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:
Being a Writer, Equity, Uncategorized | Comment (0)• 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 upDecember 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!
