Diario Camino del Río

Week of January 26

Dear Staff,

This last week was another impressive week for me at El Camino del Rio.  I really enjoyed teaching in the Engineering Night.  Our team once again did an amazing job.  It was so encouraging to see parents and students working together to do science and engineering.  Aline and Alicia did a tremendous job teaming up to organize this event. Thank you both for your hard work. Also thank you to all the teachers who took time out of their evening to support this important work. We continue to build a strong bi-cultural community and that’s exciting! Lastly, as we enter school choice season Edna and Nikita have gone the extra mile to help us look strong out there in the expo and with our new flier.  We will be posting our new information in the lobby for incoming parents to read. Come by and check it out so you have a good feel for what we are sharing with the public.

 What’s coming up?

January 26 (M)
8:20-9:45, Joel in formal observation
9:00-10:00, Early Learning Meeting
10:30-11:00- Design Debrief Meeting
1:00-2:00, School Choice Tour
2:30-4:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room) (Joel cannot attend- Olivia facilitates.)

January 27 (T)
8:00-3:00, Joel and Karen at Charlemagne for Learning about Learning Network
9:00-10:00, School Tours- Alicia/ Edna conduct the tour.
2:00-2:35, Final Music Assembly (Gym)
Staff Meeting cancelled due to grading week.
7:00- 9:00, Forum with Rob Saxton Asst. Superintendent from ODE, North Eugene HS- This is guaranteed to be an informative (and lively) event.

January 28 (W)
8:30-9:30, Joel in formal observation
10:15-11:30, Joel in formal observation
1:45-2:45, PLC Time- Main focus Mathematics Report Card Reporting, use time for peer support and communication.  Report using the PLC Form.

January 29 (H)
12:00-3:30, Joel and Karen to Smarter Balanced Test Administration Training (Ed Center)
3:00-5:00, Design Meeting

January 30 (F)
Grading Day – No School
9:00-11:00, Edna, Yasmin, Joel meet with Kevin Boling to pilot the new  4J attendance system.
1:00-2:00, IEP Meeting Joel attends.
2:30-3:30, Joel attends second IEP Meeting
6:30-7:30, Ballet Folklórico Introductory Session in the cafeteria. All students invited.

February 2 (M)
Second Semester Begins
National School Counseling (We love Jennifer! 😀 ) Week

February 3 (T)
8:00-12:00, Joel out in the AM for HR Training and speaking event at UO.
12:30, Earthquake and Evacuation (Fire Drill)
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting

February 4 (W)
8:20-9:30 Joel in Formal Observation
1:45-2:45, PLC Time – Please get back to using math formative assessments and document this using the PLC Form.
4:00-6:00, Digital Learning Day (Ed Center)
4:00-5:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)

February 5 (H)

Last day to submit grades so we can print and send in Monday folders on February 8th.
8:00-2:30, IIPM Consult Data Team Meeting
2:45-3:05, Joel in pre conference meeting
3:00-5:00, Design Committee

February 6 (F)
8:40-10:00, Joel in Formal Observation
4:00-6:30,Winter Social at Eugene Wine Cellars

This week’s announcements

• School Choice Visitation Week – Just a reminder that this week is School Choice Visitation Week #1. We have a few families already signed up for tours (mostly at the younger grades), so don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week. The Showcase was excellent. We had a great turnout from families as well as staff to assist.  I want to give a big thank you to Edna, Nikita, Karen, Jill, Nancy, Jessica and many others who either showed up to help or put in many hours to create our fabulous new posters.  It really showed Estrella Pride!

• January 30 Grading Day Staff Expectations – Taking classified staff first, this is a regular work day for most classified folks, so remember there are many workshops available this same day at the EA Extravaganza, but if you have any comp time coming, this would also be a good day to pay back extra time that’s owed to you. For licensed staff, HR has gone back to being more flexible about grading day expectations. The following rules were sent out to principals, which now allow teachers to request to work from home on grading days:

Unlike a planning or PD day, where the District has a firm expectation that all teachers report and be physically present throughout the work day, we have exercised greater flexibility for grading days in recognition of teachers’ professional status. On grading/ report days, principals have discretion to require that all teachers report and work on their grades at the building, or alternatively, to allow teachers to request permission to work from home, and report to the building when grades are completed. In exercising this discretion, please consider the following:

(1) Would allowing a teacher to work from home on this day interfere with work that needs to be done? For example, do you have teachers who need to collaborate with each other in order to prepare reports? — if so, it does not make sense to allow them to work in isolation;

(2) Grading day is a work day. It costs the district about $480,000, and it is not intended to be a vacation day.

