January 24th, 2016
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Here are the major items of the week:
• Hello and Goodbye to Specialists – Our second semester PE teacher, Michelle Lampe, is coming back soon. Michelle is coming to us from teaching PE at Gilham. Welcome back Michelle!
Dene Eller has been a fabulous addition to our PE team. Her flexibility in the Fall was so helpful during construction and her attitude seems to uplift everybody. Thanks Dene. We will miss ya! Enjoy your work full time at Cesar Chavez.
I know our staff will greatly miss El Camino del Rio music teacher David Adee. His amazing knowledge passion, and dedication to help our students love music will be missed. At least he will be here for our students to continue learning marimba. He will also make some appearances when we have some special musical guests later in the year.
•Thanks for your dedication to literacy skills!– This weekend Karen, Marcy, and Erin Bucklew spent Saturday learning some new skills related to literacy in k-2. I really appreciated the extra time they spent learning up in Portland at the conference put on by some experts from Canada. From what I heard, it was worth the time spent. We will dedicate more time in our February meetings focused on literacy to hear about the new techniques learned. Thanks to all three of you for your willingness and openess to new ideas!
•Thanks to many for 4J School Choice Showcase help! – This weekend, Lily, Jill, and Nancy were of great help to us to prepare for the showcase. Lily set up our table and it looked professional and inviting. All their friendly faces and working knowledge of the school really helped to convince families to come visit. Edna also worked quickly to ensure we had plenty of flyers and pamphlets ready for our prospective families. Two parents and their children were also very important to our success this weekend. Latisha and Sky came with their children. Their positive stories, and fun and caring children were an incredibly powerful testament to the success of our program.
• School Choice Visitation Week – This week is School Choice Visitation Week #1. We have a few families signed up for tours, so don’t be surprised if you see me walking visitors around the building and into classrooms this week. There is also a dual language information night coming up on Tuesday.
• Carrying it Forward (formerly Taking it Up) Seminar Opportunity – We are moving forward with a record number of staff attending this seminar. Subs are provided by 4j this time! 4J’s Taking it Up seminar has been re-branded “Carrying It Forward” (4J is taking it over and running it themselves now) and it’s scheduled for two different times this year, February 18th-19th and April 7th-8th. Their hope is to bring together staff from across our district to build their awareness and understanding of racial inequity and privilege in schools. Why race? Because it is a place where we are seeing disparities in our district and it’s also a topic we sometimes don’t know how to openly discuss in constructive ways. See this linked
email for details. We already have 12 staff members going. At this rate we may have the highest percentage in 4J of trained employees. There are still some spots open in April if you have not gone and did not already tell me of your interest to go.
• PeaceJam- PeaceJam is an international organization led by 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners, including the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, with the goal of building global citizenship, peace through anti-bullying instruction and youth leadership. The regional chapter of PeaceJam is now located here in Eugene, working in collaboration with the University of Oregon and schools and districts all over the Northwest. Tasha Katsuda and the Instruction Dept. will be hosting a voluntary, informational meeting Tuesday, Feb 2 from 4-5pm in the Auditorium at the 4J District Office, to cover some of the benefits to 4J teachers of the district membership 4J has established with PeaceJam, as well as upcoming activities and events that will benefit students in the district, including the upcoming youth conference with 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee from Liberia, which will take place at the U of O April 22-23. I strongly recommend that we go to learn more about this program. It is invaluable and there are some great leaders in Lane County who have been involved since 2010 such as José Da Silva, Marty Smith, and Linda Smart.
• Protect our families: Keep them informed on their immigration rights.
http://unitedwedream.org/thank-deportation-defense-card-handy-phone/
Patricia Cortez will also be visiting with students in our 5th grade this week to talk about the stress of being in a household where immigration and ICE are on people’s minds.
