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)