(3) Teachers are highly visible members of the community, and part of our expectation of them as professionals is to be good stewards of public resources. If you do allow teachers to work off site this day, please remind them public perception issues and work to protect them. This means that if we grant flexibility to work off-site, it is critical that they work during work time. We grant flexibility to principals to allow teachers to work off-site on grading day, but if it is abused, we will not be able to continue to do so.

(4) The flexibility to work off-site is a privilege, and not an entitlement. Whether you allow any teacher to work off-site is within your discretion. I believe the best practice is to communicate to teachers is that you expect them to work in the building on this day, unless they have requested and received your advance permission to work from home.

So in short, if teachers would like to work from home this day, let me me know, but be sure to make plans ahead of time if you need to collaborate with colleagues for grading. Also, be sure to use this time for grading and not use it to run errands around town.

• Winter Social at Eugene Wine Cellars on February 6th– Come have a glass of wine and bring a little cheese to this social event on the Friday after grading as we mark 1/2 way through the school year.  We will be there from 4:00-6:30.

• Synergy Attendance Reminder from CIS –We received an email from CIS asking us to remind teachers to mark student attendance every day for both AM and PM sessions. If you are using the “Take Attendance by List” option in Synergy instead of the seating chart option, you are most likely correctly marking both the AM and PM absences. Please see the above directions if you are not using the list view option to begin using this attendance screen. Edna or Yasmin will adjust attendance for those students who arrive late after 8:00 and for students who leave early. For students who arrive tardy before 8:00, teachers should only mark the tardy for AM and not PM. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like any help with this.

• Mid Year Check-In Meetings & Observations – This is the time of year principals are supposed to begin conducting our mid-year check meetings with licensed staff regarding educator goals. I am continuing to try to see all staff in a formal observation.  I will do my best to contact each of you to make these appointments.  The mid-year check in process will begin in early February.  Please bear with me as I try to see each of you teach and provide feedback.  It is a priority for me to make sure I observe everyone. If you want to combine your mid goal meeting with the pre-conference or post conference, let me know. That will make things easier for all of us. Make sure you have your SLGO smart goals ready to analyze at the mid term meeting.

• Feb. 13 Camino del Rio PD/Planning Day – We will be continuing the work with Edward and Audrey on February 13th.  This session will more specifically address how assessment fits in to the instructional cycle.  Audrey and Edward will continue to weave in components of the Skillful Teacher work so we can address each of these issues.

• Denver Public Schools Series on Dual Language Videos – It is always good to see examples of what other schools are doing. Take a look at this video series if you have time.

 

 

• PLC time this week – All teams are expected to continue to meet in the library each Wednesday. Also,  continue to use the PLC form each time that we meet. It is important that we document how our PLC time is going for the state and so I can monitor progress in this area. This information is submitted to the priority schools SST team and the Office of school improvement.  Please complete it for each grade level.  This week, I encourage you to use your PLC time for familiarizing your self with math report cards, especially if you are new.  You could even collaborate and help each other record progress of students on the report cards together during this time. This falls closely in line with our math assessment focus of PLCs.

• Concussion Policy – Attached is the final district concussion policy. This document represents the collaboration of 4J Athletic Trainers, Nurses, and the Regional Traumatic Brain Injury Liaison. It has also been reviewed and approved by our Insurer. School nurses have offered to present the document at staff meetings, which we will likely do at a future staff meeting, but I thought I’d share the policy now if staff wanted to get a preview.

• Full-Day Kindergarten Updates – Attached is an informational flyer about full-day kindergarten that was shared with families at the School Showcase by district staff. Also, Sara Green shared with principals this week in her newsletter, though nothing is definite at this point, that she’s proposing a 23:1 ratio for full-day Kinder. Keep in mind that it is a proposal and where we end up may be somewhat different, but this would be significantly better than the current district elementary average of 28:1. Sara’s been advocating for less than 23, but there are a number of competing interests and it’s challenging to put all the budget eggs in one basket.

• Key multimedia skills all educators should have – Educators provided input about multimedia skills that help in the classroom as part of a recent national survey conducted by T.H.E. Journal. The following are the top five skills that teachers should master, according to the results: troubleshooting technology, embracing curiosity, incorporating video, using multiple display devices and using technology to create presentations.