• On the Job Injuries – Risk Management sent an
email to principals about some recent on the job injuries. They shared a
warm up activity reminding staff to stretch throughout each day, particularly prior to any task that requires significant exertion. Though warming up and stretching may not prevent an injury from occurring, it can help reduce the severity of the condition. See this
link for details.
• District Title 1 Newsletter – Here is the latest district level
Title 1 Newsletter that went out to Title 1 Coordinators and principals. As usual, this month’s newsletter is mostly coordinator specific information and tasks, but there is a good
article on the importance of honoring students’ names, often a critical link to identity.
• PEAK Internet Science Engineering & Art Day – It’s not here in town, but if anyone is looking for a big end-of-the-year field trip, here’s a
flyer (and the
email) for one in Corvallis on June 1st and is put on by OSU and OMSI for elementary age students and culminates in a baseball game by the Corvallis Knights.
• SBAC Participation Rules Change – Now that states have more control over assessment and accountability, one change ODE and its external Accountability Reporting Advisory Committee have made is around the minimum requirement for what constitutes student participation on SBAC for 2015-16. Previously, students had to respond to at least five CAT items AND at least one PT item, but now students students need to respond to at least five CAT items OR at least one PT item. Note that this change does not affect the participation rules for the Science assessment or for the statewide Alternate (Extended) Assessments.
• Report Card Grading Day Expectations – I shared last week that Friday is a regular work day for all staff. HR gave permission for licensed staff to work from home if you notify your administrator (me). For classified staff, please submit a comp time sheet if you intend to use time by Tuesday afternoon. Downtown is holding their annual EA Extravaganza from 8am to 2:30pm at the Ed Center. I’ll leave it to you all if you’d like to attend or not since I have a already scheduled a conflicting meeting.
Join us at the 5th Annual
4J Digital Learning Day Student Showcase
What: A time for K-12 students to come together and demonstrate how they integrate technology into their learning environment.
When: Wednesday, February 17th, 2016 from 4:00-6:00 pm
Where: 4J Education Center
Show off El Camino del Río Technology Integration! 3,4,5 show of your innovative work!
Schedule of Events for the Week
January 25 (M)
School Choice Visitation Week
3:00-4:00, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)
January 26 (T)
Last Day of PE with Dene
8:45-9:45, Cafecito and School Choice
3:00-4:30, River Road Design Committee Meeting (Library)
6:00-7:00, Dual Language Information Night (Library Spanish- Karen) (Cafeteria English Joel)
January 27 (W)
7:45-11:45- 4/5 Peer Observation
Pre-work 7:45-8:45
Megan teaches math lesson 8:45-9:15
Jill teaches math lesson 9:20-9:50
Debrief and break
Rebrief and reflection 10:05-11:30
2:30-3:30, Student Care Team Meeting (Staff Room @ Howard, Jennifer and Joel Attend)
6:00-8:00, Engineering Night
January 28 (H)
Last Day of Music with David.
2:45-3:45, IPBS Mod Squad
3:15-5:15, Joel and KG Teachers Monthly Kindergarten Meeting (Gilham)
January 29 (F)
Grading Day – No Students
8:30-10:30,EA Extravaganza
1:00-5:00, Joel to meeting with Mentor.
February 1 (M)
National African American History Month
Virtudes/ Pride Focus of the Month – Integrity
February 2 (T)
2nd Semester Music & PE Begins
9:00-10:30, Immersion Principal Task Force Meeting (Joel at Ed Center)
Staff Meeting 1 hour- Focus will be Peer Observations feedback and a report on the Literacy Conference.
February 3 (W)
2:00-5:00, Joel to District 4J Equity Committee
6:00-7:00, Craft Night for V-Day.
February 4 (H)
2:45-3:45, Voluntary Equity Meeting ( LIBRARY, all encouraged attend, snacks provided)
February 5 (F)
Regular Day
1:00-5:00, Joel out at Essential Ethical Hiring Practices 4J Maps Training
Have a good week, everyone!
Joel
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