Week of December 12
Hi Shining Star Staff,
It is the last push before winter break. Be sure to spend time having fun with your students this week and make sure they all feel like they belong. There are a wide array of feelings amongst children and adults during this time. Students anticipate the long break and so do teachers. Learn, have fun, and celebrate. Listen to your students and make sure you support them and be curious about their traditions and activities at home.
Important Announcements and Updates:
• January Science PD Updates – The FOSS Next Generation Science professional development will be the first day after the break, Tuesday, January 3rd, 8:00-2:30 at Holt (grades K-2) and Howard (grades 3-5). All K-5 classroom teachers are required to attend, even if you don’t teach science this year. The day will include Introduction and Overview, Agenda and Goals, Culture of Productive Talk, NGSS Progression K-5 of Physical or Earth and Space Sciences, First Model Investigation, FOSS Next Generation instructional model, Teacher Investigation Guide and Assessment Tab Walk Through, Scavenger Hunt through Teacher’s guide, Preplanning and Teacher Collaboration Time and Share out, Second Model Investigation, Lunch on your own (1 hour), Standards across content areas, and District Evaluations of Professional Development.
On a related note, it was shared at last week’s principal meeting that some of the presenters at the last science training who weren’t so great were not invited back for the January training. Also, there will be less of an ELA-type of focus on the science journals since feedback was that most teachers felt they already had a good handle on that.
• Behavior focused meeting on Tuesday, December 13 @ 3:00 PM: Many teachers have expressed the need to help students in common areas. We have invited Kim Reinhardt to share some strategies and systems that will help teachers with students that have challenging behaviors. What do you do if you do not have a relationship with the student? That is what we will discuss. We will also share a lot of systems and communication solutions related to referrals and connections between teachers and EA’s. If you are an EA, custodian, or office staff member, I encourage you to attend. This meeting is optional for all staff.
• Elementary Math Adoption Update – Pending review by IAC, ILT, Superintendent, and final School Board approval, the Math Adoption Team is recommending LearnZillion as our core math program with assurance that LearnZillion will translate the curriculum into Spanish, with Eugene 4j teacher review, and supplementation made by the adoption team during implementation. See the linked email from Maddy Ahern for details and next steps. This is good news in my opinion. I will be interested to see the translations completed and hope they are ready and printed for use next September.
• Studying Skillful Teaching PD Opportunity – I hadn’t heard from anyone saying they wanted to attend this, so one last chance here. If I don’t hear from any teachers by Friday, I’m going to donate our days to some other schools who have waiting lists of teachers who want to attend.
4J is continuing it’s work with Research for Better Teaching on Studying Skillful Teaching. If any teachers are interested, Cmino del Rio has been allocated 7 sub days to send teachers to any of the four modules (Module 1: The Knowledge Base of Teaching, Module 2: Essential Elements of Unit/Lesson Design, Module 3: Making Student Thinking Visible, Module 4: High Expectations Teaching). This year all new teachers to the district have attended Module 1. If you have not previously attended an RBT training, you have to start with Module 1, but after than can attend any of Modules 2-4. See the LaneESD Studying Skillful Teaching webpage for module training dates and course descriptions. Don’t sign up for any modules there without letting me know first, so we don’t go over our allocated sub days. Most modules are either 1, 2 or 3 days, which means we can potentially send 3 interested teachers. Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions. You can also check in with Chavo, Alexis, Megan, and Karen who have all previously attended RBT trainings as well.
•Myka Out Friday – Myka will be out on Friday, but if anyone needs something from Myka before then, let her know by Wednesday.
• New Major and Minor Referral Forms Next Semester – I am on the 4J team working on uniform major referral forms (Level IIIs) and minor referral forms (Level IIs). The plan is to rollout the new forms this year at the start of second semester. I am happy there will be uniformity across schools. This will mean better communication across the district and better alignment with Synergy and SWIS data entry systems. We can finally send home some referrals without another principal’s name on them.
• Water Quality Testing Update Update – I shared earlier the preliminary lead water testing results for the building, which did show some elevated levels of lead. Those faucets have since been replaced and retested. If you’re interested, detailed reports for most schools, are now posted for staff, parents and the public to review on the district Water Quality Information webpage.
Teaching and Learning:
6 potential brain benefits of bilingual education
Brains, brains, brains. NPR Ed editors are fascinated by brain research. And yet it can be hard to point to places where our education system is really making use of the latest neuroscience findings. But there is one happy nexus where research is meeting practice: bilingual education. “In the last 20 years or so, there’s been a virtual explosion of research on bilingualism,” says Judith Kroll, a professor at the University of California, Riverside. Read more: here.
Dates to Remember:
December 12 (M)
8:00-12:00, Joel and Jennifer at Trauma Informed Care Training
8:00-12:00, 4/5 Peer Observation
3:00-4:30, K-12 Immersion Task Force
December 13 (T)
12:00, Joel in Formal Observation
2:30-3:30, Staff Meeting on behavior with Kim Reinhardt
9:00-1:00, Salmon Field Trip with buddies 4/5 and younger grade.
5:00-6:00, Site Council
6:00-7:00, Grupo de Padres
December 14 (W)
12:00, Joel in Formal Observation
December 15 (H)
8:30-9:30, Cafecito meeting with parents on helping your child express feelings.
Bus Safety Training Due to Myka
December 16 (F)
8:30-9:00, Joel in Formal Observation
Myka Out
December 19 (M) – January 2 (M)
No School – Winter Break
January 3 (T)
No School – Professional Development/Planning Day
School Choice Opens
8:00-2:30, Science PD (K-2 @Holt, 3-5 @Howard)
January 4 (W)
Classes Resume
4:00, Joel to North Region Principals’ Meeting (NEHS)
January 5 (H)
Regular Day
January 6 (F)
Regular Day
Joel doing walkthroughs and informal observations.
That’s all for the week everyone. Stay warm.
Y trata de mantenerse calientes y secos.
Joel
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