• How Integrating Arts Into Other Subjects Makes Learning Come Alive – Here’s a good article from Mind/Shift on the value of including the arts in core instruction and not viewing it as an elective or add-on. The main crux of the article is viewing art not as an extra, but as integral to learning.

Thanks and have a good week!

 

Joel

 

 

Announcements, Parent Involvement, PLC Collaboration Time, School Choice, Skillful Teacher, Staff Meeting Agenda, Teacher Evaluation/ Observations, Technology Integration, Two Way Immersion | Comment (0)

Week of January 19

What’s Coming Up?

January 19 (M)
No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 20 (T)

8:30-9:45, Joel in Formal Observation
11:30, Design debrief conference call
1:25-1:45, Joel in post conference meeting with teacher
2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting (Agenda items include: Taking it up debrief, math PD ideas, other issues, new PE schedule)

January 21 (W)

8:15-9:40, Joel in Formal Observation.
10:00-3:00, Joel to Priority Schools Network meeting.
1:45-2:45, Grade Level PLC Meetings (Focus is on math assessment)
2:45-3:45, IPBS (Will review truancy concerns, please refer students.)
6:00-8:00, Engineering Night

January 22 (H)

7:30-8:00, Joel and Megan in meeting with parent.
2:45-3:10, Joel in Post conference
3:00-5:00, Design Meeting- Focus is on budget and moving into the next phase.
4:30-6:30, Joel at 4j Equity Committee (Parr Room)

January 23 (F)

7:30-8:00, Taking It UP Debrief- Equity Meeting (all are welcome) (Conference Room)
3:30, Joel in a parent meeting

January 24 (S)
9:00-12:00, Elementary School Showcase (Ed Center)

January 26 (M)

9:00-10:00, Early Learning Meeting
1:00-2:00, School Choice Tour
2:30-3:30, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)
2:45-3:45, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room) (Joel cannot attend)
January 27 (T)

8:00-3:00, Joel and Karen at Charlemagne for Learning about Learning Network
9:00-10:00, School Tours
2:00-2:35, Final Music Assembly (Gym)

January 28 (W)

8:30-9:30, Joel in formal observation

January 29 (H)
12:00-3:30, Joel and Karen to Smarter Balanced Test Administration Training (Ed Center)
3:00-5:00, Design Meeting

January 30 (F)

1:00-2:00, IEP Meeting
Grading Day – No School

This week’s announcements

• Article of the Week –  After reflecting on the past week, I recalled an important document which I believe all educators should read read. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” , is an open letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King which still holds true when we are seeking social justice and freedom for the students we educate.  I have included the link to the scanned original document which Dr. King sent from Birmingham to an editor.  The document is found on the The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Website.  This is a highly recommended space to find resources on Dr. King that are authentic and helpful for teaching.

• Equity Meeting This Week – This upcoming Friday the 23rd we will have another equity meeting in the morning in the conference room. All who are interested are invited. The idea is to meet and discuss the Taking It Up Seminar and how it has effected current staff. We will also discuss further action if we have time and set a future date to talk again. I would like to thank all those who have attended TIU and or CFEE this year. It really feels like we have a critical mass to support our students and staff on issues of racial identity and discrimination.  Thank you all for your dedication to this very important topic in education.

• Spanish Spelling Bee Competition in April – Here is an opportunity I do not want to pass up!  This Spring there will be a Spelling Bee up in Forest Grove. Perla Rodríguez, principal extraordinaire, is the organizer. This is a great opportunity for us to show Eugene and Oregon how well our students know Spanish and to excite our students that the Spanish language is a special talent and skill.  A professor friend of mine named David Wacks also shares the enthusiasm for Spanish language.  He teaches medieval Spanish and Sephardic literature at University of Oregon.  David has helped us enlist a university student who would like to help us coach some 4th and 5th graders to go to the Spanish Spelling Bee!  Hannah Golden is the student’s name.  She will be able to meet with the students after school once a week to practice for the competition.  I am happy to cover the registration costs. Now all we need are the participants!  4th and 5th grade teachers, can I count on you to enlist your students in this competition?

