Week of March 14
Hello Shining Stars,
We’ve almost made it to spring break! Be sure to take some time for yourself over the vacation. Spring break can go by pretty fast if you let it!
Our visit from LEL went very, very, well. As a staff we have much to be proud of in our school. The team was so excited and fascinated to see how dual language supports students in math instruction. It was truly a pleasure to be in so many classrooms and see so many students engaged in the math instruction. You are doing a really good job getting AIMS4S3 off the ground and it showed.
Here are some items for the week:
• Oregon’s recreational immunity and the Ninth Circuit decision – Risk Management sent an email to principals to let us know about a recent court decision that has the potential to impact public employees and potential liability. See the linked email and court decision for more details, but the plaintiffs argued Oregon’s recreational immunity statute does not extend to “employees” of public entities, because they are not the “owners” of the property. The Ninth Circuit agreed, which could mean we see an increase in claims against individual employees arising out of citizens/individuals injured while recreating on district property. Assuming the allegations arise out of the course and scope of the individual employees work, the public entity still owes a defense and indemnification to the employee. As always, be diligent in resolving safety hazards in and around the building. Minimizing exposure, injury, and harm is incumbent upon each of us.
• Tech Sharing from our 1st grade Literacy Meeting – Here are links to some tech tools that Erin Gaston shared with us in our 1st grade meeting.
• Quizizz – Similar to Kahoot! in that it’s a allows you to create and play multiplayer quiz games in class, but Quizizz does have several parts that are an improvement over Kahoot!.
• Quiver – Quiver is the augmented reality app that brings your coloring pages to life in this educational entertainment app, though they are now beginning to focus more on education than entertainment.
• 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 one item that may effect teachers next year is how the district will meet the School District Continuous Improvement Plan requirements. In the past this has been done with a meeting downtown, but parent participation in these meeting has been declining and they are not meeting this requirement, so the plan for next year is for schools to show some short videos at family nights (ie. Curriculum Nights, Literacy Nights, etc.). I’m sure more will be coming on this next year. In addition to that, there is also a good article and video on privilege from the Washington Post and also an infographic on the graduation gap.
• Student STEAM Showcase, STEM Festival at the Fair, plus STEM Teacher Professional Development Opportunities & Resources – Kim Finch shared these opportunities with us on several STEM and STEAM related events and resources.
• Content in Context SuperLessons Student STEAM Showcase – On June 4th at Cal Young Middle School, the STEAM Showcase will celebrate innovative teaching and learning through engaging students in Science Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. They are looking for student presenters K-12 to show the community how STEAM Projects are making a difference in their learning environment. Teachers can reserve a presentation space by signing up using this link.
• Content in Context SuperLessons, Cohort 3 – This PD series happening next school is year for 3rd through 8th grade teaches who are interested in improving your math and/or science teaching, leading your students in project-based learning, joining a network of teachers, content experts, and STEM industry professionals, mastering the new Math or NGSS Science standards, receiving classroom support to implement lessons, incorporating more technology into your teaching or learning 2 graduate level credits through the University of Oregon. See the linked flyer for details and for links to the application materials.
• Lane County STEM Teaching Resource Library – The Content in Context Resources Library is set up through the Springfield Public Schools online library system. Lane County educators can get access to the library by filling out this linked form so they can set up an account for you. Materials are delivered from the SPS Administration warehouse via the Lane ESD courier and are returned to Dara Brennan at SPS.
• Interested in presenting at Oregon Math Leaders this Year? – August 5-7 at Willamette University: While the overarching theme is “Engaging Students Through STEM” they do hope to have a mix of both STEM and non-STEM related sessions. The applicaiton form is linked here.
• STEM Festival at Lane County Fair – July 22-24 – They are now accepting applications for the 2016 Lane County Fair STEM Festival. The STEM Festival is part of Discovery Park located next to the main gate at the Lane County Fair. STEM Festival is a place to share your Science-Tech-Engineering-Math (STEM) related programs alongside schools, community members and organizations impacting our community and world with their work. The 3rd annual STEM festival at the Fair is Fri. through Sun., July 22-24 between the hours of 11 am and 8 pm with lots of flexible options for participants. Follow this link for details and application materials.
• Staff Meeting Agenda on March 15, 2:45-4:45
Please arrive on time and come with your laptop or iPad. Classified: Please plan on attending if you have not been SBAC Testing Trained. You will be compensated.
- Connections: 2:45-3:00.
- Letisha and Wendy share about the library.- 3:00-3:10.
- Kelley Wilson shares on Spanish and Google, Some great new technology tools for our emerging bilinguals. 3:10-3:40.
- Required SBAC Testing Training with Karen Ramirez Gutierrez 3:40-4:20
- Joel finalizes the staffing plan. 4:20-4:45
What I read this Week:
• Educating “Those Kids” – From the latest issue of Teaching Tolerance; when a colleague told Jozette Martinez, “I’m not effective like you,” Martinez reflected on what exactly makes her an effective anti-bias educator. For one thing, she doesn’t view her students as “those kids.” Find out from this article the other principles that guide her practice.
• Data show gender bias in some textbooks Books – Textbooks may not include enough female characters or too often may portray women in submissive gender roles, according to data released by UNESCO. The data, released to celebrate International Women’s Day, revealed that women are underrepresented in textbooks and curricula, researchers noted.
• Some Thoughts on “Coding” and “Technical Ghettos” http://www.aud.life/2016/some-thoughts-on-coding-and-technical-ghettos
• Nancy Hanks on School Discipline -OUR contribution to the school to prison pipeline. – www.kellywickham.com
What is coming up?
March 13 (SU)
Daylight Savings Time (Spring Forward)
March 14 (M)
2:30-5:00, Joel at Elementary Principal’s Meeting (Parr Room)
March 15 (T)
9:00-10:30, Joel at Immersion Principals Task Force Meeting (Mozart Room)
11:00-12:00- Joel at LTD Community Outreach Meeting (Downtown LTD Atrium Building)
2:55-4:45, Staff Meeting, Professional Development- Staffing Decision Day, and Technology PD
March 16 (W)
1:45-2:45, Teacher Collaboration Hour- Math PLC Time
Joel submits staffing by 4:00 PM.
March 17 (Th)
3:45-5:15, Kindergarten Teacher Monthly Meeting@Camas Ridge
March 18 (F)
8:30-11:30, ALICE Training at Willagillespie Elementary
March 19-27 Spring Break
March 28 (M)
8:00-1:30, Academy Day AIMS4S3 Training
2:30-5:00, Joel at Elementary Principals’ Meeting: Parr Room
March 29 (T)
School Resumes
7:30-8:00, Joel in Summative Meeting
8:45-9:45, Cafecito in FRC Focus is on:
Increasing bilingual parent leadership, community outreach.
12:00-1:00, Joel, Kay and Liza in furniture meeting
3:00-4:00, Site Council Meeting (Conference Room)
March 30 (W)
River Road Peer Observations – Kinder /1st – Get a sub today, Full Day Title 2 A is the funding source.
March 31 (Th)
River Road Peer Observations – 4th w/ Nancy, 5th w/ Aline, Get a sub today, Full Day Title 2 A is the funding source.
April 1 (F)
River Road Peer Observations– 2nd and 3rd w/Nancy, Get a sub today, Full Day Title 2 A is the funding source.
Summer Opportunities for Students:
Annual 2016 Migrant Education Summer School- Lane County, June 27 to July 21, 2016
Contact: Laura C. Weiss, Administrator for the Summer School Program
laura.weiss@springfield.k12.or.us
Have a good week, everyone!
Joel
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