photo, and displaying their photo near the front of school. Please write these PRIDE awards this week and return them to my box near  my door in the office.  Any staff can write these awards, but please check in with the classroom teacher to make sure you don’t duplicate. Also, a student with a level 3 cannot earn a pride award this time around, but they can if they are referral free in January, February, and March.

• Technology Integration Update: Apple ID access reminder and newer tech purchases.  Here are the instructions for doing Apple Purchases.    Some of you might have lost your apple id or password.  If you have, come see me and I can help jog your memory.  Misty Jackson sent me all the teacher info last week. Also,  I have authorized Peggy to install Reflector on all teacher computers in the next week or so.  Peggy and Edna will work together to purchase and install it on all your laptops.  This will allow you to use your iPad for many more instructional purposes as I mentioned in my email last week. Do you have any app requests?  Please contact Erin Skuobo about your app interests if they are paid apps. In our meeting with Kim Ketterer last week, she also mentioned that we could demo apps to try. If you are an “early adopter” type, let me know and we can work more closely with Kim to try out new technologies.

• “Taking it Up” in mid- January – There will be an opportunity next month for any staff member, licensed or classified, interested in attending “Taking it Up” who have not already attended. The two-day seminar will be offered January 13th and 14th. Downtown is paying all of the registration fees and our building will pay for substitutes. We are sending 7 staff to Taking it Up!  Way to step up team!

For those not familiar with “Taking it Up”, it is a provocative seminar focused on helping educators, school board leaders, and community members deepen their understanding of the institutionalized racist barriers that hinder elimination of Oregon’s racial achievement gap. This focus on working from the inside out will challenge participants to step out of their comfort zone and create new entry points for becoming aware of, understanding, and interrupting inequitable policies and practices in our schools. There will be a couple more opportunities for staff to attend Taking it Up or the full week CFEE experience.  It is a priority for us to have 100% attendance in this program.

In addition, we are mobilizing a Camino del Rio Equity and Inclusion Team.  Our next meeting is this Monday at 7:30 AM. We will have another meeting in January.

• Smarter Balanced Updates – Downtown has scheduled the site test coordinator training for Smarter Balanced for the end of January, so we’ll have more information to share after that. In the meantime, attached are some item you may want to read over now and will probably answer a lot of the questions you may have:

• The Test Administration Manual, which is required reading for access to TIDE and the Smarter Balanced/OAKS Assessments
• The Accessibility Manual, which covers the Universal Tools, Designated Supports, and Accommodations for the SB/OAKS Assessments
• Test Administrator checklists to aid in your planning

• Houghton Mifflin CCSS Upgrade – The School Board did approve the HM CCSS update for Camino del Río and all of the other six HM schools (Howard, YG/Corridor, Buena Vista, Edgewood and Edison) who’s staffs were also interested in getting the updated materials. I did get answers to a couple questions that came up at our meeting on Monday. One, we will be getting both hard copies of the updated program and also digital versions that will work on laptops and iPads. And two, the timeline is up to us in terms of when to begin using the updated materials. I’ll share more once we get more information about trainings and planning time.

• Superintendent Search Updates & Online Survey – The school board is seeking input on what you’d like for a new superintendent. This online survey will be up Monday, December 8th through Dec. 19th to solicit input. There will also be a parent forum December 16th, 7:00-8:00 PM and a public input session at the December 17th School Board meeting. Final candidates will be in Eugene for community meetings March 4-6..

• Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level Title 1 Newsletter that went out to all Title 1 Coordinators and principals. This month’s issue is again mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there’s a good video on how to use a Socratic Circle (also known as a Socratic Seminar) as a dialog approach to understand information in a text. The video features a 2nd grade classroom from San Bernardino, CA.

• Learning Palace Coupon – Learning Palace sent me a 15% off coupon that can be used at any of their store locations. The coupon is valid from Dec. 8th – Dec. 15th.

• Study: Active learning helps black students with STEM subjects – This study was done with older students, but it can easily apply to younger students. Using active learning, rather than lectures, to teach science, technology, engineering and math may help to close the diversity gap in STEM fields, according to recent research on how black students learn best.

• Madison Loves Books– Take a look at how enthusiastic this child is about books. Personally, when I saw this video, it gave me a lot of hope.  This video would be GREAT to share with kids.  I believe students need to see that reading is an act that is desirable and something that other peers think is valuable.  Check it out and smile!

 

 

Calendar of Events

December 8 (M)

7:30-8:10, Equity Team Meeting (Joel, Karen, Jill, Jennifer, and anyone else!) (ESC Office)

10:20, Fire Drill and Lock Down Practice- Lock Down occurs sometime between the fire drill and 10:50.

2:00-5:00, Joel at Principal’s Meeting Parr Room- Ed Center

December 9 (T)

7:30-8:15, Behaviorial Support Meeting for student. Joel, Brie, Jennifer, Debbie, and Tracy attend.

8:30-10:30, CAP Taskforce meets, Karen, Aline, Joel, Kathy

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting (Remember to finish your Chapter 2 from Dual Language A-Z)

1.  2:45-2:55, Nancy and Karen present on CCSS Argumentation within the new  ELD standards.

2.  2:55-4:55, Hour Staff Meeting with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero on Dual Language Instructional Delivery Practices

6:00-7:30, Parent Group Meeting Visioning- You are encouraged to attend! (Library)

December 10 (W)

7:30-9:30, Joel to Latino Breakfast at Ed Center (Parr Room)

2:45-3:45, PLT in the Conference Room

6:30, International Human Rights Presentation at the Ed Center (Our students are reading the rights!)

December 11 (H)

8:00-3:00, Being a Writer Meeting all day at the Ed Center  (Joel and Jaime Jones attend)

6:30-7:30, River Road New Building Design Open House to Public in the Cafeteria

6:30 p.m. Presentation
7:00 p.m. Questions
7:30 p.m. Wrap up

December 12 (F)

1:00-2:45, Joel at the Late Entry Policy Meeting at Corridor

6:00-8:00, Camino del Rio Movie Night!- Kids, parents, and staff are invited!

December 15 (M)

8:00-3:00, Data Team Meeting

December 16 (T)

SST Meeting, 8:00-11:00

4:00-8:00, Joel to First Aid Training

December 17 (W)

2:45-3:45, IPBS Meeting

December 18 (H)

1:00-1:35, Pride Assembly Rescheduled from December 4 (AM kinders parents can come visit to see students get awards too.)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee Meeting

December 19 (F)

Last day of school before Winter Break!

Being a Writer, Equity, Uncategorized | Comment (0)