Spanish Spelling Bee Registration Link

 

 

• App Purchases and iPads are coming soon to 4th Grade and beyond – This week Edna and Misty Forsman will be working on imaging the incoming iPads. Edna will be assisting Misty in the iPad volume purchasing and will get the proper licenses for a variety of effective creation and productivity apps. The image will be prepared downtown and delivered sometime in early February. Our tech plan was approved.  This means we qualified to receive 35 X 2 iPads on COWS that will be in the building before February 9th.  These iPads will be used mainly in 4th grade. The surplus iPads will be available to pilot using in 1st grade. Erin S. and Alexis will experiment with using the iPads in creative ways and also to see how effective our web based programs such as RAZ Kids & Maravillas function on the iPad.  This means you should have greater access to the lab and the MacBook Airs as they become freed up by 4th grade for more widespread use. I am hoping to get approval on further purchases this year of iPads for use in another grade. Stay tuned on that one.

• Classroom design meeting debrief – The classroom design meeting was frustrating yet predictable.  There were two things that teachers walked away with unhappy about.  There will be cubbies inside the classroom and there will remain to be full windows into the commons.  On a good note, the architects were able to increase the amount of tack-able space for the classrooms and we will have more than any new building in the district.  We chose a classroom layout that included a combination of carpet and concrete flooring.  We also spent time looking at furniture configurations to get a feel for how the layouts of classroom would work.

• New Director of Technology – Steve Menachemson is the new Director of Technology and will begin on Feb. 2nd. Steve has been with Symantec since 2008, and for the last three years has worked as a Senior Manager with Global Support Delivery. Before working with Symantec Steve worked eight years as the Vice President for TechNet Group (consulting services) in Santa Monica, California. Steve also worked two years as a project manager and senior consultant for an firm that provided hardware and software sales and technical support as well as project management services to the Santa Monica community (1998-2000). Steve will also be bringing global perspective to 4J. He began his career in Cape Town, South Africa as a project manager and senior support engineer before being advanced to a regional manager for the same company in Windhoek, Namibia.

• ELL Position Filled – I am happy to announce that we have selected our replacement for Sarah Lauer. James Longoria will take over the 6 hour ELL position. This will begin immediately on Tuesday.  We will need to begin to look for a replacement for the 4 hour title position very soon. I will be working with Karen Hardin to post the 4 hour title position in the coming week.

Have a nice 4 day week next week.

Joel

Announcements, Back to School, English Language Learners, Equity, Maravillas- McGraw Hill | Comment (0)

Week of January 12

Queridos maestros e empleados,

Last week was a good week. It was good to see how quickly teachers helped students get back into routines.  So many of our students need the structure of school and you provide it! We are quickly approaching school choice season.  If you want to help out in any way with the showcase event on Saturday let me know. It is so important to our program that people know how amazing our program is.

On a bittersweet note, I wanted to briefly share how much I will miss having Sarah Lauer on our team. She is an amazing educator and so dedicated to the work we do with all our students. Sarah’s work with kids for the past 13 years and her work within the equity committee will not be forgotten. I hope she comes back to visit us in the future from Minneapolis. She is an example of how we as educators make a huge difference in the lives of children and their families. Thank you for your service Sarah. Best of luck in your new life in the Midwest.

What is coming up?

• January 12 (M)

Wear green and gold!

Reading and Math Winter Benchmark Testing Week, EDL Continues

7:30-9:45, Joel at Latino Community Breakfast (Ed Center)

10:00-10:45, Joel and Monica Olvera discuss Ballet Folklórico practices in the building. Potential access for students after school.

11:30-12:00, Design Debrief in Joel’s office.
3:30-5:30, Joel at the TIU Planning meeting.

• January 13 (T)

Joel and Jennifer out. Kathy Larson will support and call me if discipline needs to be addressed.

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 1 (8 staff attend at Auditorium)

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting- Professional Development with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero, Zone of Proximal Development and tying assessment in to the  instructional cycle.
6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres/ Parent Group Meeting (Library)

• January 14 (W)

Joel and Jennifer out. Karen Ramirez Gutierrez will support and call me if discipline needs to be addressed.

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 2 (8 staff attend in Auditorium)

1:45-2:45-  PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.) Please fill out the form each week, thanks.

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Erin Piper’s Room)

• January 15 (H)

1:30-2:15, Hat Speeches in conference room 1:30-2:15, Note the change in day. PBIS team attends if possible.

3:00-5:00, Joel, Karen, Marcy, Alexis to Design Committee (Classroom Focus group session.) Please come if you want to give input.

• January 16 (F)

8:30-9:00, Joel meets with Roscoe Caron

12:00-1:00, Joel in Formal Observation

1:30-3:30, Joel to Super Boundary Meeting (Ed Center)

4:00-?, Mystery event.

• January 19 (M)
  No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Joel to MLK March at John Serbu Campus. Come join me if you like. There is no official Camino del Rio participation but I’d love to march with any colleagues that want to walk in solidarity.

Parking is available at Serbu Youth Center (2727 MLK Blvd) then we are gathering in front of PK Park. We will start gathering at 9am and then we will start the March at 10am. We will head down MLK Blvd. to the Shedd Institute where there will be a short program of speakers.

• January 20 (T)

8:30-9:45, Joel in Formal Observation

2:45-3:45, PLT Meeting (Conference Room)

• January 21 (W)

8:30-3:30, Joel at Principal’s Network Priority Schools Meeting (Lane ESD)

1:45-2:45-  PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.) Please fill out the form each week, thanks.

2:45-3:45, IPBS in Erin Recker’s Room

• January 22 (H)

8:00-9:00, Joel to Super Boundary Meeting (Ed Center)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee (Library)

4:30-6:30, 4J Equity Committee (Parr Room)

• January 23 (F)

9:00, Lockdown Drill

10:00-11:30, Joel in Pre conference and formal observation

• January 24 (S)

9:00-12:00, Elementary School Showcase (Ed Center)

 Some items of note for the week:

• The Reinvention of Bilingual Education in America’s Schools Here is the my article pick of the week. It describes the trends well in dual language programs today.

 

• HM Journeys CCSS Updated Materials – The updated Houghton Mifflin reading materials will be delivered sometime this week. For those not on PLT, the district got a highly discounted offer from HM to upgrade our old HM reading materials to their current CCSS aligned version. This also came with a 6 year subscription to the online version of the curriculum, which can be accessed from laptops or iPads and includes the leveled readers.  We purchased the English version only to support and better align materials to Common Core. The materials are going to be stored in the Craig’s shed next week and will stay there until the district organizes their the teacher trainings, though teachers can get them earlier if you’d like.

• Schools Showcase Volunteers, Sat. Jan. 24th, 10:00-12:00 – The School Showcase will be held again this year on Saturday Jan. 24th at the Ed Center, 9:00-12:00. It is also an elementary only event this year.  Last year there was an informational presentation about the school choice process from 9-10 and then the showcase from 10-12. This event is for interested families to learn about all 4J schools in one place at the same time. Last year they provided breakfast, including a vegetarian option, for staff helping at the event. Let me know if any of you are willing to help me promote Camino del Rio and tell families why they should come to our school. You are the best marketing tool for our school.

• Superintendent Search Updates – We should know who our new superintendent will be by spring break. The school board had a work session last Wednesday to review all of the staff, students, families and public input. They plan to do a first round screening of candidates soon and will then do site visitations. In March, they will have different stakeholder groups conduct interviews with the finalists. That input will then go back to the board who will announce the new superintendent by spring break.

• Process for Requesting District Behavior Support – Camino del Rio staff are already good about going through the building IPBS process for challenging students before calling in ESS behavior consultants for, but ESS has now created a Tiered Intervention Flow Chart of steps that are to be followed before calling in one of the behavior consultants. “The Mod Squad” IPBS Team already follows these steps, but feel free to look at the chart if you’d like.

• Call for Student Presenters on Digital Learning Day! (Feb. 4th, 2015) – Ketterer send something out to cert_all, but Kellyclare Gardner sent a Digital Learning Day flyer to principals specifically calling for student presenters for Digital Learning Day that I thought I would forward. If you have any trouble accessing the link to our online sign up form through the PDF, here you can follow this link if you want to represent Camino del Rio at this event.

• Jan. 30 Educational Assistant (Professional Learning) Extravaganza – Back by popular demand, downtown will be hosting a variety of instructional workshops for all educational assistants who wish to participate. This all day event (8:00-3:30 at the Ed Center) allows for classified staff to choose presentations within your scheduled work day while teachers are working on report cards. They will be presenting multiple workshops at at time, in order to give you choice and flexibility to fit within your daily schedule. A schedule of the workshops and more details will be sent out soon.

• DonorsChoose.org Opportunity – Most of you are probably familiar with DonorsChoose.org, but it’s an on-line charity that connects the public to easily fund grants for public schools. For the College Football National Championship game, all attendees at the game will receive a $25 DonorsChoose.org gift card to use on a classroom project that inspires them. While there’s no way to predict how many recipients will use the funds, there will likely be a bunch of folks from our community looking to support a classroom, so it this may be a good time to put up a low cost grant (headphones, curriculum materials, class supplies, etc.) on their website. Here’s a link to the teacher section of DonorsChoose.org to submit a grant if you’ve never put one up before.

• 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 is some information about summer school for staff who work there and are wondering when it will be this year.

 

Have a great 5 day week.

Saludos cordiales,

Joel

Announcements, Equity, Evacuation Drills, Parent Involvement, Staff Meeting Agenda, Teacher Evaluation/ Observations, Title 1, Two Way Immersion, Uncategorized | Comment (0)

Week of January 5, 2015

Welcome back to school! I had a very relaxing break and really had fun with my kids. I have built numerous robots, Lego homes and shopping centers, cross country skied, and gone swimming multiple times. It was a dad’s paradise! 😉 I also read Enrique’s Journey (Thanks Nancy). I highly recommend reading this book if you have an interest in understanding more about immigration from Central America.

This is going to be a very exciting year, 2015. I am really looking forward to the month of January. I find that this month is one of the most productive of the school year because the holidays are over and most of our routines and patterns are figured out. Plus, the focus is on learning.  I will be contacting many of you this month individually if you need a formal observation. Please be flexible in times to meet with me for pre and post conferences, and for observations.

The Next 2 Weeks

January 5 (M)

8:15- Joel in meeting with parent. (my office)

10:00- Joel in meeting with parent. (my office)

11:30-12:00- Debrief meeting on design committee. (Joel in office)

January 6 (T)

8:30-9:30- Joel meets with Carmen Urbina (my office)

12:30- Fire Drill (Outside) (No lock down this month.)

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

January 7 (W)

1:45-2:45- ALL PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.)

2:45-3:45- IPBS Meeting 2:45-3:45 (Erin Recker’s Room)

4:00-5:00- Joel at North Eugene Regional Meeting -(NEHS)

 January 8 (H)

Design Committee 3:00-5:00

January 9 (F)

Regular day. No meetings.

January 12 (M)
Reading and Math Winter Benchmark Testing Week

7:30-9:45, Joel at Latino Community Breakfast (Ed Center)
2:30-5:00, Joel to Elementary Principals’ Meeting (Ed Center)

January 13 (T)

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 1 (7 staff attend at Auditorium)

2:45-4:45, Staff Meeting- Professional Development with Edward Olivos and Audrey Lucero, Zone of Proximal Development and tying assessment in to the  instructional cycle.
4:00-7:00, Joel to Kindergarten Expo (Ed Center)
6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres/ Parent Group Meeting (Library)

January 14 (W)

8:00-3:30- Taking it Up Training Day 2 (7 staff attend in Auditorium)

1:45-2:45-  PLC teams in the library. (Focus is still formative math assessments.)
2:30-3:30, Joel to Taking It Up Training (Ed Center)

2:45-3:45, PBIS Meeting (Erin Piper’s Room)

January 15 (H)
1:30-4:30, Joel to HR Training (Ed Center)

3:00-5:00, Design Committee

January 16 (F)

Regular Day

Here are some items of note for the week:

• Camino del Rio Facebook and nice new website (http://riverroad.4j.lane.edu/) – Our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/elcaminodelrioelementary) is up and we received 115 likes before the new year began. I encourage you to “like” the page as well if you are on Facebook and share the page with friends that are fans of the school. We are planning on sharing many positive stories about our program in the coming months as part of the school choice season and beyond.  In addition, the website is updated and we will begin to post our newsletter on both the website and Facebook. If you have projects or activities you are especially proud of, take a shot with your phone and pass it on to Edna, Peggy or myself. We will get it up on the website or FB page. We give a big thanks to Peggy Vega for helping us get these pages looking so good.

• Technology progress in 4th grade and 5th grade – We will be sending some of our teachers to see what has been happening at Awbrey Park with iPad integration in the classroom. (January 9th in the PM) The  4th grade students at Camino del Rio will begin to have one to one access very soon. Soon after that, our 5th grade team will make the transition. This will mean significant technology access increases for other classes as well. The Mac Book Airs will have primary access for 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and kinder.

• Forest Grove TWI article – Learning in 2 languages: Forest Grove aims to offer immersion education from preschool to high school  A colleague of mine from Forest Grove, Perla Rodriguez, and her staff had a great article written about their school, Echo Shaw Elementary. This staff has worked tremendously hard to design the most up to date innovative TWI program in the state. Perla and her team have researched and implemented exciting changes to create strong two way methodology and instruction. Please read about it as they have similar goals as we do.

• ELA CCSS 6 Shifts registration for January – Teachers should remember to sign up for the K-2 or 3-5 ELA CCSS Workshops this January (SPED should attend the 3-5 workshop). The sub code is “Title One” and please bring your computer, your planning book/instructional calendar and for 3-5 & SPED Teachers bring your Writing Performance Task Preparation Guide. Follow link above to register for your session and see Gretta’s email for more specifics.

• School Choice 2015: Important Changes, Key Dates, & Promotion – School Choice season is here and one change is that the Schools Showcase (Jan. 24th) is now elementary only. The rest of the rules and plans are pretty much the same. School Visitation Weeks will be Jan. 26–29 and Feb. 23–27. If you’d like further details, you can read Kerry Delf’s email. Edna, Alicia and I have set several dates to give tours which are on the El Camino del Rio Web Calendar. Also, Edna and I are working hard on the new brochures to share during school choice. Nikita has offered to help with the Expo Poster design. Do you want to help out too? Let me know.

• New OAKS (SBA) Blueprints – Math – Here’s the link to files that give a very thorough view of about half of what will be on the “New OAKS” in math at each grade level. Different from the Smarter Balanced Practice Test that I shared last Fall, the documents here have sample questions that are grade level specific, which would be good for students to see before they take the New OAKS/Smarter Balanced Assessment.

• ODE Smarter Balanced Communication Website Update – ODE recently reorganized their Smarter Balanced Assessment webpages to improve access and ease of use. Now, the Smarter Balanced landing page connects more easily to the following:

• Internal pages for Smarter Balanced Test Administration, Technology Requirements, Technical Documents, and Communication Resources
• Related Websites like the OAKS Portal, SBAC, and CCSS
• Internal pages for CCSS

ODE wants this to be the one-stop shop for direct access to resources as well as connection to two additional locations that house Smarter Balanced information—their OAKS Portal and the SBAC website. Teachers are encouraged to explore the site and resources. If you are new to the site in general and need assistance locating anything, feel free to contact Jessie McGraw at ODE by phone (503) 947-5970 or email at jessica.mcgraw@ode.state.or.us

• Winter PBIS Newsletter – Attached is the Winter Edition of the district PBIS Newsletter from the 4j Behavior Consultants. Kim Reinhardt and Melissa Barbour have taken over the lead on this one. Enjoy!

• Tips on Raising Caring Children – What does it take to raise a compassionate, moral child? asks Adam Grant in this New York Times article (here’s a condensed version). Researchers have found that worldwide, this is parents’ number one priority – instilling caring is more important to them than their children’s achievement. But how much difference do parents make in this area? Are some children born good-natured and others mean-spirited? Studies of twins suggest that between one-quarter and one-half of people’s propensity to be kind is inherited – which means that parents and the environment account for up to three quarters. Drawing on the psychological research, Grant has these suggestions for adults working with children:

• Praise is more effective than rewards.
• With children around 8 years old, praise character, not actions.
• Nouns work better than verbs (i.e. “be a helper” vs “help us”)
• With bad behavior, evoke guilt, not shame.
• With bad behavior, say you’re disappointed.
• Model caring and generous behavior.

Thursday, January 8 Meeting on Building Design- In the last design meeting of December the design team came to agreement on many of the spaces. The administration office, the library, the gym, site plan, and more were agreed upon. The first meeting in January will review budget constraints and possibly include a discussion of classroom. I will know more after the Monday debrief meeting what the focus will be. It is extremely important that teachers give strong input on the classroom spaces. It is my hope that many of you will be working in these rooms for several years to come. I want the rooms to maximize instructional functionality for students and ultimately for you. I will send out an email if we do talk about classroom this Thursday.

Common Core Taining, SBAC or "New Oaks", School Choice, Technology Integration, Two Way Immersion, Uncategorized | Comment (0)